HOUSES OF SUN AND MOON PATH OF THE DEAD. 



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Ascending the one hundred and twenty-one feet of the house of 

 the Sun, we reach a level platform on the summit, whence a charm- 

 ing prospect extends for many miles to the south and east over cul- 

 tivated fields. At the southern base of this pyramid, which measures 

 six hundred and eighty-two feet, there are four small mounds, and 

 beyond these there is a range of lesser tumuli running towards an 

 elevated square of mounds lying between the stream west of Teoti- 

 huacan and the present road to Otumba. On the west front, five 

 tumuli surround an oval mound whose centre is depressed, and all 

 of these jut out westwardly towards a line of similar grave-like ele- 

 vations lying on both sides of the avenue that leads to the house of the 

 Moon. This road is the Micoatl, or path of the dead, which the 

 ancient writers locate in the valley of San Juan. 



The other pyramid, or house of the Moon is smaller, and like its 

 neighbor is composed of rock, stones, pottery and cement, — cov- 

 ered with the debris of obsidian and terra catta images which lie 

 scattered from the top to the base amid the tangled aloes and creep- 

 ers that have struck their roots deeply into the crevices. The house 

 of the Sun is not known to have any cavity within its body, but in 

 the house of the Moon, between the second and third terraces, a 

 narrow passage has been detected, through which two wells or 

 sunken chambers, about fifteen feet deep, may be reached by crawl- 

 ing on hands and knees over an inclined plain for a distance of 

 about eight yards. The walls of this cryptic entrance, and of the 

 sunken chamber are made of the common sun dried bricks, but 

 there are no remains of sculpture, painting, or bodies to reward an 

 antiquarian for groping through the dark and dusty aperture. 



South of this pyramid of the Moon, is the Micoatl or path of the 

 dead, to which we have already alluded. Two elliptical elevations 

 rise at the south-east and south-west corner of the Teocalli, upon 

 each of which there are three mounds, whilst their diameters are 

 bisected by other rectilinear elevations upon each of which there 

 are five similar mounds. Four circular and one square mound lie 

 within the area of this inclosure, and the whole appears to form a 

 massive portal of tumuli to the majestic pyramid. A long double 

 line of minor mounds stretches away to the south on the sides of 

 the avenue, until all traces of them are lost in the field in front of 

 the temple of the sun with whose groups of tumuli this path was in 

 all likelihood formerly united. The student will obtain a better idea 

 of the localities of these remains by examining the plan which was 

 carefully prepared by the author, on the spot, in 1842. At B, on 

 the plan, there is a large globular mass of granite measuring nine- 



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