136 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 42. 



was put in his right hand, and into his left a bag of copal, and thus 

 accoutred and provided, he proceeds to incense the god Huitzilop- 

 ochtli."^ 



In the feast of Tezcatlipoca priests incensed the idol, praying that 

 their prayers might rise to heaven as the smoke of the burning copal. ^ 



Incense played an important part in marriage ceremonies, and the 

 contracting parties as well as the household gods were perfumed from 

 the censers.^ 



The Mexicans gave themselves up to a certain superstition to cure sick or sickly 

 infants. They attached to their necks a ball of copal by means of a soft cord of cotton, 

 and they made the same for the wrists and ankles. Astrologers did this under a pro- 

 pitious sign and designated the number of days that they should be borne. They 

 attended to detaching them, and they went at once to burn them all in the capulco. 

 They repeated this four times for each treatment of the child.* 



Incense was burned to the cardinal points at the feast of the mer- 

 chants.^ 



In respect to verification the Mexican custom was similar to that 

 of the Iroquois. Sahagun says : 



He touched his hand to the earth and licked the dust that attached to it. He threw 

 then copal on the fire, because that is another way to make oath to say the truth. ^ 



Further he says: 



The judges did the same before they performed any act of their ministry. Before 

 ceasing their work, they threw copal on the fire to reverence their gods and asked their 

 aid. The singers of areytos, before commencing to sing, burned likewise copal in 

 honor of their gods and asked their protection.^ 



They offered morsels of what they had taken to eat to the fire. The custom was 

 called "act of throwing." They also did not drink pulque until a small quantity was 

 placed in a pot near the fire as an offering. Later they threw it out in fovu: different 

 places around the fire.'' 



These Indians reverenced greatly and honored with sacrifices the Gemini, which are 

 found near the Pleiades, in the constellation of the Bull. They employed for that 

 different ceremonies at the time when that constellation appeared newly toward the 

 east, after the feast of the sun. They said after they had offered incense : ' ' Yoaltecutli, 

 Yacaniztli is arisen; what will happen this night? Will the influences be prosperous 

 or adverse? " They offered incense three times, without doubt because the constella- 

 tion is composed of three stars. These offerings took place at the first hour of night, at 

 3 o'clock in the morning, and at the first glimmer of the dawn. They called these stars 

 * ' Mamalhuaztli. " If they applied the same word to the sticks which served to produce 

 fire, it is because these Indians found in these sticks of wood some resemblance with 

 the three stars and with what they saw of the origin of the process. There obtained 

 also among the young men the custom of making burns on the wrist in honor of that 



1 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 2, p. 145. after Sahagun. 



2 Idem, p. 318. 



3 Idem, pp. 256-260. 



* .Sahagun, work cited, p. 188. 



' Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 2, p. 393. 



6 Sahagun, work cited, p. 24. 



' Idem, p. 184. 



