Following the course of training required of every heir to the Inca throne, Maita-Ccapac had, when a youth, passed through the _Huaracu_, a ceremonial of the greatest importance, and one in which all the young Inca nobles of his own age—the title of Inca being borne by every descendant of Manco-Ccapac through the male line—participated, after having been trained in the same military exercises as the royal prince. A description of the Huaracu is interesting as showing that these people had an institution not unlike that of mediæval chivalry in Europe: From his earliest years, the hereditary prince was given into the care of the _Amauttas_, to be taught science and religion, especially the latter, as the Inca was the highest spiritual authority on earth; great attention was also paid to the military training, as it was desirable that, not only in wisdom but in military skill, the prince should excel all contemporaries. At sixteen years of age, the young heir, Maita-Ccapac, and his companions, following the sacred custom of their race, were submitted to a public test, supervised and directed by elderly and distinguished Inca nobles, which included trials of ability in athletics such as wrestling, jumping, running, besides sham battles, which were held as a trial of valor, and were so severe that many of the youths were wounded and a few killed. The royal prince had not shown the least fear nor evidence of fatigue, though put to the very limit of endurance; “for,” he said, “if I am afraid of the shadow of a combat, how shall I be able to meet the enemy in real warfare?” These exercises lasted for thirty days, during which the prince slept on the ground, went barefooted and dressed simply, thus showing his sympathy with the poorest of his future subjects. The tests concluded, the order of knighthood was conferred by the Inca emperor, father of Maita-Ccapac, all the young nobles who had taken part in the exercises kneeling with the royal heir, one after another, while the emperor pierced their ears with the _yauri_, a kind of gold needle made for the purpose, which remained in the ears until the hole was large enough to permit the insertion of the earrings peculiar to the Incas; these were not hung from the ears but were placed in the pierced opening, and replaced from time to time by rings of larger circumference, until, as in the case of Maita-Ccapac, the cartilage of the lobe was so stretched that it touched the shoulder. After this ceremony the greatest of the Inca nobles placed on the feet of the royal heir the sandals of his particular order; a scarf of similar significance to the _toga virilis_ of the Romans was wound around his waist, and his head was adorned with a wreath of flowers,—to indicate that clemency and goodness should adorn the character of the valiant warrior,—while evergreen, intertwined with the flowers, symbolized the eternal endurance of such virtues. A fillet of