thaginians, a colony from Tyrus,-and between whom there existed the strictest union and friendship,-and may justly be supposed to have practised the manners and customs of the Parent country. The Tyrians, also, would follow the customs of the Sidonians, and the Canaanites, their original ancestors. Gathering, therefore, evidences of Religious ceremonies from Canaan, Sidon, Tyrus, and Carthage, for they were all of the Phoenician family, we shall include those nations under one general term,-viz. Tyrian,-for the same convenience as the term Mexican is used.

Not only will the Tyrian customs be gathered from the nations mentioned, but from the Bible also, so that the reader will perceive, that the ground for sustaining our superstructure is not a light, or a sandy one.

The Tyrians were essentially Idolators,-so were the ancient Mexicans,—the former built Temples to their plurality of Gods,—the latter did the same.

The Tyrians sacrificed human beings upon the unhallowed dedication of their temples :-the Mexicans followed this horror of a false Religion to its full extent; for at the dedication of the last chief Temple of Mexico, nearly seventy thousand captives, taken during four years' warfare, were sacrificed to propitiate their Deities!

The Tyrians devoted human sacrifices to the God of War upon slight disaster or defeat,-the Mexicans had the same "remedy for sorrow:"-and the many Altarblocks discovered amid the Ruined Temple of Copan

(even now blood-stained) have been clotted with human gore.

A very important God among the Tyrians was that of Saturn-a description is necessary, on account of the strong analogy to the Mexican Deity,-and that proved by the Sculpture of the newly-discovered Ruins. This strong similitude,-as a Rosetta-stone,-led us to the first translation of the Architectural wonders. Cronus -or the God Saturn,-among the Tyrians, was the deity to whom were sacrificed the most beautiful infants and children, and of the highest families;—it was insatiate, ever asking, always receiving, and ever destroying! This sacrifice to the Moloch of the Tyrians, was derived from the Canaanites, their original ancestors, MOSES, in warning his people to beware of the false Gods in the countries they might conquer, and referring especially to that of Canaan, says—

"For every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they (the Canaanites) done unto their Gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their Gods." [Deut. xii. 31.] Again, in the third book of Moses, the Lawgiver says

"And thou shalt not let any of thy seed [offspring] pass through the fire to Molech." [Levit. xviii. 21.]— and again GOD spake by his Prophet, "Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech, -he shall surely be put to death: the people of the

land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people;-because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy Name." [Levit. xx. 2, 3.]

In the New Testament this same God of the Canaanites is called Moloch,-a name generally used in poetry to express the demon of blood.

"Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch." [Acts

vii. 43.]

This was an ancient custom of the Canaanites, and followed by their descendants, the Sidonians, Tyrians, and Carthaginians,-it was, also, practised by the Mexican Aborigines.

The Tyrian God Saturn, was represented in Asia and Africa by a large metal Statue, -the figure was bent slightly forward, with the hands extended, as in the act of receiving, or soliciting:-the arms and hands were in that position, that upon the child being placed in the hands of the Statue, the weight of the smallest infant was sufficient to displace its position, and consequently, it instantly slipped from the hands of the Idol into a fiery furnace, ever burning beneath this God of Infanticide! In this manner were the most beautiful children of the Phoenicians destroyed, as an offering to the insatiate Moloch.

This Canaanitish practice, which was feared by MOSES, was actually practised centuries after by his People, for another Prophet speaking of the impending

downfall of Jerusalem, and of her accumulated sins,

says,

"Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast born unto me; and these hast thou sacrificed unto them [false gods], to be devoured [by flames],- **-thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them." [Ezekiel xvi. 20-21.]

Now the Sculpture of the Ruins in Mexican America illustrates this very custom of the Tyrians, and as it was one of the greatest importance with that nation, so has it received more attention than any other subject.

It can readily be imagined how many stages in the progress of this infanticide would be in the Tyrian nation,—as thus,—the Mother bringing the child;—the reception by the Priests, the sorrow of the Parent, and other incidents in analogy with the subject. The Sculpture of the ruined Temples at Palenque, presents many of the progressive steps towards a consummation. of the sacrifice,-as thus,-Female figures, erect, adorned with jewels and ornaments, each figure with a child in her arms, not in the attitude of receiving a Mother's nourishment, but held by the Parent in such a manner, as if in sorrowful contemplation of her infant victim:-the costume, also, is essentially important, for the Tyrian Children were selected from families possessing station, wealth, and power. Other female figures are represented seated, and in the most melancholy

postures, with downcast heads and looks, as if mourning for that loss, which had made them Motherless! In an inner apartment, believed to be the sanctum of a Temple, is sculptured (in basso) the resemblance of the dread Altar, portraying the entrance of the fiery furnace, for even the bars and grating are distinctly visible; a large and monstrous Mask, or demoniac face is directly above the fire-grating,-presenting that of the remorseless Deity. On either side of the Altarfurnace and Mask of Saturn, is stationed a young and an elderly Priest of sacrifice, both standing, erect, upon crushed and prostrate human beings: the Priests have their hands and arms elevated, and each holds an infant,-raised up towards the demon-deity, as if in the act of presenting the victims. The ancients (from their Mythology) believed that their God,—Saturn,devoured its own children, thence the worship,and those who sacrificed a child to him, were supposed to be under his peculiar care and guidance:—this Sculptured Mask,-has a hideous face,-distorted eyes, a ravenous and distended mouth,—and its tongue hanging out, as if athirst for infant blood, thus presenting a perfect portraiture of the child-craving appetite of the Demon. It must be evident that the above analogy is a most powerful one,-nor have the parallels been strained in order to prove their equi-character;— the analogy is so strong, and apparently so convincing, -that it cannot fail to reach the mind of the reader with a conviction of their identity.

The Sculpture described, having reference to the