£6 



UTATLAN .AND IXIMCHE. 



house or temple walls are to be seen, and the stone facings have even been stripped off 

 the foundation-mounds, for the whole group of ruined buildings has long been treated 

 as a quarry by the people of Santa Cruz. There can be no doubt that this group of 

 mounds represents the guard-house or Castle of Eesguardo ; but it is quite clear from 

 the plan that the buildings were of the same nature as those found throughout the 

 country, and they stand grouped together in the usual manner. The position they 

 occupy is a naturally strong one, and would offer great facilities for defence, but there 

 is nothing especially characteristic of a fortress about the buildings themselves. 



After leaving this hill a walk of about two hundred yards brings one to the edge of 

 the barranca and to the narrow natural causeway by which alone the city or 

 stronghold of Utatlan could be approached. On crossing this narrow bridge one finds 

 oneself on a fairly level space of ground about eighteen acres in extent, with almost 

 precipitous sides, over which one can look down to the bottom of the barranca four 

 hundred feet below. 



j&*#3*; 



Nearly the whole area affords some trace of ruined buildings, but almost all the 

 stonework has been stripped from the foundations, and the buildings which stood on 

 them have altogether disappeared. Stephens, who visited the ruins in 1840, gives the 

 following account of the principal temple: — ' : The most important part remaining of 

 these ruins is that which appears in the engraving, and which is called 'El Sacrifica- 

 torio,' or the place of sacrifice. It is a quadrangular stone structure, sixty-six feet on 

 each side at the base, and rising in a pyramidal form to a height, in its present 

 condition, of thirty-three feet. On three sides there is a range of steps in the middle, 

 each step seventeen inches high, and but eight inches on the upper surface, which 

 makes the range so steep that in descending some caution is necessary. At the corners 

 are four buttresses of cut stone, diminishing in size from the line of the square, and 



