282 RUINS OF QUICHE. 



V able figures are the bas-reliefs, in stucco, representing a woman 

 with a child in her arms — which forcibly remind us of the 

 statues in ancient Babylon representing the goddess mother and 

 son (the same worshipped in Egypt under the names of Isis 

 and Osiris ; in India, even to this day, as Isi and Iswara ; 

 and also in China, where Shingmoo, the holy mother, is repre- 

 sented with a child in her arms, and a glory round her head). 

 It is impossible, looking at these figures, to suppose otherwise 

 than that they were derived from the same source whence the 

 idols of Egypt, Greece, and pagan Rome had their origin. 



RUINS OF QUICHE. 



In the north-east of Guatemala are the ruins of another city, 

 the capital of the province of Quiche. It is surrounded by 

 a deep ravine, which forms a natm-al foss, leaving only two 

 very narrow roads as entrances, guarded by the castle of 

 Resguado. The palace of the kings, which stood in the centre 

 of the city, surpasses every other edifice, competing in mag- 

 nificence with that of Montezuma in Mexico. It was con- 

 structed of hewn stones, of various colours. So large was the 

 city, that it could send no less than seventy-two thousand 

 fighting men to oppose the Spaniards. The whole palace is 

 now, however, completely destroyed, and the materials have 

 been carried away to build a village in the neighbourhood. 

 The most conspicuous portion of the ruins remaining is called 

 El Sacrificatorio. It is a quadrangular stone structure, rising 

 in a pyramidal form to the height of thirty-three feet. At 

 the corners are four buttresses of cut stone. Steps lead up on 

 the eastern side. On the top it is evident that an altar was 

 once placed, for the sacrifice of human victims, which struck 

 even the Spaniards with hoiTor. The whole was in full view 



