" This mournful march was called "the procession of the gods," and
was supposed to be their final departure from their temples and altars.
As soon as the melancholy array reached the summit of the hill, it
reposed in fearful anxiety until the Pleiades reached the zenith in the
sky, whereupon the priests immediately began the sacrifice of a human
victim, whose breast was covered with a wooden shield, which the chief
_flamen_ kindled by friction. When the sufferer received the fatal stab
from the sacrificial knife of _obsidian,_ the machine was set in motion
on his bosom until the blaze had kindled. The anxious crowd stood round
with fear and trembling. Silence reigned over nature and man. Not a word
was uttered among the countless multitude that thronged the hill-sides
and plains, whilst the priest performed his direful duty to the gods. At
length, as the fire sparks gleamed faintly from the whirling instrument,
low sobs and ejaculations were whispered among the eager masses. As the
sparks kindled into a blaze, and the blaze into a flame, and the flaming
shield and victim were cast together on a pile of combustibles which
burst at once into the brightness of a conflagration, the air was rent
with the joyous shouts of the relieved and panic-stricken Indians.
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