e aspect of the bed of an exhausted lake,
and to the isolated hills, rising here and there upon its surface, the
appearance of having been islands when the waters covered the face of
the land.

The cloud was still resting upon Popocatapetl; but its crest, far above
the clouds, was in that region where, in the tropics, ice and snow lie
undisturbed forever. The marks which it bore of having once been the
smoke-pipe of one of Nature's furnaces, furnished us with the
translation of its name--"The mountain with a smoking mouth." But that
lake of fire has long since ceased to burn, and when the mountain had
last emitted smoke was unknown to the oldest inhabitant. And that other
mountain, Iztaccihuatl, or the "White Woman," lying so quietly and
snug, in her covering of perpetual snow, at the side of the volcano,
called up in the minds of the Indians the strange conceit of man and
wife. There were forests on the mountain sides and trees along the
rivers covered with green, but all else looked dry and parched. Seldom,
indeed, has the eye of man ever rested on a finer farming country than
the great plain of Puebla, and seldom are lands seen better cultivated.

CHOLULA.

Cholula was of old sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the "God of the Air," who,
during his abode upon earth, taught mankind the use of metals, the
practice of agriculture, and the arts of government. Translating myth
into history, we may call him the great Aztec reformer. He is
represented as a man of fair complexion with curling hair and flowing
beard, very different from the type of the Aztecs. On his way from
Mexico to the coast he remained for a while at Cholula, where a mound
and temple was raised to his honor.

This tradition made Cholula the Mecca of the Indian world; and with the
merchants who came to attend the annual fair held at the base of the
mound came also hosts of pilgrims, to offer sacrifice to the memory of
that god who introduced flowers into the native worship, and
discouraged cruelties and human sacrifices.

At Cholula I was so fortunate as to procure one of the images of
Quetzalcoatl, cut in stone, with curled hair and Caucasian features. I
afterward verified the same by comparison with the great image found at
Mexico, not without strong suspicions that both were counterfeits; for
in this country even the most sacred records are open to suspicion.
Popular tradition and the most approved authors will have it, that some
stray white man had found