be little doubt that the sanguinary rites were held, is one argument in favor of this supposition; but there is another equally forcible;—its immediate proximity to a cliff of about one hundred and fifty feet, down which the bodies of victims may have been precipitated, as was the custom at the inhuman sacrifices of the Aztecs.2 A road or causeway to be noticed in another place, terminates at the foot of the precipice, exactly beneath the cave and over-hanging rock, and conjecture can form no other idea of its intended utility, unless as being in some manner connected with the dungeon.
"Hence we ascend to a variety of buildings, all constructed with the same regard to strength, and inclosing spaces on far too large a scale for the abode of common people. On the extreme ridge of the mountain were several tolerably perfect tanks.
"In a subsequent visit to this extraordinary place, I saw some buildings which had at first escaped my notice. These were situated on the summit of a rock terminating the ridge, and about a mile and a half north north-west of the citadel.
"The first is a building originally eighteen feet square, but having the addition of sloping walls to give it a pyramidal form. It is flat topped, and on the centre of its southern face there appears to have been steps to ascend to its summit. The second is a square altar, its height and base being each about sixteen feet. These buildings are surrounded at no great distance by a strong wall, and at a quarter of a mile to the northward, advantage is taken of a precipice to construct another wall of twelve feet in width from its brink. On a small flat space between this and the pyramid are the remains of an open square edifice, to the southward of which are two long mounds of stone, each extending about thirty feet; and to the north-east is another ruin, having large steps up its side. I should conceive the highest wall of the citadel to be three hundred feet above the plain, and the base rock surmounts it by about thirty feet more.