After a breakfast scarcely touched by the two, they were taken to the arena where the spectacle was to be staged. A vast number of people had already assembled. Most of them stood in a solid mass surrounding an open square; armed guards formed lines and held them in check. On one side stood those of noble birth, dressed in their most gorgeous attire and bedecked with jewels. Round ornaments of gold hung from their ears. Some wore large breast-plates of the same precious metal that extended from shoulder to shoulder, and from the chin to the waist-line. Their mantles were embroidered or brocaded in curious figures of birds and animals, among which the condor and puma were conspicuous by the frequency with which they appeared. Huge golden pins, shaped like spoons, held the draperies in place. And chains of emeralds hung from their necks, while the turbans that crowned their heads were a mass of bright colors and flashing stones. Each noble was accompanied by a number of attendants that held a canopy of cloth of fine texture over his head to shield it from the sun, and in his hand he carried a staff of polished wood with numerous gold and silver pendants that denoted his rank and position. Quizquiz arrived not long after. He came in his sedan of gold, massive and heavy, and borne on the shoulders of his highest officials. As the latter deposited their burden on a specially constructed platform, Ted and Stanley could not suppress exclamations of surprise at his lavish and beautiful attire. He was wrapped in a mantle of gold cloth that covered him from his head to his feet; throwing this aside carelessly, he revealed his undergarments made of the same material. Bracelets and amulets covered his arms. The chain around his neck, falling to his waist, was composed of alternate turquoise, pearls, and emeralds, some of them the size of a pigeon’s egg, and so skilfully had the gems been polished that there was continuous play of refracted light in a thousand points of shimmering, satiny color. Quizquiz carried a burnished-silver mirror in his hand and made frequent use of it to throw a shaft of dazzling light into the eyes of some favorite; this was always the signal for the honored one to fall upon his knees and to chant the praises of the sovereign who had thus condescended to throw the radiance, supposedly emanating from the Inca’s sacred person, upon him. After amusing himself in this manner for some time, Quizquiz spoke: