CORTEZ AT THE GREAT TEMPLE DESCRIPTION OF IT. 37 



vegetables, all the necessaries of life and all its luxuries, together 

 with restaurateurs and shops for the sale of medical drugs, con- 

 fectionery, or stimulating drinks. It was, in fact, an immense 

 bazaar, which, at a glance, gave an insight into the tastes, wants 

 and productive industry of the nation. 



Satisfied with this inspection of the people and their talents, the 

 next visit of the General was, doubtless, made with the double 

 object of becoming acquainted with that class of men, who in all 

 countries so powerfully influence public opinion, whilst, from the 

 top of their tall temple, situated on their lofty central Teocalli or 

 pyramid, he might, with a military eye, scan the' general topo- 

 graphy of the city. 



This pyramidal structure, or Great Temple, as it is generally 

 called, was perhaps rather the base of a religious structure, than 

 the religious edifice itself. We possess no accurate drawing of it 

 among the contemporary or early relics of the conquest, that have 

 descended to us ; but it is known to have been pyramidal in 

 shape, over one hundred and twenty feet in altitude, with a base 

 of three hundred and twenty. It stood in a large area, surrounded 

 by a wall eight feet high, sculptured with the figures of serpents in 

 relief. From one end of the base of this structure, a flight of steps 

 rose to a terrace at the base of the second story of the pyramid. 

 Around this terrace, a person, in ascending, was obliged to pass 

 until he came to the corner immediately above the first flight, 

 where he encountered another set of steps, up which he passed 

 to the second terrace, and so on, continuously, to the third and 

 fourth terraces, until, by a fifth flight, he attained the summit 

 platform of the Teocalli. These spaces or terraces, at each story, 

 are represented to have been about six feet in width, so that three 

 or four persons could easily ascend abreast. It will be perceived 

 that in attaining the top of the edifice it was necessary to pass 

 round it entirely four times and to ascend five stairways. Within 

 the enclosure, built of stone and crowned with battlements, a 

 village of five hundred houses might have been built. Its area 

 was paved with smooth and polished stones, and the pyramid that 

 rose in its centre seems to have been constructed as well for 

 military as religious purposes, inasmuch as its architecture made 

 it fully capable of resistance as a citadel ; and we may properly 

 assume this opinion as a fact, from the circumstance that the 

 enclosing walls were entered by four gates, facing the cardinal 

 points, while over each portal was erected a military arsenal filled 

 with immense stores of warlike equipments. 



