f the luminary they worshipped. I
fancied I could hear their voices, and could see the mighty mass below
me, their plumes waving in the breeze as they joined the joyous shout
raised by their friends above them.

"Yes, a day of bitter retribution will ere long arrive," exclaimed my
companion. The deep, low, and concentrated tone of his voice roused me
from my reveries, he appeared unconscious that he had spoken. "Come,
sir," he said, "we will proceed."

As I walked through the streets of Cuzco. I was struck with the air of
antiquity which many of the buildings wore; and I could not help
regretting the worse than Gothic cruelty and ignorance of the Spaniards,
which had destroyed the numberless magnificent edifices of its former
inhabitants. We spent three days in the city, and on the fourth took
our departure, accompanied by Ithulpo. I learned that twenty leagues
only from the city commence the territories of the unsubdued Indians,
who will allow no stranger to enter their country. As I looked towards
the distant mountains which form their bulwarks, I fancied that it must
be a land full of romance and interest, and I longed to penetrate into
it. I was before long to have my wish gratified, through means I little
contemplated.

Our course was, however, now in a contrary direction, north and west,
towards the sea. We had proceeded two days' journey, when, at the
urgent request of Ithulpo, we turned aside to rest at a town among the
mountains.

"It is inhabited chiefly by my people," he observed. "To-morrow they
perform a ceremony, at which I wish to assist, and which you will like
to behold."

We ascended by a narrow and winding path among the mountains to the
town, where we were lodged in the best house it possessed, and where the
inhabitants vied with each other in paying us attention. The next
morning, when I went out, I was surprised to see the place crowded with
Indians dressed in the ancient costume of the country, of which
certainly the pictures I have since seen in England and France do not
give at all a correct idea. They wore feather head-dresses, and their
cloaks and trains were likewise trimmed with feathers; and if not quite
so picturesque, were more suited to their convenience than the scanty
feather kilts in which they are made to appear. Having breakfasted, my
father and I followed the crowd at a little distance to see what was
going to occur. Among them we observed, raised above their he