privileges to the Curacas, as otherwise they could not have held in obedience the conquered people, who regarded these chiefs with great reverence. [Illustration: THE RODADERO, CUZCO, SITE CHOSEN FOR RUNNING CONTESTS OF THE HUARACU.] It was also in accordance with religious sentiment that the second message of Viracocha should have been directed to the Mamaconas, who were the guardians of the vestal virgins, and were appointed to this office after they had themselves grown old in watching over the sacred fire that burned forever on the altar. Not only did the Virgins of the Sun watch over the sacred fire, but they wove all the beautiful garments of vicuña wool used in the apparel of the Inca and his family, they worked the exquisite embroideries that adorned the hangings of the temple, and they were indispensable in the preparation of the magnificent feasts that celebrated the Inca’s triumphs; probably it was this last fact which led Viracocha to send his second message to the Mamaconas; for the splendors of the festivities held in honor of his triumph over the enemy and his coronation as Inca Emperor eclipsed all previous celebrations, not only in the capital but throughout the empire. The message from Viracocha to his royal father could hardly have afforded unalloyed satisfaction, since it evidently conveyed the intention of the victor to possess the spoils, in the form of the imperial _llautu_, and to occupy the throne which his energy and courage had successfully guarded, when the cowardly flight of Yahuar Huaccac exposed it to destruction. In the first year of his eventful reign, Viracocha ordered the construction of the sumptuous temple of which the majestic ruins are still to be seen twenty miles south of Cuzco. The walls of the temple were erected on an elevated base, which was built with five _andenes_, or steps, leading up to it from the level of the plain, and the temple covered an area one hundred and twenty feet long by twenty-five feet wide, the wall being built of hewn stone from the ground up to half its height, and of adobe for the remainder. The edifice had eight lofty doors and as many windows, and on one side stood an altar with a statue of the deity Viracocha, representing him, as he appeared to the prince during his banishment, “with a flowing beard.” It is believed by many writers that this temple, which shows a different architecture from that of all other Incaic edifices, was constructed before the advent of Manco-Ccapac by the Canas (whom the third Inca subjugated at great cost), and that Viracocha did no more than to restore and embellish it.