136 Mr. Ranking on the Ruins ofPalenque, 



nor subterranean passage, in "svliich excavations were not 

 effected two or three yards in depth. 



There are fourteen stone houses situated upon a height, some 

 more dilapidated than others, but many of their apartments 

 being perfectly discernible. At the base of the highest moun- 

 tain forming the ridge, there is a plain four hundred and fifty 

 yards long and three hundred wide. In the centre, upon a 

 mound twenty yards high, stands the largest structure that has 

 yet been discovered, under which is a stone aqueduct of great 

 solidity. It is surrounded by five other edifices on the north, 

 four on the south, three on the east, and one on the south- 

 west. In all directions fragments of other fallen buildings of 

 the town are to be seen, extending along the mountain, that 

 stretches east and west about three or four leagues either way. 

 Its breadth is little more than half a league at the point where 

 the ruins terminate. The interior of the large building is in a 

 rude and massive style of architecture, resembling the Gothic 5 

 the entrance, on the east, is by a portico, or corridor, three 

 yards in width and thirty-six in length, supported by plain 

 rectangular pillars, without bases or pedestals, upon which are 

 square smooth stones, more than a foot thick, forming an 

 architrave ; while on the exterior superficies are stucco shields, 

 the designs of three of which accompany this report, numbered 

 1, 2, 3*. Over these stones there is a plain rectangular block, 

 live feet long and six broad, extending over two of the pillars. 

 Medallions, or compartments in stucco, containing different 

 devices of the same material, appear as decorations to the 

 chambers ; and from the vestiges of the heads which can still 

 be traced, it is presumable that they were the busts of the 

 kings or lords to whom the natives were subject. Between the 

 medallions there is a range of windows the whole length of 

 the wall, like niches ; some are square, some in form of a 

 Greek cross, and others, which complete the cross, are square, 

 being about two feet high, and eight inches deep. 



Beyond this corridor there is a square court, entered by a 

 flight of seven steps. The north side is in ruins, but we may 



* These, and many other things described, are not represented upon the seventeen 

 plates published, no more having been found with the manuscript ; and those seven- 

 teen which accompany the quarto, have no numbers, or marks, whatever for refer» 

 ence, but are given just as they were received by the publisher. 



