Next there was a grand performance in the Huacay Pata, or principal square of Cuzco. The skins of jaguars and pumas had been prepared with the heads, having gold pieces in their ears, golden teeth, and golden rings, called chipana, on their paws. Those who were dressed in the skins, with many other men and women, performed a ceremonial dance to the music of drums. The dance was performed with a cable, which was kept in a building called Moro Urco, near the temple of the sun. The cable was woven in four colours – black, white, red, and yellow. At the ends there were stout balls of red wool. All over the strands small plates of gold and silver were sewn. The cable was called Huascar. Every one took hold of it, men on one side disguised in the skins and heads of wild beasts, and women on the other, and so, to the sounds of wild music, the Yaqauyra was danced through a great part of the night, round and round until the dancers were in the shape of a spiral shell, and then unwinding. Finally the cable was taken back to the Moro Urco.
Next, in the third week of the month, all the youths went to bathe in the fountain called Calis Puquio, about a mile to the rear of the fortress of Cuzco, in the ravine of the Huatanay. They returned to the Huacay Pata, and were solemnly presented with their arms, the sling, the club, the axe, and the shield, the ceremony concluding with prayers and sacrifices. The final event was the
