362 (1875).] The first and accepted derivation has been ably and to my mind successfully defended by probably the most accomplished Qquichua scholar of our age, Senor Gavino Pacheco Zegarra, who, in the introduction to his most excellent edition of the Drama of _Ollantai_, maintains that Viracocha, literally "Lake of Fat," was a simile applied to the frothing, foaming sea, and adds that as a personal name in this signification it is in entire conformity with the genius of the Qquichua tongue[1].
[Footnote 1: _Ollantai, Drame en vers Quechuas_, Introd., p.

xxxvi (Paris, 1878).

There was a class of diviners in Peru who foretold the future by inspecting the fat of animals; they were called Vira-piricuc.

Molina, _Fables and Rites_, p.

13.] To quote his words:--"The tradition was that Viracocha's face was extremely white and bearded.