CHICHEN-ITZA, che-chfn'8-tza' (at the mouth of the well of the Itza), an ancient city of Yucatan whose ruins are fairly well pre served. According to the traditional history of the Itza they came from the west at an early period in their tribal life, settled at the mouth of an overflowing well, built a great city known as Chichen Itzi, and prospered. It is probable that the Itza derived their name from that of their great culture god Itzamni, or Zamni. Chichen Itza retained great prominence among the pre-Columbian cities of Yucatan for a long time during which it became a centre of learning and of a very extended commerce which stretched out its arms into Central America and Southern Mexico. As the holiest shrine of the Itza it exercised a strong religious influence over the peninsula of Yucatan, Campeche, Chiapas and Guatemala, into all of which dis tricts four great paved roads led from the heart of the capital. The remains of the capi tal of the Itza to-day consists of a number of fairly well-preserved buildings to which fanci ful names have been given, and the ruins of many others which have been completely de stroyed. The °Nunnery° is a two-story build ing on a terrace 32 feet high. The edifice itself, which is reached by a flight of stone steps 56 feet wide, is richly sculptured on the outside. The °Church° is a one-room building of very imposing appearance. The °Akab-tzib° (the place of wnting in the dark) is a building built on the level ground. It is 48 feet wide by 149 feet long; and the roof is reached by an out side stairway 45 feet wide. The °Castle° which is built on a very steep pyramid, about 200 feet square at the base and 75 feet high, is reached by a grand stairway 37 feet wide on the west ; and by another 44 feet wide on the north. The latter has solid stone balustrades terminat ing at the bottom in immense serpents' heads each 10 feet long and with open mouths and protruding tongues. The building is rich in carved wood and stone and the main doorway is 20 feet wide. The °Gymnasium° consists of
what is supposed to have been the circus of the city. Two immense parallel stone walls 274 feet long and 120 feet apart enclose the court which is open at both ends. A short distance from each end is a terraced building both sup posed to have been temples. The °House of the Tigers,° at the end of the gymnasium, has massive sculptured pillars and door posts, and carved zapote lintels, while the walls and ceil ings are adorned with very elaborate paintings in bright colors, depicting different scenes. The 'Red House° (Chin-chan-chob) contains tablets of stone with carved hieroglyphics like those to be found in Guatemala. The °Caracol° consists of two rectangular terraces one above the other, the first 150 by 223 feet, the second 58 by 80 feet, on the latter of which is a round tower with dome-shaped top. The tower is 22 feet in diameter and 24 feet high and through the Centre of it there runs, from top to bottom, an immense column of stone round which passes a circular corridor, and between this and the outside wall a second corridor. These corri dors probably contained stairways. Great stair ways 45 feet wide of huge, intertwining stone serpents lead up the sides of the terraces to the tower. In one part of the city there is a great number of square stone columns from three to six feet high standing in rows from three to five feet apart around an open space some 400 feet square and also irregularly in other directions around various mounds. Sev eral hundred of them have been counted while others lie buried. Heaps of ruined mounds, fallen walls, sculptured blocks scattered over the plain in the vicinity of the buildings already described show that the completely ruined part of the city is vastly larger than the part that is still standing to command the wonder and admiration of the present generation.