‘of the shock and were totally demolished. ~— Tenochtitlan, Cholula 
and Tezcuco, centres of Nahuatl culture and power, were, with the 
downfall of these peoples fairly leveled with the rround, while 
Teotihuacan, Xochicaleo and Mitla, al ready in ruins, stand today 
magnificent monuments of a shadowy culture and of peoples known 
only through meagre and unreliable tradition, 
The Pyramid: As viewed by the observer of the present day 
the most striking features of, these ruins are the pryamids and 
pyramidal masses of earth, cement, and masonry. This was not so 
during the period of occupation as these meassi-re structures were 
the nuclei of elusters ae ceremonial buildings and of dwellings, 
traces of which have as a rule disappeared. The largest is that 
of Cholula which in its present much altered state measures up— 
wards of 1400 feet square at the base and is nearly 200 feet in 
height. They were built in a great variety of forms and of such 
materials as were at hand. They were frequently finished with 
cement or faced with neat masonry and were furnished with terraces 
and stairways, and the truncated summits were generally occupied 
by public or religious structures, sone—of—whieh—are_partiatiy 
preserve, In no case were they simple pyramidsy serving exclu- 
Sively as monuments or as receptacles for the dead as tee) the 
fet pyramids of other countries. 
