Pyramid of Xochicalco.
I translate from the Revista the following remarks about the sculptured figures: "At each angle, and on each side, is seen a colossal dragon's head, from whose great mouth, armed with enormous teeth, projects a forked tongue; but in some the tongue is horizontal, while in others it falls vertically; in the first it points towards a sign which is believed to be that of water, and in the others towards different signs or emblems.... Some have pretended to see in these dragons images of crocodiles; but nothing certain can be known of these fantastic figures which have no model in nature.... On the two sides still standing there are two figures of men larger than the natural size, seated cross-legged in the eastern fashion, wearing necklaces of enormous pearls, rich ornaments, and a head-dress out of all proportion, with long flowing plumes. In one hand they hold a kind of sceptre, and the other is placed on the breast; a hieroglyphic of great size, placed in the middle of each side, separates the two figures, whose heads are turned, on the east side, one north and the other south, while on the north side both face the west. The frieze which surrounds this story presents a series of small human figures, also seated in the eastern manner, with the right hand crossed on the breast, and the left resting on a curved sword, whose hilt reminds us of ancient swords; a thing the more worthy of attention since no people descended from the Toltecs or Aztecs has made use of this kind of arms. The head-dress of these small figures, which closely resemble those mentioned before, is always disproportionately large, and this circumstance, which is found in all the Egyptian mythologic fables, is considered in the latter an emblem of power or divinity. With the human figures are seen various signs, some of which seem allegorical and others chronologic, so far as may be judged from their conformity with those employed in the Aztec paintings.... Another sign, apparently of a different nature, is often repeated among the figures; it is a dragon's mouth, open and armed with teeth, as in the large reliefs, from which projects instead of a tongue a disk divided by a cross.... It has also been thought (Alzate) that dances are represented on the frieze of Xochicalco, but its perfect preservation makes such an error inexcusable, and figures seated with legs crossed and hands on a sword, exclude any idea of sacred or warlike dances, and suggest only mythologic or historical scenes. Over the frieze was a cornice adorned with very delicate designs in the form of oalmetas or meandres in the Greek style." The cut shows one of the bas-reliefs on a larger scale than in the preceding illustrations. There is, as Nebel observes, a certain likeness between these sculptured designs and the stucco reliefs of Palenque, although in the architectural features of the monument, and of the base on which it rests, there seems to be no analogy whatever with any of the southern ruins.
Bas-Relief from Xochicalco.
On the summit of this lower structure a few sculptured foundation stones of a second story were found yet in place, the walls being two feet and three inches from the edge of the lower, except on the west, where the space is four feet and a half. According to the report of the inhabitants of the vicinity, the structure had originally five receding stories, similar to the first in outward appearance, which were all standing as late as 1755, making the whole edifice probably about sixty-five feet high. It is said to have terminated in a platform, on the eastern side of which stood a large block, forming a kind of throne, covered with hieroglyphic sculpture. The proprietors of neighboring sugar-works were the authors of the monument's destruction, the stone being of a nature suitable for their furnaces, and none other being obtainable except at a great distance. Alzate puts on record the name of one Estrada as the inaugurator of this disgraceful work of devastation.[IX-41] Several restorations of the pyramid of Xochicalco have been attempted on paper, that by the artist Nebel being probably the only one that bears any likeness to the original; and even his sketch, so far as the sculptured designs are concerned, must be regarded as extremely conjectural, having as a foundation only a few scattered blocks and the reports of the 'oldest inhabitant.' At the Paris international exhibition in 1867 a structure was built and exhibited in the Champs de Mars, purporting to be a fac-simile of this monument; but judging from a cut published in a London paper, it might with equal propriety have been exhibited as a model of any other ruin in the new or old world.[IX-42]
The second story seems to have had interior apartments, with three doorways at the head of the grand stairway. On the summit of the lower story, according to the Revista, is a pit, perhaps a covered apartment originally, measuring twenty-two feet square, and nearly filled with fragments of stone, some of them sculptured, which were not removed. It is of course possible that there exists some means of communication between this apartment and the subterranean galleries of the hill below.
East of the hill of Xochicalco, on the road to Miacatlan, an immense stone was said to have been found serving as a kind of cover to a hole, perhaps the entrance to a subterranean gallery, on the face of which was sculptured an eagle tearing a prostrate native Prometheus. It was broken up and most of the pieces carried away, but Alzate saw one fragment containing a part of the sculptured thigh, from which perhaps with the aid of his imagination and his knowledge of Grecian mythology the good padre prepared a drawing of the whole, which he published. Later visitors have not even seen a fragment of so wonderful a relic. Mr Tylor speaks of a small paved oval space somewhere in connection with the ruin, in which he found fragments of a clay idol. There are no springs of water on or near the hill.
The Revista says, "adjoining this hill is another higher one, also covered with terraces of stone-work in form of steps. A causeway of large marble flags led to the top, where there are still some excavations and among them a mound of large size. Nothing further in the way of monuments is to be seen on the lower (part of the?) hill except a granite block, which may be the great square stone mentioned by Alzate, which served to close the entrance to a subterranean gallery, situated east of the principal monument." There are also some traces of one terrace indicated on Castañeda's view of the larger hill. On the sculptured façades of the pyramid, all have found traces of color in sheltered places, and have concluded that the whole surface was originally painted red, except the author of the account in the Revista, who thinks that the groundwork of the reliefs only was covered with a colored varnish, as was the usage in Egypt. Löwenstern claims to have found in the vicinity of Xochicalco the foundation of many aboriginal dwellings.
A slight resemblance has been noted in some of the sculptured human figures, seated cross-legged, to the Maya sculptures and stucco reliefs of Central America; a few figures, like that of the rabbit, may present some analogies to Aztec sculptures, many specimens of which will be shown in the present chapter; the very fact of its being a pyramid in several stories, gives to Xochicalco a general likeness to all the more important American ruins; the terraces on the hill-slopes have their counterparts at Quiotepec and elsewhere; the absence of mortar between the façade-stones is a feature also of Mitla; still as a whole the monument of Xochicalco stands alone; both in architecture and sculpture it presents strong contrasts with Copan, Uxmal, Palenque, Mitla, Cholula, Teotihuacan, or the many pyramids of Vera Cruz. There is no definite tradition referring the origin of this monument to any particular pre-Aztec period, save the universal modern tradition among the natives referring everything wonderful to the Toltecs. It is not, moreover, improbable that the pyramid was built by a Nahua people during the Aztec period; for it must be remembered first that all the grand temples in Anáhuac—the Aztec territory proper—have disappeared since the Conquest, so that a comparison of such buildings with that of Xochicalco is impossible; and second, that the Aztecs were superior to the nations immediately surrounding them in war rather than art, so that it would be by no means surprising to find a grander temple in Cuernavaca than in the valley of Mexico. The Aztec sculpture on such monuments as have been found in the city of Mexico if different from, is not inferior to that at Xochicalco, and there is no reason whatever to doubt the ability of the Aztecs to build such a pyramid. Still there remains of course the possibility of a pre-Aztec antiquity for the building on the hill of flowers, and of Maya influence exerted upon its builders.[IX-43]