23 / 1060
BooK
I.
Royal
Com1nent'aries.
Children
to
thefe Idols. The manner of thefe
Sa~rifices
were to rip
ope~
their
breafis whilll: they were alive, and
fo
tear out their Hea'rt and Lungs,
w1th
the
Bloud
of which, whilfr
V\
aim,
,they
fprinkled
their Idols:
then
they
infpecred
the Lungs and Hearr
to
cake an omen of good or bad, and know
whedier
the
Sacrifice had been
a~ceptable
to
the Idol ;
tI:
~
th
Y
burn~
the Entrails,
~nd
ate
the
Flefh
themfelves
with
great
joy
and
fe{h
lty,
though
it
were of rherr own
Child or
other Relation of the fame bloud.
Bia;
J7alera
a certain Authour who in loofe Paper.s wrote of the
lndie1?
de[eribes
thore Nations by dHHnguifhing the former from d1e latter
ag~~
and faith. That
thofe who
live
in
Antu
eat Mens
Flelh,
and are more
brurnn
than the
Beafis
thernfeh e for they know neither God, nor Law, nor Vertue, nor have they Idols,
or any
VV
~rfhip
· unlefs fomerirnes when the Devil prefents himfelf to them in
rhe form of a
Serpent,
or
other Animal, they. then adore and worfuip him.
When they take any in the War,
~he
b.e an
ord~ary
Fellow, they quarter him,
and divide him to be
eaten
by
their
Vv1ves,
CH1ldren and Servat)ts, or perhaps
fell
him ro
the
Shambles; but
if
he be of
Qgality,
or Noble, they
call
their
-Wi\Tes and Children together, and like Officers o,f the Devil, they ftrip him of
his garments,
and
eye him to
~
frake,
a~d
chen
alive as he
is,
they cut
liim
wit~
Knives, and fh<trp Stones, parmg off fµces from the more flefhy parts, as from
the Buttocks, Calves of
the
Legs,
and the brawny
places
of the Arme;
then
with
the Blond they fprinkle the principal
Men
and
Women, and
c'he
remainder
they
drink, and eat the Flefh as
faft
as they can, before it
is
half broiled,
left
the mi...
ferable Wretch fhould dye before he hath
f
eeii
his
flefh devoured, and
in
tombed
in
their bo\.\ els: The Women, more cruel
and
inhumane
than
the Men,
wee
the nipples of their Breafi:s with the bloud, that fo the Infants which fuck
them
may
take a !hare of
the
Sacrifice. All this
is
performed
by way
of
a
religions
Offering with
mirth
and triumph,
till
the Man expires; and then they complete
the Feafi:
in
devouring all the remainder of
his
Fleih and
Bowels,
eating
it
with
filence and
reverence,
as facred, and
parcakin_g
of
a
Deicy.
If
in execution of
all
this
tonnent the
Patient
was obferved to figh and groan, or make any diftortecl
faces,
then they broak his Bones, and
with
contempt threw them into the fields
and waters; but
if
he appeared fiout, and enduring the angui(h and pains without
fhrinking at them, then
his
Bones and Sinews were dryed
in
the Sun, and lodged
on the tops
of
the highefi:
Hills.)
where they
were deified, and Sacrifices offered
to
them. Such are the Idols
and
manner
df
living
of
thefe
Brutes,
becaufe the
Government of the
lncM
was never received into their Countrey,
nor
hath it any
Power there at this day. This Generation ofMen came out from the parts about
Mexico,
and
fpread themfelves from
Panama
and
Darien,
over
all
thofe
great
moun–
tains which rua as far as the new Kingdom of
Granada,
and on the
other
fide as
:fur
as the Cape of St.
Martha.
All which particulars we have
received
from Fa–
ther
Blas Valera,
who
in
the Narrative he
gives
of their Lives
and
Manners much
more aggravates their
diabolical PraCtices,
than
by
any thing we
have
here re–
lated.
But other
Indian1
lefs
cruel , and of a more mild Nature, though they mingled
humane
Bloud
with their Sacrifices, yet they did
it
not
with
the death of any •
bn.t
d~ew
it
from Veins of the Arme or Leg, or from the Nofuils,
in
cafe of
~s
10
the
Head, and from
other
parts, as the nature or folemnicy
of
the
Sacri–
fice required. Others offered
Sheep,
and Lambs, Conies, Partridges and
all
forts
of
Fowl, Herbs,
and the
Cocar-Nut,
fo
much
in
efiee'm amongll: chem
with their Mayz, which
is
a fort ofWheat, as alfo
Pulfe,
Annife and
Cum~
and fweet Woods, which rendred a
~rfume;
the
which
were feverally facrificed
a~cording
t<5
the nature of the Deity
they adored.
And thus much fhall
be
fuffi–
oent.
t?
have
been delivered concerning their
Sacrifices, and
Gods of the
Anoent
Gentilifm;
.
c
i
CHAP·