MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. 81 
were drowned, went, with the children sacrificed to ZValoc, to a place called 
Tlalocan, the paradise of this god. This was a cool and shady place, where 
they had the most delicious repasts and every other kind of pleasure. 
Lastly, those who suffered any other kind of death went to Mictlantocli, the 
kingdom of Jictlan, the god of hell, which was a dark and gloomy place 
in the centre of the earth. 
Such of the idols as still exist, most of which were only lately discovered, 
are particularly distinguished by the accumulation of the greatest variety 
of figures and devices with which they are ornamented. In a great many 
instances it is even difficult to determine whether they were idols; and if 
so, what particular deity they were intended to represent. On pi. 14, jigs. 
1 and 2, we have represented two of these strange-looking objects of 
worship among the ancient Mexicans; jig. 3 is an old bas-relief on a sacri- 
ficial stone, representing an Aztek idol; jigs. 4a@b-T were probably idols 
of the Guatemalians, and were found among the ruins of Tlapellan and 
Palenque ; the first of these seems to represent a deity worshipped by two 
human beings, or lower spirits. /2gs. 14-16 are colossal heads, and there- 
fore in all probability parts of some similar idols. %gs. 17-19 belong also 
to this class ; the last of the three was found near Copan, beneath the ruins 
of an Indian city, destroyed by the Spaniards in 1530, and only lately re- 
discovered. 72g. 20 represents an altar upon which a similar idol stands, 
and jigs. 25-28 are drawings of figures made of burnt clay, and supposed 
to have been idols of Yucatan. On the same plate we give also a few 
other articles connected with the worship of the Mexicans, ¢. g. jig. 12, a 
circular top of a Mexican altar ; jigs. 21-24, basins and bowls used during 
the sacrificial service, supposed to belong to Guatemala; and jig. 29, a vase 
of burnt clay from Yucatan. 
The materials of which the idols were made was either burnt clay, wood, 
stone, or the baser metals, and some statues were even of solid gold; but 
the grotesque combination of forms of which they were composed made 
them always look ugly. 
They were kept in private houses as well as in the temples, and wor- 
shipped with prayers offered up in a kneeling posture, and with the face 
turned towards the east. 
Vows were made to them, festivals celebrated to honor them, penances 
suffered to appease them, and fumigations and victims offered at their 
altars. 
The greatest and most numerous public sacrifices of human beings were 
those offered upon the top of Mexitli’s temple (pi. 14, jig. 18). 
When tie day for the sacrifice had come, the priests dressed themselves 
in their white garments bordered with long fringes, and fastened their hair 
with leather straps; but the high priest wore a red cloak, and upon his 
head a coronet of green and yellow feathers; in his ears were golden rings 
set with emeralds and turquoises, and from his under lip hung also a large 
turquoise. The victim selected for that day was then adorned like the god 
to whom he was about to be sacrificed, and was forced by his executioners 
to attend all the amusements which preceded the sacrifice, as a kind of 
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