309 



AMERICA. 



AMERICA. 



310 



moon were originally placed. East of these teocallis of Teotihuacan, and 

 not far from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, is the pyramid of 

 Papantla, situated in a thick forest. The form of this teocalli, which 

 has still six stories, but formerly had probably seven, is more tapering 

 than any other monument of this kind yet discovered, but the height 

 is only 57 feet, and the base only 25 feet on each aide. It is built 

 entirely of hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very well shaped. 

 Three staircases lead to the top ; the stages are decorated with 

 hieroglyphical sculptures and small niches arranged with great 

 symmetry. 



The largest, most ancient, and most famous of the Mexican teocallis 

 is that of Cholula. It has four stages of equal height, and its sides 

 front exactly the four cardinal points. It is 178 feet high, and each 

 of its sides at the base is 1488 feet long. It is stated that on the top 

 of this pyramid an altar originally existed, dedicated to the God of 

 the Air, but the place in now occupied by a small Christian chapel. 

 It is also stated that this teocalli had not been erected by the Azteks, 

 the ruling nation at the arrival of the Spaniards, but by the Tolteks, 

 who had been the ruling nation before their time, and that at the epoch 

 of the arrival of the Spaniards it had been standing 500 years. The 

 teocallis or Mexican pyramids were at the same time temples and 

 burial-places, and it appears that the small chapel at the top of the 

 pyramid;! was the principal part of them. This part, which was the 

 temple, has mostly been removed and replaced, as in the case of the 

 teocalli of Cholula, by a small Christian church, and up to 1840 we 

 had no idea of the form of these structures at the top. But in that 

 year Mr. Stephens, an American traveller, found a well-preserved 

 teocalli among the ruins of Ocosingo, in the province of Chiapas in 

 Mexico ; and it appears that the edifice by which the structure is 

 crowned is in a comparatively good state of preservation. This edifice 

 certainly differs greatly from what it wag expected to be, and the 

 account of it in Mr. Stephens's book is very interesting. The ruins of 

 Santa Cruz del Quiche 1 in Central America bear a great resemblance to 

 the teocallis of Mexico and Chiapas, though it is well known that this 

 town was a fortress and not a temple. It would however appear 

 that the different nations who succeeded one another in the possession 

 of Anahuac had adopted the same kind of construction in their 

 fortifications which we find in their religious buildings. This is 

 proved by the fortress of Xochicalco, situated rot far from the town 

 of Cuemavaca, on the road leading from Mexico to Acapulco. This 

 is an isolated hill, 386 feet high, which has been surrounded by a 

 ditch, and divided by the work of man into five stages or terraces, 

 which are coated with masonry. The whole forms a truncated 

 pyramid, the four sides of which exactly front the four cardinal points. 

 On the top of the hill is a flat space, containing more than 12 acres, 

 on which there are the ruins of a small building, which may have 

 been a kind of watch-house. 



The antiquities hitherto noticed differ in character very much from 

 those of the Old World, except that Humboldt finds a resemblance 

 between the Mexican teocallis and some of the pyramids of Sakkarah 

 in Egypt. But there are also ruins of buildings which evidently have 

 not been very different from those erected in several parts of Europe. 

 It does not however appear that, with the exception of the ruins of 

 Mitla, any building of this description has been found in Mexico, or in 

 the country west of the isthmus of Tehuantepec, or on this isthmus 

 itself ; they lie to the east of it, in countries which may be considered 

 as forming parts of the peninsula of Yucatan. Mr. Stephens visited 

 44 ancient cities, though his stay in the country was short. He is 

 of opinion that these structures were erected by the ancestors of the 

 present population, and at a period little anterior to the arrival of 

 the Spaniards, and the great number of ruins certainly favours his 

 opinion. It is not known how many there may be in other parts of 

 the country, but they are certainly very numerous between 19 45' 

 and 20 45' N. lat, and especially between 20 and 20 20', on 

 both sides of a ridge of high grounds which in these parts runs 

 from west-nOrth-west to east-south-east. Along the southern base of 

 this ridge, groups of ruins occur at distances of five or six miles 

 apart, and appear to form a continuous series. The ruins are most 

 nnin.Totis at Cxmal, Kabah, Gabna, Kewick, Labpahk, and Chichen. 

 Though no ruins of considerable extent appear on the shores of the 

 Bay of Campeachy, some are found on those of the Bay of Honduras 

 at Taloon (20 12' N. lat), and in its neighbourhood at Tancar. 

 Some inconsiderable ruins exist in the island of Kankun, not far from 

 Cape Catoche, the most north-eastern point of Yucatan. 



uiti'iuiti.':! are called ruins of cities ; and we find it expressly 

 stated that in some places several square leagues are encumbered 

 with ruins of buildings in a state of great decay, and with rubbish. 

 But as those countries had no foreign commerce, no general currency, 

 or anything to answer the purpose of money, and no mechanical arts 

 that were likely to form branches of manufacturing industry, it is 

 nt that society had not reached a state of civilisation that 

 required numerous towns. We may therefore presume that these 

 ruins are not the ruins of towns ; but of what kind of buildings they 

 are the remains it is very difficult to ascertain, as we are entirely 

 inainted with the state of society in these countries when those 

 structures were erected. 



Travellers call them ruin of citiwj, probtbrjr wrier the first impres- 

 sion which such extenaive remains make on thorn who nee them. 



But whenever they have taken the trouble to make a plan of the 

 ruins, it is found that there is only a small number of buildings. 

 There is always one building of great extent, rather resembling the 

 palaces of Europe than common dwelling-houses. This edifice 

 exhibits a great quantity of architectural embellishments. There are 

 columns of different sizes, corridors, paintings, ornaments in stucco, &c. 

 The front of the building is 300 feet long, and its width frequently 

 exceeds 200 feet. The whole is so disposed as to form three or four 

 terraces, the top of the whole being a large level space constituting 

 the roof, which is inclosed with a low wall. The front of these 

 buildings is generally ornamented with numerous sculptures. This 

 edifice is evidently the principal object in every group of ruins. It ig 

 surrounded by several other buildings, the use of which has not been 

 ascertained. Among these outbuildings, as it were, sometimes an 

 edifice is found which, according to our ideas, may have been a 

 temple ; but nothing has been produced which proves such edifices 

 to have been places of public worship. Generally there is one pyramid 

 and sometimes two pyramids near the palace, but even their use is 

 uncertain. 



The most famous of these ruins are those of the city of Palenque, 

 as it is called, which lie near the boundary-line between Mexico and 

 Central America. These ruina were discovered in the middle of the 

 18th century, and from that time it has been frequently stated that 

 they cover a space of six leagues in circumference, and contain public 

 works of great magnificence. We now know that the ruins consist only 

 of a large building called the Palace, and four or five other buildings of 

 inferior size, in a tolerable state of preservation, with the remains of 

 a few others so utterly dilapidated that it is impossible to say what 

 they hare been. The palace stands on an artificial elevation of an 

 oblong form 40 feet high, 310 feet in front and rear, and 260 feet on 

 each side. The palace itself stands with its face to the east, and 

 measures 228 feet in front by 180 feet deep. The height is not more 

 than 25 feet, and it had a broad projecting cornice of stone all round. 

 There are no windows. The front contains 1 4 openings resembling 

 gates, each about 9 feet wide, and the intervening piers are between 

 6 and 7 feet wide. The building is constructed of stone, with a 

 mortar of lime and sand, and the whole front has once been covered 

 with stucco and painted. The piers are ornamented with spirited 

 figures in bas-relief, but only ix of them remain. The outer walls of 

 the palace, as it were, are formed by two parallel corridors running 

 lengthwise on all the four sides ; they are about 9 feet wide. The 

 floors are of cement, as hard as what is found in the remains of Roman 

 baths and cisterns. The space inclosed by these corridors contains 

 four court-yards, separated from one another by corridors of less 

 extent, and several sets of apartments, but connected again by passages 

 between the corridors and rooms. The number of the apartments 

 exceeds 20. The bas-reliefs in stucco and in stone, in the court-yards 

 of the palace, attract attention partly on account of the manner in 

 which they are executed, and partly on account of the style of the 

 figures. In one of the court-yards is a tower whose base is 30 feet 

 square; it has three stories, and is conspicuous for its height and 

 proportions. Nearly contiguous to this great palace is one of inferior 

 dimensions. It stands on a pyramidal structure 110 feet high on the 

 slope. This building is 76 feet in front and 25 feet deep. It has five 

 doors and six piers, all standing. The whole front was richly orna- 

 mented in stucco, and the corner piers are covered with hieroglyphics, 

 each of the piers containing 96 squares. Besides these two tablets there 

 are in the corridors of the interior three others, likewise covered with 

 hieroglyphics. The other two or three buildings are less remarkable, 

 but they also contain a few bas-reliefs of value. All these buildings 

 stand on the top of artificial mounds resembling pyramids, and the 

 slopes of these mounds have evidently been faced with stone. The 

 stone facing has however been thrown down by the growth of the 

 trees which now cover the slopes. 



The ruins of Santa Cruz del Quiche 1 are connected with the conquest 

 of this part of the country by the Spaniards, and are therefore the 

 only remains which have an historical value. They are situated near 

 15 N. lat., at the southern extremity of the peninsula of Yucatan. 

 These nuns are far from being extensive, and very little remains of 

 the wor>. erected by the natives, before the arrival of the Spaniards, 

 for the purpose of rendering this place impregnable. They are 

 on a hill with a flat summit, which is surrounded on all sides by 

 deep ravines. A part of one of tho ravines is stated to have been 

 made by the natives ; and it is said that upon it 40,000 men had been 

 employed at one time. The flat top of the hill was once occupied by 

 the palace of the kings of Quiche", by a seminary or military school, 

 and other buildings belonging to the royal house of that name ; but 

 at present nothing i found there except confused and shapeless 

 masses of rums. 



The last-mentioned antiquities are the work of the Tolteks, a nation 

 which appears to have been once in possession of nearly the whole of 

 the Mexican Isthmus, and which even at the arrival of the Spaniards 

 was the predominant nation east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec, 

 where the kingdoms of Quiche* and Katchequil were the most powerful 

 states. It is stated that the Tolteks had attained a higher degree of 

 civilisation than the Azteks, and the ruins of their buildings appear 

 to confirm this opinion. It is however problematical if the ruins 

 found eaot of the isthmus of Chiquimuln belong to the same people, 



