HOUSE OF THE TURTLES. 



185 



This building is 94 feet in front and 34 feet 

 deep, and in size and ornaments contrasts striking- 

 ly with the Casa del Gobernador. It wants the 

 rich and gorgeous decoration of the former, but is 

 distinguished for its justness and beauty of propor- 

 tions, and its chasteness and simplicity of ornament. 

 Throughout there is nothing that borders on the 

 unintelligible or grotesque, nothing that can shock a 

 fastidious architectural taste ; but, unhappily, it is 

 fast going to decay. On our first visit Mr. Cath- 

 erwood and myself climbed to the roof, and se- 

 lected it as a good position from which to make a 

 panoramic sketch of the whole field of ruins. It 

 was then trembling and tottering, and within the 

 year the whole of the centre part had fallen in. In 

 front the centre of the wall is gone, and in the rear 

 the wooden lintel, pressed down and broken in two, 

 still supports the superincumbent mass, but it gave 

 us a nervous feeling to pass under it. The interior 

 is filled up with the ruins of the fallen roof. 



This building, too, has the same peculiar feature, 

 want of convenient access. It has no communica- 

 tion, at least by steps or any visible means, with the 

 Casa del Gobernador, nor were there any steps 

 leading to the terrace below. It stands isolated and 

 alone, seeming to mourn over its own desolate and 

 ruinous condition. With a few more returns of the 

 rainy season it will be a mass of ruins, and perhaps 

 on the whole continent of America there will be no 



Vol. I.— A a 



