SELEK] DESCRIPTION OF MITLA 253 



seen that there are in all three groups of the principal buildings, 

 which extend in a slight curve from the height down to the river. I 

 have numbered the first I. For ^^ractical reasons I have numbered 

 the second II and III. The third is designated IV. Inside the arc 

 formed by these groups of buildings, but not near the center, lies a 

 terraced pyramid, an ancient temple without doubt, which serves now 

 as a cemetery and has a chapel on its upper platform. A court 

 formed by broad, rampartlike elevations lies behind it. On the other 

 side of the river there is a similar, smaller pyramid with several 

 courts formed by rampartlike elevations. 



Each of the three chief groups of buildings, I, II-III, and IV, 

 consists of a main building and an adjoining building (see the ground 

 plan of palace I, plate xxiii). The main structure has a courtyard 

 lying according to the four points of the compass, inclosed on three 

 sides by buildings. Of these, the one situated on the north side of 

 the court is the largest and most beautifully finished, and is con- 

 nected by means of a narrow angular passage with a smaller adjoin- 

 ing court, which is surrounded on all four sides by narrow^ corridor- 

 like chambers, and is completely closed from the outside. 



The position of the adjoining building varies somewhat. While 

 in I it lies directly in front of the main building, those of III and IV 

 lie a little to one side. These adjoining buildings also surround three 

 sides of a court whose four sides face the four points of the compass. 

 While, however, in the main buildings, the south side of the court 

 remains open, in the adjoining buildings that is the case only in IV, 



I and III being open toward the west. 



The church and the priest's house are built into palace I. Palace 



II is the best preserved and the most beautiful. It contains in the 

 principal room, situated on the north side of the court, the row of six 

 large monolithic pillars, which have always been considered the most 

 remarkable proof of the technical skill of the ancient Zapotecs. As 

 palace IV lies nearest the village it has been most despoiled, in order 

 to furnish stones and other building materials for the huts of the 

 present village. Only a few renuiins of masonry scattered about the 

 garden are now left of this palace. 



If an attempt is made to identify the still remaining buildings 

 after Burgoa's description, a certain difhculty arises at the very 

 outset. Burgoa speaks of '' four chambers " (quadras) or '' halls " 

 (salas), and says that remains of them had been found parti}" above 

 ground (altos) and partly underground (bajos), and that the former 

 were like the latter in size and the manner of their decoration. 



He furthermore says that one of the chambers found under- 

 ground, the front one, had been a temple, sacrarium, or place for 

 keeping the idols; another had served as burial place for the high 

 priest; the third as the tomb of the kings and nobles of the realm; 



