MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. — 83 
precedent by which a victim, without offering a substitute, might escape 
their clutches ; and the people, like the Romans at the gladiatorial combats, 
wished not to be deprived of their more than savage pleasure of gloating 
over the dying agonies of a fellow being. 
_ Not only individuals but large bodies of men were sometimes slain at the 
altar at one time, particularly during their so-called great sacrificial festi- 
vals ; various historians assure us that several times more than 2000 prisoners 
were sacrificed during a single festival. In most of the temples it was also 
the custom to fatten every year a prisoner of distinction, so as to be sure of 
a victim for the time of sacrifice. 
The priesthood of the Mexicans was a very powerful order, composed of 
priests of different ranks and influence. Those of the order whose duty it 
was to officiate at the bloody altars wore a particular dress and painted 
their bodies black. The high priests were called Zeoteuctls (the divine lord) 
and Huetteoquiagut (great priest); besides these names, they had also the 
title of Zolpztzin. The priests lived together in convents, having a com- 
munity of goods, and were only subject to the discipline of their order. It 
appears also that they had priestesses, but not much is known of the duties 
that were assigned to them. On pl. 14, jig. 9a and 6, are two busts sup- 
posed to represent a front and back view of a priestess in her sacerdotal 
dress and ornaments. 
The temples (teocallis), which were considered the earthly palaces of the 
gods, were built in the shape of a truncated pyramid, and were found every- 
where, in cities, on mountains, in the forests, and on the public highways. 
The priests were, as among all rude nations, the only conservators of science. 
We have copied on pl. 14, jig. 11, their almanac as described by Alexander 
von Humboldt. The concentric circles, with their numerous divisions and 
subdivisions, are drawn with mathematical accuracy. The execution of the 
whole shows also the taste for a repetition of the same figures, the spirit of 
order, and appreciation of symmetry, which supplies among all half-civilized 
nations the sense for the great and good. 
They were also acquainted with a species of writing by which they 
transmitted important events, laws, and customs. It appears, as may be 
seen from the fragment (jig. 8), that it was a hieroglyphic language, and con- 
sisted not so much of what is usually understood by writing as of a sym- 
bolical representation of the subject which it was intended to commu- 
nicate. 
Their computation and division of time were remarkably peculiar. They 
divided the year into 18 months, each having 20 days, which were named 
after the festivals and occupations for which they were set apart. At the 
end of the last. month there occurred always five leap-days, Wimontimi (the 
empty or useless ones), so called because they were only employed in 
making and receiving visits. Every four years they had also a leap-year ; 
but instead of letting it occur at its regular period, they waited until the 
fifty-second year, when they intercalated the whole thirteen at once. But 
in their chronological computations they paid no attention to the months 
and years into which time was divided, for they made all their calcula- 
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