At Orizava two relics were seen, one of them a triangular stone five feet thick and ninety feet in circumference, used in modern times as the floor of a native's cabin. On one of the triangular surfaces was incised in rude outline a colossal human figure twenty-seven feet high, standing with legs spread apart and arms outstretched. A girdle appears at the waist, plumes decorate the head, and the mouth is wide open. On one side a fish stands on its tail; on the other is a rabbit with ten small circles, very likely expressing some date after the Aztec manner,—ten tochtli. Some carvings not described were noticed on the edges also. The other relic was a kind of yoke carved from green jasper and supposed to have been used in connection with the Aztec sacrifices. It is shown in the cut according to Castañeda's drawing. The original yoke was carried by Dupaix to Mexico and deposited in one of the antiquarian collections there, where it was afterwards sketched by Mayer and Gondra.[VIII-12] Near Jalapa, Rivera states that a serpent fifteen feet long and nine feet broad, may be seen carved in the rock.[VIII-13] Half a day's journey from Vera Cruz towards Mexico, at a point which he calls Rinconado, Robert Tomson saw "a great pinacle made of lime and stone, fast by a riuer side, where the Indians were wont to doe their sacrifices vnto their gods."[VIII-14] About the location of Cempoala, a famous city in the time of the Conquest, there has been much discussion. Lorenzana says that the place "still retains the same name; it is situated four leagues from Vera Cruz, and the extent of its ruins indicates its former greatness." Rivera tells us, however, that "to-day not even the ruins of this capital of the Totonac power remain," although some human bones have been dug up about its site.[VIII-15]

Passing now to the labyrinth of ruins within the triangular area extending from the peaks of Orizava and Perote to the coast, I begin with those in the vicinity of the Puente Nacional, where the road from Vera Cruz to Jalapa crosses the Rio de la Antigua. These remains are located on the summit of a forest-covered hill over a hundred feet high, on the bank of the river some two leagues from the bridge. They were discovered in 1819 or 1820 by a priest named Cabeza de Vaca, and in November, 1843, J. M. Esteva, to whom the priest related his discovery, made an exploration, and as a result published a description with two plates in the Museo Mexicano. On the uneven surface of the hill-top stands a pyramid of very peculiar form, shown in the cut, which is an ichnographic plan of the structure. It is built of stone and mortar, the former probably in hewn blocks, although the text is not clear on this point. The height varies from thirty-three to forty-two feet, according to the inequalities of the ground. The circumference is not far from three hundred English feet, while the summit platform measures about fifty-five by forty-four feet. On all sides except the eastern the slope is divided into six stories, or steps, about one foot wide and seven feet high at the base but diminishing towards the top, making the ascent much steeper than that of most aboriginal pyramids that we have met hitherto. The eastern side is all taken up by a stairway about sixty-three feet wide, consisting of thirty-four steps. This stairway, as is more clearly shown in Esteva's view of this side than in my cut, is arranged in the form of a cross.

On the western base is the entrance to a gallery which penetrates the body of the pyramid; it was obstructed by fallen stones, but Esteva succeeded in exploring the passage far enough to convince himself that the interior was divided into several apartments. At some distance from the pyramid were noticed the foundations of a wall.[VIII-16]

Mr Lyon mentions the existence of ruins—which he did not visit—in this vicinity on the edge of a plateau, at the north side of the valley, about a mile and a half to the right of the road, and only a short distance from Paso de Ovejas. "All that remains are the traces of streets and inclosures, and an assemblage of pyramidical elevations of earth and stones of various sizes, some of them forty feet in height." Sr Sartorius reports very extensive ruins on the right bank of the Antigua, some leagues west of Consoquitla, near Tuzamapa, from the material of which the 'puente nacional' was constructed. An old native also reported that a spiral stairway formerly led down to the bottom of the barranca. Whether the two groups of ruins last mentioned are identical with that described by Esteva, it is impossible to determine; quite likely they are distinct remains.[VIII-17]

FORTIFICATIONS OF CENTLA.

Some twenty-five or thirty miles northward from Córdova, in the vicinity of Huatusco, and stretching northward from that town, is a line of fortified places, nearly every junction of two ravines bearing more or less extensive remains. One of the most extensive of these works is that known as Centla, a few leagues north-east of Huatusco. The ruins are said to have been discovered by rancheros in 1821. Ignacio Iberri saw them in 1826, but published no description. An explorer whose name is not given visited the locality in 1832, and furnished information from which Sr Gondra published an account, illustrated with plates, in 1837. Sr Sartorius made an exploration of Centla in 1833, but his description, also accompanied with plates, was not published until 1869.[VIII-18]

FORTRESS OF CENTLA.

Two ravines, running from east to west, with precipitous sides from three hundred to a thousand feet high, approach so near to each other as to leave only space for a passage about three feet wide, and this narrow pass is made still stronger by protecting walls not particularly described. The barrancas then diverge and again converge, forming an oval table of about four hundred acres, across which, from east to west is excavated a ditch, or protected road, about seventeen feet wide and from eight to eleven feet deep, leading to the second narrow pass, where the ravines again approach each other.[VIII-19]

This second pass is about twenty-eight feet wide from the brink of the northern to that of the southern precipice.[VIII-20] This pass is fortified by defensive works of the strongest character, the plan of which is shown in the cut on the following page. The only entrance is through the narrow passage only three feet wide, shown by the arrows, beginning at the southern brink, passing between two stone pyramids, A, and E, D, C, and then along the northern brink to the plateau beyond, the issue into the latter being guarded additionally by three smaller pyramids. The chief pyramid on the right of the entrance is built of stone and mortar in three stories, or terraces, C, D and E, respecting the arrangement of which the plan[VIII-21] is not altogether satisfactory; but each story is reached by a stairway on the east, and on the summit are parapets pierced with loopholes for the discharge of weapons. This structure is also flanked on the south, where the descent for a short distance is less precipitous than elsewhere, by a terraced wall at B. The left hand fortification, A, is described by Gondra as a simple wall, but according to Sartorius and the plan it is also a pyramid, with stairway on the east and parapets on the summit. It has apparently only one story, and is lower than its companion, but its front has an additional protection in the form of a ditch eleven feet wide and five and a half feet deep, excavated in the solid rock, the position of which is shown by the dotted line a, a.[VIII-22]

Beyond the narrow fortified pass that has been described, the southern ravine again diverges and forms a semicircle before joining that on the north, forming thus a peninsular plateau a mile and a half long, and somewhat less than three quarters of a mile wide, covered with soil of great fertility, and divided in two parts by the waters of a spring, whose waters flow through the centre. Since its discovery this fertile table has been settled and cultivated by modern farmers, some twenty families of whom—whether native or Spanish is not stated—were living here in 1832. The whole surface was covered with traces of its former inhabitants, but most of the monuments in the cultivated portions have been destroyed by the settlers, who used the stones for buildings and fences. In other parts, covered with a forest at the time of exploration, extensive remains were found in good preservation, besides the fortresses at the entrance. Pyramids of different dimensions, standing singly and in groups, together with foundations of houses and sculptured fragments, were scattered in every direction enveloped in the forest growth.

The pyramids are all built of rough stones, clay, and earth, faced on the outside with hewn blocks from eighteen inches to two feet long, laid in mortar. The stone seems to have been brought from the bottom of the ravines, and it is said that no lime is procurable within a distance of fifteen or twenty miles. Sartorius gives a plate representing one of the pyramids, which he states to be a type of all those at Centla, and indeed of all in this region, and which is copied in the cut. The stairways are generally on the west, and the niches at the sides are represented as having arched tops and as occupied by idols. Some of the smaller mounds have been found to contain human skeletons lying north and south, and from one of them a farmer claimed to have dug a number of green stone beads. Sartorius claims to have found in connection with one of the pyramids an altar having a concavity on the top, and a canal leading to a receptacle at the foot of the mound; he also mentions a very elegant vase, six by four inches, found under a stone flag, near the altar. Gondra speaks of a large square or court, level and covered with a coat of hard polished cement; he also claims that six columns of stone and mortar were seen, twelve feet high, standing at the bottom of a ravine.

Dupaix in his first exploring tour visited Huatusco, and states that at a distance of half a league down the river from the modern town was found a group of ruins known as the Pueblo Viejo. These ruins were on the slope of a hill, and on the summit stood the pyramid shown in the cut, known as El Castillo. The height of this Castle is about sixty-six feet, and according to Dupaix's text the base is two hundred and twenty-one feet square, but, according to Castañeda's drawing, copied above, each side is not over seventy-five feet.[VIII-23] The foundation, or pyramid proper, is built in three stories, being about thirty-seven feet high. A broad stairway, with solid balustrade, leads up the western front. On the summit platform stands a building in three stories, with walls about eight feet thick, which, at least on the exterior, are not perpendicular but slope inward. The lower story has but one doorway, that at the head of the stairway; it forms a single hall, in the centre of which are three pillars, which sustained the beams of the floor above, pieces of the beams being yet visible. The two upper stories seem to have had no doors or windows. Dupaix says that on the summit was a platform three feet thick, yet as the roof was fallen, he probably had little or no authority for the statement. The interior of the whole structure was a rubble of stone and mortar, and the facing of hewn blocks regularly laid. The whole exterior surface, at least of the superimposed structure, was covered with a polished coating of plaster, and a peculiar ornament is seen in each side of the second story, in the form of a large panel, containing regular rows of round stones imbedded in the wall. El Castillo, if we may credit Dupaix's account of it, must be regarded as a very important monument of Nahua antiquity, by reason of the edifice, in a tolerable state of preservation, found on the summit of the pyramid. These upper structures with interior apartments have in most instances entirely disappeared. In connection with these ruins Dupaix found a coiled serpent carved from hard stone; a fragment of terra-cotta with decorations in relief; and a fancifully modeled skull, the material of which is not stated.[VIII-24]

FORTRESS OF TLACOTEPEC.

Sartorius mentions a 'castle,' with towers and teocallis, situated on a frightful cliff between two barrancas, three leagues from Huatusco, distinct from Centla, and some leagues further southward.[VIII-25] Clavigero says that in his time the ancient fortress of Quauhtochco, or Guatusco, was still standing, surrounded with lofty walls of solid stone, which could only be entered by means of many high and narrow steps.[VIII-26] Sr Iberri applies the name El Castillo to the ruins visited by him in 1826, but it is evident from his slight description that he refers to Centla.[VIII-27] It is clear that at least two and probably more groups of remains are indicated by the different authorities cited.

The following are mentioned as the localities of undescribed ruins, several of them belonging to what seems to be a line of ancient fortifications extending northward from the vicinity of Huatusco: Cotastla, Matlaluca, Capulapa, Tlapala, Poxtla, Xicuintla, and Chistla.[VIII-28] The fortress of Tlacotepec is located four leagues east of Jolutla, between the Rio de la Antigua and Paso de Ovejas, six thousand varas west of and a quarter of a league above the houses of the hacienda of Mirador, separated by a deep ravine from San Martin on the south—a location which might possibly be clear enough with the aid of a good map, or to a person perfectly familiar with the topography of the country. The position of the fortified plateau is similar to that of Centla, and a ditch, generally fourteen feet deep and from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, leads over the hills for several leagues to the entrance of the plateau. This ditch, however, seems only to be excavated in the earth, and disappears in several places where the solid rock is encountered.[VIII-29] At the terminus, towards the fortifications, the ditch widens into a rectangular excavation, one hundred and eight by two hundred and seventy-six feet, surrounded with an embankment formed of the earth thrown out. The defensive works which guard the passage between the ravines, and the extensive ruins of temples and dwellings on the plateau beyond, are described only by Sartorius, and his text, plan, and sketch, all fail to convey any clear notion respecting the arrangement and details of these remains. The following, however, are the principal features noted:—A wall twenty-eight feet high across the entrance to the plateau; two small towers in pyramidal form on the narrow pass; a building called the castle, apparently somewhat similar to the fortifications at Centla; a line of pyramids, serving as a second line of defense; a ditch excavated in the solid rock; another group of pyramids protected by a semicircular wall; an excavation apparently intended as a reservoir for water, covering two thousand square yards, the bottom of which is literally covered with fragments of pottery, and on the banks of which are the foundations of many dwellings; a number of temple pyramids, like the type at Centla shown in a preceding cut, one of them having the so-called blood-canal; an earthen receptacle at the foot of the altar, filled with earth, in which were found two human skulls; the foundations of an edifice two hundred yards long, having along its whole length "a corridor of cement with hewn stone at its sides, forming one or two steps;" a small pyramid formed from the living rock of the cliff, at the very edge of the precipice where the ravines meet; and finally, arrow-heads, lance-heads, and knives of obsidian, which are found at every step, and are even dug up from under the roots of large trees.[VIII-30]

A few leagues eastward from Tlacotepec on the same barranca, are two forts known as Palmillas, separated by a deep ravine. One of them was used by the Mexican forces under General Victoria in the war of independence; the other has the remains of an aqueduct which brought water from a point over a league distant.[VIII-31] At Zacuapan, near Mirador, and five leagues from Huatusco, according to Heller, are remains of the ordinary type, including terraced walls, parapets with loopholes, a plaza with plastered pavement in the centre of which stands a pyramid, a cubical structure or altar on the very verge of the precipice, and the usual scattered pottery and implements. Six miles south of Mirador the same traveler mentions some baths, on a rock near which is the inscription shown in the cut.[VIII-32] Also in the vicinity of Mirador, at the junction of two tributaries of the Santa María, is the fortress of Consoquitla, similar to the others. A line of plastered pyramidal structures is mentioned, in one of the smallest of which was a tomb three by six feet lying north and south and covered with large stone flags. Within the tomb was a skeleton, together with earthen boxes filled with arrow-heads and bird-bones. Some large idols are also said to have been found here, and on the summit platform of some of the pyramids were the marks of upright beams, which seem to have supported wooden buildings.[VIII-33] Calcahualco, 'ruined houses,' is also on one of the tributaries of the Santa María. A parapeted wall fifty-five feet long protects the entrance, and could only be crossed by the aid of ropes or ladders. The wall seems to stand in an excavation, so that its top is about on a level with the original surface of the plateau. Within the fortifications is a large pyramid surrounded by smaller ones and by the foundations of houses; and another excavation, a hundred yards long and twenty-five in width, is vaguely mentioned as of unknown use. A mile and a half further south-east are some ruins in the bottom of a ravine. A wall nine feet high rises from the water's edge, and on it stand a row of round monolithic columns, which seem to have supported a stone architrave.[VIII-34] Mr Tylor noticed some remains by the roadside, at the eastern foot of Orizava, as he was traveling towards San Antonio de Abajo.[VIII-35]

RUINS OF MISANTLA.

Northward from the triangular area, the remains of which I have described, ruins seem to be no less abundant, and accounts of them no less unsatisfactory. The remains known by the name of Misantla, from a modern pueblo near by, are located some twenty-five or thirty miles north-eastward of Jalapa, near the headwaters of the Rio Bobos. They are sometimes called Monte Real, from the name of one of the hills in the vicinity. They were discovered accidentally by men searching for lost goats, and visited by Mariano Jaimes in 1836; in October of the same year, I. R. Gondra, from information furnished by the discoverers and Jaimes, and from certain newspaper accounts, wrote and published a very perplexing description, illustrated with a plan and two views. In the same or the following year J. I. Iberri made an official exploration of Misantla, or Monte Real, and his report, also illustrated with many plates, and rivaling that of Gondra in its unsatisfactory nature, was published in 1844. Not only are the two accounts individually to a great extent unintelligible, but neither they nor their accompanying illustrations seem to have any well-defined resemblance to each other.[VIII-36]

The site of the ruins seems to be a ravine-bounded plateau, somewhat similar to those already described, the approach to which is guarded by a wall. This wall extends not only across the pass, but down one of the slopes, which is not so steep as to be naturally inaccessible to an enemy. According to Iberri the wall is a natural vein of porphyry, artificially cut down in some parts, and built up by the addition of blocks of stone in others, measuring three yards high and two in width. The same explorer, after passing the wall and climbing with much difficulty to a point about two hundred and fifty feet higher, found a pyramid standing on a terraced hill, on the terraces of which were various traces of houses and fortifications. The pyramid was built of porphyry and basalt in blocks of different sizes, laid in mortar, was thirty-three feet square at the base and seventeen feet high, and had a narrow stairway on one side at least. On the summit platform were traces of apartments of rough stones and mortar; also a canal nine inches square, leading to the exterior. The first wall mentioned by Gondra in the approach to the ruins, was one of large stones in poor mortar, mostly fallen; it seemed to form a part of walls that bounded a plaza of nearly circular form, in the centre of which stood the pyramid. This edifice was forty-seven by forty-one feet at the base, twenty-eight feet high, and was built in three stories; the lower story had a central stairway on the front, the second had stairways on the sides, while on the third story the steps were in the rear. There are also some traces of a stairway on the front of the second story. The whole surface is covered with trees, one of which is described as being about fourteen feet high, and over eight feet in diameter. The only resemblance in the two views of this pyramid, is the representation of a tree on the summit in each; between the two plans there is not the slightest likeness; and so far as Iberri's third figure is concerned, it seems to resemble nothing in heaven above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth. Both authors agree on the existence of many house-foundations of stone without mortar, extending the whole length of the plateau. According to Iberri these houses were eleven by twenty-two feet, some of them divided in several apartments, standing on the terraces of the hill, only a foot and a half apart, along regular streets about six feet wide. The walls are of hewn stone without mortar, and none remained standing over three feet high. Gondra represents the houses as extending in three and four straight and parallel rows for over two miles on the plateau, with a wall of masonry running the whole length on the south. At various points on the summit and slopes of the hill tombs are found, containing seated skeletons and relics of obsidian and pottery. One of these tombs, as represented by Gondra, is shown in the cut, in which the arched doorway has a very suspicious look.

In the same range of mountains, in the district of Jalancingo, walls of hewn stone, with well-preserved subterranean structures containing household idols, are mentioned as existing at Mescalteco; also some remains at Pueblo Viejo and Jorse, those of the latter including a remarkable stone statue of marble. This reported relic is said to have represented a naked woman clasping a bird in her arms. The lower parts of the woman are missing, and the bird much mutilated, but the prefect of Jalancingo says in his report, "it would be easy to complete the figure into Jupiter-swan fondling Leda."[VIII-37]

About a hundred and fifty miles north-westward from Vera Cruz, fifty miles in the same direction from the ruins of Misantla, forty-five miles from the coast, and four or five miles south-west from the pueblo of Papantla, stands the pyramid shown in the cut, known to the world by the name of the pueblo, Papantla, but called by the Totonac natives of the region, El Tajin, the 'thunderbolt.' It was accidentally discovered in March, 1785, by one Diego Ruiz, who was exploring this part of the county in an official capacity, with a view to prevent the illegal raising of tobacco; and from his report a description and copper-plate engraving were prepared and published in the Gaceta de Mexico.[VIII-38] Humboldt described but did not visit the pyramid. He states that Dupaix and Castañeda explored and made drawings of it, but neither description nor plates appear in the work of these travelers.[VIII-39] The German artist Nebel visited Papantla about 1831, and made a fine and doubtless perfectly accurate drawing, from which the cut which I have given has been copied.[VIII-40]

The pyramid stands in a dense forest, apparently not on a naturally or artificially fortified plateau like the remains further south. Its base is square, measuring a little over ninety feet on each side, and the height is about fifty-four feet; the whole structure was built in seven stories, the upper story being partially in ruins.[VIII-41] Except the upper story, which seems to have contained interior compartments, the whole structure was, so far as known, solid. The material of which it was built is sandstone, in regularly cut blocks laid in mortar—although Humboldt, perhaps on the authority of Dupaix, says the material is porphyry in immense blocks covered with hieroglyphic sculpture—the whole covered on the exterior surface with a hard cement three inches thick, which also bears traces of having been painted. According to the account in the Gaceta, the stones that form the tops of the many niches shown in the cut are from five and a half to seven feet long, four to five and a half wide, and four to nine inches thick. Respecting the stairway nothing can be said in addition to what is shown in the cut. It leads up the eastern slope, and is the only means of ascent to the summit. It is divided by solid balustrades into five divisions, only two of which extend uninterruptedly to the upper story, while the central division can hardly have been used at all as a stairway.[VIII-42]

The niches shown in my cut extend entirely round the circumference of each story, except where interrupted on the east by the stairways. Each niche is about three feet square and two feet deep, except those in the centre of the eastern front, which are smaller. Their whole number seems to have been three hundred and twenty-one, according to Nebel's plate, without including those that may have occurred on the seventh story.[VIII-43]

RUINS OF MAPILCA.

Only slight mention is made of any scattered or movable relics at Papantla. It is said that fragments of ruins are scattered over an area of half a league from the pyramid, but no exploration has been made. A small golden idol is reported by Gondra to have been found here, very like a terra-cotta image of Quetzalcoatl, from Culhuacan, of which a cut will be given in the next chapter. Bausa speaks of a stone trough found on the summit of the pyramid, ruins of houses in regular streets in the vicinity, and immense sculptured blocks of stone.

Mr Nebel also visited another locality where remains were discovered, south-eastward from Papantla towards the Tecolutla river, near the rancho of Mapilca. Here in a thick forest were several pyramids in a very advanced stage of dilapidation and not described. There were also seen immense blocks of granite scattered in the forest. The one sketched by Nebel and shown in the cut is twenty-one feet long, and covered with ornamental sculpture in low relief: it rested on a kind of pavement of irregular narrow stones. Another explorer, who saw the ruins in 1828, found the remains of twenty houses, one of them seventy paces long, with walls still standing to the height of ten feet. Most of them were only six feet high, and the small amount of débris indicated that only part of the original height was of stone.[VIII-44]

On a low hill some forty miles west of Papantla, at the foot of the cordillera, enveloped in an almost impenetrable forest, is another group of ruins, called Tusapan, known only from the drawings and slight description of Nebel. The only structure which remains standing is shown in the cut. It consists of a pyramid thirty feet square at the base, and bearing a building in a tolerable state of preservation. Except the doorposts, lintels, and cornices, the whole structure is said to be built of irregular fragments of limestone; but if this be true, it is evident from the drawing that the whole was covered with a smooth coat of plaster. The building on the summit contains a single apartment twelve feet square, with a door at the head of the stairway. The apartment contains a block, or pedestal, which may have served for an altar, or to support an idol; and it has a pointed ceiling similar in form to the exterior. It is unfortunate that we have no further details respecting this ceiling, since it would be interesting to know if it was formed by overlapping stones as in the Maya ruins, particularly as this is one of the very few remaining specimens of the aboriginal arch in Nahua territory. From the large number of stone blocks and other débris found in the vicinity it is supposed that the pyramid represented in the cut was not the grandest at Tusapan. Several filled-up wells, and numerous fragments of stone images of human and animal forms much mutilated were also noticed.

The water which supplied the aboriginal inhabitants of the place, seems to have come from a spring located on the side of a precipitous mountain; and at the base of the cliff, where the water reached the plain, was the very remarkable fountain shown in the cut, artificially shaped from the living rock. The cut is an exact fac-simile of Nebel's plate, except that the surroundings, which add much to its interest, are necessarily omitted. I quote Nebel's brief description in full. "Among the ruins of Tusapan is found the grotesque fountain here represented. The whole monument consists of a statue nineteen feet high, sculptured in the living rock. The clothing indicates clearly a woman, seated, resting her head on the left arm, which is supported by her knee. The head seems to be adorned with feathers and precious stones. Among the plumes behind is a hollow intended to receive the waters of a neighboring spring (which no longer exists). The water ran through the whole figure and out under the petticoats in the most natural manner, whence it was conducted in a canal of hewn stone to the town near by."[VIII-45]

RUINS OF METLALTOYUCA.

The Mesa de Metlaltoyuca is on the Tuxpan River, about twelve leagues south-west from the port of Tuxpan, twenty-two leagues north-east of Tulancingo, and probably in the state of Vera Cruz, although very near the boundary. The table-land is very extensive, and is covered throughout most of its extent by a thick forest. Juan B. Campo, Sub-Prefect of Huauchinango, discovered a group of ruins here, and gave a description of his discoveries in a report dated June 27, 1865.[VIII-46] His account is very general, alluding to the ruins of a great city, whose streets were paved with polished stones, a fine stone palace plastered and painted, all surrounded by a wall fifteen feet thick and ten feet high, with a great gate, covered way, stone bastions, etc., etc. Immediately after the publication of Campo's report, Ramon Almaraz, chief of a Mexican scientific commission, engaged with other engineers in surveying for a road in this region, spent five days in the exploration of the ruined city, preparing plans and other drawings, and also taking some photographic views. His report, very far from being full and satisfactory, illustrated with several plates, was published in the government reports for the year mentioned.[VIII-47]

The name, Metlaltoyuca, according to Galicia Chimalpopoca, signifies 'place fortified with solid stones,' but Sr Linares attributes to the word a different derivation, and makes it mean 'land of the maguey.'[VIII-48] Almaraz says: "A succinct account of the ruins might be given by saying that they consist of pyramids built of hewn blocks of sandstone, partially covered with a good hydraulic cement, as will be seen by the chemical analysis which will be given,[VIII-49] and of some tumuli, and remains of edifices of slight elevation." The arrangement of the remains is shown in the plan; only a few of the structures indicated on the plan are mentioned in the description, and of those few very little is said. The space covered by the ruins is in rectangular form, about two hundred and fifty by five hundred yards, and is located in the south-western portion of the mesa. The chief structure, a of the plan, stands at the north-west corner, and its northern and western walls, four hundred and eighty-five and one hundred and ninety-four feet respectively, meet at an angle of 87° 30´; on the other sides the walls are irregular, forming many angles, and in the interior there are walls which divided the enclosed area into several compartments. There are, according to the text, traces of walls, in some places five or six feet high, extending from the ends of the main structure and inclosing the other works, but not shown in the plan. Some steps and also water-tanks were found in connection with the corner walls. Campo also found two doors blocked up with stone slabs. There are several truncated pyramids, the largest of which, at b, is thirty-six feet high, and one hundred and thirty-one feet square at the base. It is built in six stories, and has traces of the buildings which formerly occupied its summit. All the structures are built of brick-shaped blocks of sandstone, very nicely cut, and laid in mud.[VIII-50] On the surface of the cement, which covers all the buildings to a thickness of over an inch, painted figures are seen.

A remarkable feature at Metlaltoyuca is the existence of the parallel mounds at c, of the plan. As nearly as can be ascertained from the drawings and text, they are about one hundred and forty feet long, twenty feet wide, and ten or twelve feet high. The interior is filled with loose stones and earth, and the surface is covered with somewhat irregular brick-shaped blocks, laid in mud or clay, and apparently covered with cement. The cut shows a transverse section of one of the mounds, and indicates a near approach to the principle of the regular key-stone arch, although as the interior was filled to the top, there is no evidence that the arch was intentionally self-supporting. Some traces of hieroglyphic paintings were found on the mortar which covered a part of these mounds.[VIII-51]

Something over two miles north-west of the ruins described, at the only point where the mesa is accessible on the northern side, is a double stone wall guarding the passage. The outer wall is three or four hundred yards long, thirteen feet high, and fifty feet thick at the base, diminishing towards the top. The inner wall is of smaller dimensions. The same system of defensive works is repeated on the opposite side of the mesa. The only movable relics found were, the figure of a female bearing a sculptured cross, a representation of a mummy closely wrapped as if for burial and having features of a different type from those ordinarily found in Aztec idols, and the form of a man with arms crossed and legs bent, sculptured on a slab, all of the same sandstone of which the buildings were constructed. According to Campo, another smaller group of remains has been seen farther south, towards the Mesa de Amistlan. Two idols of porous basalt and numerous arrow-heads of obsidian are reported at Guautla, twenty-five or thirty miles north-west of Metlaltoyuca.[VIII-52]

In the northern extremity of the state, in the region about Pánuco, small relics are said to be very abundant. A list of thirty specimens collected by Mr Francis Vecelli during a survey of the Pánuco River, some of them doubtless belonging to the state of Tamaulipas, across the river, is given by Mr Vetch in the Journal of the London Geographical Society. They are mostly of limestone and represent human figures, for the most part females, rudely sculptured and wearing peculiar head-dresses. The foreheads are represented as high and broad, the lips thick, and the cheek-bones high. The sculpture is rude, and nearly every one of the images has a long unshaped base or tenon, as if intended to be fixed in a wall. A front and rear view of one of these images are shown in the cut.[VIII-53] In the town itself, idols, heads, obsidian arrow-heads, and fragments of ancient pottery, some of it glazed, are often washed out by the heavy rains. Mr Lyon speaks of "several curious ancient toys and whistles, with one small terra cotta vase very beautifully carved with those peculiar flourishes introduced in the Mexican manuscripts," also "an antique flute of a very compact red clay, which had once been polished and painted. It had four holes, and the mouth part was in the form of a grotesque head." Flutes occur both single and double, with two, three, and four holes. Earthen representations of birds, toads, and other animals are frequently found either whole or in fragments. West of the town five or six mounds from thirty to forty feet high are vaguely mentioned.[VIII-54] Buried in the ground in a ravine near the town, and resting on the stone walls of a dilapidated sepulchre, Mr Norman claims to have found a stone slab seven feet long, wider at one end than the other, but two feet and a half in average width, one foot thick, and bearing on one side the sculptured figure of a man. Dressed in a flowing robe, with girdle, sandal-ties on his feet, and a close-fitting cap on his head, he lies with crossed arms. The face is Caucasian in feature, and the work is very perfectly executed. For the authenticity of so remarkable a relic Mr Norman is hardly a sufficient authority. Two small images, probably of terra cotta, were presented by Mr Norman to the New York Historical Society.[VIII-55]

At the Calondras Rancho, some twenty-five miles from Pánuco, a large oven-like chamber is reported on the slope of a hill, which contains large flat stones used for grinding maize. The ruins at Chacuaco, three leagues south of the town, are said to cover about three square leagues. Mr Norman also gives cuts of two clay vases from the same locality, one of them having a negro face, very likely of modern origin. San Nicolas, five leagues, and Trinidad six leagues south-west of Pánuco, are other places where ruins are reported to exist.[VIII-56]

CHAPTER IX.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE CENTRAL PLATEAUX.

Anáhuac—Monuments of Puebla—Chila, Teopantepec, Tepexe, Tepeaca, San Antonio, Quauhquelchula, and Santa Catalina—Pyramid of Cholula—Sierra de Malinche—San Pablo—Natividad—Monuments of Tlascala—Los Reyes—Monuments of Mexico—Cuernavaca, Xochicalco, Casasano, Ozumba, Tlachialco, Ahuehuepa, and Mecamecan—Xochimilco, Tlahuac, Xico, Misquique, Tlalmanalco, and Culhuacan—Chapultepec, Remedios, Tacuba, and Malinalco—City of Mexico—Tezcuco—Tezcocingo—Teotihuacan—Obsidian Mines—Tula—Monuments of Querétaro—Pueblito, Canoas, and Ranas—Nahua Monuments.

The monuments of the Mexican tierra templada, of Anáhuac and the adjoining plateaux, next claim our attention. The territory in question is bounded on the south and east by that treated in the two preceding chapters—Oajaca and Guerrero on the south toward the Pacific, and Vera Cruz on the east toward the gulf. The present chapter will carry my antiquarian survey to a line drawn across the continent from Tampico to the mouth of the Zacatula river, completing what has been regarded as the home of the Nahua civilized nations, with the exception of the Tarascos in Michoacan, and leaving only a few scattered monuments to be described in the broad extent of the northern states of the republic. On most of the maps extant the territory whose monuments I have now to describe, is divided into the states of Mexico, Puebla, Tlascala, and Querétaro, to which have been added in later years Morelos and Hidalgo, formed chiefly, I believe, from the old state of Mexico. In my description, however, I shall pay but little attention to state lines, locating each group of antiquities by its distance and bearing from some well-known point. Respecting the physical features of this central Nahua region, enough has been said in the preceding volumes; I consequently begin at once the description of antiquarian relics, dealing first with those found in Puebla and Tlascala, starting in the south and proceeding northward.