he
right thing. Of the historical records of that powerful but
short-lived dynasty we have nothing left but the few imperfect and
rotten _quippus_ which are occasionally disinterred from the
_huacas_.

If we desire to know anything about the civil laws and policy, the
religious rites and ceremonies of the Incas, their scanty
scientific attainments, and their very few and rude artistic
attempts, we are obliged to recur to the "Comentarios reales" of
Garcilasso de la Vega, to the _Decadas_ of Herrera, to Zarata and
other writers of the time of the conquest of Peru by Francisco
Pizarro. None of them--Montesinos excepted--try to shed any light
on the origin of _Manco-Ceapac_ and that of his sister and wife,
_Mama-Oello_, nor on the state of the country before their arrival
at Cuzco.

I have been most happy in my researches into the history of this
founder of the Inca dynasty, whom many consider a mere mythical
being. In the library of the British Museum I came across an old
Spanish manuscript, written by a Jesuit father, A. Anilla, under,
as he asserts, the dictation of a certain _Catari_, an
ex-_quippucamayoe_,--archive-keeper.

Writing now from memory, far away from my books, notes, plans,
etc., etc., left for safe-keeping in the hands of a friend in
Merida, I do not remember the number of the catalogue. But it is
easy to look for "_Las vidas de los hombres ilustres de la compania
de Jesus en las Provincias del Peru_," where I have read of the
origin of Manco-Ceapac, of his wanderings from the sea coasts to
those of the lake of Titicaca, and hence through the country till
at last he arrived at the village of Cuzco, where he was kindly
received by the inhabitants and established himself. This MS. also
speaks of the history of his ancestors, of their arrival at Tumbes
after leaving their homes in the countries of the north in search
of some lost relatives, of their slow progress toward the South,
and the vain inquiries about their friends, etc., etc. Now that I
have studied part of the history of the Mayas and become acquainted
with their customs, as pictured in the mural paintings that adorn
the walls of the inner room of the monument raised to the memory of
Chac-Mool by the Queen of Itza, his wife, on the south end of the
east wall