EXTENT OF THE RUINS. 



133 



form a conception, must have passed within two days' 

 march of this city. 



The extent along the river, as ascertained by monu- 

 ments still found, is more than two miles. There is 

 one monument on the opposite side of the river, at the 

 distance of a mile, on the top of a mountain two thou- 

 sand feet high. Whether the city ever crossed the 

 river, and extended to that monument, it is impossible 

 to say. I believe not. At the rear is an unexplored 

 forest, in which there may be ruins. There are no re- 

 mains of palaces or private buildings, and the principal 

 part is that which stands on the bank of the river, and 

 may, perhaps, with propriety be called the Temple. 



This temple is an oblong enclosure. The front or 

 river wall extends on a right line north and south six 

 hundred and twenty-four feet, and it is from sixty to 

 ninety feet in height. It is made of cut stones, from 

 three to six feet in length, and a foot and a half in 

 breadth. In many places the stones have been thrown 

 down by bushes growing out of the crevices, and in 

 one place there is a small opening, from which the ruins 

 are sometimes called by the Indians Las Ventanas, or 

 the windows. The other three sides consist of ranges 

 of steps and pyramidal structures, rising from thirty to 

 one hundred and forty feet in height on the slope. The 

 whole line of survey is two thousand, eight hundred and 

 sixty-six feet, which, though gigantic and extraordinary 

 for a ruined structure of the aborigines, that the read- 

 er's imagination may not mislead him, I consider it ne- 

 cessary to say, is not so large as the base of the great 

 Pyramid of Ghizeh. 



The engraving opposite gives the plan according to 

 our survey, a reference to which will assist the reader 

 to understand the description. 



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