has
exercised the thoughts of many scholars. Some have supposed it was a
burial mound. Some years ago, while in constructing a road from Pueblo
to Mexico, the first terrace or story was slightly dug into, and
disclosed a chamber, which contained two skeletons, two idols, and a
collection of pottery. Yet, before deciding it to be a burial mound, it
will be necessary to show the presence of tombs near the center.

We have referred to the results of Mr. Bandelier's explorations. He made
a very thorough study of this great pyramid--more complete than any
that had hitherto been made--and his results should have corresponding
weight. He finds that the materials of which the adobe brick is composed
are exactly the same as that of the surrounding plain. This does away
with one old tradition, that the bricks were manufactured at a distance,
and brought several leagues to their destination by a long line of men,
who handed them along singly from one to another.

From the manner in which the bricks are laid, and from their variation
in size, he concludes that the structure was not all erected at one
time, but that the mound is the accumulation of successive periods of
labor. From this it follows that it was built to serve some purpose
of public utility, and not as a token of respect for some individual.
Wherever found, these great works show the same evidence of not being
all completed at once. This was true of the North; we shall also find it
true of the South. Charney noticed the same thing in the house at Tulla.
Nothing is more natural than that an Indian community would increase
their buildings as the tribe increased.

Mr. Bandelier's final conclusion in regard to the purpose of its
erection is one of great interest, but not at all surprising. "If we
imagine the plateaus and aprons around it covered with houses, possibly
of large size, like those of Uxmal and Palenque,<34> or on a scale
intermediate between them and the communal dwellings of Pecos and many
other places in New Mexico,<35> we have then, on the mound of Cholula,
as it originally was, room for a large aboriginal population. The
structure, accordingly, presents itself as the base of an artificially
elevated, and therefore, according to Indian military art, a fortified,
pueblo."

But this does not remove from it the air of mystery. Long-fallen indeed
are the communal walls. It was not simply a few years ago that these
pueblo-crowned terraces were reared. The dat