I - An Account of the Fables and Rites of the Yncas

Summary

As in the account which I submitted to your most illustrious Lordship of the origin, liyes, and customs of the Yncas, Lords of this land, of the names and number of their wives, of the laws they gave and the wars they waged, and of the tribes and nations they conquered; I also treated, in some places, of the ceremonies and worship they established, though not very fully; I now propose, chiefly by reason of the wish expressed by your reverend Lordship, to take similar pains to describe the ceremonies, worship, and idolatries of these Indians. For this purpose I assembled a number of aged persons who had seen and participated in them in the days of Huayna Ccapac, of Huascar Ynca, and of Manco Ynca, as well as some leaders and priests of those days.

And first with regard to the origin of their idolatries, it is so that these people had no knowledge of writing. But, in a house of the Sun called Poquen Cancha, which is near Cuzco, they had the life of each one of the Yncas, with the lands they conquered, painted with figures on certain boards, and also their origin. Among these paintings the following fable was represented.

In the life of Manco Ccapac, who was the first Ynca, and from whom they began to be called children of the Sun, and to worship the Sun, they had a full account of the deluge.