Its peculiar
obscurity arises from the policy of the Incas to blend the religions of
conquered provinces with their own. Thus about 1350 the Inca Pachacutec
subdued the country about Lima where the worship of Con and Pachacama
prevailed.[176-2] The local myth represented these as father and son,
or brothers, children of the sun. They were without flesh or blood,
impalpable, invisible, and incredibly swift of foot. Con first possessed
the land, but Pachacama attacked and drove him to the north. Irritated
at his defeat he took with him the rain, and consequently to this day
the sea-coast of Peru is largely an arid desert. Now when we are
informed that the south wind, that in other words which blows to the
north, is the actual cause of the aridity of the low-lands,[177-1] and
consider the light and airy character of these antagonists, we cannot
hesitate to accept this as a myth of the winds. The name of _Con tici_,
the Thunder Vase, was indeed applied to Viracocha in later times, but
they were never identical.
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