^^ MEXICO. 
It is in their sacred edifices that these people were the most remarkable, 
and, as in Egypt, they are probably the only remains that will be discov- 
ered in our day and generation. 
I shall have occasion, hereafter, to give some descriptions of other Teo- 
callis, " Houses of God^' — and Teopans, ^'Places of God;" but I cannot 
refrain, in this connection, from giving you some idea of the condition of 
the great Temple of Mexico at the period of the conquest, as the account 
of it comes from eye-witnesses, between whom there can by no possibility 
have been a collusion to impose either upon the sovereign for whom the 
one wrote, or, upon the mass of the Spanish nation to which the writings of 
the others were addressed. 
It is related that in the year 1486, Ahuitzotl, the eighth King of Mexico 
and predecessor of Montezuma, completed the great Teocalli in his 
capital. 
* This magnificent edifice occupied the centre of the city, and, together 
with the other temples and buildings annexed to it, comprehended all that 
space upon which the great Cathedral church now stands, part of the 
greater market place, and part of the neighboring streets and buildings. 
It was surrounded by a wall eight feet thick, built of stcnie and lime, 
crowned with battlements in the form of niches, and ornamented with 
many stone figures in the shape of serpents. Within this inclosure, it is 
affirmed by Cortez, that a town of five hundred houses might have been 
built ! 
It had four gates fronting the cardinal points, and over each portal was 
a military arsenal filled with needful equipments. 
The space within the walls was beautifully paved with polished stones, 
so smooth that the horses of the Spaniards " could not move over them 
without slipping," and in the centre of this splendid area arose the great 
Teocalli. This was an immense truncated pyramid of earth and stones, 
composed of four stories or bodies ; an idea of which may perhaps be 
obtained by an inspection of the following drawing, taken from one made 
by the Anonymous Conquerox', which may be found in the collection of 
Ramusis, and in the CEdipus Mgyptiacus of Father Kircher. 
* I give the description of Clavigero and Dr. McCulloh, founded on the authority of Uortiz's Letters tc 
Charles V . Beinal Diaz, Sahagun, and the Anonymous Conqueror. 
