4S TIKAL. 



160 feet on the slope. A ground-plan of the Temple is given on Plate LXXIX. It 

 measures about 98 feet by 42 feet. The outer doorway is 7 feet high. The extra- 

 ordinary thickness of the walls is most remarkable. 



No other Temples in Central America offer such support to the theory that the 

 position and form of the buildings were clue to astronomical considerations as those of 

 Tikal. The lofty elevation so as to secure a clear view, the evident desire to gain 

 length of axis, and the fact that all the Temples may be roughly said to face the 

 cardinal points, favours this theory, and it may be that we can trace the sequence of 

 the structures by their position. For instance, the Temples B, C, and E, facing the 

 rising sun, would folloAV one another in order of time; C would have been built when 

 the erection of A had impeded the fairway of B ; and E would have been built when 

 the fairway of C had been obscured by the large group of buildings to the east of it ; 

 and it will be observed that this sequence follows the order of size — C being larger 

 than B, and E than C. The fairway of A, which faces the setting sun, is still 

 unimpeded, and there is therefore no larger temple facing in that direction. Unfortu- 

 nately at the time of my visits to these ruins I did not pay any particular attention to 

 the orientation of the temples beyond what was sufficient to fix their positions in the 

 general sketch-plan ; indeed, I was not provided with instruments for an accurate 

 survey, even if I had had time to use them. I now especially regret that I did not 

 more carefully examine the smaller mounds in the neighbourhood of A and B, for I 

 am inclined to think that an earlier northern temple might be traced in the mound 

 marked f, which, when its fairway was interrupted, was superseded by the large 

 Temple D, whose foundation-mound stands on higher ground and still commands a 

 clear view. 



I was able to secure only a rough outline-measurement of the large group of 

 buildings between Temples A and D. The house I lived in is marked * on Plate 

 LXVII. It had been a two-chambered house, but the wall of the outer chamber had 

 fallen away. The inner chamber measured 48 feet 8 inches by 5 feet 2 inches. A 

 photograph of the interior is given on Plate LXXX., a. The north side of this house 

 and the house in line with it to the w r est form one side of a square courtyard. There 

 is a deep depression in the ground between the south side of these houses and 

 Temple D. 



In several of the neighbouring houses the numerous small chambers are still intact. 



The house marked g on Plate LXVII. is one in a fairly good state of preservation, 

 and a ground-plan of it is given on Plate LXXIX. In some of the rooms there are 

 masonry benches raised about eighteen inches above the level of the floor. 



