Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/76

68 and a great deal more in getting down, where a single false step would have precipitated us headlong. Waldeck considers this a place originally devoted to sacrifices, and says the "Asiatic style" is easily recognized in the architecture of this monument.

By far the finest building of the city, conspicuous alike from its position and the completeness of its preservation, is the "Royal Palace," the Casa del Gobernador. After the Conjurer's Pyramid, this was the next pile visited by us, and made the point of departure for subsequent excursions during the five days we remained there. It stands upon the topmost of three terraces of earth,—once perhaps faced with stone, but now crumbled and broken. The lowermost and largest is 575 feet long; the second, 545 feet long, 250 wide, and 25 feet high; while the third and last is 360 feet in length, 30 in breadth, and 19 in height, and supports the building, which has a front of 322 feet, with a depth of only 39 and a height of but 25 feet. It is entirely of stone without ornament to a height of about ten feet, where there is a wide cornice, above which the wall is a bewildering maze of beautiful sculpture. The roof was flat and once covered with cement, in the opinion of certain travellers, but is now a miniature forest of the indigenous shrubs and small trees of Yucatan,—a hanging-garden of Nature's own formation, such as she covers every object with, in a few years, in this tropical portion of her domain. There are three large doorways through the eastern wall, about eight feet square, giving entrance into a series of apartments, the largest of which is sixty feet long and twenty-seven deep, divided into two rooms by a thick wall. The ceiling of each room is a triangular arch (such as is figured a little farther on), capped by flat blocks at a height of twenty-three feet above the floor. The latter, like the walls and the jambs of the doorways, is of smooth, faced stones, that may once have been covered with cement.

It is impossible to convey in mere words a picture, either in general or in detail, of this beautiful building; and hence I supplement my meagre description with engravings which I have procured, knowing that they will speak more eloquently than