this penitential act, accompanied by ceremonial fasting, the Mexican believed his material prosperity, to a great extent, to depend. By this means a person born on an unlucky day might avert much of his destined ill-fortune, while a man born under a lucky sign would forfeit by neglect the prosperity which it promised. Fasting played a very important part in all ceremonies preliminary to religious festivals, and was a condition of ritual purity; it consisted in partaking of but one meal a day, of abstinence from flesh and octli, and of rigid continence. Penitential acts and fasting, together with the making of offerings to certain gods, were prescribed by the priests of Tlazolteotl for those who made confession before them. The fact that confession was practised by the Mexicans was especially striking to the Spaniards, and most of the early writers make some comment upon the ceremony. The penitent approached the priest and signified his desire to confess, and the priest consulted the tonalamatl to find a propitious day for the occasion. When this arrived, sacrifice was made to Xiuhtecutli by casting offerings into a fire specially kindled for the purpose, and after an invocation to Tezcatlipoca, uttered by the priest, the penitent made confession of his faults seated before the latter, whom he regarded as the representative of the god. Sahagun states that small offences alone were confessed by the young, and that it was only the elders who made acknowledgment of serious sins, for it was believed that pardon could only be granted once for a particular fault. Absolution, however, was complete, and seems to have freed the penitent from temporal punishment. Sahagun states that in the early days of Christianity, natives would come to the monasteries to confess, and then ask for a certificate from the priests which they might show to the alcade or governor in order that their offence might be wiped out in the eyes of the temporal law also. Before confession the penitent took an oath to tell the truth, by touching the ground with a finger which he licked. This was the customary manner of swearing, and the action was usually accompanied by the words, “In the name of the Sun, in the name of our lady the Earth, I swear so-and-so, and in ratification thereof I eat this earth.” This action was termed “eating the earth in respect for the gods,” and was performed each time a temple or shrine was entered. CHAPTER IV--MEXICO: WRITINGS, PRIESTHOOD, MEDICINE AND BURIAL