184 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ed El Sacrificatorio, or the place of sacrifice. It is a 

 quadrangular stone structure, sixty-six feet on each side 

 at the base, and rising in a pyramidal form to the height, 

 in its present condition, of thirty-three feet. On three 

 sides there is a range of steps in the middle, each step 

 seventeen inches high, and but eight inches on the up- 

 per surface, which makes the range so steep that in de- 

 scending some caution is necessary. At the corners are 

 four buttresses of cut stone, diminishing in size from the 

 line of the square, and apparently intended to support 

 the structure. On the side facing the west there are no 

 steps, but the surface is smooth and covered with stuc- 

 co, gray from long exposure. By breaking a little at 

 the corners we saw that there were different layers of 

 stucco, doubtless put on at different times, and all had 

 been ornamented with painted figures. In one place 

 we made out part of the body of a leopard, well drawn 

 and coloured. 



The top of the Sacrificatorio is broken and ruined, 

 but there is no doubt that it once supported an altar for 

 those sacrifices of human victims which struck even the 

 .Spaniards with horror. It was barely large enough for 

 the altar and officiating priests, and the idol to whom 

 the sacrifice was offered. The whole was in full view 

 of the people at the foot. 



The barbarous ministers carried up the victim entire- 

 ly naked, pointed out the idol to which the sacrifice was 

 made, that the people might pay their adorations, and 

 then extended him upon the altar. This had a convex 

 surface, and the body of the victim lay arched, with 

 the trunk elevated and the head and feet depressed. 

 Four priests held the legs and arms, and another 

 kept his head firm with a wooden instrument made in 

 the form of a coiled serpent, so that he was prevented 



