Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/302

234 cacao soaked and diluted in the pure water which they said sprang from cavities in the woods or mountains.

After this anointing the priest rose; he took from their heads the white cloths which had been placed on them, also others which they had on their shoulders, where each one wore some feathers of a very beautiful bird and some grains of cacao. One of the Chacs collected these things, after which the priest cut off from the heads of the little boys that which they wore fastened on them with a stone knife. Behind the priest walked his other assistant, a bouquet of flowers in his hand, with a pipe with perfume, which the Indians were accustomed to smoke; they made nine passes with it before each child and then gave them one by one the flowers to smell and the pipe to smoke. They then collected the presents which the mothers had brought, and gave a little food to the children, the same amount to each infant, for these presents consisted of eatables. They took one large bowl filled with wine and hastily offered it to the gods, conjuring them with words of devotion to accept of this feeble homage on the part of the children; then calling another officer, whose title was Cayom, they gave him the vessel, which he must empty at a draught; for him to stop to take breath would have been wrong.