CHICHEN ITZA. 29 



The outside wall surfaces of the Temple are divided into panels, and these were 

 probably decorated with paintings. At the level of the spring of the roof is a string 

 course ornamented with intertwined plumed serpents ; the head of one of these serpents 

 could be made out on the west corner-stone on the north side, but this detail is lost in 

 the photograph. Above this is a sunken frieze with a procession of jaguars between 

 round shields ; above this another string course of twined serpents. Above this two 

 courses are decorated with a large plumed serpent ; the body of the serpent is carried 

 from one course to the other, the intervening spaces being filled up with circles and 

 short pilasters. I have endeavoured to show the decoration of this temple more 

 clearly by the restoration on Plate XXXII. 



This restoration has been effected by carrying along the front the ornament which is 

 still visible on the sides and back of the building, so as to combine it with a view of 

 the rattlesnake columns. It is possible, and indeed probable, that the ornamentations 

 of the front and sides of the building were not precisely similar, but by adopting this 

 plan no ornament is introduced which is not still to be seen on the building or which 

 is not in keeping with the general design. 



The open fretwork round the top of the building is in part problematical. The 

 edges of the flat top of the building are so much broken away that no trace of such 

 ornament could be found ; but, as will be explained hereafter, there is good evidence 

 that such a fretwork decorated the top of the Castillo, and this restoration is made 

 from what was learnt from the study of that building. 



The central ornament, composed of three crossed arrows bound with a ribbon, was 

 found among the fallen stones in front of the temple, and a similar ornament was lying 

 on the ground on the east side. There is a tenon at the bottom of this ornament, and 

 the detail of the ornament is carved on one side only, which leads one to suppose that 

 the tenon was intended to be embedded in a horizontal surface, and the position 

 assigned to the ornament in the drawing seems to me a most probable one. Several 

 fragments of similar ornaments were found amongst the rubbish surrounding other 

 ruined buildings. 



There are sufficient traces to show that the whole of the exterior of this building 

 was at one time brilliantly coloured, and it must then have presented a most striking 

 appearance. 



The wall-surfaces of the interior of the building have also been decorated with 

 painted designs, but it is only in the inner chamber, where the roof is fairly water- 

 tight, that the paintings have escaped total destruction. 



The wall dividing the two chambers of the Temple is 4 feet 6 inches in thickness. 

 The lintel of the doorway leading to the inner chamber is formed of several beams of 

 wood still in a fair state of preservation. Two pilasters (k, k) supported an under-lintel 

 carved on its three exposed surfaces. The carving on the lower surface is destroyed ; 



