The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-17

all directions. This massive plate of
 gold w2s thiclSly poWIdered with dia-
 monds, emeralds ands other precious
 stones, and so situated in front of the
 great eatern portal thsst tine rays of the
 morning sun shone diriectly upon it. fill-
 ing the whole place with one blaze of
 light and splendor. reflected back from
 the thousands os golden ornaments
 with which the walls and ceilings were
 everywhere incrusted In the figura-
 tive language of the people, gold was
 tears shed by the sum- and every
 part of the interior of the temple
 glowed with burnished plates and studs
 of the precious metal Underneath the
 great golden face were several chairs,
 or thrones, of solid gold, in which were
 seated the embaIned bodies of the dead
 Incas. The cornioes which surrounded the sanctuary walls were of the same easily material: and broad belt, or
 frieze, of gold, let into the stone work,
 ran around the whole exterior.
 Adjoining this principal structure
 were several smaller temples, one to the
 Moon, one to Venus, one to the Plei-
 ades, one to Thunder and Lightning,
 and another to the Rainbow-all pro-
 fusely decorated with gold and silver.
 Though the sun was their principal dei-
 ty-being supposed to preside in par
 ticular manner over the destinies of
 man, by giving light and warmth to the
 nations, as well as life to the vegetable.
 world, besides being the founder of
 their empire and the father of their
 royal dynasty-they also acknowledge
 various other objects of Worthip as be-
 ing in some way connected with the
 sun. There was the moon, his sister
 wife, and the stars, believed to erve as:
 part of her heavenly train-except Ve-
 nus, fairest of them all, whom they
 called Chased, "the youth with curling
 locks,'' and adored as the suns page,
 because he attends so cloely to the ris-,
 Ing and setting of that iuminary. In
 Thunder and Lightning they recognize the suns dread ministers of vengeance;
 and the Rainbow they worship as his
 approving smile. A hundred objects in
 nature also served for inferior gods.
 The mighty sea, breaking with cease
 less thunder upon the rocky coast, inn
 pressed the dWellers of the desert with reverence and awe; while the element, the wind. the rain, the earth, the air, the mountains, rivers everything which impressed them with ideas of su- blimity and power, or which exercised marked influence for the veal or woe of
 man, came in for share of worship. They also had notion. not unlike that professed by some of the schools of an cient philosophy, that everything on earth had it's archityte--its mother" las they expressed it-Which must be
 held sacred as being in some sort it's spiritual essence. And besides all these their system embraced the countless
 deities of all the conquered nations,
 whose images were transferred to Cuz-, co. &.ss # 4 In the temple coIlsecrated to the moon the deity considered second in importance, as being the mother of the Incas--her effigy was represented in the same manner as that of the sun, on a vast plate that covered nearly one side of the building But this plate, and all the other decorations of her temple, were of silver, instead of gold,
 as being better suited to the paler ef- fulgence of that beautiful planet. One of the three other temples was dedica- ted to the host of stars that forms her bright court; another to Thunder and Lightning; and another to the Rainbow.
 There were many smaller edifices and l teF a walls, for the aceonmod of illilu-
 merable priests who officiated in the various services. Afi the plate, orna- ments and utensils of every description used about the temple were of solid sil- yer or gold. Twelve immense vases of silver stood on the floor of the great sa- loon, filled with grains of Indian corn, grown in the temple gardens and on the
 sacred Islands of Lake Titicasa; and Spanish his torian who saw the vases asserts that leach was as high as a good lance, and so large that two men with outspread arms could barely en- compass them" The censors for the perfumes, the ewers which held the wa ter for sacrifices. the pipes which con- + uuGtSu IL ktaIDu5Ii uliSElSiUbiluA SAAll- nels into the buildings, the reservoirs that received it, even the agricultural 1 implements used in the gardens of the temple where the sacred corn was cul- tixated, were all of silver and gold.
 The gardens, like those belonging to the 1 royal palaces, spark1ed with silver and gold and various jeWeled limitations of the vegetable kingdom. There were also statues of gold and silver. mainly those of animals. among which the llama, with golden fleece, was conspicu- ous All this we have on the word of a number of renowned historians such as | Sarrniento, Garcilasso, Herrera and Pe- I dro Pizarra. Prescott adds: If the reader sees in this fairy picture only the romantic coloring of some fabulous Fl Dorado, he must recall what has been written about the palaces of the Ineas and consider that these Houses of the Sun were the common reservoirs into which flowed all the streams of public and private benefaction throughout the empire"
 Many of these costly articles were buried by the natives to keep them from the cupidity of their conquerors; but enough remained to excite the Spaniards' profoundest admiration and ct stimulate their greed to the highest pitch. They lost no ime in removing everything portable, and even tore away thu ernldaI fripZa and cnpninas