ese were the peaceful
rites derived from their Toltec predecessors."(166)

166) See Conquest of Mexico, book I, chap. iii., p. 74.

Prior to the days of Montezuma, the Aztec priests had engrafted
upon these simple ceremonies not only a burdensome ceremonial, and a
polytheism similar to that of Eastern nations, but, as we have seen,
human sacrifices and even cannibalism had become prominent features
in religious worship. Throughout the entire ceremonial and religious
conceptions of the Aztecs may be observed a display of the savage and
brutal elements in human nature, in close connection with unmistakable
evidence of a once higher stage of culture and refinement.

In the later ages of Aztec history their most exalted deity was
Huitzilopotchi, the Mexican Moses, the god of war. His temples were the
most costly and magnificent among the public edifices in the country,
and his image bedecked with ornaments was an universal object of
adoration. At the dedication of his temple in the year 1486 more than
seventy thousand captives are said to have perished.(167)

167) Torquemada.

A Deity which occupied a conspicuous place in the mythology, and which
was probably an inheritance from more ancient times, was Quetzalcoatl,
doubtless the same as the Eastern Goddess of Nature, or Wisdom. She was
the "grain goddess," and "received offerings of fruit and flowers" at her
two great festivals. She also took care of the growth of corn. She was
doubtless the same as the Earth Mother of the Finns and Esths, she who
"undertakes the task of bringing forth the fruits." She is evidently
the Demeter of the Greeks, the Ceres of the Romans, etc. She is also
the goddess of Wisdom, for she had "instructed the nations in the use of
metals, in agriculture, and in the art of government." Under this Deity
the

"Earth had teemed with fruits and flowers without the pains of culture.
An ear of Indian corn was as much as a single man could carry. The
cotton, as it grew, took, of its own accord, the rich dies of human art.
The air was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of
birds. In short, these were the halcyon days, which find a place in
the mythic systems of so many nations throughout the world. It was the
golden age of Anuhuac."

We are given to understand that for some cause not explained the
beneficent god Quetzalcoatl was banished, that he (or she) was deposed
through the influence of some deity which had b