TE0CALLI TWO KINDS OF SACRIFICE. 



Ill 



BOTTOM OF TEOYAOMIQUI. 



The reader who has accompanied us from the beginning of this 

 volume and perused the history of the Spanish conquest, has 

 doubtless become somewhat familiar with the great square of an- 

 cient Tenochtitlan, its Teocalli, or pyramidal temple, and the 

 bloody rites that were celebrated upon it, by the Aztec priests and 

 princes. It served as a place of sacrifice, not only for the Indian 

 victims of war, but streamed with the blood of the unfortunate 

 Spaniards who fell into the power of the Mexicans when Cortez 

 was driven from the city. 



This Teocalli is said to have been completed in the year 1486, 

 during the reign of the eighth sovereign of Tenochtitlan or Mexico, 

 and occupied that portion of the present city upon which the 

 cathedral stands and which is occupied by some of the adjacent 

 streets and buildings. Its massive proportions and great extent 

 may be estimated from the restoration of this edifice, which we 

 have attempted to form from the best authorities, and have pre- 

 sented in a plate in the preceding portion of this work. 



The Mexican theology indulged in two kinds of sacrifice, one 



15 



