We should call attention here to the possibilities of finding mosaics in Mexico, emphasizing the fact that the collection in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, was found under archeological conditions. Until now we have been somewhat sceptical in regard to the possibility of wooden objects of such a fragile and perishable nature being discovered either in tombs or in ruined buildings in Middle America. As we have already written, the few traces of this mosaic art found heretofore in excavations have been of a fragmentary character. No specimens of wood covered with mosaic have been found previously in Mexico, with the exception of the small rim of wood excavated by Gamio in Zacatecas, and the four pieces from Chichen Itza. In the tropical and temperate zones, where the most important ancient sites are situated, artifacts of wood of any sort have rarely been unearthed. It is true that in some of the remote villages carved wooden drums (_teponaztli_) have been religiously guarded from the time of the conquest, and are brought out and played at certain festivals during the year. But these drums are kept in the cabildos, and are preserved with zealous care. We would again call attention to the statement of Sahagun regarding the tradition of the abandonment of Tula, that Quetzalcoatl ordered certain precious things to be buried in the neighboring hills and ravines. This, of course, refers to times long anterior to the coming of white men. After this unfortunate event, fatal indeed to the Indian, the natives undoubtedly secreted a vast amount of material. The circumstances concerning this have been told by Father Motolinia. As this account is but little known, we have translated literally the entire chapter, for it reveals to us the miserable state into which the aborigines had fallen within twenty years after their subjugation. _Of how there was an end of idols and of the feasts which the Indians were wont to prepare, and of the vanity and the endeavor which the Spaniards displayed in (their) search for idols._ The feasts which the Indians made, as is told in the first part (of this book), with their ceremonies and pomp, all ended from the beginning (of the time) that the Spaniards were making war (on them), because the Indians had so much to think about in their tribulations that they did not think of their gods, not even of themselves, because they had so much sorrow that in order to remedy that, all the principal (things in their lives) were stopped.