Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/160

126 were twenty to twenty-five selected from nineteen ayllus. One hundred faced to the south, one hundred to the west, one hundred to the east, and one hundred to the north. Again they shouted, 'Go forth, all evils!' Then all four companies ran with great speed in the directions they were facing. Those facing south ran as far as Acoyapuncu, about two leagues; finally bathing in the river at Quiquisana. Those facing west ran as far as the river Apurimac, and bathed there. Those facing east ran at full speed over the plateau of Chita and down into the Vilcamayu valley, bathing at Pissac. Those facing north ran in that direction until they came to a stream, where they bathed. The rivers were supposed to carry the evils to the sea.

When the ceremony commenced and the armed men started on their races, all the people came to their doors and, shaking their mantles, shouted: 'Let the evils be gone. O Creator of all things, permit us to reach another year, that we may see another feast like this.' Including even the Inca, they all danced through the night, and went in the morning twilight to bathe in the rivers and fountains. They held great torches of straw bound round with cords, which they lighted and went on playing with them, passing them from one to the other. They were called Pancurcu. Meanwhile, puddings of coarsely ground maize, called Sancu, were prepared in every house. These puddings