Lima is the capital of Peru, and derives its name from _Rimac_, which original name its river still retains; but the valley was called by the indians _Rimac Malca_, or the place of witches; it being the custom among the aborigines, even before the establishment of the theocrasia of the Incas, as well as during their domination, to banish to this valley those persons who were accused of witchcraft. Its climate is very different from that of the interior, and having a great deal of marshy ground in its vicinity, intermittent fevers generally destroyed in a short time such individuals as were the objects of this superstitious persecution. It is recorded, that when Manco Capac and his sister Mama Ocollo were presented by their grandfather to the indians living at Couzcou, and were informed by him that they were the children of the sun, their God, the fair complexion of these strangers, and their light coloured hair, induced the indians to consider them as rimacs, and they were in consequence exiled to Rimac Malca, the place of witches, now the valley of Lima.
In September, 1533, Don Francisco Pizarro arrived at Pachacamac, a large town belonging to the indians, where a magnificent temple had been built by Pachacutec, the tenth Inca of Peru, for the worship of Pachacamac, the creator and preserver of the world. This rich place of worship was plundered by Pizarro, and the virgins destined to the service of the Deity, though in every respect as sacred as the nuns of Pizarro's religion, were violated by his soldiers; the altars were pillaged and destroyed, and the building was demolished. However, when I visited it in 1817, some of the walls still remained, as if to reproach the descendants of an inhuman monster with his wanton barbarity. I wandered among the remains of this temple, dedicated by a race of men in gratitude to their omnipotent creator and preserver: a house unstained with what bigots curse with the name of idolatry; unpolluted with the blood of sacrifice; uncontaminated with the chaunt of anthems, impiously sung to the Deity after the destruction of a great number of his creatures; of prayers for success, or thanksgivings for victory; but hallowed with the innocent offerings of fruits and flowers, and sanctified with the incense breath of praise, and hymns of joyous gratitude. It is difficult to describe the feelings by which we are affected when we witness the ruins of an edifice destined by its founder to be a monument of national glory, or even of personal honor; but when we contemplate with unprejudiced eyes the remains of a building once sacred to a large portion of our fellow creatures, and raised by them in honour of the great Father of the universe, wantonly destroyed by a being, in whose hands chance had placed more power than his vitiated mind knew how to apply to virtuous purposes--we cannot avoid cursing him, in the bitterness of our anguish. Cold indeed must be the heart of that man who could view the ruins of Pachacamac with less regret than those of Babylon or Jerusalem!