m 
that the desire of discovering hidden treasure 
has not prompted the undertaking. During my 
travels in Peru^, in visiting the vast ruins of the 
city of Chimu, near Mansiche, I went into the 
interior of the famous Huaca de Toledo, the 
tomb of a Peruvian prince, in which Garci 
Gutierez de Toledo ' discovered, on digging a 
gallery, in 1576, massive gold amounting in 
value to more than five millions of francs, as is 
proved by the book of accounts, preserved in the 
mayor s office at Truxillo. 
The great teocalli of Cholula, called also the 
Mountain of unhahed bricks (tlalchihualtepec), 
had an altar on its top, dedicated to Quetzal- 
coatl, the god of the air. This Quetzalcoatl, 
whose name signifies serpent clothed with green 
feathers, from coatl, serpent, and quetzalli, green 
feathers, is the most mysterious being of the 
whole Mexican mythology. He was a white 
and bearded man, like the Bochicha of the 
Muyscas, of whom we spoke in our descriptions 
of the Cataract of Tequendama. He was high 
priest of Tula (Tollan), legislator, chief of a 
religious sect, which, like the Sonyasis and the 
Bouddhists of Indostan, inflicted on themselves 
the most cruel penances. He introduced the 
custom of piercing the lips and the ears, and 
lacerating the rest of the body with the prickles 
of the agave leaves, or the thorns of the cactus ; 
and of putting reeds into the wounds, in order 
