. Young folks' history of Mexico. sweet-singing birdshe sent before him to that mysterious kingdom in the east,the land of Tlapallan. Now, this is but a tale of the priests, a legend of thoseearly Mexicans, yet their descendants firmly believed in it,and looked for the promised return of the Feathered Ser-pent for hundreds of years. We shall find, farther on inthis history, that the Aztecs believed in his coming and atfirst took the cruel Spaniards to be messengers from themild and beneficent Quetzalcoatl. They thought theywere messengers of life, these fierce and bloodthirsty de-mons of death
. Young folks' history of Mexico. sweet-singing birdshe sent before him to that mysterious kingdom in the east,the land of Tlapallan. Now, this is but a tale of the priests, a legend of thoseearly Mexicans, yet their descendants firmly believed in it,and looked for the promised return of the Feathered Ser-pent for hundreds of years. We shall find, farther on inthis history, that the Aztecs believed in his coming and atfirst took the cruel Spaniards to be messengers from themild and beneficent Quetzalcoatl. They thought theywere messengers of life, these fierce and bloodthirsty de-mons of death! THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. Even at the arrival of the Spaniards, the city of Cholulawas considered a holy place, the residence of the priests. 42 Mexico. Its inhabitants raised here an immense mound in honor ofQuetzalcoatl, with a temple on its summit dedicated to hisworship. It was more than a mound, it was , thelargest in America, with a broader base even than any ofthose of Egypt. It covers a surface of more than fortv. PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. acres, is 1440 feet square at its base, and rises to a heightof nearly two hundred feet. Though some ignorant writershave called this Pyramid of Cholula merely a natural hill, ithas been proven to be wholly artificial. It is constructed ofadobe, or sun-baked bricks, and is built in terraces with abroad platform at the top about two hundred feet square. It The Hill of Shouting. 43 is said that the bricks used in its construction came fromTlamanalco, several leagues distant, and were passed fromhand to hand, along a long line of men. This statement,however, may well be questioned. But that it is built ofbricks, any one who has seen it can testify. The writerof this history has himself examined it, and wondered atthe evidence here shown of past labor, skill and has climbed its terraced sides and has looked over theplain that once held the city of the priests, across the fer-tile fields to the great volcanoes that reach the
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Keywords: ., bookauthoroberfred, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1883
