676 MOUNDS IN NORTHERN HONDURAS [ETH. ANN. 19 
. 
PrRoBABLE DATE OF THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE 
Let us turn to the probable age of the temple. We know on the 
authority of Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl, probably the most reliable of 
the historians who chronicle the dim and uncertain early history of 
the Toltec, that the remnant of that nation after pestilence and dis- 
astrous wars had decimated them, migrating from: Tula, found their 
way, some to southern Mexico, where they founded Palenque and 
Lorillard, others farther south still to Guatemala and Honduras, 
while others turned eastward into Yucatan.’ This migration took 
place somewhere about the end of the eleventh century.” A long 
period must haye been necessary for the scattered remnant of the 
Toltee to have made this long journey of nearly 1,000 miles, before 
reaching the shores of the Caribbean sea, on foot, crossing rivers, 
swamps, and mountains, and encountering everywhere a barrier of 
dense and impenetrable bush. Probably a century would be rather 
under than over the mark in estimating the time necessary for this 
emigration and for the people to have become sufliciently settled in 
their new home to erect an elaborately decorated temple. This would 
place the date of the erection of the temple somewhere between the 
end of the twelfth and the end of the fifteenth century; but if, as I 
before suggested, the painted stucco was renewed only at the end of 
every cycle of fifty-two years, and the burial of the temple was caused 
by the fear of Spanish invasion, then, as there were two layers beneath 
the outermost layer of stucco, the temple must have been atdeast 104 
years old at the time of its destruction; and judging from the bright- 
ness of coloring and excellent preservation of those parts of the paint- 
ing spared by the dampness, the outer layer could not have been 
applied for any great length of time when the mound was erected 
which preserved it to the present day—which would place the date of 
the erection of the temple toward the end of the fourteenth or begin- 
ning of the fifteenth century. 
The general design painted on the stucco appears to be continu- 
ous around the building, and to represent, first, a battle; next, the 
prisoners being led captive, some undergoing torture; finally, the 
worship of Quetzalcoatl and the offering of sacrifices to the god of 
death. On the east wall was depicted a spirited contest between two 
warriors, though the tracing in this case gives but a poor idea of 
the original. The first eight figures of the east half of the north wall 
evidently represent prisoners. The west half of the north wall shows 
the worship of Quetzalcoatl, the god himself being depicted at the 
western extremity of the wall elaborately dressed and ornamented. 

1 Francisco Clavigero, History of Mexico, vol. 1, book 2, p. 89. 
2Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichemeca, cap.3. Veytia, Hist. Antiqua, vol. I, cap. 33. 
