The Peruvians worship the Sun and Moon as deities, and swear by these luminaries and by the earth, which they consider as their mother.  In their temples they adore certain stones, as representatives of the sun, which they name guacas, a word signifying to weep, which they do on entering into their temples.  No person is permitted to approach these guacas except the priests who sacrifice to these idols, who are all clothed in white.  When they go up to their idols, they carry certain white cloths in their hands, prostrating themselves and crawling on the earth, and addressing their idols in a language which is not understood by any of the natives.  By these priests all the offerings for the idols are received and buried in the temples, as the Indian votaries make gifts of figures in gold or silver of those things for which they address their prayers to the guaca.  These priests likewise offer sacrifices of animals and even of men to their gods, searching the hearts and intrails of the victims for certain signs which they wish to find, and repeating their abominable sacrifices until they meet with those signs which they desire; pretending that the idols are not satisfied by the sacrifices till these appear.  During all the time that the priests are engaged in sacrificing, they never appear in public, neither have they any intercourse with women, and employ themselves all night in loud cries, invoking the demons near to the places in which the guacas are kept, which are extremely numerous, as most houses have each their own guaca.  The priests prepare themselves for having intercourse with the demons by long fasts, after which they tie up their eyes and some even carry their superstition to such excess as to put out their own eyes.  The caciques and other great men among the Peruvians never undertake any affair of importance without having first consulted the idols, or demons rather, by means of the priests.

In the temples of the sun the Spaniards found several large earthen jars containing the dried bodies of children which had been sacrificed.  Among the figures of gold and silver which were used as ornaments to the guacas, there were several which had a strong resemblance to the mitres and crosiers of our bishops, and some of these idols were found having mitres on their heads.  When Thomas de Verlanga, bishop of Tierra Firma travelled through Peru, with his mitre, in which he was seen by the Indians celebrating the mass, they asked if he was the guaca of the Christians.  When asked the reason of these mitres, they could only say that they had been handed down from their ancestors.  In every part of Peru there were certain houses or monasteries, which were inhabited by women who were consecrated to the sun.  These women never went out, but were perpetually employed in spinning cotton and wool, which they wove into cloth, and then burned along with the bones of white sheep, throwing the ashes into the air in honour of the sun.  These women were consecrated to perpetual celibacy, and were put to death if found to be with child, unless they could swear that their child was begotten by the sun.