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Panorama of the ruins of Chichen Itza. In the foreground at the left are the Nunnery buildings, 

 the smallest, the single-roomed temple figured on page 22; in the background and a little to the right 

 is the Castillo with its lofty stepped pyramid, while immediately to its left is the Ball Court Group 

 of ruins including the famous Temple of the Jaguars. Two cenotes are shown, the Grand Cenote at 

 the right of the center and a second in the extreme central backgroimd. 



The tops of the ruins of Chichen Itza rise above the tree tops of a forest which everywhere 

 gives rich color to the plain. The function of the various buildings is thought to have been mainly 

 religious. The names given to the ruins serve only for convenience in description; they may not be 

 appropriate 



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The Sacred Cenote in which human victims were thrown. This great natural well is about 

 eighty feet from the rim to the surface of the water. It was made by the falling of the roof of an 

 underground river 



19 



