SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



113 



with the date 1666 inscribed on it, and near 

 it is a short hymn, in Spanish, to the Virgin, 

 engraved on a tablet. 



We descended with reluctance the side of 

 this pyramid, whose base is more extensive 

 than that of the great pyramid of Egypt. It 

 is covered with trees of great variety, some 

 species of which I had never before seen, but 

 they had evidently been planted there. On 

 our descent to the plains we visited two de- 

 tached masses, constructed, like the great 

 pyramid, of unburnt brick and clay. The one 

 to the north-east had been cut or taken away ; 

 its broken sides w r ere so perpendicular as to 

 prevent access to its summit, on which a cross 

 had formerly been erected. The other was 

 of easy ascent, and appeared to me to have 

 been a fortified place, with a ditch and a wall 

 on the top, forming an enclosure nearly re- 

 sembling in form the figure QfD, and about 

 100 feet in length ; here I found among the 



VOL. I. I 



