274 THE rVKA.MIDS Oli' teotiiiuacan. 



bers shave the head, with razors made of obsidian ; and 

 there are houses resembhng our apothecary shops, where 

 prepared medicines, unguents, and pLasters are sold. 

 There are houses where drink is sold. The market 

 abounds with so many things, that I am unable to name 

 them all to your highness. To avoid confusion, every 

 species of merchandise is sold in a separate lane ; every- 

 thing is sold by the yard, but nothing has hitherto been 

 seen to be wei^fhed in the market. In the midst of the 

 great square is a house which I shall call the Audiencia, in 

 which ten or twelve persons sit constantly for determin- 

 ing any disputes which may arise respecting the sale of 

 goods. There are other persons who mix continually 

 with the crowd, to see that a just price is asked. "We 

 have seen them break the small measures which they 

 had seized from the merchants." 



In one of their excursions from the city the travellers 

 visited the pyramids of Teotihuacan. These pyramids 

 stood in a plain that bore the name of the Path of the 

 Dead. Surrounded by several hundreds of smaller edi- 

 fices which formed streets, in exact lines from north to 

 south, and from east to west, rose two great pyramids 

 which the Indians called Tonatiuh Ytzaqual, and Metzli 

 Ytzaqual, or the Houses of the Sun and Moon. The 

 largest was one hundred and seventy-five feet in perpen- 

 dicular height, the smallest one hundred and forty feet. 

 Twenty -five or thirty feet was the average height of the 

 lesser pyramids, which, according to the traditions of the 

 Indians, were burial-places for the chiefs of the tribe. 

 They were said to be dedicated to the stars. 



The two great pyramids of Teotihuacan were divided 

 into four principal terraces, which were subdivided into 



