178 



Chinese, Egyptian, Persian and American sym- 

 bols, the type of a language of signs, which is 

 common, we may say, to the whole race, and 

 which is the natural offspring of the intellectual 

 faculties of man. 



" The collection preserved by Purchas and 

 Thevenot represents, in three parts, the founda- 

 tion of the city, and its increase by the conquests 

 of its princes ; its support by the tributes paid by 

 the conquered cities ; its institutions, and the de- 

 tail of the life of its inhabitants. The whole of 

 this is obvious at the first view. We first distin- 

 guish the ten chiefs of the colony, that founded 

 the empire, having the symbols of their names 

 marked over their heads. They meet with the 

 objects which form the arms of the city of Mexico. 

 That stone surmounted by an Indian fig-tree, on 

 which is an eagle *, recalls to mind the eagle 

 perched on a tree, and the cup, which the god 

 Astrochiton gave as signs to distinguish the spot 

 where Tyre-j~ was to be built. A house, a habi- 

 tation, denotes the new city J ; a buckler with 

 arrows, its occupation by force §. The symbols 

 near two other houses surrounded by combat- 

 ants, teach us the names of the two cities first 

 conquered. The remainder of the history is 

 composed in the same spirit, and of similar 



* PI. 58, fig. 1. t Nonnus, XL, v. 4773. 



I Stone of Rosette, and Denon, PI. CXXXIII. 

 ^ llorapoll., ii, 5, 12. 



