Page:The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2.djvu/233

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PRIESTS OF MICHOACAN.
215

choacan, there was a pontiff named Curinacanery, who was looked upon with such deep veneration that the king himself visited him once a year to offer him the first fruits of the season, which he did upon his knees, having first respectfully kissed his hand. The common priests of Michoacan wore their hair loose and disheveled; a leathern band encircled their foreheads; their robes were white, embroidered with black, and in their hands they carried feather fans.[1] In Puebla they also wore white robes, with sleeves, and fringed on the edges.[2] The papas, or sacrificing priests of Tlascala, allowed their hair to grow long and anointed it with the blood of their victims.[3] Much more might be written concerning the priests of these countries, but as it does not strictly come within the province of this volume, it is omitted here.[4]


    Ind., tom. ii., p. 181; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 44; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. xiv.

  1. Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 52–3. Herrera says of the priests of Michoacan: 'Trahian los cabellos largos, y coronas abiertas en la cabeca, como los de la Yglesia Catolica, y guirnaldas de fluecos colorados.' Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.
  2. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 438.
  3. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 201.
  4. Less important, or more modern, authorities that treat of the privileged classes among the Aztecs, are Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indigena, pp. 19–22; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 495–504; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 114–15; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 108–14; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 303–6, 337; Dilworth's Conq. Mex., p. 36; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 14–19, 32–5; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., pp. 503–5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 74, 235–6, 264–5; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 73–7, 98–100; Cortes, Aventuras, pref., p. 6; Baril, Mexique, pp. 201–2; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59–70, 88–98, 209–10; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 12-13, 19; Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 116–120.