Note 92 — Chapter XVII · Uxmal.—Extent of ground occupied by the Ruins.—Teocallis.—Burial places at the foot of the Pyramid of the Dwarf.—Evening Service at the chapel of the hacienda.—Casa del Gobemador.—Sacrificial customs.—Preservation of the wooden lintels.—The Nunnery or Casa de las Monjas.—Religious customs of the Indians.—Emblem of the Serpent.—Sculptures.—Conjectures respecting the possibility of Moorish, Spanish, or Oriental influence upon architectural design.—Methods of construction.—Note upon a fall of rain supposed to be caused by the fires of the Indians.

The facing stones placed upon the walls of the ruins of Mitla, in the Mexican province of Oaxaca, are fitted, or bedded, into the mortar and rubble in the same manner as at Uxmal.

At one of the evening conversaziones given by the Royal Society at Burlington House, in the spring of 1892, I happened to discuss the subject of Palenque and Uxmal with Mr. Woolner, the sculptor. Some experiments had previously been carried out in France which had proved that with stone chisels it was possible to carve granite, limestones, and hard sandstones.

The investigations did not, however, make it clear how it could have happened that the Indian sculptors were able to work with such facility that they covered their buildings with deeply chiselled ornamentation. Mr. Woolner said that he thought it probable that the Indians may have been acquainted with some strong acids, and that they may have used these to soften the stone and make it more workable.

We were looking at some photographs exhibited by Mr. Maudslay, who had lately returned from Palenque, and the question of the method of carving the outlines of the figures on the stone slabs of the courts came under consideration. Mr. Woolner thought that the subject was very difficult, but that it was possible that the figures had been previously traced and then worked with acid as he had already suggested.