Thus his curious account of the water sacrifices, not mentioned by any other published authority, is verified by the full description of the same rite in the manuscript of Molina. On the other hand, the long absence of the Inca from his native country entailed upon him grave disadvantages. His boyish recollections, though deeply interesting, could not, from the nature of the case, provide him with critical knowledge. Hence the mistakes in his work are serious and of frequent occurrence. Dr. Villar has pointed out his total misconception of the Supreme Being of the Peruvians, and of the significance of the word “Uira-cocha.”[1264] But, with all its shortcomings,[1265] the work of the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega must ever be the main source of our knowledge, and without his pious labors the story of the Incas would lose more than half its interest. The first part of his _Commentarios Reales_, which alone concerns the present subject, was published at Lisbon in 1607.[1266] The author died at Cordova at the age of seventy-six, and was buried in the cathedral in 1616. He lived just long enough to accomplish his most cherished wish, and to complete the work at which he had steadily and lovingly labored for so many years. Another Indian author wrote an account of the antiquities of Peru, at a time when the grandchildren of those who witnessed the conquest by the Spaniards were living. Unlike Garcilasso, this author never left the land of his birth, but he was not of Inca lineage. Don Juan de Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua was a native of the Collao, and descended from a family of local chiefs. His work is entitled _Relacion de Antigüedades deste Reyno del Peru_. It long remained in manuscript in the National Library at Madrid, until it was edited by Don Márcos Jiménez de la Espada in 1879. It had previously been translated into English and edited for the Hakluyt Society.[1267] Salcamayhua gives the traditions of Inca history as they were handed down to the third generation after the conquest. Intimately acquainted with the language, and in a position to converse with the oldest recipients of native lore, he is able to record much that is untold elsewhere, and to confirm a great deal that is related by former authors. He has also preserved two prayers in Quichua, attributed to Manco Ccapac, the first Inca, and some others, which add to the number given by Molina. He also corroborates the important statement of Molina, that the great gold plate in the temple at Cuzco was intended to represent the Supreme Being, and not the sun. Salcamayhua is certainly a valuable addition to the authorities on Peruvian history. [Illustration NOTE.—The title-page of the fifth decade Herrera, showing the Inca portraits, is given above. Cf. the plate in Stevens’s English translation of Herrera, vol. iv., London, 1740, 2d edition.—ED.]