impossible to say. One chamber was discovered some years ago in the lower story, in consequence of the road to Puebla having been cut through it; and two human skeletons, with a number of idols in basalt, and some painted vases, were brought to light. This chamber, which was faced with stone and supported with cypress beams, proved to have no connection with the exterior; and the main mass of the teocalli has, as yet, remained untouched. In the same manner as I have described at San Juan Teotihuacan, the great pyramid of Cholula was surrounded by many inferior erections of the same character, though I am not aware what was their precise arrangements. The ruins of many are seen from the summit; and doubtless divers of those isolated mounds which break the uniformity of the great level in the vicinity for many miles round have a similar origin.
The pyramid of Cholula, with those of San Juan Teotihuacan and Papantla, were found by the Aztecs in Anahuac, upon their first arrival in that country. Indeed the city of Cholula, the "holy city," was still peopled by such of the Toltec race as had maintained their position on the Mexican table land after the dispersion of their tribe, as related in a former letter; and its pyramid is supposed to be more ancient than any other in New Spain.
After the model of these, the Aztecs built their great temples in their capital and elsewhere.
I have elsewhere hinted at the probable identity between Quetzalcoatl, who was here worshipped as the "god of the air," with the patriarch Noah; and also the supposition that the original purpose with which this pyramidal structure was raised, was one and the same with that which is known to have given rise to those of Asia. To Quetzalcoatl, all the ancient tribes of Anahuac attributed their knowledge of melting metals—their rites and ceremonies of religion—and their arrangement of time.
But He, who was at once king, priest, and lawgiver—"born of a virgin"—the "precious stone of suffering and
