a tribe, but both to the north and south of them were Maya
tribes.<46> We will, however, describe the ruins in the present State of
Vera Cruz under one head.

We notice, on the coast, the Gulf of Tampico, into which pours the river
Panuco. From an antiquarian point of view, this is a most interesting
locality. It was here that a feeble remnant of De Soto's disastrous
expedition found a refuge in 1543. And it was here that, at a far
earlier period, according to the dim, uncertain light of tradition, the
ancestors of some of the civilized nations of Mexico made their first
appearance; of this, more hereafter. Certain it is that, commencing at
this river, we find ourselves in a land of ruins.

It is to be regretted, however, that our information is not definite
in regard to them. We are told, in general terms, of a great field of
ruins, but in the absence of cuts, can scarcely give a clear description
of them. On the northern bank of the Panuco, Mr. Norman found at one
place the ground "strewn with hewn blocks of stone and fragments of
pottery and obsidian."<47> They were found over an area of several
square miles. Many of the blocks of stone were ornamented with
sculpture. They imply the presence, in former times, of some kind of
buildings. We can not form an opinion as to the number, style, etc. Mr.
Norman regards them as the ruins of a great city, the site of which is
now covered with a heavy forest.

Amongst these ruins are about twenty mounds, both circular and square,
from six to twenty-five feet in height. Some authorities think that the
Mound Builders went by water from near the mouth of the Mississippi to
this region. To such as place any real reliance on this theory, these
mounds are full of interest. But some details of construction would seem
to indicate a different people as their builders than those who reared
mounds in the Gulf States of the Mississippi Valley. The main body of
the mound is earth, but they are faced with hewn blocks of sandstone,
eighteen inches square and six inches thick. Although one of the mounds
is quite large, covering two acres, yet in but one instance was a
terraced arrangement noticed. As a general thing, the facing of stone
had fallen to the ground, and some of the smaller mounds had caved in;
showing, perhaps, that they were used as burial mounds. In other cases
the mounds had entirely disappeared, leaving the stone facing on the
surface. This may account for some of the stones