Peruvian antiquities / by Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi ; translated by Francis L. Hawks.
- Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz
- Date:
- 1854
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Peruvian antiquities / by Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi ; translated by Francis L. Hawks. Source: Wellcome Collection.
158/342 page 128
![make it more exact, they fixed on them a gnomon like the pin of a dial, so that so soon as the sun at its rising came to dart a direct shadow by it, and that at its height, or mid-day, the pillar made no shade, they then concluded that the sun was entered the equinoctial line, at which time they adorn- ed these pillars with garlands and odoriferous herbs, and placed upon them the seat or chair of the sun, saying that on that day he appeared in his most glittering throne and majesty, and therefore made their oflerings of gold and sil- ver, and precious stones, to him with all the solemnities of ostentation and joy usual at such festivals. Thus the Incas and Amautas having observed that when the sun came to the equinoctial these pillars made little shadow at noon-day, and that those in the city of Quito and those of the same degree to the sea-coast made none at all, because the sun is then per- pendicularly over them, they concluded that the position of those countries was more agreeable and pleasing to the sun than those on which, in an oblique manner only,” he darted the brightness of his rays.”* The Amautas noted the movements of Venus, the only planet which attracted their attention, and which they venera- rated as a page of the sun. They knew some few of the con- stellations, such as the Hyades, which they called Ahuarax:a- qui, or jaw-bone of the tapir, and the Plyades, Oncoy Coyllur. As all the nations were not versed in the course of the heaven- ly bodies, they were frightened at the eclipses of the sun and moon, principally at those of the latter planet, believing that it threatened to burst or explode upon the ’earth; and to avoid * We have here followed the old translation of Garcilasso by Sir Paul Rycaud, which, though far from literal and often inaccurate, yet in this instance conveys the meaning of the original with sufficient distinctness to make it intelligible, and with more brevity than was possible in a hteral translation.—[Translator.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24883463_0158.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
