alligator, inlaid with jewels and partly covered with a mantle. This idol was said to contain the germ and origin of all created things, and was the god of harvests and fruits. These places were exceedingly offensive from the smell of human blood, with which they were besmeared. Here was an enormous drum, (the head was made of the skin of a large serpent,) the sound of which could be heard the distance of two leagues. At a little distance from this temple stood a tower. At the door were frightful idols; by it was a place for sacrifice; and, within, boilers and pots full of water, to dress the flesh of the victims, which was eaten by the priests. The idols were like serpents and devils, and before them were tables and knives for sacrifice; the place being covered with the blood which was spilt on these occasions. Crossing a court is another temple, wherein were the tombs of the Mexican nobility. Next this was yet another, full of skeletons and piles of bones; each kept apart, but regularly arranged. In each temple were idols and its particular priests; the latter of whom wore long vestments of black, somewhat between the dress of the Dominicans and canons. At a certain distance from the buildings last spoken of were others, the idols of which were the superintendent deities of marriages; near which was a large structure occupied by Mexican women, who resided there, as in a nunnery, until they were married. They worshipped two female deities, who presided over marriages; and to them they offered sacrifices, in order to obtain good husbands. Each province had its peculiar gods, who were supposed to have no concern with any other; so that, in consequence, there were a great multiplicity of idols in the various districts.[21] Mexico was thought to have attained its zenith at the time Cortez first entered it. The city had risen up in about one hundred and thirty years (from 1388 to 1518) solely by the aid of its military power. As the great temple, however, is said to have existed a thousand years, this assertion is hardly reconcilable with the facts. The Tlascalans not only proved themselves to be as warlike as the Mexicans, but equally qualified as statesmen. They held it as a principle, that “whatever was unlawful, with them, was impossible.” At Zempoala books were seen in their temples, containing the rites of their religion, written in imagery or ciphers, as was customary with the painters of Teutile, at Tabasco.[22] The same kind of writing was noticed at Mexico, done on cotton cloth.