62 SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



Mexico was laid with idols, and so many 

 thousand statues were then broken in pieces 

 and destroyed, that, although the kingdom 

 was most abounding in works of that kind, 

 at present the most diligent search can hardly 

 find any of them remaining. The conduct 

 of those missionaries was no doubt laudable 

 both in cause and effect, but they should 

 have distinguished between the innocent sta- 

 tues of those people and their superstitious 

 images ; that some of the former might have 

 been kept entire in some place where no evil 

 consequence would have attended their pre- 

 servation. 4 " 



