There were many other nations of Indians, in that first epoch, who chose their gods with somewhat more judgment than those we have mentioned; for they worshipped certain things from which they derived benefit, such as great fountains and rivers, which supplied water for irrigating their crops.

Some worshipped the earth, and called it Mother, because it yielded their fruits; others adored the air for its gift of breath to them, saying that it gave them life; others the fire for its heat, and because they cooked their food with it; others worshipped a sheep, because of the great flocks they reared; others the great chain of snowy mountains for its height and grandeur, and for the many rivers which flow from it, and furnish irrigation; others adored maize or sara, as they call it, because it was their bread; others worshipped other kinds of corn and pulse, according to the abundance of the yield in each province.

The inhabitants of the sea-coast, besides an infinity of other gods, worshipped the sea, which they called Mamaccocha, or “Mother Sea”, meaning that it filled the office of a mother, by supplying them with fish. They also worshipped the whale for its monstrous greatness. Besides this ordinary system of worship, which prevailed throughout the coast, the people of different provinces adored the fish that they caught in greatest abundance; for they said that the first fish that was made in the world above (for so they named Heaven) gave birth to all other fish of that species, and took care to send them plenty of its children to sustain their tribe.