Page:The Story of Mexico.djvu/136

104 stripes, and half his face was painted red; a white plume was stuck in his hair. In one hand he carried a walking-stick, gay with ribbons and plumes; in the other, a shield covered with cotton. His thighs were bound round with little bundles containing gifts. He was led to the bottom of the grand staircase of the temple and thus addressed:

"Sir, what we desire is that thou goest before our god, the sun, to salute him for us. Tell him that his sons and chief gentlemen here supplicate him to remember them, hoping he will accept the small recuerdo we send him. Give him the walking-stick, the shield, and the other things in the little bundle."

The victim then went slowly up the steps, receiving fresh instructions as to what he should say to the sun. At the top was the drinking-cup, and towards this he advanced. In a loud voice, addressing at once the real sun and its image carved upon the stone, he delivered the message just given him. Then came four attendants, who seized him by hands and feet, and having taken away the cane, the shield, and little bundles, they ascended with him the four steps of the stone, where the high-priest cut his throat, commanding him thus to go with his message to the real sun in the other life. The blood flowed down the basin in the stone through a canal to the side where the image of the sun was carved, so that this was quenched with blood. Meantime, the sacrificador opened the breast of the victim and plucked out the heart, holding it aloft until it became cold, thereby offering it to the sun. Thus went on his way the luckless messenger.