hese women preserve their virginity. If any Indian has
any connection with them his punishment is death. Of these houses, some
are for the worship of the sun, others for that of old Cuzco, the father
of Atahualpa. Their sacrifices consist of sheep and _chica_, which they
pour out on the ground. They have another house of women in each of the
principal towns, also guarded. These women are assembled by the chiefs
of the neighboring districts, and when the lord of the land passes by
they select the best to present to him, and when they are taken others
are chosen to fill up their places. These women also have the duty of
making chica for the soldiers when they pass that way. They took Indian
girls out of these houses and presented them to us. All the surrounding
chiefs come to these towns on the roads to perform service when the army
passes. They have stores of fuel and maize and of all other necessaries.
They count by certain knots on cords, and so record what each chief has
brought. When they had to bring us loads of fuel, maize, chica, or meat,
they took off knots or made them on some other part; so that those who
have charge of the stores keep an exact account. In all these towns they
received us with great festivities, dancing, and rejoicing.

When we arrived on the plain of the sea-coast we met with a people who
were less civilized, but the country was populous. They also have houses
of women, and all the other arrangements as in the towns of the
mountains. They never wished to speak to us of the mosque, for there was
an order that all who should speak to us of it should be put to death.
But as we had intelligence that it was on the coast, we followed the
high road until we came to it. The road is very wide, with an earthen
wall on either side, and houses for resting at intervals, which were
prepared to receive the Cuzco when he travelled that way. There are very
large villages, the houses of the Indians being built of canes, and
those of the chiefs are of earth with roofs of branches of trees; for in
that land it never rains. From the city of San Miguel to this mosque the
distance is one hundred sixty or one hundred eighty leagues, the road
passing near the sea-shore through a very populous country. The road,
with a wall on each side, traverses the whole of this country; and,
neither in that part nor in the part farther on, of which we had notice
for two hundred leagues, does it ever rain.

They live by irrigation,