For this reason they worshipped sardines in one region, where they killed more of them than any other fish; in others, the skate; in others, the dog fish; . . . in others, for want of larger gods, the crabs. . . . In short, they had whatever fish was most serviceable to them as their gods” (pp. 49, 50).
Thus hunters, fishers, herders, and tillers worshipped that which provided them with sustenance and to this extent their religion had an economic basis.
According to our author, “Our Father the Sun seeingthe human race in the condition I have described, had compassion upon them, and sent down from heaven to the earth a son and daughter to instruct them in the knowledge of our Father the Sun, that they might adore Him and adopt Him as their God; also to give them precepts and laws by which to live as reasonable and civilised men, and to teach them to live in houses and towns, to cultivate maize and other crops, to breed flocks, and to use the fruits of the earth like rational beings, instead of living like beasts. . . . Finally, He said to them:— ‘When you have reduced these people to our service, you shall maintain them in habits of reason and justice, by the practice of piety, clemency, and meekness. . . . And from this time I constitute and name you as kings and lords over all the tribes, that you may instruct them in your rational works and government’ ” (pp. 64, 65). Garcilasso admits there are other traditions concerning the origin of the Incas, but these do not concern us here.
The essential fact is that a new civilisation appeared in Peru which dominated the varied low indigenous cultures. According to Garcilasso de la Vega, “the Inca were influenced by the noblest motives in their work of empire-building, each war is shewn in the light of a crusade to spread good government and a spiritual religion among less enlightened tribes; forcible measures were only employed in the last resort when long and patient negotiation had
