109 
Mexican antiquaries, what the Pelasgian colo- 
nists were to the Archaeologists of Italy. What- 
ever is lost in the night of time is considered as 
the work of a people, among whom we think we 
disScover the first germes of civilization. 
The hill of Xochicalco is a mass of rocks, to 
which the hand of man has given a regular conic 
form, and which is divided into five stories, or 
terraces, each of which is covered with masonry. 
These terraces are nearly twenty metres in per- 
pendicular height ; but narrow towards the top, 
as in the teocallis, or Azteck pyramids, the sum- 
mit of which was decorated with an altar. The 
whole of the terraces slope a little toward the 
south west, probably for the easier running off 
of the rains, which are very frequent in this 
region. The hill is surrounded by a deep and 
very broad ditch, so that the whole entrenchment 
is nearly four thousand metres in circumference. 
The magnitude of these dimensions ought not to 
surprise us : on the ridge of the Cordilleras of 
Peru, and on heights almost equal to that of the 
peak of TenerifFe, M. Bonpland and myself 
have seen monuments still more considerable. 
Lines of defence, and entrenchments of extra- 
ordinary length, are found in the plains of 
Canada. The whole of these American works 
resemble those, which are daily discovered in 
the eastern part of Asia ; nations of the Mongul 
race, those especially that are most advanced in 
