Out of the confusion of many legends that are related by the Indians to account for the origin of the Incas’ empire, the one which is best known, and most generally approved, because of the poetic beauty of the conception, tells us that the Sun, the creator of mankind, through compassion for the deplorable degradation of the world, sent two of his children, Manco-Ccapac and Mama Ocllo, to regenerate humanity and to teach the arts of civilized life. The celestial pair, who were not only brother and sister, but husband and wife, appeared first on an island in the midst of Lake Titicaca, and from this point they set forth on their benevolent mission. Lake Titicaca is supposed to have been chosen as the place of departure because, since it was the first to receive the rays of the sun when Viracocha dispersed the darkness, it was fitting that the first messengers of the light of civilization should also appear on its sacred island. They carried a rod of gold about two feet long and of the thickness of a man’s finger, having received from their father, the Sun, instructions to establish themselves in the place where the rod should sink into the earth at the first stroke. In the _cerro_ of Huanacaure the golden rod was buried out of sight as soon as it struck the soil, and here was founded the great empire of the Incas,—“Inca” meaning “lord,”—which was to flourish and extend its dominion from the northern border of the present republic of Ecuador to the south of Chile and from the Pacific Ocean to the eastern valleys of the Andean chain, covering a territory of more than a million square miles, and giving protection to at least ten million faithful and industrious subjects, obedient to the Inca’s laws. [Illustration: TERRACE OF THE INCA’S PALACE, OLLANTAYTAMBO.]