HEWERS OF STONE 



1015 



they produced a most wonderful group 

 of buildings. 



The great Hall of Six Columns is 125 

 feet long by 23 feet wide. These col- 

 umns are about 11 feet above the floor 

 and probably several feet beneath, and 

 measure 3 feet in diameter at the base, 

 tapering slightly toward the top. They 

 are monoliths with a smooth surface 

 and weigh from six to eight tons each. 

 As the width of the hall was too great 

 for the span of the flat roof, these col- 

 umns were placed in the center to sup- 

 port the wooden beams upon which they 

 laid the ceiling and roof, and hence this 

 structure 'was very low as compared 

 with modern public buildings. The row 

 of columns v/as not intended for archi- 

 tectural beauty, but for a necessary sup- 

 port wherever the width of the room ex- 

 ceeded 12 feet. Some of the ceilings 

 were formed of stone slabs, but when 

 the width or span exceeded 6 feet, then 

 wooden beams were employed. 



THE MOSAIC FRETWORK 



Every visitor to these celebrated ruins 

 is impressed with at least one feature of 

 originality, whereby those architects 

 produced a wonder-effect in mural deco- 

 ration by means of the mosaic fretwork. 

 As we look upon this unique feature we 

 may well- ask whence came the sugges- 

 tion or knowledge that led to this par- 

 ticular style of decorative work that we 

 see on the interior walls of the rooms 

 in the 'buildings at Mitla. Other build- 

 ings with similar mosaic fretwork have 

 been discovered in several places in the 

 country of the Zapotecs erected by the 

 same native people ; but whence did they 

 derive their knowledge, or was it an 

 original product or development? 



Among all the architectural remains 

 that I have seen in any country of the 

 ancients, there is nothing that bears any 

 resemblance to the distinctive character 

 of this decorative work and which could 

 have suggested it. 



The stones composing the mosaic de- 

 signs are not; the small bits such as 

 characterize the pieces that were em- 

 ployed in Europe, but they are rather 



stone tiles cut in different size and form 

 for their particular place in the decora- 

 tion, and generally from one to one and 

 a half inches in thickness and resembling 

 the thin bricks used in the buildings of 

 ancient Rome. 



The great quadrangle or court of 

 grecques is 30 feet square and the walls 

 are about 13 feet high. In addition to 

 the doorway by which we enter as we 

 come from the passage leading from the 

 Hall of Six Columns, there are four 

 other doors opening from each side wall 

 into the four narrow halls that are paral- 

 lel to the sides of the quadrangle, but of 

 unequal sizes. It is uncertain what use 

 was made of these narrow chambers, but 

 they may have answered for sleeping 

 apartments, for in those days sleeping 

 quarters were limited in size and not the 

 large, comfortable rooms of modern 

 times, and where some spend most of 

 their lives. The buildings at Mitla have 

 no windows, the only light and air for 

 the chambers coming from the large 

 inner hall or quadrangle. 



While the four halls that surround the 

 quadrangle are so narrow, not more than 

 seven feet in width, the massive walls 

 between them and the inner court are 

 six and one-half feet in thickness. 



There seems to be no reason for hav- 

 ing such a thick inner wall, for it was 

 not for defense, and, in addition to occu- 

 pying valuable space, it required many 

 months of extra labor to cut and trans- 

 port the extra stone required. The 

 builders have given us no explanation 

 and we are left to the uncertainty of 

 conjecture. 



Of course, in view of their lack of 

 knowledge respecting the use of the arch, 

 it was impossible for them to extend the 

 mosaic decorative work over the door- 

 way, for they were obliged to place the 

 large lintel there instead, some of these 

 weighing as many as 1 5 tons ; but they 

 were equal to the emergency, and, in 

 order to preserve the uniform harmony 

 of the geometric design in the mural 

 ornamentation, they sculptured the stone 

 lintel with the very same grecque design 

 as the mosaic fretwork, so as to har- 



