Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/271

Rh road must have delayed the god a good deal, so that when at last he reached the seashore he found that Cavillaca and her child were turned into rocks in the offing. Uira-cocha walked along the seashore until he met two young daughters of the fish god Pachacamac, but they flew away from him in the shape of doves. For this reason their mother, who had gone to visit Cavillaca, now turned to a rock, was called Urpi-huachac, or the 'mother of doves.' Uira-cocha was angry, and looked about to see how he could injure her. In those days there were no fishes in the sea. But Urpi-huachac reared some in a pond; so the enraged god emptied all the fish into the sea, and from them all the fishes that are now in the sea were propagated. This tradition was rooted in the hearts of the people, and in Avila's time the condor, falcon, and lion were looked upon as sacred, and were never killed. Avila knew of a condor which lived under the bridge at the village of San Damian for many years after it was too old to fly. The diligent priest has preserved several other mythological legends.

The temple of Pachacamac was dedicated to a fish god, and is alluded to in this legend of Cavillaca. An immense mound of stones and adobes rises to a height of 200 feet, on the right bank of the river Lurin, near the seashore. It stands on the frontier line, with the fertile valley of Lurin on one side and the sandy desert on the other. The temple is built in three wide terraces, with a platform on the summit. The side-walls