Next to Blas Valera, the most important authority on Inca civilization, among the Spanish priests who were in Peru during the sixteenth century, is undoubtedly Christoval de Molina. He was chaplain to the hospital for natives at Cuzco, and his work was written between 1570 and 1584, the period embraced by the episcopate of Dr. Sebastian de Artaun, to whom it is dedicated. Molina gives minute and detailed accounts of the ceremonies performed at all the religious festivals throughout the year, with the prayers used by the priests on each occasion. Out of the fourteen prayers preserved by Molina, four are addressed to the Supreme Being, two to the sun, the rest to these and other deities combined. His mastery of the Quichua language, his intimacy with the native chiefs and learned men, and his long residence at Cuzco give Molina a very high place as an authority on Inca civilization. His work has remained in manuscript,[1240] but it has been translated into English and printed for the Hakluyt Society.[1241] Molina, in his dedicatory address to Bishop Artaun, mentions a previous narrative which he had submitted, on the origin, history, and government of the Incas. Fortunately this account was preserved by Miguel Cavello Balboa, an author who wrote at Quito between 1576 and 1586. Balboa, a soldier who had taken orders late in life, went out to America in 1566, and settled at Quito, where he devoted himself to the preparation and writing of a work which he entitled _Miscellanea Austral_. It is in three parts; but only the third, comprising about half the work, relates to Peru. Balboa tells us that his authority for the early Inca traditions and history was the learned Christoval de Molina, and this gives special value to Balboa’s work. Moreover, Balboa is the only authority who gives any account of the origin of the coast people, and he also supplies a detailed narrative of the war between Huascar and Atahualpa. The portion relating to Peru was translated into French and published by Ternaux Compans in 1840.[1242]