The base is ninety feet square, and the pyramid has seven stories, as seen in the engraving. Only the last one contains apartments; with this exception, the pyramid is solid. Stairways in front lead up to the top. Mr. Mayer says “there is no doubt, from the mass of ruins spread over the plain, that the city was more than a mile and a half in circuit.” But we have no further description of them. Other localities with pyramids and ruins are known. At Tusapan occurs this ruin, which may be taken as a type of all the pyramids in this region. This was the only building remaining standing at Tusapan; but, from the ruins lying about, this is not supposed to have been the grandest structure there.

This will complete what we have to say of the ruins in territory occupied by the Nahua tribes. Other remains of their handiwork we will examine when we treat of their customs and manners. We will now turn our attention to the ruins in the territory of the Mayas. As the culture of these two people is so similar, we will devote but one chapter to the two. Comparison is the great means we have of fixing in the mind points we wish to keep. We have to admit that the treatment of the Nahua ruins is not very satisfactory; but it is difficult to obtain accurate information in regard to them. We think what resemblance can be traced, is more in the direction of the Pueblo tribes than of the Mound Builders. The first ruin found in Mexico, Casa Grandes, in Chihuahua, is evidently but another station of Pueblo tribes.

The fortified hill at Quemada is apparently but a further development of the clustering houses with the little inclosures noticed on the Gila. Mounds are, indeed, mentioned in a number of localities, but they seem to be more nearly related to the terraced foundation of buildings observed in Arizona than to the mounds of the Mississippi Valley. Surely as striking a ruin as any is at Mitla, but Mr. Bandelier does not hesitate to compare it with some in the Pueblo country. Now, it is very unsafe and very unsatisfactory to trace resemblances of this kind, and we do not assign any especial value to them. But it only shows that, so far as this method is of use, it points to a closer connection with the Pueblo tribes than with the Mound Builders.

REFERENCES

  1. Gregory’s “History of Mexico,” p. 19.
  2. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 92.
  3. The Tierra Caliente.
  4. Ober’s “Mexican Resources,” p. 2.
  5. “Mexico As It Was,” p. 221.
  6. “Six Months in Mexico,” p. 386.
  7. Mayer: “Mexico As It Was,” p. 234.
  8. Thompson’s “Mexico,” p. 144.
  9. Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 526.
  10. “Rambles in Mexico,” p. 140.
  11. “Gratacap, in American Antiquarian, October, 1883, p. 310.
  12. “Native Races,” Vol. II, pp. 168-173.
  13. As to this hill, Mr. Bandelier remarks: “As a salient and striking object, and on account of the freshwater springs, Chapultepec was worshiped, but I find no trace among older authors of any settlement there—still less of a Summer palace— at the time of the conquest.” “Report of an Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 73.
  14. Charney in North American Review, September, 1880, p. 190.
  15. “Recollections of Mexico,” p. 140.
  16. We have several times remarked that it is not safe to judge prehistoric population by the amount of ruins. “Indians never rebuild on ruins or repair them.”
  17. Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV., p. 537.
  18. Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 547.
  19. The ceilings in the pueblos of Arizona were often made of poles covered with cement. See Chapter XI.
  20. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 550.
  21. Bandelier: “Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.,” p. 86.
  22. Bancroft’s “Native Faces,” Vol. IV, p. 610.
  23. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 613.
  24. “Fifth Annual Report,” p. 86.
  25. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 581. These dimensions are different in different accounts, as may be seen by consulting Mr. Bancroft’s work.
  26. Lyons’s Journal. From Mayer’s “Mexico As It Was,” p. 243.
  27. There is something of a similarity between these ruins and those of the coast tribes of Peru.
  28. Another authority states that it is thirty feet square and thirty feet high. Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 587, note.
  29. As seen in the Drawing. Mr. Lyons states there are seven stories.
  30. This was Clavigaro. Mayer’s “Mexico As It Was,” p. 245.
  31. Thompson’s “Recollections of Mexico,” p. 29.
  32. “An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 163.
  33. The altitude varies according to the side where the measurement is taken. The average height is about one hundred and seventy feet.
  34. To be described hereafter.
  35. See Chapter XI.
  36. Different explorers give different figures.
  37. Taylor’s “Anahuac,” p. 184.
  38. “Mexico As It Was,” p. 180.
  39. Mayer: “Mexico As It Was,” p. 184.
  40. This is in strict keeping with what we have seen to be true of their pueblo sites. This is the conclusion of Mr. Bandelier, who discusses this subject in his essay on “Art of War Among the Mexicans.” Peabody Museum Reports, Vol. II, p. 146, note 186.
  41. Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 419.
  42. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” 393, note.
  43. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 395.
  44. Bandelier: “An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 295.
  45. Mayer: “Mexico As It Was,” pp. 251-2.
  46. Valentine, in “Proceedings Am. Antiq. Soc.,” Oct., 1882.
  47. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 595.
  48. “Smithsonian Report,” 1873, p. 373.

Chapter XIV
THE MAYA TRIBES.

The geographical location of the Maya tribes—Description of Copan—Statue at Copan—Altars at Copan—Ruins at Quiriga Patinamit—Utatlan—Description of Palenque—The Palace at Palenque—The Temple of the Three Inscriptions—Temple of the Beau-relief—Temple of the Cross—Temple of the Sun—Maler’s Temple of the Cross—Significance of the Palenque crosses—Statue at Palenque—Other ruins in Tobasco and Chiapas—Ruins in Yucatan—Uxmal—The Governor’s House—The Nunnery—Room in Nunnery—The sculptured façades—Temple at Uxmal—Kabah—Zayi—Labna—Labphak—Chichen-Itza—The Nunnery—The Castillo—The Gymnasium—M. Le Plongon’s researches—The tradition of the Three Brothers—Chaac-mol—Antiquity of Chichen.