SOME REMAINS of ANTIQUITY. 211 



authority on this head, has given a more particular de- 

 fcription of this god of merchandize.* 



it may not be improper to mention, in this place, that 

 earthen mounds, or pyramids, limilar to many of thofe 

 which are found in various parts of our weftern-country, 

 are 111 11 to be feen in the neighbourhood of Cholula, and 

 are fuppofed by Torquemada, and by Glavigero,'f" to have 

 been eredted by the Toltecas. 



The principal idol of Mexico was called Vitziliputzli. 

 It was an image cut out of wood, in the form of a man, 

 fet upon an azure-coloured ftool. Upon its head, it had 

 a rich plume of feathers, like the beak of a fmall bird. J 



'' In a high mountain of Achiauhtla, in Mizteca, 

 Benediil Fernandez, a celebrated Dominican miffionary, 

 found a little idol called by the Miztecas the heart of the 

 people. It was a very precious emerald, four inches long 

 and two inches broad, upon which was engraved the 

 figure of a bird, and round it that of a little fnake. The 

 Spaniards offered fifteen hundred fequins for it ; but the 

 zealous miffionary before all the people, and with great 

 folemnity reduced it to powder."§ 



The fculptured bone is one of the moft curious of all 

 the articles that were found in the tumulus. I have al- 

 ready faid, that I fuppofe it was intended for fome fuper- 

 ftitious purpofe. I am unwilling to hazard any farther 

 conjectures concerning it, except this one, viz. that I 

 conceive the marks to be fignificant hieroglyphicks. It 

 is not an human bone. 



The ancient inhabitants of Iceland ufed to write upon 

 the bones of fi(h, and other animals. 



Colonel Sargent, in his letter to me, has mentioned 

 the mouldered condition of the bones which were found 



* Lib. 5. chap, g p. 3^4. 



t The Hiaoiy . i Mexico. Vol. I. p. 267 and 268. 



X See Acofta's Naturall and M<irall Hiftorie. Lib. 5. cliap. 9. p. 352. 



ji See Clavjgero's Hillory of Mexico. Vol. L p. 259. 



in 



