The Idols, which are, so far as I am at present informed, the only ones from Yucatan ever before brought into this country, are unlike any that have been found in other parts of Mexico. I have compared them with those brought from the city of Mexico by Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, and now in the cabinet of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, and have been able to discover no analogy between them. This fact gives color for the presumption that the people prepared these _penates_ according to their respective tastes, and with little reference to any standard or canon. The bones and other relics of the persons who had been for a very long time dead, were now nearly decomposed. Being under the impression that these remains might assist in explaining the origin of the early inhabitants, or throw light upon other difficulties in the archæology of Yucatan, I determined to preserve and bring them with me. Immediately upon my arrival in Philadelphia I presented these remains to Dr. Morton, a gentleman who is so well known to the scientific world that it is unnecessary for me to say, that any opinion which he would be led to by their examination would deserve, and receive, the highest consideration from men of science throughout the world. A few days before the present chapter went to press, but too late to notice the fact in a more appropriate place, I had the honor of receiving a letter from Dr. Morton, in which he favors me with the result of his examination; an attention for which I am the more grateful, inasmuch as it was accompanied with a permission to make any use of the writer’s remarks which, in my opinion, would be most acceptable to my readers. I have no hesitation in presenting to them all the contents of the above communication which are pertinent to the subject about which we are concerned:— [Illustration: No. 1. 8 in. Long, 5¼ in. Wide.] [Illustration: No. 2. 6½ in. Long, 3½ in. Wide. 5¼ in. Long, 3¼ in. Wide. 5¼ in. Long, 4⅝ in. Wide. 7 in. Long, 4¼ in. Wide.] [Illustration: No. 3. 6 in. Long, 2½ in. Wide. 5 in. Long, 2¼ in. Wide. 5½ in Long, 3¾ in. Wide. 3¼ in. Long, 2¾ in. Wide.] [Illustration: No. 4. FRAGMENTS.] [Illustration: No. 5 4¼ in. High, 4, in. Diameter. 2½ in. High, 3, in. Diameter. 3¼ in. High, 5¼ in. Diameter.] [Illustration: No. 6. 5 in. Long, 3 in. Wide. 9 in. in diameter, 3 in. in height. 6 in. in diameter, 7 in. in height.]