Page images
PDF
EPUB

with a fresh supply of fruits and vegetables that the friendly people sent to the vessel. Molina had a wondrous tale to tell.

On landing he was surrounded by the natives, who 5 expressed the greatest astonishment at his dress, his fair complexion, and his long beard. The women, especially, manifested great curiosity in respect to him, and Molina seemed to be entirely won by their charms and captivating manners. He probably intimated his satisfaction by 10 his demeanor, since they urged him to stay among them, promising in that case to provide him with a beautiful wife.

Their surprise was equally great at the complexion of his sable companion. They could not believe it was natu15 ral, and tried to rub off the imaginary dye with their hands. As the African bore all this with characteristic good humor, displaying at the same time his rows of ivory teeth, they were prodigiously delighted. The animals were no less above their comprehension; and, 20 when the cock crew, the simple people clapped their hands and inquired what he was saying. Their intellects were so bewildered by sights so novel, that they seemed incapable of distinguishing between man and brute.

Molina was then escorted to the residence of the curaca, 25 whom he found living in much state, with porters stationed at his doors, and with a quantity of gold and silver vessels, from which he was served. He was then taken to different parts of the Indian city, saw a fortress built of rough stone, and, though low, spreading over a large 30 extent of ground. Near this was a temple; and the Spaniard's description of its decorations, blazing with

gold and silver, seemed so extravagant that Pizarro, distrusting his whole account, resolved to send a more discreet and trustworthy emissary on the following day.

The person selected was Pedro de Candia, a Greek cavalier who had joined the expedition. He was sent on 5 shore, dressed in complete mail, as became a good knight, with his sword by his side and his arquebus on his shoulder. The Indians were even more dazzled by his appearance than by Molina's, as the sun fell brightly on his polished armor and glanced from his military weapons. 10 They had heard much of the formidable arquebus from their townsmen who had come in the vessel, and they besought Candia "to let it speak to them."

He accordingly set up a wooden board as a target, and, taking deliberate aim, fired off the musket. The flash 15 of the powder and the startling report of the piece, as the board, struck by the ball, was shivered into splinters, filled the natives with dismay. Some fell on the ground, covering their faces with their hands, and others approached the cavalier with feelings of awe, which were 20 gradually dispelled by the assurance they received from the smiling expression of his countenance.

They then showed him the same hospitable attentions which they had paid to Molina; and his description of the marvels of the place, on his return, fell nothing short 25 of his predecessor's. The fortress, which was surrounded by a triple row of wall, was strongly garrisoned. The temple he described as literally tapestried with plates of gold and silver. Adjoining this structure was a sort of convent appropriated to the Inca's destined brides, who 30 manifested great curiosity to see him. Whether this

was gratified is not clear; but Candia described the gardens of the convent, which he entered, as glowing with imitations of fruits and vegetables, all in pure gold and silver! He had seen a number of artisans at work, whose 5 sole business seemed to be to furnish these gorgeous decorations for the religious houses.

But the cupidity of the Spaniards, after the conquest, was not slow in despoiling the place of its glories; and the site of its proud towers and temples, in less than half 10 a century after that fatal period, was to be traced only by the huge mass of ruins that encumbered the ground.

The Spaniards were nearly mad with joy, says an old writer, at receiving these brilliant tidings of the Peruvian city. All their fond dreams were now to be realized, and 15 they had at length reached the realm which had so long flitted in visionary splendor before them.

I. Teem'Ing: filled to overflowing. Nuñez (noon'yĕth). A chieved': accomplished. Gain say': deny; dispute. Im'port: importance; meaning. Un pro pitious (pish'ŭs): unfavorable. Three men: Diego de Äl mä'gró (1465-1538), a Spanish adventurer; Her- nando de Lu'que (kȧ) (died 1532), a Spanish priest; and Francisco Pizarro. Cor dil'ler as: the Andes. Cordillera is a Spanish word meaning rope, and the name is applied to an extended mountain range, especially one near the border of a continent. Steril'i tỷ: barrenness; unfruitfulness. Bäl'säs: rafts or floats, used principally on the Pacific coast of South America. Fló til'là: a fleet of small ships.

II. În dig'ê noŭs: native. Em'is så ry: one sent as an agent. În'ca: a monarch of Peru before the Spanish conquest. Cùpid'i ty: greed of gain; eager desire for wealth.

A Peruvian Temple

FROM THE "CONQUEST OF PERU," BY WILLIAM HICKLING
PRESCOTT

The worship of the sun constituted the peculiar care of the Incas and was the object of their lavish expenditure. The most ancient of the many temples dedicated to this divinity was in the island of Titicaca, whence the royal founders of the Peruvian line were said to have 5 proceeded. From this circumstance this sanctuary was held in peculiar veneration. Everything which belonged to it, even the broad fields of maize which surrounded the temple and formed part of its domain, imbibed a portion of its sanctity. The yearly produce was distributed 10 among the different public magazines, in small quantities. to each, as something that would sanctify the remainder of the store. Happy was the man who could secure even an ear of the blessed harvest for his own granary!

But the most renowned of the Peruvian temples, the 15 pride of the capital and the wonder of the empire, was at Cuzco, where, under the munificence of successive sovereigns, it had become so enriched that it received the name of “The Place of Gold." It consisted of a principal building and several chapels and inferior edifices, cover- 20 ing a large extent of ground in the heart of the city, and completely encompassed by a wall, which, with the edifices, was all constructed of stone. The work was so finely executed that a Spaniard, who saw it in its glory, assures us that he could call to mind only two edifices in 25

Spain which for their workmanship were at all to be compared with it. Yet this substantial and in some respects magnificent structure was thatched with straw !

The interior of the temple was the most worthy of 5 admiration. It was literally a mine of gold. On the western wall was emblazoned a representation of the deity, consisting of a human countenance, looking forth from amidst innumerable rays of light which emanated from it in every direction, in the same manner as the sun 10 is often personified with us. The figure was engraved on

a massive plate of gold of enormous dimensions, thickly powdered with emeralds and precious stones. It was so situated in front of the great eastern portal that the rays of the morning sun fell directly upon it at its rising, 15 lighting up the whole apartment with an effulgence that seemed more than natural, and which was reflected back from the golden ornaments with which the walls and ceilings were everywhere incrusted. Gold, in the figurative language of the people, was "the tears wept by the sun," 20 and every part of the interior of the temple glowed with burnished plates and studs of the precious metal. The cornices which surrounded the walls of the sanctuary were of the same costly material; and a broad belt or frieze of gold, let into the stonework, encompassed the 25 whole exterior of the edifice.

Adjoining the principal structure were several chapels of smaller dimensions. One of them was consecrated to the moon, the deity held next in reverence, as the mother of the Incas. Her effigy was delineated in the same 30 manner as that of the sun, on a vast plate that nearly

covered one side of the apartment. But this plate, as

« PreviousContinue »