275 / 1060
BooK
VII.
Royal
Com1nentaries.
and adored the Sun, which was performed at a certain hour, that fo the Adora–
tion
might be
aeneral at the fame inftant
of
rime ;
a
certain
Inca
of the Bloud–
Royal
fallied
o~t
of
tl\e
FortrefS, richly
attir~d
like
a
Meifen~er
of the Sun?
ha–
ving
his
Garments
girt
about
his
wafie, beanng
a
Lance
m his
hand, garmlhed
with
a plume of Feathers of divers colours, which hanged dangling down from
the point
to
the end of the Staff; the length of which was of about three quar-
. ters of a Yard, fiudded with golden Nails; and which
in
War ferved for an
En~
fign
~
Wirh chis Lance he iffued from the Fort rather than from the Temple, be–
ing efteemed aMeffengerofVvar, and not of Peace; for the Fort, as well as
the
Temple was Dedicated to the Sun, being the place where matters of War were
treated 'as the other was, where peace and frieadiliip were entertained.
This
Officer'came
running
in
this manner downwards from the
Hill
called
Sacfah11amam,
flourifhing
his
Lance untill he came
to
theMarket-pbce of the
City,
where
four
other
JnctU
of the Bloud, each carrying a Dart .in his hand, met him ; haying
likewife their Garments clofe girt, after the manner of the
Jndi11m~
when tbey _put
themfelves
in
a
pofiure ofexercife, or labour :· This Melfenger meeting the four
lncM,
touched die head of their
Lances
with his, and then told them, that the
Sun commanded them
as
his
Otncers,
that they fhould purifie and deanfe the
City,
of
all infirmities
and difeafes ; and
that
he gave them
full
power to perform it.
With
this
commiffion the four
Incas
departed, running through the four
~eat
Streets of the City, which led towards die four quarters of the World, called
by them
Taventinf
uyu
;
in
their way as they ran, Men and Women, young and
old,
all
came to the Dears of their Houfes, with great
cries
and acclamations,
{baking
their cloths, and the garments on their bodies,
a's
if
they would beat out
the
Duft
from them ; and then firoking their hands over their heads
and
mouths>
armes
and legs, and other parts of their bodies,
in
manner,
as
if
they were
waili–
ing of them ; and as
if
they would throw out all the ficknefs and illnefs of their
Houfes, to be expelled the
City
by the power and virtue of thofe Meffengers of
the Sun. Nor was this onely done
in
the Streets, through which thefe four Mef..
fengers paffed, but likewife
in
all
the other Streets ; thefe four
Incas
having run a–
bout a quarter of a League without the City, were met
by
four ocher
Incas
of
the privilege, who taking their Lances, ran with them
a
quarter of
a
League
far–
ther, and
at
the like dillance were met by others, untill they came five or
foe
Leagues
remote from the
City ;
where having fixed their
Lances,
and driven
them into the Earth, they made that the place of banifhment to all their Evils ;
that
fo
being
bounded
by
tbofe
Confines,
they
fuould
not
be
able to
approach
nearer
to the City.
L
•
I
J
I
LI
2
CH AP.
.
,