Britain ... - Blue-Lite

248 NOTES TO THE DEVOTED ONE.
the present day, often devotes her unborn child to the hideous
imagination of Ong Kar Mundattah ; and when the appointed
hour arrives, the devoted one precipitates himself from the sacrificial
rock Bheereallah, in the sacred island of Mundattah.
" It was also a principle of the Druids, according to Caesar,
that, for the redemption of the life of man, nothing but the life
of man could be accepted by the gods. The consequence of
this was, that those who implored safety from the dangers
of war, or the most desperate distempers, either immediately
sacrificed some human creature, or made a vow to do so soon
after." Borlase.
"
They held, that the souls of those who suffered as victims to
their gods in this life were deified, or at least translated into
heaven, there to be happy and the remains of those who died
j
in sacrifice were accounted most holy, and honoured before any
other dead bodies." Rel. de Gaulis, v. ii. p. 226.
Acosta says, that the Peruvians, notwithstanding their mildness,
did sacrifice virgins and sometimes a son would be sacrificed
for the life of a father." Hist. Ind. p. 380.
"
The ancient inhabitants of the north believed that the term
of a man's life might be prolonged, if any one would put him-
self in his place, and die in his stead. This was often practised,
when a prince or illustrious warrior was ready to perish
by some accident." North. Antiq.
" At this time there lived in the island of Lefooga a female,
who for many years had been afflicted with insanity. She had
become insane in consequence of excessive grief, partly occasioned
by the death of a near relation, but principally by her
child having been taken from her to be strangled, as an offer-
ing to the gods for the recovery of his sick father." Tonga
Islands.
That many of the ancient priests who offered human sacrifices
were cannibals, there can be little or no doubt j for in the
Psalms it is said, " And they ate of the sacrifices of the dead."
That this is the true meaning of the passage is clearly evident,
from the following verses in the Wisdom of Solomon :
" Whom thou hatest for doing most odious works of witchcraft
and wicked sacrifices.
" And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers
of men s flesh, and the feasts of blood, with them out of
the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents that killed
with their own hands souls destitute of help."
" So late as the funeral of Rollo, founder of the Norman
dukedom in France, the gifts to monasteries for the repose of
his soul were accompanied by the sacrifice of one hundred captives."
Gibbon.