They were adored under the form of images of clay, wood, stone, gold, silver, or copper, and gems. In their prayers, their faces were turned to the east; and the avenue to the sanctuary, where the image was placed, had its opening to the west. It is said, the temples in Mexico amounted to 2000, and that the idol Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitli, was the most adored; having more sacrifices offered at his altar; and that this image was formed of seeds glued together with human blood. The two high priests, in fact, governed the nation; they were consulted on all occasions, and wore a distinctive habit. They ruled the inferior priests, whose dress consisted of a black mantle, thrown over the head; their hair reaching down to their legs, as they never were shaved. They gave the names to new born children with many ceremonies, and assisted at all nuptials. They also presided on these occasions, and at the funeral ceremonies, placing by the side of the deceased, if he was buried, a jug of water, and pieces of their paper, with gems, and one of the deceasedʼs domestic animals. The bodies of the dead were however generally burnt, and the ashes collected in a pot, which, in the case of people of high rank, were deposited in the temples. The priests had likewise the care of instructing the children, and preceded their armies in war. The language of the Mexicans bears some similarity to that of the Peruvians; it is expressive and copious; and the great feature of it before the conquest was, that an addition of respect, according to the rank of the person addressed, might be added to each word; the words are many of them of immense length, as in the more northern dialects of the American Indians. It has not the consonants _b_, _d_, _f_, _g_, _r_, _s_;--_l_, _x_, _t_, _z_, _tl_, _tz_, are the most usual; but no word begins with _l_, though it is the most common liquid of the language. The penultimate syllable of most of the words is long, yet no nasal sound occurs in speaking it; the aspirations are soft; it is also abundant in augmentatives and diminutives; and is as well supplied with verbs as with nouns. The colleges and university of Mexico admit the natives as freely as the Spaniards and their descendants, and are said to be well conducted, and to find considerable genius for the fine arts, and for some of the higher branches of science manifested in the pupils. The capital of this province or intendancy, and of the whole of New Spain, has been already described under the head of New Spain; and the province of Mexico is 136 leagues in length, and ninety-two leagues broad; its population has been laid down at 1,511,800 souls; which at once shows its importance.