The most remarkable objects still existing, within the limits. of the city of Tezcuco, in Mexico, are the remains of the chief Teocalli, some of the stones of which have been transferred into the pavements, and into the walls of dwellings, betraying their original destination and use, by the figures of animals, hieroglyphical symbols, and other ornaments, sculptured upon them. The base of this pyramid extended over an area four hundred feet square, and the sides rose in terraces, some of which are still visible, covered with a hard and durable cement.* Though other pyramidal buildings in its neighborhood are constructed of brick, this appears to have been formed of enormous masses of basalt, regularly cut, and beautifully polished.

To the east of the holy city of Cholula, still stand the ruins

ture, and on a great number of them I have always counted eleven steps or platforms. There is great resemblance between these terra cottas and the great pyramid of Itzalan." This remark, so far as it refers to the minor details of these structures, is accurate, but as to their leading and general form and style, there is certainly a great coincidence in all the accounts. Torquemada estimated the number of temples in the Mexican Empire at forty thousand, and Clavigero says the number was far greater. "The architecture of the great temples," he adds, "was for the most part the same with that of the great temple of Mexico; but there were many likewise of a different structure many consisted of a single body in the form of a pyramid, with a staircase," etc.—Clavigero, vol. i. p. 269. Gomara says, "they had almost all the same form, so that what we shall say of the principal temple, will suffice to explain all the others." See also De Solis, vol. ii. pp. 177, 214, 222. Some authors represent the base of the Mexican temple to have been of greater length than breadth, like those of Teotihuacan.

* Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p.

331.

of the celebrated pyramid, estimated to have been the largest in all Mexico, and sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the "God of the Air." The base covered an area double that of the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops, being one thousand four hundred and twenty-three feet in length; and its height was one hundred and seventyseven feet, ten feet higher than the pyramid of Mycerinus. It was constructed of alternate layers of clay and unburnt brick, was divided into four separate stories or stages, and ranged exactly in the direction of the cardinal points. The passage to the summit of this truncated pyramid appears to have been made originally by a flight of steps, one hundred and twenty in number. An ancient tradition maintained that this pyramid was hollow; which has since been verified, and a vault has been discovered, built of stone, supported by beams of cypress wood, and containing two skeletons, together with two basaltic idols, and several curious vases." * An arrangement of the bricks has also been observed in its internal structure, tending to lessen the pressure from above, by such a disposition as to make the upper course overlap the under, in the form of inverted steps a method often found in use in several Egyptian and other ancient edifices. In the same manner as the pyramids of Teotihuacan, the large pyramid was surrounded by many smaller ones, the ruins of which still faintly appear in the adjacent plain.†

* Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 91. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. P. 252. Humboldt's Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. ii. p. 120, English translation.

† Latrobe, p. 205.

Cortez, in a letter to the Emperor Charles V., dated October 30, 1520, says he counted four hundred of these temples at Cholula.

*

Near Tacuba, a populous city at the conquest, are the ruins of an ancient pyramid, constructed with layers of unburnt brick in regular courses. In the vicinity of Huexotla near Tezcuco are also several pyramids built with layers of unburnt brick, and clay, one of which shows appearances of having been hollow, which circumstance was discovered by part of it having fallen in.

Xochicalco, or "the House of Flowers," is situated upon the elevated plain of Cuernavaca, at a height of nearly six thousand feet above the level of the sea. It appears to be sea.‡ a hill formed into an artificial shape by human labor, and is nearly three miles in circuit. Its base is encircled by a moat or ditch, and the rocky mass is cut into the shape of a truncated pyramid, with its sides corresponding with the cardinal points, and divided into four terraces. The intermediate slopes are covered with platforms, bastions, pyramidical and rectangular elevations and stages, one above the other, all faced with large porphyry stones admirably cut, but joined together without cement the perpendicular height is estimated to be from three hundred to three hundred and eighty feet.

Upon the north part of the upper area is a truncated pyramid "constructed of large regularly hewn and symmetrically laid masses of hard and richly sculptured rock." Its base is in the line of the parallels and meridians, and is about fifty feet in length. It formerly consisted, as is stated, of seven stories, portions of two only now remaining. The construction of the

* Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 99.

† Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 335.

Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, pp. 185, 190. Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 45. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 339.

stories is singularly like the Egyptian style of architecture, the lower parts inclining inwards at an angle of 15°, for a short distance, and then being surmounted with perpendicular courses projecting over the inferior portion. Upon the stones. of this pyramid are many figures sculptured in relief, some representing hieroglyphic signs, and others human figures seated cross legged in the Asiatic manner, and crocodiles spouting water.*

It is probable that the interior of this monument contains many apartments, as it is ascertained that subterranean chambers and galleries enter deeply into the side of the hill. Paved roads or causeways run from different points of the compass to the base of "the House of Flowers," indicating, whatever was its purpose, that it was the resort anciently of great numbers of people.+

In the northern part of the former Intendancy of Vera Cruz, near the village of Papantla, are the remains of another pyramid, constructed of enormous blocks of hewn stone, regularly laid in cement. Each side of its quadrangular base is eighty feet in length, and its altitude is sixty feet. It is a truncated pyramid,

* These stones are parallelopipeds, and the reliefs are sculptured continuously over several stones, without regard to the joints, whence it has reasonably been inferred that the sculpture was executed after the erection of the structure.-Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 112.

There has arisen much discussion whether this work is wholly artificial. The recent observation of a modern traveller, without entering further into the argument, seems to decide the point, as "its position and configuration show it to be one of the group of adjacent hills."--Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 185. Xochitl signifies a flower.-Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 160.

and is divided into seven terraces: three staircases lead to the top, which are decorated with small niches supposed to have had an astronomical use or signification.*

To the north-east of the Lake of Tezcuco, eight leagues from the city of Mexico, are the two pyramids of Teotihuacan, traditionally sacred to the sun and moon.† The larger pyramid, dedicated to the worship of the sun, is one hundred and eighty feet in height, and its base is six hundred and eighty-two feet in length; and the pyramid of the moon is about one hundred and forty-five feet high. Both are divided into four stages, subdivided into smaller steps, and stairs of hewn stone rose to the superior platforms. They are composed of clay commingled with small stones, and are faced with amygdaloid, which has been coated with a red or salmon-colored cement formed of small pebbles and lime.

Upon the area at the top of the pyramid of the moon, are the ruins of a stone edifice, forty-seven feet long, and fourteen wide, with an entrance at the south. This pyramid has an entrance on the southern face, at two-thirds of the elevation, by a passage inclining downwards, and opening into a gallery, at the end of which are two wells now closed, except for about the distance of fifteen feet. The wells seem to be in the centre of the edifice.§ Upon the summit of the pyramid of the sun

*Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 87. Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 172.

Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 85. Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 42. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. pp. 330, 338. Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 160.

§ Latrobe, p. 161. The discovery of this entrance, were it an