The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 . stance of 98 ft. from each other,having a ring fixed in the walls 22 ft. high, as seen in our cut ;whilst at each extremity of the court stood a small temple in whichpreliminary ceremonies were performed before opening the was played with a large india-rubber ball ; the rules requiredthe player to receive it behind, not to let it touch the ground, andto wear a tight-fitting leather suit to make the ball rebound. Butthe greatest feat was to send the ball through the ring,
The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 . stance of 98 ft. from each other,having a ring fixed in the walls 22 ft. high, as seen in our cut ;whilst at each extremity of the court stood a small temple in whichpreliminary ceremonies were performed before opening the was played with a large india-rubber ball ; the rules requiredthe player to receive it behind, not to let it touch the ground, andto wear a tight-fitting leather suit to make the ball rebound. Butthe greatest feat was to send the ball through the ring, when ascramble, a rush, and much confusion followed, the winner havingthe right to plunder the spectators of their valuables. Sendingthe ball through the ring required so much dexterity, that he whosucceeded was credited with a bad conscience or supposed to bedoomed to an early death. Tennis seems to have been in suchhigh repute with the Indians that it was not confined to indi-viduals, but also played between one city and another, and * Torquemada, Monaniuia Indiana, lib. 11. cap. xii. Antiquities of Tula. 97. ^^t^K^^S^ f%. accompanied, says Vcytia, by much betting, when they stakedeverything they possessed, even their hberty. But this writererrs in ascribing the game to the Aztecs in honour of their godHuitzilopochth, as we shall show. Among other objects which we found at Tula is a largecuriously-carved shellof mother-of-pearl ;the carving recallsTizocs stone, andnotably the bas-re-liefs at Palenque andOcosinco in Chiapas ;also two bas-reliefs,one in a rock outsidethe town, the other,by far the most valu-able, in the wall ofa private house, butvery old and muchinjured, representinga full-face figure andanother in profile ;their nose, beard, anddress are similar tothose described by Veytia* in the following passage: The Toltecs were abovemiddle height, and owing to this they could be distin-guished in later times from the other aborigines. Theircomplexion was clear, their hai
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