abiting South and Central America have been
exhaustively studied, no absolutely satisfactory conclusion can be formed
as to when and how civilization was carried to Peru.

On the other hand, even in the present preliminary stage of investigation,
there are certain undeniable facts which, if brought to notice at this
early date, may prove of inestimable value in directing future research.
One of these facts will doubtless appear to many as strange and
inexplicable but as noteworthy as it appears to me.

In Cristoval de Molina's account of the fables and rites of the Incas(26)
already cited, a fable is related concerning the Inca Yupanqui, the
Conqueror, who extended the domain of the Peruvian empire and instituted
the worship of a creator who, unlike the sun, could rest and light up the
world from one spot.

"They say that, before he succeeded [to rulership], he went one day to
visit his father Uiracocha Inca, who was at Sacsahuana, five leagues from
Cuzco. As he came up to a fountain called Susur-puquio, he saw a piece of
crystal fall into it, within which he beheld the figure of an Indian in
the following shape:

"Out of the back of his head there issued three very brilliant rays like
those of the Sun. Serpents were twined around his arms, and on his head
there was the llautu or royal fringe worn across the forehead of the Inca.
His ears were bored and he wore the same earpieces as the Inca, besides
being dressed like him. The head of a lion came out from between his legs
and on his shoulders was another lion whose legs appeared to join over the
shoulders of the man. A sort of serpent also twined over the shoulders.

"On seeing this figure the Inca Yupanqui fled, but the figure of the
apparition called him by his name from within the fountain saying, 'Come
hither, my son, and fear not, for I am the Sun, thy father. Thou shalt
conquer many nations: therefore be careful to pay great reverence to me
and remember me in thy sacrifices.' The apparition then vanished, while
the piece of crystal remained. The Inca took care of it and they say that
he afterwards saw everything he wanted in it. As soon as he was Lord he
ordered a statue of the Sun to be made as nearly as possible resembling
the figure he had seen in the crystal. He gave orders to the heads of the
provinces in all the lands he had conquered, that they should make grand
temples, richly endowed, and he commanded all his subjects to adore and
reverence the new D