HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
121 
bleness, ended in an established principle of the mythology of a powerful 
and even civilized Empire. 
Let us now proceed to consider the manner in which these sacrifices 
were conducted. 
The usual number of priests required at the altar was six, one of whom 
acted as Sacrificer and the others as his assistants. The Cliief of these, 
whose office and dignity were preeminent, assumed at every sacrifice the 
name of the deity to whom the oblation was made. 
His dress was a red habit, like the Roman scapulary, fringed with cot- 
ton ; his head was bound with a crown of green and yellow feathers j 
his ears were adorned with emeralds, and from his lips depended a tur- 
quoise. The other ministers at the rite were clad in white, embroidered"^ 
with black ; their locks bound up, their heads covered with leather thongs, 
their foreheads filleted with slips of paper of various colors, and their 
bodies dyed entirely black. 
They dressed the victim in the insignia of the god to whom he was to 
be offered ; adored him as they would have adored the divinity himself • 
and bore him ai'ound the city asking alms for the temple. He was then 
carried to the top of the temple and extended upon the stone of sacrifice. 
Four of the priests held his limbs, and another kept his head or neck 
firm with a yoke, an original of which is preserved in the Museum, and 
is here represented. 
SACEIFtCIAL YOKE. 
