as a grand courtyard, with ranges of ruined buildings,
forming a hollow square, and in the centre a gigantic staircase rose
from the courtyard to the platform of the third story. On the platform
of the second terrace, at each end, stood a high square building like a
tower, with the remains of rich ornaments in stucco; and on the
platform of the third, at the head of the grand staircase, one on each
side of it, stood two oblong buildings, their facades adorned with
colossal figures and ornaments in stucco, seemingly intended as a
portal to the structure on the top. In ascending the grand staircase,
cacique, priest, or stranger had before him this gorgeously ornamented
portal, and passed through it to enter the centre apartment of the
upper story.

This apartment, however, does not correspond with the grandeur of the
approach, and, according to our understanding of proprieties, the view
of it is attended with disappointment. It is twenty-three feet long,
only five feet six inches wide, and perfectly plain, without painting
or ornament of any kind. But in this lofty chamber were strange
memorials, tokens of recent occupation, indicating, amid the desolation
and solitude around, that within a few years this ruined edifice, from
which the owners had perhaps fled in terror, or been driven by the
sword, had been the refuge and abode of man. In the holes of the
archway were poles for the support of hammocks, and at each end were
swinging shelves made of twigs and rods. When the cholera swept like a
scourge over this isolated country, the inhabitants of the villages and
ranchos fled for safety to the mountains and the wilderness. This
desolate building was repeopled, this lofty chamber was the abode of
some scared and stricken family, and here, amid hardships and
privations, they waited till the angel of death passed by.

The engraving which follows represents the ground-plan of the lower
range. It consists of ranges of narrow apartments on all four of the
sides, opening outward, and the reader will see that it has fitness,
and uniformity of design and proportion. The grand staircase, forty
feet wide, is indicated in the engraving. The interior, represented in
blank, forms the foundation for the support of the two upper ranges. It
is cut off and enclosed on all sides by the inner wall, has no
communication with any of the apartments, and is apparently a solid
mass. Whether it really is solid or contains apartments, remains, as