tilated these "pictures," but the colors were still bright. There are
indications that painting was generally used by the aboriginal builders,
even on their sculptures. The colors seen in this room were green, red,
yellow, blue, and reddish-brown. Another edifice, standing on a high
mound, is reached by means of the usual great stairway, which begins at
the bottom, with a sort of balustrade on each side, the ends of which
are stone figures of heads of immense serpents.

[Illustration: Fig. 43.--Great Stone Ring.]

Not far from this is a singular ruin, consisting of groups of small
columns standing in rows five abreast, the tallest being not more than
six feet high. Many of them have fallen. It is impossible to determine
how they were used, or what they mean.

OTHER RUINS IN YUCATAN.

Izamal, Labna, Zayi, and some of the other ruins are sufficiently
important for special notice; but they present every where the same
characteristics, differing a little in the style or method of
ornamentation. At Labna there is among the ruins an ancient gateway,
beautiful in design and construction, a view of which is given in the
Frontispiece. The best account of some of the other ruins on this
peninsula can be found in the volumes of Mr. Stephens, entitled
"Incidents of Travel in Yucatan." At Zayi there is a singular building,
which, as seen at a distance by Mr. Stephens, "had the appearance of a
New England factory." But what seemed to be a "factory" is, in fact,
nothing more than a massive wall with oblong openings, which runs along
the middle of the roof, and rises thirty feet above it. The building was
below this wall, but the front part of it had fallen. Among the remains
at Xcoch is the great mound represented in Figure 44.

There is a remarkable ruin at Ake, at the south, which deserves mention.
Here, on the summit of a great mound, very level, and 225 feet by 50 in
extent, stand 36 shafts or columns, in three parallel rows. The columns
are about 15 feet high and 4 feet square. The ruins of Ake, which cover
a great space, are ruder and more massive than most of the others. The
island of Cozumel and the adjacent coast of Yucatan were populous when
the Spaniards first went there, but the great towns then inhabited are
now in ruins.

[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Great Mound at Xcoch.]

Water is scarce on this peninsula, and a sufficient supply is not
obtained without considerable difficulty. The ancient inhabitants
provided fo