s easy to see that a gynocracy and the cult of the earth and
underworld should gradually become extinct. At the zenith of its power,
however, it may safely be inferred, that Teotihuacan was a great centre
where astronomical observation and agriculture flourished, these being the
natural outcome of the cult of mother-earth and the nocturnal heaven.
Whilst all conjecture must necessarily be hypothetical, it is a comfort to
reflect that, locked in the ruins themselves, lies guarded the past
history of Teotihuacan, which was shrouded in a mist of uncertainty even
at the time of the Conquest.

The pyramids themselves, however, openly reveal the fact, that their
builders possessed a knowledge of the great plan, and that, at some time,
a single central pyramid not being sufficient, two, of unequal sizes,
arose to bear lasting testimony not only of past greatness, but of
long-forgotten rivalry and dissension. Finally, there is one thing
certain, namely, that the building of the pyramids at Teotihuacan must
have been preceded by an extremely long period during which the native
ideas, of which they were the expression and image, had developed and
taken definite shape. If Teotihuacan yields evidence of an advanced stage
in the history of the intellectual development of the native race, it also
marks the beginning of the disintegration of the state of which it was the
central capital. On the other hand, at Cholula, also situated in the high
plateau of Mexico, to the east of its present capital stands, in ruined
solitary grandeur, the largest pyramid on the American continent, whose
base is twice as large as that of the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

The name of the ancient capital of which it formed the nucleus was Tullan
Cholollan Tlachiuhaltepec.(75) Boturini (_op. cit._ p. 113) cites an old
native manuscript on which a picture of the pyramid of Cholula was painted
with the note that, in ancient times, it was named Tultecatl Chalchihuatl
On Azia Ecatepec, which he translates as "the monument or precious jade
stone of the Toltecs, which rears itself in the region of the air." As
eca-tepec literally means air-mountain, Boturini's translation may seem
somewhat exaggerated; on the other hand, the Spaniards, who knew the
Nahuatl language best, repeatedly state that its words were so replete
with significance that it would sometimes require several Spanish
sentences to set forth the meaning of a single native word. Boturini, who
had exce