20 m.--65 ft.--to the N.N.W. of the mound i, there rises before us the huge pile of ruins which, on the plat as well as on the diagram, I have designated by _A_. It crowns the highest point of the entire _mesilla_, and covers the greatest portion of its top. In ruins like _B_, its general aspect is yet somewhat different Instead of forming, like the latter, a narrow, solid rectangle of 140 m. × 20 m.--460 ft. × 65 ft.--, the building _A_ is (taking, of course, the outlines of the entire _débris_) a broad hollow rectangle of 150 m. × 75 m.--490 ft. × 245 ft. Its interior is occupied by a vast court or square, containing three circular depressions, and surrounded on all four sides by the broad ruined heaps of the former dwellings. On the east side, between the circumvallation and the eastern line of the structure, there are two more circular depressions similar to those within the court. The latter is entered by four passageways,--one on the S.E. corner, 4 m.--13 ft.--wide and about 12 m.--40 ft.--long from S. to N.; one through the eastern wing, 3.40 m.--11 ft.--wide and about 14 m.--46 ft.--long from E. to W.; one in the N.W. corner and another from the S.W., both 2 m.--6 ft. 6 in.--across. I have designated these four gateways respectively as _R_, _E_, _G_, and _N_. _R_ and _E_ enter straight through the wall; _G_ forms a semicircle almost from W. through N. to S.; _N_ describes a right angle from S. by N. to E. The distribution of decay in this house is the same as in _B_,--the southern parts are on all sides almost totally obliterated; the N.W. corner is very nearly perfect; the northern and western walls are tolerably fairly preserved; but the eastern outline of the east wing, the southern outline of the south wing, and the southern ends of both east and west have almost completely disappeared under hills of rubbish, a few posts alone assisting the explorer. The path of destruction has in both buildings lain in the same direction,--from S.S.E. to N.N.W.,--and across both its effects have decreased from south to north. Still, while the similarity in that respect is astonishing, and while there are apparently more walls in _A_ standing than in _B_, there is, owing to the very uneven surface of the rock upon which it is built, much more confusion among the ruins of the former than among those of the latter. _B_ is built on a gradual slope or ridge; _A_ caps a generally convex surface, scooped out in the middle, and sloping eastward.[117] Hence comes the division of the whole structure into four separate and distinct buildings, and hence, also, the complicated manner in which the whole or each part is ruined, even walls still standing being twisted out of shape and out of position. Actual measurements were much less efficacious here than in _B_; and, although I have worked with not less zeal and conscientiousness, the result in neatness and precision is certainly less satisfactory. This