308 THE MAGIO OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
tion
of the Sacred Way traversed in times of tribulation, of pestilence or
famine, by processions of priests conveying sacrifices to be offered to
the offended divinities, was the Sacred Well. Into this the priests
would throw the ornaments and trinkets dedicated to the gods as
peace-offerings. But such inanimate objects were regarded as
insufficient, and even animal sacrifices were deemed to be inadequate,
and hence it often happened that prisoners of war and fair maidens were
cast, into the deep, still waters of the Sacred Well.42
Many
fragments of the carved stone ornaments have been recovered from the
depths of this Sacred Well, and even in their present imperfect state,
they testify to a considerable development of the lapidarian art among
the ancient Mayas, and a high degree of artistic skill in the
fashioning of such objects of adornment. Undoubtedly those used in this
way as sacred offerings were considered to be amulets and therefore to
be the more acceptable in the sight of the gods.
That
lapis lazuli was as much favored for religious use by the aborigines of
the New World as it was in ancient Egypt and in other parts of the Old
World, is shown by the recent discovery of twenty-eight carefully
formed cylindrical beads of lapis lazuli among some very ancient
deposits in the island of La Plata, Ecuador. From the general
character of these deposits it is evident that they did not belong to
permanent dwellers on the island, and there is every reason to believe
that they were left by visitors from the mainland, who came to the
island for the performance of certain sacred rites and ceremonies.43
The ancient Mexicans held the turquoise in high esteem,
"Edward
H. Thompson, "The Home of a Forgotten Race"; in The National Geographic
Magazine, vol. xxv, No. 6, pp. 585-608; June, 1914.
**
Pewkes, " Archaeological Investigations on the Island of La Plata,
Ecuador," Field Columbian Museum Pub. No. 56; Anthrop. Ser., vol. ii,
No. 5, Chicago, 1901, pp. 266 eqq.
