TRAVELS IN MEXICO.
And Huitzilopochtli,—a sweet name to roll under one's tongue,—for how many years has this venerable war-god blinked in the noonday sun, and had his massive head washed by the afternoon rains! It is possible that he with the rest will be afforded a shelter when the Museum is ready to receive him. I regard him as the most interesting relic of that past age of idolatry, for there is mention of him among the first objects shown Cortes by Montezuma, when he ascended with him to the temple. Let us see what that companion of Cortes, Bernal Diaz, says about it: "Here were two altars highly adorned, with richly-wrought timbers on the roof, and over the altars gigantic figures representing very fat men. The one on the right was Huitzilopochtli, their war-god, with a great face and terrible eyes. This figure was entirely covered with gold and jewels, and his body bound with golden serpents; in his right hand he held a bow, and in his left a bundle of arrows. The great idol had round his neck figures of human heads and hearts made of pure gold and silver, ornamented with precious stones of a blue color. Before the idol was a pan of incense, with three hearts of human victims, which were then burning, mixed with copal. The whole of that apartment, both walls and floor, was stained with human blood."
