Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/125

Rh Still, a very careful weighing of the amount of trust to be given to the various authorities is necessary, with reference to their characters, positions, and circumstances; as well as a comparison of the same statement in various authorities, in order to judge which version is nearest to the truth, and to arrive at the nearest approximation to accuracy. Such a scrutiny is the work of years, but the subject, from every point of view, is worthy of this serious and prolonged study.

The god who was regarded as the creator and ruler of the universe in the megalithic age was, as we have seen, The names were handed down, by tradition, through the centuries, and were used by the Incas when contemplating or worshipping the Supreme Being. The names came to them, and were not invented by them. For them they were the names of the ruler of the universe, whatever their meaning might be. For the Incas, and the more thoughtful among those who surrounded them, were convinced that the deities worshipped by the people were not supreme, but that they obeyed some irresistible and unknown but orderly force. It was this Supreme Being that the Incas worshipped, and sought, with fervency, to know and to understand. Both Molina and Salcamayhua tell us that there was a temple at Cuzco to the Supreme Being, and that his worship was included in the elaborate ritual of the later Incas. Molina gives the prayers 3em