Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/187

Rh away from decay. Between the square wall and the temple, there was room for from eight to ten thousand persons, who assembled and danced upon the solemn feast-days and spectacles; the space being paved with smoothly polished stones joined by white and red cement.

The temple itself stood in the midst of the space enclosed and was built in the form of a truncated pyramid, 378 feet square at its base; its flat roof was nearly 120 feet high, but the altitude of its highest towers was nearly 170 feet: seen from a distance it had the appearance of an enormous cube, with small altars and wooden cupolas on its top. The materials employed in its erection were clay and stones, faced with a porous stone resembling pumice-stone, but hard and smoothly polished; while, for the upper facings, pavements, and ornamental parts, coloured jasper stones of great value were used: which, with the red and white cement, had a rich and beautiful effect.

The building consisted of five stories shewn externally (the eastern pyramids had five floors internally); each, from the base upwards, being less by six feet all round than the one below it; and upon each story there was