(n)
The Incas had some doctors or philosophical diviners called guacacue
who went around naked in isolated gloomy places of the region. Walking
alone in the deserts without rest or tranquility they dedicated
themselves to divination or philosophy. From sunrise to sunset they
looked at the solar disk with great firmness, no matter how fiery it
was, without moving their eyes. They said that in that splendid fiery
disk they saw and attained great secrets. All day they stood on the
burning sands without feeling pain; and they also suffered with
patience the cold and snow [of the altiplano]. They lived a very
pure, simple way of life, not wanting anything beyond what reason and
nature demanded, eating wild roots and herbs, nothing cultivated. They
carried with them their mesa de manjares and as a
result among them there were no ailments or diverse sicknesses, rather
they had perfect health and died at a very old age. WOFW Medicine men or divine philosophers called
guacacue, who would wander in the nude through the most isolated and
abandoned places of this land… and walking in solitude in the
wilderness, without rest or relaxation, they indulged in divination and
philosophy. From sunrise to sunset they looked fixedly at the disc of
the sun without moving their eyes and said that in that resplendent
sphere they could see and learn great secrets; and during a whole day
they would stand on one foot over the hot, scalding sands of the desert
and they felt no pain; and they also endured with unyielding patience
the simple and pure life and never procured for themselves any
pleasures; and there was nothing they coveted more than the reasons of
nature… HGP [Guaca is an
early Spanish spelling of huaca. — Patt]