208 



IUNCHO DE LAS PIEDRAS 



SCULPTURE. 



stone slab seven inches thick, four feet nine inches in diameter, and 

 pierced through the centre, lying upon the top of a circular wall 

 whose top was level with the ground. On removing this stone he 

 found a well filled up w T ith broken stones and fragments of pottery. 

 The upper portion of the slab bore evidence of having been origi- 

 nally sculptured, but the tracings of the chisel were so much worn 

 by time and seasons that they could not be drawn with accuracy. 

 On the top of the tumulus, in front of w T hich this well was discov- 

 ered, grew a wild fig tree, whose gigantic height of more than an 

 hundred feet, indicates the great age of the work and the long pe- 

 riod of its abandonment. 



The walls of the adjacent minor mounds had all fallen inward, 

 from which the traveller concluded that they had been used for se- 

 pulture ; but he does not seem to have taken the time or trouble to 

 verify this conjecture by personal explorations. The ground, for 

 several miles around, was strewn with loose hewn stones of various 

 shapes, and broken fragments of pottery, which had unquestionably 

 formed parts of domestic utensils. Fragments of obsidian, which 

 had no doubt been the knives and weapons of the former inhabi- 

 tants of this spot, were also plentifully scattered about, and every 

 indication existed of a dense population in the by gone days. These 

 ruins are placed by Mr. Norman in 98° 31' west longitude and 

 22° 9' north latitude. 



But the remains of edifices, pyramids and tombs w T ere not the only 

 relics found by the traveller in these dense forests bordering the 

 Atlantic coast. The Indians who once dwelt in this district, like 

 the Aztecs, Zapotecs and Yucatese had evidently devoted them- 

 selves to sculpture ; but w r hether for the purpose of simple adorn- 

 ment or for idolatry, there are no facts to apprise us with certainty. 

 The most remarkable relic found by Norman, was a large head, 

 beautifully cut in fine sandstone, of a dark reddish hue, which 

 abounds in the neighborhood. The face stands out in bold relief 

 from the rough block, as if it had been left unfinished, or as if it 

 was originally designed to occupy a place among the ornamental 

 portions of an edifice. The industrious traveller caused this object 

 to be borne, w T ith others, to Tampico, and has deposited it in the 

 collection of the New York Historical Society. Other stones, of a 

 somewhat similar character, attracted his attention, but the most 

 extraordinary sculpture he has described in his work is that to which 

 he assigns the name of the American Sphynx. It is the image of 

 a gigantic turtle, with the head of a man protruding boldly from 

 beneath its carved and curving case. The back was correctly and 



