Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/185

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TENOCHTITLAN — THE AZTEC CAPITAL.
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hands, but it seems almost incredible when a visit is made to the National Museum.

A wide difference of opinion prevails amongst archæologists and antiquarians as to the deductions on Mexican antiquities. So far, nothing is shrouded in greater mystery and to the future we must look for a solution.

Until 1884 there was no catalogue by which English-speaking tourists might enjoy the relics of antiquity in the museum. Mr. W. W. Blake, an accomplished scholar and gentleman, has recently arranged and published an excellent catalogue which unlocks a hidden world of knowledge to all who desire enlightenment. Space does not admit a mention befitting the subject, and a mere glance at a few of its leading objects must suffice.

The Aztec Calendar Stone is of solid basalt, porous but fine. It is 12 feet in diameter, and its weight is 53,790 pounds. After the conquerors leveled all the temples of Indian worship, this stone was imbedded a half yard in the marshy earth. It was exhumed in 1790. A Mexican year contained eighteen months, and these were arranged in symbolical representations upon this great stone. Some such names as these are found upon it: Sea Animal, Lizard, Death, Path of the Sun, and others of like order; until one finds himself lost in the mazes of the great barbaric puzzle.

The Sacrificial Stone is a religious symbol as

TOLTEC— COLOSSAL HEAD IN DIORITE.