4000003871

BooK

III.

Royal

Commentarief.

CH A P.

XXI.

Of the Cloifiers

the Temple, and

the feveral Chal!i~

bers

the

Moon

and Stars, Th'uruler

ami Lightning

and

of the Rain-bow.

R01~ rhe Temple there is a paífage inro the Cloifl:ers, which _are ericompaf–

fed with four Walls, ol'le oí which is the Wall ·of rhe Te,mple: rhe top

of rhi$·Cloifier is fpread ,~ith a Cieliog .,of Gold, of abouc a Yard in breadth·,

and was. che Ornament .and Crown aloft; bue

fhe

Spaniards

afterwards defpoiled

the Róof ofthe Gold; anc'i in pl¡¡.ce and memory there9f laid a

~ielirig.of

white

Plaíl:er ; the which,, "'.lien I departed ·thence, was íl:il1 white and frefh, and the

Walls {qúnd and ífandingas formerly. Tbe Provoíl:, or Maíl:er .of this Cloiíl:er,

had five'large·Chambers-fquare allowed him_,for bis1.odgings; noc contiguous,

or·¡oyning one to che 'ocher, bue fi;parate a[)d apart, being' covered in forro of a

Pyramid; and whi'ch made the other rhreé Walls of che Cloiíl:er. '.

One of theíe fquare Chambers was dedicated to che Moon, whom they íl:yled

the Wife of rhe Sun , and therefore ~:as neareíl: to the principal Chapel of the

Temple; all the fides wichin, as alfo theDoors.w~rePlaced with Silver, for the

better correfpond~nc~ ª!1d ,~efemb~rlcey with fhe colour of che Moon, :"bofe ·

lmage was alfo €1'.eéted-mSilver,

w1ch

theJace of

a Wornan, and placed m che

farne manner as chat oühe Sun. foto this Chamber they did ufually encer

make cheir v¡firs' to the Moon,, an_d recommend themfelves to her favour; for

thac íhe being the Siíl:er and Wife'oí the Sun, was conf1;:quencly che Mother of

tpe

Incas,

and of all their 'generacion ; where(qre they éalleq her

Mawaquilla,

which fignifies

much as Mother-Moon, to whom they offered Sacrifices as

chey did co che Sun. On each fide oí chis Irnage•they placed the Bodies of the

dead Queens, according to cheir Order and Seniority. Onely

Mama Oc/lo,

who

was che Mother oí

Hu//}na Capac,

had che cl\ief pláce, being feaced neareíl:, a~

with her face juíl: oppohte

che Moon ; in regard, chat having been che Mocher

of a Son

excellent and famous, did feem to have merited che primary place of

Honour.

The Chamber nexc hereunrd· was dedicated to

tenm

che Evening-Scar, and

the other feven Scars, and to ali che óther Scars in general The Scar

Venm

they

called

Chafca,

which is as much as to fay, long and curled Locks; chey named

chis Scar che Page of che Suo, becau[e ic always attended on him, going fome–

times before, and fometimes afrer him ; for the feven Scars chey entertairied a

particular refpeét, becaufe oí che füangenefs of their po!ition , and cheir equal

proportion : Thefe Scars chey fanfied co be che Attend;ims and Hand-rnaids co

che Moon; and for chac reafon they lodged chem in che Lobby, or Chamber nexc

to her, chac fo chey might be near and the place more commodious for cheir fer·

vice; for chey were .of opinion, ~hac the Stars were Attendanc's belo1,1ging co che

Court of the Moon , and hot of che Sun , becaufe th~y appeared in che Night

onely, and vanifhed fo foon as che Morning dawned, ahd

CO{l

Sgn aro(e..

This Chamber had its Walls and Doors' all placed wich Silver like that of che

Moon ; the Roof was painred like a Scarry Sky,

foil

of Stars of che ·g1'eacer and

leffer Magnirude.

The nexc Chamber hereurico was dedicaced·to the Lighcning, Thunder and

Thunder-bolc, which chree chey comprehended uoder 'one common Name of

Y/lapa,

and che diíl:inél:ion of chem was denoced by the Adjunél: Verb : As for

eiample; when chey fay, Did you fee che

Y/lapa?

chen chey mean Lighrning

or did you hear the

Y/lapa

chen it is Thunder ; or-did you fee where che

Yllapf.f

fell, or the darnage

i.t

did.? then they underíl:and che Thunder·bolt.

All