orway three feet
wide, close to the wall of the principal building, leads to a chamber
twenty-four feet wide and nine feet deep, also roofless, and having the
same indications that the roof had been flat and supported by wooden
beams.

[Engraving 60: Back View of the Castillo]

The plate opposite represents the back or sea wall of the Castillo. It
rises on the brink of a high, broken, precipitous cliff, commanding a
magnificent ocean view, and a picturesque line of coast, being itself
visible from a great distance at sea. The wall is solid, and has no
doorways or entrances of any kind, nor even a platform around it. At
evening, when the work of the day was ended and our men returned to the
hut, we sat down on the moulding of the wall, and regretted that the
doorways of our lofty habitation had not opened upon the sea. Night,
however, wrought a great change in our feelings. An easterly storm came
on, and the rain beat heavily against the sea wall. We were obliged to
stop up the oblong openings, and congratulated ourselves upon the
wisdom of the ancient builders. The darkness, the howling of the winds,
the cracking of branches in the forest, and the dashing of angry waves
against the cliff, gave a romantic interest, almost a sublimity to our
occupation of this desolate building, but we were rather too hackneyed
travellers to enjoy it, and were much annoyed by mochetoes.

Our first day did not suffice to finish the clearing of the area in
front of the Castillo. Within this area were several small ruined
buildings, which seemed intended for altars. Opposite the foot of the
steps was a square terrace, with steps on all four of its sides, but
the platform had no structure of any kind upon it, and was overgrown
with trees, under the shade of which Mr. Catherwood set up his camera
to make his drawing; and, looking down upon him from the door of the
Castillo, nothing could be finer than his position, the picturesque
effect being greatly heightened by his manner of keeping one hand in
his pocket, to save it from the attacks of moschetoes, and by his
expedient of tying his pantaloons around his legs to keep ants and
other insects from running up.

Adjoining the lower room of the south wing were extensive remains, one
of which contained a chamber forty feet wide and nineteen deep, with
four columns that had probably supported a flat roof. In another, lying
on the ground, were the fragments of two tablets, of the same character