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BooK
JI.
Royal
Commentaries.
t:he
Break of day, or the Dawning,
Pacari,
befides other proper words
to
denote
Nodn'· · Midnight, and other Hours.
.
'
Lightning, Thunder and
Thunder-~olts
(as we
~ave
faid) they
~ave
onely
on~
denomination of
Yllapa
j
and
that
though they did not acknowledge
the~
for
Gods yet chey honoured them
as
Servants of the Sun ; as they alfo did the Rain–
bow 'and becmfe
th~y
obferved that the beautifull variety of its Colour
s was ati
effect
of
the
Sqn-beams
reflecring
on
·a
Cloud,
th~y
placed
it
in
the_i~
Bah.oe~s;
and
1
nade
it
the Arms of thek
Inceu.
That whICh
we
call tne
M1
lky-way ,
they fanfied
to
be an E
\\'e giving fuck to
a Lamb ;
and
have
often (hewed me,
·p<:>inting to it Seeil: thou not tliere the
'Head
of the Sheep
?
and
thete
the l-i:ead
and
Legs of
tl1e
Lamb? But my imagination was never
fo
!hong
as
to fanfie
a
creamre there of that
figure.
.
.
.
.
.
,
The force of their Afl:rology did never reach
fo
far
as to make
Pred~Et~ons
frorn
dw
Sun, or Moon or
<;:om~ts,
or Conjunetions
of
Stars, unlefs
~t o/~re
of
fome~
thi,ng
of
great and noronous importance, fuch as the_ Death
of
~het~
Kmgs,
or th_e
Defirqltion of Kingdoms; but ntther dedm;ed their
Progno{hc~t1ons
irom their
Preams or
the
entrails of the Beail:s,
which they
offered
\n
Sacrifice : But the
fupermtion they had of their
Dreams was
(o
idle and
vain_, that
we
(hall
omit
rd
roeµtion them;
~he
_like they
i~agined
of
th~ St~r
Ven_u.1,
which
~ecaufe
it
~p
pears at the begmnmg of the
ntght,
and
a:gam
nfes
with
the mornmg, they fan–
fied,
that
being
fo
br~ght
and beautif\lll beyond the other Stars,
the
Suq
w4s
ple~fed-
to give
i~
a double courfe , making it in the Evening to follow
h\Ql_, ancl
in the Morning to precede, and be the meffenger
to
advife
his
approach.
When they
faw
the
Sun fer within the
Sea,
(as they
1nay
every
night
obfer\'7e
to th€ Wefi:ward from
the
Coail: of
Peru)
they fanGed cpat
th~
Waters were
parted by the
force
of
his
fire and heat; and that being
a
good fwimmer, he
plunged
himfelf
inro the Waves, and dived quite through the Sea to appear next
morning
in
the
Ealt.
An
d farnucp
(hall
fuffice to have fpoken
of
their Afiro-
1ogy;
let us now proceed,
a.ndfee
what knowledge they had attained
in Ph:rfick
' and
Medicines, wfiich
the
y admipifhed
to
their fick
in
their
feveral
di[eafes.
CH AP. XII.
Of
their
Phyfic1<_
and Medicines, and how they dpplied
them.
'
T
Hey had gamed
fa
much knowledge
in
PhyGck,
as
to know, that Bleeding
and Purging"' ere two neceffary evacuations:
the
Bloud they drew from
the
Legs, Armes
or Forehead
~
and becaufe they
were
not acquainted with the
Anatomy of the Veins, they opened that which was nearefi to
the pain
:
Their
Lancet was
made
of
a
<harp-pointed Flint,fet at the end of
a
f
mall Cane; which
be–
ing
laid__
on the Vein, wlth a gentle
fillip
cuts
it
with lefs pain than our 9rainary
Lan–
cets do
:
And as they are ignorant how the Veins branch the.mfelves through
the
whole body,.
fa
likewife are they unacquainted with the particular humours,
fucl1
\15
Flegm,
Choler
and
Melancholy, Clnd confequemly have not the judgment
w
apply the moll:
f
pecifick Medicines to purge them
:
They mofi: commonly
J?U~~ed,
'Yhen they
found a
Plethory of humours, rather than when the difeafe
had
preva1!ed upon
~hem
:
. the Ingredient which they ufed in their
Purges,
was
a
for·
of white root,
rn
fafhion_of a
finall
Turnip; of which, they fay,
there
is
Male
.
and Female; of
both. wh1ch..they mix an equal proportion
ta
the
quantity
of
a–
b9ut
two.
ounces!
which they
be~t
tO
a Powder,
and
take
~t in
water or
their
or–
~mary
dnnk, w1th?ut other Herbs or Drugs ;
and
then the
Patient
fets
himfelf
~n
the Sun;
that
his heat ancd bleffing
may
,.eontribute
to
its
operation.
Jn
al)
h9uts
45