96 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



This mound, it is stated, stood on the ground now 

 occupied by the plaza major. East of it was anoth- 

 er large mound, and the Spaniards laid the founda- 

 tion of the city between these two, because, as it is 

 assigned, the stones in them were a great conveni- 

 ence in building, and economized the labour of the 

 Indians. These mounds were so large, it is added, 

 that with the stones the Spaniards built all the edi- 

 fices in the city, so that the ground which forms the 

 plaza major remained nearly or quite level. The 

 buildings erected are specified, and it is added that 

 there was abundance of material for other edifices 

 which the Spaniards wished to erect. 



Other mounds are mentioned as obstructing the 

 laying out of streets according to the plan proposed, 

 and there is one circumstance which bears directly 

 upon this point, and, in my opinion, is conclusive. 



In the history of the construction of the Francis- 

 can convent, which was founded in the year 1547, 

 five years after the arrival of the Spaniards in Ti- 

 hoo, it is expressly stated that it was built upon a 

 small artificial mound, one of the many that were 

 then in the place, on which mound, it is added, were 

 some ancient buildings. Now we must either sup- 

 pose that the Spaniards razed these buildings to the 

 ground, and then constructed this strange arch them- 

 selves, which supposition is, I think, utterly untena- 

 ble, or that this corridor formed part of the ancient 

 buildings which, according to the historical account, 

 stood on this artificial mound, and that for some 



