SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES.
Ornament over a Doorway.
Within the pyramid itself, and above the surface of the ground, although frequently spoken of as subterranean, are found apartments, or galleries, with walls of stone plastered but without ornament, of the same form and construction as the corridors above. Such as have been explored are at the south end of the pyramid and for the most part without the line of the Palace walls, with lateral galleries, however, extending under the corridors and affording communication with the upper apartments by means of stairways. The arrangement of the galleries and their entrances is made sufficiently clear by the fine lines at the bottom of the plan, yet perhaps very little is known of their original extent. The southernmost gallery receives a dim light by three holes or windows leading out to the surface of the pyramid; the other galleries are dark and damp, with water running over their pavements in the rainy season. The walls are much fallen and the galleries blocked up at several points. At the south-western corner an opening affords a means of egress near the surface of the ground; but this, as well as the windows mentioned, may be accidental or of modern origin and have formed no part of the original plan. These rooms are variously regarded as sleeping-rooms, dungeons, or sepulchres, according to the temperament of the observer. Whatever their use, they contain several of the low tables mentioned before, one of which is said to have been richly decorated with sculpture. M. Morelet occupied one of these lower rooms during his visit, as being more comfortable than the others, at least in the dry season. The chief entrance to the vaults seems to have been from one of the southern rooms of the building E, at the point r, through an opening in the floor. A narrow stairway by which the descent was made, is divided into two flights by a platform and doorway, surmounting which was the stucco device shown in the cut. Waldeck states that when he found this decoration it was partially covered with stalactites formed by trickling water. His explanation, by which he connects the figures with aboriginal astronomical signs and the division of time, is too long and too extremely conjectural to be repeated here. Stephens noticed this ornament but gives no drawing of it. It was sketched by Castañeda together with another somewhat similar one. Dupaix speaks of two doors in this stairway; Del Rio speaks of several landings, and says that he brought away a fragment of one of the ornamented steps. I suspect the visitors may have confounded this stairway with another at w, concerning which nothing is particularly said. Somewhere in connection with these stairways Dupaix found a tablet of hieroglyphics which he brought away with him, and concerning which he states the remarkable fact that on the reverse side of the tablet, built into the wall, were the same characters painted that were sculptured on the face. Openings through the pavement were found at several points, as in the court 1, and the building C, which led to no regular galleries, but to simple and small excavations in the earth, very likely the work of some early explorer or searcher for hidden treasure.[VI-31]
THE PALACE RESTORED.
Having now given all the information in my possession respecting the Palace, I present in the accompanying cut a restoration of the structure made by a German artist, but which I have taken the liberty to change in several respects. The reader will notice a few points in which the cut does not exactly agree with my description; such as the curved surface of the roofs, the height of the tower and its spire, the width of the western stairway in court 1, etc., yet it may be regarded as giving an excellent idea of what the Palace was in the days when its halls and courts were thronged with the nobility or priesthood of a great people. The view is from the north-east on the bank of the stream, and besides the palace includes the edifice No. 2 of the general plan.[VI-32]
Restoration of the Palace.