He considers it of the same type as the temple of Jupiter Bélus—the pyramids of Meïdoùn Dahchoùr, and the group of Sakharah in Egypt. This great monument was constructed in four equal terraces of small sun-dried bricks, laid in a mortar which has been pronounced by some a mixture of clay with fragments of stones and pottery, by others a cement intermixed with small pieces of porphyry and limestone. Herr Heller discovered that the entire structure had been covered with a coating of cement composed of lime, sand and mortar.[534] The present appearance of the pyramid is sufficient to induce the opinion that it was originally a natural eminence faced up with adobes in terraces, in accordance with the architectural idea, but its position in the centre of a plain, together with the revelations as to its contents, disclosed by the construction of the Pueblo road through one corner of its base, furnish partial if not conclusive proof that it was entirely of artificial construction. The excavation revealed the perfect regularity with which the bricks were laid in the interior, and brought to light a tomb containing two skeletons, two basalt figures, a collection of pottery and other articles not described. Humboldt has fully described this chamber, which was constructed with stone walls supported by cypress timbers. No doorway could be found opening into the tomb. At Xochicalco, the “hill” or “castle of flowers,” situated seventy-five miles south-west from the city of Mexico and distant from Cuernavaca fifteen miles in nearly the same direction, are found the most remarkable specimens of ancient Mexican architecture north of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The most important descriptions of the ruins are by Alzate y Ramirez,[535] Humboldt,[536] Dupaix and Castañeda,[537] Nebel,[538] and one prepared by the authority of the Mexican government.[539]