were spoken of as
'the doorway of such and such a god.' "

Clavigero, to whose work (Historia, ed. Mora, Mexico, 1844, p. 234) I
refer the reader for further details, describes the dances at the time of
the Conquest as having been most beautiful, and relates that the natives
were exercised in these, from their childhood, by the priests. This
authority also relates that the Mitotiliztli was performed by hundreds of
dancers at certain solemn festivals, in the great central square of the
city or in the courtyard of the temple, and gives the following
description:

The centre of the space was occupied by two individuals (designated
elsewhere as high priests) who beat measure on sacred drums of two kinds.
One, the large huehuetl, emitted an extremely loud, deep tone, which could
be heard for miles and was usually employed in the temples as a means of
summoning to worship, etc. The second, the teponaztle, was a small
portable wooden drum which was usually worn suspended from the neck by the
leader in warfare and emitted the shrill piercing note he employed as a
signal. The chieftains (each of which personified a god) surrounded the
two musicians, forming several concentric circles, close to each other. At
a certain distance from the outer one of these, the persons of an inferior
class were placed in circles and these were separated by another interval
of space, from the outermost circles, composed of young men and boys. The
illustration given by Clavigero records the order and disposition of this
sacred dance, which represented a kind of wheel, the centre of which was
occupied by the instruments and their players. The spokes of the wheel
were as many as there were chieftains in the innermost circle. All moved
in a circle while dancing and strictly adhered to their respective
positions. Those who were nearest the centre, the chieftains and elders,
moved slowly, with gravity, having a smaller circle to perform. The
dancers forming the outer circles were, however, forced to move with
extreme rapidity, so as to preserve the straight line radiating from the
centre and headed by the chieftains. The measure of the dance and of the
chorus chanted by the participants was beaten by the drums and the
musicians asserted their absolute control of the great moving wheel of
human beings, by alternately quickening or slackening the measure. The
perfect harmony of the dance, which successive sets of dancers kept going
for eight or more hour