Burial Vase—Tlatelulco.
TLATELULCAN VASE.
The plaza of Tlatelulco is nearly as prolific in ancient monuments as the Plaza Mayor. Here was found the beautiful earthen burial vase shown in the cut. It is twenty-two inches high, fifteen inches and a half in diameter, covered with a circular lid, also shown in the cut, and when found was full of human skulls. The beauty of this vase can only be fully appreciated by a glance at the original, or at the sketch in Col. Mayer's album made by himself from the original in the Museum at Mexico, and showing the brilliant colors, blue, red, and yellow, with which it is adorned. The author says, "in many respects, it struck me as belonging to a higher grade of art than anything in the Museum, except, perhaps, the obsidian carvings, and one or two of the vases." Gondra mentions another burial casket, carved from basalt and of rectangular form.[IX-63]
Head of Goddess Centeotl.
The head shown in the cut, taken from the Mosaico Mexicano, measures twenty-nine by thirty-six inches, and is carved from a block of serpentine, a stone rarely found in Mexico. It was dug up near the convent of Santa Teresa in 1830, and has been supposed to represent the Aztec Goddess Centeotl. The bottom being covered with sculpture, it seems that the monument is complete in its present state. Another serpentine image of somewhat peculiar form, is shown in an original sketch in the Album of Col. Mayer, who says, "it appears to have been a charm or talisman, and in many respects resembles the bronze figures which were found at Pompeii, and are preserved in the Secret Museum at Naples." It was found at Tlatelulco, and is preserved in the Mexican Museum.[IX-64]
MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.
Mr Bullock speaks of several relics not mentioned by any other visitor:—"In the cloisters behind the Dominican convent is a noble specimen of the great serpent-idol, almost perfect, and of fine workmanship. This monstrous divinity is represented in the act of swallowing a human victim, which is seen crushed and struggling in its horrid jaws." The corner-stone of the Lottery Office he described as "the head of the serpent-idol," not less than seventy feet long, when entire. Under the gateway of a house opposite the mint was a fine life-size recumbent statue found in digging a well. A house on a street corner on the south-east side of the plaza rested on an altar of black basalt, ornamented with the tail and claws of a reptile.[IX-64] Mayer dug up in the courtyard of the University two feathered serpents, of which he gives cuts, as well as of several other relics found within the city limits, including the 'perro mudo,' a stone image of one of the dumb dogs bred by the Aztecs, and a seated human figure known as the 'indio triste.'[IX-65]