FEWKKs] EUIXS OF CEMPO.iLAN 237 



The i-ectaiiguUir type (plate xciv) ma}' be still further classitied into 

 two groups, one of which (plates xcix, ci) has two stories, forming a 

 basal and a second terrace on the latter of which stood the temple. 

 The other group (plates xcvii, xcviii) has more than two stories or ter- 

 races, diminishing gradiialh' in size from base to apex. The top or 

 upper platform of the latter group is reached by a continuous stairway " 

 on one side, but in the former tliere are two flights of stairs, one 

 above the other, the lower mounting to a landing or the platform of 

 the basal story, from which the second flight of stairs takes its rise. 



As a rule the foundations of these Cempoalan pyramids are con- 

 cealed by a luxuriant growth of vegetation, but it is apparent from 

 the clearings of the foundations made hei'e and there that all were 

 built on slightly raised artificial bases, somewhat larger than those of 

 the pyramids. In some instances small buildings or annexes of the 

 temple were erected on the same foundation platforms as the pyramids. 



>iOMENCLATUKE AXD POSITION OF BuiLDIXGS 



One observes the tirst group of temple mounds of Cempoalan on 

 the left-hand side of the road from Agostadero to San Isidro, just 

 after leaving the hacienda. The largest belongs to the round tvpe 

 and lies in a cultivated field much overgrown with })ushes and vines. 

 Venturing into this field, which is full of troublesome insects, the ob- 

 server discovers that near these two mounds are others forming a group. 

 One of the largest of these two mounds (plate xcvi) was called by 

 Troncoso Templo del Aire ("Temple of the Air"''), and like all round 

 temples is supposed to have been dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, Plumed 

 Serpent, or the God of the Air. The many smaller mounds are crowded 

 togetiier, indicating houses once possibly inhabited b}' priests. On 

 the right of the road crop out fragments of walls, some of which, 

 extending into the adjacent forests, are lost in the jungle while others 

 continue parallel with the road for some distance and farther on dis- 

 appear. 



Slabs of plastering or rows of rubble stones extending in all direc- 

 tions indicate the crowded arrangement of houses in this inunediate 

 locality, which must have been not far from the center of the cit}'. 

 Just beyond the second of the two mounds identified as temples of the 

 Plumed Serpent, there enters from the left the road to San Isidro, a 

 little-traveled path wa\' (plate xciv) that follows the barbed-wire fence of 

 the field in which lie the circular ruins. Making one's way with some 

 difliculty through a dense forest along this pathway a short quarter of 



n These stairways are not uniform in their orientation; that of building .\ faces west, thatofB, south, 

 while those of C and D face east. 



&G6mara (Cronica, p. 83), in speaking of the temples of the City of Mexico, says: "I entre ellos 

 (teocallii havia vno redondo dedicado al Dios del Aire, dicho Quezaleovatlh; porque asi como el 

 Aire anda al rededor del Cielo, asi hacien el Templo redondo." There are many other references to 

 the round temples of the Air god, Quetzalcoatl. 



