91 
like a heap of bricks. In making this opening a 
square house was discovered in the interior of 
the pyramid^ built of stone, and supported by 
beams made of the wood of the deciduous cypress 
(cupressus disticha). The house contained two 
skeletons, idols in basalt, and a great number of 
vases, curiously varnished and painted. No 
pains were taken to preserve these objects, but 
it is said to have been carefully ascertained, that 
this house, covered with bricks and strata of 
clay, had no outlet. Supposing that the pyra- 
mid was built, not by the Toltecks, the first in- 
habitants of Cholula, but by prisoners made by 
the Cholulans from the neighbouring nations, it 
is possible, that they were the carcases of some 
unfortunate slaves who had been shut up to 
perish in the interior of the teocalli. We ex- 
amined the remains of this subterraneous house, , 
and observed a particular arrangement of the 
bricks, tendii^ to diminish the pressure made on 
the roof. The natives being ignorant of the 
manner of making arches, placed very large 
bricks horizontally, so that the upper course 
should pass beyond the lower. The continuation 
of this kind of step work served in some measure 
as a substitute for the Gothic vault, and similar 
vestiges have been found in several Egyptian 
edifices. An adit dug through the teocalli of 
Cholula, to examine its internal structure, would 
be an interesting operation ; and it is singular. 
