278 



CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF EASTERN MEXICO [bth. ann. 25 



de Topila," a Huaxtec ruin that has yielded other remarkable idols. 

 The idol now under consideration is fastened to the wall of a passage- 

 way, and stands on a modern pedestal in the open patio of a building 

 opposite the Hotel Comercio, in Tampico. This idol is carved out of a 

 monolith, and like the majority of Huaxtec idols is mounted on a 



pedestal. It represents a 

 well-developed female figure, 

 with hands brought forward, 

 as is usually the case in this 

 rude art. The most striking 

 feature of this object is a head, 

 or small face, represented 

 inside the open mouth of a 

 monster the lower jaw of 

 which hangs down on the 

 breast, while the upper is 

 raised almost vertically. 

 Eight small holes, placed in 

 pairs about the margin of the 

 jaws, served for the insertion 

 of teeth. The eyes are con- 

 spicuous, just above the angles 

 of the jaws; a radiating fan- 

 shaped appendage on the back 

 I )f the head represents feathers. 

 The idol is intended to be an 

 image of a woman wearing the 

 head of some supernatural 

 reptilian monster. 



Stone Idols at Altamira 



The present town Altamira, 

 on the bank of a lagoon a few 

 miles north of Tampico, was 

 founded by Escandron on the 

 2d of May, 1749. For many 

 j^ears after its foundation it 

 grew rapidly, becoming a very 

 important place at the close 

 of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. A 

 mission church for the Anacana Indians was early built at this place. 

 Since the foundation of the present Tampico, in 1823, Altamira has 

 lost its commercial preeminence and declined in prosperit}'. Old 

 Tampico, or Tampico Viejo, which is older than Altamira, has ^ 



Fig. 67. Surpciit-goU idol. 



