314 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



Cyclopean remains in Greece and Italy. Along the 

 top was a layer of flat stone, arid the sides, being plas- 

 tered, presented a flat surface. The long, unbroken cor- 

 ridors in front of the palace were probably intended for 

 lords and gentlemen in waiting ; or perhaps, in that 

 beautiful position, which, before the forest grew up, 

 must have commanded an extended view of a cultiva- 

 ted and inhabited plain, the king himself sat in it to re- 

 ceive the reports of his officers and to administer justice. 

 Under our dominion Juan occupied the front corridor 

 as a kitchen, and the other was our sleeping apartment. 



From the centre door of this corridor a range of stone 

 steps thirty feet long leads to a rectangular courtyard, 

 eighty feet long by seventy broad. On each side of 

 the steps are grim and gigantic figures, carved on stone 

 in basso-relievo, nine or ten feet high, and in a position 

 slightly inclined backward from the end of the steps 

 to the floor of the corridor. The engraving opposite 

 represents this side of the courtyard, and the one next 

 following shows the figures alone, on a larger scale. 

 They are adorned with rich headdresses and neck- 

 laces, but their attitude is that of pain and trouble. "» 

 The design and anatomical proportions of the figures 

 are faulty, but there is a force of expression about them 

 which shows the skill and conceptive power of the ar- 

 tist. When we first took possession of the palace this 

 courtyard was encumbered with trees, so that we could 

 hardly see across it, and it was so filled up with rubbish 

 that we were obliged to make excavations of several 

 feet before these figures could be drawn. 



On each side of the courtyard the palace was divided 

 into apartments, probably for sleeping. On the right 

 the piers have all fallen down. On the left they are 

 still standing, and ornamented with stucco figures. In 



