aving 52: Staircase, with colossal Serpents' Heads]

[Engraving 53: Sculptured Figure]

[Transcriber's Note:
Text immediately below Figure: _4 feet 8 in._
Bottom line: _Figure in Bas-relief on Stone on one of the Jambs of the
TEOCALLIS at CHICHEN-ITZA._]

The platform on the top of the mound measures sixty-one feet from north
to south, and sixty-four from east to west; and the building measures
in the same directions forty-three feet and forty-nine. Single doorways
face the east, south, and west, having massive lintels of sapote wood
covered with elaborate carvings, and the jambs are ornamented with
sculptured figures, one of which is represented in the engraving
opposite. The sculpture is much worn, but the head-dress, ornamented
with a plume of feathers, and portions of the rich attire still remain.
The face is well preserved, and has a dignified appearance. It has,
too, earrings, and the nose bored, which, according to the historical
accounts, was so prevalent a custom in Yucatan, that long after the
conquest the Spaniards passed laws for its prohibition.

All the other jambs are decorated with sculpture of the same general
character, and all open into a corridor six feet wide, extending round
three sides of the building.

[Engraving 54: An Apartment]

The doorway facing the north, represented in the engraving, presents a
grander appearance, being twenty feet wide, and having two short
massive columns, eight feet eight inches high, with two large
projections at the base, entirely covered with elaborate sculpture.
This doorway gives access to a corridor forty feet long by six feet
four inches wide and seventeen feet high. In the back wall of this
corridor is a single doorway, having sculptured jambs, over which is a
richly-carved sapote beam, and giving entrance to an apartment
represented in the engraving opposite, nineteen feet eight inches long,
twelve feet nine inches wide, and seventeen feet high. In this
apartment are two square pillars nine feet four inches high and one
foot ten inches on each side, having sculptured figures on all their
sides, and supporting massive sapote beams covered with the most
elaborate carving of curious and intricate designs, but so defaced and
timeworn that, in the obscurity of the room, lighted only from the
door, it was extremely difficult to make them out. The impression
produced on entering this lofty chamber, so entirely different from all
we had met with before, was per