[205] “It requires a particular position,” says Mr. Tudor, “united with some little faith, to discover the pyramidal form at all.” (Tour in North America, vol. ii. p. 277.) Yet Mr. Bullock says, “The general figure of the square is as perfect as the great pyramid of Egypt.” (Six Months in Mexico, vol. ii. chap. 26.) Eye-witnesses both! The historian must often content himself with repeating, in the words of the old French lay,-- “_Si com je l’ai trové escrite_, Vos conterai la vérité.” [206] This is M. de Humboldt’s opinion. (See his Essai politique, tom. ii. pp. 66-70.) He has also discussed these interesting monuments in his Vues des Cordillères, p. 25, et seq. [207] Latrobe gives the description of this cavity, into which he and his fellow travellers penetrated. Rambler in Mexico, Letter 7. [208] “Et tot templa deûm Romæ, quot in urbe sepulcra Heroum numerare licet: quos fabula manes Nobilitat, noster populus veneratus adorat.” PRUDENTIUS, Contra Sym., lib. 1. [209] The dimensions are given by Bullock (Six Months in Mexico, vol. ii. chap. 26), who has sometimes seen what has eluded the optics of other travellers. [210] Such is the account given by the cavalier Boturini. Idea, pp. 42, 43. [211] “Both Ixtlilxochitl and Boturini, who visited these monuments, one early in the seventeenth, the other in the first part of the eighteenth century, testify to their having seen the remains of this statue. They had entirely disappeared by 1757, when Veytia examined the pyramid. Hist. antig., tom. i. cap. 26. [212] “Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro, Exesa inveniet scabra rubigine pila,” etc. GEORG., lib. i. [213] “Y como iban vestidos de blanco, parecia el campo nevado.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 13. [214] “Vistosa confusion,” says Solís, “de armas y penachos, en que tenian su hermosura los horrores.” (Conquista, lib. 4, cap. 20.) His painting shows the hand of a great artist,--which he certainly was. But he should not have put fire-arms into the hands of his countrymen on this occasion. [215] “Y cierto creímos ser aquel el último de nuestros dias.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 148. [216] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 14.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27.--Cortés might have addressed his troops, as Napoleon did his in the famous battle with the Mamelukes: “From yonder pyramids forty centuries look down upon you.” But the situation of the Spaniards was altogether too serious for theatrical display. [217] It is Sahagun’s simile: “Estaban los Españoles como una Isleta en el mar, combatida de las olas por todas partes.” (Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27.) The venerable missionary gathered the particulars of the action, as he informs us, from several who were present in it.