OCR Text |
Show 124 BOOK II. '--V"--' SECT. XXI. Another lntm; tn facrificc. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. I 338. One of the fatl:ions not being longer ~ble .to. endur~ the other .. refolved to feparate themfelves; but not havmg 1t lll thetr power to remove fo f.·u· as their rage fuggeil:ed, they went towards the North to relide on a little ifiand at a finall diil:ance, which they named Xa!ti!o/co,. from finding a great heap of fand there, and afterwards, from a terrace which they made, 'T!ate!olco, a name which it ftill preferves (p). Thofe who eftabliihed themfelves on that fmall ifland, which w~s afterwards united to that of 'Tmocbtit!an, had, at that time, the name of Tlatelolcas, and thofe who remained in the fidl: fituation called themfelve~ Tenochcas; but we lhall call them Mexicans, as all hiftorians do. A little before, or a little after this event, the Mexicans divided their miferable city into four quarters, affigning to each its tutelar god,. befides the proteCting god of the whole nation. This divifion fubfiils at prefent under the names. of St. Paul, St. Sebaftian, St. John, and St. Mary ( q). In the centre of thefe quarters was the fanCtuary of Huitzilopochtli, to whom they daily performed aCts of adoration. In honour of that falfe divinity at this period they made an abominable facrifice which is not to be thought of without horror¥ They fent an embalfy to the petty king of Colhuacan, requeil:ing him to give them one of his daughters, that fhe might be confecrated mo ·ther of their proteCting god, fignifying that it was an exprefs command of a god to exalt her to fo high a dignity. The petty king enticed and infatuated by the glory which he would receive from the deification of his daughter, or intimidated by the difafters which might await him, if he refufed the demand of a god, granted quickly all that was requefted, efpecially as he could not well fufpeCl: what was to happen. The ,Mexicans conduCted the noble damf~l with great triumph to their city; but were fcarcely arrived, as hiftorians relate, when the demon commanded that lhe ihould b~ made a facrifice, and after her death to be flayed; and that one of the braveft youths of the nation (J ~ The ancients reprefe.ntcd Tlatelolco in their piCtures by the figure of a heap of fand. If :hu had been ~nown ~y thofe who undertook the interpretation of the Mexican pill:ures, which w.erc pubhlhed With the letters of Cortes at Mexico, in I no, they would not have cK iled thts place <.rlatilolco, which name they have interpreted ovt?l. {qJ The quarter of St. Paul was called by the Mexicans :rl:opan and Xochimilcn; that of Sc\) a{hnn, At~ac\lalco; that of St. J 'o>b n, M_?yotla; :utd that of St, Mary 1 C71cpoprm and <Jlaquicbiu• dx:a11o 1hould H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. lhould be cloathed with her fkin. Whether it was an order of the de- BoOK II. mon, ·or, what is more probable, a cruel pretence of the barbarous "---v-"". priefts, all was pundally executed. The petty king, invited by the Mexicans to be prefent at the apotheofis of his daughter, went to be a fpeetator of that folcmnity, and one of the worlhippers of the new divinity. He was led into the fanCl:uary, where the youth ftood up-right by the fide of the idol, clothed in the bloody fkin of the viCtim; but the obfcurity of the place did. not permit him to difcern what was before hi~n. They gave him a cenfer in his hand, and a little copal to begin his worD:1ip; but having difcovered, by the light of the flame which the copal made, the horrible fpett:acle, his anguiD:1 affeCted his whole frame, and being tranfported with the violent effeCts of it, he ran out crying with diil:ratt:ion, and ordered his people to take re" venge of fo barbarous a deed; but they dared not to undertake it, as they muft in.ftantly have been oppreifed by the multitude; upon which the father returned inconfolable to his refidence to bewail his difafl:er the re-mainder of his life. His unfortunate daughter was created goddefs and honorary mother, not only of Huitzilopochtli, but of all their gods; which is the exaCt meaning of Teteoinan, by which name fhe was af-terwards known and worlhipped. Such were the fpecimens in this new ci~y of that' barbarous fyfl:em of religion, which we ihall hereafter explain. ' BOOK ( |