Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/120

 birds, serpents, all in seemingly inextricable confusion and utter neglect. As you enter the gate of the inclosure, the stone that first strikes your view is represented in the following sketch.



It is a huge mass of serpentine, a stone now rarely found in the Republic. This curious head was discovered in the year 1837, in the street of St. Teresa, on the site of an old Indian Palace, the tradition of which records it to have been the residence of Montezuma's father. It is a yard broad and twenty-nine inches high. The carving is admirably well executed, and strangers are struck with the strong resemblance it bears, both in its massiveness and demure style, to the statues of ancient Egypt. Bustamante, one of the most learned of the modern antiquarians of Mexico, asserts it to be the god of Baths. Gondra, the director of the National Museum, on the other hand, alleges it to be the god of Night—the half shut eyes, and sealed mouth, bearing him out in his hypothesis.

Next to this are the "Sacrificial Stone," and the idol "Teoyaomiqui," of which I shall treat in a separate letter. Beyond them is the following curious figure.