The upper vase, which is thirteen and a half inches high, is very elaborately wrought, being surrounded with ten female figures in relief, each alternate figure bearing a child on the left arm. It is noticeable that the head-dresses of the figures holding the children are more elaborate than those of the remaining figures. The second or lower vase, Dr. Rau considers equal to many Etruscan or Greek vases in gracefulness of outline. “The vessel may be compared to a pitcher with two handles, standing opposite each other, and with two mouths projecting between them.” Among the terra-cotta images of Mexican origin in the National Museum the two shown in the cut are of interest. The left-hand figure is that of a woman pressing her hands upon her ears. The face represents an aged individual. The Museum possesses almost an exact duplicate of this image. The right-hand figure is much smaller and is hollow, enclosing a clay ball, and was probably used as a rattle. It is scarcely necessary for us to remark that the seeming analogies between the Maya (Central American) sculpture and that of Egypt have often been noted. Juarros, in speaking of Palenque art, says: “The hieroglyphics, symbols and emblems which have been discovered in the temples, bear so strong a resemblance to those of the Egyptians, as to encourage the supposition that a colony of that nation may have founded the city of Palenque or Culhuacan.”[589] Giordan found, as he thought, the most striking analogies between the Central American remains, as well as those of Mexico, and those of the Egyptians. The idols and monuments he considers of the same form in both countries, while the hieroglyphics of Palenque do not differ from those of ancient Thebes.[590] Señor Melgar, in a communication to the Mexican Geographical Society, has called attention to the frequent occurrence of the (Τ) _tau_ at Palenque, and has more studiously advocated the early relationship of the Palenqueans to Egypt than any other reliable writer.[591] He cites Dupaix’s _Third Expedition_, page 77 and plates 26 and 27, where in the first figure is a goddess with a necklace supporting a _tau_ like medallion to which the explorer adds the remark that such is “the symbol in Egypt of reproduction or abundance.” In the second plate he finds an altar dedicated expressly to the _tau_. He considers that the cultus of this, the symbol of the active principle in nature, prevailed in Mexico in many places. Señor Melgar also refers to two idols found south of the city of Mexico, “in one of which two symbols were united, namely, the Cosmogonic egg, symbolical of creation, and two faces, symbols of the generative principle. The other symbolized creation in the bursting forth of an egg. These symbols are not found in the Aztec mythology, but belong to the Indian, Egyptian, Greek, Persian, Japanese and other cosmogonies.” This, the Señor considers proof that these peoples were