and around his body were figures like small devils with tails like serpents.”(74) But for the fact that Bernal Diaz mentions a plurality of faces in Huitzilopochtli’s necklace, whereas our monument exhibits but one skull, in front, his description strikingly coincides with the monolith now existing. Considering that thirty years had elapsed before he wrote this description allowance must be made for this and other slight lapses. On the other hand, dual statues, exactly alike, but with differently colored ornamentation, are precisely what we should expect to find on the summit of the great pyramid-temple of Mexico. With our present knowledge and comprehension of native symbolism, moreover, we see that two statues, each of which figured twin-serpents, would best express the native idea of the dual and quadruple principles and elements. What is more, two dual statues, each surmounted by a square, diagonally crossed, like a pyramid, would correspond, in symbolism, to the two great pyramids of Teotihuacan and carry out, on a small scale, the idea of a dual government. Valuable and reliable evidence, showing to what an extent the Mexicans regarded their government as dual and quadruple, can be gleaned from the records of the presents sent by Montezuma to Cortés, under the impression that the bearded Spaniards were the descendants of the ancient founders of their civilization. The native ruler sent the complete ceremonial dress of the four lords of the four regions denoting by that act of homage that he acknowledged Cortés as his equal, _i. e._ the supreme central lord who united the four-fold power in his person. “He likewise sent him a large wheel of pure gold, covered with designs and with the image of a monster in its centre.” Its weight was estimated at 3,800 “pesas” and it was considered “the finest and best of all the presents.” It was accompanied by “a large wheel of silver,” weighing forty-eight marcos. By the light of our present knowledge it may be that both “wheels” were images of the Great Plan and that whilst the gold one set forth the constitution and organization of the Upper division of the State and possibly conveyed the statistics of its members, the silver wheel was a record of the Lower division. The gift of these tablets must have been intended as an act of subservience and an acknowledgment of Cortés as the lord of the Above and Below, as well as of the Four Quarters. The utter lack of understanding for the symbolism of these gifts on the part of the recipient, can scarcely have escaped the notice of Montezuma’s messengers and must have sorely puzzled their unfortunate master.