LINTELS. SINGULAR STRUCTURE. 389 



richness than any building at Uxmal. The cornice 

 running over the doorways (which is stamped on 

 the cover of this work), tried by the severest rules 

 of art recognised among us, would embellish the 

 architecture of any known era, and, amid a mass 

 of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it 

 stands as an offering by American builders worthy 

 of the acceptance of a polished people. 



The lintels of the doorways were of wood ; these 

 are all fallen, and of all the ornaments which deco- 

 rated them not one now remains. No doubt they 

 corresponded in beauty of sculpture with the rest 

 of the facade. The whole now lies a mass of rub- 

 bish and ruin at the foot of the wall. 



On the top is a structure which, at a distance, as 

 seen indistinctly through the trees, had the appear- 

 ance of a second story, and, as we approached, it 

 reminded us of the towering structures on the top 

 of some of the ruined buildings at Palenque. 



The access to this structure was by no means 

 easy. There was no staircase or other visible 

 means of communication, either within or without 

 the building, but in the rear the wall and roof had 

 fallen, and made in some places high mounds reach- 

 ing nearly to the top. Climbing up these tottering 

 fabrics was not free from danger. Parts which ap- 

 peared substantial had not the security of buildings 

 constructed according to true principles of art ; at 

 times it was impossible to discover the supporting 

 power, and the disorderly masses seemed held up by 



