SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



145 



now be counted. We rode first to the lesser, 

 which is the most dilapidated of the two, and 

 ascended to the top, over masses of falling 

 stone and ruins of masonry, with less diffi- 

 culty than we expected. On the summit are 

 the remains of an ancient building, forty- 

 seven feet long and fourteen wide ; the walls 

 are principally of unhewn stone, three feet 

 thick and eight high ; the entrance is at the 

 south end, having three windows on each side 

 of it, and the north end or face appears to have 

 been divided at about a third of its length. At 

 the front of the building, with the great py- 

 ramid before us, and many smaller ones at 

 our feet, we sat down to contemplate this 

 scene of ancient wonders: — where the eye 

 takes in the greater part of the vale of 

 Mexico, its lake and city, and commands 

 an extensive view of the plains beneath and 

 the mountains that bound the west of the 

 ! valley. 



1 VOL. II. L 



