ABSTRACT
The Inca of Peru was its sovereign in a peculiar sense. He received an obedience from his vassals more implicit than that of any despot; for his authority reached to the most secret conduct,—to the thoughts of the individual. He was reverenced as more than human. 1 He was not merely the head of the state, but the point to which all its institutions converged as to a common centre,—the keystone of the political fabric which must fall to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn. So it fared on the death of Atahuallpa. 2 His death not only left the throne vacant, without any certain successor, but the manner of it announced to the Peruvian people that a hand stronger than that of their Incas had now seized the sceptre, and that the dynasty of the Children of the Sun had passed away forever.
