70 SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



tive fellow- adventurers were dragged to the 

 Sacrificial stone, and their hearts, yet warm 

 with vitality, presented by the priests to the 

 gods; the more heart-rending the cries of the 

 victims, the more grateful the sacrifice to this 

 monster representative of deformity and car- 

 nage. 



Some writers have accused the Spanish 

 authors of exaggeration in their accounts of 

 the religious ceremonies of this, in other re- 

 spects, enlightened people ; but a view of the 

 idol under consideration will of itself be suf- 

 ficient to dispel any doubts on the subject. It 

 is scarcely possible for the most ingenious ar- 

 tist to have conceived a statue better adapted 

 to the intended purpose ; and the united 

 talents and imagination of Brughel and Fuseli 

 would in vain have attempted to improve it. 



This colossal and horrible monster is hewn 

 out of one solid block of basalt, nine feet 

 high, its outlines giving an idea of a deformed 



