PYRAMIDS OF TEZCOCO. 221. 
PYRAMIDS. 
In the northwestern corner of Tezcoco is a pile of earth, bricks, mor- 
tar and pottery, entirely shapeless, and covered with a field of aloes; on 
the top of this I found several very large slabs of basalt, squared with 
the chisel and laid due north and south. Tradition says, that these are 
the remains of the Palace of Montezujma. 
On this spot, some years ago, the small fragment represented in the op- 
posite drawing was found, and immediately transferred to the collection 
of the Conde del Peiiasco, in Mexico, where it is now preserved. 
It appears to be the remains of a trough or basin, and the sculpture is 
neatly executed in relief. I imagine that it was designed to represent a 
conflict between a serpent and bird, and you cannot fail to remark the 
cross distinctly carved near the lower right-hand corner of the vessel. 
At the southern end of the town, there are still distinctly traceable 
three immense pyramids, the forms of which are not so much obliterated 
as might be supposed after the lapse of centuries. They lie in a line 
with each other from north to south — are about four hundred feet in ex- 
tent on each side of their bases, and are built partly of adohes and partly 
of large hurned' bricks and fragments of pottery. In many places I dis- 
covered remains of a thick covering of cement, thi'ough which small ca- 
nals or gutters had been formed to carry off the water, or, perhaps, the 
blood, from the upper terrace. The sides of these pyramids were strewn 
with fragments of idols, clay vessels, and obsidian knives. It is related 
by Bernal Diaz del Castillio, that the great temple of Tezcoco was as- 
cended by one hundred and seventeen steps ; and it is probable that one 
of these pyramids was the base of the Teocalli to which the historian 
alludes. 
These were all the antiquities I could find in the town of Tezcoco, 
except the spot where tradition says that Cortez launched his vessels. 
It still passes by the name of " Puente de los Bergantines," and is now 
probably rather more than a mile in a direct line from the lake. 
While I was in Mexico a most interesting piece of antiquity was sent 
from Tezcoco to General Tornel, and presented by him to Mr. Morphy, 
an opulent English merchant, who has since returned to England. It 
was a group, modelled in clay, about a foot and a half high, representing 
a sacrifice, and consisted of two figures — the priest and the victim. 
The latter (a female) had been thrown over a tall and narrow stone; the 
priest had just made a deep incision in her back — torn out her heart — 
and was in the act of ofiering it to the idol. The expressions of death and 
agony in the countenance of the woman — and of pride and enthusiasm 
in the priest, were admirably rendered. I intended making a drawing of 
this group, but Mr. Morphy sent it to the coast for shipment immedi- 
