14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



which he opened the breast of the victim, and took out his heart, and tossed it 

 in the air in the direction of the four cardinal points, and finally threw it aloft 

 directly in the middle of the court, in this way soliciting the divinity to accept 

 the sacrifice, in return for the victory. This sacrifice was public to all the 

 Indians, great and small. 



During this period, the soldiers returning from the war, could not cohabit with 

 their wives, but were obliged to sleep in certain calpules or barracks, which 

 were given up to them for the occasion, by the young men who were learning 

 the art of war. During the day they went to the houses of their women to eat 

 and drink, and from thence to their plantations, always however, leaving a 

 company to guard the town. The men sacrificed blood drawn from their private 

 parts, and he who had most wounds in these was reputed to be most valiant. The 

 women sacrificed blood drawn from their tongues and ears, and they sacrificed 

 their entire bodies, taking up the blood with cotton and offering it to their idols— 

 the men to Quetzalcoatl, and the women to Itzqueye. 



Their superstitious ceremonies, at the time of planting their fields, were as 

 follows : They put in little cups of calabash the seeds which they had selected 

 for the purpose, and placed them before the altar of their idols. They next 

 dug a trench in the ground, in which they planted the seeds regularly, covering 

 them with earth ; and over all they placed a large brazier, full of burning coals, 

 on which they sprinkled copal and caoutchouc. The four priests then drew blood 

 from their cars and nose, receiving it in certain large reeds, which they burnt 

 before their idols. At other times they drew blood from their tongues and 

 private members, and petitioned their gods to prosper the fruits of the earth, 

 and give them abundant harvests. The high priest, in sacrificing, drew blood 

 from the same parts, and with it anointed the feet and hands of the idols, invoking 

 the demon, who spoke with him, and told him what kind of weather would follow, 

 all of which was communicated to the people by the four priests, who always 

 concluded by ordering the men to have connection with their wives, and then 

 proceed to plant their fields. And such was the sacrifice of planting. 



We come now to their sacrifices for hunting and fishing. They took a living 

 deer to the courtyard of the cue or temple which they had outside of the town, 

 where they strangled and skinned him, collecting all his blood in a vase, and 

 cutting in small pieces the liver, lungs and stomach. These were put aside, with 

 the heart, head and feet. They next cut up and cooked the deer by itself, and the 

 blood by itself, and while these were cooking they had their dances. Next the 

 high priest and his assistant took the head by the ears, and each of the four priests 

 one of the feet, and the mayordomo put the heart in a brazier and burned it, 

 with copal and caoutchouc, as incense to the idol of the god who was held to be 

 protector of hunting and fishing. When the dance was finished, the head and 

 feet were scorched in the fire before the idol, as an offering, and afterwards taken 

 to the house of the high-priest and eaten. The flesh and blood were then eaten 

 before the idol ; and the same was done with all the animals which they offered 

 in sacrifice. When they sacrificed fish, the entrails were burnt before the idol. 



When a woman was in travail, the midwives made her confess her sins ; but 

 if this was not sufficient to hasten the birth, they made her husband do the same ; 

 and finally, if the woman admitted illicit connection with any other man, they 

 went to his house and took his clothes and placed them beneath her ; if this 

 failed, as a last resort, the husband sacrificed blood from his tongue and ears. 

 When the child was born, if a boy, they put in his hands a bow and arrows; 



