Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/137

Rh sacred fire which was always burning, called Nina Uilca. Many princesses and daughters of nobles were sent to be educated with the novices, although they were not going to be Aclla. When the novices had served their three years they were called Huamac. They were brought before the Inca and the Uillac Uma. Those who did not feel a vocation received husbands. Those who wished to remain as virgins of the sun were dressed in white, and garlands of gold (Ccuri Uincha) were placed on their heads. They were dedicated to the sun for the rest of their lives, employed in the service of the temple, and in weaving very fine cloth for the deities, the Inca and his family, and the Uillac Uma. They never went abroad without an armed escort, and were treated with profound respect. When the Spanish destruction came, many of these virgins became nuns and were protected, others married baptised Indians, and the rest fled in various directions.

Another numerous class in this complicated hierarchy was that of diviners and soothsayers, called Huatuc. They were dressed in grey, were celibate while holding office, living on herbs and roots, and were almost always to be found in the vestibules of the temples. Those who divined by the flight of birds and by the intestines of animals sacrificed were called Hamurpa. The Lllaychunca divined by odds and evens, the Pacchacuc by the legs of a great hairy spider, the Socyac by maize heaps, the Hualla, Achacuc,