The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 . PLAN OF GREAT PYRAMID AT COMALCALCO. No. I, Tower partly standing. No. 2, Ruined Tower. No. 3, Palace. No. 4, Portion stillstanding. Nos. 5 and 6, Pyramids indicative of Ruins. Our plan gives the various monuments standing on its vastsummit, measuring no less than 292 feet. The principal monument (No. 3) was a great palace, thefa9ade of which looked east and covered 231 feet, now reducedto a ruinous mass; fortunately a fragment of some twenty-two 198 The Ancient Cities of the New
The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 . PLAN OF GREAT PYRAMID AT COMALCALCO. No. I, Tower partly standing. No. 2, Ruined Tower. No. 3, Palace. No. 4, Portion stillstanding. Nos. 5 and 6, Pyramids indicative of Ruins. Our plan gives the various monuments standing on its vastsummit, measuring no less than 292 feet. The principal monument (No. 3) was a great palace, thefa9ade of which looked east and covered 231 feet, now reducedto a ruinous mass; fortunately a fragment of some twenty-two 198 The Ancient Cities of the New World. feet (No. 4) enables us to reconstruct the edifice. Our firstdrawing is a view of the outside, showing the dilapidated con-dition of the wall and its brick and mortar composition ; the nexta view of the interior, with fragments of thinner walls whichdivided the various apartments of the palace, probably seven oreight in number, of different dimensions, and having the samecharacteristics as the monuments at Uxmal and Palenque. It. BAYS OF RUINED PALACE, COMALCALCO. is the governors palace with its double bay of rooms, the slightlyconcave vault of Palenque ; and if in our section of the palace agreater obliquity is observable, in the frieze supporting the roof,than in edifices of the same kind already known, or to be studiedsubsequently, this sloping finds here its proper place, and provesthe intelligence of the builder without destroying the similarity ofthe different monuments. In fact, we shall see the roof assuminga steeper or less steep incline, according to the climate; slightlyoblique at Palenque where rain is frequent, it rises in the Yucatan COMALCALCO, 199 peninsula, where a dry climate prevails, until it forms a flat roof,resting on perpendicular walls ; whereas at Comalcalco and on theborders of the Gulf, where rain is incessant, architects increasethe slope of the roof to facilitate the out-flow of the water, thebetter to preserve their buildings. If baked br
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