Before This Idol Lay An Offering Of
Five Human Hearts.
On the summit of the whole temple was a recess having
its wood-work very highly ornamented, where we saw a figure half human and
the rest like an alligator, all inlaid with jewels, and partly covered by
a mantle.
He was considered as the germ and origin of all created things,
and was worshipped as the god of harvests and fruits. Here likewise the
walls and altar were stained with blood like the others, and so offensive
that we were glad to retire in all haste. In this place there stood a drum
of prodigious size, the head of which was made of the skin of a large
serpent, which resounded, when struck, with a noise that might be heard at
the distance of two leagues, and gave out a sound so doleful, that it
might be named the drum of hell. This dreadful drum, the horrid sound of
their horns and trumpets, and the shocking sight of their great
sacrificial knives, the remnants of human victims, and their blood-stained
altars and fanes, made me anxious to get away from this horrible scene of
human butchery, detestable smells, and abominable sights.
Addressing himself to Montezuma, half jest half earnest, Cortes expressed
his astonishment how so wise a prince could adore such absurd and wicked
gods; and proposed to substitute the cross on the summit of the tower, and
the images of the Holy Virgin and her ever-blessed SON in the adoratories,
instead of those horrid idols, assuring him that he would soon be
convinced of the vanity of his idolatry, and the deception practised on
him by these inhuman priests.
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