211 



very curious monuments ; if they do not appear 

 so to you, the confidence I have in your judg- 

 ment will dissipate my doubts. 



The first object that fixed my attention is the 

 figure of a priestess, or, if you will, an Azteck 

 princess (Plate 1 and 2). You think, that the 

 ignorance of the sculptor has suppressed the arms 

 of this figure ; and that he has had the awkward- 

 ness, to attach the feet to the sides. I have no 

 higher idea than you of the skill of the statuary ; 

 but it appears to me that this figure, though out 

 of all proportion, is not mutilated. I think I 

 perceive, that the extremities, which you take for 

 feet, are the hands of the statue. It seems to be 

 on its knees, and seated on its legs and heels, 

 6-Ahal xahnfjJwi, Lucian would say*. This resting 

 posture, suggested to men by nature itself, is care- 

 fully described by the Greek lexicographers, and 

 particularly affected, in the monuments of the 

 arts, in the figures of women, Hesychius, v, 

 ohhvIm and oaAafcv ; and Erotianus in his Lexi- 

 con on Hippocrates, v. fahaeic, ; describe this 

 posture by periphrases, which denote the atti- 

 tude in which a person is seated on his legs 

 and his heels : ei:l rav mepvccv ux&ifabxr Hi ru<7 



The learned Hemsterhuis conjectures, that the 



* In Lexiphane. 

 v2 



