Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/223

Rh the exact form of the roof, the picture gives a very good idea of what the temple must have been. The substructure, with the noticeable "batter" of its walls and projecting cornice, is over four yards high, of rubble faced with andesite; the carving represents great undulating snakes, between the coils of which are human figures, and glyphs in the style of those of Oaxaca described above. Originally the details of sculpture were emphasized by coloured stucco and therefore appeared far less complicated than in a photograph. In this building again the stairway was on the west side.

To return to Oaxaca, the most important group of ruins awaits consideration. These are at Mitla, the sacred Zapotec city, and are distinguished by many peculiarities which render them almost unique. Here the quadrangular arrangement of buildings round courts attains its most definite form. In two cases one of these buildings, on the east side, is a pyramid, and therefore presumably approached, as usual, from the west. The rest consist of long low buildings upon terraces, opening as a rule only upon the court which they surround, though in two cases one such building gives access at the back to another court, entirely enclosed by similar buildings, which has no other entrance (Fig. 34). The material is rubble, faced with trachyte