Page:The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2.djvu/224

 The young women, for their part, fasted strictly; they first broke their fast at noon, and with the exception of a scanty meal in the evening, this was all they ate during the twenty-four hours. On feast-days they were permitted to taste meat, but at all other times their diet was extremely meagre. While sweeping the temple they took great care never to turn their back to the idol, lest the god should be insulted.

If one of these young women unhappily violated her vows of chastity she redoubled her fasting and severity, in the fear that her flesh would rot, and in order to appease the gods and induce them to conceal her crime, for death was the punishment inflicted on the Mexican vestal who was convicted of such a trespass. The maiden who entered the service of the gods for a certain period only, and not for life, did not usually leave the monastery until she was about to be married. At that time the parents, having chosen a husband for the girl, and gotten everything in readiness, repaired to the monastery, taking care first to provide themselves with quails, copal, hollow canes filled with perfume, which Torquemada says they called poquietl, a brassier for incense, and some flowers. The girl was then clothed in a new dress, and the party went up to the temple; the altar was covered with a cloth, upon which were placed the presents they had brought with them, accompanied by sundry dishes of meats and pastry. A complimentary speech was next made by the parents to the Tequaquilli, or chief priest of the temple, and when this was concluded the girl was taken away to her father's house. But of those young men and maidens who stayed in the temple-schools for a time only, and received a regular course of instruction at the hands of the priests, it is my intention to speak further when treating of the education of the Mexican youth. The