Chapter IX: Antiquities of the Central Plateaux (2)

At Misquique, on another of the lake islands Dupaix found the following objects left by the antiguos:--1st. A sculptured monster's head, with a tenon for insertion in a wall. 2d. A large granite vase, circular in form, four feet and a half in diameter, three feet and a half high, sculptured on the upper rim, painted on the inside, and polished on the outer surface. It rests on a cylindrical base, smaller than the vase itself, and is used in modern times as a baptismal font. 3d. A mill-stone shaped block, with a tenon, very similar to those found at Tlahuac, except that the sculptures on the face are evidently in low relief in this case. 4th. An animal called by Dupaix a coyote, sculptured on the face of a block. 5th. A cylindrical stone twenty-one inches in diameter and twenty-eight in height, round the circumference of which is sculptured, or apparently merely incised, a serpent. 6th. A square block with concentric circles and other figures, similar to those at Xochimilco. 7th. Another block with a spiral figure. 8th. A very finely formed head of gray veined stone, furnished with a tenon at the back of the neck. 9th. Three small and rudely formed images, one of green jasper and two of a red stone.

[Sidenote: TLALMANALCO AND CULHUACAN.]

At Tlalmanalco were four small idols in human form, three of which were built into a modern wall; two heads, one of which is of chalchiuite; three of the ornamental blocks, one bearing clearly defined cross-bones; and the nondescript animal in gray stone shown in the cut. Also at Tlalmanalco, in the official report already several times cited, mention is made of three fallen pyramids, one of which was penetrated by a gallery, supposed to have been intended for burial purposes.

Culhuacan, on the north-eastern bank of the same lake, is a small village which retains the name of the city which once occupied the site, famous in the annals of Toltec times. Veytia tells us that in his time some vestiges of the ancient capital were still visible; and Gondra describes a clay idol found at Culhuacan, and shown in the cut, as an image of Quetzalcoatl, giving, however, no very clear reasons for his belief. This relic is fourteen inches high, thirteen inches wide, and is preserved in the Mexican Museum.[IX-48]

The relics discovered in Anáhuac at points westward from the lakes, I shall describe without specifying in my text the exact locality of each place referred to. At Chapultepec there is a tradition that statues representing Montezuma and Axayacatl were carved in the living rock of the cliff; and these rock portraits are said to have remained many years after the Conquest, having been seen by the distinguished Mexican scientist Leon y Gama. Brasseur de Bourbourg even claims to have seen traces of them, but this may perhaps be doubted. One was destroyed at the beginning of the eighteenth century by order of the over-religious authorities; but the other remained in perfect preservation until the year 1753, when it also fell a victim to anti-pagan barbarism. The immense cypresses or _ahuehuetes_ that still stand at the foot of Chapultepec, 'hill of the grasshopper,' are said to have been large and flourishing trees before the coming of the Spaniards.[IX-49]

[Sidenote: HILL OF OTONCAPOLCO.]

A few miles from the celebrated church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, is a terraced stone-faced hill, similar perhaps in its original condition to Xochicalco, except that the terraces are more numerous and only three or four feet high. Although, only a short distance from the capital in an easily accessible locality, only two writers have mentioned its existence--Alzate y Ramirez in 1792 and Löwenstern in 1838. The former calls the hill Otoncapolco, and his article in the _Gaceta de Literatura_ is mainly devoted to proving that this was the point where Cortés fortified himself after the 'noche triste,' instead of the hill on which the church of Remedios stands, as others in Alzate's time believed. The author, who visited the place with an artist, says, "I saw ruins, and hewn stones of great magnitude, all of which proves to the eye that this was a fortification, or as the historians say, a temple, because they thought that everything made by the Indians had some connection with idolatry; it is sure that in the place where the celebrated sanctuary stands, there is not found the slightest vestige of fortress or temple, while on the contrary, all this is observed at Otoncapolco." This with the remark that this monument, although not comparable to Xochicalco, yet merits examination, is all the information Padre Alzate gives us; and Löwenstern adds but little to our knowledge of the monument. He found débris of sculptured stone, obsidian, vases, and pottery; also the ruins of a castle two-thirds up the slope, in connection with which was found a flat stone over six feet long, bearing a sculptured five-branched cross--a kind of coat of arms. The hill is from two hundred and sixty to three hundred and twenty-five feet high, has a square summit platform, and the whole surface of its slopes was covered with stone-work, now much displaced, in the shape of steps, or terraces, between three and four feet high. At one point the explorer found, as he believed, the entrance to a subterranean passage, into which he did not enter but inserted a pole about nine feet.[IX-50]

At Tacuba, the ancient Tlacopan, Bradford mentions the "ruins of an ancient pyramid, constructed with layers of unburnt brick," and Löwenstern speaks of broken pottery and fragments of obsidian. The latter author also claims to have seen near the church of Guadalupe the foundations of many small dwellings which constituted an aboriginal city.[IX-51] At Malinalco, near Toluca, two musical instruments, _tlamalhuilili_, are mentioned. They were carved from hard wood and had skin stretched across one end, being three feet long and eighteen inches in diameter.[IX-52] Mr Foster gives a cut of a tripod vase in the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which was dug up near San José. "It is very symmetrically moulded, and is ornamented by a series of _chevrons_ or small triangles. This chevron mode of ornamentation appears to have been widely prevalent."[IX-53]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: CITY OF MEXICO.]

In describing the relics which have been discovered from time to time in the city of Mexico, the ancient Aztec capital, I shall make no mention for the present of such objects, preserved in public and private antiquarian collections in that city, as have been brought from other parts of the state or republic. When the locality is known where any one of this class of relics was found I shall describe it when treating of antiquities in that locality. The many relics whose origin is unknown will be alluded to at the end of this chapter. Since all who have visited Mexico or written books about that country, almost without exception, have had something to say of antiquities and of the collections in the National Museum, as well as of the relics belonging strictly to the city, I shall economize space and avoid a useless repetition by deferring a list of such authorities to my account of the miscellaneous relics of the Mexican Republic at the end of the chapter, referring for my present purpose only to the more important authorities, or such as contain original information or illustrations.

No architectural monuments whatever remain within the city limits. The grand palaces of the Aztec monarchs, the palatial residences of the nobility, the abodes of wealth and fashion, like the humbler dwellings of the masses, have utterly disappeared; monuments reared in honor of the gods have not outlasted the structures devoted to trade; the lofty teocalli of the blood-thirsty Huitzilopochtli, like the shrines of lesser and gentler deities, has left no trace.

Movable relics in the shape of idols and sculptured stones are not numerous, although some of them are very important. No systematic search for such monuments has ever been made, and those that have been brought to light were accidentally discovered. Some sculptured blocks of the greatest antiquarian value have been actually seen in making excavations for modern improvements, and have been allowed to remain undisturbed under the pavements and public squares of a great city! There can be no doubt that thousands of interesting monuments are buried beneath the town. The treasures of the Plaza Mayor will perhaps be some day brought out of their retirement to tell their story of aboriginal times, but hundreds of Aztec divinities in stone will sleep on till doomsday. It is unfortunate that these gods of other days cannot regain for a time the power they used to wield, turn at least once in their graves, and shake the drowsy populace above into a realization of the fact that they live in the nineteenth century.

The three principal monuments of Mexico Tenochtitlan are the Calendar-Stone, the so-called Sacrificial Stone, and the idol called Teoyaomiqui. They were all dug up in the Plaza Mayor where the great teocalli is supposed to have stood, and where they were doubtless thrown down and buried from the sight of the natives at the time of the Conquest. In the years 1790 to 1792 the plaza was leveled and paved by order of the government, and in the excavations for this purpose and for drainage the three monuments were discovered, the Calendar-Stone and the idol very near the surface, and the third relic at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet.

The Calendar-Stone was a rectangular parallelopipedon of porphyry, thirteen feet one inch and a half square, three feet three inches and a half thick, and weighing in its present mutilated state twenty-four tons. The sculptured portion on one side is enclosed in a circle eleven feet one and four-fifths inches in diameter. These are the dimensions given by Humboldt, who personally examined the stone, and agree almost exactly with those given by Leon y Gama, who examined and made drawings of the monument immediately after its discovery. Gama pronounced the material to be limestone, which provoked a sharp controversy between him and Padre Alzate, the latter calling the material, which he tested by means of acids, a volcanic rock. Humboldt's opinion is of course decisive in such a matter. The centre of the circle does not exactly correspond with that of the square, and Gama concludes from this circumstance that the stone had a companion block which might be found near the place where this was found.[IX-54]

[Sidenote: THE CALENDAR-STONE.]

The stone has been for many years built into the wall of the cathedral at the base, where it is exposed to the view of all passers-by, and to the action of the elements. While lying uncovered in the plaza it was considerably mutilated by the natives, who took the opportunity of manifesting their horror of the ancient gods, by pelting with stones this relic of their paganism. Parts of the stone were also broken off when it was thrown down and buried by the conquistadores. Fortunately the sculptured portions have been but slightly injured, and are shown in the cut. The plates published by Gama, Humboldt, Nebel, Mayer, and others, are all tolerably accurate; except that they were drawn to represent the stone correctly on the plate or block, and of course reversed in printing. The origin of this error is probably to be found in the fact that nearly all have copied Gama's plate. In my cut the error is corrected and the sculptured figures agree exactly with Charnay's photograph.[IX-55] These figures are the symbols of the Aztec calendar, many of which are well understood, while others are of unknown or disputed signification. The calendar has been sufficiently explained in a preceding volume, and I shall not enter upon its elucidation here. The sculpture is in low relief, very accurately worked, and the circle which encloses it projects, according to Mayer, seven inches and a half, according to Gama and Nebel about three inches, and the rim of the circle is also adorned with sculptures not shown in the cut. Respecting the excellence of the sculpture Humboldt says: "the concentric circles, the divisions, and the subdivisions without number are traced with mathematical exactitude; the more we examine the details of this sculpture, the more we discover this taste for repetitions of the same forms, this spirit of order, this sentiment of symmetry, which, among half-civilized peoples, take the place of the sentiment of the beautiful."

No stone like that from which the Calendar-Stone is hewn, is found within a radius of twenty-five or thirty miles of Mexico, and this may be regarded as the largest block which the natives are known to have moved over a long distance. Prescott tells us that the stone was brought from the mountains beyond Lake Chalco, and was dropped into the water while being transported across one of the causeways. There is no reason to attribute this monument to any nation preceding the Aztecs, although the calendar itself was the invention of an older people. Wax models of this and other relics, described by Mr Tylor as very inaccurate, are sold in Mexico; and a plaster cast, taken by Mr Bullock in 1823, was exhibited in London.[IX-56]

[Sidenote: THE SACRIFICIAL STONE.]

The Sacrificial Stone, so called, is a cylindrical block of porphyry, nine feet and ten inches in diameter, three feet seven and one fourth inches thick. This also was dug from the Plaza Mayor, was carried to the courtyard of the University, where it has lain ever since, much of the time half covered in the ground, and where different visitors have examined it. The cut, which I have copied from Col. Mayer's drawing, shows the sculpture which covers one side of the stone, the other side being plain. The name of Sacrificial Stone, by which it is generally known, probably originated from the canal which leads from the centre to the edge, and which was imagined to have carried off the blood of sacrifices; but the reader will notice at once that this stone bears not the slightest resemblance to the altars on which the priests cut out the hearts of their human victims, as described in a preceding volume. Some authors, among whom is Humboldt, believe this to be the _temalacatl_, or gladiatorial stone, on which captives were doomed to fight against great odds until overcome and put to death. The bas-relief sculptures, the central concavity, the canal, and the absence of any means of securing the foot of the captive, are very strong arguments against this use of the cylinder. A smooth surface would certainly be desirable for so desperate a conflict, and the sculptured figures on the rim, or circumference, soon to be noticed, show that the plain side of the stone was not in its original position uppermost. Gama, the first to write about the monument, pointed out very clearly the objections to the prevailing ideas of its aboriginal purpose. He claimed that the stone was, like the one already described, a calendar-stone, on which was inscribed the system of feast-days. The strongest objection to this theory was the existence of the central concavity and canal, which, however, Gama considers not to have belonged to the monument at all, but to have been added by the ruder hands of those who wished to blot out the face of the sun which originally occupied the centre. Latrobe also says, "I have but little hesitation in asserting that the groove in the upper surface formed no part of the original design;" but Col. Mayer, who has carefully examined this relic, tells me that the canal presents no signs whatever of being more recent than the other carving, and it must be admitted that the Spaniards would hardly have adopted this method of mutilation. Tylor suggests that this was a sacrificial altar, but used for offerings of animals. Fossey speaks of it as a 'triumphal stone.' But in alluding to these theories I am departing somewhat from my purpose, which is to give all the information extant respecting each relic as it exists.

The whole circumference of the stone is covered with sculptured figures, consisting of fifteen groups. Each group contains two human figures, apparently warriors or kings, victor and vanquished, differing but little in position or insignia in the different groups, but accompanied by hieroglyphic signs, which may express their names or those of their nations. Two groups as sketched by Nebel are shown in the cut. According to Gama these sculptured figures represent by the thirty dancers the festivities celebrated twice each year on the occasion of the sun passing the zenith; and also commemorate, since the festivals were in honor of the Sun and of Huitzilopochtli, the battles and victories of the Aztecs, the hieroglyphics being the names of conquered provinces, and most of them legible.[IX-57]

The idol of which the cut on the opposite page shows the front, was the first to be brought to light in grading the Plaza Mayor in August, 1790. It is an immense block of bluish-gray porphyry, about ten feet high and six feet wide and thick, sculptured on front, rear, top, and bottom, into a most complicated and horrible combination of human, animal, and ideal forms. No verbal description could give the reader any clearer idea of the details of this idol than he can gain from the cuts which I present, following Nebel for the front, and Gama for the other views. Gama first expressed the opinion, in which other authors coincide, that the front shown in the opposite cut represents the Aztec goddess of death, Teoyaomiqui, whose duty it was to bear the souls of dead warriors to the House of the Sun--the Mexican Elysion.[IX-58]

[Sidenote: THE GODDESS OF DEATH.]

The following cut is a rear view of the idol, and represents, according to Gama, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and husband of the divinity of gentler sex, whose emblems are carved on the front.[IX-59] The bottom of this monument bears the sculptured design shown in the following cut, which is thought to represent Mictlantecutli, god of the infernal regions, the last of this cheerful trinity, goddess of death, god of war, and god of hell, three distinct deities united in one idol, according to the Aztec catechism. The sculptured base, together with the side projections, _a_, _a_, of the cut showing the front, prove pretty conclusively that this idol in the days when it received the worship and sacrifices of a mighty people, was raised from the ground or floor, and was supported by two pillars at the sides; or possibly by the walls of some sacred enclosure, the space left under the idol being the entrance. The next cut shows a profile view of the idol, and also a representation of the top. This idol also was removed to the University, and until 1821 was kept buried in the courtyard, that it might not kindle anew the aboriginal superstitions.[IX-60]

[Sidenote: THE GODDESS TEOYAOMIQUI.]

A monument similar in form and dimensions to the Sacrificial Stone, was found in the Plaza Mayor during certain repairs that were being made, and although it was again covered up and allowed to remain, Sr Gondra made a drawing of the upper sculptured surface, which was published by Col. Mayer, and is copied in the cut. The surface presented the peculiarity of being painted in bright colors, yellow, red, green, crimson, and black, still quite vivid at the time of its discovery. Sr Gondra believed this to be the true gladiatorial stone, but the sculptured surface would hardly agree with this theory. Mayer notes as a peculiarity "the open hand which is sculptured on a shield and between the legs of some of the figures of the groups at the sides" not shown in the cut. Gama also speaks of a painted stone found in June, 1792, in the cemetery of the Cathedral, which was left in the ground, and which he says evidently formed the entrance to the temple of Quetzalcoatl.[IX-61]

Another relic found during the excavations in January, 1791, was a kind of tomb, six feet and a half long and three feet and a quarter wide, built of slabs of _tetzontli_, a porous stone much used for building-purposes in Mexico, filled with sand, which covered the skeleton of some animal like a coyote, together with clay vases and bells of cast bronze. It was perhaps the grave of some sacred animal. Gama also mentions an image of the water god _Tlaloc_, of a common black stone, three feet long and one foot wide; he also vaguely speaks of several other relics not particularly described, and even found some remains in digging the foundations of his own house.[IX-62]

[Sidenote: TLATELULCAN VASE.]

The plaza of Tlatelulco is nearly as prolific in ancient monuments as the Plaza Mayor. Here was found the beautiful earthen burial vase shown in the cut. It is twenty-two inches high, fifteen inches and a half in diameter, covered with a circular lid, also shown in the cut, and when found was full of human skulls. The beauty of this vase can only be fully appreciated by a glance at the original, or at the sketch in Col. Mayer's album made by himself from the original in the Museum at Mexico, and showing the brilliant colors, blue, red, and yellow, with which it is adorned. The author says, "in many respects, it struck me as belonging to a higher grade of art than anything in the Museum, except, perhaps, the obsidian carvings, and one or two of the vases." Gondra mentions another burial casket, carved from basalt and of rectangular form.[IX-63]

The head shown in the cut, taken from the _Mosaico Mexicano_, measures twenty-nine by thirty-six inches, and is carved from a block of serpentine, a stone rarely found in Mexico. It was dug up near the convent of Santa Teresa in 1830, and has been supposed to represent the Aztec Goddess Centeotl. The bottom being covered with sculpture, it seems that the monument is complete in its present state. Another serpentine image of somewhat peculiar form, is shown in an original sketch in the Album of Col. Mayer, who says, "it appears to have been a charm or talisman, and in many respects resembles the bronze figures which were found at Pompeii, and are preserved in the Secret Museum at Naples." It was found at Tlatelulco, and is preserved in the Mexican Museum.[IX-64]

[Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

Mr Bullock speaks of several relics not mentioned by any other visitor:--"In the cloisters behind the Dominican convent is a noble specimen of the great serpent-idol, almost perfect, and of fine workmanship. This monstrous divinity is represented in the act of swallowing a human victim, which is seen crushed and struggling in its horrid jaws." The corner-stone of the Lottery Office he described as "the head of the serpent-idol," not less than seventy feet long, when entire. Under the gateway of a house opposite the mint was a fine life-size recumbent statue found in digging a well. A house on a street corner on the south-east side of the plaza rested on an altar of black basalt, ornamented with the tail and claws of a reptile.[IX-64] Mayer dug up in the courtyard of the University two feathered serpents, of which he gives cuts, as well as of several other relics found within the city limits, including the 'perro mudo,' a stone image of one of the dumb dogs bred by the Aztecs, and a seated human figure known as the 'indio triste.'[IX-65]

Mr Christy's London collection of American antiquities contains, as we are told by Mr Tylor, a number of bronze hatchets, dug up in the city of Mexico.[IX-66] Sr Gondra gives plates of nine Mexican musical instruments, one of which of very peculiar construction was found in the city, and is shown in the preceding cut. The top shaped like a coiled serpent is of burned clay, resting on the image of a tortoise carved from wood, and that on a base of tortoise-shell. The whole is about twelve inches high.[IX-67] And finally I give a cut which represents part of a block built into the wall of the Convent of Concepcion, as sketched by Sr Chavero, who joins to his plate some remarks on the meaning of the hieroglyphic sculpture.[IX-68]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: RUINS OF TEZCUCO.]

Tezcuco, the ancient rival of Mexico, across the lake eastward, formerly on the lake shore, but now by the retirement of the water left some miles inland, has, notwithstanding her ancient rank in all that pertained to art, left no monuments to compare with those taken from the Plaza Mayor of Mexico. But unlike the latter city Tezcuco yet presents traces, and traces only, of her aboriginal architectural structures. Fragments of building-material are found wherever excavations are made, and the material of the old city is said to have been extensively used in the construction of the modern, so that plain or sculptured stone blocks, shaped by the aborigines, are often seen in modern walls in different parts of the town. In the southern part of the city are the foundations of several large pyramids, apparently built of adobes, burnt bricks, and cement, since the materials named all occur among the débris. The foundations show the structures to have been originally about four hundred feet square, but of course supply no further information respecting their form. These pyramids were three in number at the time of Mayer's visit, standing in a line from north to south, and strewn with fragments of pottery, idols, and obsidian knives. Tylor found traces, barely visible, of two large teocallis; he also speaks vaguely of some burial mounds, and states that there is a Mexican calendar-stone built into the wall of one of the churches. In the north-west part of the town Mayer found another shapeless heap of bricks, adobes, and pottery, overgrown with magueys. On the top were several large basaltic slabs, squared and lying north and south. The rectangular stone basin with sculptured sides shown in the cut, was found in connection with this heap and preserved in the Peñasco collection in Mexico. Also in this heap of débris, according to Mayer, Mr Poinsett found in 1825 an arched sewer or aqueduct built of small stone blocks laid in mortar, together with a 'flat arch' of very large blocks over a doorway. I find no mention of these remains in Mr Poinsett's book. Bradford states that, "lying neglected under a gateway, an idol has been observed nearly perfect, and representing a rattlesnake," painted in bright colors. Mr Latrobe found a stone idol, perhaps the same, in 1834, and Nebel gives a sketch of a most interesting relic, said to have come from Tezcuco, and shown in the cut. It was the custom of the Aztec priests at certain times to wear the skin of sacrificed victims.[IX-69] This figure seems to represent a priest thus clad. It is carved from basalt, and was half the natural size, the natural skin being painted a bright red, and the outer one a dirty white. A collection of Tezcucan relics seen by Tylor in 1856, contained, 1st. A nude female figure four or five feet high, well formed from a block of alabaster. 2d. A man in hard stone, wearing a mask which represents a jackals head. 3d. A beautiful alabaster box containing spherical beads of green jade, as large as pigeons' eggs and brilliantly polished.[IX-70]

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[Sidenote: HILL OF TEZCOCINGO.]

About three miles eastward from Tezcuco is the isolated rocky hill known as Tezcocingo, which rises with steep slopes in conical form to the height of perhaps six hundred feet above the plain. A portion of one side of the hill, beginning at a point probably on the south-eastern slope, is graded very much as if intended for a modern railroad, forming a level terrace round a part of the circumference. From the termination of the grading, an embankment with level summit, variously estimated at from sixty to two hundred feet high, connects this hill with another three quarters of a mile distant, the side of which is likewise graded into a terrace thirty feet wide and a mile and a half long, extending two thirds round the circumference; and then another embankment stretches away towards the mountains ten or fifteen miles distant, although no one seems to have recorded any attempt to explore its whole extent. The object of both grading and embankments was to support an aqueduct or pipe ten inches in diameter, which is still in very good preservation at several points. Waddy Thompson brought away a piece of the water-pipe as a relic, and he pronounces the material to be a very hard plaster made of lime and small portions of a soft red stone. "It is about two feet wide, and has a trough in the centre about ten inches wide. This trough is covered with a convex piece of the same plaster, which being placed upon it when the plaster was soft, seems to be all one piece, making together a tube of ten inches in diameter, through which the water flowed from the distant mountains to the basin, which it enters through a round hole about the size of one made with a two-inch auger. No plasterer of the present day can construct a more beautiful piece of work; it is in its whole extent as smooth as the plastering on a well-finished wall, and is as hard as stone." Mayer tells us that the aqueduct was made of baked clay, the pipes being as perfect as when they were first laid. He also seems to imply that along the graded terraces the water was conducted in a ditch, or canal, instead of the regular pipes. But Tylor, on the other hand, says "the channel of the aqueduct was made principally of blocks of the same material [porphyry], on which the smooth stucco that had once covered the whole, inside and out, still remained very perfect."

[Sidenote: MONTEZUMA'S BATH.]

At the termination of the aqueduct on the eastern slope of Tezcocingo, on the brink of a precipitous descent of two hundred feet to the plain, is the work shown in the cut, from Mayer, hewn from the living rock of reddish porphyry, and popularly known as Montezuma's Bath. There was of course no reason whatever to attach this name to it, for although it is possible, if not probable, that it may have been used for a bath, it is very certain that it never belonged to Montezuma, but rather to Nezahualcoyotl or some other of the Tezcucan kings.[IX-71] The circular basin in the centre is four feet and a half in diameter, and three feet deep, and the circular aperture through which it received water from the aqueduct, is shown in the cut, together with what seem to be seats cut in the rock. Respecting this monument Col. Mayer says: "Its true use, however, is perfectly evident to those who are less fanciful or antiquarian than the generality of visiters. The picturesque view from this spot, over a small plain set in a frame of the surrounding mountains and glens which border the eastern side of Tescocingo, undoubtedly made this recess a favorite resort for the royal personages at whose expense these costly works were made. From the surrounding seats, they enjoyed a delicious prospect over the lovely but secluded scenery, while, in the basin, at their feet, were gathered the waters of a neighboring spring, [implying that the basin and aqueduct were not connected] which, whilst refreshing them after their promenade on the mountain, gurgled out of its stony channel and fell in a mimic cascade over the precipitous cliff that terminated their path. It was to this shady spot that they no doubt retired in the afternoon, when the sun was hot on the west of the mountain, and here the sovereign and his court, in all probability, enjoyed the repose and privacy which were denied them amid the bustle of the city."

Accounts of the other remains at Tezcocingo are somewhat confused. On the northern slope is another recess, bordered by seats cut in the living rock, and leading to a perpendicular cliff on which a calendar is said to have been carved, but destroyed by the natives in later days. Traces of a spiral road winding up to the summit were found by Mayer. Tylor reports a terrace round the hill near the top, some sculptured blocks on the summit, and a second circular bath. Bullock speaks of "ruins of a very large building--the cemented stones remaining in some places covered with stucco, and forming walks and terraces, but much encumbered with earth fallen from above.... As we descended our guide showed us in the rock a large reservoir for supplying with water the palace, whose walls still remained eight feet high; and as we examined farther, we found that the whole mountain had been covered with palaces, temples, baths and hanging gardens." Beaufoy saw a mass of porphyry on the summit, which had been fashioned artificially and furnished with steps. The whole surface, overgrown with nopal-bushes, abounds in fragments of pottery, obsidian, cement, and stone.[IX-72]

[Sidenote: BOSQUE DEL CONTADOR.]

North-westward from Tezcuco on the level plain is the Bosque del Contador, a grove of _ahuehuetes_, or cypresses, arranged in a double row and enclosing a square area of about ten acres, whose sides face the cardinal points. The trees are between five and six hundred in number, some of them forty to fifty feet in circumference, and are supposed to date from a time preceding the conquest. The ground on which they stand is firm and somewhat raised above the level of the surrounding plain, which itself is but little above the waters of the lake. The enclosed area, however, is soft, miry, and impassable. It is uncertain whether this area was originally an inland lake surrounded by trees, or an island grove in the waters of the lake. From the north-west corner of the square a double row of similar trees extends some distance westward, and near its termination is a dyke and a walled tank full of water; at the north-east corner, a rectangular mass of porphyry is said to project above the surface and to be surrounded by a ditch; and from this point some traces of a causeway may be seen extending towards the east. Small stone idols, articles of pottery, and various small relics have been dug up in and about this grove, which was not improbably a favorite promenade of the Chichimec, or Acolhuan monarchs.[IX-73]

On the hacienda of Chapingo, about a league south of Tezcuco, an ancient causeway was found in excavating, at a depth of four feet below the surface, the cedar piles of which were in a good state of preservation. Under the causeway was the skeleton of a mastodon, and similar skeletons are said to have been found at other points in the valley of Mexico.[IX-74]

At Huejutla, also in the vicinity of Tezcuco, a wall was still standing as late as 1834, which was nearly thirty feet high, between five and six feet thick, and built of stone and mortar. From bottom to top the wall was divided into five distinct divisions distinguished by the arrangement of the stones. The widest of these divisions was built of cylindrical and oval stones, the rounded ends of which projected symmetrically. The wall terminates on the east at a ravine, which is crossed by a bridge of a single span, twenty feet long and forty feet high. The span is an arch of peculiar construction, being formed of stone slabs, set on edge, and the interstices filled with mortar. The irregularities of the stones and the firmness of the mortar support the structure, forming a near approach to the regular arch as shown in the cut from Tylor. Its antiquity has been doubted, but the near approximation to the keystone arch seems to be the only argument against the theory that it was built by the natives, and as we have seen a very similar arch in the mounds of Metlaltoyuca, there seems to be no good reason to attribute it to the Spaniards. This is probably the bridge known as the Puente de los Bergantines, where Cortés is said to have launched his brigantines which rendered so efficient service in the siege of Mexico. The fact that it is set askew instead of crossing the ravine at right angles with the banks adds greatly to the difficulty of its construction. Near this place there are also some heaps of débris, which according to Bullock could be identified in 1823 as small adobe pyramids; and the foundations of a building and two reservoirs, one of the latter in good preservation and covered with rose-colored cement, were mentioned. Beaufoy tells us that in 1826 a serpent's head carved in stone protruded from the ground near the modern church. A stone column, seven feet high, was among the relics seen; it had a well-carved pyramidal piece of hornblende on its top. Two idols of stone were brought away, one of them described by Latrobe as "an ugly monster of an idol in a sitting posture, deftly carved in a hard volcanic substance."[IX-75]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: RUINS OF TEOTIHUACAN.]

Not quite two miles north-east from the little village of San Juan, and about twenty-five miles in the same direction from Mexico, on the road to Otumba, are the ruins of Teotihuacan, 'city of the gods,' to which, according to Brasseur, the names Veitioacan, 'city of signals,' and Toltecat are sometimes applied in the native traditional annals.[IX-76] These monuments stand on a plain which slopes gently towards the south, and are included in a rectangular space of about a third of a mile from east to west and a mile and a half from north to south, extending from the Tulancingo road on the north to the Otumba road on the south, with, however, some small mounds outside of the limits mentioned. By reason of its nearness to Mexico, Teotihuacan, like Cholula, has naturally had hundreds of visitors in modern times, and is more or less fully described by all the early chroniclers. Humboldt, Bullock, Beaufoy, Ward, Latrobe, Mayer, Thompson, Tylor, and many other actual visitors have written accounts, which still others have quoted; but by far the most complete and reliable account, which is also the latest, is that given in the report of a scientific commission appointed by the Mexican government in 1864, accompanied by plates prepared from careful measurements and photographic views. I have used this report as my chief authority, carefully noting, however, all points respecting which other authorities differ.[IX-77]

The annexed cut, reduced from that of Almaraz, shows clearly, on a scale of about twenty-five hundred and fifty feet to an inch, the plan of the different monuments. I shall describe them in the following order:--1st. The Pyramid of the Moon, A of the plan; 2d. The Pyramid of the Sun, B; 3d. The Road of the Dead, CD; 4th. The Citadel, E; 5th. The scattered mounds and miscellaneous relics.

[Sidenote: HOUSE OF THE MOON.]

The first pyramid, Metztli Itzacual, 'house of the moon,' [I find no word in Molina's Vocabulary corresponding at all to _Itzacual_ with the meaning of 'house.' It may be a compound of _calli_ incorrectly written] the most northern of the remains, measures four hundred and twenty-six feet north and south, and five hundred and eleven feet east and west at the base, has a summit platform of about thirty-six by sixty feet, and is a hundred and thirty-seven feet high, the sides facing almost exactly the cardinal points.[IX-78] The slope of the sides, according to Beaufoy's observations, is at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The pyramid, as seen from a little distance, bears much resemblance to a natural hill, being overgrown with shrubbery; still the regular original outlines and angles are much more apparent here than in the case of Cholula, already described, as is proven by the photographs taken by the Mexican commission. A terrace, three feet wide, is plainly visible at a height of sixty-nine feet from the base, but a close examination shows there were originally three of these terraces, dividing the pyramid into four stories, except on the east, which has no terrace, and where the commission mentioned claim to have found traces of a zigzag road leading up the slope, as shown in the plan. None but the authority referred to have discovered the zigzag path, and no other explorers note that the terraces were interrupted on one side of the pyramid. Humboldt states that the space between the terraces was divided into smaller grades, or steps, about three feet high, still visible, and also that there still remained parts of a stairway of large blocks of hewn stone. Mr Tylor also says, not referring to this pyramid particularly: "As we climbed up their sides, we could trace the terraces without any difficulty, and even flights of steps." There is hardly any other American monument respecting which the best authorities differ so essentially.[IX-79]

[Sidenote: HOUSE OF THE MOON.]

The material of the structure has generally been described as a conglomerate of small irregular stones and clay, encased, according to Humboldt and most other writers, in a wall of the porous volcanic rock, tetzontli; or this facing covered with a coating of stucco, which is salmon-colored, light blue, streaked, and red, according to the views of different observers. The Mexican commissioners disagree with all previous explorers by doing away altogether with the facing of hewn stone, and representing the facing to consist of different conglomerates arranged in successive layers, as follows:--1st, small stones from eight to twelve inches in diameter, with mud, forming a layer of about thirty-two inches; 2d, fragments of volcanic tufa as large as a man's fist, also in mud, to the thickness of sixteen inches; 3d, small grains of tetzontli, of the size of peas, with mud, twenty-eight inches thick; 4th, a very thin and smooth coat of pure lime mortar. These layers are repeated in the same order nine times, and are parallel to the slopes of the pyramid, which would make the thickness of the superficial facing about sixty feet. There have been no excavations sufficiently deep to show what may be the material in the centre. Almaraz states that a somewhat different order and thickness of the strata was observed in certain excavations, or galleries, to be described later; but none of these galleries are described as of sufficient depth to penetrate the facing of sixty feet, and the exact meaning of the report in question it is very difficult to determine. I give in a note, however, what others have said of the building-material.[IX-80]

The excavation, or gallery, already referred to, extends about twenty-five feet on an incline into the pyramid from an entrance on the southern slope, between the second and third terraces according to Mayer, about sixty-nine feet above the base according to Almaraz. It is large enough to permit the passage of a man on hands and knees, and at its inner termination are two square wells, walled with blocks of volcanic tufa three inches thick, or, as Mayer says, of adobes,--about five feet square, and one of them fifteen feet deep. No relics whatever have been found in connection with gallery or wells; Almaraz speaks of the former as simply excavations by treasure-hunters, and mentions only one well, without stating its location with respect to the gallery. Mr Löwenstern states that the gallery is a hundred and fifty-seven feet long, increasing in height to over six feet and a half, as it penetrates the pyramid; that the well is over six feet square, extending apparently down to the base and up to the summit; and that other cross galleries are blocked up by débris. Still lower on this slope, at the very base according to the plan, is a small mound like those scattered over the plain to be described later. Mr Bullock claims to have found on the summit, in 1823, walls of rough stones, eight feet high and three feet thick, forming a square enclosure fourteen by forty-seven feet, with a doorway on the south, and three windows on each side. This author's unsupported statements may be taken always with some allowance for the play of his imagination.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: HOUSE OF THE SUN.]

Some eight hundred and seventy-five yards south of the House of the Moon, between it and the Rio San Juan, at B of the plan, stands the Tonatiuh Itzacual, or 'house of the sun,' also called sometimes in tradition, according to Brasseur and Veytia, Tonacatecuhtli, 'god of subsistence.' In material, form, and construction, it is precisely the same, so far as my authorities go, as its northern companion; indeed, many of the remarks which I have quoted in the preceding description, were applied by the authors to both pyramids alike. Its dimensions are, however, considerably larger, and its sides vary about sixteen degrees from the cardinal points. It measures at the base seven hundred and thirty-five feet from east to west, and is two hundred and three feet high. Beaufoy estimated the size of the summit platform at sixty by ninety feet.[IX-81]

This pyramid is in better condition than the other, and the three terraces are plainly visible, although as before no one but Almaraz has discovered that they do not extend completely round the four sides, and the latter author states that the zigzag path on the eastern slope is much more clearly defined and makes more angles than that on the House of the Moon. Beaufoy found a path leading up the slope at the north-west corner, and Humboldt's remarks about a stairway of stone blocks may apply to this pyramid as well as to the other. Bullock states that the second terrace is thirty-eight feet wide. There are no traces of buildings on the summit or of galleries in the interior, but this, like the other pyramid, has a small mound on one of its sides near the base, and this mound seems to have embankments connecting it with the road on the west. The House of the Sun is also surrounded on the north, south, and east, according to the report of the Mexican commission, by the embankment _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, which is a hundred and thirty feet wide on the summit, and twenty feet high, with sloping sides, widening out at the extremities, _a_ and _d_, into unequal rectangular platforms. It is certainly very remarkable that among the many visitors to Teotihuacan no one had found any traces of this embankment before 1864.

Twelve hundred and fifty yards still further south across the stream is the Texcalpa, 'citadel,' 'palace,' or 'stone house,' as it is called, or defined, by different writers. The Citadel is a quadrangular enclosure, whose sides measure twelve hundred and forty-six and thirteen hundred and thirty-eight feet respectively, or nine hundred and eighty-four feet square according to Linares, and are exactly parallel with those of the Pyramid of the Sun. The enclosing walls, or embankments, are two hundred and sixty-two feet thick and thirty-three feet high, except on the west side, where it is but sixteen feet high; their material not being mentioned, but presumably the same as that of the pyramids. A cross-embankment of smaller dimensions divides the square area into two unequal parts, and on its centre stands a smaller pyramid, said by Linares to be ninety-two feet high, in ruins, having traces of a stairway, or path, on its eastern slope. Two small mounds stand at the western base of the small pyramid, one is found in the western enclosure, and fourteen, averaging twenty feet in height, are symmetrically arranged on the summit of the main embankments, as shown in the plan. The Citadel in some of its features seems to bear a slight resemblance to the works at Tenampua, in Honduras, and at Monte Alban, in Oajaca.[IX-82]

[Sidenote: PATH OF THE DEAD.]

Just south of the House of the Moon a line of mounds, C D, forms nearly a circular enclosure about six hundred feet in diameter, with a small mound in the centre. From this area two parallel lines of mounds extend south 15° west, parallel also with the sides of the House of the Sun and Citadel, for two hundred and fifty rods to the Rio San Juan, forming an avenue two hundred and fifty feet wide, called by the natives, as in the Toltec traditions, Micaotli, 'path of the dead.'[IX-83] The mounds that form this avenue are of conical or semispherical form, and of different dimensions, the largest being over thirty feet in height. They are built of stone fragments, earth, and clay, and stand close together, so as to resemble in some parts a continuous embankment. Six cross-embankments divide the southern part of the Path of the Dead into compartments, three of which have a mound in their centre. Linares represents the avenue as extending four or five miles beyond the House of the Moon, to the Cerro de Tlaginga; and Mayer in his plan terminates it on the south at a point opposite the House of the Sun, where it is crossed by the modern path.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: MOUNDS OF TEOTIHUACAN.]

Besides the mounds, or _tlalteles_ that form the Path of the Dead, there are numerous others of the same form and material--being, so far as known, mere heaps of stone and earth--scattered over the plain, some of them in lines or groups, with an approach to regularity, and others with no apparent arrangement. They vary in height from four or five to twenty-five or thirty feet. Respecting these tlalteles I quote from Almaraz as follows: "In them many excavations have been made, causing most of the dilapidation which is noted; some of them executed for scientific purposes in search of archæological objects; others made by ignorant and rapacious persons, impelled by a hope of finding falsely reported treasures: Neither have there been wanting, and this is the cause of most of the destruction, persons of evil intentions who undertake to demolish the ruins in order to obtain the hewn blocks of porphyry which are used in the construction of their barbarous dwellings; and they do not even preserve the blocks, but break and destroy them; in this manner have perished relics truly precious. Almost under my eyes there were taken from one of the tlalteles eight hewn blocks four by three and a half feet; the outer faces were sculptured, representing a strange and grotesque figure, with the head of a serpent and of some other fierce animal, like a tiger or lion; they were curved on the outside, and all must have formed a circular monument seventeen feet in diameter; they were broken up without pity, although I was able to make a drawing of one of them. In the same tlaltel were other sculptured stones.... In the houses of San Juan de Teotihuacan are seen some of these sculptures built into the walls, and in the Ventilla, near the ruins, I have seen stones representing in my opinion a serpent.... Of all the objects of this class the most notable is a monolith found among the débris of a tlaltel, and of which I give a drawing [see next page.] It is a parallelopipedon ten feet and a half high, and five feet and a half wide and thick," weighing, according to the author's calculations, over fifteen tons. "I had an excavation made in one of the smallest, and found four walls meeting at right angles and forming a square; they are inclined, and within are found some steps which are parallel to it [the square]; in the upper part of these, begin four other walls also inclined, containing a little room:--I thought it was a tomb, although I have some doubts about its true object."[IX-84] The people of the vicinity said that in one of the mounds there had been found a stone box containing a skull, beads, and various curious relics of beryl, serpentine, heliotrope, and obsidian. They also claimed to have found quantities of gold-dust and gold vases.

Humboldt speaks of hundreds of these mounds arranged in streets running exactly east and west and north and south from the pyramids. Mayer's plan represents a square area partly enclosed by a line of tlalteles north-east of the House of the Moon. According to Latrobe, the mounds extend for miles towards Tezcuco; and Waddy Thompson is confident that they are the ruins of an ancient city nearly as large as Mexico. The Citadel he calls the public square of twenty acres with a stone building in the centre, and he also finds traces of several other smaller squares. The streets are marked by large piles of rock resembling--except in size--potato-hills, formed by falling buildings. In the opinion of this author it is simply absurd to suppose these heaps to have been formed as separate mounds. Thompson also found a number of circular niches two feet in diameter on the bank of a ravine west of the other remains.[IX-85]