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the most beautiful to be sent to where he was, as his concu- bine. 21
Those who had once been sent out as concubines to the King, could not again return to the convent, but served in the royal palace as servants of the Queen, until they obtained permission to return to their homes, where they received houses and lands, and were treated with much veneration, for it was a very great honor to the whole neighborhood to have near them a woman of the Inca. 22 Those who did not attain to the honor of being concubines of the King, remained in the convent until they were very old and then had per- mission to return home, or else died in the convent. 23
These girls were guarded with the same care and vigilance as those of the Sun. They had servant-maids like the others, and were maintained out of the estate of the Inca, because they were his women. They could do the same work as those of the Sun, weaving and sewing, making clothes in very great quantities for the Inca, and making all the other things we have mentioned as being the work of the virgins of the Sun. The Inca distributed the work of these girls among the royal family, the Curacas, war captains, and all other persons whom he desired to honour with presents. These gifts were not pro- hibited, because they were made by the Incas and for him, and not by the virgins of the Sun for the Sun. 24
The same severe law existed against delinquents who violated the women of the Inca as against those who were guilty with virgins dedicated to the Sun, as the crime was considered to be the same. 25
Still another form of religious chastity was practiced by the Peruvian women:
present, and that the rest would go to serve their master, one by one, as they died." (Royal Commentaries, Vol. II, p. 113.)
Transitions from widow-immolation are also found in Peru, (i) In a burial mound at Gran Chimu were found metal figures representing human beings, (Squier, Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas [London, 1877], p. 158.) (2) "The chastity of widows must not be forgotten, which they preserved, with great strictness, during the first year of their bereavement. And very few of those who had no children ever married again, and even those who had continued to live single ; for this virtue was much commended in their laws and ordinances. It was there directed that the lands of the widows should be tilled first, before those of either the Curacas or the Incas, and other privileges were conceded to them. It is also true that the Indians did not approve of mar- raige with a widow, especially if the man was not a widower ; for it was said that such an one lost, I know not what, of his quality in marrying a widow." (Royal Commentaries, Vol. I, pp. 305, 306.)
n Loc. cit., p. 299.
" Cunow points out, in quoting other Spanish writers on the subject, that this was one of Garcillasso's many rosy views of the Inca despotism (Die soziale Ver- fassung des Inkareichs [Stuttgart, 1896], pp. 110-12).
"Loc. cit., p. 301. * Ibid., pp. 299, 300. * Ibid., p. 300.
