442 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



inches long, and one foot five inches in height. The 

 platform on the top is two hundred and twenty-five 

 feet in length, and fifty in breadth. On this great 

 platform stand thirty-six shafts, or columns, in three 

 parallel rows of twelve, about ten feet apart from 

 north to south, and fifteen from east to w^est. They 

 are from fourteen to sixteen feet in height, four feet 

 on each side, and are composed of separate stones, 

 from one to two feet in thickness. But few have 

 fallen, though some have lost their upper layer of 

 stones. There are no remains of any structure or 

 of a roof If there ever was one, it must have been 

 of wood, which would seem most incongruous and 

 inappropriate for such a solid structure of stones. 

 The whole mound was so overgrown that we could 

 not ascertain the juxtaposition of the pillars till the 

 growth was cleared away, when we made out the 

 whole, but with little or no enlargement of our 

 knowledge as to its uses and purposes. It was a 

 new and extraordinary feature, entirely different from 

 any we had seen, and at the very end of our jour- 

 ney, when we supposed ourselves famihar with the 

 character of American ruins, threw over them a new 

 air of mystery. 



In the same vicinity are other mounds of colossal 

 dimensions, one of which is also called the Palace, 

 but of a different construction and without pillars. 

 On another, at the head of the ruined staircase, is an 

 opening under the top of a doorway, nearly filled up, 

 crawling through which, by means of the crotch of 



