HOUSE OF THE NUNS. 



299 



of any kind, either on the sides or at the ends. In 

 the beUef that they must have interior chambers, we 

 made a breach in the wall of the one on the east to 

 the depth of eight or ten feet, but we found only 

 rough stones, hanging so loosely together as to make 

 it dangerous for the Indians to work in the holes, 

 and they were obliged to discontinue. 



This excavation, however, carried us through 

 nearly one third of the structure, and satisfied us 

 that these great parallel edifices did not contain any 

 interior apartments, but that each consisted merely 

 of four great walls, filled up with a solid mass of 

 stones. It was our opinion that they had been built 

 expressly with reference to the two great rings fa- 

 cing each other in the facades, and that the space 

 between was intended for the celebration of some 

 public games, in which opinion we were afterward 

 confirmed. 



Passing between these buildings, and continuing 

 in the same direction, we reach the front of the 

 Casa de las Monjas, or House of the Nuns. 



This building is quadrangular, with a courtyard in 

 the centre. It stands on the highest of three ter- 

 races. The lowest is three feet high and twenty 

 feet wide ; the second, twelve feet high and forty- 

 five feet wide ; and the third, four feet high and five 

 feet wide, extending the whole length of the front 

 of the building. 



The front is two hundred and seventy-nine feet 

 long, and above the cornice, from one end to the 



