CHOLULA* 



305 



impossible to say. One chamber was discovered some 

 years ago in the lower story, in consequence of the road 

 to Puebla having been cut through it ; and two human 

 skeletons, with a number of idols in basalt, and some 

 painted vases, were brought to light. This chamber, 

 which was faced with stone and supported with cypress 

 beams, proved to have no connection with the exterior ; 

 and the main mass of the teocalli has, as yet, remained 

 untouched. In the same manner as I have described at 

 San Juan Teotihuacan, the great pyramid of Cholula was 

 surrounded by many inferior erections of the same char- 

 acter, though I am not aware what was their precise ar- 

 rangements. The ruins of many are seen from the sum- 

 mit ; and doubtless divers of those isolated mounds which 

 break the uniformity of the great level in the vicinity for 

 many miles round have a similar origin. 



The pyramid of Cholula, with those of San Juan Teo- 

 tihuacan and Papantla, were found by the Aztecs in Ana- 

 huac, upon their first arrival in that country. Indeed 

 the city of Cholula, the " holy city," was still peopled by 

 such of the Toltec race as had maintained their po- 

 sition on the Mexican table land after the dispersion of 

 their tribe, as related in a former letter ; and its pyramid 

 is supposed to be more ancient than any other in New 

 Spain, 



After the model of these, the Aztecs built their great 

 temples in their capital and elsewhere. 



I have elsewhere hinted at the probable identity be* 

 tween Quetzalcoatl, who was here worshipped as the 

 u god of the air," with the patriarch Noah ; and also the 

 supposition that the original purpose with which this pyra- 

 midal structure was raised, was one and the same with 

 that which is known to have given rise to those of Asia. 

 To Quetzalcoatl, all the ancient tribes of Anahuac at- 

 tributed their knowledge of melting metals — their rites 

 and ceremonies of religion— and their arrangement of 

 time. 



But He, who was at once king, priest, and lawgiver — 

 u born of a virgin"— the " precious stone of suffering and 



