The Prehistoric World: or, Vanished Races, page 419 by E.A. Allen
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ther buildings would be slow, especially as the rainfall is light. But in some localities it is more than three feet thick. In places three separate floors are observed, one over the other, pointing to as many successive occupations of the same sections by men.
About sixty-five miles to the north of Mexico was located Tollan, or Tulla. According to tradition, this was the capital city of the Toltecs, a mysterious people who long preceded the Aztecs. We are told that "extensive ruins remained at the time of the conquest, but very few relics have survived to the present time."<18> M. Charney, whose labors we have referred to at Teotihuacan, succeeded also in making important discoveries here. He tells us that on the site of this ancient capital there is a hill, "about one mile long by half a mile broad, covered with mounds, plateaus, and ruins of all kinds."
He gives us the dimensions of two pyramids, as follows. The first is one hundred and ninety-six feet on each front, and forty-six feet high. The second is one hundred and thirty-one feet square, and thirty-one feet high. Both of these pyramids stood on raised foundations, which M. Charney calls esplanades. As no other pyramids are mentioned, we are to suppose these are the two principal ones. Perhaps they are also pyramids of the sun and moon. Our chief interest is concerned with the remains of the habitations he discovered here. He says: "I set the men to work at one of the many mounds upon the ridge, and soon found that I had hit upon a group of habitations." A general idea of this group of buildings is given in this passage: "The dwellings were united together in groups, and erected on isolated mounds, one in the middle, the others around about, the whole forming a sort of honey-comb, with its cells placed at different elevations."
We can not help being struck with the general resemblance of the descriptions here given and that of the ruins in the vicinity of the River Gila. The general tendency is seen to gather together in cluste