130 MEXICO. 
positing it anew in every temple, whence it was again distributed to the 
dwellings of the people. 
" When the sun arose above the horizon on the succeeding day, the 
shouting and joy were renewed by the people in the city, toward which 
at that moment the priests and crowd took up the line of returning march. 
It was the restoration of their gods to their deserted shrines ! 
*' The imprisoned women were immediately released ; the whole popu- 
lation clad themselves in new garments ; the temples were purified and 
whitened, and everything that was requisite for domestic comfort, splendor 
or necessity, was renewed under the promise of renewed life and protec- 
tion from the gods." 
There is scarcely a country of the world, in which there are not or 
have not been traces of this adoration of the sun, the great source of life, 
light, fruition, and beauty; and, among the brutal rites of the Mexican 
priesthood, it is gratifying ' bserve a festival like this which has in itself 
something natural and dra. itic* 
* For a learned paper upon the Mexican Calendar, Language, &c. &c., by Albert Gallatin, see the 
first article in the fiist volume of the Transactions of the American Ethnilogical Society : New-York, 
1845. 
