Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/325

Rh proof is given, in this statue of the genius possessed by the natives for the imitative arts. It was the work of Tolsa, and was first opened to public view on its pedestal in the plaza, in the year 1803, under the viceroyal government of Iturrigaray.

In a corner of this court yard, on the left of the portal, amid a quantity of ancient lumber and relics, are the sacrificial stone and the gigantic idol statue of Teoyaomiqui, described in the first volume of this work. Here, too, are the huge serpent images, carved from basalt, which are presumed to have been used in the worship of Quetzalcoatl—the "feathered serpent,"—the "god of the air."

After an examination of the massive relics which lie in the court yard of the University, we ascend by a broad stone staircase to the corridor surrounding the quadrangle on the second floor. The lower story of this edifice is occupied by the college chapel and the hall or recitation room, whose lofty ceiling and windows, gloomy walls, and carved oaken seats and pulpit, remind the stranger of the fine old monastic chambers in similar institutions in Europe.

The apartments of the second floor open upon the broad corridor under a light and tasteful arcade, and several rooms on the northern side are devoted to the national collections, which, at the period of our visit to Mexico in 1841 and 1842 were badly arranged and classified. The salary devoted to the curator was scarcely adequate to support him, and he probably paid more attention to the politics of the present day than to the antiquities of the past. Nevertheless, we found him to be an intelligent gentleman, fond of the relics, images and legends of the Aztecs. He would, doubtless, have organized the valuable collection had he been suitably aided, recompensed, or enabled to devote the whole of his time to the archaeology of his country.

The first apartment on this side of the building is a sort of Spanish lumber room, the wall of which is friezed with a series of the viceroys, whilst, in a corner, stand the fragments of a throne, waiting, perhaps, the order for their reconstruction upon the ruins of the presidential chair. Hard by this royal relic, in appropriate contrast, is an unfinished bas relief of a trophy of liberty; and above the sculpture, suspended against the wall in a rough pine coffin, hangs an Indian mummy, which was exhumed in the fields of Tlaltelolco north of the capital. Another side of this saloon is occupied by full length portraits of Ferdinand and Isabella. In the next chamber, west of this, the mass of the smaller Aztec relics has been collected and preserved in cases. A small library, containing some ancient manuscripts, and the splendid work of Lord