Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/847

Rh rays. They said that, being the most brilliant of the stars, the sun would not permit it to be separated from him, and obliged it to attend his rising as well as his going down, just as at the courts of kings only the most distinguished lords and the handsomest ladies were admitted to the ceremonious royal risings and retirings. It appears nearly certain that the Incas spoke of Venus under two different names, according as it preceded or followed the sun. To this day the native Peruvians name it, in fanciful language, the eight-hour torch and the twilight lamp. As this star served to show the Indians when it was time to prepare the maize for cooking, they also gave it a name indicative of that act. A chapel in the Temple of the Sun was consecrated to this planet.

The phases of the moon were well known to the people, and they attributed life and movement to it. When the moon was invisible, during the days preceding the first quarter, they said it was dead, and would rest three days in the tomb, beyond the snowy mountains and the immense ocean. Then it would rise again, to their great joy. To the people of Asia and North America the spots on the moon represented a rodent—a hare or rabbit—or a human being. The Incas perceived in it a young woman, and said that once upon a time the daughter of the king, walking in the light of the moon in one of those limpid and blue nights peculiar to the tropics and to these latitudes, suddenly fell in love with the star of the night. Desiring to possess him, she went and hid herself in the top of a mountain by which he would pass, sprang upon him at a favorable moment, and became one body with him. The moon, called by names which signified sister or wife, was regarded as the first wife of the sun, and was represented by a silver plate bearing a woman's face. It, too, had its sanctuary, occupying a station of honor in the temple of the supreme god.

The difference between the seasons not being distinctly marked in Peru by variations either in moisture or temperature, it was important to make very careful observations in order to determine the times for planting and harvest. The only method was by experiment. The attention of the ancient Peruvians was particularly directed to the time when the sun passed the zenith, for then it cast no shadow at noon. They also observed it very carefully at the June solstice when it was seen nearest to the horizon; and they succeeded, as we shall see, in giving their observations scientific precision. The solar spots had also been observed.

In explanation of the circular motion of the sun, the Incas said that it was hung in space by a cord; that it entered the sea in the