*43 The "Houses of the Virgins
of the Sun" consisted of low ranges of stone buildings, covering
a large extent of ground, surrounded by high walls, which
excluded those within entirely from observation. They were
provided with every accommodation for the fair inmates, and were
embellished in the same sumptuous and costly manner as the
palaces of the Incas, and the temples; for they received the
particular care of government, as an important part of the
religious establishment. *44
[Footnote 43: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Garcilasso,
Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.]
[Footnote 44: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 5. - Cieza de Leon,
Cronica, cap. 44.]
Yet the career of all the inhabitants of these cloisters was not
confined within their narrow walls. Though Virgins of the Sun,
they were brides of the Inca, and, at a marriageable age, the
most beautiful among them were selected for the honors of his
bed, and transferred to the royal seraglio. The full complement
of this amounted in time not only to hundreds, but thousands, who
all found accommodations in his different palaces throughout the
country. When the monarch was disposed to lessen the number of
his establishment, the concubine with whose society he was
willing to dispense returned, not to her former monastic
residence, but to her own home; where, however humble might be
her original condition, she was maintained in great state, and,
far from being dishonored by the situation she had filled, was
held in universal reverence as the Inca's bride.
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