THE AZTEC PRIESTESS. 260 



idol was a representation of Michlanteuhtli, the lord of 

 the place of the dead. It was a fitting roof to that ter- 

 rible portal of death. 



The viceroy, Count Revillagigedo, transported it to 

 the University of Mexico ; but the professors of the 

 University were unwilling to expose it to the sight of 

 the Mexican youth, so they buried it anew, in one of the 

 passages of the college. At Humboldt's solicitation the 

 Bishop of Monteray, who was passing through the capital 

 on his way to his diocese, persuaded the rector to unbury 

 it, which gave the traveller an opportunity of sketch- 

 ing it. 



Humboldt was shown another idol at the house of 

 Senor Dupe, one of his Mexican friends. It represented 

 a sitting, or rather squatting woman. She had no hands, 

 but where they should have been were the toes of her 

 feet. This statue was remarkable for its head-dress, 

 which resembled the veils sculptured on the heads of 

 Isis and the Sphynxes. The forehead was ornamented 

 with a string of pearls on the edge of a narrow fillet : 

 the neck was covered with a three-cornered handkerchief, 

 to which hung twenty-two little balls or tassels. These 

 tassels and the head-dress generally, reminded Humboldt 

 of the apples and pomegranates on the robes of the 

 Jewish High Priests. This strange figure was called the 

 statue of an Aztec priestess, but Humboldt thought it a 

 representation of some of the Mexican divinities. It was 

 probably one of the old household gods. 



Besides this statue he saw the great Monument of the 

 Calendar, and the Stone of Sacrifice, adorned in relief 

 with the triumphs of some old Aztec king, both of which 

 were dug up in the Great Square. He also visited the 



