^-tt.) CERTAIN AXTIQUITTES OF EASTERN MEXICO [eth. ax:j. 25 



to Teocelo. The road from this station to the falls, now utilized ])y 

 the Electric Light Company of Jalapa, passes along one side of a row 

 of these mounds and continues past two other isolated pyramids situ- 

 ated in an adjacent field. A superficial examination revealed that these 

 mounds are constructed of earth, with no indication of cut stones or 

 adobe, or of cement or plaster finish. Their general form is rectangu- 

 lar; they are arranged in two rows inclosing a court now planted with 

 bananas and coffee. In superfi(-ial appearance they are identical with 

 the mounds at Antigua and with those also at manj- other places in the 

 states of Vera Cruz and Tamaulij)as. 



The kinship of the former inhabitants of this region is proi>lematical, 

 for there is no historical reference to them, and the objects found in 

 this vicinity have no resemblance to those characteristic of Nahuatl or 

 Totonac archeology. The physical features of their site differ from 

 those of Sicuchimatl as described by historians, which according to all 

 earl}' writers stood on a hill inaccessible or nearly so to a visitor. The 

 legends of the jieople of the inhabited or modern pueblo Xico, who are 

 Aztec, claim that the mounds of Tcxolo were built by their ancestoi's, 

 which may be true for certain families, but the objects found near 

 them are not Aztec. These objects are different also from those of 

 the Totonac, but are more closely allied to them than to those from 

 the ruin Xico Viejo, where the Xico people lived at the time of the 

 Conquest. 



Xico Viejo 



The ruin identified by the author as the Sicuchimatl of Gomara is 

 now called Xico Viejo. It is reached from modern Xico by a horseback 

 ride of an hour and a half over a rough road, in some places across 

 steep barrancas almost impassable except on foot. The last half mile 

 of this road is practically impassable for horses and must be made on 

 foot, justifying the statements of Gomara regarding the difficulties the 

 horsemen of Cortes encountered in reaching the pueblo. The best 

 preserved structure at Xico Viejo is a temple pyramid (plate cix, n) with 

 a platform on one side, evidently faced with hewn stones. At the base 

 of this pj-ramid several stone blocks, parts of a battlement like that 

 on Cempoalan pyramids, were observed, and two of these are intro- 

 duced in the illustration of the idol (plate cvi). In the open space at 

 one side of the pyramid are remains of other fallen walls of buildings, 

 before which stood at least one, possibly two, large idols, one of which 

 will presently be described. There arc many fallen walls of buildings 

 some distance from the pyramid, on the slope of the hill (plate cix, 7>) 

 upon which the pueblo was situated, and the plain below is thickly 

 .strewn with walls referred to the ancient inhabitants. 



The stone idol (plate cvi) still standing in the open court near the 

 central p3'ramid attracts one's attention as by far the most interesting 



