26 EOTNS NEAR RABINAL. 



public buildings, each group arranged on nearly the same plan so as to enclose a level 

 plaza. It seems to me most probable tbat here we have an example of the villages 

 " of not more than six houses, standing a gunshot apart," mentioned by Las Casas, 

 and that it was the inhabitants of the houses on these hill-tops whom he had so much 

 difficulty in persuading to leave their homes and form the settlement at Rabinal. 



The general arrangement of the buildings in each group is as follows : — One large 

 house extends right across the hill-top bounding the northern side of the Plaza: this 

 house faces the south, and as there are no openings in the back wall, the access to 

 the Plaza from the north must have been just on the fall of the hill at each end 

 of the house. Numerous doorways opened on to a flight of stone steps on the south 

 side. A house similar in plan, but somewhat smaller, stood on the southern side 

 of the Plaza and faced north, and there were usually the remains of some smaller 

 houses facing inwards on the east and west sides of the Plazas. Almost equidistant 

 between the north and south houses, in the centre of each Plaza, stood what I take 

 to be the remains of a temple, facing northwards, and between this and the northern 

 house stood an altar which was apparently a copy in miniature of the foundation of 

 the temple. On Plate LXXI. is given a view of one of the groups of buildings and 

 a photograph of a temple. 



I took some measurements of the buildings in the group marked E on the top of 

 the western spur. The arrangement differed somewhat from that of the other groups, 

 the Plaza being double and there being no houses along the sides, or it may be that 

 the houses were small and that all trace of them has been swept away. The house 

 No. 1 (see plan, Group E) was by far the largest, measuring 156 feet 7 inches in 

 length and 21 feet 6 inches in breadth. It was approached by a flight of steps 

 divided into six divisions by projecting buttresses. Eight masonry piers supported 

 the roof in front, the wall being continuous at the sides and back of the house. The 

 wall is still standing in some parts to the height of 6 feet. A raised bench 

 6 feet 6 inches in width runs along the back and sides of the house. Such a building 

 must necessarily have been roofed with wood ; and I may add that nowhere did I find 

 any traces of stones which could have been used for purposes of roofing. 



A ground-plan and elevation of the building, which I take to be a temple, is also 

 given on Plate LXX. Two stairways with very narrow steps rise between buttresses 

 on both north and south sides of the building and a single stairway on the east and 

 west ; but the approach is from the north side only, and the platform round the 

 temple on the other three sides is little more than a foot wide. The height of this 

 platform from the ground is 10 feet 10 inches. The temple has three doorways on 

 the north side, and the walls are still standing to the height of 5 feet. All the temples 

 face north except No. 2 in Group E, which faced towards the south. The temples are 

 all built on the same plan, but differ in size, some being considerably larger than that 

 here figured. 



