e entrances are sometimes
supported by plain or carved columns and pilasters, of which style the
serpent columns of Chichenitza afford the most striking example. On its
external front one of these galleries may have a cornice and
half-pillars. Above this is a plain surface of wall, then a rich frieze
which generally exhibits the most elaborate ornamentation in the whole
building. The subjects are geometrical designs in mosaic, serpents'
heads and human masks. The corners of the wall terminate in
three-quarter pillars, above which the angles of the frieze frequently
show grotesque heads with noses exaggerated into trunks. The roof of the
gallery is flat and occasionally gabled.

_Principal Sites._--Such are the general characteristics of Central
American buildings, but it must be understood that almost every site
exhibits peculiarities of its own, and the number of the ruined
settlements even as at present known is very large. The most
considerable are enumerated below.

_Yucatan_.--Of the very numerous ruins which are distributed over
Yucatan and the islands of the east coast the majority still await
exploration. A few words of special notice may be devoted to one or two
sites in the centre of the peninsula which have already become famous.
At Uxmal the buildings consist of five considerable groups, viz.--the
Casa del Adivino, which is a step-pyramid 240 ft. long by 160 ft. wide
and 80 ft. high, crowned by a temple 75 ft. long by 12 ft. wide; the
Casa de Monjas, a striking erection of four oblong buildings on an
extensive terrace; the Casa de Tortugas, Casa del Gobernador, and Casa
de Palomas, the last of which is a group of six galleries surrounding a
court. At Izamal there is a very imposing group of ruins, as yet quite
insufficiently explored. At Chichenitza, a city of first-rate
importance, situated 22 m. west of Valladolid, the ruins consist of
eight principal groups, the chief of which are as follows. The Casa de
Monjas, a three-storeyed building, attributable to several distinct
periods; the Caracol, a round structure with dome in imitation of a
snail-shell, showing evident traces of Mexican influence; El Castillo, a
large temple standing on a base 200 ft. long and 75 ft. high, approached
by staircases on all four sides, and furnished with serpent-pillars of a
kind unknown anywhere else except at Uxmal and Tula near Mexico; an
unnamed temple-pyramid, which is remarkable for a group of caryatid
figures; a tennis