to be sacrificed. Every detail of the
sacrifice was gone through in mimicry. A slight cut was made in the
child's neck, and she was then caught up and thrown into the lake, where a
man stood ready to save her from drowning. By native custom the girl on
whom this ceremony had been performed was dedicated to a life of perpetual
virginity.(583) Captain Bourke was informed by an old chief that the
Indians of Arizona used to offer human sacrifices at the Feast of Fire
when the days are shortest. The victim had his throat cut, his breast
opened, and his heart taken out by one of the priests. This custom was
abolished by the Mexicans, but for a long time afterwards a modified form
of it was secretly observed as follows. The victim, generally a young man,
had his throat cut, and blood was allowed to flow freely; but the
medicine-men sprinkled "medicine" on the gash, which soon healed up, and
the man recovered.(584) So in the ritual of Artemis at Halae in Attica, a
man's throat was cut and the blood allowed to gush out, but he was not
killed.(585) At the funeral of a chief in Nias slaves are sacrificed; a
little of their hair is cut off, and then they are beheaded. The victims
are generally purchased for the purpose, and their number is proportioned
to the wealth and power of the deceased. But if the number required is
excessively great or cannot be procured, some of the chiefs own slaves
undergo a sham sacrifice. They are told, and believe, that they are about
to be decapitated; their heads are placed on a log and their necks struck
with the back of a sword. The fright drives some of them crazy.(586) When
a Hindoo has killed or ill-treated an ape, a bird of prey of a certain
kind, or a cobra capella, in the presence of the worshippers of Vishnu, he
must expiate his offence by the pretended sacrifice and resurrection of a
human being. An incision is made in the victim's arm, the blood flows, he
grows faint, falls, and feigns to die. Afterwards he is brought to life by
being sprinkled with blood drawn from the thigh of a w