116 PROCESSION OF THE NEW FIRE SACRIFICE. 



primitive children of the New World believed that the world was in 

 danger of instant destruction. Accordingly, its termination be- 

 came one of their most serious and awful epochs, and they anx- 

 iously awaited the moment when the sun would be blotted out from 

 the heavens, and the globe itself once more resolved unto chaos. 

 As the cycle ended in the winter, the season of the year, with its 

 drearier sky and colder air, in the lofty regions of the valley, added 

 to the gloom that fell upon the hearts of the people. On the 

 last day of the fifty- two years, all the fires in temples and dwell- 

 ings were extinguished, and the natives devoted themselves to 

 fasting and prayer. They destroyed alike their 'valuable and 

 worthless wares ; rent their garments ; put out their lights, and 

 hid themselves, for awhile in solitude. Pregnant women seem to 

 have been the objects of their especial dread at this moment. 

 They covered their faces with masks and imprisoned them 

 securely, for they imagined, that on the occurrence of the grand 

 and final catastrophe, these beings, who, elsewhere, are always 

 the objects of peculiar interest and tenderness, would be suddenly 

 turned into beasts of prey and would join the descending legions 

 of demons, to revenge the injustice or cruelty of man. 



At dark, on the last dread evening, — as soon as the sun had 

 set, as they imagined, forever, — a sad and solemn procession of 

 priests and people marched forth from the city to a neighboring 

 hill, to rekindle the "New Fire." This mournful march was 

 called the " procession of the gods," and was supposed to be their 

 final departure from their temples and altars. 



As soon as the melancholy array reached the summit of the hill, 

 it reposed in fearful anxiety until the Pleiades reached the zenith in 

 the sky, whereupon the priests immediately began the sacrifice of 

 a human victim, whose breast was covered with a wooden shield, 

 which the chief Jlamen kindled by friction. When the sufferer 

 received the fatal stab from the sacrificial knife of obsidian, the 

 machine was set in motion on his bosom, until the blaze had 

 kindled. The anxious crowd stood round with fear and trembling. 

 Silence reigned over nature and man. Not a word was uttered 

 among the countless multitude that thronged the hill-sides and 

 plains, whilst the priest performed his direful duty to the gods. 

 At length, as the first sparks gleamed faintly from the whirling in- 

 strument, low sobs and ejaculations were whispered among the 

 eager masses. As the sparks kindled into a blaze, and the blaze 

 into a flame, and the flaming shield and victim were cast together 

 on a pile of combustibles which burst at once into the bright- 



