•250 



ANCIENT M O N U M E N T S . 



Humboldt was made. This drawing was copied by Choris, in his " Voyage Pit- 

 toresqiii'" where it is described as having been lound in an ancient tumulus in the 

 State of Connecticut, and presented to Baron Humboldt by Baron Hyde de 

 Neuville, French ambassador to Rio Janeiro. There must, of course, be some 

 mistake as to the place of its discovery ; for there are no ancient tumuli in the 

 State of Connecticut. 



Fig. 150 is a mask of the human face roughly carved from sandstone. It is 

 twelve inches long, seven and a half broad at the ears, and weighs nearly nine 

 pounds. It is slightly concave upon the back, the front being proportionally con- 

 vex. There is a hole underneath the chin, as if the object had been designed to 

 be carried upon the point of a staff'. It was found, in ploughing, near Lawrence- 

 burgh in the State of Indiana.* 



Similar relics, some of which vary little from the above in size, are found in 

 Mexico. They are said to occur in the ancient Aztec tombs, covering the faces 

 of skeletons. Many of these are sculptured from obsidian, and are smooth and 

 beautifully polished ; others are of serpentine and a variety of ornamental stones.f 



* In the collection of .Jamks McBride, Esq. 



f Several of these masks are embraced in the collcciion of Mtxicau .iMliimcs, prcsciilcd l)v Mr. Poinsett 

 to tlio .\in('rio;in Philosopliiml Socii'tv. hI l'liilM(li'l|ilii;i 



