REMAINS NEAR PUENTE NACIONAL. 



203 



Beyond the wall of the circular area in which this edifice is 

 placed, are found the remains of the city or town, extending nearly 

 three miles north in a straight line. The foundations of all the 

 houses are still distinctly traceable. They were built of large 

 square stones, and are separated by streets at the distance of about 

 three hundred yards from each other. In some of the blocks of 

 buildings the walls are yet standing, at a height of between three 

 and four feet above the level of the ground. South of the city are 

 seen the relics of a low narrow wall, by which it was defended in 

 that direction; — and north of it there is a tongue of land, jutting 

 out towards the precipitous edges of the mountain, whose centre is 

 occupied by a mound which the explorers have supposed to be the 

 ancient cemetery of the inhabitants. On the left acclivity of the 

 slope by which the town is approached are twelve sepulchres, seven 

 feet in diameter, and as many high, in which several bodies were 

 found, parts of which were in good preservation. The walls of 

 these tombs are constructed of cut stone ; but the mortar that pro- 

 bably once joined them, has entirely disappeared. Several erect 

 and sitting figures, carved in stone, were discovered on the site of 

 this city, and two blocks were found, filled with hieroglyphic char- 

 acters. Numbers of vases and utensils, were also unearthed ; but 

 they were carried to Vera Cruz, and all trace of them has been 

 subsequently lost. 1 



REMAINS NEAR PUENTE NACIONAL. 



About a league and a half from the Puente Nacional, or National 

 Bridge, to the left of the high road in the midst of a dense forest, 

 and near the banks of the stream known as the Rio del Puente, 

 Don Jose Maria Esteva found some interesting remains of antiquity 

 in November of 1843. They had been visited in 1819 or '20, by 

 a priest, named Cabeza de Vaca, who was then curate at Puente 

 Nacional, but from that period until 1843, they had been entirely 

 lost sight of. The temple or teocalli, is situated on the top of a 

 small mount, elevated about one hundred and fifty feet above the 

 level of the stream, which runs at its feet. In consequence of the 

 inequality of the surface of the soil, the edifice is thirty-three 

 Spanish feet high, on some of its sides, and forty-two on others. 

 It fronts towards the east, and its platform, or upper level, is 

 reached by a stairway of thirty-four steps, so steep as to be almost 

 perpendicular to its base. The platform is forty-eight Spanish feet 

 broad, and seventy long. The semi-circumference of the base is 

 1 See Mosaico Mejicano. 



