Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/122

94 the greatest man that the American race has ever produced.

Tupac was a worthy successor. He continued and consolidated the work of his father. As his power and the extent of the empire increased, the Incas assumed greater state and magnificence. With Pachacuti apparently, and certainly with Tupac, the custom of marrying sisters was commenced. Like the Ptolemies, the Incas resorted to this method of making their family a race apart from the rest of mankind and almost divine.

Tupac was second only to his father as an administrator and a general. His first campaign as a sovereign was a most difficult one. He penetrated far into the primeval forests to the east of the Andes. He then completely subjugated the Collas, and Chile as far as the river Maule. His long reign extended over upwards of sixty years, mainly a period of consolidation. He established a firm and settled government on the lines laid down by his father. When he felt the approach of death, he retired to his palace of Chinchero, overlooking the sacred valley, with a glorious view of the snowy mountains. The walls of this palace are still standing. The dying Inca sent for his relations and councillors, and announced to them that his heir and successor was to be the young Prince Cusi Hualpa, his legitimate son by his sister and wife, Mama Ocllo. He then sank down among his pillows and died at the great age of eighty-five years.