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Show hOOK VT. ~--- 1 J I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. rcprefl·ntcd hill s, rocks, ~nd precipice , an~ fr~m whi c.l~ th.ey iiluc_~ to th:1t gcncrJl chace wluch we {hall dcfcnbc 111 anothc1 pat t of tb1" work. . . Par ticul1\r a1 artmcnts were de!l:ined for the keepmg of the Hlol s, the ornaments, :1nd all the fu rnitu re of their temples ; and among them were tb n.:c halls fo large, that the Sp::miards were a!l:oniOlCd upon fee ing them. Among the bn ild in~s mof~ .fl:riking fi·om tl' .:.:i1.· fi ngularit-y, was a grt:at prifon li ke a cage, 111 wluch they kept .t n~ 1?ols of rl:c conquered nations as if imprifoned. In fome other btuld_mgs of tlll6 kind they prdi.:rved the heads of thofe who hn._d been ftcnficed, fomc of which were no thing but heaps of bones ptled upon one another. In others the heads wcr arranged in ·regular order upon poles, or fixed againfi the walls, forming, by the variety of their difp ii tion, ·~ f~1CCt. t 1c not lefs curious than horrid. The gre:Heft of the(<.; buddmg called Ituitozomprm, although not within the great wall, was but a little way from 'it, over againfi the principal gate. This was a prodigious rampart of earth, longer than it was broad, in the form of a half pyramid. In the lowefi part it was one hundred and fifty-fonr feet long. The afc nt to the plain upon the top of it was by a fi:air-cafe of thirty fi:eps. Upon that plain. were erecred about four feet afunder, more than icvcnty very long beams, bored from top to b9ttom. By thefe holes, fiicl s were pafied acrofs from one beam to another, and upon each of them a certain ni.1mber of heads were !l:rnng by the temples. Upon the !l:eps nlfo of the fhir-cafe there was a head betwixt very ftone; and at each end of the f:m1e cdifi ·c was a tower whi h appear d to have been made only of ikulls ~1nd lime. As foon ns a hend began to crumble with age, the pricfts ft~pp1icd its place with a frc{h one from the bone-heaps in order to preferve the due nnmber and arrangement. The flwlls of onlimry victims were firippcd of the fealp; but thofc of men of rank, and great warriors, they endcnvoured to pr fervc with the fkin ;1nd beard and hair ntire, which fervcd only to r nder more frightful th of~ trophi s of their barbarous fuperftition, The number of heads pr ferv ed in this and fueh other buildings is fo gr at, that f0me of the Spanif11 conquerors took the trouble of reckoning t1p thofe upon H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. upon the ll:t.:ps of this building, and upon the files betwixt the beams, and fo~md them amoun~ to one hundred thirty-fix thou £.1.nd (e). They who w101 fqr a more mmute detail of the buildings within the wall of the gre.1t. tc~n pic, may read the relation of Sahagun in Torq uemadn, and the defcnpt1on of the fcventy-cight edifices there by Dr. Hernandez, in the N:1tural 1 Iifl:ory of Niercmberg. Bcfin~s theCc temples there were others fcattercd in dificrent quarters of the c1ty. oome authors make the number of temples in that capital (comp~·ehcnding, a mn.y be imagined, even the fmalldl) rllllOUilt to two th uland; and th:1t of the towers to three hundred and ilxty, but we do not know that any one ever acrunlly collnted them. There can be no doubt, however, that they were very nLJmeroll s, and amonrr them [even or io·ht difi:inguifllablc for their iize; but that of Thlte~ loko, confecrated likewi[c to IIuitzilopochtli, rofe above them :1!!. Out of the cnpi tal, the mofl:: celebrated were thof~ of Tezcuc:o Chol uL.l, 1 and Teot~h ua~a n. . Bern::tl Di:1z, who J1ad the curioli ty tc; number tnc flep o( theu· fiam, f.1ys, that the temple of Tczcuco had one hundred and feve.ntcen, and that of Cho]ula one hundrcJ :tnrl twenty. We do not know whether that hlmous temple of T czcuc:o wns the farne with Tczcutzineo, fo celebrated bt Valades in his Chri-jilim Rhdoric, or th fame with that renowned tower of nine bodies, erec:l:ed hy the 1 ing Nczahualcojotl, to the Creator of heaven. Tlt great temple of Cholula, like many others of that city, wa :lcdicatcd to their 1_1rotcCl:or uetzalcoatl. All the old hiil:orians fp ak with wonder of the number of the temples in Cholula. Cort wr t · t the emperor Charles V. that from the top of one temple he had coun t cl. more th:1.n fonr hunJcd towers of others(/). The lofty pyramid rai(c([ by the Toltcca remains to this day, in that place where there w.l · (r) Andrea de Tapio~, nn ofliccr belonging to Cortes, :utd one of them wbo ountnl 1 hr 1ku l~7• g:.•vc. thi s inform:ttiou to Gomara the hifiorian, according to his own rdlimony in cap. lxx" 11 • o! Ins llifl:ory of Mex ico. (/) "Cenift co a vucOra Altct.a qttc yo contl: dcld cr l1na mozquit:t qu atro cir ntn~ y t.trlt:r, "torr~s t ' ll Ia clid ta • iuuad (de Ch\)hila) y todas ion de mc1.quitas." .Lctrrr ro h a r l ~s V. O, r. 3°• 15 .to. 'fh t: rmonymous ronqu cror affirms, t!.:rt he counted one hundred anrlninl'l) r nwcr~ of ti\C temples and pahr ccs. Hcrn:rl J)ia7. fays, that th ey cxccctk d a hundrl'd ; lnu it is probable, that the two authors counted thofc only which were rcrn~rkahlc for t it ·ir hcio lrc. Sonw later authors have lirid that rh cfc towers were as many in nurnhcr as the days of rht:·yt·.rr. M m 2 for- Sr•c r. XII. Other tcnr plci . |