76 ACAPULCO. 



Here is a revised and enlarged description of that which I 

 gave of this ruin in the Etnographical Review of Paris, in 1887. 



The hill on which the palace or temple of Xochicalco was 

 built is the work of men, or at least it looks so ; because it is 

 entirely covered with stones, so that if the centre contains 

 natural earth or rocks, it is impossible to know it from the 

 outside. It occupies about three miles in circumference. 



It is surrounded with a wide and deep ditch. In form, it 

 is conical and divided into five strata or terraces of different 

 heights plastered with large stones. It is about 330 yards 

 high. 



The said terraces are not horizontal, but inclined to the 

 south-east. On the summit, there is an oblong platform, 

 which from the north to the south is 92 yards wide against 

 98 from east to west. This platform is circummured to a 

 height of over two yards, but, unfortunately, little remains of 

 of these walls, the stones having been carried away and made 

 use of in the building of their haciendas (large farms) by the 

 landlords of the neighbouring lands, and not only they have 

 taken away the stones of the walls, but also many remarkable 

 carved stones which adorned the walls of the temple. 



In the middle of the platform is the temple of Xochicalco, 

 a very old ruin supposed to have been built by the Toltccs, 

 the first inhabitants of Mexico, of which a record exists. This 

 temple, which was probably also a fortress, is still called, the 

 Castillo, or fortress. 



Alzate, the well-known Mexican historian, says : that the 

 temple was five storeys high, but according to Nebel, who 

 says that he has seen the ruins of three portals on the second 

 storey, it is supposed that it \vas only two storeys high, these 

 portals, or doors, indicating that they w r ere the entrances of 

 the temple in which their religious exercises took place. To 

 day only part of the first storey exists, the south corner of the 

 second storey was still in existence in 1877. 



In the principal room existed a Chhnotatle, or throne, cut 

 in one single stone, well polished and covered with hiero 

 glyphics. No one knows what has become of it. Probably 

 it will be found one day in an Indian hut, in the surrounding 

 districts. 



It is admirable to see how the mason s work has been 

 done. All the stones used in the construction of the temple 

 have been well polished, and so well joined together, without 

 any apparent use of mortar, that it is almost impossible to see 

 the joints. When finished, it has been covered with hiero- 



