"When the masters of the captives took their slaves to the temple where they were to slay them, they took them by the hair. And when they took them up the steps of the pyramid, some of the captives swooned, and their masters pulled them up and dragged them by the hair to the sacrificial stone where they were to die.Having brought them to the sacrificial stone, which was a stone of three hands in height, or a little more, and two in width, or almost, they threw them upon it, on their backs, and five [priests] seized them—two by the legs, two by the arms, and one by the head; and then came the priest who was to kill him. And he struck him with a flint [knife], held in both hands and made in the manner of a large lance head, between the breasts. And into the gash which he made, he thrust his hand and [[w:Human sacrifice in Aztec culture#Sacrifice ritual|tore from [the victim] his heart]]; and then he offered it to the sun and cast it into a gourd vessel."