308 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



and the engraving opposite represents the interior. 

 It consists of two parallel chambers, each thirty- 

 three feet long and thirteen wide ; and at each end 

 of both chambers is a doorway communicating with 

 other chambers nine feet long and thirteen wide. 

 The doorways of all these are ornamented with 

 sculpture, and they are the only ornaments found in 

 the interior of any buildings in Uxmal. The whole 

 suite consists of six rooms ; and there is a conve- 

 nience in the arragements not unsuited to the habits 

 of what we call civilized life ; opening as they do 

 upon this noble courtyard, in the dry season, with 

 nothing to apprehend from vegetation and damp, 

 they would be by far the most comfortable residence 

 for any future explorer of the ruins of Uxmal ; and 

 every time I went to them I regretted that we could 

 not avail ourselves of the facilities they offered. 



With these few words I take leave of the Casa 

 de las Monjas, remarking only that in the centre is 

 the fragment of a large stone like that on the terrace 

 of the Casa del Gobernador, called the Picote, and 

 also that, induced by the account of Waldeck that 

 the whole was once paved with sculptured turtles, 

 I passed a morning digging all over the courtyard 

 below the slight accumulation of earth, and found 

 nothing of the kind. The substratum consisted 

 of rude stones, no doubt once serving as a founda- 

 tion for a floor of cement, which, from long expo- 

 sure to the rainy seasons, has now entirely disap- 

 peared. 



