RUINSOFPAPANTLA. 249 
boring hills. Although it is the centre of a country rennarkable for 
fertility,* the Indian village has scarcely a white inhabitant, with the ex- 
ception of the Curate and some few dealers, who come from the coast to 
traffic their wares for the products of the soil. The people of the upper 
country dislike to venture into the heat and disease of the tierra caliente ; 
and, in turn, its inhabitants dislike an exposure to the chills of the tierras 
frias. or templadas. Thus the region of Papantla, two leagues from the 
village, has hitherto remained an unexplored nook, even at the short dis- 
tance of fifty miles from the coast ; and, although it was alluded to by 
Baron Humboldt, it had never been correctly drawn, or even accurately 
described before the visit of M. Nebel. The neighboring Indians, even, 
had scarcely seen it, and considerable local knowledge was required to 
trace a path to the relic through the wild and tangled forest. 
There is no doubt, from the masses of ruins spread over the plain, that 
this city was more than a mile and a half in circuit. Although there 
seems good reason to believe that it was abandoned by its builders after 
the conquest, there has still been time enough, both for the growth of the 
forest in so warm and prolific a climate, and for the gradual destruction 
of the buildings by the seasons and other causes. Indeed, huge trees, 
trailing plants and parasite vines have struck their roots among the cran- 
nies and joints of the remaining pyramid, and, in a few years more, will 
consign even that remnant to the common fate of the rest of the city. 
The opposite plate presents a view of the pyramid, (called by the 
natives, " El Tajin,") as seen by Nebel, after he had cleared it of trees 
and foliage. It consists of seven stories, each following the same angle 
of inclination, and each terminated, as at Xochicalco, by a frieze and 
cornice. The whole of these bodies are constructed of sand-stone, neatly 
squared and joined, — and covered, to the depth of three inches, with a 
strong cement, which appears, from the remains of color in many places, to 
have been entirely painted. The pyramid measures precisely one huu- 
dred and twenty feet on every side,f and is ascended, in front, by a stair- 
way of fifty-seven steps, divided in three places, by small box-like recesses 
or niches two feet in depth, similar to those which are seen perforating 
the frieze of each of the bodies. This stairway terminates at the top of 
the sixth story, the seventh appearing (although in ruins,) to have been 
unlike the rest, and hollow. Here, most probably, was the shrine of the 
divinity and the place of sacrifice.:!: 
* The productions here are vanilla, sarsaparilla, pepper, wax, cotton, coffee, tobacco, a variety of valuable 
woods, and sugar, produced annually from canes, which it is necessary to plant only every seven or eight years. 
t Nebel does not give the elevation, but says there are 57 steps to the top of the sixth story— each step meas 
uring one foot in height. 
I Vide Humboldt, vol. ii., 345— and Nebel. 
