PALENQUE. TEMPLES.

Palenque a Holy City—Bas-reliefs—Rain and Fever—A Grateful Cook—Temple of Inscriptions—Temple of the Sun—Temple of the Cross No. 1—Temple of the Cross No. 2—Altars—Mouldings and Photographs—Fire—Explorations—Fallen Houses—The Age of Trees in Connection with the Ruins—Recapitulation.

Some writers have called Palenque a capital, and the great edifice known as the palace a royal mansion, but they have erred, for if there was a royal palace it was not the one we have described. Like Teotihuacan, Izamal, and Cozumel, Palenque was a holy place, an important religious centre, a city which was resorted to as a place of pilgrimage, teeming with shrines and temples, a vast and much-sought burial-place. In this and in no other way can be explained the silence surrounding this great city, which was probably peopled by a floating population dispersed at the first alarm of the Conquest.

This important city is apparently without civic architecture; no public buildings are found, there seems to have been nothing but temples and tombs. Consequently the great edifice was not a royal palace, but rather a priestly habitation, a magnificent convent occupied by the higher clergy of this holy centre, as the reliefs everywhere attest.

Had Palenque been the capital of an empire, the palace a kingly mansion, the history of her people, fragments of domestic life, pageants, recitals of battles and conquests, would be found among the reliefs which everywhere cover her edifices, as in Mexico, at Chichen-Itza and other cities in Yucatan; whereas the reliefs in Palenque show nothing of the kind. On them we behold peaceful, stately subjects, usually a personage standing with a sceptre, sometimes a calm, majestic figure whose mouth emits a flame, emblem of speech and oratory. They are surrounded by prostrated acolytes, whose bearing is neither that of slaves nor of captives; for the expression of their countenance, if submissive, is open and serene, and their peaceful attitude indicates worshippers and believers; no arms are found among these multitudes, nor spear, nor shield, nor bow, nor arrow, nothing but preachers and devotees.

The interest attaching to these studies is certainly profound and sincere, yet it does not entirely banish the consciousness of our very arduous life among these ruins. The rain is incessant; the damp seems to penetrate the very marrow of our bones; a vegetable mould settles on our hats which we are obliged to brush off daily; we live in mud, we are covered with mud, we breathe in mud, whether amongst the ruins or wandering away from them; the ground is so slippery that we are as often on our backs as on our feet.

No rest for the explorer, is the fiat that has gone forth. At night the walls, which are covered with greenish moss, trickle down on our weary heads and awake us out of our sleep; in the day-time we are a prey to swarms of insects, rodadores, mosquitoes, and garrapatas. It is impossible to bear up long against such odds, and first young Lemaire, next Alfonso the cook, are laid up with malaria. Julian and I are the only two of the party whom this scourge has spared. Yet this wretched life is not without some gleams of sunshine. Since our men opened a large space in front of the palace, and cleared the courtyard of the dense vegetation which blocked it up completely, allowing a free passage for the air to circulate, the birds have not been slow to avail themselves of this new retreat, and our mornings and evenings are cheered by their sweet notes. We have our night concerts also, when innumerable creatures, whose names we know not, mingle their voices with the chirping of the cricket, the song of the cicala, the croaking of frogs, followed by the howling of huge monkeys, which sounds like the roaring of lions and tigers; all this is new to us, and not without a certain amount of excitement, yet it sinks into utter insignificance as compared with the great joy of our discoveries, the ever fresh interest of our photographs, the looking forward with immense satisfaction to the time when we shall produce the splendid squeezes of these grand, mysterious inscriptions, not yet found in any museum. Well weighed together, these things are calculated to make us forget the hardships and troubles of the moment.

Quinine has done wonders; our men are themselves again, and Alfonso, to make us forget the meagre fare he inflicted upon us during his illness, served up a magnificent luncheon to celebrate his recovery. The reader may like to read the menu of a dÉjeuner in the wilds of America:—

Soupe: PurÉe de haricots noirs au bouillon d’escargots. Olives de Valence, saucisson d’Arles. Poulet de grain, sautÉ a l’ail et au piment rouge. Morue frite. Chives, pointes de petits palmiers en branches d’asperge. Fritures: haricots noirs rissolÉs. CrÊpes. Fromage amÉricain. Vins: Bordeaux et Aragon. CafÉ, habanero et cigares de Tabasco.

I am not sure about the order of succession, but I can vouch for the items being correct, from which it may be seen that even at Palenque, with fine weather and a grateful cook, one need not starve, but he would be greatly mistaken who thought that this was our every day’s fare. Let us return to graver concerns.

The Temple of Inscriptions is the largest known at Palenque, standing on a pyramid of some 48 feet high, to the south-west angle of the palace; its faÇade, 74 feet by nearly 25 deep, is composed of a vast gallery occupying the whole front, and of three compartments of different sizes, a large central chamber and two small ones at the sides. The front gallery is pierced with five apertures, supported by six pillars of 6 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 7 inches thick. The two corner pillars were covered with katunes, and the other four with bas-reliefs. No sanctuary is found in the building known as the Temple of Inscriptions, but both the gallery and the central room have flagstones covered with inscriptions. Two panels enclosed in the wall of the gallery measure 13 feet wide by 7 feet 8 inches high, one in the central chamber is over 7 feet by 6 feet. Amidst the katunes of this panel Waldeck has seen fit to place three or four elephants. What end did he propose to himself in giving this fictitious representation? Presumably to give a prehistoric origin to these ruins, since it is an ascertained fact that elephants in a fossil state only have been found on the American continent. It is needless to add that neither Catherwood, who drew these inscriptions most minutely, nor myself who brought impressions of them away, nor living man, ever saw these elephants and their fine trunks.

But such is the mischief engendered by preconceived opinions. With some writers it would seem that to give a recent date to these monuments would deprive them of all interest. It would have been fortunate had explorers been imbued with fewer prejudices and gifted with a little more common sense, for then we should have known the truth with regard to these ruins long since. Of all the buildings the temple was the best preserved, as seen in every detail. The floor, which in the palace is but a layer of plaster, is laid down here with beautiful slabs 9 feet 9 inches on one side by 5 feet by 7 inches thick.

The roof is unfortunately in a very ruinous state, and the dense vegetation which covers it prevents seeing anything of the large figures which presumably occupied its surface; even a photograph is difficult to get, for want of sufficient space, and the one we give is not a success.

Three other temples are found on a plateau, some 200 yards south-east of the palace at the foot of Cerro Alto. First in order is a small temple of the Sun, in a perfect state of preservation; the front measures 38 feet by 27 feet deep. The pilasters, the roof, and superstructure, were all covered with sculptures and complicated decorations. Any one who is acquainted with sacred Japanese architecture would be struck with the resemblance of this temple to a Japanese sanctuary; and this is very clearly seen in our cut. How is this to be explained? A theory might be started with respect to the probable Asiatic origin of the Toltec tribes; of the influence of a Japanese civilisation, through the steady traffic they formerly carried on, on the coast north-west of America, as also by fortuitous immigrations resulting from shipwrecks. In the present day, the average of Japanese vessels shipwrecked on the Californian coast is only two a year. However it may be, we will for the present leave to others the task of elucidating the question of origin.

The interior of the temple is a large room, receiving its light JAPANESE TEMPLE. JAPANESE TEMPLE. through three apertures in the faÇade; the end is occupied by a sanctuary, and each side by a small dark room. The sanctuary is a kind of oblong tabernacle, crowned with a richly decorated frieze and stuccoed mouldings. Two pilasters supported the roof, and formerly were covered with inscriptions or sculptured slabs representing various subjects; these flags have been broken or taken away, and not one remains in loco.

Those which were in the Temple of the Cross No. 1, have already been described and a drawing given. The end of the sanctuary is occupied by three slabs in juxtaposition, with sculptures of a religious character; in the central portion or tablet is a hideous face, with protruding tongue, identical with that found on the Aztec calendar in Mexico, known as the Tablet of the Sun. This symbolical figure is found also at Tikal carved in wood.

In our cut of the Temple of the Cross No. 2, three distinct subjects are seen: in the central slab is a cross, branching out with palms supporting two figures; the body of the cross, which rests on a hideous head, is sculptured in the centre, and at the upper end are two human figures, crowned by a symbolic bird having a long tail and eagle claws. The left slab represents a man richly habited, with collar, medallion, girdle, and greaves; the right slab a woman, to judge from her size, long plait of hair, and peculiar clothing. This female is borne on palms having the very well-preserved outline of human heads. Both the male and female seem to stand before the symbolic bird offering presents, the nature of which it is not easy to specify. To the rear of each device is an inscription of sixty-eight characters, doubtless explanatory of the ceremony the whole sculpture represents, but which no one has yet been able to read.

We are of opinion that the Temple of the Cross No. 1 was a sanctuary consecrated to Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl, and that the altar in the same Temple No. 2 was dedicated to Tlaloc; our only ground for this belief, however, is the cross, which we know was a later symbolic personification of the god of rain; but we will leave this question until we come to Lorillard, where monuments of the same kind, and the authority of ancient writers, will furnish data to strengthen our theory. It may not be irrelevant to add that neither temples nor palaces were provided with doors, and that stuff or matting curtains were used for all apertures, indicated by the large and small rings fixed on the pilasters on each side of the entrances, and the whole length of the inner cornice. We know that neither the Toltecs nor Aztecs had doors to their houses, which seems to show great respect for property, or as Clavigero puts it, “the severity of the laws was a powerful preservative.” What he says of Mexico is equally applicable to Palenque: “Houses had no doors, for they deemed that dwellings were sufficiently guarded by the stringency of the laws; and the people, not to be overlooked by their neighbours, had curtains to all the openings, while resounding pottery, or some other rattling object, was suspended over the entrance to warn the inmates whenever a stranger raised the curtain to pass into the house. No one was allowed admittance who had not the owner’s full permission to do so, unless the degree of relationship or necessity justified the liberty.”100

Notwithstanding the deplorable circumstances in which I had to work, I was able to take more than 325 square feet of impressions; and here I take much pleasure in recording the debt of gratitude I owe Mr. de Laval for his admirable invention, which by means of paper instead of plaster makes the taking of impressions in distant countries comparatively easy, when the difficulty of transport and the expense of plaster would, in our case, have placed the reproduction of reliefs and inscriptions entirely beyond our power. As it was, my impressions, which, had I used plaster, would have weighed at least 30,000 lb., only weighed 500 lb.; but even so, the taking of impressions is not so easily effected as may be imagined, especially in a damp region where the utmost care was required to reproduce faithfully the delicate, faint, and defaced reliefs on these old slabs. It would be impossible to give an idea of the immense and minute brush-work which was required to cover 325 feet square of paper six sheets deep.

Furthermore, the reliefs were only reached by a shaky scaffolding of wet twigs; next came the drying process round huge fires to secure the moulds against the rain getting into them, and the stowing them speedily away before they got spoiled. Well, but we had every reason to be satisfied with our work; the precious squeezes had been satisfactorily stored up in the galleries of the palace, when, on the night of January 26th, a night I shall never forget, a hideous smell of burning startled us out of our sleep to witness the flames which were consuming my mouldings, the result, too, of three weeks’ hard labour, now fast vanishing into smoke. To snatch the burning rolls and throw them into the yard, where the Indians were ready to deluge them with water, was the work of a moment, but, alas! to no purpose; the mischief was irretrievable, and we had to begin all over again. Whether done by accident or of malice prepense, it was idle to inquire; we set to work again with renewed ardour, and after ten days of incessant labour we brought out copies finer than the first, and these are now to be found in the TrocadÉro.

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Our labours in the palace did not prevent our making explorations on the hill or mountain. We had spied to the north of the palace, some 812 feet distant, a group of four houses, or small palaces, the ruins of which appeared sufficiently interesting to be reproduced, which I did, after having had the southern portion cleared of its luxuriant vegetation, when I found that the whole length of the northern side was occupied by a dead wall, without apertures or fronts of any kind, facing the palace and overlooking a deep precipice. These structures, like those we discovered subsequently, were all built on the same plan, but in various sizes and dimensions. The inner vault of the left building, however, is ornamented with round lines forming pretty devices, unlike the others, which are quite plain. The pyramids on which these structures were reared had three stories supported by perpendicular walls. To this group of buildings belonged a small sanctuary or chapel; notwithstanding its dilapidated condition it deserves mention because of some decorative remains, which give a good idea of what must have been its profuse ornamentation.

After our visit to the Lion’s Temple, now in a deplorable state of dilapidation, we crossed the high-banked river and reached a high level at the base of Cerro Alto, where we came upon a cluster of buildings composed of diminutive compartments which were used as tombs; two more were found by us in some other buildings to the north of the palace. These small monuments were constructed with uncemented stones, and were in good preservation. The tombs measured 6 feet 7 inches by 1 foot 8 inches to 1 foot 9 inches wide; they occupied the centre of the rooms and were built with flagstones; the bodies were found with two large flat-bottomed vases, ornamented with a little sunk flower, identical with those found at Teotihuacan.

Among the innumerable ruins we discovered were five temples; one, to judge from the height of the pyramid, which was divided into four stories, and its noble remains must have been important. As we descend the river to the north-west, pyramids, ruined buildings, groups of low houses, temples, and palaces, are found occupying the slopes of the Cordilleras, from the crest of the lesser chain to their base. The buildings are found on the high level and temples on eminences, followed by a vast space apparently unoccupied, perhaps the site of ancient gardens. To form an accurate idea of the plan of the city would necessitate the felling of forest over several square miles, an undertaking not to be thought of in our case. Bridges and roads connected the various edifices; some of these roads or streets measure several hundred yards, and I found one bridge of 32 feet square with one single opening, 3 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches deep. All were built with uncemented stones. Now most bridges have crumbled away, the torrents they spanned are blocked up, and the waters are drained through beds they have hewn for themselves, running over the structures and depositing on their faÇades stalactites which give them a strange appearance.

The explorer who sees the complete desolation of this ancient city must bear in mind, that in a tropical region excessively hot and damp a long time is not necessary to destroy even structures of solid stone, in order to avoid attributing great antiquity to these ruins. Now the ornamentation, both in the palaces of Palenque, on the upper part of friezes, or the dress of figures, consists of small rolls or round lines of plaster, studded with diminutive spheres or dots, which, as we explained before, were added at the very last, and is clearly seen in our restoration. That ornamentation at once so fragile could not last many hundred years in such surroundings, is proved by the fact that on the least touch round lines and dots come down, and that the ground is strewn with them. If we examine the stairways, which on both sides of the courtyard of the palace connected the two edifices, we shall find the steps unworn, the stairs new; yet communication must have been incessant, and if for long ages thousands of people descended and ascended these stairs, would not the wear and tear be traceable?

The stairs of our public buildings are worn away in no time; if we find them entire at Palenque, it is a proof that they were not long trodden. Nor is this all. The roofs, the walls and courts of the palaces are so well hidden under the thick vegetation which covers them, that a stranger might pass a few yards distant and never suspect their presence. The size of the trees growing between and over these structures has been adduced as a conclusive proof of the age of these monuments. Waldeck calculated their age at 2,000 years and more; Mr. Lorainzar computed that these monuments must be 1,700 years old, because he found a mahogany table made of one single piece from a tree in these ruins. His reasoning was based on the erroneous notion that a concentric circle represents one year, whereas I ascertained that in a tropical country nature never rests; for chancing to cut a twig some eighteen months old, I counted no less than eighteen concentric circles. To assure myself that this was not an isolated fact, I cut branches and trees of every size and description, when the same phenomenon occurred in exactly the same proportions. More than this: in my first expedition to Palenque in 1859, I had the eastern side of the palace cleared of its dense vegetation to secure a good photograph. Consequently the trees that have grown since cannot be more than twenty-two years old; now one of the cuttings measuring some two feet in diameter, had upwards of 230 concentric circles; that is at the rate of one in a month, or even less; it follows that the seventeen centuries of Mr. Lorainzar must be reduced to 150 or at most 200 years.

Stephens mentions a ceiba twenty-two years old of 6 feet 10 inches in diameter, and I noticed in Mexico some eucalyptus not eighteen years old, measuring 6 feet 9 inches in diameter; could these trees have only eighteen or twenty concentric circles?

To recapitulate, Palenque seems to us more modern, as she is far better preserved than Comalcalco; if the latter was inhabited at the time of the Conquest (and we think we have proved it), the former must have been likewise. Comalcalco was a Toltec city just as was Palenque, and this is clearly demonstrated in the pyramidal form given to the basement of edifices, in the invariable shape of the monuments, bearing so striking a resemblance to the Toltec calli, in the fragments, in the masks of terra-cotta, the pottery, and the small figures, facsimiles of those we found on the plateaux; in the cultus of the cross, emblem of the Toltec Tlaloc, and lastly in the important quotations from Juarros and Diaz, affirming that Palenque was called Tula.

We shall leave for the present this Toltec branch which founded Ocosingo, Colhuacan, and other cities of the Uplands, to visit the other branch which settled in the Yucatan peninsula.