Note 892 — Chapter XI
Reading edition
"The gods of the Mayas appear to have been less sanguinary than those of the Nahuas. The immolation of a dog was with them enough for an occasion that would have been celebrated by the Nahuas with hecatombs of victims. Human sacrifices did however take place" (De Nadaillac, p. 266), though they were as nothing compared with the countless victims demanded by the Aztec gods. "The dedication by Ahuizotl of the great temple of Huitzilopochtli in 1487 is alleged to have been celebrated by the butchery of 72,344 victims," and "under Montezuma II. 12,000 captives are said to have perished" on one occasion (ib. p. 297); all no doubt gross exaggerations, but leaving a large margin for perhaps the most terrible chapter of horrors in the records of natural religions. Cf. T. A. Joyce, Mexican Archaeology, pp. 261-2.