226 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



had fculptors among them when they left their native 

 country Aztlan, for we know that they had at that time 

 formed the idol of Huitzilopochtli, which they carried 

 along with them in their long peregrination. 



The ufual materials of their ftatues were ftone and 

 wood. They wrought the ftone without iron, fteel, 

 or any other inftrument than a chifel made of flint 

 ftone. Their unparalleled phlegmatic nature and con- 

 ftancy in labour, were "both neceflary to overcome the 

 difficulty, and endure the tedioufnefs of fuch labours ; 

 and they fucceeded in fpite of the unfitnefs of their in- 

 ftruments. They learned to exprefs in their ftatues all 

 the attitudes and poftures of which the human body is 

 capable; they obferved the proportions exactly, and 

 could, when neceflary, execute the moft delicate and 

 minute ftrokes with the chifel. They not only made 

 entire ftatues, but likewife cut out in ftone, figures in 

 baflb relievo, of which kind are thofe of Montezuma II. 

 and one of his fons, recorded with praifes by Acofta. 

 They alfo made ftatues of clay and wood, employing for 

 thefe a chifel of copper. The furprifing number of 

 their ftatues may be imagined from that of their idols, 

 which we mentioned in the preceding book. In this 

 refpeft we have alfo to lament the furious zeal of the 

 firft biftiop of Mexico, and the firft preachers of the 

 gofpel ; who, in order to remove from the fight of their 

 converts all incentives to idolatry, have deprived us of 

 many valuable monuments of the fculpture of the Mex- 

 icans. The foundation of the firft church, which was built 

 in Mexico, was laid with idols, and fo many thoufand 

 ftatues were then broken in pieces and deftroyed, that al- 

 though the kingdom was moft abounding in works of that 

 kind, at prefent the moft diligent fearch can hardly find 



any 



