Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-01

these remarkable heads of clay, or terra
Gotta, are some of them perfectly Egyptian
in STYLE feature and expression, and others
as plainly negro. 1t is said that no two of
them have ever been found exactly alike,
which would seem to bear out the theory
that they were designed as images of Toltec
priests and rulers. So abundant are they,
and happily so out of the route of the aver
age tourist, that one can scarcely walk over
these fields without treading upon them,
and days diligent search is sure to be
we'll rewarded. The experience of other
travellers is similar to our own. Says one:
" Our energies were taxed to the utmost to
keep away the horde of ragged juveniles
who appeared with sacks full fclay heads.
obsdian knives and curious candeleros,
which they insisted upon our buying.
Others have wondered, as we wonder to-
day, at the unlimited supply of these an
Equities, as the fields are actually full OF
them, and we discovered many as we rode
over them on our horses, and many more
we bargained for with the natives" The
fact is that gods and goddesses
ARE AT DISCOUNT
Here, and dozens of them may be bought
for few cents. Every native hut has its
collection awaiting a purchaser, and that
they are not made to order " their exceed
ingly low price is sufficient proof 1t is
thought by many that the heads, which
are always found without body, whether
idols or effigies of priests or kings, were
given by the holy men of the sacred city
to the crowds of worshpers who used to
resort to this Mecca in olden times.
A little to the left of the great mound
may be seen an immense idol, supposed to
have formerly stood upon the top. and
which NJ. Charney disinterred from the
nil Of Iohric iol, l,a ;aI
Toltecs covered it in their final overthrow.
1t is probably about ten feet high and some
seven or eight feet through the head. Its
face is not that of monster, like the
bloodthirsty gods of the Aztecs, Teo-
yaomi-Yu or Huitzilopochth, but differs
as much in its shapely and non-savage ex-
preston as the pastoral people who wor-
SHIPPED it differed from their fierce sue
cessors. The eyes are as large as barrel
head, the nose flat, the ears like enormous
pancakes and ludicrously Hanged the
mouth in the shape of watermelon, and
half open, as if his majesty were about to
whistle, and in the breast square orifice
is cut, into which a man might put his
head. The whole is carved from single
block of trachite, and
TIE MYSTERY GROWS
As to how the early Mexicans managed to
cut it from the solid rock and convey it to
the top of the pyramid, when they had
| neither iron tools nor beasts of burden.
In the mountain of rubbish benei tn
which the Toltocs buried their god-il to
| which Charney tunneled, thinking it was a
part ofthe pyramid. proving nothing but the
hollowness OF science and the solidity
| OF the mound-we found great quantities
of obsidian. This natural glass, melted a
thousand years ago in the furnaces of Po-
pocahpetl and Orizaba, was used blythe
ancients for their weapons. Says Prescott:
They welded the terrible mayuahuitl
with its sharp and brittle blades of obsid-
ian, or it'll" And again he speaks of
warriors whose spears and bludgeons,
! armed with blades of volcanic glass,
gleomed in the morning light" The ma
iority of bits to be picked up to-day look
like pieces of black glass, averaging an
inch wide by four or five inches long, so
thin thai one side is an edge-serrate but
keen, Immediately recognizable by the
most determined skeptic as knife, razor or
spear-head.
From the summit of either pyramid
| most superb view is obtainable of many
villages, the white walled CITY of Mexico,
with its towers shining in the distance, and
beyond the environing mountains which
shut in upon all sides the cup-like vale of
Anahual. What better place can be found
| for listening 10 the
TRADITIONS OF THE ANCIENT BUILDERS.
An Indian historian, where data was
| principally compiled from picture writings,
| relates what happened here toward the de-
| struction of the Toltec Empire. He says
| the gods were angry with the Toltecs, and
to avert their wrath a meeting of all the
wise men, priests and mobiles was called at
| Teotihnacan, where from most ancient
| times the gods have been wont to hear the
| prayers of men. In the midst of the feast
| and sacrifices, an enormous demon, with
bony arms and long fingers, appeared
dancing in the court where the people were
! assembled Whirling through the crowd
| in every direction he seized upon the Toll
tees that came in his way and dashed them
at his feet. A second time he appeared,
and the people persisted by hundreds in his
clutches. At his third appearance the
demon assumed the form of white and
beautiful child, sitting on a rock ana gaZ-
ing at the holy city from q neighboring
hilltop. As the people rushed in crowds to
examine the strange apparition, it was dis
covered that the child's head was a mass of
corruption, the stencil from which smote
with death all who approached. Finally
the god, or the demon. appeared again and
informed the terrror-stricken Toitecs that
their fate was sealed as nation, and that
the remnant could escape destruction only
by flight
But though encompassed by marvel,
mystery and tradition, the most jealous
antiquarian cannot forget the requirements
of the inner man but must at length
tear himself away from the Path of the
Dead and set about the four-mile walk
| before him to the modern village of San
Juan Teotihuacan, or toward the railroad
station, where are no buildings whatever
but the depot and a small saloon for the
sale OF DulQue and Door wine On Our
next visit we will explore the village afore-
said and entertain ourselves with the
mythology pertaining to the place.
FANNIE b. WARN