385 



P. Torquemada, speaking of the secular festi- 

 val, marks the moment of the sacrifice apparent- 

 ly in a very exact manner, but which contains a 

 real contradiction. " When the procession *," 

 says he, " reached the foot of the mountain of 

 " Huixachtecatl, the priests waited till mid- 

 " night, which they knew by the position of the. 

 " Pleiades, which at this hour had attained the 

 " mid-sky, (estavan encumbradas en medio del 

 " cielo) : for the time of the jubilee or secular 

 " festival was arrived, when these stars rose at 

 " the beginning of the night ; which for the 

 " horizon of Mexico is generally in the month 

 " of December." The expression, " when the 

 <( Pleiades had attained the mid-sky," means 

 without doubt the passage of the stars across the 

 meridian, or what is nearly the same thing for 

 the calendar of Mexico, their passage through 

 the zenith. Now the last secular festival was 

 celebrated in the sixth year of the reign of 

 Montezuma ; and at that epoch, the culmination 

 of the Pleiades took place at midnight, if we 

 take into account the procession of the equinoxes, 

 not in the month of December, but on the 8th of 

 November. On the 26th of December, this con- 

 stellation rose 3 h 23' before sunset, and its pas- 

 sage across the meridian was at 8 b 33' in the 



* Torqeumada, Tom. 3, p. 313, b. et 3*21 a. 

 VOL. XIII. C C 



