Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/354

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MEXICAN IDOLS.
275
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This is an idol found at Tula—the ancient capital of the Toltecs. The second figure represents the bottom of the statue, and the whole appears to have been a Toad or Frog—the croaking annoyer of some marshy neighborhood, who was raised to the dignity of a divinity in stone and propitiated by the offer of an occasional sacrifice.


click on this image to enlarge it.
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And so, perhaps, was the Grasshopper in the following figure, found in the Capital, cut out of red marble and beautifully polished. It is said to be the god of Chapultepec—the "hill of the Cicala."