DWARF'S HOUSE AND EAST WING OF THE CASA DE LAS MONJAS.
"We climbed to the top by a broad staircase of stone, and it was by no means an easy climb. The steps are narrow and some of them have become displaced, so that we were all tired enough to sit down when we reached the house. The tradition is that when the priests threw the bodies of the victims of sacrifice from the altars they rolled to the bottom of the steps without stopping. The staircase is very wide, sixty or seventy feet; and this great width, combined with the narrow steps, makes it a dangerous one to ascend. A single misstep would send one rolling downward, like the sacrificial victims.
"The house was evidently a place of worship, and in this respect corresponds to the teocallis of the Mexicans, which we have already described. Although generally known as the Dwarf's House, it is frequently called the House of the Prophet; and there is a tradition that prophecies were issued from it, as from the temples of ancient Greece and Rome.
"It is seventy feet long and twelve wide, and is covered with sculpture, some of it greatly injured by time, while the rest is well preserved. There are many hieroglyphics that form an interesting study for the archæologist. Several travellers have given translations of them, and I believe that each one is able to demonstrate that his predecessors were all wrong. We will not attempt to decipher them, as we do not wish to run the risk of our work being overturned by the next comer.
"The building has three rooms; Doctor Bronson says that some of the sculptures on the walls of these rooms are masonic symbols, and he wonders if the race that erected the building were acquainted with the mystic rite. Who can tell?
"Lower down is a sanctuary of two small but very high-ceiled rooms, and having some fine sculpture on the outside. Over the entrance of the sanctuary is the carved head of a mastodon, showing that the people were acquainted with that animal, or at all events had his correct likeness. There are masonic emblems on a cornice that extends around the sanctuary, and on the lower part of the cornice are rings cut in stone, from which curtains were suspended during the ceremonies that were performed inside the building.
"We spent an hour or more inspecting the building and its sculptures, and then gave quite a little time to the magnificent panorama that was revealed from the top of the mound; indeed we had considerable enjoyment of it while resting from the fatigue of the ascent.
"The pyramid rises from a plain, and at the elevation where we stood or sat we embraced with our eyes a wide area. All the principal buildings of Uxmal were at our feet, and we looked and listened attentively while Mr. Burbank pointed them out.
"Nearest and to the west is the Casa de las Monjas, or 'House of the Nuns,' but whether it was really a nunnery or is only called so for convenience we are unable to say. On a broad and high terrace to the south is the Casa del Gobernador, or 'House of the Governor,' and there is a building close by called the 'House of the Turtles.' Turtles did not live there, but figures of them are on the sculptures that adorn the building. There were several other heaps of ruins, of which I noted the names of only two, the 'House of the Old Woman,' and the 'House of the Pigeons.'