XOCHICALCO. 



185 



pendicular height about three hundred feet. The opin- 

 ion has been hazarded, that the whole mass is artificial ; 

 but it is one I cannot entertain for a moment, as its whole 

 position and general configuration shows it to be one of 

 the group, though there is no doubt but its entire surface, 

 great as it is, has been subjected to a general design, and 

 cased from its summit to its base with artificial work. 

 The decay of centuries, at the same time that it has in- 

 jured many of the details, yet allows the general plan to 

 be detected. Even the broad moat, which encircled the 

 whole, remains perfectly distinct. 



Alighting from our horses at the foot of the hill, which 

 is partially covered with dry brushwood and leafless 

 trees, we scrambled upward from one stage to another, 

 over the crumbling stonework, which, from its steepness 

 occasionally, rendered advance difficult. Four terraces 

 apparently, made the entire circuit at regular intervals 

 of elevation, though occasionally they were not easy to 

 detect, from the accumulation of rubbish. 



The intermediate slopes are covered with platforms, 

 bastions, pyramidical and rectangular elevations and 

 stages, one above the other, and other erections of which 

 I can neither describe the exact forms nor guess their 

 appropriation. It is evident that all were faced with 

 the same uncemented stonework, and were accommo- 

 dated to the natural moulding of the hill, which, how- 

 ever far from regular, was conical in its general outlines. 

 Upon a platform in connection with the highest terrace, 

 we were obliged to leave our horses, before we climbed 

 up a steep, stone-faced declivity, evidently pyramidical 

 in its structure, to the summit. 



Thence we commanded a w 7 ide view T over the neigh- 

 bouring hills and plains — a scene of matchless sterility, 

 glaring in the noonday sun ; and we now saw, that in 

 addition to the paved road from the north which 1 have 

 mentioned, there were others of precisely the same con- 

 struction, running towards the " House of Flowers/' as 

 to a common centre, from other points of the compass. 



From the summit we proceeded to the northward into 

 a hollow square, situated at a somewhat lower elevation, 



a 2 



