Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/302

258 time to time appear, among the nations prone to error, and enslaved by their caprices, they shut their ears against the truth, and cover their eyes that they may not see its fascinating splendour; so the superstitious worship which the Peruvians paid to a creature, did not suffer any abatement.

If, however, we pay attention to the beauty and beneficial influence of that planet, we may find certain reasons which render this error in some measure excusable; since, in diffusing its light over the earth, it gladdens the spirits; invigorates and vivifies bodies; produces flowers grateful to the eye and smell; covers the meadows with salutary herbs; ripens the swelling blades of Ceres; and matures the fruits of Pomona. But the gratification which arises from these reflexions, is denied to those who place their hope in inanimate images; who regard as deities the artificial works of man; who worship statues of gold and silver; and who adore the effigies of animals, and the useless stone wrought by an unskilful hand.

Such were the objects of the veneration of the bulk of the people. Not content with adoring the god of their conquerors, they undertook to find a deity in every situation, under every necessity, and for every ministry. From each direction they bent their steps to the huacas, or pagan temples, where they sacrificed to their idols, making libations of chicha offering up cuyes and coca and exhaling in vapours, or consuming in the fire, the aromatics they presented to them. Conceiving that