SECTION OF PRINCIPAL HALL OF THE PALACE.
GREAT HALL RESTORED (MITLA).
“The three doorways, opening into the great apartment with columns, were partly walled up after the erection of the building, but are plainly visible. Over the doorways are four round holes, into which were probably fixed hooks supporting a portière. The monuments of Greece and Rome, in their best time, can alone compare with the splendour of this great edifice. The ornamentation is arranged with perfect symmetry, the joints are carefully cut, the beds and arris of the cornices faultless, showing that the builders were masters of their art. The lintels in this monument consist, like those of Greece and Rome, of large blocks of stone; the ornamentation is a series of varied panels, set in elegant frames, composed of small stones beautifully cut, arranged in meanders, trellis-work, and diversified in their combinations.” The distinguished architect ascribes these monuments, as also those of Yucatan and lower Mexico, to a branch of the southern civilisation (Malays), separated from the parent stock, and crossed many times with whites.
It will be apparent to the reader, that the ruins at Mitla bear no resemblance with those of Mexico or Yucatan, either in their ornamentation or mode of building; the interiors have no longer the overlapping vault, but generally consist of perpendicular walls, supporting flat ceilings, so that it seems almost impossible to class these monuments with those of Central America. Nevertheless, there are details which recall Toltec influence, as we shall show later.
The second palace is the most dilapidated of those which are still standing. The door, the sculptured lintel, and two inner columns, are the only remains which serve to show that the same arrangement was observed here, as in the great hall already described. The fourth palace is occupied on its southern façade, which we reproduce, by much more oblong panels, having three human figures or caryatides. Four other palaces, to the south, are almost level with the ground, the walls only rising 3 or 4 feet above it; but the enormous blocks of stone forming the basement, give them a massive appearance which is not observable in the palaces that are still standing.
GENERAL VIEW OF RUINS OF MITLA.
The natives make use of them as dwelling-places. Subterraneous passages, which were opened some years ago, extend under these ruins; but the hostile attitude of the Indians caused them to be closed up again before they could be properly explored. The ruins are fast falling into decay, hastened by the natives who resort hither from all parts, and in their ignorance take away the small stones forming the mosaic work, with the idea that they will turn into gold. The local government could easily stop such Vandalism, but it does not seem to care.
We do not know the precise date of these monuments, except that they had long been in a state of ruin at the time of the Conquest, and Orozco y Berra[182] thinks that they were destroyed some time between 1490-1500, in the fierce contests between the Zapotecs and the invading Aztecs, a fact which would make them but little older than those we have described in the course of this work.