After the Spanish conquest of Peru, one of the European adventurers, Don
Garcilasso de la Vega, married an Inca princess. Their son, also named
Garcilasso, was born about 1540. His famous book, 'Commentarias Reales,'
contains the most authentic account of the old Peruvian beliefs.
Garcilasso was learned in all the learning of the Europeans, and, as an
Inca on the mother's side, had claims on the loyalty of the defeated
race. He set himself diligently to collect both their priestly and
popular traditions, and his account of them is the more trustworthy as it
coincides with what we know to have been true in lands with which
Garcilasso had little acquaintance.

* * * * *

To Garcilasso's mind, Peruvian religion seems to be divided into two
periods--the age before, and the age which followed the accession of the
Incas, and their establishment of sun-worship as the creed of the State.
In the earlier period, the pre-Inca period, he tells us 'an Indian was
not accounted honourable unless he was descended from a fountain, river,
or lake, or even from the sea, or from a wild animal, such as a bear,
lion, tiger, eagle, or the bird they call cuntur (condor), or some other
bird of prey.' {104a} To these worshipful creatures 'men offered what
they usually saw them eat' (i. 53). But men were not content to adore
large and dangerous animals. 'There was not an animal, how vile and
filthy soever, that they did not worship as a god,' including 'lizards,
toads, and frogs.' In the midst of these superstitions the Incas
appeared. Just as the tribes claimed descent from animals, great or
small, so the Incas drew _their_ pedigree from the sun, which they adored
like the gens of the Aurelii in Rome. {104b} Thus every Indian had his
pacarissa, or, as the North American Indians say, totem, {105a} a natural