ins, the teocalis is the first object
that meets his eye, grand, picturesque, ruined, and covered with trees,
like the House of the Dwarf at Uxmal, towering above every other object
on the plain. It is about one hundred and eighty feet square at the
base, and rises in a pyramidal form to the height of eighty feet. At
the foot is a range of ruined apartments. The steps are all fallen, and
the sides present a surface of loose stones, difficult to climb, except
on one side, where the ascent is rendered practicable by the aid of
trees. The top presents a grand view. I ascended it for the first time
toward evening, when the sun was about setting, and the ruined
buildings were casting lengthened shadows over the plain. At the north,
south, and east the view was bounded by a range of hills. In part of
the field of ruins was a clearing, in which stood a deserted rancho,
and the only indication that we were in the vicinity of man was the
distant church in the village of Nohcacab.

Leaving this mound, again taking the milpa path, and following it to
the distance of three or four hundred yards, we reach the foot of a
terrace twenty feet high, the edge of which is overgrown with trees;
ascending this, we stand on a platform two hundred feet in width by one
hundred and forty-two feet deep, and facing us is the building
represented in the plate opposite. On the right of the platform, as we
approach this building, is a high range of structures, ruined and
overgrown with trees, with an immense back wall built on the outer line
of the platform, perpendicular to the bottom of the terrace. On the
left is another range of ruined buildings, not so grand as those on
the right, and in the centre of the platform is a stone enclosure
twenty-seven feet square and seven feet high, like that surrounding the
picote at Uxmal; but the layer of stones around the base was
sculptured, and, on examination, we found a continuous line of
hieroglyphics. Mr. Catherwood made drawings of these as they lay
scattered about, but, as I cannot present them in the order in which
they stood, they are omitted altogether.

In the centre of the platform is a range of stone steps forty feet wide
and twenty in number, leading to an upper terrace, on which stands the
building. This building is one hundred and fifty-one feet front, and
the moment we saw it we were struck with the extraordinary richness and
ornament of its facade. In all the buildings of Uxmal, without a si