312 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



preceding engraving represents a part of these or- 

 naments. 



The remaining portion consists of some very large 

 rooms, among which are two fifty-three feet long, 

 fourteen wide, and about twenty high, being the 

 largest, or at least the widest in Uxmal. In one of 

 them are the remains of painting well preserved, and 

 in the other is an arch, which approaches nearer to 

 the principle of the keystone than any we had yet 

 met with in our whole exploration of ruins. It is 

 very similar to the earliest arches, if they may be so 

 called, of the Etruscans and Greeks, as seen at Arpino 

 in the kingdom of Naples, and Tiryns in Greece. 

 (See engravings in the Appendix.) 



From this range of buildings we descend to the 

 House of the Dwarf, also known by the name of la 

 Casa del Adivino, or the House of the Diviner, from 

 its overlooking the whole city, and enabling its occu- 

 pant to be cognizant of all that was passing around 

 him. 



The courtyard of this building is one hundred 

 and thirty-five feet by eighty-five. It is bounded by 

 ranges of mounds from twenty-five to thirty feet 

 thick, now covered with a rank growth of herbage, 

 but which, perhaps, once formed ranges of buildings. 

 In the centre is a large circular stone, like those seen 

 in the other courtyards, called the Picote. 



The plate opposite represents the west front of 

 this building, with the mound on which it stands. 

 The base is so ruined and encumbered with fallen 



