276 / 1060
.
.
Royal
Commentaries.
BooK
VIL
~
G HAP. VII.
Of their Noliurnal Feafl
celehra~ed
at Night for
puri[Jing
their City
fronz
ficl{ne/fes, and other calamities.
T
HE Night following they lighted great Torches ofStraw, fo clofe and hard
twilled together, that they were long
in
burning, and were not
unlike our
Wif
ps
of oiled Straw ; onely they were made round, and about the bignefS
of a
Foot-ball, called by
c~m
Pancnncu;
to each
end
of thefe, they tied
a
cord
of a–
bout a Yard
in
lengt
with which
th~y
r n through the Streets, calling them
round
untill
they 91me
· hout the Ci
uppofi9g that
by
help of thefe
fires~
they expelled the noet:urnal evils
frorift
eir
Cicy :
fur
as the evils of
the
day
were
droven out
by
the
Lances,
fo
the
evils
of
the night were carried out by
the
Tor–
ches
i.
which
being
quenched without the Cicy
in a
brook or current of water in–
to which they were thrown, were believed to carry with them down their fueams
all
the
ficlmeifes
and
evils of
their City ;
fo
that
if
at any time
an
Indian,
ofwhat
Age foever, fhould happen to fee one of thefe wlfps
of traw
lodged
by
any
ac-.
ddent or fioppage on the
banks
of the
River,
he
prefently fled from
it,
fearing
to
be
feized
by
fome
of thofe
evils, which
were newly
expelled
and baniilied
the
City.
The
W
F?tS
being
ended, and the
City
cleanfed
an<J
purified
of
all
its evils
and
di!eafes,
great joy and
mirth was heard
in
all
then-
dwellings,
not
onely
in
publick,
but
in
every private family,
which continued for he
fult
quarrer
Gf
the Moon ;
auring
hich time, they returned
thanks
t-0
tlre
Sun for
ol~ng
and
~freeing
them
ll-om all their evils ; and
in
demonftration
f
fuch
thankfulnefs, chey
facrificed
Lambs
and
Sheep to him ; the bloud and emta.ils .ofwhich they burnt
in
the
fire~
but
the
flefh they roailed in 1:he
commtm Marke
·p1ace,
and
!hared
it
among{t
thofe who were prefent at the FefiiV"aL
I
remember~
when
I was young, that I
faw
Corne
part of
rhefe
ceremooies
~r
f
armed
5
and that a certain
Inca,
fallied out with his Lance, not
~m
the
Caftte,
for that was then defiroyed,• but from a Houfe belonging to one of the
lncaf,
which
was fituated on the fide of that
Hill,
where the Caftle was formerly built, called
Coflcampata:
I
faw
alfo the four
lndianf
run
with their Lances, and the common
people !hake their Cloaths, with all the other vile and foolifll praCl:ices, as
eating
their Bread called
Cancu,
and burning the Torches called
Pancuncu :
For my pare,
I had not the curiofiry
to
fit
up
fo
late at night, as to be prefent at their noCl:urnal
Feftival : Howfoever, I remember, that I
fa
w
one of their
Pancuncm
lodged in the
ftream which runs through the Market-place, and near to the Houfe of
my
School–
fellow
[ohn de Cellorico,
I remember to have feen
many
Indian
Boys to have run
from
1-t;
bttt
I
being
a
Child
off
U\
-or
feven
years
cld,
and
not
eareclrifed
in
their
Religion, nor knowing the caufe, remained unconcerned at the bundle of Straw,
not thinking
it
fo
terrible as did the
lndianf.
Thi Torch we now fpeak of, was thrown into the fi ream '' hich runs through
the City, and carried abroad according to the ancient inftitution; for the Feafl:
was not now obferved
with
that fi:ri6l:nefs and veneration, as
it
was in the times
of their
Kings;
for beginning now to become obfolete, it was rather performed
in
remembrance of their ancient cuftoms, than out ofan pinion of
any
e.ffett or
virtue of fuch a praetice; for there remained
frill {(
me old fuperfiitious fellow9>
\
o refufed
a¢fin, and obfiinately adher d to their ancient Gentilifm.
In
ti
es
'bf
the
Inca1
me Torches were carried out of the City, and there call: into the
River: the water with whi h they wafhed their bocties, though it
ere brought
from other
frr~ams,
was yet to be poured into the
·ver' hich runs from
t!1e
City,
that
fo
the evils which
it
wafhed, might be carried far diftant, and by force of rhe
current be lodged
in
the Sea.
As \
e have before mentioned.
There
·