are the remains of broken earthenware, said to resemble closely the Chinese patterns, pieces of obsidian, and the mutilated bodies of idols. Indeed obsidian knives, arrows, and terra cotta heads, abound in this vicinity. The heads have a physiognomical appearance somewhat unlike that of the present Indians, being remarkable for the height and formation of the forehead, and for a curious head-dress. They are composed of clay well tempered, and slightly baked. Around these pyramids, as at Cholula, are many smaller ones, several hundreds in number, arranged in parallel lines or streets running in the direction of the cardinal points,† and facing the sides of the pyramids of the sun and moon. These are generally about thirty feet high, and by tradition were said to have been sepulchres for the chiefs of tribes, and to have been dedicated to the stars. A broad road leads from the southern side of the house of the moon, passes directly before the western face of the house of the sun, and then bears away over the plains, towards the mountains. Besides the remains of the pyramids just described, many ancient one, would indicate that some reliance is to be placed upon the ancient traditions; for, according to one of these mentioned by the early travellers, the interior of these pyramids is hollow; but it is possible that the passage entered by Mr. Latrobe is the work of Siguenza, who, according to Boturini, endeavored to pierce these edifices by a gallery.-See Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. * Latrobe, p. 161. p. 42. "The faces of these edifices are to within 52′ exactly placed from north to south, and from east to west."--Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 42. Tonatiuh Ytzaqual-House of the Sun; and Mitzli Ytzaqual-House of the Moon. others are to be observed among the ruins of the ancient cities in Mexico, Central America, and Yucatan.* At the conquest there was no place of any importance, but what boasted of many of these stupendous edifices; and the narratives of the conquerors are filled with expressions of astonishment at their vastness and grandeur, and the magnificence and splendor of their decorations. Most of these, and in particular such as were of inferior size, were despoiled and overthrown by the Spaniards; while those more ancient structures which served as their models, the pyramids of Cholula and of Teotihuacan,-probably from their enormous dimensions, escaped the general ruin. An idea of the fearful system of indiscriminate destruction pursued by the invaders may be gathered from the letter of Cortez to Charles V., in which, speaking of the plan adopted for the subjugation of the city of Mexico, he says: "I formed the design of demolishing on all sides, all the houses, in proportion as we became masters of the streets, so that we should not advance a foot, without having destroyed and cleared down whatever was behind us." Thus continually, in the examination of these ancient monuments, are we called to lament that barbarian * Mr. Lyon describes some near Panuco, which were from thirty to forty feet high.-Lyon's Tour, p. 55. Many ruins of sepulchral mounds are to be seen in Yucatan.--Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 162. At the south side of Merida are the ruins of a Teocalli upon which a fort has been erected. Many of the houses of Merida have been constructed with fragments of the pyramids. In the base of one of these monuments a tomb has been opened and found to contain the bones of the tapir and of some other mammiferous pachydermata: upon the remains of another, the Convent of St. Francisco has been built.-Waldeck, pp. 18, 23, 55. fury, which in the heat of conquest was restrained from no excess; and even to share and sympathize in the feelings of the poor vanquished Indians, as they saw the objects of their deepest reverence levelled with the dust. Ancient cities and other ruins. From the causes just alluded to, as well as from the gradual depopulation, and finally, the abandonment of many important cities whose sites are now only conjecturally known, but a faint conception can be obtained at the present period of their former size and numbers. The old writers, many of whom were eye-witnesses, whose accounts were given after a long residence in this country, give us a high idea of its ancient population. Clavigero has collected these testimonies with exceedingly great industry, and has succeeded in establishing that this portion of the continent was occupied by populous nations, whose numbers were so great that in the vicinity of their towns, according to Cortez, "not a foot of the soil was left uncultivated," and whose cities were not only numerous, but contained, some of them, from thirty to sixty thousand houses. Tezcuco. The ruins of this city, which with its suburbs was even larger than Mexico, and according to Torquemada contained one hundred and forty thousand houses, still betoken an ancient place of great importance and magnificence. Without the walls, tumuli, the sepulchres of the former inhabitants, may yet be observed, and also the remains of a fine aqueduct in a sufficient state of preservation for present use. Within the city limits, excavations have developed the foundations of large edifices, and every surrounding object points it out to the traveller, as the former residence of a numerous, and cultivated population.* In its * Latrobe, p. 141. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 331. vicinity there is a conical hill, rich in antiquities, covered to the very summit with the massive ruins of splendid buildings, and perforated with artificial excavations. The sides of this elevation are terraced in some places with solid masonry-work, in other parts the terraces are cut into the rock, and the exterior of the whole has been covered with cement, or stucco-work. The walls of one large building are yet partly standing, and a reservoir is perceived which supplied it with water. But the most singular object connected with this mountain of ruins, is a specimen of art, which without any sufficient reason has been denominated traditionally "Montezuma's Bath."* This piece of workmanship is excavated from the side of a cliff, and projects beyond it " like a martin's nest." It is a beautiful basin. about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well five feet in diameter and four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet two feet and a half high, with a throne or chair placed near it, such as is represented in ancient pictures, to have been used by the kings. Steps descend into the bath, and the whole is cut out of the living porphyry rock with mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner.† Commanding a picturesque prospect of the fine valley of Mexico, its lakes and city, a more enchanting spot for the luxury of the bath cannot well be imagined. But it is more than doubtful whether such was its object, and it has been suggested with much probability that it served for an astronomical purpose.‡ * Latrobe, p. 141. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 334. A recent traveller varies in his account rather widely from this description, particularly with regard to its dimensions, and he states very positively that it could not have been a bath, or rather that it is Huexotla. Two miles from Tezcuco, the village of Huexotla, situated on the site of the ancient city of that name, which was considered as one of the suburbs of Tezcuco, exhibits signs of ancient civilization, in the foundations of large edifices, in massive aqueducts, one of which, covered with rose-colored cement, still exists in a perfect state, and in an extensive wall of great height and thickness.* A covered way flanked by parallel walls proceeds from the ancient city, to the bed of a stream now dry, over which there is a remarkable bridge, with a pointed archt forty feet high, and supported on one side by a pyramidal mass of masonry.‡ Mitlan. In the district of Zapoteca, ten leagues from Oaxaca, occur the ruins of Mitlan, consisting originally of five edifices symmetrically arranged. The approach is made by a gateway, which opens upon a court one hundred and fifty feet square surrounded by four oblong buildings, in one of which the remains of two columns are still visible. The fifth and largest edifice, which has best withstood the ravages of time, is placed upon a terrace or elevated platform rising above the court it is one hundred and thirty feet in length, and contains a spacious hall, whose roof of savine wood is supported. by six monolithic porphyry columns, nineteen feet high, destitute of capitals, and slightly contracted at the summit. The too small for any other use, than a foot bath.--Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 141. * Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 335. † Latrobe, p. 139. The Mexicans constructed bridges of stone, and Clavigero mentions the remains of "large and strong pilasters" which supported the bridge over the river Tula.- Clavigero, vol. ii. p. 371. |