Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1847-06-17
From PrescOtt's /" Conquest of Me9ico."
The Ancient Mexfcans, or Aztecs.

| HUMAN SACRIFICES AND CANNIBALS
Human sacrifices were adopted by The Az
tees early in the l4rh century, about 200 wears
before the Conquest. Rare at first, thew be.
came more frequen, with the wider ex,en, OF
the empire; I'LL at length almos, every festival
was closed with this cruel abominallon. These
religious ceremonies were generally arranged
IN such manner 10 afford type of the
most prominent circumstances in The character
or history OF the deity who was The object OF
hem. slight example will suffice.
One of the most importan, festivals was tha,
IN honor of the god fozcallipoca, whose rank
was inferior TO thai of the Supreme Being. He
was called the soul Of the world" and sup
posed to have been It's creator. He was de-
picted as a handsome man, endow ed with per-
petual youth. A year before The in,enJh sac.
rtice, captive, distinguished for his personal
beauty, and without bensh on his body, was
selected 10 represent this deny Certain tutors
took charge of him and instructed him how 10
perform his new part with becoming grace and
dignity. He was arrayed in splendid dress.
RECALLED with incense and with a proluson of
sweet-scented flowers of which the ancient
Mexicans were as fond as their descendants of
the present day. When he went abroad he
as he hailed in The street TO play some favori,e
melody, The crowd Frustrated themselves before
him, and did him homage as the representative
of their good deity. In This way he led an
easy, uxuriant lie, ill within month of his
sacrifice. Four beautiful girls, bearing the
names of The four principal goddesses, were
then selected 10 share the honors of his bed !;
aud with them he continued TO live in idle dal.
lance, feasied al the banqueis Of the principal
mobiles, who paid all the honors of deity.
AT length the fatal day Of sacrifice arrived.
The term of his short lived glores was a, an
end He was stripped of his gaudy apparel,
and bid adieu TO The fair partners of his revel-
ries. One of the royal barges transported him
across the lake 10 temple which rose OH its
margin, about league from the city. Hi,her
the inhabitants of the capital fiockcd TO witness
the consummaiion of the ceremony. AS the
sad procession wound up The sides of the pyra-
mid, the unhappy victim threw away his gay
chaplels of flowers, and broke in pieces the mu-
sical instruments with whirh he had solaced
The hours of captivity. On the summit he was
received by six priests, whose long and matted
locks flowed dlsorderiy over their sable robes,
covered with hleroglyphic scrolls of mystic i'm
port. They led him TO the sacrificial stone, a
huge block OF jasper, with lis upper surface
somewha; convex. On lhis the prisoner was
stretched. Five priests secured his head and
his limbs, while The sixth clad in scarlet man.
lie, em5lemaucal Of his bloody office, dexter
ously opened the breast of the wretched victim
with sharp razor oi it3tli, volcanic substance.
hard as flint, and inserting his hand in the
wound, iore out the palpltaiing hear;! The mir
lister Of death, first holding this toward the sun,
an object of worship throughout Anahuac, cast
il The feet of the deity 10 whom the temple was
devoted, while the muiiudes below prosirated
! themselves in humble alteration. The Tragic
story of This. prisoner was expounded by the
priests the type of human destiny, brilliant
in lis commencement, too often closed in sor-
row and disaster.
The mos, oarhsome part Of the s,ory--,he
manner in which he tody Of the sacrificed cap
live was disposed ol--remans vet TO be told.
! Ii was delivered 10 The warrior who had taken
/ him in battle, and by HIM, after being dress ed,
was served up in an entertainment 10 his friends!
! This was not the repast of fanished
cannibals but banquet ieeming with the de-
/ licious beverages and delicate ylands prepared
with art and attended By both sexes, who, as we
shall see hereafter. conducted themselves with
all the decorum Of civilized life. Surely, new
er were re6nemen, and the extreme of barbarism IN
brought so closely in contact with each other.
Human sacrifices have been practlsed by
many nations Of antiquity but never by any
on scale to be compared with those of Ana
huac The amoun, of victims inundated on its
accursed aIars would sragger The faith of the
least scIupuloos believer. Scarcely any au-
thor pretends 10 estimate the yearly sacrifices
throughout the empire al less than twenty thou
sand, and some carry the number as high as
! fifty thousand.
On great occasions, as the coronation of a
king or the consecraiion of temple, the num-
Der becomes still more appalling Al the ded
ication OF the great temple of Huizilopoichli, in
l446, the prisoners, who for some years had
been reserved for The purpose were drawn from
all quarters 10 The capital. They were ranged
in files. forming procession nearly two miles
long. The ceremony consumed several days,
aud seventy thousand caplives are said to have
perished at the shrine of this terrible deity =
Bu who can believe that so numerous body
would have suffered themselves 10 be led nnre-
seemingly like sheep 10 the slaughter o. how