SCULPTURED FIGURES. COLUMNS. 317 



and giving entrance to an apartment represented in 

 the engraving opposite, nineteen feet eight inches 

 long, twelve feet nine inches wide, and seventeen 

 feet high. In this apartment are two square pillars 

 nine feet four inches high and one foot ten inches 

 on each side, having sculptured figures on all their 

 sides, and supporting massive sapote beams covered 

 with the most elaborate carving of curious and intri- 

 cate designs, but so defaced and timeworn that, in the 

 obscurity of the room, lighted only from the door, it 

 was extremely difficult to make them out. The 

 impression produced on entering this lofty chamber, 

 so entirely different from all we had met with be- 

 fore, was perhaps stronger than any we had yet ex- 

 perienced. We passed a whole day within it, from 

 time to time stepping out upon the platform to look 

 down upon the ruined buildings of the ancient city, 

 and an immense field stretching on all sides beyond. 



And from this lofty height we saw for the first 

 time groups of small columns, which, on examina- 

 tion, proved to be among the most remarkable and 

 unintelligible remains we had yet met with. They 

 stood in rows of three, four, and five abreast, many 

 rows continuing in the same direction, when they 

 changed and pursued another. They were very 

 low, many of them only three feet high, while the 

 highest were not more than six feet, and consisted 

 of several separate pieces, like millstones. Many 

 of them had fallen, and in some places they lie pros- 

 trate in rows, all in the same direction, as if thrown 



