216 FieLp Co_tumBpiAN MusEuM—ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. II. 
from the otherwise plain surface of the entablature, producing an 
artistic though simple effect. Sunken columnar ornaments break the 
monotony of the lower wall at intervals, and a curious cleft or vertical 
channel divides the facade between the two well-preserved chambers. 
This channel resembles the water gutter of modern buildings, but is 
the only thing of the kind that I have yet found. At Uxmal and in 
other ruin groups I discovered that the drainage of the roofs, and of 
some terraces even, was carried off by curiously wrought gargoyle-like 
water-spouts of stone. 
As is the case with most of the larger edifices of these groups of 
ruins, the Palace appears to be the result of successive periods of 
growth. It would seem that the central portion had been completed, 
and that time left its mark upon the wall before the wings were added, 
and the eroded surface was hidden beneath the new material. The 
second story also appears to occupy the site of an older structure 
whose demolished wall helped to form the later structure. The 
newer building seems to be identical in style with the old. Contrary 
to the theories of some writers on these ruins, there appears to have 
been no Renaissance in the building art in Yucatan. The growth 
seems to have been gradual from the simple lair in the rocks, the cave 
dwelling and the wattle and withe hut, to the grandest monuments of 
the peninsula. The true theory is the simpler. As the group of 
buildings grew, the principal structures must needs be larger to satisfy 
the needs of the people; additions were made as called for and with 
as little trouble as possible. The builders did not often remove the 
casing stones of an old wall that was to be built against, but left them 
to strengthen the structure which, as time went on, might require the 
addition of another story. In some instances, where the stone orna- 
mentation of the upper wall space was especially intricate and pro- 
jecting, they did remove the more complicated portions, utilizing 
them elsewhere. All of the chambers are finished in the usual style; 
the roof is vaulted with the Maya arch; the thick walls are faced with 
dressed stone, the joints being imperfectly broken and often concealed 
beneath one or more thin layers of extremely hard white stucco. The 
floor is built up with layers of rubble and finished with a smoothly 
burnished surface of concrete, once white but now turned to tawny 
yellow hue by long use. 
Five of the Palace chambers have platforms at one or both ends 
of the rooms, raised about 18 inches above the floor and about 2 feet 
wide. (See Figs. 23 and 24.) Their shape and size would indicate 
that they had served for seats, beds or tables. 
I have found similar features in nearly every group of ruins in 
