e last being invariably the
colour given to human flesh. Wanting the various tints, the engraving,
of course, gives only an imperfect idea of them, though, even in
outline, they exhibit a freedom of touch which could only be the result
of discipline and training under masters. But they have a higher
interest than any that attaches to them as mere specimens of art; for
among them are seen designs and figures which call forcibly to mind the
well-known picture writings of the Mexicans; and if these analogies are
sustained, this building attached to the walls of the Tennis-court
stands an unimpeachable witness that the people who inhabited Mexico at
the time of the conquest belonged to the same great race which
furnished the builders of the ruined cities in Yucatan.

[Engraving 51: The Castillo]

But to continue. At the distance of five hundred feet southeast from
this rises the Castillo, represented in the plate opposite, the first
building which we saw, and from every point of view the grandest and
most conspicuous object that towers above the plain. Every Sunday the
ruins are resorted to as a promenade by the villagers of Piste, and
nothing can surpass the picturesque appearance of this lofty building
while women, dressed in white, with red shawls, are moving on the
platform, and passing in and out at the doors. The mound measures at
the base on the north and south sides one hundred and ninety-six feet
ten inches, and on the east and west sides two hundred and two feet. It
does not face the cardinal points exactly, though probably so intended;
and in all the buildings, from some cause not easily accounted for,
while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies
twelve or thirteen degrees in another. It is built up apparently solid
from the plain to the height of seventy-five feet. On the west side is
a staircase thirty-seven feet wide; on the north, being that presented
in the engraving, the staircase is forty-four feet wide, and contains
ninety steps. On the ground at the foot of the staircase, forming a
bold, striking, and well-conceived commencement to this lofty range,
are two colossal serpents' heads, ten feet in length, with mouths wide
open and tongues protruding, as represented in the following engraving.
No doubt they were emblematic of some religious belief and in the minds
of an imaginative people, passing between them to ascend the steps,
must have excited feelings of solemn awe.

[Engr