1036 Iconoclasm by the Conquerors of Mexico, {November, 
I was struck at first sight, although without previous thought 
of the matter, that here was a stone perfectly suited for the offer- 
ing of human sacrifice. I could readily imagine the feet of the 
victim placed upon the step 4, while his back rested upon the 
highest level, a, giving the ideal position assumed in the pictures 
in the blood-curdling narratives of the conquerors. The level 
spaces, ¢ c, would afford a perfectly convenient a for the 
feet of the officiating priests. 
By inverting the picture it will be seen that thé part of the fig- 
ure most effectually destroyed by the hammer of the iconoclast 
has an outline suggestive of the upper part of a human figure, so 
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Fic. 4.—Sculptured rock on the summit of the hill of Texcocingo. 
that it is not impossible that this stone was really the figure of 
some deity, partly finished, perhaps, as the step-like portion rep- 
resenting the knees of the supposed figure is entirely without 
suggestions of the limbs. ~ 
The prostrate position rather tends to discredit this theory, 
as such figures are usually carved in place, the mass being too 
~ great to be easily adjusted to an upright position. The length of 
_ this figure and of the block is about eleven feet. A contigu- 
ous block of stone, d, although apparently never a part of it, is 
also cut down to the same level as cc, indicating the intention 
to make use of the surface in its present position. It is perfe 
th Po orate feel a desire to identify one of the sacti- 
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