About fifteen leagues west from Papantla, in a small plain at the feet of the eastern Cordillera of Mexico, are the remains of Tusapan, which is supposed to have been a city of the Totonacs. The vestiges of this little Indian city are almost obliterated, and the only very significant relics are the pyramidal edifice exhibited in the annexed plate, and a singular fountain, a drawing of which is given in the work of M. Nebel.
The pyramid, built of stones of unequal size, extends thirty feet on each of its sides at the base, and the summit of its single story is reached by a flight of stairs. Upon the platform of this base a square tower is erected, which is entered by a door whose posts and lintel, as well as the friezes of the edifice, have been elaborately carved. In front of the door, within the tower, stands the pedestal of the ancient divinity, but the idol itself has been destroyed. The interior of this apartment is twelve feet square, and its ceiling, like the external roof, terminates in a point.
Around the pyramid are scattered masses of stones, sculptured into the images of men and various animals; and from the inferior manner in which the carving on these objects is executed, we may judge that this religious temple was not the most celebrated architectural or artistic work of the ancient inhabitants.
The fountain which we have already mentioned is a single female figure in an indecent squatting attitude, nineteen feet high, and cut from the solid rock. The remains of a pipe which conveyed the water to it, are still visible behind the head, and the liquid passed through the body of the gigantic image until it was discharged beneath into the basin or canal, by which it was carried to the neighboring town. The Indian tradition, as recounted by Nebel, states, that the ancient inhabitants of this spot, abandoned it, in consequence of the unfertility of the soil and the failure of the streams, and that they took refuge in, or united themselves with the occupants of Papantla.
ISLAND OF SACRIFICIOS.
At the period of the Conquest of Mexico, this small island, which lies a few miles from the present city and port of Vera Cruz, and under whose lee is found the best anchorage on the Eastern Coast for vessels of war, was unquestionably a spot sacred to sacrifice and burial.