It will be well to treat of the mode of marrying throughout all the kingdoms and provinces subject to the Yncas. It must be understood, then, that every year, or every two years, at a certain time, the king ordered all the young men and women of marriageable ages, who were of his family, to assemble in the city of Cuzco. The girls were from eighteen to twenty years of age, and the young men twenty-four and upwards; and they were not permitted to marry earlier, because it was said that they ought to be of an age to govern their houses and estates, and that if they married earlier their conduct would be childish.

The Ynca placed himself in the midst of the contracting parties, who were arranged near each other, and, looking upon them, called the man and the woman to him, and taking a hand of each, he united them in the bond of matrimony, and then delivered them to their parents. They were taken to the house of the bridegroom's father, and the wedding was solemnised by the nearest relations during two or four or six days, or longer if they desired it. These were the legitimate women, and to do them more honour and favour, they were called in their language, “the women given in marriage by the hand of the Ynca.”