Kingsborough on Mexican antiquities, are preserved in this apartment, while on the surrounding shelves, are deposited specimens of the pottery, vases, pipes, idols, images, bows, arrows, axes, masks, sacrificial instruments, beads and altars of the Aztecs.
Around the frieze of this room, as around that of the preceding, are portraits of Mexican viceroys, at the head of which is the picture of the conqueror Hernando Cortéz, from which the engraving in these volumes has been accurately copied. Its authenticity is unquestionable, for its history has been carefully traced to the period of the third viceroy, Don Gaston de Peralta, Marques de Falces. This portrait represents the hero of the conquest differently from any other picture we have found either engraved or in oil, and exhibits the mingled air of elevated veneration and command, of firmness and dignity, reflection and resolute action, which are the chief historical characteristics of this personage. In a corner, beneath the portrait, is a plain, unornamented suit of steel armor, which belonged to the hero. Its small dimensions convey no favorable impression of the hero's size or strength. The armor, and patent of nobility granted by Charles V. to Pedro de Alvarado, the companion of Cortéz, are also preserved in this saloon. The royal document is exceedingly interesting from the fact that it contains the