ANTIQUITIES OF VERA CRUZ.
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.
* * * * *
[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]
[Illustration: Ethiopian Head of Granite.]
[Illustration: Earthen Vase--Isle of Sacrificios.]
[Illustration: White Marble Vase--Vera Cruz.]
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.
* * * * *
[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]
[Illustration: Stone head from Amatlan.]
[Illustration: Sacrificial Yoke from Orizava.]
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]
* * * * *
[Illustration: Pyramid near Puente Nacional.]
[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]
* * * * *
[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]
[Illustration: Fortifications of Centla.]
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.
[Illustration: Type of Pyramids at Centla.]
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.
[Illustration: El Castillo at Huatusco.]
[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.
* * * * *
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]
* * * * *
[Illustration: Rock Inscription at Atliaca.]
[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.
[Illustration: Tomb at Misantla.]
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]
* * * * *
[Illustration: Pyramid of Papantla.]
[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.
[Illustration: Sculptured Granite Block--Mapilca.]
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]
* * * * *
[Illustration: Pyramid of Tusapan.]
[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.
[Illustration: Fountain in the Living Rock--Tusapan.]
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]
[Illustration: Plan--Ruins of Metlaltoyuca.]
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.
[Illustration: Section of a Mound--Metlaltoyuca.]
A remarkable feature at Metlaltoyuca is the existence of the parallel
mounds at _c_, of the plan. As nearly as can be ascertained from the
drawings and text, they are about one hundred and forty feet long,
twenty feet wide, and ten or twelve feet high. The interior is filled
with loose stones and earth, and the surface is covered with somewhat
irregular brick-shaped blocks, laid in mud or clay, and apparently
covered with cement. The cut shows a transverse section of one of the
mounds, and indicates a near approach to the principle of the regular
key-stone arch, although as the interior was filled to the top, there
is no evidence that the arch was intentionally self-supporting. Some
traces of hieroglyphic paintings were found on the mortar which
covered a part of these mounds.[VIII-51]
Something over two miles north-west of the ruins described, at the
only point where the mesa is accessible on the northern side, is a
double stone wall guarding the passage. The outer wall is three or
four hundred yards long, thirteen feet high, and fifty feet thick at
the base, diminishing towards the top. The inner wall is of smaller
dimensions. The same system of defensive works is repeated on the
opposite side of the mesa. The only movable relics found were, the
figure of a female bearing a sculptured cross, a representation of a
mummy closely wrapped as if for burial and having features of a
different type from those ordinarily found in Aztec idols, and the
form of a man with arms crossed and legs bent, sculptured on a slab,
all of the same sandstone of which the buildings were constructed.
According to Campo, another smaller group of remains has been seen
farther south, towards the Mesa de Amistlan. Two idols of porous
basalt and numerous arrow-heads of obsidian are reported at Guautla,
twenty-five or thirty miles north-west of Metlaltoyuca.[VIII-52]
[Illustration: Limestone Statue from Pánuco.]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: RELICS AT PÁNUCO]
In the northern extremity of the state, in the region about Pánuco,
small relics are said to be very abundant. A list of thirty specimens
collected by Mr Francis Vecelli during a survey of the Pánuco River,
some of them doubtless belonging to the state of Tamaulipas, across
the river, is given by Mr Vetch in the Journal of the London
Geographical Society. They are mostly of limestone and represent human
figures, for the most part females, rudely sculptured and wearing
peculiar head-dresses. The foreheads are represented as high and
broad, the lips thick, and the cheek-bones high. The sculpture is
rude, and nearly every one of the images has a long unshaped base or
tenon, as if intended to be fixed in a wall. A front and rear view of
one of these images are shown in the cut.[VIII-53] In the town itself,
idols, heads, obsidian arrow-heads, and fragments of ancient pottery,
some of it glazed, are often washed out by the heavy rains. Mr Lyon
speaks of "several curious ancient toys and whistles, with one small
terra cotta vase very beautifully carved with those peculiar
flourishes introduced in the Mexican manuscripts," also "an antique
flute of a very compact red clay, which had once been polished and
painted. It had four holes, and the mouth part was in the form of a
grotesque head." Flutes occur both single and double, with two, three,
and four holes. Earthen representations of birds, toads, and other
animals are frequently found either whole or in fragments. West of the
town five or six mounds from thirty to forty feet high are vaguely
mentioned.[VIII-54] Buried in the ground in a ravine near the town,
and resting on the stone walls of a dilapidated sepulchre, Mr Norman
claims to have found a stone slab seven feet long, wider at one end
than the other, but two feet and a half in average width, one foot
thick, and bearing on one side the sculptured figure of a man. Dressed
in a flowing robe, with girdle, sandal-ties on his feet, and a
close-fitting cap on his head, he lies with crossed arms. The face is
Caucasian in feature, and the work is very perfectly executed. For the
authenticity of so remarkable a relic Mr Norman is hardly a sufficient
authority. Two small images, probably of terra cotta, were presented
by Mr Norman to the New York Historical Society.[VIII-55]
At the Calondras Rancho, some twenty-five miles from Pánuco, a large
oven-like chamber is reported on the slope of a hill, which contains
large flat stones used for grinding maize. The ruins at Chacuaco,
three leagues south of the town, are said to cover about three square
leagues. Mr Norman also gives cuts of two clay vases from the same
locality, one of them having a negro face, very likely of modern
origin. San Nicolas, five leagues, and Trinidad six leagues south-west
of Pánuco, are other places where ruins are reported to
exist.[VIII-56]
FOOTNOTES:
[VIII-1] _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 32; _Mexikanische
Zustände_, tom. i., p. 31.
[VIII-2] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 292-7,
tom. iii., pp. 104-9, with two plates representing the colossal head,
and several other relics from some locality not mentioned.
[VIII-3] _Ottavio_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1833, tom. lix.,
p. 64.
[VIII-4] _Waldeck_, _Palenqué_, pl. xlix.; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp.
230-1.
[VIII-5] _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. ii., p. 35.
[VIII-6] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 93-7; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec,
etc._, vol. ii., p. 272, with 3 cuts; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._,
vol. vi., p. 588, pl. vi., fig. 5, 6, 8, 11, 12; _Gondra_, in
_Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 82-4, pl. xv., plate of
a vase.
[VIII-7] _Sartorius_, _Fortificaciones Antiguas_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog.,
Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 818-27.
[VIII-8] _Finck_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1870, pp. 373-5. Mr Tylor,
in traveling northward towards Jalapa, speaks of 'numerous remains of
ancient Indian mound-forts or temples which we passed on the road.'
_Anahuac_, p. 312.
[VIII-9] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenqué_, p. 33.
'_Chalchiuhcuecan_, ou le pays des coquilles vertes. On voit encore
des débris de la ville de ce nom, sous les eaux qui s'étendent de la
ville de la Véra Cruz au château de San-Juan-de-Ulloa.' _Id._, _Hist.
Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 143. Ruins of the ordinary type are reported
outside the triangular area, in the Sierra de Matlaquiahuitl or del
Gallego, running south from the Rio Jamapa to San Juan de la Punta.
_Sartorius_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., p.
820.
[VIII-10] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 7-8, pl. viii., fig. 8;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 214, vol. vi., p. 425, vol. iv., pl. iv.,
fig. 10; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, p. 28. Kingsborough's text
represents this relic as 16 leagues from Orizava instead of Córdova.
[VIII-11] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 7, pl. vi., vii., fig. 6, 7;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 213-14, vol. vi., pp. 424-5, vol. iv.,
pl. iv., fig. 8, 9; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., div. i., pp.
22, 27-8.
[VIII-12] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 5, pl. iv-v., fig. 4-5;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 212-13, vol. vi., pp. 423-4; vol. iv.,
pl. iii., fig. 6-7; _Lenoir_, pp. 18, 22, 26-7.
[VIII-13] _Historia de Jalapa_, Mex. 1869, tom. i., p. 7.
[VIII-14] _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii., p. 453.
[VIII-15] Note in _Cortés_, _Despatches_, p. 39; _Rivera_, _Hist.
Jalapa_, Mex., 1869, tom. i., p. 39. Cempoala is located on some maps
on the coast a few leagues north of Vera Cruz; there is also a town of
the name in Mexico.
[VIII-16] _Esteva_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 465-7, with plan
and view. Respecting the circumference of the structure, Esteva's text
says: 'la media circunferencia de la base, tomada desde el escalon ó
cuerpo A. B. C., (letters which do not appear in his plate) pues mas
abajo no se podia tomar con esactitud, es de ciento cincuenta y seis
piés castellanos.' I have taken the circumference from the plan. The
material Esteva states to be 'cal, arena, y piedras grandes del rio,'
but the view indicates that hewn stone is employed, or at least that
the whole structure is covered with a smooth coating of cement in
perfect preservation. Esteva's account is also published in the
_Diccionario Univ. de Geog._, tom. x., pp. 166-8, and a slight
description from the same source in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol.
ii., pp. 203-4.
[VIII-17] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. ii., p. 209; _Sartorius_, in _Soc.
Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., p. 826. Mühlenpfordt,
_Mej._, tom. ii., p. 89, also mentions the Paso de Ovejas remains.
[VIII-18] _Iberri_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., p. 23. Gondra's
account in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 368-72, with two views and a
plan. Sartorius' description in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época,
tom. i., pp. 821-2, tom. ii., p. 148, with two views apparently the
same as by Gondra, an additional side and front view of a pyramid, and
a plan which bears no likeness to Gondra's, representing perhaps a
different part of the ruins. According to this author the ruins were
first made known in 1829 or 1830. The two accounts are very perplexing
to the student, sometimes resembling each other so closely that one is
ready to believe that Sartorius was the explorer from whom Gondra
obtained his information and drawings, in other parts so different as
to indicate that different ruins are referred to. I am inclined to
believe that Gondra's information did in part refer to some other ruin
in the same region. Gondra's account is also printed in _Diccionario
Univ. Geog._, tom. ix., pp. 565-8. Brief mention in _Rivera_, _Hist.
Jalapa_, Mex. 1869, tom. i., pp. 389-90.
[VIII-19] Respecting the first narrow pass, the oval table, and the
ditch, Sartorius says nothing. He mentions such a ditch, however, in
connection with the ruins of Tlacotepec, as we shall see. It is quite
possible that the features mentioned do not belong to Centla at all.
[VIII-20] 10 varas according to Sartorius; Gondra says 15.
[VIII-21] Copied from Sartorius, with the addition of the shading
only.
[VIII-22] The views given by Gondra and Sartorius are of the pyramid
A, from the east, and of the terrace walls at B, from the west. The
latter also gives a view of the small pyramid _b_, from the north. The
plan given by Gondra bears no resemblance to the other. It may
represent ruins in other parts of the plateau; it may be a faulty
representation made up from the explorer's description of the works
that have been described; or, what is, I think, more probable, it may
refer to some other group of ruins in the vicinity. It represents a
collection of pyramids and buildings, bounded on both the east and
west by walls, one of which has an entrance close to the brink of the
precipice, while the other had no opening till one was made by the
modern settlers.
[VIII-23] 'Ochenta varas en cuadro.' Perhaps it should read _feet_
instead of varas. The plate makes the front slightly over 24 varas.
[VIII-24] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 8-9, pl. ix-xi., fig. 9-12;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 215-16, vol. vi., pp. 425-6, vol. iv.,
pl. v-vi., fig. 11-15. The skull is mentioned and sketched only in
Kingsborough's edition. _Lenoir_, pp. 23, 29. Slight mention of these
ruins from Dupaix, in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 373-4; _Klemm_,
_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 157; _Warden_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
ii., pp. 67-8.
[VIII-25] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., p. 821.
[VIII-26] _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 150; _Bradford's
Amer. Antiq._, p. 104.
[VIII-27] _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., p. 23.
[VIII-28] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., p. 822;
_Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 368, 372; _Smithsonian Rept._, 1870, p.
374.
[VIII-29] This may possibly be the ditch referred to by Gondra in his
account of Centla.
[VIII-30] _Sartorius_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom.
i., pp. 822-4, with plan and view, the latter giving no information.
[VIII-31] _Id._, p. 824.
[VIII-32] _Heller_, _Reisen_, pp. 61, 72-3, 76-7, with cut.
[VIII-33] _Sartorius_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom.
i., pp. 825-6.
[VIII-34] _Id._, pp. 821, 824-5, with a sketch which amounts to
nothing.
[VIII-35] _Anahuac_, p. 297.
[VIII-36] _Mosaico Mex._, tom. i., pp. 102-5. Gondra's account of the
location is as follows: 'En la serranía al Norte de Jalapa, y distante
de aquella ciudad de diez á once leguas, se encuentra en el canton de
Misantla el cerro llamado del Estillero, á cuya falda se descubre una
montaña terminada por una meseta muy angosta, de cerca de legua y
media de largo, y aislada por barrancos profundos y acantilados, y por
despeñaderos inaccessibles; rodeada por los cerros del Estillero,
Magdalenilla, el Chamuscado, el Camaron y el Conejo por la parte del
Oeste; por el Monte Real ácia el Este, y lo restante por la elevada
cuesta de Misantla.... La única parte algo accesible para subir á la
meseta de la montaña donde se hallan las ruinas, está ácia la falda
del Estillero.... Al comenzar la meseta, bajando por la falda del
cerro del Estillero, lo primero que se observa es un paredon demolido
hecho de gruesas piedras,' etc. Gondra's account was reprinted in the
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. ii., p. 220-3. Iberri's account is
found in the _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 21-4. Respecting the
location he says:--'El cerro conocido de la Magdalena, degradando su
altura en picos porfiríticos que afectan figuras cónicas ó
piramidales, ... forma un grupo de montañas sumamente escabrosas, que
se dividen como rádios en ramas estrechadas por barrancas profundas y
escarpadas de pórfido.... En una de estas ramas se hallan las
referidas ruinas, cuya entrada está cerrada por un muro,' etc. Account
made up from Gondra, with cut probably from same source in _Mayer's
Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii., pp. 200-3; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 250-1.
Slight mention by Mühlenpfordt, _Mej._, tom. ii., p. 88, who thinks
the ruin may be identical with that of Tusapan. Same account in
_Mexicanische Zustände_, tom. i., p. 142.
[VIII-37] _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mej._, tom. ii., pp. 88-9; _Mexikanische
Zustände_, tom. i., pp. 142-3.
[VIII-38] _Gaceta de Mexico_, July 12, 1785, tom. i., pp. 349-51.
Location 'por el rumbo del Poniente de este pueblo, á dos leguas de
distancia, entre un espeso bosque.' This original account was printed
later in _Diccionario Univ. Geog._, tom. x., pp. 120-1; it was also
translated into Italian, and printed in _Marquez_, _Due Antichi
Monumenti_, Rome, 1804, p. 3, also accompanied by the plate.
[VIII-39] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 102-3; _Id._, _Essai Pol._,
p. 274; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. ii., p. 12. Humboldt's
account translated by Gondra, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom.
iii., pp. 39-40, says it is the forest that is called Tajin, that the
ruin was discovered by hunters, and pronounces the plate in the
_Gaceta_ very faulty.
[VIII-40] _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_. The drawing is geometric rather
than in perspective, and the author's descriptive text in a few
details fails to agree exactly with it. José M. Bausa gives a slight
description in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., p. 411, without
stating the source of his information. He locates the ruin 2½ leagues
south-west of the pueblo. This author states that Carlos M. Bustamante
published a good account of the ruin in 1828, in his _Revoltijo de
Nopalitos_. Other accounts of Papantla made up from the preceding
sources, are as follows:--_Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii., pp. 196-7,
with cut after Nebel; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 248-9; _Id._, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 583, pl. xi.; _Baldwin's Anc.
Amer._, pp. 91-2; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, tom. i., p. 227; _Fossey_,
_Mex._, pp. 317-18; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, pp. 238-9; _Larenaudière_,
_Mex. Guat._, p. 45; _De Bercy_, _Travels_, tom. ii., p. 237;
_Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 79-80; _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom.
ii., p. 88; _Mexicanische Zustände_, p. 142; _Bingley's Trav._, pp.
259-60; _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 256; _Armin_,
_Heutige Mex._, pp. 96-7, with cut; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la
Géog._, tom. vi., p. 462; _Müller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p.
459; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 276-8; _Wappäus_, _Geog. u. Stat._,
p. 154; _Wilson's Mex. and its Religion_, pp. 246-7.
[VIII-41] The dimensions in Nebel's text are, 120 feet square and 85
feet high, which must be an error, since the author says that the
stairway in the plate may be used as a scale, each step being a foot;
and measuring the structure by that scale it would be something over
90 feet square at the base and about 54 feet high. The _Gaceta_ says
that the base is 30 varas (83 English feet) square, and the steps in
sight were 57 in number. Humboldt calls the pyramid 25 mètres (82
feet) square and 18 mètres (59 feet) high, or, in _Essai Pol._, 16 to
20 mètres. Bausa, _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., p. 411, calls
the height 93 feet, with 53 steps.
[VIII-42] Bausa says the pyramid faces the north. The _Gaceta_ account
represents the stairway as 10 or 12 varas wide. The plate represents
the lateral narrow stairways as single instead of double, and the
niches as not extending entirely across the wide central stairway.
Only six stories are shown in the plate, terminating in a summit
platform on which stand two small altar-like structures at the head of
the lateral stairways. Nebel speaks simply of a 'double stairway.'
Humboldt agrees with the plate in the _Gaceta_.
[VIII-43] The _Gaceta's_ text says 342, but its own figures correctly
added make the number 378 as is pointed out by Marquez; and the plate
accompanying the same account makes the number 309. Fossey says 360
niches. Humboldt made the number 378, which he supposed to relate to
the signs of the Toltec civil calendar.
[VIII-44] _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_; _Cassel_, in _Nouvelles Annales
des Voy._, 1830, tom. xlv., pp. 336-7; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii.,
p. 198; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 246-7.
[VIII-45] _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii.,
pp. 199-200; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 247-8; _Armin_, _Alte Mex._,
p. 43; Bausa, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., pp. 411-12,
locates Tusapan 14 leagues south-west of Papantla.
[VIII-46] The original of this report I have not seen; a translation,
however, was published in the _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, of Feb.
20, 1866.
[VIII-47] _Mex., Mem. del Ministro del Fomento_, 1865, p. 234, etc. It
was also published in a separate pamphlet. _Almaraz_, _Mem. acerca de
los Terrenos de Metlaltoyuca_, pp. 28-33. Mention by García y Cubas, a
companion of Almaraz, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom.
i., p. 37.
[VIII-48] _Chimalpopoca_, in _Almaraz_, _Mem._, p. 28; _Linares_, in
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 3ra época, tom. i., p. 103.
[VIII-49] The analysis is as follows:--quartzy sand, 31.00; silex,
13.00; aluminia and iron, 2.60; carbonate of lime, 48.00; magnesia,
2.50; moisture, 2.00; loss, 0.90. _Almaraz_, _Mem._, p. 30.
[VIII-50] 'De las dimensiones que usan hoy para hacer los árboles de
tierra.' I am unable to say what such dimensions amount to in English
measurement.
[VIII-51] A plate showing these paintings is given by Almaraz.
[VIII-52] _Burkart_, _Mexiko_, tom. i., p. 51.
[VIII-53] _Vetch_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. vii., pp. 1-11,
with plate.
[VIII-54] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 57-61.
[VIII-55] _Norman's Rambles by Land and Water_, pp. 145-51, 164;
_Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, tom. i., pp. 193-6.
[VIII-56] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 61-2; _Norman's Rambles_, pp.
149-50. Slight mention of relics in this region, in _Mühlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 72; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 112-13.