88 
Rio Frio, and the peak of Teiapon This 
plain, fertile though destitute of trees, is rich in 
memorials interesting to Mexican history. In 
it flourished the capitals of the three republics 
of Tlascalla, Huexocingo, and Cholula, which, 
notwithstanding their continual dissensions, re- 
sisted with no less firmness the despotism and 
usurping spirit of the Aztech kings. 
The small city of Cholula, which Cortez, in 
his Letters to Charles V, compares with the 
most populous cities of Spain, contains at pre- 
sent scarcely sixteen thousand inhabitants. The 
pyramid is to the east of the city, on the road 
which leads from Cholula to Puebla. It is well 
preserved on the western side, which is that 
represented in the engraving. The plain of 
Cholula presents that aspect of barrenness, which 
is peculiar to plains elevated two thousand two 
hundred metres above the level of the ocean. 
A few plants of the agave and dracaena rise on 
the foreground, and at a distance the summit of 
the volcano of Orizaba is beheld covered with 
snow ; a colossal mountain, five thousand two 
hundred and ninety-five metres of absolute 
height, and of which I have published a sketch 
in my Mexican Atlas, plate 17. 
The teocalli of Cholula has four stories, all of 
' * See my Mexican Atlas, pi. Ill and IX. 
