Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/80

54 suited for settlement. But first the joyful Ayar must be disposed of. A pile of stones was in sight, where the temple of the sun afterwards stood. Manco told his last remaining brother, who was winged, that he must fly thither and take possession of the territory. The joyful Ayar did so, and when he sat on the mount, lo and behold! he was turned into a stone. This cairn or mound was called, whence the name of the future city. The word means literally a clod of earth, or hard, unirrigated land. Cuzquini is to level or break clods of earth.

Whether the three Ayars were disposed of in this miraculous way, or whether their lives were taken without a disturbance of the laws of nature, Manco now had no rival. He occupied a strong position with his army, near the joyous Ayar's fatal Cuzco, and forcibly subdued the Alcavisas and other former settlers in the valley.

This Paccari-tampu myth is, I believe, founded on an important historical event. It records the march of those descendants of the ancient civilisers who took refuge at Tampu-tocco. They were empire builders marching to Cuzco, with their religious beliefs and ceremonies, their insignia of royalty, their traditions of laws and customs, and their household gods.

The fertile vale of Cuzco, several miles in length, and surrounded by mountains, is in latitude 13° 30′ S. and 11,380 ft. above the level of the sea. Over its site rises the imposing hill of Sacsahuaman,