The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-06-30

tional holidays, by the French the 17Ch
of the same month, and recaptured
from the French by Gen. Porfrio Di8z
(now president) in 1867. IL is sur
rounded by the ruins of forts and the
remains of breastworks. The city lies
in the centre of a great plain with the
four snow crowned peaks in full view
Orizsba and Mslintzi to the eastward
and POpocatapetl and Ix~taccihuatl to
the west The city has 100. 900 popula-
ton, and is the third in siz9 in the re
public. The great cathedral is three
hundred and twenty-three feet long by
one hundred and n feet wide, and
one of the towers cost 800, 900. In this
is placed a chime of eighteen bells, the
largest Of which weighs twenty th0us-
and pounds. The altar alone cost
$IIO, COO.
Six miles west of Puebla and reached
oy both railroad and street car lines
are the remains of the ancient city Of
Cholula, whose origin OUtdates tradi-
Uion as we'll as history. COrtez counted
here four hundred temples, but the
former great city, IN which he massa-
cred so many thousands of people, has
now dwiudled to a village Of five
thousand people. Irs point of attrac
tion now is the great pyramid Of Che
lula, which Is one hundred and V
ty seven feet high, with it's summit,
formerly crowned with the sacred fires
and the stone on which human victims
were sacrificed, now occupied by q
Catholic church. The base Of this py-
ramid is half as large again as the
great pyramid of Cheops on the banks
Of the Nile. From this summit there
is a beautiful view Of one of the love
Hest plains In the world. Il is generally
understood that this immense pyramid
is built of sun dried brick, and it is
considered n Of the marvels of the
world-Rnd go it Is; indeed, Ignatius
Donnelly has written to prove that it
Is the remains of the tower of Babel.
But if it is not presumption in n who
does not claim to be q SGUGnt or to
speak er cdthedrG, | will say that it is
my opinion that neither this o the
great pyramids Of the Sun and Moon
at San Juan Teotihuacan (alreedy re.
terred toy are wholly artificial. l think
they are mostly natural hills, like
many others in the plain not far from
both places. These more nearly ap
proxima.ed the four points Of the com
pass and a pyramid in shape. They
were, therefore, doubtless selected and
exactly %oriented, and made pyramidal
by artificial means. This required an
enormous amount of work and was
enough to make them marveis, but ex
acted nothing like the euper-hUm n Ia
Dor which would have been required TO
erect the structures from the base. At
Choiula, not only was the hill oriented
and shaped into an exact pyramid, but
a road winding round the four sides to
the top was built Of sun dried brick,
the pavement of which was tiled, and
probably all the sides Of the hills also
were plated with brick to make the
pyramidal shape perfect. 1 come to
this conclusion, By seeing on both these
plains other mills close by which with
some labor could be trimmed into py
ramidal sheps and their four sides
made to correspond 10 the points of the
compass, and from the consideration
OF the enormous labor and length of
time requisite 80 have built these py-
rGmids out Of brick, and the absence Of
any depression whence the material
for 50 large q mound, if artificial, could
have been taken. Tohave constructed
these pyramids from their basis would
have been an overwhelming and en-
tirely uselees task.
The city Of Oaxaca lies three hundred
and ffty-eight miles southeast of the
city of Mexico. The route to it is Uia
Puebla over the Mexican Southern
Railroad, which is intended to be link
in the great Inter Continental Railway
Inc connecting North and South Amer
lea when it shall be built. This road
is completed to O4xaca, with it's imme
date OH 3ctive point at Tahuantepec
on the Pacific, soma hundred and
fifty miles further south. l. penetrates
one of the best agricultural and min
eral sections in the republic. Unlike
all other railroads in Mexico the South
ern runs neither across plains nor along
mountain sides, but follows up the val
ley, and for the last fifty miles it runs
through a deep and narrow canon like