PYRAMID OF CHOLULA.
About ten miles west of the city of Puebla de los Angeles, and in the eastern outskirts of the pueblo of Cholula, is the famous pyramid known throughout the world by the name of Cholula. The town at its base was in aboriginal times a large and flourishing city, and a great religious centre. The day of its glory was in the Toltec period, before the tenth century of our era, and tradition points for the building of the pyramid to a yet more remote epoch, when the Olmecs were the masters of the central plateaux. Several times during the religious contests that raged between the devotees of rival deities, the temple of Cholula was destroyed and rebuilt. Its final destruction dates from the coming of the Spaniards, who, under Hernan Cortés, after a fierce hand-to-hand conflict on the slopes of the pyramid, maddened by the desperate resistance of the natives, elated by victory, or incited by fanatical religious zeal and avarice, sacked and burned the magnificent structure on the top of the mound. Since the time of the Conquistador, after the fierce spirit of the Spaniards had expended its fury on this and other monuments reared in honor of heathen gods, the mound was allowed to remain in peace, save the construction of a winding road leading up to a modern chapel on the summit, where services are performed in which the great Quetzalcoatl has no share.[IX-10]
Since 1744, when the historian Clavigero rode up its side on horseback, this pyramid has been visited by hundreds of travelers, few tourists having left Anáhuac without having seen so famous a monument of antiquity, so easily accessible from the cities of Mexico and Puebla. Humboldt's description, made from a personal exploration in 1803, is perhaps the most complete that was ever published, and most succeeding visitors have deemed it best to quote his account as being better than any they could write from their own observations. Dupaix and Castañeda, and in later times Nebel, also examined and made drawings of Cholula. The four or five views of the mound that have been published differ greatly from each other, accordingly as the artist pictured the monument as he saw it or attempted to restore it more or less to its original form. Humboldt's drawing, which has been more extensively copied than any other, contrary to what might be expected from his text, was altogether a restoration, and bore not the slightest resemblance to the original as he saw it, since Clavigero found it in 1744, "so covered with earth and shrubs that it seems rather a natural hill than an edifice," and there is no reason to suppose that at a later date it assumed a more regular form.[IX-11]
For the past two centuries, at least, the condition and appearance of the mound has been that of a natural conical hill, rising from the level of a broad valley, and covering with its circular base an area of over forty acres.[IX-12] On closer examination, however, traces of artificial terraces are noted on the slopes, and excavations have proven that the whole mound, or at least a very large portion of it—for no excavation has ever been made reaching to its centre—is of artificial construction. By the careful surveys of Humboldt and others the original form and dimensions have been clearly made known. From a base about fourteen hundred and forty feet square, whose sides face the cardinal points, it rose in four equal stories to a height of nearly two hundred feet, having a summit platform of about two hundred feet square.[IX-13] Humboldt in 1803 found the four terraces tolerably distinct, especially on the western slope; Evans in 1870 found the lower terrace quite perfect, but the others traceable only in a few places without excavation.
The material of which the mound was constructed is adobes, or sun-dried bricks, generally about fifteen inches long, laid very regularly with alternate layers of clay. From its material comes the name Tlalchihualtepec, 'mountain of unburnt bricks,' which has been sometimes applied to Cholula. An old tradition relates that the adobes were manufactured at Tlalmanalco, and brought several leagues to their destination by a long line of men, who handed them along singly from one to another. Humboldt thought some of the bricks might have been slightly burned. Respecting the material which constitutes the alternate layers between the bricks, called clay by Humboldt, there seems to be some difference of opinion between different explorers. Col. Brantz Mayer, a careful investigator, says the adobes are interspersed with small fragments of porphyry and limestone; and Mr Tylor speaks of them as cemented with mortar containing small stones and pottery. Evans tells us that the material is adobe bricks and layers of lava, still perfect in many places. The historian Veytia by a personal examination ascertained the material to be "small stones of the kind called guijarros, and a kind of bricks of clay and straw," in alternate layers.[IX-14] Beaufoy claims to have found the pyramid faced with small thin hewn stones, one of which he carried away as a relic—a very wonderful discovery certainly, when we consider that other very trustworthy explorers, both preceding and following Beaufoy, found nothing of the kind. Mr Heller could not find the stone facing, but, as he says, he did find a coating of mortar as hard as stone, composed of lime, sand, and water.[IX-15] Many visitors have believed that the pyramid is only partially artificial, the adobe-work having been added to a smaller natural hill. This is, however, a mere conjecture, and there are absolutely no arguments to be adduced for or against it. The truth can be ascertained only by the excavation of a tunnel through the mound at its base, or, at least, penetrating to the centre. It is very remarkable that such an excavation has never been made, either in the interests of scientific exploration or of treasure-seeking.
Bernal Diaz, at the time of the Conquest, counted a hundred and twenty steps in a stairway which led up the slope to the temple, but no traces of such a stairway have been visible in more modern times. There are traditions among the natives, as is usually the case in connection with every work of the antiguos, of interior galleries and apartments of great extent within the mound; such rumors are doubtless without foundation. The Puebla road cuts off a corner of the lower terrace, and the excavation made in building the road not only showed clearly the regular interior construction of the pyramid, but also laid bare a tomb, which contained two skeletons with two idols in basalt, a collection of pottery, and other relics not preserved or particularly described, although the remains of the tomb itself were examined by Humboldt. The sepulchre was square, with stone walls supported by cypress beams. The dimensions are not given, but the apartment is said to have had no traces of any outlet. Humboldt claims to have discovered a peculiar arrangement of the adobes about this tomb, by which the pressure on its roof was diminished.
It is very evident that the pyramid of Cholula contains nothing in itself to indicate its age, but from well-defined and doubtless reliable traditions, we may feel very sure that its erection dates back to an epoch preceding the tenth century, and probably preceding the seventh. Humboldt shows that it is larger at the base than any of the old-world pyramids, over twice as large as that of Cheops, but only slightly higher than that of Mycerinus. "The construction of the teocalli recalls the oldest monuments to which the history of the civilization of our race reaches. The temple of Jupiter Bélus, which the mythology of the Hindus seems to designate by the name of Bali, the pyramids of Meïdoùm and Dahchoùr, and several of the group of Sakharah in Egypt, were also immense heaps of bricks, the remains of which have been preserved during a period of thirty centuries down to our day."[IX-16]
The historical annals of aboriginal times, confirmed by the Spanish records of the Conquest, leave no doubt that the chief object of the pyramid was to support a temple; the discovery of the tomb with human remains may indicate that it served also for burial purposes. It is by no means certain, however, that the mound was in any sense a monument reared over the two bodies whose skeletons were found; for besides the position of the skeletons in a corner of the pyramid, indicating in itself the contrary, there is the possibility that the bodies were those of slaves sacrificed during the process of building, and deposited here from some superstitious motive. It will require the discovery of tombs near the centre of this immense mound to prove that it was erected with any view to use as the burial place of kings or priests.[IX-17] Wilson, always a sceptic on matters connected with Mexican aboriginal civilization, pronounces the pyramid of Cholula "the finest Indian mound on this continent; where the Indians buried the bravest of their braves, with bows and arrows, and a drinking cup, that they might not be unprovided for when they should arrive at the hunting-grounds of the great spirit." "It is sufficiently wasted by time to give full scope to the imagination to fill out or restore it to almost any form. One hundred years ago, some rich citizen constructed steps up its side, and protected the sides of his steps from falling earth by walls of adobe, or mud-brick; and on the west side some adobe buttresses have been placed to keep the loose earth out of the village street. This is all of mans labor that is visible, except the work of the Indians in shaving away the hill which constitutes this pyramid. As for the great city of Cholula, it never had an existence."[IX-18] At a short distance from the foot of the large pyramid, two smaller ones are mentioned by several visitors; one of which is doubtless a portion of the chief mound separated by the road that has been already mentioned. One of them is described by Beaufoy as having perpendicular sides, and built of adobes nine inches square and one inch thick; the second was much smaller and had a corn-patch on its summit. Cuts of the two small mounds are given by the same explorer. Bullock claims to have found on the top of one of the detached masses a ditch and wall forming a kind of figure-eight-formed enclosure one hundred feet long, in which were many human bones. Evans has a theory that the small mounds were formed of the material taken from the larger one in shaping its terraces. Latrobe says that many ruined mounds may be seen from the summit; in fact, that the whole surface of the surrounding plain is broken by both natural and artificial elevations. Ampère was led by his native guide, through a misunderstanding, to a flat-topped terraced hill, still bearing traces of a pavement, at a locality called Zapotecas.[IX-19]
The only miscellaneous Cholulan relics of which I find a mention, are three described by Dupaix and sketched by Castañeda. They were, a stone head, said to have originally been the top of a column; a quadrangular block, with incised hieroglyphics on one of its faces; and a mask of green jasper, reported to have been dug from the pyramid.[IX-20]