TEOCAL'LI (House of God), the name given to the temples of the aborigines of Mexico, of which may still remain in a more or less perfect state. They were built in the form of four-sided pyramids, and consisted for the most part of two, three, or more stories or terraces, with the temple, properly so called, placed on a platform on the sum mit. The largest and most celebrated is the pyramid of Cholula, measuring 1440 ft. each way, and 177 in height; it is much defaced, and the temple on its summit has been removed. The teocallis in Yucatan are in far better preservation; they are not generally built in terraces, but rise at an angle of 45° to the level of the platform, with an unbroken series of steps from base to summit. The temples on their summit are sometimes orna mented with bas-reliefs in stucco and hieroglyphic tablets, and the roof is formed by courses of stone approaching each other, and furnished with projections like dormer windows. Not unlike the toecallis are the palaces of the Aztec kings or chiefs, which
differ from them in having the pyramid smaller, less prominent, and oblong in plan, while the building, larger and more elaborate, consists for the most part of a stone base ment, with square doorways, but without windows, surmounted by a structure which appears to be directly copied from wood-work. On some of these facades we have also rude pillars and grotesque carvings, and there are often a number of chambers in the interior. A palace and temple are sometimes found attached together; and in a few cases, the most remarkable of which is the Casa de las Monjas, at Uxmal, the buildings are arranged round a court-yard. See MEXICO. •