COMMON SACRIFICE. 



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The Common Sacrifice, offered in the Aztec temples was 

 performed by a chief priest, and six assistants. The principal 

 flamen, habited in a red scapulary fringed with cotton, and 

 crowned with a circlet of green and yellow plumes, assumed, for 

 the occasion, the name of the deity to whom the offering was 

 made. His acolytes, — clad in white robes embroidered with 

 black ; their hands covered with leathern thongs ; their foreheads 

 filleted with parti-colored papers ; and their bodies dyed perfectly 

 black, — prepared the victim for the altar, and having dressed him 

 in the insignia of the deity to whom he was to be sacrificed, bore 

 him through the town begging alms for the temple. He was then 

 carried to the summit of the Teocalli, where four priests extended 

 him across the curving surface of an arched stone placed on the 

 sacrificial stone, while another held his head firmly beneath the 

 yoke which is represented elsewhere. The chief priest, — the 

 topiltzin or sacrificer, then stretched the breast of the victim 

 tightly by bending his body back as far as possible, and, seizing 

 the obsidian knife of sacrifice, cut a deep gash across the region 

 of the captive's heart. The extreme tension of the flesh and 

 muscles, at once yielded beneath the blade, and the heart of the 

 victim lay palpitating in the bloody gap. The sacrificer immedi- 

 ately thrust his hand into the wound, and, tearing out the quivering 

 vital, threw it at the feet of the idol, — inserted it with a golden 

 spoon into its mouth, — or, after offering it to the deity, consumed 

 it in fire and preserved the sacred ashes with the greatest rever- 

 ence. When these horrid rites were finished in the temple, the 

 victim's body was thrown from the top of the Teocalli, whence it 

 was borne to the dwelling of the individual who offered the sacri- 

 fice, where it was eaten by himself and his friends, or, was devoted 

 to feed the beasts in the royal menagerie. 



Numerous cruel sacrifices were practised by the Indians of 

 Mexico, and especially among the Quauhtitlans, who, every four 

 years, slew eight slaves or captives, in a manner almost too brutal 

 for description. Sometimes the Aztecs contented themselves with 

 other and more significant oblations ; and flowers, fruits, bread, 

 meat, copal, gums, quails ; and rabbits, were offered on the altars 

 of their gods. The priests, no doubt, approved these gifts far 

 more than the tough flesh of captives or slaves ! 



The Gladiatorial Sacrifice was reserved, as we have already 

 said for noble and courageous captives. According to Clavigero, 

 a circular mass, three feet high, resembling a mill stone, was 

 placed within the area of the great temple upon a raised terrace 

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