97 



of fire, had fallen from the clouds on the top of 

 the pyramid. This aeorolite had the figure of a 

 toad. Rios, to prove the high antiquity of this 

 fable of Xelhua, observes, that it was contained 

 in a hymn, which the Cholulans sung at their 

 festivals, dancing round the teocalli ; and that 

 this hymn began with the words Tulanian hulu- 

 laez, which are words belonging to no dialect at 

 present known in Mexico. In every part of the 

 Globe, on the ridge of the Cordilleras, as well as 

 in the isle of Samothrace in the Egean sea, frag- 

 ments of primitive languages are preserved in 

 religious rites. 



The size of the platform of the pyramid of 

 Cholula, on which I made a great number of 

 astronomical observations, is four thousand two 

 hundred square metres. From it the eye ranges 

 over a magnificent prospect ; Popocatepetl, 

 Iztaccihuatl, the peak of Orizaba, and the 

 Sierra de Tlascalla, famous for the tempests 

 which gather around its summit. We view at 

 the same time three mountains higher than 

 Mount Blanc, two of which are still burning vol- 

 canoes. A small chapel, surrounded with cy- 

 press, and dedicated to the Virgin de los Re- 

 medios, has succeeded to the temple of the god 

 of the air, or the Mexican Indra. An ecclesias- 

 tic of the Indian race celebrates mass every day 

 on the top of this antique monument. 



VOL. XIII. H 



