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Show 302 .BOOK VI. '--'V'--1 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. fufion of quails, one part was di-effed for the king's table, and thofe of the priefts, and the remainder was ~eferved :or another occafion. Every perfon who was prefent at the fcft1~al, c~r~·1ed a clay .cenfer, and a quantity of bitumell of Judea, to burn m o.fi~crmg to thc1r god,_ and all the coal which was made ufe of was afterwards collccl:cd m a .]arge Jl:ove called 'Tlexrllli. On ~cc~unt of .this cerem?ny they called .this feftival the tizcenjing of HUttztlopocbtlt. ~mmedtately after followed the dance of the virgins and pricJl:s. The virgins dyed their faces, their arms were adorned with red feathers, on tlu:ir hcar!s they wore garlands of cr.ifp leaves of mai ze, and in their hands t!1ey bore canes whi h were cleft, with little fhgs of cotton or paper m them. 'fhc faces of the priefis were dyed black, their foreheads bound with little fhields of pap r, and their lips daubed with honey, they covered their natuml parts with paper, and each held a fccptre, at the extremity of which was a flower made of feathers, and above that another tuft of feathers. Upon the edge of the !l:ove two men danced, bearing on their backs certain cages of pine. The priefl:s in the courfe of their dancing, from time to time, touched the earth with the extremity of their fccptres, as if they refl:ed themfelv s upon them. All thefc ceremonies had their particubr fignification, and the dance on account of. the fefl:ival at which it took place was called roxca. chocbol/a. In another feparate place, the court and military peo. ple danced. The mufical inftruments, which in fome dances were placed in the centre, on thic; occafion were kept without and hid, fo that the found of them was heard but the muficians were unfecn. One year before this fefiival, the prifoner who was to be G.1crificed to H uitzilopochli, to which prifoner they gave the name of Jxtcowle, which fignifies, Wiji: Lord qj'Hetzven, was ideeted along with the victim for Tezcatlipoca. Both of them rambled about the ~,-vhole year; with this difference however, that the viCtim of Tezcatlipoca was otdored, but not that of Huitzilopochtli. When the day of the fcfl:ival was arrived, they dreficd the pr:roner in a curious habit of painted paper, and put on his head a mitre made of the feathers of an e~gle, with a plume upon the top of it. He carried upon his b~ck a fiJ1alluet, and over it a little bag, and in this drefs h~ mingled himfclf in the dance of the courtiers. The moil: fingular thing refpeCl:ing this pri(oner was, H I S T 0 R. Y 0 F M E X I C 0 .. was, that although he was doomed to die on that day, yet he had the liberty of. fixing the hour of the £.1t.:rifice himfelf. \Vhenever he chafe he prefented himfelf to the pricfl:s, in whofe arms, and not upon · the altar, the facrificer broke his brcaft,. and pulled out his heart. When, the facrifice was ended, the pridl:s began a great dance, which continued all the remainder of the Jay, txcepting fame intervals, which they employed to repeat the incenfc-offerings .. At th is f.1me fefiival, the priefl:s made a flight cut on the brca!l: and on the belly of all the children of both fexes whi h were born wit1Jin one preceding year. This w;s the fign 0r character, by which the Mexican nation fpecially acknowledged itfelf confecrated to the wor!hip of its. protecting god~ and tlus is alfo the reafon why feveral authors have believed, that the rite of circumcifion was efl:ablia1ed among the· Mexicans ( e). But if poHil>ly the pcop,le of Yucatan and the Toto-nacas ( t)' F. J\cona fays, t h:1t " i Mcfficani .ftrcl·ijirnvflllo nc' lor fnnci ulli c 1' orcch io c il mcmbro genit, llc ncl chc in quakhe mani ra contrH tl;lccv:IJW la circonciiionc de' iuclci." Eut if this author fpcaks of the true Mexicans, that is, the clcfi:endants of th ancient Aztccas who founded; rhc city of 1\lcxico, whofc hitlory we write, his aflcrtion i ~ :1bfolutely f:dfe; for nftcr tile mofl:. diligent fcarch and <·uq11iry, th ere is not the frnallcH vcOigc of fuch :r rite to be found nmong rhcm. Tf lie lj>caks of the T oronac;1s, who, by having been fubjc c; s of the king of Mexico,. nJ·c, by !cveral a.uthot,s, callt:d Mexicans, it is true, that they made ftt ch.an itH.ifion on hildrcn. The indecent :lllcl lying author of the work, entitled, "Rt·cbfrcl,rs l'bilifopbiq~tes ./ur ler AmericniiiJ," adop1s tJ1c account gi:ven by Aeon a, au I mnl cs a long difi.:ourlc on the origiJ~ of circumciiion, whit:h he believes to have bce11 invented by the Egy ptia ns, or the Ethiopi-' ans, to prcfervc thcmfdl'cs, as he fay g., from worms, whid1 trouble inh abitants of the torrid :~~one who arc not cir ·umcifed. He affirm s1 thnt the Hchrcl\'s learned it from the Egyptiilns 1 • and that at firll it was a mere phyfical remedy, but was aftcrw~rds by fanaticifm conflitutcd :L religious ceremony: tbnt th<~ heat of the torrid 1.011c is the caufe of this difordcr, and that tl1e M~.:xican s , :md other n:aions of Amcrica1 in onh:r to f1cc thcmfi ·lves from ir, :~doprcd cir- · cumcifinn. Rut leaving alidc the fulfcncfs of his principles, and his fondncls to dili:uls mi. nutely every fubjc ct whi..:h has any conncxion with obfccnc plcafurc,, th at. we may :lttcn.J to • that only which conce1·ns our hi 1l o1·y, we 'ntrcrt that no traces of the pr:1 1cc of ctrcumctfioa have ever been found among the Mexicans, o1· among the nations fubjc :fad by them, exceptthe Totonacas ; nor did we ever he:1 r of :1ny fuch ddlempcr of worms in th cfe COIIJit fics, thougl they an: all iituated under the torrid :r.one, and we vifitcd fot· thirteen years all kinds of fick pcdons. Belidcs, if hear is the c.aufe of fueh a dinemper, it ought to have been more fre• qucnt in the native coun1ry of that author than in , the inland provinces of Mex ico, wlu•re the climate is more ternP,Ct'.ote. M. Maller, who is quoted by the f:1me author, mad~.: no leis a mi{bke; in his Difl.ourfc on ircumciiion, inferred in 1he Encrelopedia, he, from not h:n ~ ing underflood the ex preftions of Acuna, believed that they cut the cars and the p:11·ts of generation, of all the Mcxica11 cllildr·cn entirely off; in wonder nt which he arKs, if it was J'Offiblc that many of them could remain ulive after fo cruel an operation? But if we had lJclicv.cd what M. Maller believed,, we would rather have afkcd how ·d1~rc c:~me to be any Mexi• o:IRI 3°3 BOOK VI. ~ |