TEHUANTEPEC WOMEN.
In Tehuantepec are met the peculiar people known as pintos, “painted,” no misnomer, for they are covered with sickly white patches extending sometimes over the whole body. The effect of these patches over their swarthy skin is most repulsive, and gives them the ghastly appearance of lepers.
There is little or nothing to be said upon our next journey, except that after S. Juan we enter once more the region of cactuses in all their variety, and arrive at Oaxaca dust-travelled and weary. This region enjoys a delicious climate, whilst its soil is most productive. Ancient ruins are numerous, but they are little known and still less studied, owing probably to the fact that they bear no resemblance to those that are known, and that no historians have mentioned them. Nevertheless, I should ascribe a Toltec origin to the very interesting ruins of Monte Alban, some miles distant from the town of Oaxaca, rising to a height of 4,930 feet, terminating by a partially artificial plateau, extending over one half square league, covered with masses of stones and mortar, forts, esplanades, narrow subterraneous passages, and immense sculptured blocks. The arches or vaults of these passages are formed by large inclined blocks of stone overlapping one another, and sculptured with human faces in profile, resembling the bas-reliefs and figures lately discovered at Santa Lucia Cosumaluapa in Guatemala.
The grandest ruins are to the south end of the plateau, consisting mostly of truncated pyramids about 25 feet high, having steep sides. Enormous masses of masonry show where palaces and teocalli once stood. The plateau is covered with fragments of lime, very fine pottery, on which a brilliant red glazing is observable. An Italian explorer, some years ago, opened some of the mounds, and found necklaces of agate, fragments of worked obsidian, and golden ornaments of fine workmanship.
These monuments are different from other ruins in the valley or at Mitla, both in their architecture and materials, which consist of stones laid in mortar, whereas at Mitla, clay was used with large pebbles, faced with irregular stones, varying in size in different parts of the walls. The walls of the temples were perpendicular, and the ceilings flat; whilst at Monte Alban, we have the boveda, or overlapping vault.
Our explorations take us next to Mitla, leaving to our left the fine cemetery called the Pantheon; we pass Santa Lucia, where cock-fighting still forms the chief amusement of its inhabitants, and six miles further we come in sight of the charming settlement of Santa Maria del Tule, peeping out from among groves of pomegranate, chermoias, and goyavias.
In the open space fronting the chapel, stands the old tree called Sabino, an object of great veneration on the part of the natives, who come from all parts of Central America to see it. Its greatest girth measures 14 paces or 33 feet, to the height of 20 feet, where it divides, carrying its vigorous branches 100 feet beyond. Some travellers have supposed that three stems had united to form its colossal trunk, but I was unable to discover more than one shoot, and its vigour is such, that several centuries more may safely be predicted for it.
We resume our march, steering towards the east where the valley becomes very narrow; we pass Tlacolula, following the spur of the hills, where open quarries still show half-hewn blocks left by the ancient builders of Mitla, and bearing to the right we reach S. Dionysio, the last place in the valley; and now Tatapala is fast disappearing in our rear, and bending to the left we approach an almost uncultivated valley with bare hills, where stand the funereal palaces of Mitla. Its sandy soil supports no vegetation, save a few pitahayas, yielding a delicious fruit the size of a swan’s egg, having a strawberry flavour.