Chapter VIII: Antiquities of Vera Cruz (1)

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE STATE -- EXPLORATION AND REPORTS
-- CAXAPA AND TUXTLA -- NEGRO HEAD -- RELICS FROM ISLAND
OF SACRIFICIOS -- EASTERN SLOPE REMAINS -- MEDELIN --
XICALANCO -- RIO BLANCO -- AMATLAN -- ORIZAVA -- CEMPOALA
-- PUENTE NACIONAL -- PASO DE OVEJAS -- HUATUSCO --
FORTIFICATIONS AND PYRAMIDS OF CENTLA -- EL CASTILLO --
FORTRESS OF TLACOTEPEC -- PALMILLAS -- ZACUAPAN --
INSCRIPTION AT ATLIACA -- CONSOQUITLA FORT AND TOMB --
CALCAHUALCO -- RUINS OF MISANTLA OR MONTE REAL -- DISTRICT
OF JALANCINGO -- PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA -- MAPILCA -- PYRAMID
AND FOUNTAIN AT TUSAPAN -- RUINS OF METLALTOYUCA -- RELICS
NEAR PÁNUCO -- CALONDRAS, SAN NICOLAS, AND TRINIDAD.

Passing now to the eastern or gulf coast, I shall devote the present chapter to the antiquities of Vera Cruz, the ancient home of the Totonacs in the north, and the Xicalancas and Nonohualcos in the south. Vera Cruz, with an average width of seventy miles, extends from the Laguna de Santa Ana, the western boundary of Tabasco, to the mouth of the River Pánuco, a distance of about five hundred miles. Its territory is about equally divided lengthwise between the low malarious tierra caliente on the immediate gulf shore, and the eastern slope of the lofty sierra that bounds the Mexican plateau. Two or three much-traveled routes lead inland from the port of Vera Cruz towards the city of Mexico, and travelers make haste to cross this plague-belt, the lurking-place of the deadly vomito, turning neither to the right nor left to investigate the past or present. A railroad now completed renders the transit still more direct and rapid than before. Away from these routes the territory of this state is less known than almost any other portion of the Mexican Republic, although a portion of the southern Goatzacoalco region has been pretty thoroughly explored by surveyors of the Tehuantepec interoceanic routes, and by an unfortunate French colonization company that settled here early in the present century. The mountain slopes and plateaux twenty-five or thirty miles inland are, however, fertile and not unhealthy, having been crowded in ancient times with a dense aboriginal population, traces of whose former presence are found in every direction. Most of our information respecting the antiquities of this state is derived from the reports of Mexican explorers, only one or two of whom have in most cases visited each of the many groups of ruins. These explorers have as a rule fallen into a very natural, perhaps, but at the same time very unfortunate error in their descriptions; for after having displayed great energy and skill in the discovery and examination of a ruin, doubtless forming a clear idea of all its details, they usually compress these details into the space of a few paragraphs or a few pages, and devote the larger part of their reports to essays on the Toltec, Chichimec, or Olmec history--subjects on which they can throw no light. They neglect a topic of the deepest interest, concerning which their authority would be of the very greatest weight, for another respecting which their conclusions are for the most part valueless.

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[Sidenote: RELICS AT SACRIFICIOS ISLAND.]

The ruins of an aboriginal city are mentioned at Caxapa, between the volcano of Tuxtla and the coast in the southern part of the state.[VIII-1] In the vicinity of Tuxtla, at the south-western base of the volcano, a colossal granite head, six feet high, was found by a laborer in 1862, while making a clearing for a milpa. The head was photographed, and a copy of the plate published by the Mexican Geographical Society, together with an accompanying text prepared by J. M. Melgar. A copy of the plate is given in the cut. The most noticeable peculiarity in this head is the negro cast of the features, and Señor Melgar devotes his article to the negro race, which as he supposes lived in America before the coming of the Spaniards.[VIII-2]

On the island of Sacrificios, in the harbor of Vera Cruz, one author[VIII-3] states that remains of the ancient temple are visible. This is probably an error, but numerous small relics have been dug up on the island. Many of the relics were articles of pottery, one of which of very peculiar form is shown in the cut from Waldeck. This, like most of the other articles found here, is preserved in the Museum of Mexico, and was sketched by Mayer and by Waldeck. Mr Tylor pronounces it not the work of the natives before the Conquest, in fact a fraud, "one of the worst cases I ever noticed." There is no doubt of the accuracy of the drawing, and Sr Gondra assured Col. Mayer, as the latter informs me, that the relic is an authentic one.[VIII-4] Workmen engaged in laying the foundations of the modern fort found, at a depth of six feet, vases of hard material, which in the opinion of M. Baradère resembled vases that have been brought from Japan.[VIII-5] Col. Mayer gives cuts of thirteen relics dug from a subterranean chamber or grave in 1828. Two of these were of white marble or alabaster, and one of them is shown in the cut. M. Dumanoir made an excavation also in 1841, finding a sepulchre containing well-preserved human skeletons, earthen vases painted and etched, idols, images, bracelets, teeth of dogs and wild beasts, and marble, or alabaster, urns. Plates of many of the relics have been published.[VIII-6]

[Sidenote: REMAINS ON THE EASTERN SLOPE.]

From the city of Vera Cruz two main routes of travel lead inland toward the city of Mexico. The first extends north-westward via Jalapa, and the second south-westward via Orizava. After crossing the first lofty mountain barrier which divides the coast from the interior plateaux, the roads approach each other and meet near Puebla. On the eastern slope, the roads with the mountain range, which at this point extends nearly north and south, form a triangle with equal sides of about eighty miles, at the angles of which are the cities of Vera Cruz, Jalapa, and Orizava, or more accurately points ten or fifteen miles above the two latter. This comparatively small triangular area, round which so many travelers have passed in their journey to Anáhuac, is literally covered with traces of its aboriginal population, in the shape of pottery, implements, foundation stones of dwellings, fortifications, pyramids, and graves. I quote the following from an article on the antiquities of Vera Cruz, written in 1869, for the Mexican Geographical Society, by Carlos Sartorius:

"On the eastern slope of the lofty volcanic range, from the Peak of Orizava to the Cofre de Perote, at an average elevation of two to five thousand feet above the level of the gulf, there exist innumerable traces of a very numerous indigenous population before the Conquest. History tells us nothing respecting this part of the country, distinguished for its abundant supply of water, its fertility, and its delightful and healthy climate." "For an extent of fifteen to twenty leagues, from east to west, there was not a span of earth that was not cultivated, as is proved by numberless remains.... The whole country is formed into terraces by stone walls, which follow all the variations of the surface with the evident object of preventing the washing away of the soil. Sometimes the terraces are ten or twelve yards wide, at others hardly one yard. The small ravines called _rayas_ served for innumerable water-tanks, built of rocks and clay, or of stone and mortar, these dams being also covered with a coating of hard cement. It is evident that a numerous population took advantage of every inch of land for cultivation, using the water gathered in the tanks during the rainy season for irrigation, possibly effected by hand by means of earthern vessels. In the more sterile portions of the land, on the top of hills which have no soil are seen the foundations of dwellings, all of stone without mortar, arranged in streets or in groups. They always form an oblong rectangle and face the cardinal points. They are found in clearing heavy forests as well as on open tracts, and the fact that oaks a mètre in diameter are found within the enclosure of the walls, proves that many centuries have passed since the population disappeared. In many parts are found groups of pyramids, of various sizes and degrees of preservation. The largest, of stone, are fifty feet and over in height, while the smallest are not over ten or twelve. The last seem to be tombs; at least several that we opened contained skeletons in a very decomposed state, with earthen utensils like those now made by the natives, arrow-heads of obsidian and bird-bone, doubtless the supplies given to the dead for their journey." One contained an elegant burial urn, bearing ornamental figures in relief, containing ashes and fragments of human bones, and covered first with small pebbles, and then with stone flags. "The region which we subjected to our investigation comprehends the slope of the sierra to the coast between Orizava and Jalapa. At an elevation of four or five thousand feet there are many springs, which at a short distance form ravines in a soil composed of conglomerates or, further south, of lime. In their course the ravines unite and form points sometimes with vertical walls of considerable height. As the water-courses do not follow a straight line, but wind about, the erosion of the current above the meeting of the ravines destroys a great portion of the dividing ridge, so that above there remains only a narrow pass, the ridge afterwards assuming greater width until the end is reached. This play of nature occurs in the region of which we are speaking, at many points and with great uniformity, almost always at the same level of two thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. The natives selected these points, strong by nature, fortifying them by art so ingeniously as to leave no doubt as to their progress in military art.... Some of them are almost inaccessible, and can be reached only by means of ladders and ropes. They all have this peculiarity in common, that, besides serving for defense, they enclose a number of edifices destined for worship,--teocallis and traces of very large structures, such as residences, quarters, or perhaps palaces of the priests and rulers. In some of them there are springs and remains of large artificial tanks; in others, aqueducts of stone and mortar, to bring water from distant springs." Sr Sartorius then proceeds to the description of particular ruins, of which more hereafter.[VIII-7]

[Sidenote: TRACES OF ABORIGINAL POPULATION.]

Mr Hugo Finck, a resident for twenty-eight years in the region under consideration, in which he traveled extensively to collect botanical specimens, contributed the following general remarks to the Smithsonian Report for 1870: "There is hardly a foot of ground in the whole state of Vera Cruz [the author refers particularly to the region about Córdova, Huatusco, and Mirador] in which, by excavation, either a broken obsidian knife, or a broken piece of pottery is not found. The whole country is intersected with parallel lines of stones, which were intended during the heavy showers of the rainy season to keep the earth from washing away. The number of those lines of stones shows clearly that even the poorest land, which nobody in our days would cultivate, was put under requisition by them.... In this part of the country no trace of iron or copper tools has ever come under my notice. Their implements of husbandry and war were of hard stone, but generally of obsidian and of wood. The small mounds of stones near their habitations have the form of a parallelogram, and are not over twenty-seven inches high. Their length is from five to twelve yards, their width from two to four. On searching into them nothing is found. A second class of mounds is round, in the form of a cone, always standing singly. They are built of loose stones and earth, and of various sizes; some as high as five yards, with a diameter of from five to twenty yards. Excavation made in them brought to light a large pot of burned clay filled with ashes, but in general nothing is found. The third class of mounds, also built of loose stones and earth, have the form of a parallelogram, whose smaller sides look east and west, and are from five to six yards high, terminating at the top in a level space of from three to five yards in width, the base being from eight to twelve yards. They are found from fifteen to two hundred yards long. Sometimes several are united, forming a hollow square, which must have been used as a fortress. Others again have their outer surface made of masonry, but still the inside is filled up with loose stones and earth. Near river-beds, where stones are very abundant, these tumuli are largest. Principally in this latter class, idols, implements of husbandry and war are discovered, sometimes lying quite loose, and at others imbedded in hollow square boxes made of masonry. The last-described mounds form the transition to those constructions which are altogether built of solid masonry.... One peculiarity of the last-mentioned ruins is, that they are all constructed at the junction of two ravines, and used as fortresses, on account of their impregnability. Most of the larger barrancas have precipitous sides from three hundred to one thousand feet deep, which guarded the inhabitants on their flank, so that nothing more was required than to build a wall, leaving a small entrance in the middle, as a passage, which could be barricaded in time of war.... Such constructions can be seen to this day in tolerable good condition. The interior of these fortified inclosures is in general large, sometimes holding from four to five square miles, and could be put under cultivation in case of a siege. The wall is in general from four to five yards high, and has on the inside terraces with steps to lead to the top. At other places there is a series of semicircular walls, the front one lower than the following, and a passage between each to permit one person at a time to pass from one to the other. The innermost wall is sometimes perforated with loopholes through which arrows could be thrown. Quite a number of ruins are found inside the fortification, as mounds, altars, good level roads with a foundation of mortar. Most of these monuments have good preserved steps leading to the top. In some very small pots of burning clay are found filled with ashes."[VIII-8]

The preceding quotations are sufficient to give a clear idea of the ruins in their general features, and leave only such particular remains as have been made known through the labors of different explorers to be described. Some ten or twelve of the peculiar fortified places alluded to above have been more or less fully described, but as there is no even tolerably accurate topographical map of this region, it is utterly impossible to locate them. Each stream, ravine, bluff, hill, and mountain of all the labyrinth, has its local name; indeed, some of them seem to have two or three, but most of them have no place on the maps. It is consequently quite possible that the same ruins have been described under more than one name. I shall present each group as it is described by the explorer, giving when possible the distance and bearing from some point laid down on the map which accompanies this volume.

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[Sidenote: AMATLAN AND ORIZAVA.]

Before treating of these ruins, however, I shall mention some miscellaneous relics, from the region under consideration, found at well-known towns, or in their vicinity. Colonel Albert S. Evans dug two terra-cotta images from a grave at Medellin, about eight miles south-west of Vera Cruz, in 1869. They seem to represent a male and female, and are now in the collection of Mr C. D. Voy, of Oakland, California. Near the same town, on the Rio Jamapa, are to be seen, Brasseur tells us, the ruins of one of the two ancient cities called Xicalanco; and also that the traces of an ancient city may yet be seen under the water between the city of Vera Cruz and the fort of San Juan de Ulloa.[VIII-9] About forty-five miles south-east of Córdova, between that town and the bridge over the Rio Blanco, Dupaix found a hard stone of dark blue color, artificially worked into an irregular spherical form, about six feet in diameter, and so carefully balanced that it could be made to vibrate by a slight touch. A number of small shallow holes were formed on the surface. A similar stone is placed two leagues to the eastward, and they are supposed by Dupaix to have served as boundary marks. Teololinga is the name by which the natives call them.[VIII-10] Also in the neighborhood of Córdova, at Amatlan de los Reyes, certain traces of a temple are vaguely mentioned by the same traveler; and on a wooded hillside near by is a cave, in which have been found fragments of carved stone and pottery, including a squatting trunk and legs, and a head carved from the same kind of stone that constitutes the walls of the cave. The latter relic is shown in the cut. The form of the head seems to have nothing in common with the ordinary aboriginal type.[VIII-11]

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]

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[Sidenote: RUINS AT PUENTE NACIONAL.]

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]

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[Sidenote: 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]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: RUINS AT HUATUSCO.]

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]

[Sidenote: 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.

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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]

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[Sidenote: REMAINS ABOUT MIRADOR.]

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]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 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.

The miscellaneous relics found in connection with the ruins and in the tombs include pottery, metates, slabs with sculptured grecques, hieroglyphics, and human figures in relief, stone images of different sizes up to eighteen inches, representing human figures seated with elbows on the knees, and head raised; and finally an obsidian tube, a foot in diameter and eighteen inches long, very perfectly turned, together with similar earthen tubes with interior compartments. Such is all the information I am able to glean from the published accounts and plates respecting Misantla, in the vicinity of which town other groups of ruins are very vaguely mentioned.

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]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: RUINS OF PAPANTLA.]

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]

[Sidenote: 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]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: RUINS OF TUSAPAN.]

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]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 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]