42 ANTIQUITIES OF WISCONSIN. 



The "ancient city of Aztalan" has long been known, and often referred to, as 

 one of the wonders of the western world. Many exaggerated statements respecting 

 the "brick walls" supported by buttresses, the "stone arch," &c., have been made; 

 for all of which there is little foundation in truth. The remains were discovered 

 in October, 1836, and hastily surveyed in January, 1837, by N. P. Hyer, Esq., who 

 soon afterwards published a brief description of them, with a rude wood-cut, in the 

 Milwaukie Advertiser, the first, and then the only newspaper, in this part of the 

 country. This survey was made before there were settlements in the neighborhood, 

 and was done in a cursory manner. The brief account, however, as published, 

 gave a very good general idea of the works ; and has been the foundation of all 

 subsequent plans and descriptions up to the present time. 



Mr. Taylor's description-^ was furnished by a friend, who only made a brief visit 

 to the works, accompanied by Mr. Hyer, and added but little to our knowledge 

 of these ruins ; though it was published in a more permanent and accessible form, 

 and hence is more generally known and referred to. Messrs. Squier and Davis have 

 condensed this description, and copied the plan in their work, in the first volume of 

 the Smithsonian Contributions (page 131, Plate xliv, Fig. 1), with a number of 

 judicious suggestions as to the nature of the walls, the object of the "bastions," 

 &c. By comparing the plan and description thus given with what follows, the 

 curious reader may trace the differences, and discover wherein the first fell short 

 of presenting the whole truth. 



The name Aztalan was given to this place by Mr. Hyer, because, according to 

 Humboldt, the Aztecs, or ancient inhabitants of Mexico, had a tradition that their 

 ancestors came from a country at the north, which they called Aztalan ; and the 

 possibility that these may have been remains of their occupancy, suggested the idea 

 of restoring the name. It is made up of two Mexican words, atl, water, and an, 

 near ; and the country was probably so named from its proximity to large bodies of 

 water.^ Hence the natural inference that the country about these great lakes was 

 the ancient residence of the Aztecs.* 



Keference to Plate XXXIV will show that the main feature of these remains 

 is the inclosure or ridge of earth (not hrick, as has been erroneously stated), extend- 

 ing around three sides of an irregular parallelogram ; the west branch of Eock river 

 forming the fourth side on the east. The space thus inclosed is seventeen acres and 

 two thirds. The corners are not rectangular ; and the embankment or ridge is not 

 straight. The earth of which the ridge is made was evidently taken from the 

 nearest ground, where there are numerous excavations of very irregular form and 

 depth ; precisely such as may be seen along our modern railroad and canal embank- 

 ments. These excavations are not to be confounded with the hiding-places {caches) 

 of the Indians, being larger and more irregular in outline. Much of the material of 

 the embankment was doubtless taken from the surface without penetrating a sufiicient 



^ Silliman's Am. Journal, XLIV, 35. 

 " J. Delafield, Jr., Antiquities, &c., p. lOT. 



' Buschmann (Ueber cL Aztek. Ortsnamen, p. 6) says the name Aztlan is composed of the lost word 

 azUi and the local termination tlan. — Secretary S. I. 



