Ohio History Journal

PYRAMIDS AND BURIED CITIES IN THE LAND

OF THE MONTEZUMAS.1

BURIED deep in the wildernesses of Mexico and Central

America, innumerable ruined cities await in silence the

coming of the explorer-deserted temples and crumbling

pyramids, builded so-far back in the twilight of time that

not a tradition remains of their founders. In Yucatan

alone no less than sixty-seven prehistoric cities have been

discovered, despite the fact that this wildest territory of

Mexico presents almost insurmountable obstacles to the

traveler, in the way of warlike savages and trackless

deserts whose hot sands out-rival Sahara. Even the all-

conquering Spaniards never succeeded in making much

impression upon. the Mayas of Yucatan, and to this day

there are aboriginal tribes in the interior still flourishing

as before the conquest, but so powerful and bloodthirsty

are they that no venturesome European has returned from

their domain to tell the story.

The first to throw any light upon the ruins of Mexico

was Baron Alexander von Humboldt. He went to that

wonderful country when full of the enthusiasm of youth,

and to him we are indebted for information concerning

the buried city called San Juan Teotihuacan, with its

pyramids and "path of the dead"; of Oxichalco, the

mountain hewed down with terraces, and named "The

Hill of Flowers"; and of the great pyramids of Cholula

and Papantla. But of a hundred prehistoric cities and

pyramids beyond the valley of Mexico-hidden in path-

less forests and untrodden deserts, ruined, desolate and

nameless - Humboldt never heard.

Now that the dangers and difficulties of travel in that

1Abstract of a paper read for the author by Secretary Graham at the first

annual meeting of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, Feb.

ruary 19th, 1886.

319

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320     Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

still comparatively unknown country are somewhat less-

ened by the few railroad lines that have rendered access-

ible the civilized portions, there has been more foreign

travel in the land of the Montezumas within the last five

years than during the preceding five hundred.

The ignorance and indifference of Hispano-Americans

on the archaeology of their country surpasses belief, even

taking into account the natural indolence of Southern

races and the fact that during the last few centuries their

energies have been chiefly expended in uprisings against

the ever-changing government. But since Stevens, M.

Chraney, Dr. Lee Plonshon and others have made impor-

tant discoveries, the "Sister Republic" has awakened to a

lazy consciousness of valuable possessions; but with a

malicious spirit has enacted rigorous laws against the ex-

portation of relics, which would enrich the museums of

the world, yet in which they, themselves, are not sufficiently

interested to bring them to light.

If the traveler enters Mexico from the north, by either

the Mexican National or Mexican Central railroad, he

should stop at that quaint old mountain capital, Zacate-

cas, a populous city in the heart of the Sierra Madras,

lying nearly 9,000 feet above the level of the gulf. Here

manners and customs that prevailed before the Pilgrim

Fathers sought our shores are still preserved intact, though

the proud and wealthy city rejoices in street cars, tele-

phones, electric lights, and other "modern improvements."

Being here, the tourist must by no means neglect a pil-

grimage to La Quemada- some curious ruins about thirty

miles to the westward.

The rocky eminence near the Indian village of La Que-

mada, upon which the ruins lie, is called El Cerro de los

Edificios -"The Hill of Edifices." Like another Acrop-

olis, it rises abruptly from barren plains, its summit being

reached by an ancient causeway, guarded by bastions and

a double wall. The entire mountain is covered thickly

with ruins, but chiefly on the southern side may be traced

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Land of the Montezumas.        321

the remains of magnificent temples, pyramids, altars and

edifices of sacrifice, all cut from the solid basalt, and rising

in the highest part hundreds of feet above the surrounding

country. The rock-built walls were formerly joined by

mortar, but the stones - many of which are more than

twenty feet thick, and of corresponding height -are held

in place mainly by their own massiveness.

Several wide parapets and raised terraces, covered with

gigantic pillars, still remain, and various quadrangular

spaces, surrounded by almost perfect walls. There are

ruined temples and palaces of vast proportions. The

steepest side of the wall is twenty-one feet high, and

the width of its summit-which is level with an ex-

tensive platform--is exactly the same. It is a double

wall; one, ten feet thick, evidently having been first con-

structed and covered with smooth cement, after which the

second wall was built against it. Its platform, which faces

the south, is nearly one hundred feet square; and on its

northern center stands the remains of a circular building;

while the middle of the quadrangle is occupied by a mound

of stones, doubtless an altar.  Not far beyond, is an

enormous square or court. This space is surrounded on

three sides by an elevated terrace, having steps in the

center of each side by which to descend to the square.

Each terrace is backed by a wall, twenty by nine feet.

From the east an entrance, thirty feet wide, communicates

with this court. On the south are two openings scarcely

smaller, while on the west is only one narrow doorway,

leading to an artificial cave or dungeon. On the north the

square is bounded by the steep mountain, and in the center

of that side stands a pyramid with seven distinct ledges.

Immediately behind this pyramid, and all in that portion

which presents itself to the square, are numerous tiers of

seats, either scooped out of the rocks or built up of rough

stones. In the center of the square, due south of the

pyramid, is a small quadrangular pile of stones, about five

feet high and seven feet wide at the summit. Unques-

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322   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

tionably it was an altar, and from the whole character of

the place in which it standsthe peculiar form of the pyra-

mid, the surrounding terrace and the seats on the moun-

tain side, there can be no doubt that this was once a grand

hall of assembly and of sacrifice. Not one of our guides

or servants could be induced to enter the cave, about which

many superstitious stories are believed. We could see

that it had a narrow, well built entrance, showing in many

places the remains of smooth plastering. It is said to be

very deep, and may have been the place of confinement

for victims of the sacrifice. Close by is a sheer cliff, one

hundred and fifty feet high. A carefully built causeway

terminates exactly beneath the cave and overhanging

cliff; and conjecture can form no other idea of its utility

than as being in some manner connected with the pur-

poses of the dungeon.

Though scientists have long puzzled over the origin of

this immense collection of ruins, it remains to this day an

open question by what people they were builded. Not a

trace of the ancient name of the city, nor that of the

nation who inhabited it centuries ago, is anywhere to be

found. The only ray of light thrown upon the subject is

the opinion of the eminent Abbe Clavigero, and that is

speculation only. In his history of Mexico the Abbe

says: "The situation of Chicomoztoe, where the Mexi-

cans sojourned nine years, is not known; but it appears to

be that place thirty miles from Zacatecas, where are still

ruins of stupendous edifices, which, according to tradition,

was the work of the early Aztecs in their migration. It

can not be ascribed to any other known people, for the

native Zacatecanos were so barbarous as neither to live in

houses nor know how to build them."

The Aztecs arrived in the valley of Mexico soon after

the disappearance of the Toltecs, about the year 1240, and

the theory is that during the long years of wandering

between their unknown birth-place, which they called

"Azatlan," and their final settlement, Central Mexico,

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Land of the Montezumas.        323

some of the tribes may have tarried here and built this city.

Should the traveler go to Mexico in the old fashion, by

way of the Gulf, he will land at Vera Cruz. From that

city to Jalapa, over the longest tramway line in America-

more than eighty miles-the journey is delightful. It is

made in one day, the four mules attached to each car being

frequently changed and constantly urged to the top of their

speed by the driver's whip.

Jalapa was an old and populous Aztec city when Cortez

and his adventurous crew first climbed the heights that

encircle the valley of Mexico. The conquerors called it

"The Land of Roses," and from the ancient town that

valuable plant known to materia medica as jalap takes its

name, being found in great abundance upon all the adja-

cent mountains. It is an ideal city-the city of a dream.

All its ancient churches and monasteries and pink-tinted

adobe cottages--many of them two or three centuries old

-are embowered in vines and roses, surrounded by orange

groves and coffee plantations, and its fields are hedged with

bananas, olives, pine-apples and cocoa-palms. Though

so far in the tropics, its altitude precludes excessive heat

and secures immunity from yellow jack and vomito, those

deadly scourges of the lowlands, while all the year is one

long and lazy summer-time, tempered by gentle breezes

blowing over the Gulf. The natives believe that right

here was located the veritable Garden of Eden.

From Jalapa to the far-famed pyramid of Papantla is a

distance of about fifty miles, due northward. Diligences

run as far as Tusintlan, and thence one must proceed on

horseback through the almost impenetrable forest.

The pyramid of Papantla is not built of brick, or of

clay mixed with whinstones, as are most of those in

Mexico, but of immense blocks of porphyry, in the seams

of which mortar may still be distinguished. The base of

the pyramid is an exact square, each side eighty-two feet

long, with a perpendicular height of sixty feet. Like all

Mexican teocallis, or places of human sacrifice, it is corn

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324    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

posed of successive stages, a great stairway leading to the

truncated summit.

Hieroglyphics and strange figures, serpents, frogs and

crocodiles, are carved in relief on the faced stones of each

story, while the square niches in every terrace, three hun-

dred and sixty-six in number, have given rise to a conjec-

ture that they may have had some connection with the

ancient Toltec calendar. The twelve additional niches

that appear in the stair toward the East perhaps stood for

the twelve "useless" days at the end of their cycle.

This edifice is remarkable, not so much for its size as for

perfect symmetry, the polish of its stones, and the regu-

larity of their cut. In his work on "New Spain," Hum-

boldt refers to the analogy of the brick monuments of

Mexico to the temple of Belus at Babylon, and the pyra-

mids near Sakhara, in Egypt. "There are in Mexico pyra-

mids of several stages, in the forests of Papantla at a

small elevation above the sea, and in the plains of Cholula

and Teotihuacan at elevations surpassing those of our

passes in the Alps. We are astonished to see in regions

most remote from one another, and under climates of the

greatest diversity, man following the same model in his

edifices, his ornaments, his habits, and even in the form

of his political institutions."

For centuries after the Spaniards had possessed them-

selves of Mexico, the Indians jealously concealed from

them all knowledge of these monuments, and this of Pa-

pantla was accidentally discovered by a party of hunters

as late as 1870.

Remains of idol-worship are scattered for miles in every

direction, showing a great diversity of deities, but whether

all were worshipped at once by one people, or by different

tribes in succeeding generations, none can tell. Ask any

of the natives "Who made this monument?" and the in-

variable answer is a dull " Quien sabe- who knows?"

Within an hour's railroad ride from the City of Mexico

is San Juan Teotihuacan-one of the most interesting

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Land of the Montezumas.           325

places in the world to antiquarians, historians and curi-

osity-hunters. It is the site of a buried city, twenty miles

square, whose foundations were laid so long in the past

that no records remain of it. We only know that it was

of pre-Toltec origin, and that the Toltecs disappeared from

the Valley of Mexico before the arrival of the Aztecs.

According to Prescott, who closely follows the native

historian, Clavigero, the Toltecs arrived here in the year

648, and after four centuries vanished as mysteriously as

they came. They fixed their capital at Tula, a point

about as far north from the City of Mexico as Teotihua-

can is south; and in some subsequent migration they

found here a city and took possession, but whether by

conquest, or finding it deserted by the original inhab-

itants, there are no means of knowing. Shadowy accounts,

savoring more of legend than history, tell of the dis-

ruption of the Toltecs and their final dispersion from Tula.

This was long after their great hero, Quetzalcoatl, since

deified as the "Plumed Serpent," or " God of the Air," had

developed among them a civilization remarkable for that

period, and had deserted them at the bidding of the jealous

god, Tezcatlipoca, first to reign at Cholula, and then in an

unknown kingdom east of Yucatan. The Indian his-

torian, Ixthlxochill, affirms that the Toltecs were ruined

all on account of a woman. He states that seeds of dis-

turbance were sown in the hitherto peaceful kingdom of

Tollan through the illicit love of the then reigning mon-

arch, Topiltzin, for the beautiful daughter of one of his

nobles. Possessing himself of the maiden by force and

fraud, the punishment came speedily, and when the nat-

ural son of this monarch and maiden ascended to the

throne, the nation was scattered. Most of them wan-

dered southward, and finding at Teotihuacan some arti-

ficial pyramids already constructed, determined to make

them the nucleus of a second sacred city. No more trace

is left of the original name of those pyramids than of the

forgotten people who gave it.

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326    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

The Toltecs called the place Teotihuacan, which signi-

fies "The Habitation of the Gods." Here for many years

their kings came to be crowned; here dwelt their priests,

and in spacious chambers within the smaller pyramids

their dead were buried.

The two principal pyramids were called Tonathiu Itza-

cual, "House of the Sun," and Meztli, "The House of the

Moon." The former is nearly two hundred feet high, with

a base of seven hundred feet. The platform on its sum-

mit is about seventy-five feet square, and its exact center

is marked by a modern monument of stone.

The pyramid of the moon-one hundred yards distant,

has a height of one hundred and thirty-seven and a base

measurement four hundred and twenty-six by five hundred

and eleven feet. Each pyramid was once crowned by a

temple, said to have contained stone idols wearing golden

breast plates; and we are told that outside the edifice on

the summit of Tonathiu Itzacual once stood a colossal

figure of its presiding deity, covered with burnished gold,

which glowed so brightly in the sunlight as to guide wor-

shippers on their way to this ancient Mecca.

Both pyramids are composed of stones, cement and pot-

tery, but time has so softened their outlines that to-day

they hardly appear more sharply defined than an ordinary

steep-sided hill. Three terraces may still be distinctly

traced around the pyramid of the sun, and two around

that of the moon. One can ascend to the summit of

either by a winding pathway, starting from the southern

base. Neither pyramid now contains any vestige of statue

or temple; but a little to the left of the greater mound

may be found an imme se idol, supposed to have formerly

graced the summit.

M. Charney, the French explorer, disentombed it not

long ago from a mighty pile of debris, in which it was

perhaps hidden by the terrified Toltecs at their final over-

throw. The statue is o solid stone, about ten feet high,

and eight feet through the head. Its face is not that of a

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Land of the Montezumas.           327

monster, like the gods of the Aztecs, but differs as much

from them in its benign expression as the pastoral people,

who worshipped it, differed from their fierce successors.

The eyes are as large as a barrel-head, nose flat, ears like

two enormous buckwheat cakes and ludicrously flanged,

mouth in the exact shape of a watermelon and half open,

while in his breast a square orifice is hollowed out, into

which a man might put his head. The whole is cut from

a single block of trachyte, and no savant is wise enough

to tell how those early Mexicans managed to carve it from

the solid rock with their primitive tools. In the mountain

of rubbish, beneath which the god was buried, we found

great quantities of obsidian or itztli. This natural glass,

melted thousands of years ago in the furnaces of Orizaba

and Popocatapetl, was used by the ancients for their im-

plements and weapons. Prescott says: "They wielded

the terrible maynahuitl, with its sharp and brittle blades

of obsidian;" and "warriors, whose spears and bludgeons,

armed with blades of volcanic glass, gleamed in the morn-

ing light."

The pyramid of the moon is believed to have been a

place of sacrifice, and its interior a sepulchre. About two

hundred yards away lies a great carved block called the

" Sacrificial Stone," which is said to have been overthrown

by order of the Spanish Bishop, Zumarraga, whose van-

dal hands destroyed more treasures of antiquity than his

bigoted head was worth. In the western side of the

smaller pyramid is an opening, supposed by many to lead to

hitherto unexplored treasure-vaults. The eminent author,

Fred Ober, crept into this narrow passage, about thirty

feet down an incline, and had the satisfaction of reaching

only a deep pozo, or well. Farther than this no one has

yet penetrated. The walls of both passage and well are

beautifully cut and perfectly smooth. It is conjectured that

the pyramid of the sun has a similar opening, as yet un-

known because hidden by the accumulated debris of cen-

turies; it is believed that when this is found a larger cham-

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328    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

ber will be discovered than that within the other pyramid,

owing to its greater length of base, approximating nearly

to that of Cheops.

There are many smaller mounds and pyramidal eleva-

tions, surrounding the larger ones and lining a broad road-

way called Micoatli, the "Path of the Dead."  Most of the

tunnels are about 25 feet high, ranged regularly along both

sides of the wonderful avenue. Their long-dead builders

dedicated them to the stars, and used them as places of

burial. Signor Cubas, the Mexican archaeologist, asserts

that human bones have been taken from many of these

tunnels; and it is not improbable that most of the clay

heads which are found scattered so profusely all over the

plain may be the effigies of buried priests and rulers. In

his study of the place, Cubas likens the little river of Teo-

tihuacan to the Nile, and sees a second Memphis-in short,

finds here a perfect duplication of the pyramids of Egypt.

From these premises he argues that the people who

constructed the American monuments either must have

come directly from Egypt, or at least were descendants of

others to whom the Egyptians had transmitted knowledge.

Many of these effigies are perfectly Egyptian in features,

style and expression, while others are as plainly negro.

All are without bodies, and no two have ever been found

precisely alike-which seems to substantiate the theory

that they were designed as the likeness of priests or prom-

inent people. So abundant are they, and, happily, the

place is so far removed from the route of the average tour-

ist, that one can scarcely walk over these fields without

treading on them. A recent traveler writes: "Our ener-

gies were taxed to the utmost to keep away the horde of

ragged juveniles, who appeared with sacks full of clay

heads, obsidian knives and other curious relics which they

insisted upon our buying. Others have wondered, as we

wonder to-day, at the unlimited supply of these antiquities,

as the fields are actually full of them."

The easiest way to explore Teotihuacan is to go out

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Land of the Montezumas.         329

from the City of Mexico early in the morning, by the Mex-

ican Railway, (about thirty miles), returning to the Capital

at evening, and repeating the process as many times as

may be desired. Whenever an excavation is made any-

where within a radius of many miles, smooth sheets of

well preserved plaster or cement are discovered, from two

to six feet below the surface. These are doubtless the

fallen walls of the Sacred City that once surrounded the

pyramids.

From the summit of either pyramid a superb view is ob-

tained of many surrounding villages, the white towers of

the City of Mexico shining in the distance, and the envi-

roning mountains beyond, which upon all sides shut in the

cup-like valley of Anahuac. An old Spanish pamphlet

gives a very full account of the mythology pertaining

to the spot. The author of the pamphlet (Clavigero)

gives as his authority an Indian historian whose data were

principally compiled from the picture-writings of the an-

cients on woven fibres of the century plant. The plain

of Teotihuacan appears to have been a favorite tramping

ground for mythological spooks, and hundreds of traditions

concerning the antics of the gods are treated here. Such

important events as the regeneration of the human race,

and the reconstruction of the sun and moon, occurred in

this place. The story is of a god and goddess who pre-

sided over new-born infants and granted the prayers of

mortals. The goddess, whose name was Omecihuatl, after

having borne many children in heaven, brought forth one

day a knife of flint, which her enraged husband immedi-

ately flung to earth-when lo! from its fragments sprang

sixteen hundred heroes! At once this numerous brood

began clamoring for power, and petitioned their mother to

create for them a race of mortals whom they might utilize

as servants. At first Omecihuatl declined having any-

thing to do with such a singular progeny; but at length

she became weary of their prayers and had them go to the

god of Hades, and, in her name, request the loan of a bone

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330    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

from one of the mortals who had perished in the universal

destruction. This bone she ordered them to sprinkle with

their blood, whereupon she promised a human pair should

spring from it who would regenerate the species. One of

the heroes, Xolotl, departed on the dangerous errand, and

obtained what he desired from the dreaded deity of Sheol.

But fearing that his Satanic majesty might repent the gift,

he hastened toward earth so precipitately that he fell and

broke the bone. Nevertheless, he brought the precious

fragments to his brothers, who placed them in a vessel and

sprinkled them with blood drawn from their veins. On the

fourth day thereafter a boy appeared, and three days later

a girl was formed. Xolotl constituted himself the guardian

of these miraculous children, and reared them on the milk

of thistle, and through them eventually the world was re-

peopled by mortals.

Then followed the marvelous creation of the sun and the

moon. On the plain which had been the scene of these

wonderful events, the descendants of the miraculous pair

whom Xolotl reared, consecrated temples to the sun, the

moon and the stars, and doubtless the pyramids of San

Juan Teotihuacan were shrines and altars to their worship.

In the principal temple on the great pyramid of the sun,

four priests dwelt continually who were remarkable for the

virtue and austerity of their lives. Their dress was of

the poorest stuffs, and their food was confined to one loaf

of maize weighing two ounces, with a single cup of gruel

made from the same grain. Every night two of these de-

votees kept watch, singing hymns to the gods, offering

incense and shedding their own blood upon the stones of

the temple by piercing their flesh with thorns. These

vigils and fastings were continued four years. At the end

of that time they retired from the temple and their places

were supplied by four others, who endured the same suf-

ferings, and in honor thereof-if they survived them-

received the homage of the people and the respect of

their sovereign. High as was the recompense of their

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Land of the Montezumas.           331

virtues, the punishment for vice and violation of chastity

was correspondingly severe. If the crime was proved,

the culprit was beaten to death with rods, his body burned,

and the ashes scattered to the winds.

Concerning the final destruction of the ancient Empire,

the historian relates that the gods were very angry with

the Toltecs, and, to avert their wrath, a meeting of all the

wise men, priests and nobles was held at the holy city,

Teotihuacan, where from most ancient times the deities

had been wont to listen to the prayers of men. In the

midst of their feasts and sacrifices an enormous demon,

with long arms and bony fingers, appeared dancing in the

court,where the people were assembled. Whirling through

the crowd in every direction, he seized upon those that

came in his way and dashed them at his feet, and informed

the terror-stricken Toltecs that their fate as a nation was

sealed, and that the remnant could escape destruction only

by flight.

Did time permit, we might speak of Tula, one of the

most ancient of still populated cities, settled A. D. 700,

with its wonderful sculptures, and the " Hill of Shouting,"

from whence the laws of the Toltecs were promulgated;

of the sacred city Cholula, the "Rome of Anahuac," with

its pyramid equal in size to Cheops, supposed to have been

built by Quetzalcoatl, the "Feathered Serpent;" and of

the "Hill of the Stars," out toward the Floating Gardens,

near the City of Mexico, where the Aztecs paraded in

solemn procession at the end of each cycle of fifty years,

and upon its now ruined altar, sacrificed a beautiful female

that the sun might be induced to continue his course, and

save the world from endless night.

No land is so rich in archaeology as that lying at our

doors. There is no need to cross the oceans and search

the so-called older world; greater marvels await the anti-

quarian upon our own continent.

FANNIE B. WARD.

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