302 THE PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA. 



faced with a wall, like the pyramids of Cholula and 

 Teotihuacan ; the only materials employed were immense 

 stones of a porphyritical shape. Mortar was distinguish- 

 able in the seams. The edifice, however, was not so 

 remarkable for its size as for its symmetry, the polish of 

 the stones, and the great regularity of their cut. The 

 base of the pyramid was an exact square, each side being 

 eighty-two feet in length. The perpendicular height 

 appeared not to be more than from fifty to sixty feet. 

 This monument, like all the Mexican temples, was com- 

 posed of several terraces. Six were still distinguishable, 

 and a seventh appeared to be concealed by the vegetation 

 with which the sides of the pyramid were covered. A 

 great stair of fifty-seven steps conducted to the truncated 

 top of the pyramid, where the human victims were sacri- 

 ficed. On each side of the great stair was a small stair. 

 The facing of the terraces was adorned with hierogly- 

 phics, in which serpents and crocodiles carved in relief 

 were discernible. Each terrace contained a great number 

 of square niches symmetrically distributed. In the first 

 story were twenty-four on each side, in the second 

 twenty, and in the third sixteen. The number of these 

 niches in the body of the pyramid was three hundred 

 and sixty-six, and there were twelve in the stair towards 

 the east. The Abbe Marquez supposed that this number 

 of three hundred and seventy-eight niches had some 

 allusion to a calendar of the Mexicans ; and he even 

 believed that in each of them one of the twenty figures 

 was repeated, which, in the hieroglyphical language of 

 the Toltecs, served as a symbol for marking the days 

 of the common year, and the intercalated days at the 

 end of the cycles. 



