o the Toltecs, or, at any rate, to a civilised nation greatly
previous to the Aztecs; for the ruins were abandoned and their origin
unknown when these people arrived. Cortes and his Spaniards, defeated
and fleeing after the terrible struggle of the _Noche Triste_, passed
near to the great earth pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, which are the
main structures of Teotihuacan; but even at that time they were--as
they are to-day--mere mounds of earth, in which the pyramidal form has
been partly obliterated by the action of time.

[Illustration: PREHISTORIC MEXICO: THE PYRAMID OF THE SUN AT
TEOTIHUACAN, IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO, SEEN FROM THE PYRAMID OF THE
MOON.]

The very extensive mounds and remains which constitute Teotihuacan are
of numerous pyramids, and some ruined walls which have been excavated
of recent years. All of these are formed of _adobe_ and irregular
pieces of the lava of which the adjoining hills are composed. Rude
carved monoliths of deities have, however, been recovered from the
_debris_. The main features of the ruins are, first, the "Pyramid of
the Sun," a huge mound which forms the most colossal structure of
prehistoric man in America. It measures, approximately, at its
base--for its outlines are so indefined that no exact form can be
adduced--some 700 feet on each side, rising upwards in the form of a
truncated pyramid rather less than 200 feet above the level of the
plain. Next, the "Pyramid of the Moon," a similar but smaller
structure--about 500 feet at base--distant from the first some
thousands of yards along a strange road or path across the plain, known
as _Micoatl_, or the "Path of the Dead," some two miles in length. From
the summit of the "Pyramid of the Moon" the beholder looks down into
the great courtyard of an adjoining group of ruins; thence his eye
travels along this pathway to where the huge "Pyramid of the Sun"
arises, far off, on its left-hand side. Between these and indeed beyond
them, and bordering on the "Path of the Dead"--probably so called in
relation to human sacrifice--are numerous other mounds, which were
formerly pyramids of similar character, but of much less magnitude.
Probably, in ages past, they were all crowned by temples, and ascended
by staircases and terraces--evidences of which, indeed, still
remain--whilst the slopes were probably covered with stone and stucco.
It is stated that upon the high summit of the great pyramid--that
dedicated to Tonatiuh, the sun--a hu