TOWERS. 



317 



The first was enclosed by a border, very wide at the 

 bottom, part of which is destroyed. The subject con- 

 sists of two figures with facial angles similar to that in 

 the plate before given, plumes of feathers and other 

 decorations for headdresses, necklaces, girdles, and 

 sandals ; each has hold of the same curious baton, part 

 of which is destroyed, and opposite their hands are hie- 

 roglyphics, which probably give the history of these 

 incomprehensible personages. The others are more 

 ruined, and no attempt has been made to restore them. 

 One is kneeling as if to receive an honour, and the 

 other a blow. 



So far the arrangements of the palace are simple and 

 easily understood ; but on the left are several distinct 

 and independent buildings, as will be seen by the plan, 

 the particulars of which, however, I do not consider it 

 necessary to describe. The principal of these is the 

 tower, on the south side of the second court. This 

 tower is conspicuous by its height and proportions, but 

 on examination in detail it is found unsatisfactory and 

 uninteresting. The base is thirty feet square, and it has 

 three stories. Entering over a heap of rubbish at the 

 base, we found within another tower, distinct from the 

 outer one, and a stone staircase, so narrow that a large 

 man could not ascend it. The staircase terminates 

 against a dead stone ceiling, closing all farther passage, 

 the last step being only six or eight inches from it. 

 For what purpose a staircase was carried up to such a 

 bootless termination we could not conjecture. The 

 whole tower was a substantial stone structure, and in 

 its arrangements and purposes about as incomprehen- 

 sible as the sculptured tablets. 



East of the tower is another building with two cor- 

 ridors, one richly decorated with pictures in stucco, and 



