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pressions. I will photograph this tiger's head, as also an admirable head of a man from Yucatan. This latter head, though damaged, would bear comparison for finish and modeling with the works of the ancient Greeks. One is amazed on finding such elevated types of artistic expression alongside of grotesque figures such as meet us everywhere.

THE STONE YOKE FOR HOLDING DOWN THE VICTIM IN THE HUMAN SACRIFICES.

FIG. 1.

Fi. 2.

FIG. 3.

Many of the descriptions which have been written of the human sacrifices practiced by the Aztecs are illustrated with a figure of the stone upon which the victim was laid. We are told that he was held down by five priests, of whom two held his legs, two his arms, and one his head or his neck. This last, according to the historians, laid a yoke of stone upon the victim's neck, and then the high priest thrust a large stone knife into his breast, plucked out the heart, and with it rubbed the image of the god. The only collar or yoke hitherto known is that represented by Fig. 1 above, and of this there are several fine specimens in the National Museum.

Now, we are told that the Stone of Sacrifice was two metres (about six and a half feet) in length, by about one metre (about three and a quarter feet) wide, and that its upper surface was arched, so that the breast of the wretch, as he lay there upon his back ready to be sacrificed, would project considerably, thus making it easy for the high priest to lay it open with the knife and pluck out the heart.

If the stone was two metres long, the yoke No. 1 could not be of any service, inasmuch as the victim's body did not extend over the whole length of the stone, and consequently the arch of the yoke would not come down upon his neck. But suppose his head to have reached beyond the end of the stone in that case the weight of the yoke would have held the victim, but it would have

strangled him. It is plain, therefore, that the instrument No. 1 served some other purpose.

I have just had the good fortune to find another instrument hitherto unknown, which can be nothing else but the yoke mentioned by the historians: it is represented in Fig. 2. Its length is nearly equal to the width of the Stone of Sacrifice, and its under surface is concave, answering to the arched top of the sacrificial stone. Further, in the middle it has a depression sufficiently deep to fit the neck of a man, so that the fifth priest, whose function it was to hold the head, needed but to apply this yoke, and then it was impossible for the victim to stir. In Fig. 3 is seen the Stone of Sacrifice with the victim laid thereon, and the yoke applied to his neck.

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This is a discovery of no little importance, but it is with this yoke as with many other things connected with the history of Mexico the descriptions of it which have come down to us differ from one another materially. Clavigero, the most trustworthy and the most judicious of Mexican historians, in the representation he gives of a human sacrifice, has the neck of the victim secured simply by a cord.

I was very desirous of purchasing this yoke, which is probably the only specimen of its kind in existence, and which is, therefore, of great value, though only half of it remains; but it belongs to a collection for which twenty-five hundred dollars is asked, and the owner will not sell the yoke alone.

CONTRADICTIONS OF THE HISTORIANS AND OF MODERN AUTHORS.

I have already remarked upon the contradictions existing between the historians, the earlier as well as the later-the more you read the more unsettled does every point become. I had always supposed that in the codices known as the Mendoza, Dresden, Vatican, Cumarraga, Borgia, and Telleriano, supplemented by certain learned disquisitions on the picture-writing of the Mexicans, was to be found fully and clearly deciphered the history of the Aztec nations. In this I was very much mistaken, for even with respect to the monuments that seem to be most easily explainable, and that are best known, there exists a wide diversity of opinions. Take, for example, the Mexican Calendar, first interpreted by Gama : Valentini dissents from Gama's explanation of it; the learned Alfredo Chavero, who discusses the subject in extenso, differs from both; while a recent author, whose work will appear shortly, pro

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poses an explanation that agrees with none of the preceding. Each of these theories contradicts all the others.

Some of these writers comment with deserved severity upon the mad theories of the Abbé de Bourbourg, who finds in one of the codices evidence that the current geological theory was originated by the Mayas 100,000 years ago. Others hardly deign to notice the childish fancies of Le Plongeon, who finds that the electric telegraph was in use among the Mayas; but at the same time these critics themselves will claim for the Aztecs the credit of having discovered the physical constitution of the sun, and of having observed the transit of Venus.

If of one student of American antiquities you ask what is his opinion about the crosses found everywhere in Mexico, you will be told that they are Buddhistic. A second will affirm them to be Christian. If you ask a third, his answer will be, "Quién sabe?" I have made some progress, you see.

Here is another illustration of the uncertainty which surrounds every point of Mexican history: Concerning the name of the fifth and the ninth Emperor of Mexico, Montezuma, a name that ought to have been familiar to all, and to have had a fixed orthography, I find from an article by Señor Orozco y Berra that, of twentythree of the most learned authors and historians, only two agree in spelling it Motecuhzoma, three write Montezuma, the remaining eighteen write this familiar name in eighteen different fashions!

HIERATIC ART AND PROFANE ART.

I have already alluded to this subject, but I return to it, because it concerns a very important question.

Evidently these two schools existed side by side, but we must mark the distinction between them. All the products of the hieratic school are not only hideous but extremely rude and grotesque: they show what sort of an influence religions sometimes exercise upon the human mind. Similar effects of religious ideas are observable among other nations. But the profane art of the Mexicans, with its unceasing efforts toward improvement, produced some very noteworthy results, and it is by these, and not by the figures of their gods and priests, that we are to judge of the culture of this ancient people. I have seen some very fine specimens of sculpture, though unfortunately these are very few in number. Religion possessed itself of the whole being of this people, and it appears as though a work of art could be produced only by stealth. VOL. CXXXI.-NO. 287.

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