Architectural Remains: the oldest monuments are Tol tec, it is believed that those of Palenque—a city the circuit of which is assumed to have formerly been six or seven leagues—must be attributed to them. The more important edifices are all raised upon terraces which are oriented with exactitude. The largest of these stands upon a terrace 6o feet in height, formed of stone, lime, and sand, and covered with pol ished slabs. On this base rises a nearly square structure, a palace of many rooms, the ceilings and roof of which were formed by corbelling. This edifice stands at the foot of the highest peak of the chain which divides Guatemala from Yucatan. A four-storeyed tower which may probably have had formerly a fifth storey rises in the centre of the palace. The exterior walls, which receive the piers between the great window- and door-openings, are decorated with sculptures executed in fine stucco. The floors are also laid with polished stucco.
Ruins of AM/cr.—Great antiquity is ascribed to the ruins of Mitla, which yet, so far as sketches and photographs can give an idea, must belong to Aztec times. It is believed that Mitla was a necropolis the palaces of which were the burial-places of the kings. The masonry of the principal palace is composed of earth, lime, and sand, upon the sur face of which were embedded small stones set so thickly that no spaces were visible between them. These form a geometrical pattern in relief 5-I, fig- Teocalli sacred edifices, or teocallis, are pyramids to whose platforms lead steep staircases of ample width. One of the most richly-ornamented works of this kind, the Teocalli of Xochicalco (fig. 2), is, unfortunately, only partially preserved. Above the substructure— which, as shown in our illustration, is covered with wrought stone—there formerly rose, if the attempted restoration is correct, four other storeys. The still-remaining portions show traces of coloring, chiefly red. At Papantla, in the State of Vera Cruz, is a teocalli of seven stages i); another is that of Tuspan (jig. 4), which consists of a tower-like, but not lofty, structure mounted upon a pyramidal base. The Teocalli of Tehuantepec 6) has convex sides. The latest and most fantastic manifestation of the Mexican style is exhibited by the structures at Uxmal (figs. 5, 7) and Labnah (fig. 3), in Yucatan, especially on account of the frequently-recurring grotesquely-contorted faces of men and beasts, in which a proboscis-like nose projects freely from the building between a grinning mouth set with teeth and two rectangular eyeholes. (See Vol.
I. P. 4.3• The Buildings of present to have included similar fanciful works, according to the accounts sent to Charles V. by the first Spanish conquerors, who speak of a wall called cootcfiantli, or "serpent-wall," from its sculptured serpents, and of the portal of a small round temple which was built in the form of a serpent's mouth. The chief teocalli was a pyramid of five stages reaching to a height of 35 metres (115 feet). The platform was reached by an immense staircase of one hundred and fourteen steps on the south side; two towers stood upon the platform. About forty smaller temples surrounded this large one, and were by means of the above-mentioned serpent-walls included in a rect angular sacred temple-enclosure. Four gateways, forming towers similar to those of the Hindu temples, led from the centre of each side to the four principal streets of the city, which contained two thousand tem ples, with three hundred and sixty towers.
Tie Ihrit:ompan, or "skull-pyramid," was a singular structure, where the skulls of the vcrificed by tens of thousands were skewered on cross bars or built into towers. It is said that in one of these edifices the com panions of Cortez counted one hundred and thirty-six thousand skulls of prisoners of war who had been offered in sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli, the god of battles.
The King' s Palace had two towers, and was surrounded by a park, in the rear of which was a zoological garden, the animals being confined in small courts divided by walls. Twenty gateways led into the palace, which had three large and many small courts, in one of which was a fountain. A hundred chambers whose walls were covered with marble and and whose ceilings were formed of finely-carved beams of cypress and cedar, surrounded the courts. Three hundred men could sit in the great hall. The conquerors were dazzled by the fantastic magnif icence and by the splendor which beamed around them. The story of the overthrow of this magnificence does not fall within our scope.
The Buildings of the Incas in Peru have not the importance of those of the Aztecs. It is sufficient to mention their ramparts, whose mighty blocks, often above io metres (33 feet) long, excited the admiration of the Spaniards, since, though unhewn and without mortar, they were as firmly fitted together as though they were one original undivided mass.