GANN] PAINTING ON EAST WALL 665 
inches in length, was chipped from translucent, grayish flint; the 
points of both had been broken. 
The greatest possible care had evidently been taken by the builders 
of this mound to preserve, both from weather and from accident, that 
portion of the painted stucco which remained intact. This was 
more especially apparent in the north and west walls, where the 
method adopted was as follows: Built up from the cement floor, par- 
allel with the walls and at a distance of 1 to 2 inches from them, was 
a wall consisting of rough blocks of limestone, reaching nearly as high 
as the cornice; extending outward and downward from the latter, 
a layer of cement 7 to 8 inches thick met this wall and continued 
for several feet toward the circumference of the mound. By this 
ingenious arrangement all the rain which drained along the wall was, 
on reaching the upper surface of the cornice, directed outward along 
the roof-like layer of cement, so that it could not reach the painted 
stucco, which was also protected from the surrounding damp earth by 
the rough wall built up parallel with it, but not touching it. The only 
injury, in fact, which the wall suffered was from the roots of plants 
which had penetrated the cement layer and fixed themselves to the 
stucco. In removing some of these it was almost impossible not to 
injure the painting. 
PAINTING ON THE WALLS WITHIN MOUND 1 
Of the painting on the east wall (figure 5), unfortunately, only a 
rude outline of the least interesting and important part has been pre- 
served. The table of hieroglyphics, which should have occupied the 
whole of the left of the picture, as has been before explained, has 
been irredeemably lost. Next to these, and occupying the central 
part of the picture, were depicted two human beings who, from their 
attitudes, evidently were represented as engaged in combat. One of 
the figures is gone, only a part of his weapon being visible. The 
outline of the other is shown at 4 in the figure. In the original 
each of these warriors stood with the body thrust forward, the right 
foot advanced, and the right hand, in which was held a cruciform 
weapon, uplifted. The warrior on the left was apparently warding 
off a blow with the handle of his battle-ax. There can be little doubt 
that these weapons were the ordinary stone ax-heads—numbers of 
which are found in the vicinity—hafted in a wooden handle and held 
in place by a thong of leather or henequen fiber. This is well shown 
in the original, but in the rough outline given in figure 5 it is not by 
any means so apparent. On the extreme right of the picture is the 
upper part of the figure of an old man, seemingly watching the com- 
bat. This is probably meant to represent the god Quetzalcoatl, or 
Cuculcan of the Maya, as in headdress and profile he bears a marked 
