ANTIQUITIES OF TABASCO AND CHIAPAS, RUINS OF PALENQUE.
GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS -- PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY -- NO RELICS IN
TABASCO -- RUINS OF PALENQUE -- EXPLORATION AND
BIBLIOGRAPHY -- NAME; NACHAN, CULHUACAN, OTOLUM, XIBALBA
-- EXTENT, LOCATION, AND PLAN -- THE PALACE -- THE
PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURE -- WALLS, CORRIDORS, AND COURTS --
STUCCO BAS-RELIEFS -- TOWER -- INTERIOR BUILDINGS --
SCULPTURED TABLET -- SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES -- TEMPLE OF
THE THREE TABLETS -- TEMPLE OF THE BEAU RELIEF -- TEMPLE
OF THE CROSS -- STATUE -- TEMPLE OF THE SUN --
MISCELLANEOUS RUINS AND RELICS -- RUINS OF OCOCINGO --
WINGED GLOBE -- WOODEN LINTEL -- TERRACED PYRAMID --
MISCELLANEOUS RUINS OF CHIAPAS -- CUSTEPEQUES, XIQUIPILAS,
LAGUNA MORA, COPANABASTLA, AND ZITALÁ -- HUEHUETAN -- SAN
CRISTÓVAL -- REMAINS ON THE USUMACINTA -- COMPARISON
BETWEEN PALENQUE AND THE CITIES OF YUCATAN -- ANTIQUITY OF
PALENQUE -- CONCLUSION.
[Sidenote: NO RELICS IN TABASCO.]
The next step, as antiquarian investigation is pushed westward along
the continental line, will lead us from the boundaries of Guatemala
and Yucatan to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The included territory,
constituting the geographical basis of the present chapter, stretches
on the Atlantic shore from the Laguna de Terminos to Laguna de Santa
Ana, about one hundred and fifty miles, and on the Pacific a somewhat
less distance from the bar of Ayutla to the bar of Tonalá The northern
and smaller portion--all in the low and flat tierra caliente--is
comprised in the state of Tabasco, with a part of El Carmen, a
province belonging politically, I believe, to Yucatan; while in the
south--a high and mountainous region, except a very narrow strip along
the Pacific border--we have the state of Chiapas, with its
south-eastern province of Soconusco, to the political possession of
which Guatemala, no less than her neighbor, has always laid claim.
Tabasco and Chiapas, like Yucatan, are states of the Mexican Republic,
although they are situated in what it is more convenient to term
Central America, and in a region treated in a preceding volume of this
work as a part of the Maya territory. This chapter will consequently
complete the description of southern, or Maya, antiquities, and bring
us to the study of Nahua monuments in the north.
Tabasco, a part of the aboriginal Anáhuac Xicalanco, extends inland
seventy-five miles on an average throughout its whole length. It is
for the most part a low marshy plain--the American tierra caliente par
excellence--of the usual tropical fertility, covered with an exuberant
growth, but extremely unhealthy to all but natives, except while the
winter winds render the navigation of the coast waters dangerous. This
tract is traversed by two large rivers, flowing from the hilly country
farther inland, the Tabasco and Usumacinta, under several different
names, communicating with each other by many branches, and pouring, or
rather creeping, into the gulf through many mouths. In the annual
season of inundation from June to October, the whole country is
involved in a labyrinth of streams and sloughs, and travel by land
becomes impossible. The luxuriant tropical vegetation includes a
variety of valuable dye-woods, the export of which constitutes the
leading industry of the few towns located on the banks of the larger
streams. On the immediate coast some large towns and temples were seen
by the early voyagers, but I have no information that relics of any
kind have been discovered in modern times. It is true that no careful
explorations have been made, but the character of the country is not
promising, so far as ruined cities and other architectural monuments
are concerned. Indeed, it is not improbable that a large part of this
region was covered by a body of water similar to the Laguna de
Terminos, at a time when the great aboriginal Central American cities,
now far inland, were founded. Moreover, as state boundaries are not
very accurately laid down in the maps, and as the location of relics
by travelers is in many cases vague, it is quite possible that some of
the few miscellaneous monuments which I shall describe in this
chapter, are really within the limits of Tabasco instead of Chiapas.
As we go southward from the gulf coast, and reach the boundary of
Chiapas the face of the country changes rapidly from marshy flat to
undulating hills of gradually increasing height toward the Pacific,
retaining all the wonderful fertility and density of tropical forest
growth without the pestilential malaria and oppressive heat of the
plain below. Here is an earthly paradise, the charms of which have
been enjoyed with enthusiastic delight by the few lovers of nature who
have penetrated its solitudes.[VI-1]
[Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF PALENQUE.]
[Sidenote: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PALENQUE.]
The natural advantages of this region seem to have been fully
appreciated by aboriginal Americans, for here they reared the temples
and palaces of one of their grandest cities, or religious centres,
which as a ruin under the name of Palenque has become famous
throughout the world, as it was doubtless throughout America in the
days of its pristine glory many centuries ago. Built on the heights
just mentioned, which may be appropriately termed foothills of the
lofty sierras beyond, its high places afforded a broad view over the
forest-covered plain below to the waters of the gulf. A detailed
account of the explorations by which the ruins of this city have been
brought to light, and of the numerous books and reports resulting
from such explorations, is given in the appended note.[VI-2] About
the year 1564 a Dominican missionary, with a few Tzendal natives who
had been converted to the true faith by his labors in their behalf,
chose what he deemed a suitable location for future evangelical
efforts, and founded the little town of Santo Domingo del Palenque,
some seventy miles north-east of San Cristóval, the state capital, on
a tributary of the Usumacinta, not over twenty miles, perhaps less,
from the head of navigation for canoes. Nearly two centuries later a
group of magnificent ruins, whose existence had been before utterly
unknown, at least to any but natives, was accidentally discovered
only a few leagues from the town in the midst of a dense forest. Since
their discovery in the middle of the eighteenth century the ruins have
been several times carefully explored both by public and private
enterprise, and all their prominent features have been clearly brought
to the knowledge of the world by means of illustrative plates and
descriptive text. Waldeck and Stephens are the best and most complete
authorities, but the reports of Antonio del Rio, Guillaume Dupaix,
Juan Galindo, and Désiré Charnay afford also much valuable
information, especially in connection with the two standard
authorities mentioned. After a most careful study of all that has been
written on the subject, I shall endeavor to give the reader a clear
idea of ruined structures which have given rise to more faithful
investigation and absurd speculation than any others on the continent.
[Sidenote: NAME OF THE ANCIENT CITY.]
The aboriginal name of the city represented by this group of ruins is
absolutely unknown. Palenque, the name by which it is known, is, as we
have seen, simply that of a modern village near by. The word
_palenque_ is of Spanish origin and means a stockade or enclosure of
palisades. How it came to be applied to the village of Santo Domingo
is not explained, but there is not the slightest reason to suppose
that it has any connection with the ruins.[VI-3] Sr Ordoñez, already
mentioned, applies in his unpublished writings the name Nachan, 'city
of the Serpents,' the same as the Aztec Culhuacan, to Palenque, but so
far as can be known, without any authority whatever. This name has
been adopted without question by several writers, and it is quite
common to read of "the ruins of Culhuacan, improperly termed
Palenque."[VI-4] The old traditions of the primitive times when
Votan's great empire flourished, apply the name Xibalba not only to
the empire but to a great city which was its capital. Palenque, as the
greatest city of ancient times in this region which has left traces of
its existence, may have been identical with Xibalba; the difficulty of
disproving the identity is equaled only by that of proving it.[VI-5]
The natives, here as elsewhere, have often applied to the city a name
which simply indicates its ruined condition, calling it Otolum, 'place
of falling stones,' a name also borne by the small stream on which the
buildings stand. Waldeck writes it Ototiun, 'stone house,' which he
derives from the native words _otote_ and _tinnich_. Stephens calls
the stream Otula. If there were any good reasons for abandoning the
designation Palenque, and there certainly are none, Otolum would
perhaps be the most appropriate name to take its place.[VI-6] The name
Xhembobel-Moyos, from that of another modern village of this region,
seems sometimes to have been used by the natives in connection with
Palenque; and in a Tzendal manuscript the name Ghocan, 'sculptured
serpent,' is said to be used in the same connection; while one
author, drawing heavily on his imagination, speaks of the "immense
city of Culhuacan or Huehuetlapallan," thus identifying Palenque with
the famous city whence the Toltecs started in their traditional
migration to Anáhuac.[VI-7] By the Spanish inhabitants and most of the
native population of Santo Domingo, the ruins are commonly spoken of
as the Casas de Piedra.
[Sidenote: LOCATION OF THE RUINS.]
The structures that have attracted the attention of and been described
by all the successive explorers, are generally the same, and in their
descriptions less exaggeration is found in the earlier reports than
might naturally be expected. In extent, however, the city has
gradually dwindled in the successive reports from two hundred
buildings stretching over a space of twenty miles, to less than the
area of a modern town of humble pretensions. A few scattered mounds or
fragments in the surrounding country, which very probably exist, but
which have escaped the attention of modern travelers, eager to
investigate the more wonderful central structures, are probably the
only basis of the statements by the first explorers. The earlier
visitors doubtless counted each isolated fragment of hewn stone, or
other trace of the antiguos' work, as representing an aboriginal
edifice.[VI-8] Doubtless the condition of Palenque has changed
materially for the worse since its discovery. The rapidity with which
structures of solid stone are destroyed by the growth of a tropical
forest, when once the roots have gained a hold, is noted with surprise
by every traveler. In the work of destruction, moreover, nature has
not been unaided by man, and few visitors have been content to depart
without some relic broken from the walls. Del Rio, if we may credit
his own words, seems to have attempted a wholesale destruction of the
city; he says: "By dint of perseverance I effected all that was
necessary to be done, so that ultimately there remained neither a
window nor a doorway blocked up, a partition that was not thrown down,
nor a room, corridor, court, tower, nor subterranean passage in which
excavations were not effected from two to three varas in depth."[VI-9]
Palenque,--for I shall hereafter apply this name exclusively to the
ruins,--is situated about six or seven miles[VI-10] south-west of
Santo Domingo, and some sixty-five miles north-east of San Cristóval.
The topography of the region is not definitely marked out on the maps,
and the nomenclature of the streams and mountains is hopelessly
confused; but many parallel streams flow north-westward from the
hills, and unite to form a branch of the Usumacinta sometimes called
the Tulija. The Otolum on which the ruins stand seems to be a
tributary from the north of one of the parallel streams. The location
is consequently in a small valley high in the foothills, through which
runs a mountain stream of small size during the dry season, but
becoming a torrent when swollen by the rains.[VI-11]
The present extent of the ruins, their distribution, and their
relative size are shown in the accompanying plan, taken with slight
changes to be mentioned in their proper place, from Waldeck.[VI-12]
The structures that have been described or definitely located by any
author are numbered on the plan, the unnumbered ones being heaps of
ruins whose existence is mentioned by all, and the exact location of
which M. Waldeck in his long stay was able to fix. It will be seen
that the buildings all face the cardinal points with a very slight
variation. So thick is the forest on the site and over the very
buildings that no one of the latter can be seen from its neighbor or
from the adjoining hills. M. Morelet, on one occasion, lost his
bearings in the immediate vicinity, and although he did not perhaps go
a half-mile from the ruins, yet he had the greatest difficulty in
returning, and coming from a contrary direction thought at first he
had discovered new monuments of antiquity. When the trees are cut
down, as they have been several times, only a few years are necessary
to restore the forest to its original density, and each explorer has
to begin anew the work of clearing.[VI-13]
[Illustration: PLAN OF PALENQUE.
Zinco A L Bancroft & Co S F]
I begin with the largest of the structures, marked 1 on the plan, and
commonly known as the Palace, although of course nothing is known of
its original use. From a narrow level on the left bank of the stream
rises an artificial elevation of pyramidal form, with quadrangular
base measuring about two hundred and sixty by three hundred and ten
feet, and something over forty feet in height, with sloping sides
and traces of broad central stairways on the east and north.[VI-14]
The sides were faced with regular blocks of hewn stone, but this
facing has been so broken up and forced out of place by the roots of
trees that the original outline is hardly distinguishable. Dupaix,
both in text and drawings, divides the pyramid into three sections or
stories by two projections of a few feet running horizontally round
the sides; he puts a similar projection, or cornice, at the summit,
and covers the whole surface of the sides with a polished coating of
cement. That this state of things existed at the time of his
exploration is possible, although not very probable; yet it is not
unlikely that the slopes were originally covered with plaster, or even
painted.
[Illustration: Mode of constructing Pyramid.]
[Sidenote: ORIGIN OF PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURES.]
The material of which the bulk of the mound is composed is not very
definitely stated by any visitor. I believe, however, that I have
discovered a peculiarity in the construction of this pyramid, which
may possibly throw some light on the origin of the pyramidal structure
so universal among the civilized nations of the continent. I think
that, perhaps with a view to raise this palace or temple above the
waters of the stream, four thick walls, possibly more, were built up
perpendicularly from the ground to the desired height; then, after
the completion of the walls to strengthen them, or during the progress
of the work to facilitate the raising of the stones, the interior was
filled with earth, and the exterior graded with the same material, the
whole being subsequently faced with hewn stone. My reasons for this
opinion may be illustrated by the annexed cut. All the authorities by
text and plates represent the pyramid with sloping stone-faced sides,
much damaged by the trees. Two of them, Stephens and Waldeck, making
excavations from the summit at different points, clearly imply that
the interior, D, is of earth. The height is given by all the visitors
down to Stephens, as from forty to sixty feet. Now Charnay, coming
nearly twenty years later, found the eastern side a perpendicular
wall, only fifteen feet high, and proves the accuracy of his statement
by his photograph, which, as he says, cannot lie. I cannot
satisfactorily account for the condition of the structure as found by
him, except by supposing that the stone facing, loosened by the trees,
had fallen from B to F, and that the earth which filled the sides at
EE, had been washed away by the rain, leaving the perpendicular wall
at B. We shall see later that it is utterly impossible to fix any
definite date for the founding of Palenque; but it is doubtless to be
referred to the earliest period of American civilization which has
left definite architectural traces; and its claims are perhaps as
strong as those of any other to be considered the oldest American
city. If this pyramid was the first erected and took its shape as
above indicated, its adoption as a type throughout the region
penetrated by the religion and civilization of its builders, would be
very natural, although the form would afterwards be more readily
attained by means of a solid structure. I offer this as a conjectural
theory to take its place by the side of many others on the subject,
and at the least not more devoid of foundation than several of its
companions.[VI-15] It is not improbable that the builders may have
taken advantage of a slight natural elevation as a foundation for
their work.
[Sidenote: EXTERIOR OF THE PALACE.]
[Sidenote: BAS-RELIEFS OF THE PALACE.]
The summit platform of the pyramid supports the Palace, which covers
its whole extent save a narrow passage round the edge, and the
exterior dimensions of which are about one hundred and eighty by two
hundred and twenty-eight feet and thirty feet high.[VI-16] The outer
wall, a large portion of which has fallen, was pierced with about
forty doorways, which were generally wider than the portions of the
wall that separated them, giving the whole the appearance of a portico
with wide piers. The doorways are eight and a half feet high and nine
feet wide. The tops seem to have been originally flat, but the lintels
have in every case fallen and disappeared, having been perhaps of
wood; indeed, Charnay claims to have found the marks of one of these
wooden lintels composed of two pieces, while Del Rio found a plain
rectangular block of stone five by six feet, extending from one of the
piers to another. The whole exterior was covered with a coat of hard
plaster, and there are some traces of a projecting cornice which
surrounded the building above the doorways, pierced at regular
intervals with small circular holes, such as I have noticed in
Yucatan, conjectured with much reason to have originally held poles
which supported a kind of awning. Later visitors have found no part of
the roof remaining in place; but Castañeda, who may have found some
portion standing, represents it as sloping, plain, and plastered. From
the interior construction and from the roofs of other Palenque
buildings, it is probable that his drawing gives a correct idea of the
Palace in this respect. Dupaix often speaks of the roofs at Palenque
as being covered with large stone flags (lajas) carefully joined;
other authors are silent respecting the arrangement of the stones in
the roofs. Judging from the position of the grand stairway that leads
up the side of the pyramid, and from the arrangement of the interior
doorways, the chief entrance, or front, of the Palace, was on the
east, towards the stream. It is from this side, although not so well
preserved as some other portions, that general views have been
taken.[VI-17] Of the piers that separated the doorways in this outer
wall, only fifteen have been found standing, eight on the east and
seven on the west, although their foundations may be readily traced
throughout nearly the whole circumference. Each of the remaining
piers, and probably of all in their original condition, contained on
its external surface a bas-relief in stucco, and these reliefs with
their borders occupied the whole space between the doorways. The cuts,
fig. 1, 2, and 3, represent three of the best preserved of the
reliefs, drawings of six only of them having been published. Most of
the designs, like those shown in the cuts, were of human figures in
various attitudes, and having a variety of dress, ornaments, and
insignia. It will be noticed that the faces are all in profile, and
the foreheads invariably flattened. This cranial form was doubtless
the highest type of beauty or nobility in the eyes of the ancient
artists; and of course the natural inference is that it was
artificially produced by methods similar to those employed by the
Mayas of more modern times. Yet many have believed that the builders
of Palenque or the priests and leaders that directed the work were of
a now extinct race, the peculiar natural conformation of whose
forehead was artificially imitated by the descendants of their
disciples. The many far-fetched explanations of these strange
figures, which fertile imaginations have devised, would not, I
believe, be instructive to the reader, who will derive more amusement
and profit from his own conjectures. The resemblance of the head-dress
in fig. 2 to an elephant's trunk is, however, somewhat striking. We
may be very sure that these figures placed in so prominent a position
on the exterior walls of the grandest edifice in the city, were not
merely ornamental and without significance; and it is almost equally
certain that the three hieroglyphic signs over the top of each group
would, if they could be read, explain their meaning. Some of the piers
seem to have been covered entirely with hieroglyphics in stucco, but
better preserved specimens of these inscriptions will be shown in
connection with other buildings at Palenque. The stucco, or cement,
from which the figures are molded, is the same as that with which the
whole building was covered, and is nearly as hard as the stone itself.
M. Charnay found evidence to convince him that the reliefs were put on
after the regular coating of cement had become hardened; Dupaix
believes that some of them were molded over a skeleton of small
stones, in the same way perhaps as the gigantic faces at Izamal in
Yucatan. Traces of color in sheltered portions make it evident that
the piers were originally painted.[VI-18]
[Illustration: Bas-Relief in Stucco.--Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Bas-Relief in Stucco.--Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Bas-Relief in Stucco.--Fig. 3.]
[Illustration: Ground Plan of the Palace.]
[Sidenote: PLAN OF THE PALACE.]
Nothing further remains to be said of the exterior of the Palace; let
us therefore enter the doorway at the head of the eastern stairway.
The main building is found to consist of two corridors, formed by
three parallel walls and covered by one roof, which extend entirely
round the circumference of the platform, and enclose a quadrangular
court measuring about one hundred and fifty by two hundred feet. This
court also contains five or six buildings, some of them connected with
the main edifice, others separate, which divide the court into four
smaller ones. The whole arrangement of buildings and courts is clearly
shown in the preceding ground plan. At _b_, is the chief entrance at
the head of the eastern stairway; _a_, _a_, _a_, etc., are the
standing piers with stucco bas-reliefs, which have been noticed
already; A, A, B, B, etc., are the main corridors; C, D, E, F, G, the
smaller enclosed buildings; 1, 2, 3, 4, the courts.[VI-19]
[Sidenote: THE PALACE CORRIDORS.]
Entering at _b_, we find that the corridors extend uninterruptedly on
the east and north, but are divided on the other sides, especially on
the south, into compartments. In the inner as in the outer wall
doorways are frequent, while the central wall has but few. The
corridors are each nine feet wide and twenty feet high, the
perpendicular walls being ten feet, and the sides of the ceiling
inclining inward from that height until they nearly form an acute
angle at the top. The cut represents a section of the two corridors in
nearly their true proportions. The walls are from two to three feet
thick, and so far as can be determined from the authorities, they are
built entirely of hewn blocks of stone, without the interior filling
of rubble which I have noticed in the Yucatan ruins. Indeed, with a
thickness of three feet or less the use of rubble would have been
almost impracticable. Floor, walls, and ceiling are covered with a
coating of the same hard cement found on the exterior walls. The cut
on the following page is a view from a point somewhat southward from
_b_, and looking northward into the corridor; it gives an excellent
idea of the present appearance of this portion of the Palace. The
construction of the ceiling, both in the Palace and in other Palenque
structures, is by means of the triangular arch of overlapping stones,
as in Yucatan. A remarkable difference, however, is that the
projecting corners of the blocks, instead of being beveled so as to
leave a smooth stone surface, are left, and the smooth surface is
obtained by filling the notches with cement.
[Illustration: Section of the Palace Corridors.]
[Illustration: Palace Corridor at Palenque.]
[Illustration: Elevation of Palace Corridor.]
The doorway through the central wall at _c_, is eighteen feet high,
and its top, instead of being flat like those in the outer wall,
takes the form of a trefoil arch; depressions, or niches, of the same
trefoil form, extend at regular intervals right and left from the
doorway along the inclined face of the ceiling. The last cut gives a
clear idea of the doorway and trefoil niches, but the artist who
copied it from Catherwood's plate for _Morelet's Travels_, from which
I take it, has erred in representing the niches as continuing downward
on the perpendicular wall. Near the top of the perpendicular wall was
a line of what seem to have been circular stucco medallions, perhaps
portraits, at _d_, _d_, _d_, of the plan, which have for the most part
fallen. Small circular holes, apparently left by the decay of beams
that once stretched across the arch, occur at regular intervals
between the niches of the ceiling. The cut shows a front elevation of
the corridor from _e_ of the plan looking eastward, and includes all
the peculiarities found in any part of the corridors. The position of
the medallions is shown, though they are really on the opposite side
of the wall, and the shaded figures on the left of the cut are
introduced from other parts of the Palace, to illustrate the different
forms of niches which occur in the walls. The niches on the right are
in their proper place. The three which are symmetrically placed at
each side of this and some other doorways, are from eight to ten
inches square, and have a cylinder two inches in diameter fixed
upright within each. They would seem to have served in some way to
support the doors. The "T" shaped niches are of very frequent
occurrence throughout the ruins, and have caused much speculation by
reason of their resemblance to the Egyptian _tau_ and to the cross.
Some of them extend quite through the walls, and served probably for
ventilation and the admission of light. Others of the same shape are
of varying depths and of unknown use; they may have been niches for
the reception of small idols, or possibly designed to hold the
torches which lit up the corridors, since M. Waldeck claims to have
found the marks of lamp-black on the tops of some of them.[VI-20]
Nothing remains to be said of the corridors of the main building,
save that the interior like the exterior surface of the walls bears
traces of red paint over the coating of plaster in certain sheltered
portions.[VI-21]
[Sidenote: COURT OF THE PALACE.]
Passing through the doorway _e_ we enter the court 1, the dimensions
of which are about seventy by eighty feet, its pavement, like that of
the other courts, being eight or ten feet below that of the corridors.
This pavement is covered to a depth of several feet with débris, which
has never been entirely cleared away by any explorer. The court is
bounded on the north and east by the walls, or piers, of the inner
corridor, and on the south and west by those of the interior buildings
C and D. The piers, whose position and number are clearly indicated on
the plan, are, except those on the north, yet standing, and each has
its stucco bas-relief as on the eastern front. These reliefs are,
however, much damaged, and no drawings of them have been made, or, at
least, published. Broad stairways of five or six steps lead down to
the level of the court pavement, at _g_, _g_, _g_, _g_, and a narrow
stairway, _h_, affords access through an end door to the building
E.[VI-22]
[Illustration: Sculptured Group in the Palace Court.]
The eastern stairway is thirty feet wide, and on each side of it, at
_i_, _i_, on a surface about fifteen feet long by eleven feet high,
formed by immense stone slabs inclined at about the same angle as the
stairway itself, is sculptured in low relief a group of human figures
in peculiar attitudes. The northern group is shown in the accompanying
cut. Stephens pronounces the attitude of the figures one of pain and
trouble. "The design and anatomical proportions of the figures are
faulty, but there is a force of expression about them which shows the
skill and conceptive power of the artist."[VI-23] Stephens' plate of
this side of the court shows remains of stucco ornamentation and also
a line of small circular holes over the doorways of the inner
corridor. The opposite or western stairway is narrower than the
eastern, and at its sides, at _j, j_, are two colossal human figures
sculptured in a hard whitish stone, as shown in the cut, in which,
however, the stairway is shown somewhat narrower than its true
proportions. Waldeck sees in these figures a male and female whose
features are of the Caucasian type. At the sides of the stairway, at
_k, k, k_, stand three figures of smaller dimensions, sculptured on
pilasters which occur at regular intervals. On the basement wall
between the pilasters are found small squares of hieroglyphics.[VI-24]
In the centre of the court Waldeck found some traces of a circular
basin.
[Illustration: Sculptured Figures in Palace Court.]
[Sidenote: COURTS OF THE PALACE.]
The western court, 2, measuring about thirty by eighty feet, has a
narrow stairway of three steps at _l_, leading up to the central
building C. At the ends of this stairway, at _o_, _o_, are two large
blocks similar in position to those at _j_, _j_, but their sloping
fronts bear no sculptured figures. As in the other court, however,
there are some squares of hieroglyphics on the basement walls. The
piers round this court, such as remain standing, bear each a stucco
bas-relief.[VI-25]
In the southern court, 3, stands the structure known as the Tower,
marked G on the plan. Its base is about thirty feet square, and rests
like the other buildings on the platform of the pyramid some eight or
ten feet above the pavement of the courts. This base is solid, but has
niches, or false doorways, on the sides. Above the base two slightly
receding stories are still standing, with portions of a third, each
with a doorway--whose lintel has fallen--in the centre of each side,
and surrounded by two plain cornices. The walls are plain and
plastered. The whole structure is of solid masonry, and the fact that
large trees have grown from the top, presenting a broad surface to the
winter winds, which have not been able to overturn the Tower, shows
the remarkable strength of its construction. The height of the
standing portion is about fifty feet above the platform of the
pyramid. Respecting the interior arrangement of the Tower, I am unable
to form a clear idea from the descriptions and drawings of the
different visitors, notwithstanding the fact that Waldeck gives an
elevation, section, and ground plan of each story. Stephens describes
the structure as consisting of a smaller tower within the larger, and
a very narrow staircase leading up from story to story. Waldeck deemed
the Tower a chef d'œuvre, while to Stephens' eyes it appeared
unsatisfactory and uninteresting. Dupaix, without doubt erroneously,
represents the doors as surmounted by regular arches with
keystones.[VI-26]
Respecting the other interior buildings of the Palace, the
construction of which is precisely the same as that of the main
corridors, very little remains to be said, especially since their
location and division into apartments are shown clearly in the plan.
According to Waldeck, the central room of the building D had traces of
rich ornamentation in stucco on its walls; and he also claims to have
found here an acoustic tube of terra cotta, the mouth of which was
concealed by an ornament of the same material, but of this
extraordinary relic he gives no description. Stephens found in one of
the holes in the ceiling the worm-eaten remains of a wooden pole,
about a foot in length, the only piece of wood found in Palenque, and
very likely not a part of the original building at all. Except this
chamber, the building is mostly in ruins, although, as we have seen,
the northern piers remain standing.[VI-27]
The roofs of some of the interior buildings seem to have been somewhat
better preserved than those of the main corridors, so that the sloping
roof, double cornice, and remains of stucco ornamentation were
observable. In the western apartment of the building C, the walls have
several, in one place as many as six, distinct coatings of plaster,
each hardened and painted before the next was applied. There was also
noticed a line of what appeared to be written characters in black,
covered by a thin translucent coating.[VI-28]
[Illustration: Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.--Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.--Fig. 2.]
[Sidenote: SCULPTURED TABLET.]
The building E has the interior walls of its two northern apartments
decorated with painted and stucco figures in a very mutilated
condition. In the wall of one of them, at the point _p_, is fixed an
elliptical stone tablet, three feet wide and four feet high, the
surface of which is covered by the sculptured device shown in the
cut. With the exception of the figures in the court 1, already
mentioned, this is the only instance of stone-carving in the Palace.
It is cut in low relief, and is surrounded by an ornamental border of
stucco. A table consisting of a plain rectangular stone slab resting
on four blocks which served as legs, stood formerly on the pavement
immediately under the sculptured tablet. Tables of varying dimensions,
but of like construction, were found in several apartments of the
Palace and its subterranean galleries, as shown in the plan at v, v,
v. They are called tables, beds, or altars, by different writers.
Waldeck says that this one was of green jasper; and Del Rio, that its
edges and legs were sculptured, one of the latter having been carried
away by him and sent to Spain. The first cut which I have given is
taken from Waldeck's drawing. The second cut, representing a portion
of the same tablet, taken from Catherwood's plate, for _Morelet's
Travels_, differs slightly in some respects--notably in the ornament
suspended from the neck, represented by one artist as a face, and by
the other as a cross. Of the subject Mr Stephens says: "The principal
figure sits cross-legged on a couch ornamented with two leopards'
heads; the attitude is easy, the physiognomy the same as that of the
other personages, and the expression calm and benevolent. The figure
wears around its neck a necklace of pearls, to which is suspended a
small medallion containing a face; perhaps intended as an image of the
sun. Like every other subject of sculpture we had seen in the country,
the personage had earrings, bracelets on the wrists, and a girdle
round the loins. The head-dress differs from most of the others at
Palenque in that it wants the plumes of feathers.... The other figure,
which seems that of a woman, is sitting cross-legged on the ground,
richly dressed, and apparently in the act of making an offering. In
this supposed offering is seen a plume of feathers, in which the
headdress of the principal person is deficient." Waldeck deems the
left-hand figure to be black, and recognizes in the profile an
Ethiopian type. Del Rio sees in the subject homage paid to a river
god; and Galindo believes the object offered to be a human head.
Somebody imagines that the two animal heads are those of the
seal.[VI-29]
The stucco ornaments on the walls of the building F seem to have been
richer and more numerous than elsewhere, but were found in a very
dilapidated condition. In the room _q_, Stephens found traces of a
stone tablet in the wall, and he also gives a sketch of a stucco
bas-relief from the side of a doorway, representing a standing human
figure in a very damaged state. A peculiar stucco ornament sketched by
Castañeda is probably from the same room, and is perhaps identical
with what Waldeck describes as a sanctuary with two birds perched on
an elephant's head, the latter, however, not appearing in the
drawing.[VI-30]
[Sidenote: SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES.]
[Illustration: Ornament over a Doorway.]
Within the pyramid itself, and above the surface of the ground,
although frequently spoken of as subterranean, are found apartments,
or galleries, with walls of stone plastered but without ornament, of
the same form and construction as the corridors above. Such as have
been explored are at the south end of the pyramid and for the most
part without the line of the Palace walls, with lateral galleries,
however, extending under the corridors and affording communication
with the upper apartments by means of stairways. The arrangement of
the galleries and their entrances is made sufficiently clear by the
fine lines at the bottom of the plan, yet perhaps very little is known
of their original extent. The southernmost gallery receives a dim
light by three holes or windows leading out to the surface of the
pyramid; the other galleries are dark and damp, with water running
over their pavements in the rainy season. The walls are much fallen
and the galleries blocked up at several points. At the south-western
corner an opening affords a means of egress near the surface of the
ground; but this, as well as the windows mentioned, may be accidental
or of modern origin and have formed no part of the original plan.
These rooms are variously regarded as sleeping-rooms, dungeons, or
sepulchres, according to the temperament of the observer. Whatever
their use, they contain several of the low tables mentioned before,
one of which is said to have been richly decorated with sculpture. M.
Morelet occupied one of these lower rooms during his visit, as being
more comfortable than the others, at least in the dry season. The
chief entrance to the vaults seems to have been from one of the
southern rooms of the building E, at the point _r_, through an opening
in the floor. A narrow stairway by which the descent was made, is
divided into two flights by a platform and doorway, surmounting which
was the stucco device shown in the cut. Waldeck states that when he
found this decoration it was partially covered with stalactites formed
by trickling water. His explanation, by which he connects the figures
with aboriginal astronomical signs and the division of time, is too
long and too extremely conjectural to be repeated here. Stephens
noticed this ornament but gives no drawing of it. It was sketched by
Castañeda together with another somewhat similar one. Dupaix speaks of
two doors in this stairway; Del Rio speaks of several landings, and
says that he brought away a fragment of one of the ornamented steps. I
suspect the visitors may have confounded this stairway with another at
_w_, concerning which nothing is particularly said. Somewhere in
connection with these stairways Dupaix found a tablet of hieroglyphics
which he brought away with him, and concerning which he states the
remarkable fact that on the reverse side of the tablet, built into the
wall, were the same characters painted that were sculptured on the
face. Openings through the pavement were found at several points, as
in the court 1, and the building C, which led to no regular galleries,
but to simple and small excavations in the earth, very likely the work
of some early explorer or searcher for hidden treasure.[VI-31]
[Sidenote: THE PALACE RESTORED.]
Having now given all the information in my possession respecting the
Palace, I present in the accompanying cut a restoration of the
structure made by a German artist, but which I have taken the liberty
to change in several respects. The reader will notice a few points in
which the cut does not exactly agree with my description; such as the
curved surface of the roofs, the height of the tower and its spire,
the width of the western stairway in court 1, etc., yet it may be
regarded as giving an excellent idea of what the Palace was in the
days when its halls and courts were thronged with the nobility or
priesthood of a great people. The view is from the north-east on the
bank of the stream, and besides the palace includes the edifice No. 2
of the general plan.[VI-32]
[Illustration: Restoration of the Palace.]
The structure No. 2 shown in the last cut stands a short distance
south-west from the Palace, and may be known as the Temple of the
Three Tablets. The pyramid supporting it, of the same construction as
the former so far as may be judged from outward examination, is said
by Stephens to measure one hundred and ten feet on the slope, and
seems to have had continuous steps all round its sides, now much
displaced by the forest. The cut on the following page presents a view
of this temple from the north-east as it appeared at the time of
Catherwood's visit, and illustrates very vividly the manner in which
the ruins are enveloped in a tropical vegetation.
[Illustration: Temple of the Three Tablets.]
[Sidenote: TEMPLE OF THE THREE TABLETS.]
[Illustration: Temple and Pyramid.--Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Temple of the Three Tablets.--Fig. 2.]
The building, which stands on the summit platform but does not like
the Palace cover its whole surface, is seventy-six feet long,
twenty-five feet wide, and about thirty-five feet high. The front, or
northern, elevation is shown in the cuts. Fig. 1 includes the temple
with the supporting pyramid, and fig. 2 presents the building on a
larger scale. Each of the four central piers on this front has its
bas-relief in stucco, while the two lateral piers have each ninety-six
small squares of hieroglyphics, also in stucco. The bas-reliefs
represent single human figures, standing, and each bearing in its arms
an infant, or in one instance some unknown object. They are all very
much mutilated, and although drawings have been published, I do not
think it necessary to reproduce them. The roof is divided into two
sections, sloping at different angles; the lower slope was covered
with painted stucco decorations, and had also five square solid
projections, one over each doorway. The dividing line between the two
slopes marks the height of the apartments in the interior, the upper
portion being solid masonry. Along the ridge of the roof was a line of
pillars, of stone and mortar, eighteen inches high and twelve inches
apart, probably square, although nothing is said of their shape, and
surmounted by a layer of projecting flat stones. Similar constructions
may possibly have existed originally on some of the Palace roofs,
since they would naturally be among the first to fall. Waldeck's plate
represents a small platform in front of the doorways, ascended by four
lateral stairways. Respecting the two square projections below the
piers at the side of the central doorway there is no information
except their representation by Catherwood in the cut, fig. 2.
[Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Three Tablets.]
[Illustration: Section--Temple of the Three Tablets.]
The arrangement of the interior is shown in the accompanying ground
plan. The central wall is four or five feet thick, and is pierced by
three doorways, which afford access to three apartments in the rear.
The front corridor has a small window at each end; Stephens speaks of
two slight openings about three inches wide in each of the lateral
apartments of the rear; and the plan indicates two similar openings in
the central room, although he speaks of them as dark and gloomy.
Castañeda's drawing shows only one window at the end; it also
represents the building as having a roof like the Palace, and as
standing on a natural rocky hill in which some steps are cut, no
bas-reliefs or other decorations appearing on the front. The interior
walls are perfectly plain, and it is not even definitely stated that
they are plastered. In the walls, however, at _a_, _b_, and _c_, of
the ground plan, are fixed stone tablets one foot thick, each composed
of several blocks, neatly joined and covered with sculptured
hieroglyphics. Those in the central wall, at _a_ and _b_, measure
eight by thirteen feet, and contain each two hundred and forty squares
of hieroglyphics in a very good state of preservation, while the one
hundred and forty squares of the tablet in the rear apartment, three
and a half by four feet, are much damaged by trickling water. Drawings
of the hieroglyphics have been made by Waldeck and Catherwood only,
although other visitors speak of them. I do not copy the drawings
here, because, in the absence of any key to their meaning, the
specimen which I shall present from another part of the ruins is as
useful to the reader as the whole would be. The cut is a longitudinal
section of this temple at the central wall, and shows the position of
the tablets. Waldeck's drawing represents the two lateral doorways as
having flat tops. Brasseur tells us that, according to the statements
of the natives, the tablets were used originally for educational
purposes. M. Charnay found them still undisturbed in 1859.[VI-33]
[Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Beau Relief.]
[Sidenote: THE BEAU RELIEF.]
[Illustration: Beau Relief in Stucco.]
Some four hundred yards south of the Palace is a pyramid, only partly
artificial if we may credit Dupaix, and rising with a steep slope of
one hundred feet from the bank of the stream according to Stephens, on
which is a small building, No. 3 of the plan, which we may call, with
Waldeck, the Temple of the Beau Relief. This edifice was found by
later visitors in an advanced state of ruin, and Catherwood's drawings
of it are much less satisfactory than in the case of other Palenque
ruins; but both Dupaix and Waldeck found it in a tolerably good state
of preservation, and were enabled to sketch and describe its principal
features. This temple measured eighteen by twenty feet, apparently
fronting the east, and is twenty-five feet high. It presents the
peculiarity of an apartment in the pyramid, immediately under the
upper rooms. The cut gives ground plans--No. 1 of the upper, and No. 2
of the lower rooms. The stairway which afforded communication between
the two, is also shown. Catherwood's drawing, however, represents the
upper and lower apartments as alike in everything but height. On the
rear, or western, wall, at _a_, was the Beau Relief in stucco, which
gives a name to the temple, the finest specimen of stucco work in
America, shown in the accompanying cut. It was sketched by Castañeda
and Waldeck, in whose drawings some differences of detail appear. At
the time of Stephens' visit only the lower portions remained for
study; yet he pronounced this "superior in execution to any other
stucco relief in Palenque." At the time of Charnay's visit the last
vestige of this beautiful relic had disappeared. Waldeck speaks of a
tomb found in connection with this pyramid, which he had no time to
explore, having made the discovery just before leaving the
ruins.[VI-34]
[Illustration: Temple of the Cross.]
[Sidenote: TEMPLE OF THE CROSS.]
Standing about one hundred and fifty yards a little south of east from
the Palace, and on the opposite bank of the stream Otolum, is the
building No. 4 of the plan, known as the Temple of the Cross, standing
on a pyramid which measures one hundred and thirty-four feet on the
slope. Mr Stephens locates this temple several hundred feet further
south than I have placed it on the plan. Charnay describes the pyramid
as partly natural but faced with stone. The temple is fifty feet long,
thirty-one feet wide, and about forty feet high. The cut shows the
front, or southern elevation. The construction of the lower portion is
precisely like that of the other buildings which have been described.
The two lateral piers were covered with hieroglyphics, and the central
ones bore human figures, all in stucco. The lower slope of the roof
was also covered with stucco decorations, among which were fragments
of a head and two bodies, pronounced by Stephens to approach the Greek
models in justness of proportion and symmetry. On the top, the roof
formed a platform thirty-five feet long and about three feet wide,
which supported the peculiar two-storied structure shown in the
preceding cut, fifteen feet and ten inches high. This is a kind of
frame, or open lattice, of stone blocks covered with a great variety
of stucco ornaments. A layer of projecting flat stones caps the whole,
and from the summit, one hundred feet perhaps above the ground, a
magnificent view is afforded, which stretches over the whole
forest-covered plain to Laguna de Terminos and the Mexican gulf. This
superstructure, like some that I have described at Uxmal and elsewhere
in Yucatan, would seem to have been added to the temple solely to give
it a more imposing appearance. It could hardly have served as an
observatory, since there are no facilities for mounting to the
summit.[VI-35]
[Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Cross.]
The interior arrangement is made clear by the adjoined plan. Within
the central apartment of the rear, or northern, corridor, and directly
opposite to the main doorway is an enclosure measuring seven by
thirteen feet. From its being mentioned as an enclosure rather than a
regular room by Stephens, it would seem probable that it does not
reach the full height of the chamber, but has a ceiling, or covering,
of its own. At any rate, it receives light only by the doorway.
Besides a heavy cornice round the enclosure, the doorway was
surmounted by massive and graceful stucco decorations, and at its
sides on the exterior were originally two stone tablets bearing each a
human figure sculptured in low relief, resembling in their general
characteristics the more common stucco designs, but somewhat more
elaborately draped and decorated. One of them wears a leopard-skin as
a cloak. These tablets were sketched by both Waldeck and Catherwood in
the village of Santo Domingo, whither they had been carried and set up
in a modern house. Stephens understood them to come from another of
the ruins yet to be mentioned, but the evidence indicates strongly
that he was misinformed. Both Waldeck and Stephens entered into some
negotiations with a view to remove these tablets; at the time of the
former's visit the condition of obtaining them was to marry one of the
proprietresses; in Stephens' time a purchase of the house in which
they stood would suffice. Neither removed them.[VI-36]
[Illustration: Tablet of the Cross.]
[Sidenote: TABLET OF THE CROSS.]
Fixed in the wall at the back of the enclosure, and covering nearly
its whole surface, was the tablet of the cross, six feet four inches
high, ten feet eight inches wide, and formed of three stones. The
central stone, and part of the western, bear the sculptured figures
shown in the cut. The rest of the western, and all of the eastern
stone, were covered with hieroglyphics. This cut is a photographic
reduction of Waldeck's drawing, the accuracy of which is proved by a
careful comparison with Charnay's photograph. The subject doubtless
possessed a religious signification, and the location of the tablet
may be considered a sacred altar, or most holy place, of the ancient
Maya or Tzendal priesthood. Two men, probably priests, clad in the
robes and insignia of their office, are making an offering to the
cross or to a bird perched on its summit. This tablet has been perhaps
the most fruitful theme for antiquarian speculation yet discovered in
America, but a fictitious importance has doubtless been attached to it
by reason of some fancied connection between the sculptured cross and
the Christian emblem. All agree respecting the excellence of the
sculpture. Of the two priests, Stephens says: "They are well drawn,
and in symmetry of proportion are perhaps equal to many that are
carved on the walls of the ruined temples in Egypt. Their costume is
in a style different from any heretofore given, and the folds would
seem to indicate that they were of a soft and pliable texture like
cotton." Stephens and other writers discover a possible likeness in
the object offered to a new-born child. Of the hieroglyphics which
cover the two lateral stones, the cut on the opposite page shows, as a
specimen, the upper portion of the western stone, or what may be
considered, perhaps, the beginning of the inscription. The large
initial character, like an aboriginal capital letter, is a remarkable
feature. In Dupaix's time all parts of the tablet were probably in
their place, and in good condition, but his artist only sketched, and
that somewhat imperfectly, the cross and human figures, omitting the
hieroglyphics. Waldeck and Stephens found and sketched the central
stone in the forest on the bank of the stream, to which point it had
been removed, according to the former, with a view to its removal to
the United States, but according to the latter its intended
destination had been the village of Santo Domingo. Stephens says he
found the eastern stone entirely destroyed, though Charnay speaks of
it as still in place nearly twenty years later; why Waldeck made no
drawing of it does not appear.[VI-37]
[Sidenote: MAYA HIEROGLYPHICS.]
[Illustration: Hieroglyphics--Tablet of the Cross.]
[Sidenote: THE ONLY STATUE AT PALENQUE.]
This temple is paved with large flags, through which is an opening
made by Del Rio and noticed by later visitors. From this place Del Rio
took a variety of articles which will be mentioned hereafter. On the
southern slope of this pyramid Waldeck found two statues, exactly
alike, one of which is represented in the cut on the opposite page,
from Catherwood's drawings in Stephens' work. They are ten and one
half feet high, of which two and a half feet, not shown in the cut,
formed the tenon by which they were imbedded in the ground or in a
wall. The figure stands on a hieroglyph which perhaps expresses the
name of the individual or god represented. These statues are
remarkable as being the only ones ever found in connection with the
Palenque ruins; and even these are not statues proper, sculptured 'in
the round,' since the back is of rough stone and was very likely
imbedded originally in a wall. Waldeck believes they were designed to
support a platform before the central doorway. One of them was broken
in two pieces. After sketching the best preserved of them, Waldeck
turned them face downward that they might escape the eye of parties
who might have better facilities than he for removing them; but
Catherwood afterwards discovered and sketched the one which remained
entire. The resemblance of this figure to some Egyptian statues is
remarked by all, though Stephens notes in the lower part of the dress
"an unfortunate resemblance to modern pantaloons." The space at the
western base of the pyramid where various undescribed ruins are
indicated on the plan, is described by Stephens as a level esplanade
one hundred and ten feet wide and supported by a stone terrace wall
which rises sixty feet on the slope from the bank of the
stream.[VI-38]
[Illustration: Statue from Temple of the Cross.]
[Illustration: Temple of the Sun.]
[Sidenote: TEMPLE OF THE SUN.]
[Sidenote: PECULIAR ROOF STRUCTURES]
At the south-western base of the pyramid of the Cross, and almost in
contact with it, rises another of smaller base, but nearly as high,
with a still smaller companion on the north, respecting which latter
no information is given. These pyramids, Nos. 5 and 6 of the plan, are
located by Stephens directly south from the Temple of the Cross, as
indicated by the dotted lines. The building No. 5, sometimes called,
without any sufficient reason, the Temple of the Sun, is one of the
best preserved and most remarkable for variety of ornamentation of all
the Palenque structures, but is very similar in most respects to its
neighbor of the cross, having the same stuccoed piers and roof. Its
front elevation is shown in the cut, from Catherwood. Waldeck's plate
differs chiefly in representing the stucco ornaments in a more perfect
state; but both are confessedly restorations to a certain extent. Here
again we have stucco reliefs of human figures on the central, and
hieroglyphics of the same material on the lateral piers. The roof
bears a superstructure similar to that already described, composed of
a frame of hewn stone blocks, supporting complicated decorations in
cement, several of which are modeled to represent human figures
looking from openings in the lattice-work. The stone frame-work
entirely freed from its ornamentation, is shown in the cut from
Waldeck, which presents both a front and end view. Brasseur believes
that these roof structures were erected by some people that succeeded
the original builders of the temples. It will be remembered that in
Yucatan similar superimposed structures were found by Stephens and
others, and are for the most part the only ones on which traces of
stucco work are observable.
[Illustration: Roof Structure--Temple of the Sun.]
The dimensions of this temple are twenty-eight by thirty-eight feet,
and its ground plan, identical with the exception of an additional
doorway with that of the Temple of the Cross, is shown in the cut. The
central enclosure in the rear, as is clearly shown by the plates and
description in this case, has a roof of its own. Its interior
dimensions are, nine feet long, five feet wide, and eight feet high.
It has on the exterior a double cornice and graceful ornaments, now
mostly fallen, over the doorways, while at the sides stood two
sculptured reliefs representing human figures, which although broken
in many fragments, were sketched by Waldeck. The tablets in the
village of Santo Domingo were understood by Stephens to have come from
this apartment.
[Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Sun.]
Fixed in the rear wall, occupying its whole extent, and receiving
light only through the doorway, is the Tablet of the Sun, which
measures eight by nine feet and is made of three slabs of stone. In
1842 it was still unbroken and in place, and was considered by
Stephens to be the most perfect and interesting monument in Palenque.
As in the Tablet of the Cross the sides are covered with squares of
hieroglyphics; and in the central portion is an object to which two
priests are in the act of making human offerings. This central object
is a hideous face, or mask, with protruding tongue, standing on a kind
of altar which is supported on the backs of two crouching human
figures. Two other stooping men support the priests, who stand on
their backs. The name Tablet of the Sun comes from the face with
protruding tongue, which was sometimes regarded by the Aztecs as a
symbol of the sun;--a very far-fetched derivation for the name.[VI-39]
The stream on whose banks the ruins stand flows for a short distance
through an artificial covered stone channel, or aqueduct, about six
feet wide, and ten feet high, covered like all the corridors by an
arch of overlapping blocks. It extends fifty-seven feet from north to
south, and one hundred and sixty feet further south-eastward toward
the Temple of the Cross, where the fallen roof blocks up the passage
and renders further exploration impracticable. Such is the information
obtained from the works of Waldeck and Stephens. The position of this
structure is indicated on the plan by the dotted lines numbered 7,
although Stephens locates it considerably further north. There is
great confusion in the accounts of this so-called aqueduct. Bernasconi
included in his report a description and drawing of a vault seven feet
wide, twelve feet high, and two hundred and twenty-seven feet long,
extending in a curved line from the Palace to the stream. Del Rio
speaks of a "subterranean stone aqueduct of great solidity and
durability, which passes under the largest building." Dupaix states
that a rapid stream, a few paces--Kingsborough's edition has it over a
league--west of the ruins, runs through a subterranean aqueduct five
and one half feet wide, eleven feet high, and one hundred and
sixty-seven feet long, built of stone blocks without mortar. The
drawings of this structure, however, in Dupaix and Kingsborough's
works do not bear the slightest resemblance to each other, one
picturing it as a bridge, and the other as a corridor, or possibly
aqueduct, built above the surface of the ground. Galindo tells us that
a stream rises two hundred paces east of the Palace and is covered for
one hundred paces by a gallery, with traces of buildings, probably
baths, extending fifty paces further. Waldeck describes the mouth of a
subterranean passage as concealed by a small cataract in the stream.
There seems to be little reason to doubt that all these conflicting
accounts refer to the same structure. Charnay tells us that the
conduit is two mètres high and wide, and that it is covered with
immense stones.[VI-40]
Not far from the Temple of the Sun a small building eight feet square
was found by Waldeck lifted bodily from the ground by the branches of
a large tree.[VI-41] On an eminence north of the Palace, at 9 of the
plan, are the foundations of several buildings,--eleven in number,
according to Dupaix, in whose time some of the arches were still
standing. They extend in a line from east to west, and all front the
south.[VI-42] On the summit of a high steep hill, or mountain, the
slope of which begins immediately to the east of the Temple of the
Cross, are the foundation stones of a building twenty-one feet square,
at 8 of the plan. So thick is the forest that from this point none of
the ruins below are visible, although the site of the village of
Santo Domingo may be seen by climbing a lofty tree.[VI-43]
[Illustration: Conduit of a Bridge near Palenque.]
Two bridges are indefinitely located in the vicinity of Palenque. One
of them, said by Dupaix to be north of the Palace, is fifty-six feet
long, forty-two feet wide, and eleven feet high, built of large hewn
blocks without mortar. The conduit is nine feet wide, having a flat
top constructed with a layer of wide blocks, and convex sides, as
illustrated in the cut. The second bridge was found on the Tulija
River some leagues west of the ruins, and only extends, according to
Galindo, partly across the river, which is now about five hundred
paces wide at that point.[VI-44] The Abbé Brasseur, during his visit
to the ruins in 1871, claims to have discovered an additional temple,
that of the Mystic Tree, containing hieroglyphic tablets.[VI-45] Three
thousand five hundred paces southward from the last house of Santo
Domingo, on a stream supposed to be a branch of the Usumacinta,
Waldeck found two pyramids. They are described as having been at the
time in a perfect state of preservation, square at the base, pointed
at the top, and thirty-one feet high, their sides forming equilateral
triangles. Pyramids of this type rarely, if ever, occur in America,
and it is unfortunate that the existence of these monuments is not
confirmed by other explorers, since without such confirmation it must
be considered very doubtful.[VI-46] Seven leagues north from the
ruins, Galindo found a circular cistern twenty feet in diameter, two
feet high on the outside, and eight feet on the inside, occupied at
the time of his visit by alligators.[VI-47] According to Ordoñez, one
of Del Rio's companions discovered on the Rio Catasahà, two leagues
from Palenque, a subterranean stone structure, which contained large
quantities of valuable woods, stored as if for export.[VI-48]
[Illustration: Palenque Altar for burning Copal.]
[Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]
A few miscellaneous relics, found by visitors at different points in
connection with the ruins of Palenque, and more or less fully
described, remain to be noticed. Del Rio made an excavation under the
pavement of the central chamber in the Temple of the Cross, and says:
"at about half a yard deep, I found a small round earthen vessel,
about one foot in diameter, fitted horizontally with a mixture of lime
to another of the same quality and dimensions; these were removed, and
the digging being continued, a quarter of a yard beneath, we
discovered a circular stone, of rather larger diameter than the first
articles, and on removing this from its position, a cylindrical cavity
presented itself, about a foot wide and the third of a foot deep,
containing a flint lance, two small conical pyramids with the figure
of a heart in dark crystallized stone; ... there were also two small
earthen jars or ewers with covers containing small stones and a ball
of vermilion.... The situation of the subterranean depository
coincides with the centre of the oratory, and in each of the inner
angles, near the entrance, is a cavity like the one before described,"
containing two little jars. The same author also speaks of burnt
bricks which seem to have been used sparingly.[VI-49] Waldeck, having
made a similar excavation in what he calls the temple of the Palace,
perhaps the building C, found a gallery containing hewn blocks of
stone, and earthen cups and vases with many little earthen balls of
different colors. He also speaks of a fine fragment of terra cotta
which he found in the court 1 where he also discovered just before
leaving Palenque the entrance to other galleries of the pyramid.
Waldeck also gives drawings of two images of human form in terra
cotta, from Dr Corroy's collection; also a face, or mask, in stucco
from the cornice of the Temple of Death, whatever that building may
have been.[VI-50] Galindo found stones apparently for grinding maize,
similar to the Mexican _metate_; also artificially shaped pebbles,
similar, as he says, to those used by the modern Lacandones but
smaller. Both Galindo and Dupaix speak of a circular granite stone,
like a mill-stone, six feet in diameter and one foot thick, found on
the side or at the foot of the Palace pyramid. Dupaix found at a
distance of a league westward from the ruins, a square pillar
fourteen feet in circumference, and about the same in height, with two
short round pillars standing at its eastern foot. He also speaks of
finding many small altars probably used originally for burning copal.
One of them, four feet in circumference and sixteen inches high, is
represented in the preceding cut.[VI-51] At the sale of a collection
of antiquities in London, 1859, two of the objects sold are,
erroneously in all probability, mentioned as relics from Palenque; one
was "a mask, with open mouth, in hard red stone, the concave surface
sculptured with a sitting figure of a Mexican chief, surrounded by
various emblems," price thirteen pounds; the other, "a Mexican deity,
with grotesque human face sculptured out of a very large and massive
piece of greenstone," price twenty-five pounds. Mr Davis talks about
"an idol of pure gold about six inches long."[VI-52] The two copper or
bronze medals which I have already noticed as probably not authentic
relics in my account of Guatemalan antiquities, have been considered
by various writers, following Ordoñez without any apparent reason, as
belonging to Palenque. The speculations to which they have given rise,
and their attempted interpretations are splendid specimens of the
trash, pure and simple, which has been written in unlimited quantities
about primitive America.[VI-53]
[Sidenote: RUINS OF OCOCINGO.]
Some thirty-five or forty miles southward from Palenque, on another of
the parallel streams which unite to form a branch of the Usumacinta,
is another important group of ruins, which may be called Ococingo,
from the name of a modern village, five or six miles distant toward
the west. The same traditions that tell us of Votan's great Maya
empire, and of Xibalba, allude also somewhat vaguely to another great
capital called Tulhá. Juarros, perhaps following Ordoñez, applied this
name to the ruins of Ococingo, and most authors have followed him in
this respect. I need not say, however, that the only authority for
this use of the name is the traditional existence in the shadowy past,
of a Tulhá in this region. The natives call the ruins Tonila, which in
the Tzendal tongue signifies 'stone houses.' Notwithstanding the
importance of the ruins, very little is known of them. Stephens and
Catherwood spent about half a day here just before their visit to
Palenque; and Dupaix and Castañeda also visited this point. The
accounts by these explorers are about all there is extant on the
subject, but they are necessarily brief, and unfortunately neither in
text nor drawings do they agree at all with each other. Both Waldeck
and Brasseur visited Ococingo, but neither gives any description of
the monuments.[VI-54]
[Sidenote: RUINS OF OCOCINGO.]
At the village of Ococingo Stephens noticed two sculptured figures
brought from the ruins, which he pronounced "somewhat in the same
style as those at Copan." Castañeda also saw and sketched here two
tablets, which may be the same. One of them measured forty-five by
thirty-six by four inches, was of a grayish stone, and contained a
single human figure, whose arms were bound behind the back with what
resembles a modern rope. The other measuring thirty-six by
twenty-seven inches, was of a yellow stone, and contained a standing
and a squatting figure, surrounded by a border in which hieroglyphics
appear. On the way from the village, Stephens noticed two well-carved
figures lying on the ground; while Dupaix found several of them thrown
down and broken, two of which were sketched. One of them represents a
human bust with arms crossed on the breast, the lower portion of which
seems to be a kind of tenon originally fixed in the ground; the other
bears a slight resemblance to the only statue found at Palenque. This
statue must have been removed by Dupaix, since it was afterwards seen
by Waldeck in Vera Cruz. Both statues had lost their heads.[VI-55]
[Illustration: Terra-Cottas from Ococingo.]
[Illustration: Engraved Chalchiuite from Ococingo.]
[Illustration: Hieroglyphics from Ococingo.]
In the possession of some French citizens of Vera Cruz, Waldeck found
a collection of seven or eight terra-cottas of very fine workmanship
and very curious form, which had been brought from Ococingo. Two of
them are shown in the accompanying cuts.[VI-56] The figure shown in
the cut was carved in bas-relief on a hard and polished chalchiuite
which was found in this vicinity. The design is represented
full-sized, and its resemblance to one of the figures on the stone
tablet in the Palace at Palenque will be apparent to the reader.
Another similar stone bore the hieroglyphics shown in the preceding
cut, which was also given in the second volume of this work as an
illustration of the Maya system of writing. M. Warden speaks
indefinitely of ancient monuments in this vicinity, in connection with
which were stone figures representing warriors of great size.[VI-57]
This brings us to the ruins proper. They are situated a little north
of east from the village, at a distance of five or six miles. Dupaix
describes them as located on the slope of a hill, on the sides of
which are some stone steps, and as consisting of five structures. The
central building is nearly square, built of hewn stone, and covered
with plaster, without exterior decorations. The drawing represents a
double cornice, and a sloping roof, very similar to those of the
interior Palace buildings at Palenque. There is only one door, on the
west, and two square windows appear on each side. A few rods in front
of this building, at the sides of the broad stairway leading up to it,
and facing each other, are two other buildings of similar
construction, but so small that the roof is pointed, its slopes
forming four triangular surfaces. In the rear of the central
structure, in positions corresponding to those of the buildings in
front but at a greater distance, are two conical mounds of masonry
covered with cement. Each is sixty feet high and two hundred feet in
diameter, being pointed at the top; indeed, the only specimen of
pointed stone pyramids seen by Dupaix in his explorations.[VI-58]
[Illustration: Winged Globe from Ococingo.]
Stephens also describes the ruins, or the principal ones at least, as
located "on a high elevation," but the elevation is an immense
artificial pyramidal structure, built in five terraces. The surface
was originally faced with stone and plastered, but was so broken up in
places that Stephens was able to ascend to the third terrace on
horseback. On the summit of this terraced hill is a pyramid, high and
steep, which supports a stone building measuring thirty-five by fifty
feet on the ground, built of hewn stone, and covered with stucco. This
is perhaps identical with the central building sketched by Dupaix. The
only exterior doorway is in the centre of the front, and is ten feet
wide. The ground plan is very similar to those of the temples of the
Cross and Sun at Palenque, except that the front corridor is divided
by partition walls, while the rear corridor is uninterrupted except by
an oblong enclosure, which, as at Palenque, seems to have been a kind
of sanctuary. The dimensions of this enclosure are eleven by eighteen
feet, and over the doorway on the outside is a stucco ornament which
arrested Mr Stephens' attention from its resemblance to the 'winged
globe' of the Egyptian temples. A portion which was yet in place was
sketched by Catherwood; the rest, which had fallen face downward, was
too heavy for four men and a boy to overturn. Waldeck, however, either
succeeded in raising the fragments, or, what is more likely, copied
the standing part and restored the rest from his imagination,
producing the drawing, a part of which is copied in the cut. The
lintel of this inner doorway is of zapote-wood, and in perfect
preservation. The entrance to this sanctuary was much obstructed by
fallen fragments, and the natives, who had never dared to penetrate
the mysterious recess, believed the passage to lead by a subterranean
course to Palenque. Stephens succeeded in entering the room, and found
its walls covered with stucco decorations, including two life-sized
human figures and a monkey.