erred to among the
people of Uxmal.

Such is the exterior of this building. Passing trough the arched
gateway, we enter a noble courtyard, with four great facades looking
down upon it, each ornamented from one end to the other with the
richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of
Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that
is now to be seen among its rains. This courtyard is two hundred and
fourteen feet wide, and two hundred and fifty-eight feet deep. At the
time of our first entrance it was overgrown with bushes and grass,
quails started up from under our feet, and, with a whirring flight,
passed over the tops of the buildings. Whenever we went to it, we
started flocks of these birds, and throughout the whole of our
residence at Uxmal they were the only disturbers of its silence and
desolation.

[Engraving 19: Plan of the Monjas]

Among my many causes of regret for the small scale on which I am
obliged to present these drawings, none is stronger than the consequent
inability to present, with all their detail of ornament, the four great
facades fronting this courtyard. There is but one alleviating
circumstance; which is, that the side most richly ornamented is so
ruined that, under any circumstances, it could not be presented entire.

This facade is on the left of the visiter entering the courtyard. It is
one hundred and seventy-three feet long, and is distinguished by two
colossal serpents entwined, running through and encompassing nearly all
the ornaments throughout its whole length. The two plates which follow
represent the only parts remaining.

[Engraving 20: Part of the Facade of the Monjas]

The first exhibits that portion of the facade toward the north end of
the building. The tail of one serpent is held up nearly over the head
of the other, and has an ornament upon it like a turban, with a plume
of feathers. The marks on the extremity of the tail are probably
intended to indicate a rattlesnake, with which species of serpent the
country abounds. The lower serpent has its monstrous jaws wide open,
and within them is a human head, the face of which is distinctly
visible on the stone, and appears faintly in the drawing. From the ruin
to which all was hurrying, Don Simon cared only to preserve this
serpent's head. He said that we might tear and out carry away every
other ornament, but this he intended to build into the wall of a house
in Merida as a memor