SELBR] • DESCRIPTION OF MITLA 255 



Tehuantepec, Cocijo-pij, had summoned to him from Mictlan." We 

 also know that the " Zapotecos Serranos ", who lived on the other 

 side of the mountains, in the forest valleys of Villa Alta, had their 

 special priests.'' 



The appearance which the outer and inner facades of these palaces 

 present, with their projections and courses of coping and the wonder- 

 ful ornamentation produced by geometric designs executed in raised 

 stonework, is shown by the photographs which are reproduced on 

 plates XXV to xxx. The pictures were taken in 1890 by order of the 

 commission of the state of Oaxaca for the world's exposition in Paris. 

 The number of designs in the panels of the wall is limited. Those 

 which my wife and I observed in Mitla are reproduced in plates xxxi 

 and XXXII from original drawings by my wife. A few additional 

 designs are reproduced there which we saw in the crypt of Xaaga and 

 in the neighborhood of the utterly ruined temple of Xaquie, or Teo- 

 titlan del Valle. As to the technic of these designs, one might think, 

 according to Burgoa's description quoted above, that they were 

 formed of small stones which had been set in a mass of stucco. That 

 is by no means the case. The blocks, cut out of a light-colored 

 tufaceous stone, laid one upon the other, form the outer and inner 

 surface of the thick walls, which consist chiefly of mortar. They 

 were sculptured on the outer side, perhaps even in their present posi- 

 tion, in such a manner that a single stone of this kind shows on its 

 exterior face a sunken and a projecting surface, the lines of demarca- 

 tion running in steps, zigzag lines, or curves, according to the nature 

 of the design of which they are a part. With this method of con- 

 struction it is plain that no single portion can crumble and become 

 detached, and therefore the patterns are still, in the main, as clear 

 and unchanged as they were centuries ago. The height of the pro- 

 jection above the sunken plane, which averages about 3 cm., and the 

 extraordinarily sharp and perpendicular outline between the raised 

 parts and the background cause the patterns to stand out with 

 remarkable clearness and distinctness. In the background we find 

 everywhere traces of red coloring, while the raised parts seem to have 

 been left white, an inference also to be drawn from Burgoa's descrip- 

 tion, where he speaks of " small white stones '\ I need hardly point 

 out that this contrast of color must have enhanced the effect of the 

 pattern still more. 



Now, while the exterior aspect of these palaces and the ornamenta- 



" Burgoa, work cited, chap. 72 : Llevando de el gran adoratorio de Mictla los sacerrfotes 

 mayores como pontiflces, & quienes llaman Iluija-too, en sn lengua, que quiere dezir 

 " grande atataya y el que lo vfe todo " y otros saccrdotes menores que llaman copa vltoo 

 " guarda de los Dioses " ("Bringing from the great temple of Mictla the high priests 

 as pontiflces, whom they call in their language Iluija-too, which means ' great guard and 

 he who sees all ', and other lesser priests whom they call copa vitoo, ' guardians of the 

 gods ' "). 



'' Burgoa, worK cited, chap. 56. 



