Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/493

Rh Rio Teotihuacan, which flows near, to the Nile, and the Camino de los Muertos he calls another Memphis; in fact, he finds here a duplication of the pyramids of Egypt. This learned Mexican deduces an Egyptian contact with Mexico, and argues that the people who constructed the American monuments, if they did not come directly from Egypt, were at the least descendants of others to whom the Egyptians had transmitted

their knowledge. But as this was written a dozen years ago, the worthy man may have changed his mind by this time, and may now view them differently.

That portion of the plain of Teotihuacan immediately about the pyramids is rather sterile, but about the little village of San Juan, where clear streams have their birth, near an ancient templo, the soil is fertile, and the dwellers there seem contented and happy. At all events, they are contented and lazy, and it is only by very active skirmishing that one may eventually capture a