For on
either side of the carved likenesses of the sun, seated upon chairs of
gold, sat the dead Incas and their queens. Yes, clothed in their royal
robes and emblems, with the Fringe upon their brows, there they sat with
their heads bent forward, so wonderfully preserved by the arts these
people have, that except for the stamp of death upon their countenances,
they might have been sleeping men and women. Thus in the dead face
of the mother of Kari I could read her likeness to her son. Of these
departed kings and queens there were many, since from the first Inca of
whom history told all were gathered here in the holy House and under
the guardianship of the effigy of their god, the Sun, from whom they
believed themselves to be descended. The sight was so solemn that it
awed me, as it did all that congregation, for I noted that here men
walked with unsandalled feet and that in speaking none raised their
voices high.
The old Inca, Upanqui, entered, gloriously apparelled and accompanied by
lords and priests, while after him came Kari with his retinue of great
men.
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