The god of fire, Xiuhtecutli, or Ixçocauhqui, presided over the ceremony of piercing the ears of the young boys and girls. The image of this god was decorated with ear-rings encrusted with a mosaic of turquoise. He held in his left hand a buckler on which were five large green stones called _chalchiuitl_ (jadeite), placed in the form of a cross on a plate of gold almost covering the shield.[374] At the time of the Spanish Conquest an immense emerald, almost as large as an ostrich egg, was adored by the Peruvians in the city of Manta. This “emerald goddess” bore the name of Umiña, and, like some of the precious relics of the Christian world, was only exhibited on high feast days, when the Indians flocked to the shrine from far and near, bringing gifts to the goddess. The wily priests especially recommended the donation of emeralds, saying that these were the daughters of the goddess, who would be well pleased to see her offspring. In this way an immense store of emeralds rewarded the efforts of the priests, and on the conquest of Peru all these fine stones fell into the hands of Pedro de Alvarado,[375] Garcilasso de la Vega, and their companions. The mother emerald, however, had been so cleverly concealed by the priests of the shrine that the Spaniards never succeeded in gaining possession of it. Many of the other emeralds were destroyed because of the ignorance and stupidity of some of their new owners, who, supposing that the test of a true emerald was its ability to withstand hard blows, laid the stones on an anvil and hammered them to pieces. The old and entirely false notion that the genuine diamond could endure this treatment may have suggested the unfortunate test. Garcilasso likens the growth of the emerald in its mine to that of a fruit on a tree, and he believed that it gradually acquired its beautiful green hue, that part of the crystal nearest the sun being the first to acquire color. He notes an interesting specimen found in Peru, half of which was colorless like glass, while the other half was a brilliant green; this he compares with a half-ripened fruit.[376] [Illustration: VOTIVE ADZE OF JADEITE FROM MEXICO. a, Front view. b, Side view. c, Rear view. Kunz Collection, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 10-13/16 × 6 × 4-5/8 inches, Weight, 19 pounds Troy.]