ter's face. The eyes
and teeth are seen in the first engraving. This projecting stone is the
nose.

Illustration of Elephant's Trunk.---------------

We stand in amazement before this sculptured facade. We must reflect
that its builders were not possessed of metallic tools. It extends
entirely around the building, though the end and rear walls are not as
elaborately decorated as the front. A little calculation shows that it
contains over ten thousand square feet of carved stone. The roof of the
building was flat. It had been covered with cement. But vegetation had
somehow acquired a foothold, and the whole is now overgrown with grass
and bushes. Such is a brief description of this "casa." Hastening to
ruins, it appeals powerfully to the imagination. It is a memorial of
vanished times. We wonder what of the strange people that pressed
up these stairs and entered these rooms? For many years it has been
abandoned to the elements. Year by year portions of the ornamented
facade fall. Though the walls are massive and the roof is strong, it
is but a question of time when a low mound of ruins will alone mark its
site.

Like the palace at Palenque, this structure has given rise to
conflicting theories as to its use. While many of the writers on this
subject claim that it was the residence of royalty, there are, on the
other hand, those who think it is simply a communal house of village
Indians, or the official house of the tribe. In whatever light we shall
ultimately view it, it is surely an interesting monument of native
American culture. The labor necessary to rear the terraced pyramid, even
though advantage was taken of a natural eminence, must have been great.
The building itself, though not of great dimensions, except in length,
must have required the labor of a large number of Indians for a long
time. For purposes of defense, the location, from an Indian point of
view, was an excellent one, since with them elevation constitutes the
principal means of defense. The terraces could be easily ascended from
but one point, where an enemy could be easily resisted. In a general
way, it may be regarded as a representative of Yucatan buildings, and so
we will be able to more rapidly describe the remaining structures.

Illustration of Plan of Nunnery.-----------------

On the general plan we see, to the north of the structure we have just
described, a group of ruins marked "C." This is regarded as the most
wonderful coll