that certain chapters may have suffered from over-condensation, more especially that on the Mexican gods. However Mexican religion is in itself rather an intricate subject, and requires studying in considerable detail if a proper view of the life and culture of the people is to be obtained. Religion amongst the Mexicans was the mainspring of all private and public life, and few of the archaeological remains cannot be brought into direct relation with it. Yet even Mexican religion is not as complicated as it appears at first sight; it is in reality the language, with its fondness for long compound names, which renders it so difficult a study to the amateur in the initial stages. I had also intended to add a bibliographical note, similar to that with which I concluded my volume on South America. But in view of the existence of an admirable bibliography in Dr. Walter Lehmann's little monograph, "Methods and Results in Mexican Research," I judged it unnecessary.
I find it difficult to express to the full my thanks to the many friends whose encouragement and assistance are really responsible for such success as this book may achieve. Without the work of Dr. Maudslay and Dr. Seler its production would have been impossible, and I owe them both much gratitude for the great generosity which has led them both to place their illustrations at my disposal. Professor Holmes, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, has shown me similar kindness in permitting me to reproduce five of the charming illustrations in his admirable monograph, "Archæological Studies among the Ruined Cities of Mexico," published by the Field Columbian Museum (now the Field Museum of Natural History) of Chicago.
