HOUSE OF THE PIGEONS. 



319 



hgures and ornaments in stucco, portions of which 

 still remain. The view presented is in profile, as 

 the full front could not be exhibited on this scale. 



In the centre of this building is an archway ten feet 

 wide, which leads into a courtyard one hundred and 

 eighty feet long and one hundred and fifty feet deep. 

 In the centre of the courtyard, and thrown down, is the 

 same large stone so often mentioned. On the right 

 is a range of ruined buildings, on the left a similar 

 range, and rising behind it the high mound repre- 

 sented in the frontispiece ; and in front, at the end 

 of the courtyard, is a range of ruined buildings, with 

 another archway in the centre. Crossing the court- 

 yard, and passing through this archway, we ascend 

 a flight of steps, now ruined, and reach another 

 courtyard, one hundred feet long by eighty-five 

 deep. On each side of this courtyard, too, is a 

 range of ruined buildings, and at the other end is a 

 great Teocalis, two hundred feet in length, one 

 hundred and twenty deep, and about fifty feet high. 

 A broad staircase leads to the top, on which stands 

 a long narrow building, one hundred feet by twenty, 

 divided into three apartments. 



There was a mournful interest about this great 

 pile of ruins. Entering under the great archway, 

 crossing two noble courtyards, with ruined buildings 

 on each side, and ascending the great staircase to 

 the building on the top, gave a stronger impression 

 of departed greatness than anything else in this des- 

 olate city. It commanded a view of every other 



