one of the chronicles to which I shall revert, it is
stated that the New Fire was at times kindled on the prostrate body of a
slave, and this curious statement is corroborated by a picture in the
Borgian Codex, showing a priest producing fire from a circular vessel
placed on the body of a victim beneath whom a face enclosed in the open
jaws of a reptile, is visible (fig. 29).

[Illustration.]

Plate IV.

Dr. Le Plongeon, to whom much credit is due for its discovery, identified
the Chichen-Itza statue, for reasons not fully explained, as a portrait of
Chac-Mool, or Lord Tiger, and relates that it was found at a depth of
eight metres, not far from the base of the Great Pyramid Temple. A statue
of a standing tiger, with a human head and a shallow depression in its
back, was also found near the same spot. I have seen other sculptured
figures of human beings holding a vase, as at the hacienda near
Xochicalco, Mexico, and of tigers, with circular depressions on their
backs, and hope to be able to reproduce their photographs on another
occasion.

The most elaborately sculptured recumbent statue is undoubtedly that which
was found in or near the city of Mexico (pl. IV, fig. 3). The under
surface of its base (pl. IV, fig. 5) is entirely covered with zigzag water
lines and representations of roots of plants, figured as in the Codices;
shells, one kind of which is the well-known symbol of parturition, and
frogs which are intimately associated with water symbolism. On the hair of
the statue a flower-like ornament is carved (pl. IV, fig. 4) in connection
with which it should be noted that the Nahuatl for flower is xochitl,
pronounced hoochitl, resembling the Maya hooch=vase. The small groups of
five dots forming a border around the circular vessel are noteworthy, as
they are likewise sculptured on the calendar-stone. The characteristic
scrolls about the eyes of the figure show that it personates tlaloc, or
earth-wine. The fertility of the earth, caused by rain, is symbolized by
the wreath of ears of corn and reeds (Nahuatl, _tollin_) which is
sculptured around the base of this, one of the most remarkable of ancient
American monuments.

Senor Sanchez cites Torquemada (Monarquia Indiana, vol. II, p. 52) as the
only authority who mentions a recumbent image or idol and relates that,
"in the city of Tula, there was preserved in the great temple, an image of
Quetzalcoatl