16 MEXICAN HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY, 



the precipitous rocks of the hill itself form natural defences. The whole elevation 

 is covered with fragments ; the rock-built wails (many of which are twenty-two feet 

 in thickness) are sometimes joined by mortar of no great tenacity, but are retained 

 in their positions mainly by their massiveness. 1 



If we leave these loftier regions of the table-lands of Mexico, and descend 

 towards the eastern coast of Mexico, through the State of San Louis Potosi, we 

 find the architectural remains, sculpture, &c, visited by Mr. Norman, in 1844. 2 The 

 relics discovered by this intelligent traveller were of mounds, pyramids, edifices, 

 tombs, images, fragments of obsidian knives or arrows, and pottery. Hewn blocks 

 of concrete sandstone were, in many instances, the materials used for building ; and, 

 besides the images of clay, he found others rudely cut in stone in bold relief. The 

 most significant of these remains, as well as the most extensive evidences of civic 

 civilization, were placed, by Mr. Norman, at about 22° 9' of north latitude, and 98° 

 31' of west longitude. 



The State of Vera Cruz, in Mexico, adjoins Tamaulipas on the south, and here, 

 in the vicinity of Panuco, an old town of the Huestecos, Mr. Norman found remains 

 of architecture and sculpture scattered over an area of many miles, the history 

 and traditions of which are altogether unknown among the present indolent inhabi- 

 tants of the region. Three leagues south of Panuco are more ruins, known as 

 those of Chacuaco, represented as covering about three square leagues, all of which 

 seem to have been comprised within the bounds of a large city. Five leagues 

 southwest of these are some remains at San Nicolas ; and six leagues, in nearly 

 the same direction, are others, at La Trinidad. More relics of the same character, 

 together with quantities of pottery, vessels, clay images, &c. &c, are found in the 

 same district ; and it is to be regretted that the character of the inhabitants, as well 

 as the health of the region, do not invite a more thorough scientific examination 

 of the State. 



Sixteen leagues from the sea, and fifty-two north of the city of Vera Cruz, on 

 the eastern slope of the Cordillera, and two leagues from the Indian hamlet of Pa- 

 pantla, lie, spread over the plain, the massive ruins of an ancient city, which, in 

 its palmy clays, was perhaps more than a mile and a half in circuit. The best 

 account we have of this spot is to be found in Nebel's work, and, if we can rely 

 on the accuracy of his drawing of the Pyramid — called by the neighboring Indians 

 " El Tajin" — it is unquestionably one of the most perfect and symmetrical relics 

 of antiquity within the present limits of the Mexican republic. Time has done its 

 work upon the edifice ; but, according to Nebel, the whole form and character of 

 the architecture are still discernible beneath the trees and vines that have sprung 

 up among its loosened joints. The pyramid is represented by this artist as being 

 built of sandstone, nicely squared and united, and covered with a hard stucco, 

 which seems to have been painted. Its base, on all sides, is one hundred and 

 twenty feet ; and as it is ascended by a stair, composed of fifty-seven steps, each 



1 See Lyons's Travels in Mexico ; Nebel's Voyage, &c. &c. ; Mexico ; Aztec, Spanish, and Republi- 

 can ; Clavigero, 'Storia de Messico.' 



2 Norman's Rambles by Land and Water, and Notes of Travel in Cuba and Mexico. 



