24 CHICKEN ITZA. 



pyramid (Plate II., No. 9), which was ascended on all four sides by projecting stairways 

 and formerly supported a temple on its summit. 



The whole structure is now much ruined. Part of the stairway on the east side 

 and the remains of the serpent-columns are shown in Plate XXV., a & I. 



The balustrade, like that of the Caracol, is formed of the twisted body of a serpent. 

 The head rests on the ground and the body must have curved up the balustrade and 

 down again so that the rattles of the tail lie just above the head. 



All four stairways were similarly ornamented. On the summit of the mound (plan 

 on Plate XXIV.) portions of the square columns which supported the roof of the 

 temple are still in position ; but the walls have almost entirely disappeared, their 

 foundations could, however, be traced without much difficulty. The plan of the 

 building is almost identical with that of the Castillo, which will be fully described here- 

 after, and such slight differences as there are between the ground-plans of the two 

 buildings will be then noted. 



Mention may, however, here be made of two narrow blocks of stone, about five feet 

 high, which are still standing (a, a), on which there are faint traces of hieroglyphic 

 inscriptions, and which must have originally been fixed in the back w 7 all of the 

 building. 



Thirty feet to the east of No. 9 is a square terrace raised about 2 feet from the 

 ground, with a low heap of stones on the top of it, which may possibly be the remains 

 of an altar. 



No. 10. — Four feet to the east of this terrace is a mound (Plate II., No. 10) 45 feet 

 square and 12 feet high, furnished with four stairways with serpent-head balustrades, 

 as though this structure were a miniature copy of No. 9. I was not, however, able to 

 find any trace of a building on the top of it. 



About the same distance again to the east is another mound, 23 feet square and 7 

 feet high, with some fragments of columns on the top of it ; but the whole structure 

 was too much ruined for a ground-plan to be made out. 



