EXCURSION TO TEZCOSINGO. 231 
At the village of Huejutla there are some interesting remains of the 
ancient Indians. A large ruined wall, about twenty-five feet m height 
and five or six in thickness, is pointed out as part of a palace, and ter- 
minates, to the eastward, on the steeps of a barranca. This barranca is 
crossed by an ancient arched bridge, which we neglected visiting. TJie 
most interesting, and certainly the most picturesque, antique in the vicin- 
ity, is a noble row of seventeen olive trees, in an inclosure near the 
church, alleged to have been planted by the conquerors. 
We stopped at the house of an Alcalde in the village of Natividad, to 
procure an Indian guide, who had promised his services to aid Ignacio in 
discovering certain fossil remains that lay on the edges of the mountams 
to the eastward ; but, after waiting a considerable length of time, neither 
Ignacio nor the Indian appeared, and we determined to proceed alone to- 
ward Tezcosingo, under the escort of L , who professed to be well 
acquainted with the hill and its antiquities. 
The conical mountain rose out of the plain directly north of us ; but in 
order to reach its base, we were obliged to descend a ravine three or four 
hundred feet in depth, and to ascend afterward along cliffs and herbage 
like those that opposed us on our journey to Xochicalco. At length we 
gained the foot of the mountain, and commenced a zig-zag ascent to the 
eastward among nopals and rocks that seemed almost impassable. 
We managed, nevertheless, to reach the summit of the ridges after an 
hour's labor, and beheld Ignacio in the distance, scouring the plain at a 
gallop. A shout from our party soon arrested his attention, and wheeling 
his horse, he was quickly at our side at full dash over cliff" and ravine. 
I felt mortified at having lost confidence in him at the village, as we found, 
on explanation, that he had been most anxiously engaged in endeavoring 
to persuade the Indian to guide us. The savage, however, steadily per- 
sisted for a long time in refusing to accompany him ; believing that if he 
pointed out the fosil remains, we would certainly carry off" some of them, 
" to which he would never consent, as they were the hones of certain 
giants who had ieen the ancestors of his race !" 
I know not by what witchcraft Ignacio managed finally to prevail with 
the Indian ; but he pointed him out, waiting for us at the foot of a group 
of palmettos on an opposite hill. Thither we quickly ascended; yet, 
scarcely had we reached the trees, when the rain commenced pattering 
down fi'om the eastward, where it had been brewing as usual for the last 
hour around the brow of old Tlaloc. 
The day was already far advanced and we had as yet seen nothing of 
remarkable interest. At the distance of a couple of leagues to the east- 
ward, was the edge of the barranca containing the bones ; while, a league 
to the west, was the unexplored hill of Tezcosingo. To see both of these 
spots on that evening was impossible, and yielding, therefore, to the earn- 
est solicitation of the Indian, who pointed out to us the resting-place of 
the " huesos de sus antepasados'^ in the clayey soil of the eastern barran- 
