Note 334 — Chapter LXIII

Huaca is a word of many significations in Quichua (e.g., idol, temple, sacred place, tomb, figures of men, animals, etc., hill), but its most ordinary meaning is a tomb. Cieza de Leon probably calls it a “mournful name,” partly from its being the word for a tomb, and partly from his having confused it with the nearly similar word huaccani, “I mourn.” The mummy or dead body was called malqui. There were holes in the tombs, leading from the exterior sides to the vases placed round the bodies, through which the Indians poured liquor, on the days when festivals were held in honour of the malquis. Rivero.