87 



had six, perhaps seven stories, is more tapering 

 than that of any other monument of this kind : 

 it is nearly eighteen metres in height, while the 

 breadth of its basis is only twenty-five, and con- 

 sequently about half as high as the pyramid of 

 Caius Cestius at Rome, whicli is thirty-three 

 metres. This small edifice is built entirely with 

 hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very 

 beautifully and regularly shaped. Three stair- 

 cases lead to the top. The covering of its steps 

 is decorated with hieroglyphical sculpture, and 

 small niches, which are arranged with great 

 symmetry. The number of these niches seems 

 to allude to the three hundred and eighteen 

 simple and compound signs of the days of the 

 Cempohualilhuit], or civil calendar of the Tol- 

 tecks. 



The greatest, most ancient, and most cele- 

 brated of the whole of the pyramidal monuments 

 of Anahuac is the teocalli of Cholula. It is 

 called in the present day the Mountain made by 

 the hand of Man (monte hecho a manos). At a 

 distance it has the aspect of a natural hill 

 covered with vegetation. This pyramid is re- 

 presented in the seventh plate in its present 

 ruined state. 



A vast plain, the Puebla, is separated from the 

 valley of Mexico by the chain of volcanic moun r 

 tains, which extend from Popocatepetl, towards 



