This page has been validated.
242
DEATH OF HUAYNA CCAPAC

chief among them being Quizquiz, Chalcuchima, and Rumi-ñaui. But the prowess of Atahualpa was not such as to satisfy his father. Meanwhile Huascar was living in luxury at Cuzco. Felicitations and presents were sent to him from the provinces, and among them an exceedingly beautiful maiden arrived from Yca, on the coast, named Chumpillaya, accompanied by her parents.

Huascar fell desperately in love with the coast maiden. She received the surname of 'Curi Coyllur,' or the golden star, and the young Inca had a daughter by her who received the same name. But the jealousy of the other women led to the death of Chumpillaya by poison, and her child was placed under the care of the princess Cahua Ticlla,[1] one of Huascar's sisters.[2] The romantic love story of Curi Coyllur runs like a silver thread through the record of the war of succession.

Huayna Ccapac, the last of the imperial Incas, died at Quito in 1525, after a reign of from thirty to forty years, the last twelve having been completely occupied by his campaigns to the north of Quito. The body was conveyed to Tumi-pampa, where it was embalmed. He had declared his eldest son, Ninan Cuyuchi, to be his heir, but as he was in bad health, Huascar was nominated in the event of his elder brother's death. Ninan Cuyuchi died very

  1. Cahua, grey; ticlla, a flower.
  2. The love story of Curi Coyllur was told to Balboa by Don Mateo Yupanqui Inca, a member of the Peruvian royal family residing at Quito, p. 231.