twenty-six feet in .'circumference, covered on the top and sides with 

 sculpture, was buried in the inclosure of the Cathedral, at the foot of 

 a cross, with its upper surface on a level with the pavement, in order to 

 expose it to the merited insult of every passenger. These fine an- 

 tiquities were discovered about three years before Mexico was visited 

 by that intelligent traveller Baron de Humboldt, who has described 

 the last mentioned stone in his "Researches concerning the In- 

 stitutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America." 



Since that period, a considerable change has taken place; the Inhabi- 

 tants have, after several years of arduous struggle, at length attained 

 their liberty, and no longer under the government of Old Spain, they 

 now give every facility and assistance to the promulgation of science 

 and a knowledge of their country. 



GREAT SERPENT, No. 63. 



The rattle snake appears to have been the most general object of 

 worship, veneration, and fear ; indeed it occurs in some manner com- 

 bined with almost every other symbol, and is still found in many of the 

 Indian villages. It remains at Tezcuco, quite perfect at the present 

 time. Broken fragments may be met in the exterior of the houses in 

 Mexico in several places. The great head (No. 64) is cast from on 

 at the corner of the fine building used for the Government Lottery 

 Office, and exposed to the street. It must have belonged to an Idol 

 at least seventy feet long, probably in the great Temple, and broken 

 and buried at the Conquest. They are generally in a coiled quiescent 

 state, with the tail or rattle on the back ; but they vary in their size 

 and position. The finest that is known to exist, I discovered in the 

 deserted part of the Cloister of the Dominican Convent, opposite the; 

 Palace of the Inquisition. It is coiled up in an irritated erect posi- 

 tion, with the jaws extended, and in the act of gorging a well 

 dressed female, who appears in the mouth of the enormous reptile, 

 crushed and lacerated, the detail of which is too disgusting and horri- 

 ble for description. 



The Colossal Idol (No. 63), is copied from and is of the same size 

 as the head (No. 64). It is upwards of 8 feet in circumference in the 

 body, and 60 feet long ; and though divested of some of the most 

 offensive parts, will serve to give the public an idea of the monstrous 

 deities of these people, the inspection of which so strongly excited 

 the feeling of poor Bernal Dias, when he visited the temple with 

 Cortez, in company with Montezuma *• What must have added td 



6i i When we had ascended to the summit of the temple/ we observed 



