the base, and rising in a pyramidal form to a height, in its present condition, of thirty-three feet. On three sides there is a range of steps in the middle, each step seventeen inches high, and but eight inches on the upper surface, which makes the range so steep that in descending some caution is necessary. At the corners are four buttresses of cut stone, diminishing in size from the line of the square, and apparently intended to support the structure. On the side facing the west there are no steps, but the surface is smooth and covered with stucco, grey from long exposure. By breaking a little at the corners, we saw that there were different layers of stucco, doubtless put on at different times, and all had been ornamented with painted figures. In one place we made out the body of a leopard, well drawn and coloured.
"The top of the Sacrificatorio is broken and ruined, but there is no doubt that it once supported an altar.... It was barely large enough for the altar and officiating priests and the Idol to whom the sacrifice was offered."
I have reproduced Catherwood's sketch and plan which accompanies this description; the scale given on the plan does not agree with the description, and unfortunately I did not take any detailed measurements of the mound in its present ruined condition; but in any case it is clear that the building was a small one. The sides of the long mounds, which are just indicated in my plan, are perpendicular, and these foundations may have supported stone-roofed buildings, in which case we know that the chambers could not have been more than nine feet wide, and even on the larger mounds there would not have been room for more than two of such chambers side by side. The small fragment of a stone-vaulted roof in the remains of a half-buried chamber shows that the Quichés understood the art of building stone roofs. But, to judge from Alvarado's statement that it was the intention of the Indians to set fire to the town and burn or smother him and his followers, there can be little doubt that some of the houses must have been built of inflammable material, probably of wood and thatch. But amongst these small and distinct foundation mounds where is the Palace to be found?
The absurdity of Fuentes's oft-copied description at once becomes evident. According to the measurements he gives, the Palace alone would occupy nearly three times the whole space available for building, and with the seminary, the gardens, and the aquatic fowl must be relegated to a dreamland suffused with the afterglow of Oriental splendour from which the Spanish chronicler was so ready to seek inspiration.
It is hardly worth while to compare the account of Iximché given by Fuentes and Juarros with the facts revealed by an examination of the ruins it would be to a great extent a repetition of what has already been said with regard to Utatlan. The sites were similar; both were peninsulas almost
