221 



the divinities that required a sanguinary worship, 

 and the goddess of the fields, who asked only for 

 offerings of flowers and fruits, the sheaf of 

 maize, or the birds that devoured the seeds of 

 this plant, so useful to man. An ancient pro- 

 phecy gave this nation some hope of a beneficent 

 reform in its religious ceremonies; this pro- 

 phecy stated, that Centeotl, who is the same 

 with the beautiful Chri, or Lakchmi, of the 

 Hindoos ; and whom the Aztecks, like the Arca- 

 dians, designated under the name of the great 

 Goddess, or primitive Goddess (Tzinteotl) ; 

 should triumph at last over the ferocity of the 

 other gods ; and that human sacrifices should 

 give place to innocent offerings, and the first 

 fruits of the harvests. In this tradition of the 

 Totonacks we behold a struggle between two 

 religions ; a conflict between the ancient Tolteck 

 divinity, mild and humane, like the people who 

 had introduced its worship, and the ferocious 

 gods of that warlike tribe, the Aztecks, who 

 had stained the fields, the temples, and the altars, 

 with blood. 



When we read the letters of Cortez to the 

 Emperor Charles V. the memoirs of Bernal Diaz, 

 of Motolinia, and other Spanish authors, who 

 had made observations on the Mexicans before 

 the changes wrought on them by their commu- 

 nications with Europe, we are astonished, that 



