Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-01-25
MISCELLANEOUS.
From Prescott's Conquest of Mexico
THE ANCIENT MEXlCANS, CT Aztecs.
Hslnan Sacrifices and CaRnibalasm.

f1unGn SdcTJtceS ana CG'faeg0dttSW.
Human sacrifices were adopted by the
Aztecs early in tAe fourteenth century,
about two hundred years before the Con
quest. Rare at first, they became more
frequent with the wider extent of their
empire; till at length almost every festi-
~sl was closed with this cruel abon.ina-
ton. These religious ceremonies were
generally arrangedin such a manner as
to afford type of the most prominent
circumstances in the character or history
of the deity who was the object of them.
A slight example VIII suffice.
One of the most important festivals
was that in honor Of the god Tezcatlipo-
ca, whose rank was inferior to that Of
the Supreme Being. He was called the
soul of the world, and supposed to have
been its creator. lie was depictedas
Handsome man, endowed with perpetual
youth. A, year before the Intended sac
Tiiice, captive. distinguished. for his
personal beauty, and without blemish
on his body, was selected to represent
this deity. Certain tutors took charge
OF him. and instructed him how to per-
form his new part with becoming grace
and dignity. lie was arrayed in splen
did dress, regaied with incense and with
a profusion Of sweet-scented flowers, of
which the ancient Mexicans were as fond
as their descendants of the present day.
When he went abroad, he was attended,
by train of the royal pages, and as he
halted in The streets to play some favor
ite melody. the crowd Frustrated them
selves before him, and did him homage
as the REPRESENTATIVE Of their good del
~. In this way be led an easy. luxuri-
ant life, till within month Of his sacrl-
fee. Four beautiful girls, bearing the
names of the four principal goddesses,
were then selected to share the honors Of
his bed; and with them he continued to
live in idle dalIiance, feasted at the BAN
qnets of the principal mobiles, who paid
him all the honors Of a divinity.
At length the fatal day of sacrifice ar
rived. The term of his short-liyed glo.
ries was at an end. He was stripped of
his >gaudy apparel, and bid adieu to the
fair mariners Of his reveries. One of
the royal barges transported him across
the lake To a temple which rose on its
margin, about league from the city
Hitler the inhabitants of the capital
Hooked to witness the consummation OF
the ceremony. As the sad procession
wound up the sides Of the pyramid, the
unhappy victim threw away his gay chap
LET'S of flowers, and broke in pieces the
musical instrumeass with which he has
solaced the hours Of captivity. On the
summit he was received BY six priests,
whose long and matted locks flowed dis
orderly over their sable robes, covered
with ierogIyphic scrolls of mystic i'm
mort. They led him to the sacriticial
Stone, huge block of jasper, with its up
ner surface somewhat convex. On this
fhe nrisoner was stretched. Five priests
secured his head and his limbs, while the
s;xth. clad in a scarlet mantle, emblema-
:. t;cal of his bloody Office, dexterousIy O.
Aa.sned the breast of the wretched victim
<s;th sharp razor Of italia volcanic
sabsfstlce, hard as Finland inserting
his hand in the wound, tore out the pal
n;tatIng heart. The minister of death,
frst holding this toward the sur, an OBJ
EFT Of worship throughout Anahuac,
rsst It at the feet of thesdeity to whom
the temple was devoted, while the multi
tmdes below Frustrated themselves in
hn,nbIe alteration. The tragic story of
tS;s prisoner was expounded by the
a,;@zfs as tie type Of human destiny,
f';II;ant id its commencement, too often
cksss IN sorrow and disaster
X.th was the form OF human sacrifice
usE2Ir praetised by the Axtecs. 1t was
ne 81 ~ NAT often met the indignant
ewes ol(he Europeans, 10 their progress
through &e country, and from, the dread
III doosik from which they themselves
~cre bot e&unptcd. There were, indeed,
S6me occasNnsJ when preliminary tor
=ures. OF fhe susf ex quisite kipd-with