CHICHEN ITZA. 25 



No. 11. — Next in order comes one of the most interesting groups of buildings at 

 Chichen, the Tlachtli Court or Great Ball Court and the Temples attached to it 

 (No. 11, Plate II., and plans on Plates XXVI. and XXVII.). The main walls of the 

 court are parallel (see Plate XXVIII. ), and each measures 272 feet in length, and they 

 stand at a distance of 119 feet apart. 



There is a temple (A, Plate XXVI.) built on the south end of the east wall, which 

 will be fully described hereafter. In all other respects the following description is 

 applicable to both the east and west sides of the Court. 



A terrace 5 feet 3 inches high, with a sloping face marked " a " in the plan, projects 

 10 feet from the wall into the Court and is continued into a broad platform beyond the 

 wall at each end. The perpendicular face of the main wall rises to the height of 

 22 feet from this terrace, or 27 feet in all from the ground. The top of the wall forms 

 a level platform about 16 feet 6 inches broad. On the outer side the wall slopes 

 downward at an angle of about 52°. All traces of the stairways, which must have 

 been placed on this sloping side, have disappeared. 



On the top of the west wall are the remains of three small structures (b, b), each 

 consisting of two parallel walls, perpendicular on the inner side, but thicker at the 

 top than at the bottom, so that each wall has the appearance of leaning outward. 

 The passage between these walls had apparently been roofed over and would have 

 afforded room for one person to be seated in it. Two similar structures are found in 

 corresponding positions on the east wall, but the site corresponding to the third at the 

 south end is occupied by the Temple (A, Plate XXVI. ). From the position of these 

 structures at the boundaries of the Court and exactly over the rings, I have little doubt 

 that they were used for markers' or umpires' seats. 



A large stone ring was fixed in the face of each wall about three feet from the top ; 

 these rings were probably intended to divide the length of wall evenly, but my measure- 

 ments make them about two feet nearer to the south than to the north end of the 

 Court. v 



Each ring with the tenon to fix it in the wall is carved from a single block of stone ; 

 the ring itself is 11 inches thick and 4 feet in diameter, and the hole in the centre 

 measures 1 foot 6 inches across. The ring on the east wall is still in position, and 

 can be well seen in Plate XXX. ; the opposite ring has fallen, and a near view of it is 

 given in Plate XXIX., a, showing the ornamentation of twined serpents, which is also 

 repeated on the other side and on the flat rim. 



At the ends of the Tennis Court area are the walls marked X, X in the plan, which 

 are now reduced to tumbled heaps of stone, and almost in the centre of these walls, 

 facing the Court at either end, are the single-chambered Temples B and C. B is much 

 ruined, but portions of six sculptured pillars are still in place. C is smaller and 

 raised on a somewhat higher foundation, and the two columns as well as the whole 



biol. centb.-amer., Archseol., Vol. III., April 1900. e 



