autographs of the emperor and of Cortéz, who signed it as El Marques del Valle de Oajaca.1 Near these relics of two of the leaders of the conquering army, preserved religiously under glass in a golden frame, is the crimson silken banner, bearing the image of the Virgin, crowned with a golden coronet and surrounded with twelve stars, under which that army is alleged by the antiquarians to have marched the second time against the Aztec capital.
In the apartment west of this, and facing on the plaza del Volador, are the collections in natural history, which have been chosen apparently, rather as curiosities than for scientific purposes. The specimens of birds, beasts and reptiles, are indifferently preserved and classified, and even the collection of minerals, which, in Mexico, ought to be of the most perfect character, scarcely deserves mention as an important illustrative cabinet.
The number of small images, which are usually called idols, contained in the cases of the principal saloon is very large, and specimens are presented from most parts of the territory comprised in the empire of the Aztec sovereigns, as well as from Mechoacan. Some of the finest of these, both large and small, are exhibited in the plates annexed to this section; and we do not describe them minutely or singly, because they depend for their interest upon their forms, which are better depicted in drawings than language. Most of these were carefully delineated and measured by the author of this work himself, and their accuracy may be confidently relied on.
Two of the most beautiful and rare objects comprised in this collection, are the terra-catta funeral vases, one of which is represented in the accompanying engraving. It was exhumed some years ago in the northern suburb of the capital, known as St. Juan Tlaltelolco, the neighborhood of the ancient site of one of the Aztec teocallis. It is one foot ten inches high, and one foot three and a half inches in diameter. Its upper portion was filled with human skulls, and the lower with bones of the rest of the