by 350, and 100 feet above the plain, beyond which rises a pyramid of nine stages or terraces, 200 feet square. On the other side of the pyramid, which is the highest part, there is a platform 80 feet lower, and another lower still. The mass of adobes is probably solid.[1] Here were performed the great religious ceremonies. The gorgeous processions issued from the palace and proceeded to the temple of the moon. There were the musicians with their instruments, the minstrels and singers, the warriors with their long lances and plumed head-dresses showing distinctive ranks, the priests and courtiers, and the Chimu himself in his litter, wearing the jewelled diadem and clothed in robes of fine cotton covered with gold plates, and bordered with fringes of bright-coloured feathers.
Calancha tells us that the physicians, called Oquetlupuc, effected their cures with herbs, and were much venerated, but their punishment, when a patient died owing to their neglect or ignorance, was death. He gives us no details respecting their cemeteries and methods of sepulture, although this is a most important point. Like the Incas, the Chimus thought it a sacred duty to preserve the bodies of the deceased as mummies, and to bury with them their most valued possessions. To this practice we owe the discovery of so many hundreds of specimens of their beautiful works of
- ↑ Passages and chambers are supposed to exist, and it is said that there is a vault containing the body of the mightiest of the Chimu princes, and the Peje grande.
