MEXICAN HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY. If 



measuring a foot in height, it may be calculated that the summit was at least sixty 

 feet from the ground. It consists of seven stories or bodies, each decreasing in 

 size as it ascends from the base, and all of the form shown by the annexed profile 

 of the lower story : — 



A few miles from Papantla, near an Indian rancho, called Mapilca, Mr. Nebel 

 discovered more pyramids, carved stones, and the ruins of an extensive town, but 

 everything was so overgrown with the tropical vegetation, that he found it im- 

 possible to penetrate the district, and examine the relics. The artist has preserved 

 the drawing of only a single sculpured stone, which he describes as twenty-one feet 

 long and of close-grained granite. The figures carved on the fragment differ 

 from the ancient sculptures found east of the main Cordillera, and somewhat 

 resemble those in Oajaca. By excavating in front of the stone, Mr. Nebel dis- 

 covered a road formed of irregular blocks, not unlike the old Eoman pavements. 



About fifteen leagues west of Papantla, and still in the State of Vera Cruz, in a 

 small plain at the foot of the eastern Cordillera, are the remains known as those of 

 Tusapan, which is supposed to have been a settlement of Totonacs. The vestiges of 

 this small aboriginal establishment are nearly obliterated, and the only striking 

 objects at present are a fountain — -in human shape, — and a pyramid of four stories or 

 bodies, in which the pyramidal and vertical lines are again united — the second story 

 being reached, at a door, by a flight of steps. This pyramid is built of stones, of 

 unequal sizes, and has a base of thirty feet on each of its four sides. In front of the 

 door stands a pedestal, but the idol it probably supported has been destroyed. Around 

 the pyramid are scattered masses of stone, rudely carved, to represent men and 

 various animals ; yet, from the inferior manner in which the work is executed, we 

 may judge that the art of ornamentation was just beginning to be engrafted on the 

 pyramidal and vertical architecture of the builders. The fountain to which I have 

 alluded, is cut from solid rock ; is nineteen feet high, and represents a female in an 

 indecent, squatting attitude. The remains of a pipe which conveyed water to the 

 image, is still seen in the back of the head, and the liquid passed through the body 

 of the gigantic work, till it was discharged below the figure into a basin and canal, 

 which carried it to the neighboring town. 



On the Island of Sacrificios, just south of the present city of Vera Cruz, there 

 are no longer any architectural remains of edifices used for those brutal rites which 

 made the spot so celebrated at the period of the conquest; but the soil has yielded 

 many relics in the shape of vases, images, carvings, sepulchres, arid skeletons; and 

 it is said that fragments of pottery and obsidian are still found in considerable 

 quantities. 



If we go westward from this spot, and penetrate the State of Vera Cruz until we 



