[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.