364 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



mal, no part of it was visible from the terraces or 

 buildings there. 



Descending the mound, w^e passed around by the 

 side of the staircase, and rose upon an elevated plat- 

 form, in the centre of which was a huge and rude 

 round stone, like that called the picote in the court- 

 yards at Uxmal. At the base of the steps was a 

 large flat stone, having sculptured upon it a colossal 

 human figure in bas-relief, which is represented in 

 the following engraving. The stone measures elev- 



en feet four inches in length, and three feet ten in 

 breadth, and lies on its back, broken in two in the 

 middle. Probably it once stood erect at the base of 

 the steps, but, thrown down and broken, has lain for 

 ages with its face to the sky, exposed to the floods 

 of the rainy season. The sculpture is rude and 

 worn, and the lines were difficult to make out. 

 The Indians said that it was the figure of a king of 



