ENDNOTES
[1] Tavantinsuyu] “The Land of the Four Regions” (North, South, East, and West). The name Peru was not known to the Incas. It was an invention of the Spaniards, and of obscure, indeed, unknown origin.
[2] the doom of those who disobey] All disobedience to the direct commands of the reigning Inca was punished by death because he was considered to be the incarnation of Divinity; hence disobedience to him was sacrilege. There is, however, no instance on record of this crime having been committed.
[3] Nothing less than this appalling penalty was the punishment decreed by the Inca laws to those who disobeyed the commands or deliberately thwarted the will of the crowned Son of the Sun.
[4] by the coming of our Father] The rising of the sun was thus alluded to.
[5] Coya] Queen, or wife-royal, as distinguished from those who formed the harem of the Sovereign. The Incas held exactly the same views on the subject of sister-marriage as the Pharaohs did.
[6] the brilliant Chasca] The Incas’ name for the planet Venus. They called her in their poems “the bright-haired handmaid of the Sun.”
[7] the yellow fringe on his brow] The mark of social differences. Those not of the pure Inca race wore black, those of the blood-royal yellow, and the crowned Inca scarlet mingled with gold threads.
[8] This portent was actually seen over the city of Cuzco shortly before the Conquest.
[9] Llapa] A generic term used by the Incas to denote all or any of the manifestations of thunder-storms, earthquakes, meteors, and similar phenomena.
[10] The golden mask shall never cover thy face] The faces of the royal mummies were covered with a golden mask moulded to the features.
[11] It is said that more than 700 members of Huayna-Capac’s Household sacrificed themselves in various places on his death, but some authorities hold that this savage custom had been abolished by the later and more enlightened Incas.
[12] It was said that nearly 40,000 inhabitants of the Valley of Quito perished in the earthquake which occurred about this time. It is, of course, a matter of history that Atahuallpa escaped.
[13] According to one who took some share in this hideous day’s work, this was absolutely the only wound inflicted on a Spaniard.
[14] The Spanish chroniclers have recorded that Atahuallpa felt the, to him, unspeakable dishonour of this proposal even more keenly than his own captivity and all the indignities that it entailed.
[15] roaring torrent of the “Great Speaker”] The Apu-Rimac, one of the head-waters of the Amazon. It flows through this gorge with a constant dull roar.
[16] I baptize thee, Juan de Atahuallpa] It was the evening of the Feast of St. John. Hence the new “convert’s” name.