Toltic year. He preached peace to men and would permit no other offerings to the Divinity than the first-fruits of the hearvest.

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"At the period when the Aztics, or Mexicans, one of the seven (or nine) tribes of the Anahuatlas, took possession of the equinoctial region of New Spain, they already found the pyramidal monuments of TEO-tihuacan of Cholula, or Churula, and of Papantla; they attributed these great edifices to the Tulians, a powerful and civilized nation, who inhabited Mexico five hundred years earlier, who made use of hieroglyphics, who computed time more precisely, and had a more exact chronology than the greater part of the people of the old continent. The Aztecs knew not with certainty what tribe inhabited the country of Anahuac before the Toltics, and consequently they believed that the Houses of the Deity of TEO-tihuacan, and of Cholula, was the work of the Toltics, and assigned to them the greatest possible antiquity they could conceive."

"The truncated pyramid, called by Cortez the principal Temple, was 79 metres in breadth at its base, and 54 metres high. This was destroyed by the Spaniards. We shall describe the ancient ones. This group of pyramids is eight leagues north-east of Mexico, in a plain called Micoath, (path of the dead.)"

"The two greatest, dedicated to the sun and moon, are surrounded by several small pyramids from north to south, and from east to west. One is 55 and the other 44 metres in perpendicular height. According to M. Oteyza's measurement (made in 1803,) it is higher than the Mycerenus, the third of the great pyramids of Gaza in Egypt, and the length of its base nearly equal to that of the Cephren. The small ones are 10 metres high, and are said to be the burying places of the chiefs of the tribes. The nucleus is composed

of clay mixed with small stones, and incased by a thick wall of porous amygdaloid. The construction recalls to mind that one of the Egyptian pyramids Sakhara which has six stories, and which is, according to Pocock, a mass of pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the outsides with rough stones. The two largest pyramids were covered with plates1 of gold, which were stripped off by the soldiers of Cortez. When the Bishop of Zumarago, a Franciscan Monk, undertook the destruction of whatever related to the history, the worship, and the antiquity of the natives of America, he ordered also the demolition of these. The pyramid Papantla, is on the east of the above group, in the thick forest of Tajin. It was discovered by chance thirty years ago for the Indians carefully conceal from the Spaniards whatever is an object of veneration. It has seven stories, is more tapering than any other, and is 18 metres high and 25 at the base. It is built entirely of hewn stones of an extraordinary size, and very beautifully and regularly shaped-three stair-cases lead to the top. The covering of its steps is ornamented with hieroglyphical sculpture, and small niches. The greatest and most ancient, and most celebrated, in Anachuac, is the TEоcalli of Cholula." "A square house was discovered in the interior, built of stone, and supported by cypress beams. The bricks were arranged like step-work, in the manner of some Egyptian edifices. There was an altar at the top dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, the most mysterious person in the Mexican mythology. He was a white-bearded man, High Priest of Tula, and also a legislator. The Indians of Cholula have a remarkable tradition, that the great pyramid was not originally destined to serve for the worship of Quetzalcoatl, which

1 of the Temple at Jerusalem, Josephus thus speaks, " Its front was entirely covered with sheets of gold, which at the first rising of the sun, reflected so great a lustre, that it compelled those who looked at it to turn away their eyes, as they would from the sun itself," &c.—Bell. Ind. 5. v. 6. See Wilkins Des. Jer. p. 54.

tradition is recorded in a manuscript of Pedro de Los Rios, in 1556. Rios, to prove the antiquity of this tradition, observes that it was contained in a sacred song which the Cholulans sang at their festivals, beginning with 'TulianyahHal-uluay,' words belonging to no dialect at present known in Mexico.' See Clavegero.

Of the Temple of Palenque, M. Du Paix thus writes: "It is impossible adequately to describe the interior decorations of this sumptuous Temple; the sculptor and the painter seem to have embodied the most exalted conceptions of their art. The hieroglyphics which adorn this mysterious shrine, are innumerable, &c. They are carved on the surface of marble slabs of a fine grain, and of a deep buff colour, ranged in horizontal rows; they occupy the centre of the building, as in the sanctuary of the Presentation Temple. Our surprise was great on suddenly beholding a cross; 1 but

1 Martyr observes of the Tulians "they live under laws, and trafficke together with great fidelitie, exchanging commodities without money. They sawe crosses, and being demanded by the interpreters whence they had them, some say that a certain man of excellent beauty passing by that coast, left that notable token to remember him by. Others report that a certainne man, brighter than the sun dyed in the toil thereof. But concerninge the truth there is nothing certaine known."

The Toltics had erected on a high mountain, the image of Tlaloccateutli: this image rudely carved was made of white stone, considered as divine (Teotitli) by this people, who, like the ancient orientals, attached superstitious ideas to the color of certain stones, &c. The Aztecs followed the same worship till the year 1317, when the war with the inhabitants of Xochimitli furnished them with the first idea of a human sacrifice, and the first which had been made in that country, p. 207. The continual wars of the Aztecs after they had fixed their residence on the lakes, furnished them with a considerable number of victims which were offered in sacrifice, even to Quetzalcoatl who had preached against this execrable custom."-Humboldt.

2 The discovery of arches in the New World, although not so mysterious, is quite as unexplained a fact as that of crosses, neither can their existence be accounted for by recurring to the old solution of all the doubts and difficulties to which the Patriarchal institutions, Mosaic laws, and Hebrew rites among the Mexicans and Peruvians gave rise, which proceeded on the assumption that Satan counterfeited in the New World whatever God had ordained in the New Testament, &c. Since an arch is no where mentioned in Scripture, neither did Moses command his countrymen to build their public or private edifices with arches, as he did battlements with which latter injunction the Mexicans seem to have been well acquainted, since battlements on houses, and fringes on garments were as common in Mexico as in Jerusalem." Ibid. p. 597, notes.

closer examination of it convinced me that it was not the holy Latin cross which we adore," &c.

"I wish it were in my power to explain the signification of the historical figures which so conspicuously adorn the walls of these Temples, a task less difficult than to decypher the meaning of the hieroglyphics. It would appear that this nation had two methods of expressing its ideas, the one by letters or alphabetical signs, the other by obscure and mysterious symbols. These symbols, infinitely diversified in form, were disposed in parallel rows, both vertically and horizontally on the same stone, so as frequently to form right, but never acute-angles; this peculiarity in their arrangement is not unworthy of attention. In each line the same kind of symbols often occur; and the human heads, which are always in profile, are uniformly turned to the left: a circumstance which leads me to suppose, that like Hebrew writings, those inscriptions were read from right to left." Ibid. d. 481.

"These immense ruins," he adds, "scattered over a vast tract of country, and the greater portion of them buried beneath the soil, awaken in the mind of the spectator, the liveliest feelings of curiosity and interest." Ibid. 483.

The following passage is extracted from Don Antonio Del Rio's narrative of his visit to the ruins of Palenque, in which he takes occasion to mention other ancient Temples in Yutican. "The Reverend Father De Soga, a Franciscan Friar, many years collector of alms destined for the holy house at Jerusalem, who in prosecuting the duties imposed upon him from his situation, repeatedly traversed the province; fortunately happening to be at Palenque, favoured me with a circumstantial account of that country, of which I now avail myself in his own words: At the distance of twenty leagues from Meridas southward, are remains of some stone

edifices; one very large building has withstood the ravages of time, &c. The natives give it the name of Oxmutl. It stands on an eminence, and measures 200 yards on each façade. The apartments of the exterior corridor, contain pillars with figures in medio-relievo, and are decorated with serpents, &c. in stucco, besides which are statues of men with palms in their hands in the act of beating drums, and dancing, resembling in every respect those observable in the buildings of Palenque," &c.