The following
examples will make this plain.
3. Human Sacrifices for the Crops
THE INDIANS of Guayaquil, in Ecuador, used to sacrifice human blood
and the hearts of men when they sowed their fields. The people of
Ca?ar (now Cuenca in Ecuador) used to sacrifice a hundred children
annually at harvest. The kings of Quito, the Incas of Peru, and for
a long time the Spaniards were unable to suppress the bloody rite.
At a Mexican harvest-festival, when the first-fruits of the season
were offered to the sun, a criminal was placed between two immense
stones, balanced opposite each other, and was crushed by them as
they fell together. His remains were buried, and a feast and dance
followed. This sacrifice was known as "the meeting of the stones."
We have seen that the ancient Mexicans also sacrificed human beings
at all the various stages in the growth of the maize, the age of the
victims corresponding to the age of the corn; for they sacrificed
new-born babes at sowing, older children when the grain had
sprouted, and so on till it was fully ripe, when they sacrificed old
men.
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