Note X-26 — Chapter X · GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 93. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 24, certainly says: 'Taceano le loro preghiere comunemente inginocchione,' but we are told by Sahagun and others, that when they approached the deity with most humility, namely, at the confession, a squatting position was assumed; the same was done when they delivered orations. The greatest sign of adoration, according to Camargo, was to take a handful of earth and grass and eat it; very similar to the manner of taking an oath or greeting a superior, which consisted in touching the hand to the ground and then putting it to the lips. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 168.