Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-20

pie assembled, and which constituted about
all of their enjoyment. Many Of the vir-
gins of the sun grew gray inside their con-
vent walls, but many were drawn out to be
the decimal wives of the Incas, who some
times had thousand.
| The predecessors of the Incarians or Pc
ruvians were a mighty and a wealthy peo-
| pie that had no goos to worship. When the
| PERUVIAN army crossed the Cordilleras to
the now deserted city of Pachacamac they
found great temple, the doors Of which
were 1nlaid with gold and precious stones.
The Peruvians were astounded to find
temple grander than their Temple of the
Sun at Cuzco. 1t contained no image or
god, and was evidently raised to worship
home invisible deity whom tine inhabitants
called Pachacamac-the creator of the
world. So grand and mysterious was this
temple, that the Peruvians dared not destroy
it but built beside it Temple Of the Sun.
ONLY THEIR WORKS REMAIN.
This mysterious nation lived in large cit
les and hourished during an unknown pc
riod, having civilization, a religion and
language probably superior to that of the
1ncas who overran and destroyed them.
| Where they came from or how long they
| 1ourished or where they went no one knows,
but their old abandoned cities, archItectu-
raj remains, carvings, sculptures and ruined
] edlhces remain as silent monuments of their
certain presence and intelligence, every
| where throughout the couDtry.
The general disposition of the Peruvians
was mild and their religion much softer and
pleasing than that of the Me1icans. The
Toltecs, who preceded the Azrecs, left
mild civilization behind them to
which the Aztecs added o ferocity
which was pitiless. They believed
IN one supreme invisible creator
| of all things, the ruler of the universe
| named Taotl. Under this supreme being
were 13 chief and 200 inferior dlvinities,
each of which had his sacred day or festi
val. Their chief was Huitzilopochtli. His
temples were the most magnificent and i'm
posing, but in every city of the empire his
affairs were orenched with the blood of hu-
man victims. Montezuma allowed Cortez
to enter his temple in the City Of Mexico to
see the god himself. "He had broad face,
wide mouth and terrible eyes. He was COW
cred with gold, pearls and precious stones,
and was girt about with golden serpents. On
his neck, fitting ornament, were the faces
OF men wrought in silver, and their hearts
in gold. Close by were brazers with in
cense, and on the braziers were three real
hearts OF men who had that day been sacri-
feed"
The smell of the temples was like that of
q slaughter house. For victims for these
human slaughters, the Emperor made war
on neighboring or subsidiary States in case
of revolt, which he could easily cause, and
h. would levy an indemnity of men. women
aud children.
TEARING OUT THEIR HEARTS.
The victims were borne in grand process
sions amidst the sound of music to the
summit of the great temple where the priests
in sight o. tremendous crowds bound them
to the saerifcial stone, and cutting open the
breast, would tear out the heart which was
offered to the image of their god or eaten
mixed with cornmeal by the bloodthirsty
worshipers. Before the Spanish conquest,
over 20, 900 prisoners were annually sacrificed
accompanied by milder forms of worship
including fruits and flowers, songs and
dancing.
The Mexicans had a peculiar form OF hu-
man sacrifice, in which they would select
from among their prisoners a handsome
young man, who for one year had special
residence allotted to him, with the most
luxurious furniture and raiment. His
table was furnished with the fat of the land,
and he had assigned to him as his compan.
ions or concubines two of the most beautiful
young women to be found in Mexico. All
of his surroundings were flowers, beauty,
luxury and ease, and yet he had the dread
certainty before him that he was being fat
tened for horrible butchery, for as certain
as the end of full year had passed he
knew that he would be stripped of his beau
titul rainment and wrenched from his lovely
companions and his life of balmy ease; and
that he would be led up those irightful
stairs to the top of the temple in sight of
the whole city full of hungry cannioals,
and there have his heart torn out and offered
to their god, after which it would be distrib-
uted among the bloodthirsty spectators
down below.
CLOSE DISTINCTIONS AND EDUCATION.
In their mythology they believed that
Taotl reigned in the golden age of the world,
but Tor some reason he had been obliged to
retire from the earth by way of the Mexican
Cult, promising that at some uncertain
period he would return. The Mexican
priesthood numbered a vast body of men,
Cortez found over 5000 in attendance at the
great temple in Mexico. The sacerdotal
class was enabled to WELD almost as much
influence as the Emperor himself, because
all children were lett under their care and
instruction until the age of puberty. The
women shared with the men In all of their
occupations, aud were taught like them the
arts of reading. writing, cyphering, singing
in chorus and dancing. and were initiated
into the mysteries of astronomy and
astrology.
The religions of these nations in many
respects resembled that of ancient Egypt,
and in many ways they both resembled
Christianity. Osiris was proclaimed from
the sky at his birth the Savior of the world,
who overcame death and hell, and who
ruled over the destnies of mankind as
spirit. Peruvians claimed that their Nance
Capac, alter teaching the inhabitants the
necessary things of life, went back to the
celestial regions but will return, Mexicans
believed that their god, Taotl, had also de-
parted from their Eastern borders on the
Gulf of Mexico, but would at some future
season return to them again.
The Peruvian believed in and practiced
the embalming OF the dead like the Egypt
ian, only on a smaller scale. They kept not
only his mummy, but his palaces, his
wealth and apparel waiting for his return
from his mysterious journey. Both nations
believed in great flood and that seven peo-
pie were saved in cave ON a mountain top.
In fact, all Of the nations of the world, ex-
cepting Patagonia, have a tradition of
flood at some vast period OF time to the rear
Nearly all nations believe in some kind of
savior and have some neurological belief
in a great deluge. BUMBALO.
Fortunate Inventors.