Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.]
[Footnote 40: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 41: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]
[Footnote 42: Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 9. - Fernandez, Hist.
del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 11. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,
Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 3.
According to the historian of the Incas, the terrible penalty was
never incurred by a single lapse on the part of the fair
sisterhood; though, if it had been, the sovereign, he assures us,
would have "exacted it to the letter, with as little compunction
as he would have drowned a puppy." (Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4,
cap. 3.) Other writers contend, on the contrary, that these
Virgins had very little claim to the reputation of Vestals. (See
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind.,
cap. 121.) Such imputations are common enough on the inhabitants
of religious houses, whether pagan or Christian. They are
contradicted in the present instance by the concurrent testimony
of most of those who had the best opportunity of arriving at
truth, and are made particularly improbable by the superstitious
reverence entertained for the Incas.]
The great establishment at Cuzco consisted wholly of maidens of
the royal blood, who amounted, it is said, to no less than
fifteen hundred. The provincial convents were supplied from the
daughters of the curacas and inferior nobles, and, occasionally,
where a girl was recommended by great personal attractions, from
the lower classes of the people.
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