Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1850-11-05

party. They presented motley but pic
nresque appearance. The Dragons in
close order, but The officers galloping
hither and thither, some in fill undress,
others with the soldiers jacket straw
hats, felt hats, of all shapes, sizes and
coours--beards the a0ar long, or cut into
grotesque forms--some carrying portlo-
lios TO ''take likeness provided
with mathematical Instruments TO deter
mine the height-some practicing with
pistols-and others Initiating the gravity
of the children of the country,' by quiet
ly smoking their puros, and keeping their
cogitalions 10 themselves-n6ne, | ven-
ture to say, concerned about the chances
of the war, and all eager to see the queer,
old, dumb chronicle o: long ago, among
the Toltees, OF even their predecessors In
the land. As for the Aztecs, they were
parUenues TO the pyramid. What pity
Memmon had fabulous voice ! Who
can look upon relic of ages, like this,
without having the simple thought pass
through the mind. "What this could tell,
ifit had tongue %
We gaIloped up TO the base of the pyra-
mid, which stands near the entrance of
the town, and many of the officers dis
mounted, to make the ascent on foot.
A horse can 90 almost any where; rely
ing on this principle, kept my scat, and
was paid for my venture by finding my
self, safe and unlatigued, in the grounds
of the Chapel of Our Lady of some queer
name, which has happily replaced that
horrd old temple Of human sacrifice,
which marked the ignorant devotion Of a
barbarous people to their unknown God.
Who can blame me for not remembering
one namc among the thousands which
Our Lady chooses, in the countries which
nationally acknowledge her manifold
claims2
But my readers are not prepared to
reach the top so summariy, and without
taking a survey as We approach the pyra-
mid.
1t was originally a frustum of right
pyramid, with rectangular base, zone
thousand four hundred and twenty-three
feet long--twice as long as that of the
great pyramid of Cheops."t Its base
covers forty -four acres, and its summit is
more than one acre in area. These d.
mensions have not been appreciably alter
ed. but the edges have become rounded by
constant attriion, deep assures have been
cut by time in lis faces, and the road
which winds round from one side nearly
to the other at the top, has been by de-
grees, excavated so as 10 present wall
of ell-pressed, unburnt brick on each
side. Ia all the clefts, as well as in the
parapets of the road it appears that it was
built of unburnt brick, and as deep as it
has ever been penetrated, the same forma-
ton is evident.
Most Of us agreed with Humboldt in
the opinion that there was a natural
mound, which was taken as the nucleus,
and which the builders covered, and thus
brought 10 its present shape. Be that as
it may, il is still a stupendous work, and
covered as it now is with that thick
growth of centuries, it bespeaks age,
grandeur, and consecration OF The Nigh
~, The imm ense, and The eternal. TO their
fearful hut revered deity.
We reached the summit, and without
waiting to see the magnificent spectacle,
we rushed into the church, and ascended
the bellry, to gain, if possible, something
by the additional ninety feet Of elevation
thus afforded. In reaching The top, we
passed up aspiral staircase, which might
architecturalIy define 'the blackness Of
darkness, as there is no window in the
the whole ascent. Ii is, however, fine
preparaive for the view upon which we
emerged--the most magnificent panorama
which has ever yet greeted my eyes. A
pure Thin atmosphere, and cloudless sky,
were indeed necessary elements of the
view, these we had. Around in every
direction, we looked with canals, many
of which seemed TO falsi(y the mathemat.
ical axiom that parallel lines, if produced,
will never meet; here and there, a clus-
ter of houses, with their plantain. trees.
and little curling wrealhs of smoke; La
Puebla in clear sight, and every spot Of
the road between us so marked. that we
could almost compute distances as upon a
map.
But these were all lost i'll our wrapt
contemplation of the mighty volcanoes.
Far away to the west, and yet so clearly
defined as TO be apparently within pistol
shot. Popocatapetl and Izleccihuatl-"fhe
mountain and The dead 1Coman 't-the
one with its smooth, conical top, and the
other with its uuevenly cut outline, rise
boldly from among The surrounding hills,
and rierce the clouds. At their apparent
base, they partake of the common verdure;
liule higher, they become brown and
winlry 10 the limit of vegetation, and then