]
The most sumptuous edifice in Cuzco, in the times of the Incas,
was undoubtedly the great temple dedicated to the Sun, which,
studded with gold plates, as already noticed, was surrounded by
convents and dormitories for the priests, with their gardens and
broad parterres sparkling with gold. The exterior ornaments had
been already removed by the Conquerors, - all but the frieze of
gold, which, imbedded in the stones, still encircled the
principal building. It is probable that the tales of wealth, so
greedily circulated among the Spaniards, greatly exceeded the
truth. If they did not, the natives must have been very
successful in concealing their treasures from the invaders. Yet
much still remained, not only in the great House of the Sun, but
in the inferior temples which swarmed in the capital.
Pizarro, on entering Cuzco, had issued an order forbidding any
soldier to offer violence to the dwellings of the inhabitants.
*38 But the palaces were numerous, and the troops lost no time in
plundering them of their contents, as well as in despoiling the
religious edifices. The interior decorations supplied them with
considerable booty. They stripped off the jewels and rich
ornaments that garnished the royal mummies in the temple of
Coricancha. Indignant at the concealment of their treasures,
they put the inhabitants, in some instances, to the torture, and
endeavoured to extort from them a confession of their
hiding-places. *39 They invaded the repose of the sepulchres, in
which the Peruvians often deposited their valuable effects, and
compelled the grave to give up its dead.
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