MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK] It is not necessary to give more than brief attention to this application of mosaic-work in architecture. The traditional mosaic-decorated buildings of Tula have disappeared, but the structures of Mitla are still standing in an excellent state of preservation, and moreover are easily accessible to travelers by rail and automobile; therefore they have been visited and admired by more people than perhaps any ruins in ancient America. In the embellishment of the walls a true mosaic decoration was employed, differing in kind only from the turquois mosaic on small objects. Geometric patterns were produced by fitting together small stones of different shapes and sizes, some of which were more deeply imbedded than others, so that the designs were traced out by the stones which projected more than others; in single panels, several planes were necessary to bring out the desired patterns. In many cases the stones are so neatly fitted that the joints can hardly be traced. We have written elsewhere that-- the massiveness of the construction and simple and chaste ornamentation place the Mitla structures in a class unapproached by any other existing ruined edifices in ancient America. The workmanship revealed in the stonework, the elegant precision with which the stones are laid and carved, is not equaled in any of the Mayan ruins. However, as noted by Holmes, the geometric fretwork mosaics differ from the great façades of the Mayan buildings “in subject matter rather than in kind, for the decorated surfaces there, though depicting animal forms, are mosaics in the sense that they are made up of separate hewn or carved stones set in mortar to form ornamental designs.”[57] OBJECTS DECORATED WITH MOSAIC In the ancient chronicles are found many descriptions of the employment of mosaic-work decoration in the central Mexican region. From the writings of Sahagun and others it is clearly evident that many such decorated objects were made for and were used as parts of the paraphernalia with which great idols of wood or of stone representing various deities were adorned for the frequent religious festivals which occurred at stated intervals. The rulers and the priests and members of the so-called nobility used such objects on these occasions. The major employment of the mosaic art seems to have been for the adornment of objects or ornaments used ceremonially, such as crowns or head-bands, helmets, masks, shields, scepters, ear-ornaments, nose-ornaments, breast-plates, bracelets, and anklets. The material on which the mosaic incrustation was placed was chiefly wood, but gold, shell, bone, and stone were also used. Small figures of the gods, either in human or in animal form, as well as musical instruments, were thus adorned. There are also indications that pottery vessels were sometimes decorated by embedding turquois in the clay.