254 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 2S 



and the fourth had been connected with the great cave, whither they 

 were accustomed to bring the bodies of the victims of sacrifice and 

 of the chiefs who had fallen in battle. The chambers found above 

 ground, he said, had served as dwellings, one for the high priest, the 

 second for the rest of the priesthood, the third for the king, and the 

 fourth for the families of the nobles who came to Mitla in the retinue 

 of the king. 



Here, first of all, it is clear that '^ quadras " or "salas " could not 

 have been used to designate the entire groups of buildings forming 

 the palaces, for there are only three, not four, of these. Furthermore, 

 we can not take literally the statement that the underground cham- 

 bers were exactlj' like those above groun<l in the manner of decora- 

 tion and in size. The only building in which a crypt has been 

 preserved, or rather excavated, is the larger eastern building of III. 

 Here, however, the crypt does not have the form of the chamber 

 above ground. The latter is an oblong rectangle in shape. The 

 crypt is built in the shape of a ci'oss, exactly like the crypt which was 

 discovered in the village of Xaaga, three-fourths of a league from 

 Mitla, and can still be seen. I think that Burgoa's statements refer 

 only to the different parts of one group of palace buildings; and there 

 seems to be the greatest probability that Burgoa had in mind group 

 II-III. In this one the hall with pillars lying on the north side of 

 the main court of II might have formed, with its adjoining court, 

 the dwelling of the high priest, the Uija-tao, and under it must 

 have been the crypt that was " in front ", where the idols stood and 

 where the high priest received his inspirations. The building situ- 

 ated on the west side of the main court might have contained, above, 

 the living rooms for the priesthood and, below, the burial place for 

 the high priest. The building situated opposite, on the east side, 

 might have been the dwelling and burial place of the king. We may 

 probably consider the whole of palace III as the building where the 

 majority of the nobles were quartered and where, at the rear of the 

 crypt of the main building, a door led into the cave already described. 

 Then this entrance would have been directly opposite the pyramid, 

 on whose upper platform the sacrifices were doubtless performed. 



If this is the case, we must consider the three palace groups as 

 undoubtedly constructed on a uniform plan, the individual buildings 

 being designed for exactly similar purposes. We must, then, neces- 

 sarily conclude further that there was in Mitla not one high priest 

 only, but that besides him, perhaps subordinated to him, there 

 must have been at least two other chief priests. This conclusion, 

 however, is not unnatural or forced. On the contrary, this idea is 

 very readily suggested by a comparison with the corresponding 

 conditions in the capital, Mexico, Besides, Burgoa speaks plainly 

 in another place of several high priests, Uija-tao, whom the king of 



