Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/123

 88 I was unable to find any one who could explain its signification, or inform me of the place where it was discovered.

But of all the figures within this inclosure, none struck me so much as that of the —or "Sad Indian."



This remarkable statue was discovered behind the Palace, beneath the street which now bears its name. It is three feet four inches high, and two feet broad, and was disinterred in the year 1828. It is rather the figure of a surly, than a sad Indian. His brows are drawn together with anger. His eyes are wide and glaring. His tongue is slightly protruded from the mouth. Around his neck is a cape of feathers, and his feet are sandalled. His hands are joined by the points of the fingers, and an aperture is thus left to insert a staff or pole—the bottom of which evidently rested in a socket cut in the base of the statue, between the feet, as indicated in the engraving. This figure was probably set on the wall, or at the portal of some edifice, and in his hand was erected a banner or insignia of command. There is a fixed, stony gaze of imperturbable surliness and impudence in the face, which always struck me as making it one of the most characteristic remains in the Museum.

Although there is ample material around me for further illustration of the curious idolatry of the ancient Indians, I will not trouble you with more sketches at present, and conclude this part of my description of the Museum by simply saying, that the remainder of the idols are chiefly images of dogs, monkeys, lizards, and rabbits—the proportions of which