No garment or utensil that had once
belonged to the Peruvian sovereign could ever be used by another.
When he laid it aside, it was carefully deposited in a chest,
kept for the purpose, and afterwards burned. It would have been
sacrilege to apply to vulgar uses that which had been consecrated
by the touch of the Inca. *17
[Footnote 17: This account of the personal habits of Atahuallpa
is taken from Pedro Pizarro, who saw him often in his
confinement. As his curious narrative is little known, I have
extracted the original in Appendix, No. 9.]
Not long after the arrival of the party from Pachacamac, in the
latter part of May, the three emissaries returned from Cuzco.
They had been very successful in their mission. Owing to the
Inca's order, and the awe which the white men now inspired
throughout the country, the Spaniards had everywhere met with a
kind reception. They had been carried on the shoulders of the
natives in the hamacas, or sedans, of the country; and, as they
had travelled all the way to the capital on the great imperial
road, along which relays of Indian carriers were established at
stated intervals, they performed this journey of more than six
hundred miles, not only without inconvenience, but with the most
luxurious ease. They passed through many populous towns, and
always found the simple natives disposed to venerate them as
beings of a superior nature. In Cuzco they were received with
public festivities, were sumptuously lodged, and had every want
anticipated by the obsequious devotion of the inhabitants.
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