AN INTERESTING VISIT TO THE ANCIENT 

 PYRAMIDS OF SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN 



By a. C. Galloway 



BOARDING the train that leaves 

 Mexico City at 7 a. m., the trav- 

 eler arrives at San Juan Teotihua- 

 can soon after 8 o'clock. There is also 

 a good automobile road which is often 

 chosen by visitors. 



In Egypt he would be greeted with the 

 cry of "Change cars for the Pyramids." 

 Here we were met and escorted to a hand- 

 car on a short narrow-gauge road used 

 by the government during its present 

 work, which, propelled by four soldiers, 

 was soon in rapid motion. Once out in 

 the open, we enjoyed the mode of transit 

 while inhaling the fresh, crisp air of 

 a cool January morning. As seen from 

 the train, the pyramids appear almost 

 insignificant, and only by near approach 

 are the ambitious heights to be appre- 

 ciated. 



We passed first through what is known 

 as the Casa de Sacerdotes (house of the 

 priests), showing remarkable walls, ter- 

 race, and stairway of 13 steps, all in ex- 

 cellent preservation. Different sections 

 are to be seen open to the light of day 

 after centuries of darkness. Canals cut 

 in the walls show their uses as conduct- 

 ors of water, while portions of decora- 

 tions and designs on the walls still ex- 

 hibit most beautiful tones and shades of 

 colors, in the mixing of which time has 

 not given away the secret. 



There is also a subterranean dwelling 

 which we went through, and this is al- 

 most entirely excavated. As the guide 

 led us from room to room with lighted 

 candles, drawing attention to different 

 things of interest, we wondered what 

 were the secrets that had remained hid- 

 den for so many centuries, and why the 

 choosing of a house built underground. 

 The holes in the walls at the entrance 

 show how securitv was assured, much as 

 in the present day in primitive structures 

 of the Indians. Imagination conjures up 



many pictures and peoples once again 

 these silent chambers with the moving 

 figures of a by-gone race, but such an 

 impenetrable mist of fable envelopes the 

 early history of Mexico that scientific 

 investigation as well as archeological re- 

 search have not yet lifted the veil to dis- 

 close the secret of these pyramids nor 

 who were the builders, although it is 

 asserted by historians that they were 

 constructed by the Toltecs, while others 

 claim that they were built by the Toto- 

 nacs, pre-Toltec in history. All refer to 

 them as a great religious center. 



It may here be of interest to observe 

 that the Toltecs are traced to have settled 

 in the ancient city of Tula (near the 

 capital of Mexico) about the year 674 of 

 the Christian era. This enables the 

 reader to form an idea of the centuries 

 that have passed since the construction 

 of the pyramids, if conjecture alone can 

 be accepted as history. 



Certain it is that the pyramids of 

 Teotihuacan, as well as that of Cholula, 

 have kept their heads above the vomiting 

 of angry volcanoes for numberless cen- 

 turies, while it would appear that the 

 cities near by were without doubt buried 

 in those bygone ages by volcanic erup- 

 tions. The Toltecs were by tradition 

 famous mound-builders, and here it 

 seems they mingled with their reverence 

 for the Supreme Being the mvthical re- 

 ligion of astral worship. Their earliest 

 temples were devoted to the sun. The 

 moon they worshiped as his wife and the 

 stars as his sisters. No image was al- 

 lowed within these temples, and their 

 offerings were perfumed flowers and 

 sweet-scented gums. 



Going some distance in an opposite 

 direction, we entered a fine grotto. On 

 the occasion of the visit of President 

 Diaz and party, it was converted into a 

 banqueting hall, and the effect was 



