SELKR] ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIALS 279 



liis time, lf>52, in a village in the neighborhood of San Francisco de 

 Cajonos. Father Biirgoa had come into this region on an inspection 

 tour, and there he met with a stately old cacique, who was magnifi- 

 cently dressed in Spanish fashion, all in silk, and was ev^idently 

 treated by the Indians with great respect. He came to pay his 

 respects to the padre and to give an account of the progress of reli- 

 gious instruction in his village, and the padre perceived that he was a 

 well-informed man, with comj^lete command of the Spanish lan- 

 guage, but, from some indications which long experience had taught 

 him, his suspicions were aroused in regard to the man's soundness of 

 faith. He imparted his suspicions to the vicar of the place, but re- 

 ceived such satisfactory information from him that he thought he had 

 deceived himself this time. It was, however, this same old man who, 

 a few days later, was seen by a Spaniard roaming through the moun- 

 tain forest after game, in a place hidden behind rocks and bushes, per- 

 forming heathenish idolatrous ceremonies in the midst of a devout 

 assembly. The Spaniard hastened away terrified, roused the monks 

 while it was still night, and in the early morning, before an intima- 

 tion of the matter had reached the Indian servants of the monastery, 

 the vicar and the prelate, guided l)y the Spaniard, started on their 

 way. After weary w^andering in hunters' paths they reached the 

 place at noon and found on the stone which served for an altar all the 

 sacrificial gifts still fresh, '"'■ feathers of many colors, sprinkled with 

 blood which the Indians had drawn from the veins under their 

 tongues and behind their ears, incense spoons, and remains of copal, 

 and in the middle a horrible stone figure, which was the god to whom 

 they had offered this sacrifice in expiation of their sins (sacrificio de 

 expiacion de sus culpas) while the}^ made their confessions to the 

 blasphemous priest and cast ofi' their sins in the following manner. 

 They had woven a sort of dish out of a tough herb which was specially 

 gathered for this purpose (uno como fuente, 6 plato muy grande), 

 and, throwing this uj)on the ground before the priest, had said to 

 him that they came to beg mercy of their god and pardon for the sins 

 which they had conmiitted in that year, and that they had brought 

 them all carefully enumerated. They then drew out of a cloth 

 pairs of slender threads made of dry maize husks (toto-mostle), 

 that they had tied two by two in the middle Avitli a knot, by 

 which they represented their sins. They laid these threads on the 

 dishes of braided grass and over them pierced their veins and let the 

 blood trickl(> upon them, and the priest took these offerings to the idol 

 and in a long speech he begged the god to forgive these, his sons, their 

 sins which were brought to him and to permit them to be joyful and 

 hold feasts to him as their god and lord. Then the priest came back 

 to those who had confessed, delivered a long discourse on the cere- 



