274 
MEXICO 
[n the National Museum and in the collection of the Conde, are several 
masks, made of obsidian, said to have been found in Indian tombs, cover, 
ing the faces of skeletons, the remains, perhaps, of some of the illustrious 
dead of the Empire. The one here represented was found in the Depart- 
ment of Chiapas. When you recollect the exceedingly frail and glass- 
like material out of which these things are cut, you cannot fail to be 
struck with the skill and ingenuity of the person who contrived to work it 
into the semblance of human features, without fracturing the mass, and 
gave to the whole a polish resemUing that of the finest mirrors. You will 
be the more surprised at this on looking at the following ring, 
also made of obsidian, and but one-tenth of an inch in thickness . It is 
perfectly transparent, beautifully wrought, and apparently so brittle and 
thin, that the slightest blow would fracture it. 
The above is also a mask, about a foot long, made, not of obsidian, but 
of serpentine. There are holes, as you perceive, in the upper part, 
which were doubtless used to suspend it before the face of some of the 
idols, according to one of the occasional rites of their worship. This 
mask is extremely interesting, because it is a perfect profile of the present 
race of Indians, who frequent the very spot at St. Jago de Tlaltelolco, 
where the relic was foui^d. 
