Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/79

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UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY.

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the pen. In them, the intricate details of the sculpture, that baffled even the pencil of the accomplished Catherwood, are presented clearly at a glance.

Within a stone's throw of the "Governor's Palace" is a small building far gone in ruins, displaying workmanship of great skill, and sculpture chaste in design, called the "House of the Turtles,"—Casa de las Tortugas. It derives its name from a row of turtles used as ornaments to the upper cornice. It may have served as the kitchen to the royal residence,—accepting Indian tradition in regard to the names,—but was once beautiful enough for a temple.

If the "Governor's House" claims attention from its conspicuous position and size, the Casa de las Monjas, the so-called "House of the Nuns," presents the greatest variety of sculptured forms and richest ornaments. It is composed of four buildings, the longest of which is 279 feet and about equal in height to the palace, enclosing a court 258 feet long and 214 wide. The entrance is on the southern side, through a high arched gateway ten feet wide. There are no doors or windows opening on the outside, though there are in all eighty-eight apartments opening upon the court.

The façades of this immense quadrangle are ornamented, says Stephens,^[1] with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal. That portion forming the western boundary, at the left as one enters the court, is the most wonderful of all; for its entire length of 173 feet is covered by two colossal serpents, whose intertwined bodies enclose a puzzling variety of sculptured hieroglyphs. Theory and speculation do not enter into the plan of this work, or I should venture a few remarks upon the personage or deity this great serpent is intended to represent. We shall see later on, in Mex-

↑ This traveller, accompanied by the talented Catherwood, visited and described the most important ruins of Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Yucatan, and his works, "Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," and "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," have been accepted as standard authorities upon them. We can hardly travel there without treading in his footsteps, and hence I have used his measurements of buildings, and can vouch for the accuracy of his descriptions.

[1] This traveller, accompanied by the talented Catherwood, visited and described the most important ruins of Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Yucatan, and his works, "Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," and "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," have been accepted as standard authorities upon them. We can hardly travel there without treading in his footsteps, and hence I have used his measurements of buildings, and can vouch for the accuracy of his descriptions.

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