Viewing page 47 of 75

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

and went up the river 8 miles to the base of the high mountain on the opposite bank from the city. The mountain is called Giengola [[Guiengola]] by the Zapotecas - meaning "Big Mountain" as it is the largest & highest mountain in this portion of the Isthmus. The ruins have their name from the Mt. From the base of the Mt. close to riv. bank the horses were sent back and our guides packed up our supplies & baggage. 

We followed a tortuous trail cut through the thicket on the steep slope to the ruin at about 1400 ft. alt. where we camped on a stone platform between two small pyramidal structures- On the way up we had to scale two walls built up as a smooth facing to steep places in the small cañon up which the trail led. On each side were cliffs & the presence of these walls capped with small leveled ones on which still are the stone foundations of small watch houses show that this same course was once used by the inhabitants. About 1/3rd of the way up the slope from the river val. a wall of stones 4 to 5 ft. high extends for some miles in a horizontal line around the hill following all the inequalities of the surface and evidently serving as a wall of defense. The guide claimed that this wall extends for miles in both directions around the flanks of the Mt. Reaching a sloping & irregular table on the mt. at 1400 ft. we found this comparatively level area [[strikethrough]] a coup [[/strikethrough]] hundred to 150 yds broad & over a quarter of a mile long covered with the stone platforms, 4 Pyramids & the walls of many houses. The main platform is laid up of rough stone filled in with a small amount