CHICHEN—AKAB-TZIB.
The building G of the plan, instead of standing on an artificial mound, rests on the level plain, but the usual effect is produced by excavating the surface about it, thus giving it the appearance of resting on a raised foundation. It measures forty-eight by one hundred and forty-nine feet, and its outer walls are perfectly plain. The roof is reached by a stairway forty-five feet wide in the centre of the eastern front, while, corresponding with the stairway, on the western front is a solid projection thirty-four by forty-four feet, of unknown use. The floor of the inner range of rooms is one foot higher than that of the outer, and on the under surface of a lintel in one of the interior doorways is the sculptured design shown in the cut on the following page, surrounded by a row of hieroglyphics, of which only a small portion are included in the cut, but which are of the same type as those we have seen at Copan. The subject seems to be some mysterious incantation or other sacrificial rite, and the hieroglyphics, known as the 'writing in the dark,' in Maya akab-tzib, have given their name to the building.[V-75]
Sculptured Lintel at Chichen.
CHICHEN—THE CASTLE.
Serpent Balustrade at Chichen.