extends into British Honduras, where a building with very important frescoes has been discovered under peculiar circumstances. This is at Santa Rita, and the building in question was found buried in a large mound, which had been heaped over it, apparently with intention. The frescoes are painted on the walls below the cornice, and had been shielded from the earth by protecting walls built about an inch from them to meet the cornice. The colours include red, pink, blue, yellow, grey and black, and the design represents a number of human or divine figures accompanied by date-glyphs in the Maya style. Among the figures the Maya gods B and K of the manuscripts may be easily recognized, while one with bird and serpent attributes may well be Kukulkan (Fig. 79). At the same time one figure is shown with black paint around the eye, exactly as worn by the Aztec Mixcoatl and other stellar gods, while other details peculiar to Mexican art appear, such as a frieze of star-eyes, very similar to that of Mitla (compare Fig. 80), and sun-discs in Mexican style. Many of the figures are represented with bound hands, and in one place a sacrificial scene is depicted. It is possible that the fresco commemorates some victory, but the occasion, as well as the reason of the burial of the building, remains a mystery. [Illustration: FIG. 79.--Detail of fresco at Santa Rita, British Honduras. (_After Gann_)] Apart from the buildings reserved for ceremonial or residential purposes, tlaxtli-courts are found in the Huehuetenango district, at Rabinal, and again in northern Yucatan, though not in the central area. These courts have the floor and walls carefully plastered, and the stone rings which project, one from each wall, are usually well carved. The court at Chichen is the largest known, and is associated with a special temple with serpent columns in the style of Tulan (Pls. XXVIII and XXIX, 1; pp. 348 and 350). The western courts resemble very closely those of the Zapotec area. The question of the introduction of the game into the Maya area has already been discussed on p. 302. [Illustration: FIG. 80.--Details from frescoes. A. Santa Rita, British Honduras. B. Mitla, Oaxaca.] Living as they did in a climate with an abundant rainfall, the Maya were not under the necessity of constructing elaborate irrigation works as were the ancient inhabitants of Peru. One watercourse alone is known, and that appears to be rather in the nature of a drain to carry off superfluous water than an aqueduct. This is at Palenque, and consists of a stone-lined subterranean channel, roofed with the typical Maya vault.