broken line through the whole dynasty. The
Coya was always a sister of the ruling Inca; but as to this custom there
are also diverse statements, some authorities claiming that it was of
comparatively modern innovation, while others assert that it was as
ancient as the dynasty itself, which assertion there seems to be but
little reason to doubt. The Coya received all due reverence from her
people, noble and common; but she had no real authority, however great
may have been her influence. The so-called _Loi Salique_ was in force
among the Peruvians, even though they had never heard of the original
heresy concerning the sceptre and distaff. They acknowledged no female
rule; at the death of the Inca the sceptre passed to his eldest son by
the Coya, provided that the heir-apparent had successfully passed
through an ordeal of great severity, imposed upon him as the test of his
fitness to bear the toil of ruling, while his investiture with that
which answered to knighthood among the Christian cultures was imposing
and wonderfully impressive in its significance.

It is commonly said that polygamy was customary among the Peruvians; but
this statement may be strongly doubted. It is entirely true that the
nobles had large seraglios; but, when the open concubinage that was a
prerequisite, as it were, of royalty is taken into consideration,
together with the fact that polygamy was not known among the common
people, it is far more likely that the real custom was that of open and
legal concubinage rather than true polygamy. The confounding of nearly
related facts in this wise is too common to make us chary of attributing
such confusion; even to this day many well-informed writers are given to
stating that polygamy among the Mussulmans is unrestrained, whereas no
Mussulman can have more than a fixed and small number of wives, all the
other women in his harem being merely legal concubines. Because of this
rashness of statement as well as of the difficulty of ascertaining the
precise facts in regard to Peruvian domestic polity, we may assume that
monogamy was the legal custom, with a recognized concubinage as the
privilege of the nobility as well as of the monarch, since this theory
best consorts with the facts as we know them. Be this as it may, there
is no doubt that among the Peruvians, speaking of them in general and
not as divided into classes and castes, domesticity was on a plane fully
equalling that known to any of the primitive c