Why did the ancient Peruvians choose, as the site of one of their greatest temples, a strip of arid plain, when a vast region lay before them, presenting every variety of blessing which a bountiful Nature and beneficent Providence could bestow upon a favored land? This question is suggested not only as one contemplates the ruins of Pachacámac, but also in the presence of the temple and monoliths of Tiahuanaco. Was it that fear was the directing impulse, and a desire to propitiate an evil deity was stronger than the inspiration to adore a beneficent and beloved creator? In a land of snow-capped mountains, unfathomable cañons, and varied climate, where stupendous evidences of an omnipotent power were constantly present to impress the imagination of a primitive people, and the changes wrought by Nature were sometimes sudden and disastrous, as in the case of earthquakes and tidal waves, it is not strange that, as is seen in India, where similar conditions prevailed, the dawning intelligence of a primitive race was apparently dominated by fear rather than love in the exercise of its religion. An explanation of the choice of locality for the temple of Pachacámac is afforded by the following legend, the origin of which is said to be very ancient. The distinguished author of the archæological treatise _Pachacámac_ relates the story: “In the beginning of the world there was no food for a man and a woman whom the god Pachacámac had created. The man starved, but the woman survived. One day, as she was searching among the thorn bushes for roots with which to stay her hunger, she lifted up her eyes to the sun and with tears and lamentation cried: ‘Beloved Creator of all things! Why hast thou brought me into the light of this world if I am to die of hunger and want? Oh, that thou hadst not created me out of nothing, or hadst suffered me to die immediately on entering the world, instead of leaving me alone in it without children to succeed me, poor, cast down, and sorrowful! Why, O Sun, having created us, why wilt thou let us perish? And if thou art the Giver of Light, why art thou so niggardly as to refuse me my nourishment? Thou hast no pity and heedst not the sorrow of those whom thou hast created only to their misery. Cause heaven to slay me with lightning or earth to swallow me, or give me food, for thou, Almighty One, hast made me!’ The sun, touched with pity, descended to her and bade her give up her fears and hope for comfort, for she would soon be delivered from the cause of her trouble. One day, while she was wearily searching for roots, she became impregnated with his rays and bore a son after four days. But Pachacámac, who was the son of the Sun, was angry with the woman for having worshipped his father and for having borne him a son in defiance of himself; he seized the newborn demigod and cut him to pieces. In order, however, that the woman should not suffer for lack of food, he