The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

IN AMERICA. 199
utter so much as a sigh, a groan, or an impatient exclamation,
he was dismissed with contempt, and from that
moment considered unworthy the honour of admission
into the society of his equals. One striking shade of difference
is observable between the preparations of the
Mexicans, and those of other idolatrous nations. The
purifications of the latter were performed with water,
the other by blood. 27 The candidate's habit was also
black, 28 instead of the white garments of other nations,
in accordance with that ferocity of disposition which the
habitual practice of sacrificing men must necessarily produce.
Before initiation he was anointed with an ointment
ritually prepared, 29 which was said "to dispel fear,
and invigorate courage. It was made of the juice of the
most venomous creatures at the altar of the idol, the
ashes of which were pounded in a mortar, and mixed with
tobacco, to which they added live scorpions, and some
other venomous insects. They heightened this composition
with a herb which has the property of disturbing
the brain, as also with soot and rosin. This is what they
call the repast or sustenance of the gods " 30
The Temple of Vitzliputzli, in Mexico, was of such an
extraordinary magnitude, that a city consisting of five
hundred houses31 might have been erected within the
compass of its walls.32 Its form was that of a truncated
27 Rel. Cerem. of Various Nations, p. 318.
28 Faber says. " their orgies appear to have been of a peculiarly
gloomy and terrific nature, sufficient to strike with horror, even the
most undaunted hearts." (Fab. Pag. Idol., vol. iii., p. 188.)
29 Fab. Pag. Idol., v. iii., p. 188. w Univ. Displayed., v. i., p. 190.
31 Rel. Cerem. of Various Nations, p. 316.
33 " The group of pyramids of Teotihuacan is in the valley of Mexico,
8 leagues N. E. from the capital, in the plain that bears the name of
Micoatl, (he Path of the Dead. There arc two large Pyramids, dedi-
cated to the sun (Tonatiuh) and to the moon (Mextli), and these are
surrounded by several hundreds of smaller pyramids, which form
streets in exact lines from north to south, and from east to west. Of
these two great teocallis, one is 55 metres, (180,450416 feet.) and the
other 44 metres, (144,3603 feet,)' in perpendicular height. The basis
of the first is 208 metres, (682,4306 feet in length. The small
pyramids are scarcely 10 metres, (32,80916 feet) high; and served,
according to the tradition of the natives, as burial places
for the chiefs
of the tribes. On the top of the great teocallis were two colossal
statues of the sun and moon ; they were of stone, and covered with
plates of gold, of which they were stripped by the soldiers of Cortes."
(Humb. Res., vol. i., p. 84.)