ANTIQUITIES OF TAMAULIPAS TOPILA. 



207 



The other towns and villages in Tamaulipas worthy of note, are 

 Altamira, Horcasitas, Coco, Escandon, Llera, Santillana, Padilla, 

 Hoyos, Guadalupe, Reinosa, Camargo, Mier, Revilla, the most im- 

 portant of which lie on the margin of, or near, the Rio Grande. 



ANCIENT REMAINS IN TAMAULIPAS. 



The only remains of Indian architecture and civilization of whose 

 existence we are aware, are those described in the small work pub- 

 lished by Mr. B. M. Norman in 1845, to which we have already 

 alluded, entitled " Rambles by Land and Water or Notes of Travel 

 in Cuba and Mexico." This gentleman's notices of the antiquities 

 in this region are exceedingly brief, sketchy and indefinite, nor are 

 the illustrations w T ith which his text is accompanied, calculated to 

 convey more vivid pictures of the relics he visited or discovered in 

 the. course of his investigations along the margins of the Panuco. 



Departing from Tampico, in March, 1844, he ascended that river 

 in a canoe, paddled by an Indian, and before nightfall, on the second 

 day of his primitive voyage, reached Topila creek, three miles from 

 the mouth of which he landed at a rancho or cattle farm, belonging 

 to Senor Coss, of Tampico. Five miles from this spot, lying to the 

 eastward of another rancho, he found several considerable mounds, 

 one of which was more than twenty-five feet high and of a circular 

 form. At its sides, a number of layers of small flat well hewn 

 stones were still to be seen; while scattered about were many others 

 of larger size and various shapes. All were perfectly plain or un- 

 adorned, and had apparently been used for the door posts and lin- 

 tels of edifices. 



On the following day, the traveller visited the rancho de las Pie- 

 dras, distant about two leagues and a half in a southerly direction 

 from the bank of the Topila. Passing through a dense wilderness, 

 he reached after much toil, an elevated table land or plateau, near a 

 chain of hills running through this section of country and known 

 as the Cerro de Topila. Here he found more scattered stones 

 which had once formed parts of buildings ; while, further on, he 

 discovered several mounds, whose sides were constructed of loose 

 layers of smooth and uniform blocks of concrete sandstone. Most 

 of these layers, had, however, fallen from their places in the tumuli, 

 and were heaped in masses near their base. About twenty of these 

 mounds, lay contiguous to each other, varying in height from six to 

 twenty-five feet, some being circular and others square. The prin- 

 cipal elevation in this group of pyramids covers an area of about 

 two acres, and at its base, Mr. Norman discovered a cylindrical 

 2a 



