Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/76

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48
GENERAL INFORMATION.

lies about fifty miles north of the capital. The ruins on the northern part of the table-land consist of communal dwellings, similar to those of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. They were built of several stories, one being ranged above the other. There were no doors on the first floor, and the upper stories were reached by means of ladders. The roofs were commonly flat. These edifices were sometimes built of stone, but wood and adobe, or sun-dried brick, have been more frequently used.

Toltec Palace.

This class of ruins is common in the State of Chihuahua, and also in the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico. The reports of the Pacific Railroad surveys describe many of these ancient towns. Some of them are still inhabited, as Taos, Zuni, and Moqui. If the traveler approaches Mexico by either of the railroads in Colorado or Arizona, he will pass within a few miles of some of the “Pueblo" dwellings. The Indians of the New Mexican pueblos resemble those of Mexico in stature, physiognomy, and