from a belt of adjacent jungle, and resembled the noise that would be
produced by some person felling timber.

Shutting my ears to the disturbance, I made no sign, until, with an
expression of impatience, E--- suddenly started up, when I laid a
detaining grasp upon his arm, murmuring that there was no need to
think of rising at present--it must be quite early, and the kitchen
cooly was doubtless cutting fire-wood in good time. E--- responded,
in a tone of slight contempt, that no one could be cutting fire-wood
at that hour, and the sounds were more suggestive of felling jungle;
and he then inquired how long I had been listening to them. Now
thoroughly aroused, I replied that I had heard the sounds for some
time, at first confusing them with my dreams, but soon sufficiently
awakening to the fact that they were no mere phantoms of my
imagination, but a reality. During our conversation the noises became
more distinct and loud; blow after blow resounded, as of the axe
descending upon the tree, followed by the crash of the falling timber.
Renewed blows announced the repetition of the operations on another
tree, and continued till several were devastated.

It is unnecessary to tell more of the tale. In spite of minute
examinations and close search, no solution of the mystery of the noises,
on this or any other occasion, was ever found. The natives, of course,
attributed the disturbance to the Pezazi, or goblin. No one, perhaps,
has asserted that the Aztecs were connected by ties of race with the
people of Ceylon. Yet, when the Spaniards conquered Mexico, and when
Sahagun (one of the earliest missionaries) collected the legends of the
people, he found them, like the Cingalese, strong believers in the mystic
tree-felling. We translate Sahagun's account of the 'midnight axe':--

When so any man heareth the sound of strokes in the night, as if one
were felling trees, he reckons it an evil boding. And this sound they
call youaltepuztli (youalli, night; and tepuztli, copper), which
signifies 'the midnight hatchet.' This noise cometh about the time of
the first sleep, when all men slumber soundly, and the night is still.
The sound of strokes smitten was first noted by the temple-servants,
called tlamacazque, at the hour when they go in the night to make
their offering of reeds or of boughs of pine, for so was their custom,
and this penance