ABSTRACT
The Mexican religion had emerged from the first of the periods historian have been considering, and had received a peculiar complexion from the priests, who had digested as thorough and burdensome a ceremonial as ever existed in any nation. Human sacrifices were adopted by the Aztecs early in the fourteenth century, about two hundred years before the Conquest. The civil polity of the Aztecs is so closely blended with their religion that without understanding the latter it is impossible to form correct ideas of their government or their social institutions. The Mexicans made great proficiency in many of the social and mechanic arts, in that material culture, the natural growth of increasing opulence, which ministers to the gratification of the senses. The girls were intrusted to the care of priestesses; for women were allowed to exercise sacerdotal functions, except those of sacrifice.
