RUINED BUILDINGS. 



393 



Our first day did not suffice to finish the clearing 

 of the area in front of the Castillo. Within this 

 area were several small ruined buildings, which 

 seemed intended for altars. Opposite the foot of 

 the steps was a square terrace, with steps on all four 

 of its sides, but the platform had no structure of any 

 kind upon it, and was overgrown with trees, under 

 the shade of which Mr. Catherwood set up his 

 camera to make his drawing ; and, looking down 

 upon him from the door of the Castillo, nothing 

 could be finer than his position, the picturesque ef- 

 fect being greatly heightened by his manner of keep- 

 ing one hand in his pocket, to save it from the at- 

 tacks of moschetoes, and by his expedient of tying 

 his pantaloons around his legs to keep ants and oth- 

 er insects from running up. 



Adjoining the lower room of the south wing 

 were extensive remains, one of which contained a 

 chamber forty feet wide and nineteen deep, with 

 four columns that had probably supported a flat 

 roof. In another, lying on the ground, were the 

 fragments of two tablets, of the same character 

 with those at Labphak. 



On the north side, at the distance of about forty 

 feet from the Castillo, stands a small isolated build- 

 ing, a side view of which is represented in the en- 

 graving opposite. It stands on a terrace, and has a 

 staircase eight feet wide, with ten or twelve broken 

 steps. The platform is twenty-four feet front and 

 eighteen deep. The building contains a single 



Vol. II.— D d d 



