The revered bird of the Aztecs stood upright, its extended head
peering east. The body of this aboriginal work of art, crude in
form, was of massive silver. And to it were attached overlapping
plates of gold in the similitude of feathers. The unfolded wings
were also of gold. The head, beak and talons were of gold, and the
eyes were two polished bits of quartz. The idol, for such no doubt
it was, stood forty inches in height and weighed about three hundred
pounds.
The base on which the precious eagle stood was completely covered
with the deepest blue turquoise. At its foot and covering the dais
were the crumbled traces of many articles of cloth, feathers, bits
of wood and pottery, and the like, all, no doubt, fragments of
priestly utensils of worship. The most ornate and best preserved of
these was a large flat bowl covered on the inside with skillfully
cut mother-of-pearl. This was still iridescently beautiful, and the
more striking because its milk white exterior was unmarked by
decoration.
Each mummy, when hauled into the open air and examined, gave more
positive proof of the riches that had been collected in this sacred
retreat.
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