History of the conquest of Peru / by Willilam H. Prescott.
- William Hickling Prescott
- Date:
- 1908
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: History of the conquest of Peru / by Willilam H. Prescott. Source: Wellcome Collection.
55/692 page 13
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: History of the conquest of Peru / by Willilam H. Prescott. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![the sovereign, that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of the Europeans, though, under the magical influence of fashion, it was regarded as a beauty by the natives. When this operation was performed, one of the most venerable of the nobles dressed the feet of the candidates in the sandals worn by the order, which may remind us of the ceremony of buckling on the spurs of the Christian knight. They were then allowed to assume the girdle or sash around the loins, corresponding with the toga virilis of the Romans, and intimating that they had reached the season of manhood. Their heads were adorned with garlands of flowers, which, by their various colours, were emblematic of the clemency and goodness that should grace the character of every true warrior; and the leaves of an evergreen plant were mingled with the flowers, to show that these virtues should endure without end.1 The prince’s head was further ornamented by a fillet, or tasselled fringe, of a yellow colour, made of the fine threads of the vicuna wool, which encircled the forehead as the peculiar insignia of the heir-apparent. The great body of the Inca nobility next made their appearance, and beginning with those nearest of kin, knelt down before the prince, and did him homage as successor to the crown. The whole assembly then moved to the great square of the capital, where songs and dances, and other public festivities closed the important ceremonial of the huaracu.2 The reader will be less surprised by the resemblance which this ceremonial bears to the inauguration of a Christian knight in the feudal ages, if he reflects that a similar analogy may be traced in the institutions of other people more or less civilised; and that it is natural that nations occupied with the one great business of war, should mark the period, when the preparatory education for it was ended, by similar characteristic ceremonies. The ornament, which was in the form of a wheel, did not depend from the ear, but was inserted in the gristle of it, and was as large as an orange ! “La hacen lan ancha como una gran rosea de naranja ; los senores i principales traian aquellas roscas de oro fino en las orejas.” (Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS.—Also Garcilasso, Com. Real., parte i. lib. i. cap. xxii.) “The larger the hole,” says one of the old Conquerors, “the more of a gentleman !”—Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1 Garcilasso, Com. Real., parte i. lib. vi. cap. xxvii. 2 Ibid., parte i. lib. vi. cap. xxiv—xxviii. According to Fernandez the candidates wore white shirts, with something like a cross embroidered in front! (Historia del Peru, [Sevilla, 1571,] parte ii. lib. iii. cap. vi.) We may fancy ourselves occupied with some chivalrous ceremonial of the Middle Ages.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31358329_0055.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
