MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



453 



er support. After the siege of Mexico, on the re-entry 

 of the Spaniards, a ruthless and indiscriminate destruc- 

 tion fell upon every building and monument in the city. 

 No memorials of the arts of the Mexicans were left ; 

 but in the year 1790, two statues and a flat stone, with 

 sculptured characters relative to the Mexican calendar, 

 were discovered and dug up from among the remains 

 of the great Teocalli in the plaza of the city of Mexico* 

 The statues excited great interest among the Mexican 

 Indians, and the priests, afraid of their relapsing into 

 idolatry, and to destroy all memorials of their ancient 

 rites, buried them in the court of the Franciscan Con- 

 vent. The calendar was fixed in a conspicuous place 

 in the wall of the Cathedral, where it now stands. In 

 the centre, and forming the principal subject of this 

 calendar, is a face, published in Humboldt's work, 

 which in one particular bears so strong a resemblance 

 to that called the mask, in the frontispiece of this volume, 

 as to suggest the idea that they were intended for the 

 same. There are palpable differences, but perhaps the 

 expression of the eyes is changed and improved in the 

 engraving published, and, at all events, in both the pe- 

 culiar arid striking feature is that of the tongue hanging 

 out of the mouth. The calendar is in bas-relief, and, 

 as I understand from a gentleman who has seen it, the 

 sculpture is good.* 



And, lastly, among the hieroglyphical paintings which 

 escaped destruction from monkish fanaticism are cer- 

 tain Mexican manuscripts now in the libraries of Dres- 

 den and Vienna. These have been published in Hum- 

 boldt's work and in that of Lord Kingsborough, and, on 

 a careful examination, we are strongly of the opinion 

 that the characters are the same with those found on 



* Vues de las Cordilleras, vol. xiii., p. 276. 



