"A very interesting building is the one which Stephens called the Gymnasium or Tennis-court. It consists of two parallel walls 30 feet thick, 274 feet long, and 120 feet apart, and in each wall there are stone rings, or circles, four feet across, with holes one foot seven inches in diameter in the centre. These holes are opposite each other and twenty feet from the ground, and it is supposed that a game something like tennis was played in the space between the walls. Baldwin's 'Ancient America' says there were similar courts in other cities of Yucatan and Central America, but no account of the games has come down to us.
CASA COLORADA.
"The Casa Colorada, or Red House, is a building that would be creditable to the architects of any country and time, though it is not a large edifice. It measures forty-three feet by twenty-three, and appears to have been elaborately ornamented originally, but has been greatly defaced by time, and also by the Indians, who formerly lived in the vicinity. Before the Indian rebellion there was a town near Chichen called Pisté; its inhabitants used to go to Chichen to practise shooting against the ruined edifices there. Many of the buildings show the marks of bullets, and it is probable that the people of that town caused quite as much destruction as did the Indians.
"But the most conspicuous of all the buildings of Chichen is El Castillo, or The Castle, which stands on an artificial hill, and is reached by a wide and long staircase, so overgrown with weeds and brushwood as to make the climbing difficult. It is the building usually occupied by explorers, as it offers a good place of defence against any marauding bands of Indians; whether it was a castle or not in the olden times is a question, but it has certainly served as one in the days since the rebellion of the Indians.
"This is a good place to repeat a story given by one of the Spanish historians about an incident at the time of the Conquest. Under the command of Montejo, an officer under Cortez, the Spaniards occupied Chichen for two years, and were engaged in constant fights with the Indians. Montejo lost 150 of the 400 men whom he took there originally, and finally the Indians laid regular siege to the place, and pressed Montejo so hard that he was forced to retreat.
