THE PYRAMIDS. 269 
hundred and fifty feet in height. *' It was 
made," he says, ** of earth, in steps, hke the 
Pyramids of Egypt ;" and on the top of it was a 
great stone idol of the Moon. The Pyramid of 
the Sun was about forty feet higher, and upon 
the top of it a vast statue of the Sun: And as 
these Pyramids were erected for devotion, so 
were they for sepulchres^ The same author 
further informs us, that within the Pyramid of 
the Moon were vaults where their kings ivere 
buried, for which reason the road to them is 
called MiCAOTLi, that is to say, The Way of the 
Dead. Precisely, too, after the manner in which 
the Pyramids of Egypt are surrounded by sepul- 
chres of a more diminutive form, the Mexican 
Pyramids have, as Gemelli tells us, " about them, 
several little artificial mounts, supposed to be 
burying-places of lords." Another instance of a 
similar nature, and more remarkable for the 
similitude it bears to the principal pijramid of 
Egypt, was found in the same country, about 
thirty years ago, by some hunters. This is the 
great Pyramid of Papantla, mentioned by Hutu- 
holdt; for, in this, mortar may he discerned in the 
interstices heiiveen the stones. It is an edifice of 
very high antiquity, and was always an object 
of veneration among the Mexicans. Humboldt 
