architecture is all of a solid character, the doorway of this hall being covered by a single stone twelve feet long. From an inner court of this building, a broad flight of steps leads to two subterranean apartments, arranged in the form of a cross, and supported by columns. Each of these excavated galleries, which intersect each other at right angles, is eightytwo feet long and twenty-six broad, and they are decorated with Greek and arabesque ornaments. The exterior walls of the upper apartments are similarly embellished, while their interior surface is covered with paintings, representing weapons, trophies, and sacrifices. The arabesques are formed in a species of mosaic work made with small square porphyry stones imbedded in clay, and the Greek ornaments are supposed by Humboldt, to have a striking analogy to those of the Etruscan Vases.* Palenque. In Chiapa, near the village of San Domingo Palenque, are the ruins of a city, which it is said can be traced over an area six or seven leagues in circumference. The part of these remains which exists in the most perfect state, has received the name of "Casas de Piedras," or the Stone Houses.‡ These edifices are fourteen in number, and are erected upon an *Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 155. Researches, vol. ii. p. 152. † Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City, discovered near Palenque, by Captain Don Antonio Del Rio, p. 4. Del Rio and Dupaix have given Palenque a circuit of seven leagues, while its remains, according to Waldeck, occupy at the most a surface of but one league in extent. "If its extent," says Waldeck, “had been more considerable, I should have discovered it in a sojourn of twelve years."- Waldeck, p. 68. Juarros describes the remains of the city as occupying a site six leagues in circumference. elevated ridge of land rising from the river Micol, and its branch the Otolum. A rectangular area, three hundred yards by four hundred and fifty, presents a plain surface at the foot of one of the larger mountains of the neighboring group. Around this square the buildings are disposed, five on the north side, four on the south, one on the south-west, and three on the east,-- while in all directions, the fragments of fallen edifices and monumental stones are to be seen extending several leagues along the base of the mountain. The largest structure is situated in the middle of the square, upon a mound sixty feet in height. Beneath it runs an aqueduct of stone, constructed with the greatest solidity. The architecture of this edifice is on a scale of great magnitude. The ascent to the summit of the mound and the entrance of the building were upon the east side. The four sides had corridors or porticoes, the roofs of which were supported by plain rectangular pillars, without bases, and crowned by square blocks of stone,† above which were long blocks of stone stretching from column to column; these were covered on their outer surface with designs in stucco work. From each of these porticoes there was an entrance to chambers, whose walls were ornamented with medallions or compartments in stucco, alternating with niched windows. Some of the medallions appear to have contained a series of busts and heads various in their expression and form; in those of the western chamber, the device being a species of grotesque mask, with a crown and long beard, under which are two crosses one within the other. The arrangement of the other apartments seems to have been somewhat irregular. Among * Del Rio, p. 4. † Ibid. p. 9. them are two rooms, denominated oratories, adorned with designs in stucco, and containing statues ornamented with strings of jewels. In other chambers we find various devices and sculptures of a curious character, and of admirable execution. In the subterranean vaults constructed beneath, which are destitute of architectural or plastic ornaments, there are horizontal slabs of stone, seven feet by four, placed upon four square stands of masonry rising about half a yard above the floor. Within an open court in the middle of the whole pile of buildings, stands a pyramidal tower of four stories, and fifty feet in height, within which is another tower, with windows facing those of the exterior one, and with a flight of stairs leading to the summit. The remaining thirteen edifices appear to have been constructed in a corresponding style. The one to the south-west is situated upon an eminence forty yards high, and its stucco ornaments are remarkable for the representations of female figures, delineated as headless, and carrying children in their arms. The four southern buildings are erected likewise upon elevations, and three of them contain oratories. The pavements or floors of these oratories upon excavation, were found to contain, first, an earthen vessel, and second, a circular stone, beneath which were two small pyramids with the figure of a heart in dark crystallized stone, a lance head, and two covered earthen jars holding some substance of a vermilion color.* The designs in stucco, the bas reliefs and sculpture, observed so frequently in these ruins, represent * Vases or urns containing bones, together with burnt bricks and mortar, were also found.-Del Rio, p. 20. a great variety of figures, most of them appareled, and decorated with pearl necklaces, caps and helmets adorned with flowers, and a multitude of other ornaments. A peculiarity attends all the human representations in the great size of the nose, a remarkable protrusion of the under lip, and the absence of a beard. Other relievos exhibit human sacrifices,* hieroglyphical symbols, and men dancing with palm-leaves in their hands. One figure, presumed to be a deity, is sitting in Hindoo style, upon a throne ornamented on each side with the enormous head and claws of an animal, and another seated cross-legged upon a two-headed monster, is receiving an offering from a man in a kneeling attitude; and it is observed of all these representations that every appearance of martial instruments seems to be wanting. It may be added that some of the windows of these buildings are in the form of the Greek cross,† and that on the wall of one of the apartments is a tablet of sculptured stone, exhibiting the figure of a large and richly ornamented cross placed upon an altar or pedestal. A priest stands on one side in the attitude of adjuration, and on the other side appears another priest presenting some offering,—it has been supposed, a young child. Upon the top of the cross is seated a sacred bird, which has two strings of beads around its neck, from which is suspended something in the shape of a hand, probably intended to denote the manitas. This curious flower was the production of the tree called by the Mexicans, macphalxochitl, or "flower of the hand."§ It resembled the tulip, but the pistil was in the form of a bird's foot, with six fingers terminated with as many nails.|| * Del Rio, p. 11. † Del Rio, pp. 9, 10. . Del Rio, Plates. Clavigero, vol. i. p. 19. Patinamit.—The once strong and opulent city of Patinamit, in Guatemala, was situated upon an elevated plain of great extent. Upon one side of a spacious square, within its limits, were the remains of an edifice one hundred paces in length, constructed of hewn stone; opposite to which stood the ruins of a magnificent palace. A fosse nine feet deep with a wall of mason-work, now three feet high, bisects the city from north to south, and is said formerly to have separated the residences of the higher and lower orders. The streets were broad and straight, intersecting each other at right angles. A deep natural trench surrounds the whole city, the sole entrance having been made over a narrow causeway, through a gateway formed of the chaya stone.* Zacatecas. Several miles to the north of Villa Nueva in the province of Zacatecas, and about fourteen leagues to the southward of the city of Zacatecas, occur extensive ruins, among which are buildings still standing, nearly entire, called "Los Edificios."+ They are situated upon the south, east, and west sides of a mountain or steep and abrupt rock, which has been cut with great labor into artificial terraces. This ancient city was approached from the south-west by a causeway ninety-three feet broad, which commences at an enclosure containing about six acres and surrounded by a broad wall, of which the foundations are still visible running first to the south and afterwards to the east. Off the south-western angle of this enclosure, stands a high mass of stones, which also flanks the entrance to the causeway. In its present ruined appearance this tower is of a pyramidal * Description of Fuentes, A. D. 1700, cited in Mod. Trav. Mexico, vol. ii. p. 271. † Lyon's Journal of a Tour in Mexico, vol. i. pp. 225, 226, &c. |