'To 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



The only works of art of the inhabitants of 

 the city of Mexico before the Conquest, then 

 called Tenochtitlan, now publicly seen, are 

 the great Calendar stone, popularly called 

 Montezuma's watch, and the Sacrificial 

 stone, or the grand altar, once standing in 

 the great temple before the principal idol. 

 The former measures twelve feet in diameter, 

 and is cut from one large block of porous 

 basaltic stone. It is supposed to have been 

 placed in the roof of the great temple in the 

 same manner as the Zodiac was in the temple 

 of Tentyra in Upper Egypt. It now stands 

 , against the north-west wall of the cathedral, 

 and is an attractive object of antiquarian re- 

 search, and a striking proof of the perfection 

 the nation to which it belonged had attained 

 in some of the sciences :. — few persons, even 

 of the most enlightened cities of Europe, of 

 the present day, would be capable of execut- 

 ing such a work. 



