*3 At the period of the history at which we are now
arrived, he was about thirty years of age. Next to the
heir-apparent, by another wife, a cousin of the monarch's, came
Manco Capac, a young prince who will occupy an important place in
our subsequent story. But the best-beloved of the Inca's
children was Atahuallpa. His mother was the daughter of the last
Scyri of Quito, who had died of grief, it was said, not long
after the subversion of his kingdom by Huayna Capac. The princess
was beautiful, and the Inca, whether to gratify his passion, or,
as the Peruvians say, willing to make amends for the ruin of her
parents, received her among his concubines. The historians of
Quito assert that she was his lawful wife; but this dignity,
according to the usages of the empire, was reserved for maidens
of the Inca blood.
[Footnote 3: Huascar, in the Quichua dialect, signifies "a
cable." The reason of its being given to the heir apparent is
remarkable. Huayna Capac celebrated the birth of the prince by a
festival, in which he introduced a massive gold chain for the
nobles to hold in their hands as they performed their national
dances. The chain was seven hundred feet in length, and the
links nearly as big round as a man's wrist! (See Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 14. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1,
lib. 9, cap. 1.) The latter writer had the particulars, he tells
us, from his old Inca uncle, - who seems to have dealt largely in
the marvellous; not too largely for his audience, however, as the
story has been greedily circulated by most of the Castilian
writers, both of that and of the succeeding age.
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