318 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



came to the bottom, because they were very up- 

 right ;" and " one who had been a Priest, and had 

 been converted, said that when they tore out the 

 Heart of the wretched Person sacrificed, it did beat 

 so strongly that he took it up from the Ground three 

 or four times till it cooled by Degrees, and then he 

 threw the Body, still moving, down the Steps." In 

 all the long catalogue of superstitious rites that dar- 

 kens the page of man's history, I cannot imagine a 

 picture more horribly exciting than that of the In- 

 dian priest, with his white dress and long hair clotted 

 with gore, performing his murderous sacrifices at this 

 lofty height, in full view of the people throughout 

 the whole extent of the city. 



From the top of this mound we pass over the Casa 

 del Gobernador to the grand structure marked on the 

 general plan as the Casa de Palomos, or the House 

 of the Pigeons, the front of which is represented in 

 the engraving opposite. It is two hundred and 

 forty feet long ; the front is much ruined, the apart- 

 ments are filled, and along the centre of the roof, 

 running longitudinally, is a range of structures built 

 in a pyramidal form, like the fronts of some of the 

 old Dutch houses that still remain among us, but 

 grander and more massive. These are nine in 

 number, built of stone, about three feet thick, and 

 have small oblong openings through them. These 

 openings give them soitewhat the appearance of 

 pigeon-houses, and from this the name of the build- 

 ing is derived. All had once been covered with 



