90 
a considerable difference in the proportions be- 
tween the base and the height in these various 
monuments; in the three great pyramids of 
Geeza, the heights are to the bases as 1 to V7 ; 
in the pyramid of Papantla covered with hiero- 
glyphics/this ratio Is as 1 to 1*4; in the great 
pyramid of Teotihuacan, as 1 to 3*7 ; and in 
that of Cholula as 1 to 7*8. This last monument 
is built with unbaked bricks {xamilli)^ alternat- 
ing with layers of clay. I have been assured 
by some Indians of Cholula, that the inside is 
hollow ; and that, during the abode of Cortez in 
this city, their ancestors had concealed, in the 
body of the pyramid, a considerable number of 
warriors, who were to fall suddenly on the 
Spaniards : but the materials with which the 
teocalli is built, and the silence of the historians 
of those times*, give but little probability to this 
assertion. 
It is certain, however, that in the interior of 
this pyramid, as in other teocallis, there are con- 
siderable cavities, which were used as sepul- 
chres for the natives. A particular circumstance 
led to this discovery. Seven or eight years ago 
the road from Puebla to Mexico, which before 
passed to the north of the pyramid, was changed. 
In tracing the road, the first story was cut 
through, so that an eighth part remained isolated 
^ Oarlas de Homan Cortez ; Mexico, 1770, fp. (J9. 
