274 CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF EASTERN MEXICO [eth. ANN. 25 



next year D. Francisco de Garay sent an expedition to the Panuoo 

 province under command of Alonso Alvarez de Peneda, which entered 

 the mouth of the river, but was attacked and driven back, as was 

 likewise Ruiz de Asis, who had brought reenforcements to Peneda. 



These early failures of the Spaniards to obtain a foothold in the 

 Panuco territory led no less a person than Hernando Cortes to organize 

 an expedition much larger than any previously attempted, said to 

 number 40,000 Mexicans and Tlaxcaltec in addition to Spaniards. 

 En route this army encountered at Coxcatlan 60,000 warriors, whom 

 thej' defeated. After this defeat Cortes proposed peace with the 

 natives, which was refused, and he then pushed on to occupy their 

 city, Chila, on the Panuco river, .5 leagues from the sea. This 

 aboriginal city he found abandoned by its inhabitants, who had tied to 

 the settlements on the Champayan lagoon. After waiting fifteen days 

 at Chila, Cortes made his wa}' \)y means of balsas and canoes to this 

 lagoon town, which was completely destroyed. The various events 

 that followed this summaiy proceeding concern the historian rather 

 than the archeologist, but the outcome of them was that the sedentary 

 people of the neighborhood were driven to the mountains or sold into 

 slavery. Thus arose a lively industry in this region, for Tampico 

 at one time sent many slaves to the West Indies. Such Indians 

 as were left were gathered into missions, but their distinct- 

 ive culture was practically destroyed, and their former temples 

 were neglected and fell into ruins. We owe the little that is 

 known of the antiquities of the neighborhood of Tampico to Messrs 

 Vetch, Lyon, Norman, and especially to ex-Governor Prieto and 

 Doctor Seler," who have published instructive facts regarding the 

 character of the mounds, their distribution, and contents. The 

 writings of two of these authors supplement each other. Governor 

 Prieto's* account dealing more especially with the ruins north of Tam- 

 pico, on or near the Champayan lagoon, including those at the San 

 Francisco ranch and the Sierra de Palma, while Doctor Seler considers 

 those to the south of the Panuco river, at Topila, Palacho, and else- 

 whei'e in the Huaxtec country. The ruins in the Tampico I'egion 

 are p^-ramidal mounds, evidently constructed as solid foundations to 

 support supersti'uctures. These mounds show no signs of having been 

 formed of debris gathered about preexisting houses. They are ordi- 

 narily built of earth and in some cases are faced with cut stone, having 

 one or more stairways of the latter material. Apparently the super- 

 structure was generally built of perishable material, but sometimes of 

 stone or cement. Some of these mounds are practically the same as 

 the so-called "temple mounds" of the lower Mississippi valley. In 



<■ Die Alter Ansiedlungen in Gebiet der Huaxtecan. Gesammelte Abhandlungen, band I. 

 fcHistoria, Geografia y Estadlstica del Estado de Tamaulipas, Mexico, 1873. 



