Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/93

Rh The custom of boring their ears and enlarging the lobes until they were a great length, which prevailed with the Incas, their relations, and the ten ayllus, obtained for them the name of Hatun-rincriyoc, or great-eared people, which the Spaniards turned into Orejones. The latter word is constantly occurring in the early chronicles and narratives, and is a convenient word to use in writing of the Inca nobles. The Incas and their Orejones, then, by their greater power and civilisation, and their prestige as children of the sun, had attained to a certain predominance over most of the neighbouring tribes. Yet some stoutly maintained independence, even within a dozen miles of Cuzco, and some, like the Ayamarcas, were hostile and defiant. 3em