easily described.

[Engraving 12: Interior Front of Gateway]

The gateway is ten feet wide, passing through which we entered a thick
forest, growing so close upon the building that we were unable to make
out even its shape; but, on clearing away the trees, we discovered that
this had been the principal front, and that these trees were growing in
what had once been the area, or courtyard. The doors of the apartments
on both sides of the gateway, each twelve feet by eight, opened upon
this area. Over each doorway was a square recess, in which were the
remains of a rich ornament in stucco, with marks of paint still
visible, apparently intended to represent the face of the sun
surrounded by its rays, probably once objects of adoration and worship,
but now wilfully destroyed. The plate opposite represents this front
The buildings around the area formed a great irregular pile, measuring
in all two hundred feet in length. The plan was different from that of
any we had seen, but, having so many subjects to present, I have not
had it engraved.

Northeast from the mound on which the great wall stands, and about one
hundred and fifty yards distant, is a large building, erected on a
terrace, and hidden among the trees growing thereupon, with its front
much ruined, and having but few remains of sculptured ornaments. Still
farther in the same direction, going through the woods, we reach the
grand, and, without extravagance, the really magnificent building
represented in the frontispiece to this volume. It stands on a gigantic
terrace, four hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet deep.
The whole terrace is covered with buildings. The front represented
measures two hundred and eighty-two feet in length. It consisted of
three distinct parts, differing in style, and perhaps erected at
different times. At a distance, as seen indistinctly through the trees,
we had no idea of its extent. We came upon it at the corner which
appears on the right in the engraving. Our guide cut a path along the
front wall, and stopping, as we did, to look at the ornaments, and
entering the apartments as we went along, the building seemed immense.

[Engraving 13: Portion of a Facade]

The whole long facade was ornamented with sculptured stone, of which,
large as the engraving is, the details cannot appear; but, to give some
idea of their character, a detached portion is represented up the
engraving opposite, and, I ought at the same time to remark