PYRAMIDS OF SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN 



1047 



glass cases some remarkable designs 

 and colored archeological treasures are 

 guarded. The ancient Toltecs were art- 

 ists in the beautiful shades of color they 

 used, which are still visible, especially 

 the pinks and greens. In another direc- 

 tion we observed what is said to have 

 been the "citadel" of this buried city, 

 showing a large mound surrounded by 

 fifteen smaller ones. All of these will 

 eventually be excavated. 



In all there exist i8o mounds sur- 

 rounding the two large pyramids, which 

 are to be treated similarly and their pres- 

 ervation thus assured. Looking over 

 the scene, one harmonizes the purposes 

 of these with the environment. Some of 

 them were forts for defense; some of 

 them were reHgious, with their court of 

 women, court of laity, and other socie- 

 ties. If only on some bright, sunny day 

 the pageant could return, as we picture 

 it during the Toltec dynasty, what a re- 

 markable sight it would afford ! Every 

 terrace filled with strange people, with 

 strange costumes in which gold and sil- 

 ver and the gaudy plumage of tropical 

 birds lent their willing service. 



But in the words (which history has 

 preserved to us) of the great King Nex- 

 ahualcoyatle. King of the Toltecs, whose 

 death took place about the year 1470, 

 we find an answer : ''All round, the world 

 is but a sepulchre, and there is nothing 

 that lives on its surface that shall not be 

 hidden and entombed beneath it. The 

 things of yesterday are no more today, 

 and the things of today shall cease per- 

 haps on .e morrow. These glories 

 have all passed away, like the fearful 

 smoke that issues from the throat of 

 Popocatepetl, with no other existence 

 than the record on the page of the chron- 

 icler. The great, the wise, the valiant, 

 and the beautiful, alas ! where are they 

 now ? That which has befallen them 

 shall happen to us and to those that come 

 after us. The horrors of the tomb are 

 but the cradle of the sun and the dark 

 shadows of death are brilliant Hghts for 

 the stars." 



The mystic import of this last sen- 

 tence, says Prescott, seems to point to 

 that superstition respecting the mansions 

 of the sun which forms so beautiful a 

 contrast to the dark features of the Aztec 

 mythology. 



A PROuFic cofi^e:e: tre:e: mexico 



