RUINS OF QUEMADA. 



321 



on the summit of the mountain, and then we were shown to the 

 mouth of the cave, or subterraneous passage, of which so many sus- 

 picious stories are yet told and believed. One of the principal ob- 

 jects of our expedition had been to enter this place, which none of 

 the natives had ever ventured to do, and we came provided with 

 torches accordingly : unfortunately however, the mouth had very re- 

 cently fallen in, and we could merely see that it was a narrow, well 

 built entrance, bearing in many places the remains of good smooth 

 plastering. A large beam of cedar once supported the roof, but its 

 removal by the country people had caused the dilapidation which 

 we now observed. Mr. Sindal, in knocking out some pieces of 

 regularly burnt brick, soon brought a ruin upon his head, but es- 

 caped without injury ; and this accident caused a thick cloud of 

 yellow dust to fall, which, on issuing from the cave, assumed a bright 

 appearance under the full glare of the sun ; — an effect not lost on 

 the natives, who became more than ever persuaded that an immense 

 treasure lay hidden in that mysterious place. The general opinion 

 of those who remember the excavation is that it is very deep ; and 

 from many circumstances there is a probability of its having been a 

 place of confinement for victims. Its vicinity to the great hall, in 

 which there can be little doubt that the sanguinary rites were held, 

 is one argument in favor of this supposition ; but there is another 

 equally forcible; — its immediate proximity to a cliff of about one 

 hundred and fifty feet, down whicfr the bodies of victims may have 

 been precipitated, as was the custom at the inhuman sacrifices of 

 the Aztecs. 1 A road or causeway to be noticed in another place, 

 terminates at the foot of the precipice, exactly beneath the cave and 

 over-hanging rock, and conjecture can form no other idea of its in- 

 tended utility, unless as being in some manner connected with the 

 dungeon. 



4 'Hence we ascend to a variety of buildings, all constructed with 

 the same regard to strength, and inclosing spaces on far too large a 

 scale for the abode of common people. On the extreme ridge of the 

 mountain were several tolerably perfect tanks. 



" In a subsequent visit to this extraordinary place, I saw some 

 buildings which had at first escaped my notice. These were situa- 

 ted on the summit of a rock terminating the ridge, and about a mile 

 and a half north north-west of the citadel. 



" The first is a building originally eighteen feet square, but having 



1 The writings of Clavigero, Solis, Bernal Dias, and others describe this mode of 

 disposing of the bodies of those whose hearts had been torn out and offered to the 

 idol. 



