Aug. i7, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
199 
LAID-STONE ALTAR INSIDE RUINED TEMPLE, AT YERBABUENA, PROBABLY USED FOR FIRE OFFERINGS. 
we found a huge altar of solid masonry fifteen 
feet square by twenty feet high, and in a re¬ 
markably good state of preservation. Later we 
found many such altars scattered through the 
fifty miles or more of ruins. They appear to 
have been used for sacrificial purposes, and some 
of them are built upon the very apex of huge 
pyramidal sites, evidently constructed solely for 
their foundation. 
At each corner of the foundations of the 
large building just mentioned we found circular 
towers six feet in thickness and most remark¬ 
ably designed. We endeavored to take photo¬ 
graphs of them, but 'owing to the great number 
of trees and the heavy tropical underbrush grow¬ 
ing all over the ruins, we found it impossible to 
show them as they really appeared. Forty miles 
in front of us, along the mountain slope, extended 
the ruined city, while its buildings ran in solid 
mass of six miles on either side. I estimated 
there were three hundred square miles of ruins 
in the heart of this tract, with another hundred 
and fifty or two hundred square miles of build¬ 
ings which had once stood on the present sites 
of the great gorges. Undoubtedly this is the 
ruin of the largest, most civilized and most im¬ 
portant of all the prehistoric tribes that peopled 
Mexico’s populous past. 
Temples were thickly scattered through this 
ruined city, all built on more or less the same 
plan, and all showing evidences of massive con¬ 
struction. I chose the best preserved of these 
and ordered my men to dig a trench around the 
base of the large altar which stood in the center. 
On the old limestone floor at the base of the 
altar, several feet beneath the present surface 
of the ground, we found the trench leading from 
the altar, about three inches deep and five or six 
inches wide, stained a deep red by the blood of 
countless victims which had flowed down it. 
Whether these sacrificial victims were human or 
animal it was impossible to learn, and I doubt 
if even analysis of tbe blood would have showed 
to a certainty, so old were the stains. 
Gathered in the trench and in little depres¬ 
sions in the floor about the altar, we found won¬ 
derfully carved jade beads. We also found two 
diorite chisels. This stone is often confused with 
jade, but is not the original translucent jade 
which has been found so far in Mexico only in 
the forms of artifacts left by the vanished 
races. 
Some distance beyond this we came on an 
immense wall, rising thirty feet into the air, and 
evidently part of an enormous palace or temple. 
Remains of this wall still endured for more than 
200 feet, and digging under one side we were 
fortunate enough, after a day's hard labor, to 
come on a large underground chamber, probably 
the most important find of the entire visit. Stone 
in the wall of this building was cut in blocks 
twelve by eighteen inches, and laid in even lines 
in the same white cement which I had noted in 
other parts of the ruins. 
After effecting an opening, we found our¬ 
selves in an immense circular chamber, the walls 
of which were well plastered with a white cement 
which had been painted red, still retaining its 
color in almost pristine brightness. A number 
of fragments of timber, now turned to tinder, 
were lying on the floor, while under the dust of 
centuries were numbers of beads, stone knives, 
small idols and fragments of greater images. 
The roof, without arch or other support, re¬ 
mained standing firm as ever, while in the center 
was a long, carved altar of green diorite, a 
priceless thing, the weight of which we could 
only estimate at several tons. All along its 
sides, ends and on the top were carvings, de¬ 
picting scenes in the religious life of the people 
and in the daily exercises of the priests. To me, 
looking back at this great monolith, which still 
sleeps in the subterranean chamber, it appears 
comparable with the great calendar stone of the 
Aztecs, and is possibly of greater import, if its 
hieroglyphics only could be translated into some 
modern tongue. 
From this chamber we passed to another and 
smaller one, less well kept, but apparently once 
the burial place of the priests. Here we found 
innumerable skeletons, all unadorned with beads 
or other ornaments, giving rise to the idea that 
they had been priests in life. Had they been 
warriors, or even common people of the city, 
they must have worn ornaments of some kind, 
and these would have been buried with them. 
No idols were found in this room, but return¬ 
ing to the other and larger chamber we took out 
more than seventy images, masks and idols in 
perfect condition. 
All made of diorite, some green, some gray, 
these idols are 'of various shapes -and sizes, but 
all, no matter how weirdly shaped, show striv¬ 
ings after the human form. t Some are fairly 
well proportioned, while others are of the most 
hideous conception, with huge heads and abnor¬ 
mally long faces. Others again have small bodies 
and exceedingly large legs, each leg being almost 
as large as the trunk of the body. Then there 
are still others with small heads, small legs and 
great, wide bodies; yet others, evidently pat¬ 
terned after the human form, bear not the 
slightest resemblance to any races of men known 
to-day. Some are hunchbacks and others are 
grotesques, cartoons in stone from the hand of 
some humorous Phidias of a bygone day. 
About a mile south from this chamber, pass¬ 
ing over myriads of ruined homes of the people 
of this nation, is an immense mound which rises 
abruptly from the valley and is one of the most 
noticeable of the ruined piles. This contains 
dozens of chambers, and was evidently the home 
of the priests, a sort of community house. Into 
a few of these we entered and found in the 
smallest a number of jade and serpentine beads. 
Possibly they were from rosaries, or some simi¬ 
lar instrument for worship, though of course 
these people knew nothing of Catholic ceremon¬ 
ials. The beads are genuine Chinese jade, alto¬ 
gether different from the jade of Mexico, and 
seem to prove that at some time or other the 
people of this city and nation had some sort of 
connection with the natives of the far western 
rim of the Pacific ocean. 
Some little distance southeast of this ruined 
building are two interesting pyramids, each more 
than sixty feet in height and covering nearly 
equal areas, about 150 by 250 feet, I should say, 
from hurried measurements. These pyramids are 
rich in treasure in the shape of personal orna¬ 
ments of stone, diorite, serpentine and terra cotta 
as well as clay which has metamorphosed to 
stone in the centuries which have passed. 
I believe these pyramids were burial places, 
as we found passageways to the interior and 
large chambers inside, filled with dust and .crumb¬ 
ling bones amid which were countless ornaments; 
so many of them that we tired of the search and 
returned to the outer air for lunch on the day 
which we had devoted to the pyramids. Just as 
we stepped out we were startled by a series of 
grunts and squeals, and there, not fifty feet away, 
was a drove of wild pigs, the peccaries of South 
American forests, here known as javelins, pro¬ 
nounced “hah-vey-leen.” They did not run, but 
fully one hundred strong stood their ground, 
their thin lips drawn back over long yellow teeth 
(Continued on page 221.) 
