--amounted to a large quantity of goods, of much value and
profit. Consequently, those ministers usually went about in handsome
garments, and adorned with jewels and valuable ornaments. The house is
the usual place for the sacrifice, and the victim is, as I have said,
a fine hog, or a cock. The mode of sacrifice is to slay the victim
with certain ceremonies, and with dance movements which are performed
by the priest to the accompaniment of a bell or kettle-drum. It is at
this time that the devil takes possession of them, or they pretend
that he does. They now make their strange grimaces, and fall into
a state of ecstasy; after that has passed, they announce what they
have seen and heard. On this day a grand feast is prepared; they eat,
drink, and become intoxicated, the priest or priestess more than the
rest. [85] Consequently, among them all is drunkenness, excess, and
blindness--a pitiful sight for those who see it and can appreciate
it in the light of truth.

Of the idolatries which were secretly practiced in San Juan del Monte
and how they were abolished Chapter XXII.

The devil was gradually introducing into the village of San Juan del
Monte [_i.e._, Taytay] a great plague of idolatry (nourished by some
ancient remains of heathenism which had clung to certain persons in
that village), in the form which I shall relate.

In the town there was a band of worthless women, of the Catolonas
[_i.e._, priestesses] as we have said. These in secret maintained a
tyrannical hold upon the village by various means and plots compelling
many to repair to them upon every occasion, as they formerly did before
they became Christians. Among these women, one who was a leader claimed
that her anito was a very close friend of the anito of the Christians
and had descended to the earth from heaven. This woman most stirred
up the fire on account of the power that she wielded, not only on
account of the sagacity which she certainly possessed, but by her
influence and reputation in the village. Not only was she herself of
high family, but she was very well connected; and had several sons
who were married, and thus related to the most prominent families
of the village. By these means she was, on the one hand, powerful
enough to draw to her the weak, and on the other, to compel the more
influential to dissemble with her, and to refrain from betraying her
for fear of exposing themselves to risk. Nevertheless, this woman and
her following p