of well-cut stones is laid over the whole, having a neat though small projecting cornice, as will be observed in the accompanying cut from Bancroft’s work. The rear wall is about nine feet thick and perfectly solid. The comparative modernness of the building may be realized when we state that Mr. Stephens found the top of each doorway supported by a heavy beam of zapote-wood. One of these, which was elaborately and beautifully carved, and measuring ten feet long and ten by twenty inches wide, he brought to New York, where, unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire with the remainder of his collection. It is presumed that the zapote-wood was prized for its rarity, as it is not found at present near Uxmal. Inside of and above the doors of the Casa were stone rings, which occur frequently in Yucatec structures, and are supposed to have supported curtains for closing the doorways. Stephens presents in a cut (page 346) a view of the imposing and elegant front looking toward the south.[504] [Illustration: Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal.] [Illustration: Section of Casa del Gobernador.] Of the several Uxmal edifices, one especially demands attention as representing the highest state of ancient architecture and sculpture in America. This is known as the Casa de Monjas, or Nunnery, and is situated nearly three hundred yards north of the Casa del Gobernador, on a pyramid with three terraces, and measuring three hundred and fifty feet square at its base. On the summit platform, only nineteen feet above the level of the ground, stand four of the characteristic Yucatan buildings upon four sides of a nearly square court. The northern building does not stand quite parallel to the building on the opposite side of the court. The plan from Stephens will present clearly the arrangement of the apartments, in which it will be observed that of the eighty-eight rooms contained in the Casa de Monjas, not more than two apartments open into each other, except in one instance, which occurs in the eastern front.[505] The court formed by these long narrow edifices measures 258 by 214 feet, and according to M. Waldeck was paved with 43,660 blocks of stone six inches square. In the centre stood the fragments of a rude column similar to others observed in the Casa del Gobernador.[506] [Illustration: Ground Plan of the Nunnery.] A cut of one of the beautifully sculptured façades of the Casa de Monjas will be found on a future page. Near the Casa de Monjas stands the pyramid and edifice generally known as the Casa del Adivino or Prophet’s house, and named by M. Waldeck the Pyramid de Kingsborough. The pyramid rises to a height of 80 feet from a base of 155 by 235 feet. The corners are rounded, and the sides, which are carefully faced with cubical blocks of stone, rise so steep that the ascent and descent by the grand stairway on the eastern face is giddy and dangerous. The stairway measuring one hundred and two feet on the slope is inclined at an angle of eighty degrees.[507]