Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/234

 heaps of loose stones of irregular shape, which seem to have formed portions of similar mounds or tumuli or, perhaps, parts of fortifications in connection with the wall that is alleged by the old writers to have surrounded the base of the pyramid, but of which I could discern no traces.

The stones forming parts of the conical remains, have evidently been shaped by the hand of art, and are often found covered with an exterior coat of mortar, specimens of which I took away with me as sharp and perfect as the day it was laid on centuries ago.

Near the base of the last terrace, on which the pyramid rises, the esplanade is covered with trees and tangled vines, but the body of the platform is cultivated as a corn-field. We found the Indian owner at work in it, and were supplied by him with the long-desired comfort of a gourd of water. He pointed out to us the way to the summit of the terrace through the thick brambles; and rearing our horses up the crumbling stones of the wall, we stood before the ruins of this interesting pyramid, the remains of which, left by the neighboring planters after they had borne away enough to build the walls of their haciendas, now lie buried In a grove of palmettos, bananas, and forest-trees, apparently the growth of many hundred years.

Indeed, this pyramid seems to have been (like the Forum and Colliseum at Rome,) the quarry for all the builders of the vicinity; and Alzate, who visited it as far back as 1777, relates, that not more than twenty years before, the five terraces of which it consisted, were still, perfect; and that on the eastern side of the upper platform there had been a magnificent throne carved from porphyry, and covered with hieroglyphics of the most graceful sculpture. Soon after this period, however, the work of destruction was begun by a certain Estrada, and it is not more than a couple of years since one of the wealthiest planters of the neighborhood ended the line of spoilers by carrying off enormous loads of the squared and sculptured materials, to build a tank in a barranca to bathe his cattle! All that now remains of the five stories, terraces, or bodies of the pyramid, are portions of the first, the whole of which is of dressed porphyritic rock, covered with singular figures and hieroglyphics executed in a skillful manner. The opposite plate presents a general view of the ruins as seen from the westward.

The basement is a rectangular building, and its dimensions on the northern front, measured above the plinth, are sixty-four feet in length, by fifty-eight in depth on the western front. The height between the plinth and frieze is nearly ten feet; the breadth of the frieze is three feet and a half, and of the cornice one foot and five inches. I placed my compass on the wall, and found the lines of the edifice to correspond exactly with the cardinal points.

The western front is quite clear of bushes and fallen stones, and we had an opportunity to examine minutely the sculpture of the northwestern corner, which is very accurately delineated by Nebel in the second engraving.