FEWKES ] HISTORY 67 
erection of fences or division walls. The material of this building is the mud of the 
valley, mixed with gravel. The mud is very adhesive, and when dried in the sun, 
is very durable. The outer surface of the wall appears to have been plastered roughly; 
but the inside, as well as the surface of all the inner walls, is hard finished. This is 
done with a composition of adobe, and is still as smooth as when first made, and has 
quite a polish. On one of the walls are rude figures, drawn with red lines, but no 
inscriptions. From the charred ends of the beams which remain in the walls, it is 
evident that the building was destroyed by fire. Some of the lintels which remain 
over the doors are formed of several sticks of wood, stripped of their bark, but showing 
no signs of a sharp instrument. The beams which supported the floors were from 4 to 
5 inches in diameter, placed about the same distance apart and inserted deeply in 
the walls. 
Most of the apartments are connected by doors, besides which there are circular 
openings in the upper part of the chambers to admit light and air. The ground plan 
of the building shows that all the apartments were long and narrow without windows. 
The inner rooms, I think, were used as store-rooms for corn; in fact, it is a question 
whether the whole may not have been built for a similar purpose. There are four 
entrances, one in the center of each side. The door on the western side is but 2 feet 
wide, and 7 or 8 high: the others 3 feet wide and 5in height, tapering towards the top— 
a peculiarity belonging to the ancient edifices of Central America and Yucatan. With 
the exception of these doors, there are no exterior openings, except on the western 
side, where they are of a circular form. Over the doorway corresponding to the third 
story, on the western front, is an opening, where there was a window, which I think 
was square. Ina line with this are two circular openings. 
The southern front has fallen in in several places, and is much injured by large 
fissures, yearly becoming larger, so that the whole of it must fall ere long. The other 
three fronts are quite perfect. The walls at the base, and particularly at the corners, 
have crumbled away to the extent of 12 or 15 inches, and are only held together by 
their great thickness. The moisture here causes disintegration to take place more 
rapidly than in any other part of the building; and in a few years, when the walls 
have become more undermined, the whole structure must fall, and become a mere 
rounded heap, like many other shapeless mounds which are seen on the plain. A 
couple of days’ labor spent in restoring the walls at the base with mud and gravel, 
would render this interesting monument as durable as brick, and enable it to last for 
centuries. How long it has been in this ruined state is not known; we only know 
that when visited by the missionaries a century ago it was in the same condition as 
at present. 
The exterior dimensions of this building are 50 feet from north to south, and 40 
from east to west. On the ground floor are five compartments. Those on the north 
and south sides extend the whole width of the building, and measure 32 by 10 feet. 
Between these are three smaller apartments, the central one being within the tower. 
All are open to the sky. There is no appearance of a stairway on any of the walls; 
whence it has been inferred that the means of ascent may have been outside. 
On the south-west of the principal building is a second one in a state of ruin, with 
hardly enough of the walls remaining to trace its original form. ... The central 
portion, judging from the height of the present walls, was two stories high; the outer 
wall, which can only be estimated from the débris, could not have been more than a 
single story. 
Northeast of the main building is a third one, smaller than either of the others, but 
in such an utter state of decay that its original form can not be determined. It issmall, 
and may have been no more than a watch tower. In every direction as far as the 
eye can reach, are seen heaps of ruined edifices, with no portions of their walls standing. 
To the north-west, about 200 yards distant, is a circular embankment from 80 to 100 
yards in circumference, which is open in the center, and is probably the remains of 
