CHAPTER XXIV.
The continued good fortune of the prince in evading capture was a source of great annoyance and aggravation to the evil disposed Maxtla. He was daily becoming more violent and overt in his conduct, ruling with an arbitrary hand. He had terrorized his household, and the sound of his voice was sufficient to cause a flurry of trepidation to agitate its members. His subjects regarded him with fear and trembling, and his comportment toward his weaker neighbors was a growing menace. His soldiers seemed to partake largely of his evil tendencies, for, in their search after Hualcoyotl, they became a dread to the inhabitants of the valley and surrounding country in consequence of their flagrant and atrocious acts.
After weeks of determined but unsuccessful efforts to secure the person of the prince, Maxtla decided on a council with his advisers over the matter, and they were accordingly ordered to assemble in the council chamber. The subject was duly considered, but without any definite conclusion. As was customary, when a question of so much importance proved unsolvable by the council, the oracles (high priests) were called upon for a solution of the matter, which resulted in their declaring that the gods were favoring the fugitive prince as against the king, and must be propitiated. Agreeably to this decision, an early day was fixed for the sacrificial ceremony which was to mollify the wrath of the particularly offended deities, and the priests were instructed to have ready the necessary number of victims for the occasion.
The temples (teocallis) of the ancient Mexicans, which were numerous, were peculiar structures, usually rising in pyramidal form to various heights, depending, doubtless, on the importance attached to the presiding deities which they represented and to whom they were dedicated. They were constructed solidly of earth, incased around with stone, or blocks of clay, which were hardened by some peculiar process of their own. The structure usually consisted of several stories—as many as four or five—each of which rose twenty or more feet, terminating at a terrace of accommodating width, which extended clear around the temple. Four or five of these terraces carried the structure up as much as a hundred feet, culminating in a broad, flat, paved area, on which were situated the sanctuaries of the gods, and in which a great sculptured image of each was placed. In front of each sanctuary was an altar, whereon the sacred fire was kept constantly burning, and which, not infrequently, was stained with human blood.
Near the altars stood the sacrificial block on which the victim was immolated in the horrible and sickening act of tearing the heart from the breast and laying it on the altar as a conciliatory offering to the offended deity, while the organ was still pulsating.
The terraces were gained by steps on the outside, leaning at an angle with the wall, which inclined toward the center.
The ceremonies were always public, and from the situation at the summit were to be viewed from any part of the city.
The processions engaged in by the priests—a multitude in themselves, winding their way as many times as there were terraces around the great teocalli, from base to summit—were impressive spectacles, at which the people were expected to be present as witnesses; and, as one author has said, since a ceremony of some sort occurred almost every day, it is difficult to understand how the ordinary business of life could, under such conditions, go on.
The day appointed by Maxtla for the propitiating of the gods was ushered in by the sound of the doleful drum. The people, who were assembled by thousands, arrayed in their most gorgeous attire—when arrayed at all—filled the city's public places. A religious chant, accompanied with dancing and contortions of the body, and a representation of minstrelsy, in a multiplication of weird noises, was begun and continued throughout the procession and ceremony.