ANTIQUITIES OF THE CENTRAL PLATEAUX.
ANÁHUAC -- MONUMENTS OF PUEBLA -- CHILA, TEOPANTEPEC,
TEPEXE, TEPEACA, SAN ANTONIO, QUAUHQUELCHULA, AND SANTA
CATALINA -- PYRAMID OF CHOLULA -- SIERRA DE MALINCHE --
SAN PABLO -- NATIVIDAD -- MONUMENTS OF TLASCALA -- LOS
REYES -- MONUMENTS OF MEXICO -- CUERNAVACA, XOCHICALCO,
CASASANO, OZUMBA, TLACHIALCO, AHUEHUEPA, AND MECAMECAN --
XOCHIMILCO, TLAHUAC, XICO, MISQUIQUE, TLALMANALCO, AND
CULHUACAN -- CHAPULTEPEC, REMEDIOS, TACUBA, AND MALINALCO
-- CITY OF MEXICO -- TEZCUCO -- TEZCOCINGO -- TEOTIHUACAN
-- OBSIDIAN MINES -- TULA -- MONUMENTS OF QUERÉTARO --
PUEBLITO, CANOAS, AND RANAS -- NAHUA MONUMENTS.
The monuments of the Mexican tierra templada, of Anáhuac and the
adjoining plateaux, next claim our attention. The territory in
question is bounded on the south and east by that treated in the two
preceding chapters--Oajaca and Guerrero on the south toward the
Pacific, and Vera Cruz on the east toward the gulf. The present
chapter will carry my antiquarian survey to a line drawn across the
continent from Tampico to the mouth of the Zacatula river, completing
what has been regarded as the home of the Nahua civilized nations,
with the exception of the Tarascos in Michoacan, and leaving only a
few scattered monuments to be described in the broad extent of the
northern states of the republic. On most of the maps extant the
territory whose monuments I have now to describe, is divided into the
states of Mexico, Puebla, Tlascala, and Querétaro, to which have been
added in later years Morelos and Hidalgo, formed chiefly, I believe,
from the old state of Mexico. In my description, however, I shall pay
but little attention to state lines, locating each group of
antiquities by its distance and bearing from some well-known point.
Respecting the physical features of this central Nahua region, enough
has been said in the preceding volumes; I consequently begin at once
the description of antiquarian relics, dealing first with those found
in Puebla and Tlascala, starting in the south and proceeding
northward.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Section of Chila Tomb.]
[Sidenote: REMAINS AT CHILA.]
At Chila, in the extreme southern part of Puebla, is a hill known as
La Tortuga, on which is built an unterraced pyramid eighty-eight feet
square at the base, fifty-five feet high, with a summit platform fifty
feet square. It is built of hewn stone and covered, as it appears from
Castañeda's drawing, with cement. The exterior surface is much broken
up by the trees that have taken root there. A stairway leads up the
western front. Near the north-eastern corner of the mound is an
entrance leading down by seven stone steps to a small tomb about
eleven feet below the surface of the ground and not under the mound.
At the foot of the steps is an apartment measuring five and a half
feet long and high, and four feet wide, with a branch, or gallery,
four feet long and a little less than three feet wide and high, in the
centre of each of the three sides, thus giving the whole tomb in its
ground plan the form of a cross. Its vertical section is shown in the
cut. There is certainly a general resemblance to be noted in this
tomb-structure to those at Mitla; the interior is lined with hewn
blocks laid in lime mortar and covered with a fine white plaster, the
plaster on the ceiling being eight or nine inches thick. The discovery
of human bones in the lateral galleries leaves no doubt respecting the
use to which the subterranean structure was devoted.[IX-1]
At Tehuacan el Viejo, two leagues eastward of the modern town of
Tehuacan, in the south-eastern part of the state, were found ruins of
stone structures not particularly described.[IX-2] At San Cristóval
Teopantepec, a little native settlement north-westward of the remains
last mentioned, is another hill which bears a pyramid on its top. A
road cut in the rocky sides leads up the hill, and on the summit,
beside the pyramid, traces of smooth cement pavements and other
undescribed remains were noticed. The pyramid itself from a base fifty
feet square rises about sixty-seven feet in four receding stories with
sides apparently sloping very slightly inward toward the top, the
fourth story being moreover for the most part in ruins. The most
remarkable feature of this structure is its stairway, which is
different from any yet noticed, and similar to that of the grand
teocalli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan as reported by the conquerors. It
leads up diagonally from bottom to top of each story on the west, not,
however, making it necessary to pass four times round the pyramid in
order to reach the summit, as was the case in Mexico, since in this
ruin the head of each flight corresponds with the foot of the one
above, instead of being on the opposite side of the pyramid. The
whole is built of stone and mortar, only the exterior facing being of
regular blocks, and no covering of cement is indicated in Castañeda's
drawing.[IX-3]
[Sidenote: TEPEXE AND TEPEACA.]
At Tepexe el Viejo, on the Zacatula River, some sixteen leagues
south-east of the city of Puebla, Dupaix discovered, in 1808, a
structure which he calls a fortification. It was located on a rocky
height, surrounded by deep ravines, and the rough nature of the
ground, together with the serpents that infest the rocks, prevented
him from making exact measurements. There are traces of exterior
enclosing walls, and within the enclosed area stands a pyramid of hewn
stone and lime mortar, in eight receding stories. A fragment of a
circular stone was also found at Tepexe, bearing sculptured figures in
low relief, which indicate that the monument may have borne originally
some resemblance to the Aztec calendar-stone, to be mentioned
hereafter. Another round stone bore marks of having been used for
sharpening weapons.[IX-4]
At Tepeaca and vicinity four relics were found:--1st. A bird's,
perhaps an eagle's, head sculptured in low relief within a triple
circle, together with other figures, on a slab about a foot square;
apparently an aboriginal coat of arms. 2d. A stone head eighteen
inches high, of a hard, reddish material; the features are very
regular down to the mouth, below which all is deformed. 3d. A
sculptured slab, built into a wall, shown only in Kingsborough's
plate. 4th. A feathered serpent coiled into a ball-like form, six feet
in diameter. It was carved from a red stone, and also painted red,
resting on a cubical pedestal of a light-colored stone.[IX-5]
At San Antonio, near San Andres Chalchicomula, on the eastern boundary
of the state, a pyramid stands on the summit of a rocky hill. The
pyramid consists of three stories, with sides sloping at an angle of
about forty-five degrees, is about twenty-five feet in height, and has
a base fifty-five feet square. A stairway about ten feet wide, with
solid balustrades, leads up the centre of the western front; and on
the top, parts of the walls of a building still remained in 1805. This
summit building was said to have been in a good state of preservation
only twelve years before. The material is basalt, in blocks about two
by five feet, according to Dupaix's plate, laid in mortar, and all but
the lower story covered with cement.[IX-6]
[Illustration: Stone Monster's Head.]
At Quauhquelchula, near Atlixco, in the western part of the state,
Dupaix noticed four relics of antiquity. 1st. A rattlesnake eight feet
and a half long, and about eight inches in diameter, sculptured in
high relief on the flat surface of a hard brown stone. 2d. A hard
veined stone of various colors, four feet high and ten feet and a half
in circumference, carved into a representation of a monster's head
with protruding tusks, a front view of which is given in the cut. The
rear is flat and bears a coat of arms, made up of four arrows or
spears crossing a circle, with other inexplicable figures. 3d. Another
coat of arms, three lances across a barred circle, carved in low
relief on the face of a boulder. 4th. A human face, larger than the
natural size, on the side of another boulder, and looking towards the
town.[IX-7] At the town of Atlixco a very beautifully worked and
polished almond-shaped agate was seen.[IX-8]
[Illustration: Serpent-Cup--Santa Catalina.]
On the hacienda of Santa Catalina, westward from Atlixco, was found
the coiled serpent shown in the cut. The material is a black porous
volcanic stone, and the whole seems to form a cup, to which the head
of the serpent served as a handle. Another relic from this locality
was a masked human figure of the same stone.[IX-9]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PYRAMID OF CHOLULA.]
About ten miles west of the city of Puebla de los Angeles, and in the
eastern outskirts of the pueblo of Cholula, is the famous pyramid
known throughout the world by the name of Cholula. The town at its
base was in aboriginal times a large and flourishing city, and a great
religious centre. The day of its glory was in the Toltec period,
before the tenth century of our era, and tradition points for the
building of the pyramid to a yet more remote epoch, when the Olmecs
were the masters of the central plateaux. Several times during the
religious contests that raged between the devotees of rival deities,
the temple of Cholula was destroyed and rebuilt. Its final destruction
dates from the coming of the Spaniards, who, under Hernan Cortés,
after a fierce hand-to-hand conflict on the slopes of the pyramid,
maddened by the desperate resistance of the natives, elated by
victory, or incited by fanatical religious zeal and avarice, sacked
and burned the magnificent structure on the top of the mound. Since
the time of the Conquistador, after the fierce spirit of the Spaniards
had expended its fury on this and other monuments reared in honor of
heathen gods, the mound was allowed to remain in peace, save the
construction of a winding road leading up to a modern chapel on the
summit, where services are performed in which the great Quetzalcoatl
has no share.[IX-10]
Since 1744, when the historian Clavigero rode up its side on
horseback, this pyramid has been visited by hundreds of travelers, few
tourists having left Anáhuac without having seen so famous a monument
of antiquity, so easily accessible from the cities of Mexico and
Puebla. Humboldt's description, made from a personal exploration in
1803, is perhaps the most complete that was ever published, and most
succeeding visitors have deemed it best to quote his account as being
better than any they could write from their own observations. Dupaix
and Castañeda, and in later times Nebel, also examined and made
drawings of Cholula. The four or five views of the mound that have
been published differ greatly from each other, accordingly as the
artist pictured the monument as he saw it or attempted to restore it
more or less to its original form. Humboldt's drawing, which has been
more extensively copied than any other, contrary to what might be
expected from his text, was altogether a restoration, and bore not the
slightest resemblance to the original as he saw it, since Clavigero
found it in 1744, "so covered with earth and shrubs that it seems
rather a natural hill than an edifice," and there is no reason to
suppose that at a later date it assumed a more regular form.[IX-11]
For the past two centuries, at least, the condition and appearance of
the mound has been that of a natural conical hill, rising from the
level of a broad valley, and covering with its circular base an area
of over forty acres.[IX-12] On closer examination, however, traces of
artificial terraces are noted on the slopes, and excavations have
proven that the whole mound, or at least a very large portion of
it--for no excavation has ever been made reaching to its centre--is of
artificial construction. By the careful surveys of Humboldt and others
the original form and dimensions have been clearly made known. From a
base about fourteen hundred and forty feet square, whose sides face
the cardinal points, it rose in four equal stories to a height of
nearly two hundred feet, having a summit platform of about two hundred
feet square.[IX-13] Humboldt in 1803 found the four terraces tolerably
distinct, especially on the western slope; Evans in 1870 found the
lower terrace quite perfect, but the others traceable only in a few
places without excavation.
The material of which the mound was constructed is adobes, or
sun-dried bricks, generally about fifteen inches long, laid very
regularly with alternate layers of clay. From its material comes the
name Tlalchihualtepec, 'mountain of unburnt bricks,' which has been
sometimes applied to Cholula. An old tradition relates that the adobes
were manufactured at Tlalmanalco, and brought several leagues to their
destination by a long line of men, who handed them along singly from
one to another. Humboldt thought some of the bricks might have been
slightly burned. Respecting the material which constitutes the
alternate layers between the bricks, called clay by Humboldt, there
seems to be some difference of opinion between different explorers.
Col. Brantz Mayer, a careful investigator, says the adobes are
interspersed with small fragments of porphyry and limestone; and Mr
Tylor speaks of them as cemented with mortar containing small stones
and pottery. Evans tells us that the material is adobe bricks and
layers of lava, still perfect in many places. The historian Veytia by
a personal examination ascertained the material to be "small stones of
the kind called _guijarros_, and a kind of bricks of clay and straw,"
in alternate layers.[IX-14] Beaufoy claims to have found the pyramid
faced with small thin hewn stones, one of which he carried away as a
relic--a very wonderful discovery certainly, when we consider that
other very trustworthy explorers, both preceding and following
Beaufoy, found nothing of the kind. Mr Heller could not find the stone
facing, but, as he says, he did find a coating of mortar as hard as
stone, composed of lime, sand, and water.[IX-15] Many visitors have
believed that the pyramid is only partially artificial, the
adobe-work having been added to a smaller natural hill. This is,
however, a mere conjecture, and there are absolutely no arguments to
be adduced for or against it. The truth can be ascertained only by the
excavation of a tunnel through the mound at its base, or, at least,
penetrating to the centre. It is very remarkable that such an
excavation has never been made, either in the interests of scientific
exploration or of treasure-seeking.
Bernal Diaz, at the time of the Conquest, counted a hundred and twenty
steps in a stairway which led up the slope to the temple, but no
traces of such a stairway have been visible in more modern times.
There are traditions among the natives, as is usually the case in
connection with every work of the antiguos, of interior galleries and
apartments of great extent within the mound; such rumors are doubtless
without foundation. The Puebla road cuts off a corner of the lower
terrace, and the excavation made in building the road not only showed
clearly the regular interior construction of the pyramid, but also
laid bare a tomb, which contained two skeletons with two idols in
basalt, a collection of pottery, and other relics not preserved or
particularly described, although the remains of the tomb itself were
examined by Humboldt. The sepulchre was square, with stone walls
supported by cypress beams. The dimensions are not given, but the
apartment is said to have had no traces of any outlet. Humboldt claims
to have discovered a peculiar arrangement of the adobes about this
tomb, by which the pressure on its roof was diminished.
It is very evident that the pyramid of Cholula contains nothing in
itself to indicate its age, but from well-defined and doubtless
reliable traditions, we may feel very sure that its erection dates
back to an epoch preceding the tenth century, and probably preceding
the seventh. Humboldt shows that it is larger at the base than any of
the old-world pyramids, over twice as large as that of Cheops, but
only slightly higher than that of Mycerinus. "The construction of the
teocalli recalls the oldest monuments to which the history of the
civilization of our race reaches. The temple of Jupiter Bélus, which
the mythology of the Hindus seems to designate by the name of Bali,
the pyramids of Meïdoùm and Dahchoùr, and several of the group of
Sakharah in Egypt, were also immense heaps of bricks, the remains of
which have been preserved during a period of thirty centuries down to
our day."[IX-16]
The historical annals of aboriginal times, confirmed by the Spanish
records of the Conquest, leave no doubt that the chief object of the
pyramid was to support a temple; the discovery of the tomb with human
remains may indicate that it served also for burial purposes. It is by
no means certain, however, that the mound was in any sense a monument
reared over the two bodies whose skeletons were found; for besides the
position of the skeletons in a corner of the pyramid, indicating in
itself the contrary, there is the possibility that the bodies were
those of slaves sacrificed during the process of building, and
deposited here from some superstitious motive. It will require the
discovery of tombs near the centre of this immense mound to prove that
it was erected with any view to use as the burial place of kings or
priests.[IX-17] Wilson, always a sceptic on matters connected with
Mexican aboriginal civilization, pronounces the pyramid of Cholula
"the finest Indian mound on this continent; where the Indians buried
the bravest of their braves, with bows and arrows, and a drinking cup,
that they might not be unprovided for when they should arrive at the
hunting-grounds of the great spirit." "It is sufficiently wasted by
time to give full scope to the imagination to fill out or restore it
to almost any form. One hundred years ago, some rich citizen constructed
steps up its side, and protected the sides of his steps from falling
earth by walls of adobe, or mud-brick; and on the west side some adobe
buttresses have been placed to keep the loose earth out of the village
street. This is all of mans labor that is visible, except the work of
the Indians in shaving away the hill which constitutes this pyramid.
As for the great city of Cholula, it never had an existence."[IX-18]
At a short distance from the foot of the large pyramid, two smaller
ones are mentioned by several visitors; one of which is doubtless a
portion of the chief mound separated by the road that has been already
mentioned. One of them is described by Beaufoy as having perpendicular
sides, and built of adobes nine inches square and one inch thick; the
second was much smaller and had a corn-patch on its summit. Cuts of
the two small mounds are given by the same explorer. Bullock claims to
have found on the top of one of the detached masses a ditch and wall
forming a kind of figure-eight-formed enclosure one hundred feet long,
in which were many human bones. Evans has a theory that the small
mounds were formed of the material taken from the larger one in
shaping its terraces. Latrobe says that many ruined mounds may be seen
from the summit; in fact, that the whole surface of the surrounding
plain is broken by both natural and artificial elevations. Ampère was
led by his native guide, through a misunderstanding, to a flat-topped
terraced hill, still bearing traces of a pavement, at a locality
called Zapotecas.[IX-19]
The only miscellaneous Cholulan relics of which I find a mention, are
three described by Dupaix and sketched by Castañeda. They were, a
stone head, said to have originally been the top of a column; a
quadrangular block, with incised hieroglyphics on one of its faces;
and a mask of green jasper, reported to have been dug from the
pyramid.[IX-20]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: REMAINS AT NATIVIDAD.]
On the summit of the Sierra de Malinche, which forms the boundary
between Puebla and Tlascala, the existence of ruined walls and
pyramids, with fragments of stone images, is mentioned without
description.[IX-21] At San Pablo del Monte two kneeling naked females
in stone, modestly covering the breasts with the hands, were sketched
by Castañeda.[IX-22] Of an important group of remains in the vicinity
of Natividad, between Puebla de los Angeles and Tlascala, a very
unintelligible account has been written by Cabrera, for the Mexican
Geographical Society. The ruins seem to cover a hill, different
localities on the slopes of which are called Mixco, Xochitecatl,
Tenexotzin, Hueyxotzin, and Cacaxtlan. The western slope has gigantic
terraces, and among other relics five vertical stones called
_huitzocteme_, supposed to have been used for sacrificial purposes.
They are two varas high and three fourths of a vara wide. On the
northern slope a concavity of stone and mud is mentioned, whose bottom
is strewn with pottery and obsidian weapons. At Cacaxtlan, the site of
the principal fortress in the wars between Tlascala and Mexico, are
ditches and subterranean passages running in all directions. The chief
ditch extends from north to south across the hill; it is about
twenty-eight feet wide and eleven or twelve feet deep, with
embankments formed of the earth thrown out. The subterranean passages
are believed to penetrate the heights of Cacaxtlan. One has an opening
among the rocks on the north, beginning at the cave of Ostotl; another
begins on the east at San Miguel del Milagro, having for an entrance a
square hole five or six yards deep, from the bottom of which it
extends horizontally in a semicircular course; the third opening is on
the south, and its top is supported by columns left in the volcanic
stone; and finally, the fourth subterranean passage sends out vapor
when it is about to rain. This is all I can glean from Cabrera's
account--in fact, rather more than I can fully understand.[IX-23]
Dupaix found at Natividad two wooden teponastles, or aboriginal
musical instruments, similar to the one found at Tlascala by the same
explorer and shown in the accompanying cut. The former were, however,
less elaborately carved; the latter was three feet long and five
inches in diameter, the cut showing a side and end view. Other relics
found by Dupaix in the city of Tlascala and vicinity, are the
following:--a lance-head, nine inches long, of green flint; a small
stone statue, nine or ten inches in height, representing a seated
female, whose head bears a strong resemblance to some of the Palenque
profiles; a mask of green agate a little smaller than the natural size
of the face, pronounced by Dupaix the finest specimen of sculpture
seen in America; an earthen vase called _popocaxtli_, used in
ceremonies in honor of the dead, found in connection with some human
bones; two mutilated human heads carved from a gray stone; and a
masked, bow-legged idol of stone, twenty-four inches high, standing on
a small pedestal, covering the breasts with the hands.[IX-24]
[Illustration: Teponastle from Tlascala.]
[Sidenote: ABORIGINAL BRIDGES.]
At Pueblo de los Reyes, northward from Tlascala, on the road to San
Francisco, two aboriginal bridges over a mountain stream were sketched
by Castañeda. One is eleven feet high and thirty-seven feet wide; the
other fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet wide; each being over
a hundred feet in length. They are built of large irregular stones in
mortar. The conduits through which the stream passes are from four to
six feet wide and high, one of them having a flat top, while in the
other two large blocks meet and form an obtuse angle. On the top of
the bridges at the sides are parapets of brick four or five feet high,
pierced at intervals to allow water to run from the road; and at each
of the four corners stands a circular, symmetrical, ornamental
obelisk, or pillar, over forty feet high, of stone and mortar, covered
with burned bricks. It is quite probable that the brick-work of these
bridges, if not the whole structure, is to be referred to Spanish
rather than to aboriginal times. Sr Almaraz sketched at Xicotepec, in
the north, some fifty miles west of Papantla, a teponastle of
iron-wood, gracefully carved and brilliantly polished.[IX-25]
The famous wall that was found by Cortés, extending along the
frontier of Tlascala, has been spoken of in another part of this work.
Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that many remains of this wall are still
visible, and some other authors vaguely speak to the same effect; but
as no modern traveler describes or locates these remains, I think it
altogether likely that the statements referred to may be simply echoes
of those made by the early writers, who represented the ruins of the
wall as visible in the years immediately following the Conquest.[IX-26]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: RELICS AT CUERNAVACA.]
Passing westward into the state of Mexico, and beginning again in the
south, I find a notice in a Mexican government report, of ruins at
Tejupilco, in the south-west, about sixty miles westward of
Cuernavaca. The remains are noticed especially on the hill of
Nanchititla, consisting of buildings standing on regular streets yet
traceable, and built of very thin blocks, or slates, of stone without
mortar. In the valley of San Martin Luvianos, in the same region, a
subterranean apartment with polished sides of cement, discovered in
1841, contained quantities of carbonized maize.[IX-27] At Zacualpan,
midway between Cuernavaca and Tejupilco, and some leagues further
south, flint spear-heads, stone masks, and other relics not specified
are said by the same authority to have been found in a cave.[IX-28] A
peculiarity of the aboriginal relics found by Dupaix at Cuernavaca and
vicinity was that all consisted of sculptured figures on the surface
of large naturally shaped boulders. The first was an immense lizard
over eight feet long and a foot and a half thick, carved in high
relief on the top of a rough block. Four small circular projections
are seen on the side of the rock below the animal. On the southern
face of another isolated boulder was sculptured in low relief the coat
of arms shown in the cut, which, in its principal features of a circle
on parallel arrows or lances, is very similar to others that have been
mentioned.[IX-29] On the flag that projects from the upper part of the
circle, a Maltese cross is seen, and the bird's head above is
pronounced of course by Dupaix to be that of an eagle.[IX-30] On the
opposite, or northern, side of the same boulder are sculptured the
figures shown in the cut. The left hand figure, thirteen inches high,
may in connection with the small circles be a record of a
date--thirteen calli. M. Lenoir, however, on account of the column
shown within the building, believes the whole may be an emblem of
phallic worship, the column being a phallus and the building its
shrine or temple. The sculpture on both sides of this rock is
described as having been executed with great care and clearness.
Somewhat less than a league south of the city is another isolated
rock, said to have served as a boundary mark to the ancient
Quauhnahuac, 'place of the eagle,' of which the modern name Cuernavaca
is a corruption. On the face of this rock is carved in rather high
relief the figure represented in the cut, which, in consideration of
the aboriginal meaning of the name, and the purpose served by the
stone, may be regarded as an eagle. The material is a fine gray stone,
the bird is thirty-five inches high, and the boulder, or its locality,
is called by the natives Quauhtetl, 'stone eagle.'[IX-31]
[Illustration: Coat of Arms--Cuernavaca.]
[Illustration: Boulder-Sculptures at Cuernavaca.]
[Illustration: Eagle of Cuernavaca.]
[Sidenote: RUINS OF XOCHICALCO.]
The ruins of Xochicalco, doubtless the finest in Mexico, are about
fifteen miles 13° west of south from Cuernavaca, and about
seventy-five miles south-west from the city of Mexico. The first
published description was written by Alzate y Ramirez, who visited the
locality in 1777, and published his account with illustrative plates
as a supplement to his Literary Gazette in November, 1791.[IX-32]
Humboldt made up his account from that of Alzate; Dupaix and Castañeda
included Xochicalco in their first exploration; Nebel visited and
sketched the ruins in 1831; and finally an account, perhaps the most
complete extant, written from an exploration in 1835 by order of the
Mexican government, was published in the _Revista Mexicana_.[IX-33]
[Sidenote: RUINS OF XOCHICALCO.]
Xochicalco, the 'hill of flowers,'[IX-34] is a natural elevation of
conical form, with an oval base over two miles in circumference,
rising from the plain to a height of nearly four hundred feet.[IX-35]
Mr Latrobe claims to have found traces of paved roads, of large stones
tightly wedged together, one of them eight feet wide, leading in
straight lines towards the hill from different directions. The account
in the _Revista_ mentions only one such causeway running towards the
east. A ditch, more or less filled up and overgrown with shrubbery, is
said to extend entirely round the base of the hill, but its depth and
width are not stated; perhaps in the absence of more complete
information its existence should be considered doubtful.
[Illustration: Subterranean Galleries--Xochicalco.]
Very near the foot of the northern slope are the entrances to two
tunnels or galleries, one of which terminates at a distance of
eighty-two feet; at least, it was obstructed and could not be explored
beyond that point. The second gallery, cut in the solid limestone of
the hill, about nine feet and a half wide and high, has several
branches running in different directions, some of them terminated by
fallen débris, others apparently walled up intentionally. The floors
are paved to the thickness of a foot and a half with brick-shaped
blocks of stone, the walls are also in many places supported by
masonry, and both pavement, walls, and ceiling are covered with lime
cement, which retains its polish and shows traces in some parts of
having had originally a coating of red ochre. The principal gallery,
after turning once at a right angle, terminates at a distance of
several hundred feet in a large apartment about eighty feet long, in
which two circular pillars are left in the living rock to support the
roof. The accompanying cut is Castañeda's ground plan of the galleries
and subterranean apartment, _a_ being the entrance on the north; _b_
the termination of main gallery; _c_, _k_, the branch gallery; _e_ and
_d_, obstructed passages; _g_, _g_, the room and _f_, _f_, the
pillars. The scale of the plan is about fifty feet to the inch, but
the dimensions, according to the scale, are doubtless inaccurate.
According to the plan the galleries are only a little over four feet
wide; and the apartment thirty-three by thirty-nine feet. Alzate's
plan agrees with it so far as it goes; the _Revista_ gives no plan,
and its description differs in some respects, so far as the
arrangement of the galleries is concerned, from the cut.[IX-36] In the
top of the room at the south-east corner, at _h_, is a dome-like
structure, a vertical section of which is shown at _j_ of the
preceding cut, six feet in diameter and six feet high, lined with
stone hewn in curved blocks, with a round hole about ten inches in
diameter extending vertically upward from the top. It has been
generally believed that this passage leads up to the pyramid on the
top of the hill, to be described later; but it will be seen that if
the hill be two miles in circumference, or even half that size, the
galleries are not nearly long enough to reach the centre under the
pyramid. Nebel fancied that the hole in the cupola was so situated
that the rays of the sun twice a year would penetrate from above and
strike an altar in the subterranean hall. The natives report other
passages in the hill besides the one described, and believe that one
of them leads to Chapultepec, near the city of Mexico.
[Sidenote: THE HILL OF FLOWERS.]
Passing now from the interior to the outer surface of the 'hill of
flowers,' we find it covered from top to bottom with masonry. Five
terraces, paved with stone and mortar, and supported by perpendicular
walls of the same material, extend in oval form entirely round the
whole circumference of the hill, one above the other. Neither the
width of the paved platforms nor the height of the supporting walls
has been given by any explorer, but each terrace, with the
corresponding intermediate slope, constitutes something over seventy
feet of the height of the hill. The terrace platforms have sometimes
been described, without any authority, as a paved way leading round
and round the hill in a spiral course to the summit. Dupaix speaks of
a road about eight feet wide, which leads to the summit, but no other
explorer mentions any traces of the original means of ascent. Each
terrace wall, while forming in general terms an ellipse, does not
present a regular line, but is broken into various angles like the
bastions of a fortification. The pavements all slope slightly towards
the south-west, thus permitting the water to run off readily.
According to the plans of Alzate and Castañeda there are two
additional terraces where a spur projects from the hill at the
north-eastern base. Latrobe is the only authority on the intermediate
slopes between the terraces, which he says are occupied with
platforms, bastions, and stages one above another. It is evident from
all accounts that the whole surface of the hill, very likely shaped to
some extent artificially, was covered with stone work, and that
defense was one object aimed at by the builders. The _Revista_
represents the terrace platforms as additionally fortified by the
perpendicular supporting walls projecting upward above their level,
forming what may perhaps be termed a kind of parapet.
On the summit is a level platform measuring two hundred and
eighty-five by three hundred and twenty-eight feet.[IX-37] According
to Alzate, Humboldt, Dupaix, and other early authorities--except
Nebel, who is silent on the subject--this plaza is surrounded by a
wall. Dupaix says the wall is built of stones without mortar, is five
feet and a half high, and two feet and nine inches thick. Alzate
represents the wall as perpendicular only on the inner side, being in
fact a projection of the upper terrace slope, forming a kind of
parapet, and making the plaza a sunken area. Latrobe also speaks of
the plaza as a hollow square, and Alzate's representation is probably
a correct one; for the author of the account in the _Revista_ says
that the wall described by previous visitors could not be found; and
moreover, that there was no room for it on the north between the
central pyramid and "one of the solid stone masses, or _caballeros_,
that surround the platform," the _caballeros_, which may perhaps in
this connection be translated 'parapets,' being doubtless the same
structures that the others describe as a wall.
[Sidenote: PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO.]
In this plaza, cultivated in later years as a cornfield, there are
several mounds and heaps of stones not particularly described; and
near the centre is a pyramid, or rather the lower story of one, with
rectangular base, the sides of which, exactly or very nearly facing
the cardinal points, measure sixty-five feet from east to west, and
fifty-eight feet from north to south. The lower story, which in some
parts is still standing to its full height, is divided into what may
be termed plinth, frieze, and cornice, and is about sixteen feet
high.[IX-38]
[Illustration: Pyramid of Xochicalco.]
In the centre of one of the façades is an open space, something over
twenty feet wide, bounded by solid balustrades, and probably occupied
originally by a stairway, although it is said that no traces of steps
have been found among the débris. The cut, from Nebel, shows the front
of the pyramid on one side of the opening, being the eastern portion
of the northern front, according to Nebel, who locates the stairway on
the north, or the northern part of the western front, according to the
_Revista_, which speaks of the opening as being on the west.
The pyramid, or at least its facing, is built of large blocks of
granite or porphyry,[IX-39] a kind of stone not found within a
distance of many leagues. The blocks are of different sizes, the
largest being about eleven feet long and three feet high, and few
being less than five feet in length. They are laid without mortar, and
so nicely is the work done that the joints are scarcely perceptible.
The cut shows one of the façades, probably the northern, from
Castañeda's drawing, which corresponds almost exactly to that given by
Alzate. So far as the details of the sculpture are concerned it is
probably not very trustworthy. The preceding cut, from Nebel, is
perhaps the only reliable drawing in this respect that has been
published. The whole exterior surface seems to have been covered with
sculptured figures in low relief, apparently executed after the stones
were put in place, since one figure extends, with the greatest
exactitude at the joints, over several blocks of stone.[IX-40]
[Illustration: Pyramid of Xochicalco.]
I translate from the _Revista_ the following remarks about the
sculptured figures: "At each angle, and on each side, is seen a
colossal dragon's head, from whose great mouth, armed with enormous
teeth, projects a forked tongue; but in some the tongue is horizontal,
while in others it falls vertically; in the first it points towards a
sign which is believed to be that of water, and in the others towards
different signs or emblems.... Some have pretended to see in these
dragons images of crocodiles; but nothing certain can be known of
these fantastic figures which have no model in nature.... On the two
sides still standing there are two figures of men larger than the
natural size, seated cross-legged in the eastern fashion, wearing
necklaces of enormous pearls, rich ornaments, and a head-dress out of
all proportion, with long flowing plumes. In one hand they hold a kind
of sceptre, and the other is placed on the breast; a hieroglyphic of
great size, placed in the middle of each side, separates the two
figures, whose heads are turned, on the east side, one north and the
other south, while on the north side both face the west. The frieze
which surrounds this story presents a series of small human figures,
also seated in the eastern manner, with the right hand crossed on the
breast, and the left resting on a curved sword, whose hilt reminds us
of ancient swords; a thing the more worthy of attention since no
people descended from the Toltecs or Aztecs has made use of this kind
of arms. The head-dress of these small figures, which closely resemble
those mentioned before, is always disproportionately large, and this
circumstance, which is found in all the Egyptian mythologic fables, is
considered in the latter an emblem of power or divinity. With the
human figures are seen various signs, some of which seem allegorical
and others chronologic, so far as may be judged from their conformity
with those employed in the Aztec paintings.... Another sign,
apparently of a different nature, is often repeated among the figures;
it is a dragon's mouth, open and armed with teeth, as in the large
reliefs, from which projects instead of a tongue a disk divided by a
cross.... It has also been thought (Alzate) that dances are
represented on the frieze of Xochicalco, but its perfect preservation
makes such an error inexcusable, and figures seated with legs crossed
and hands on a sword, exclude any idea of sacred or warlike dances,
and suggest only mythologic or historical scenes. Over the frieze was
a cornice adorned with very delicate designs in the form of _oalmetas_
or meandres in the Greek style." The cut shows one of the bas-reliefs
on a larger scale than in the preceding illustrations. There is, as
Nebel observes, a certain likeness between these sculptured designs
and the stucco reliefs of Palenque, although in the architectural
features of the monument, and of the base on which it rests, there
seems to be no analogy whatever with any of the southern ruins.
[Illustration: Bas-Relief from Xochicalco.]
On the summit of this lower structure a few sculptured foundation
stones of a second story were found yet in place, the walls being two
feet and three inches from the edge of the lower, except on the west,
where the space is four feet and a half. According to the report of
the inhabitants of the vicinity, the structure had originally five
receding stories, similar to the first in outward appearance, which
were all standing as late as 1755, making the whole edifice probably
about sixty-five feet high. It is said to have terminated in a
platform, on the eastern side of which stood a large block, forming a
kind of throne, covered with hieroglyphic sculpture. The proprietors
of neighboring sugar-works were the authors of the monument's
destruction, the stone being of a nature suitable for their furnaces,
and none other being obtainable except at a great distance. Alzate
puts on record the name of one Estrada as the inaugurator of this
disgraceful work of devastation.[IX-41] Several restorations of the
pyramid of Xochicalco have been attempted on paper, that by the artist
Nebel being probably the only one that bears any likeness to the
original; and even his sketch, so far as the sculptured designs are
concerned, must be regarded as extremely conjectural, having as a
foundation only a few scattered blocks and the reports of the 'oldest
inhabitant.' At the Paris international exhibition in 1867 a structure
was built and exhibited in the Champs de Mars, purporting to be a
fac-simile of this monument; but judging from a cut published in a
London paper, it might with equal propriety have been exhibited as a
model of any other ruin in the new or old world.[IX-42]
The second story seems to have had interior apartments, with three
doorways at the head of the grand stairway. On the summit of the lower
story, according to the _Revista_, is a pit, perhaps a covered
apartment originally, measuring twenty-two feet square, and nearly
filled with fragments of stone, some of them sculptured, which were
not removed. It is of course possible that there exists some means of
communication between this apartment and the subterranean galleries of
the hill below.
East of the hill of Xochicalco, on the road to Miacatlan, an immense
stone was said to have been found serving as a kind of cover to a
hole, perhaps the entrance to a subterranean gallery, on the face of
which was sculptured an eagle tearing a prostrate native Prometheus.
It was broken up and most of the pieces carried away, but Alzate saw
one fragment containing a part of the sculptured thigh, from which
perhaps with the aid of his imagination and his knowledge of Grecian
mythology the good padre prepared a drawing of the whole, which he
published. Later visitors have not even seen a fragment of so
wonderful a relic. Mr Tylor speaks of a small paved oval space
somewhere in connection with the ruin, in which he found fragments of
a clay idol. There are no springs of water on or near the hill.
The _Revista_ says, "adjoining this hill is another higher one, also
covered with terraces of stone-work in form of steps. A causeway of
large marble flags led to the top, where there are still some
excavations and among them a mound of large size. Nothing further in
the way of monuments is to be seen on the lower (part of the?) hill
except a granite block, which may be the great square stone mentioned
by Alzate, which served to close the entrance to a subterranean
gallery, situated east of the principal monument." There are also some
traces of one terrace indicated on Castañeda's view of the larger
hill. On the sculptured façades of the pyramid, all have found traces
of color in sheltered places, and have concluded that the whole
surface was originally painted red, except the author of the account
in the _Revista_, who thinks that the groundwork of the reliefs only
was covered with a colored varnish, as was the usage in Egypt.
Löwenstern claims to have found in the vicinity of Xochicalco the
foundation of many aboriginal dwellings.
A slight resemblance has been noted in some of the sculptured human
figures, seated cross-legged, to the Maya sculptures and stucco
reliefs of Central America; a few figures, like that of the rabbit,
may present some analogies to Aztec sculptures, many specimens of
which will be shown in the present chapter; the very fact of its
being a pyramid in several stories, gives to Xochicalco a general
likeness to all the more important American ruins; the terraces on the
hill-slopes have their counterparts at Quiotepec and elsewhere; the
absence of mortar between the façade-stones is a feature also of
Mitla; still as a whole the monument of Xochicalco stands alone; both
in architecture and sculpture it presents strong contrasts with Copan,
Uxmal, Palenque, Mitla, Cholula, Teotihuacan, or the many pyramids of
Vera Cruz. There is no definite tradition referring the origin of this
monument to any particular pre-Aztec period, save the universal modern
tradition among the natives referring everything wonderful to the
Toltecs. It is not, moreover, improbable that the pyramid was built by
a Nahua people during the Aztec period; for it must be remembered
first that all the grand temples in Anáhuac--the Aztec territory
proper--have disappeared since the Conquest, so that a comparison of
such buildings with that of Xochicalco is impossible; and second, that
the Aztecs were superior to the nations immediately surrounding them
in war rather than art, so that it would be by no means surprising to
find a grander temple in Cuernavaca than in the valley of Mexico. The
Aztec sculpture on such monuments as have been found in the city of
Mexico if different from, is not inferior to that at Xochicalco, and
there is no reason whatever to doubt the ability of the Aztecs to
build such a pyramid. Still there remains of course the possibility of
a pre-Aztec antiquity for the building on the hill of flowers, and of
Maya influence exerted upon its builders.[IX-43]
[Sidenote: REMAINS IN THE SOUTH-EAST.]
[Illustration: Sculptured stone--Casasano.]
In the south-eastern part of the state from Yahualica northward to
Mecamecan, relics have been discovered, mostly by Dupaix, in several
localities. At Yahualica, near Huautla, there are tombs, with stone
images, human remains, pottery, and metates, also some metallic relics
not described.[IX-44] At Xonacatepec was seen a mask of about the
natural size, carved very neatly from a whitish translucent
stone.[IX-45] At the sugar plantation of Casasano, in the same region,
a somewhat remarkable relic was a stone chest, of rectangular base,
larger at the bottom than at the top, with a cover fitting like that
of a modern chest. It was cut from a grayish stone, and when found by
laborers engaged in digging a ditch, is said to have been filled with
stone ornaments. At the same place was seen a circular stone, three
feet in diameter and nine inches thick, sculptured in geometric
figures on one side, as shown in the preceding cut.[IX-46]
Another similar stone of the same thickness, and about three feet and
a half in diameter, was built into a modern wall at Ozumba. These
geometrically carved circular blocks are of not infrequent occurrence
on the Mexican plateaux; of their use nothing is known, but they seem
to bear a vague resemblance to the Aztec calendar and sacrificial
stones to be described later. Another class of circular blocks, from
two to three feet in diameter, with curves and various ornamental
figures sculptured on one face, are also of frequent occurrence.
Several of this class will be mentioned and illustrated in connection
with the relics of Xochimilco. Two of them were seen by Dupaix at
Chimalhuacan Tlachialco, near Ozumba, together with two small idols of
stone. At Ahuehuepa, in the same region, was a statue which had lost
the head and the legs below the knees; a hieroglyphic device is seen
on the breast, and a small cord passes round the waist, and is tied in
a bow-knot in front. Two fragments of head-dresses carved in red stone
were found at the same place. A few miles east of the village of
Mecamecan is an isolated rock of gray granite, artificially formed
into pyramidal shape as shown in the cut. It is about twelve feet high
and fifty-five feet in circumference, having rudely cut steps, which
lead up the eastern slope. Dupaix conjectures that this monument was
intended for some astronomic use, and that the man sculptured on the
side is engaged in making astronomical observations, the results of
which are expressed by the other figures on the rock. The only
possible foundation for the opinion is the resemblance of some of the
signs to those by which the Aztecs expressed dates.[IX-47]
[Illustration: Pyramidal stone--Mecamecan.]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: REMAINS IN ANÁHUAC.]
[Sidenote: REMAINS AN XOCHIMILCO.]
Entering now the valley of Mexico, we find many localities on the
banks, and islands of Lake Chalco where relics of the ancient
inhabitants have been brought to light. At Xochimilco on the western
shore of the lake, Dupaix mentions the following:--1st. A stone block
with regular sides, on one of which about three feet square are
sculptured two concentric circles, as large as the space permits, with
smaller circles outside of the larger, at each corner of the block.
2d. A crouching monster of stone thirty inches high, which apparently
served originally for a fountain or aqueduct, the water flowing
through the mouth. 3d. A semi-spherical pedestal of limestone, broken
in two pieces, three feet high, and decorated on the curved surface
with oval figures radiating from the centre. 4th. A lizard thirty
inches long, sculptured on a block which is built into a modern wall.
5th. A coat of arms, also on a block in a wall, consisting of a circle
on parallel lances like some already described. Within the circle is a
very perfect Maltese cross, hanging from the lower part is a fan-like
plume, and elsewhere on the smooth faces of the stone are nine very
peculiar knots or tassels. 6th. A kind of flat-fish three feet eight
inches long, carved from a bluish gray stone. 7th. A coiled serpent in
red porphyry, a foot and a half in diameter, and nine feet long if
uncoiled. This relic is shown in the cut. 8th. Two death's heads in
stone. 9th. A rabbit in low relief on a fragment of stone. 10th. An
animal in red stone on a cubic pedestal of the same material. 11th. A
stone image of a seated female. 12th. An idol with a man's head and
woman's breasts. 13th. Ten sculptured blocks, the faces of which are
shown in the following cut, and which would seem to have served only
for decorative purposes. Most of them have rough backs, evidently
having been taken from ancient walls; and many of these and other
similar blocks found in this region had tenons like that shown in fig.
9 of the cut. Fig. 7 shows one of the several death's heads found at
Xochimilco.
[Illustration: Coiled Serpent--Xochimilco.]
[Illustration: Sculptured Stones--Xochimilco.]
[Illustration: Sculptured Vase--Tlahuac.]
At Tlahuac, or Cuitlahuac, were seen two circular stones something
over three feet in diameter and half as thick, of black porous
volcanic material. Each had a circular hole in the centre, rude
incised figures on the faces, and a tenon at one point of the
circumference. They strongly remind me of the rings in the walls of
the so-called gymnasium at Chichen in Yucatan. Another relic was a
cylindrical stone of a hard gray material, of the same dimensions as
the preceding, but without a supporting tenon. The circular faces were
plain, but the sides, or rim, were decorated with circles, bands, and
points symmetrically arranged and sculptured in low relief. And
finally there was found at Tlahuac the very beautiful vase of hard
iron-gray stone shown in the cut. It is eight feet four inches in
circumference on the outside, one foot nine inches in diameter on the
inside, and elaborately sculptured in low relief on both the exterior
and interior surface. In Kingsborough's edition of Dupaix's work it is
stated that the two causeways which led to the town across the waters
of Lake Chalco are still in good preservation, five or six yards wide
and of varying height, according to the depth of the water. In the
report of the Ministro de Fomento in 1854 there is also a mention of a
dike built to keep the waters of the lake from Mexico. Another dike,
serving also as a causeway at Tulyahualco is mentioned in the same
report.
At Xico, on an island in Lake Chalco, there are some traces of an
aboriginal city, in the shape of foundation walls of masonry, stone
terraces, and what is very important if authentic, well-burned bricks
of different forms and dimensions. In the Mexican government report
referred to, the foundations of a palace are alluded to.
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.
[Illustration: Animal in Stone--Tlalmanalco.]
[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.
[Illustration: Terra-Cotta Idol--Culhuacan.]
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.]
[Illustration: Aztec 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]
[Illustration: Sacrificial Stone--Mexico.]
[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.
[Illustration: Sculpture on the Sacrificial Stone.]
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]
[Illustration: Huitzilopochtli, God of War.]
[Illustration: Teoyaomiqui, Goddess of Death.]
[Illustration: Mictlantecutli, God of Hell.]
[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.]
[Illustration: Profile of Teoyaomiqui.]
[Illustration: Top of the Idol.]
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]
[Illustration: Stone buried in Plaza of Mexico.]
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]
[Illustration: Burial Vase--Tlatelulco.]
[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]
[Illustration: Head of Goddess Centeotl.]
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]
[Illustration: Aztec Musical Instrument.]
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]
[Illustration: Sculptured Block in Convent Wall.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: Stone Basin from Tezcuco.]
[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]
[Illustration: Skin-clad Aztec Priest.]
* * * * *
[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."
[Illustration: Montezuma's Bath.]
[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]
[Illustration: Bridge at Huejutla.]
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]
[Illustration: Plan of Teotihuacan.]
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.]