87 
liad six/ perhaps seven stories^ is more tapering* 
than that of any other monument of this kind : 
it is nearly eighteen metres in height, while the 
breadth of its basis is only twenty-five, and con- 
sequently about half as high as the pyramid of 
Caius Cestius at Rome, which is thirty-three 
metres. This small edifice is built entirely with 
hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very 
beautifully and regularly shaped. Three stair- 
cases lead to the top. The covering of its steps 
is decorated with hieroglyphical sculpture, and 
small niches, which are arranged with great 
symmetry. The number of these niches seems 
to allude to the three hundred and eighteen 
simple and compound signs of the days of the 
Cempohualilhuitl, or civil calendar of the Tol- 
tecks. 
The greatest, most ancient, and most cele- 
brated of the whole of the pyramidal monuments 
#f Anahuac is the teocalli of Cholula. It is 
called in the present day the Mountain made by 
the hand of Man (monte hecho a manos). At a 
distance it ha« the aspect of a natural hill 
covered with vegetation. This pyramid is re- 
presented in the seventh plate in its present 
ruined state. 
A vast plain, the Puebla, is separated from the 
valley of Mexico by the chain of volcanic moun- 
tains, which extend from Popocatepetl, towards 
