4 HISTORY OF THE PALENQUE TABLET. 



(No. 71) , Worcester, Mass., 1878. Upon the receipt of the photograph, Dr. Valen- 

 tini, of course, noticed at once that it represented the missing slab of the Temple 

 of the Cross at Palenque, and he communicated his discovery to Professor Henry 

 in a letter dated March 4th, 1873. He had arrived at this result without 

 possessing any knowledge of Dr. Matile's prior statement to the same effect. 



Not long ago, while re-reading Stephens's excellent volumes on Central 

 America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, I was naturally led to a close examination of 

 the Palenquean relic in the Smithsonian Institution, and, in consideration of its 

 great archreological importance, I conceived the plan of describing it and figuring 

 it in juxtaposition with Catherwood's well-known delineation of the Tablet of the 

 Cross in Vol. II of Stephens's " Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, 

 and Yucatan." I am confident that my effort to present the celebrated bas-relief 

 in its original completeness will meet the approval of all interested in that 

 remarkable people who reared the great palace and the temples of Palenque. 



The accompanying outline plate is a reproduction of Stephens's illustration, 

 to which is added on the right side a correct delineation of the complemental 

 Smithsonian tablet. The dotted vertical line, almost touching the extreme curve 

 of the tail of the bird surmounting the cross, marks the joining of the left and 

 middle tablets. This line has not been indicated by Mr. Catherwood. 



Before entering upon the description of the tablet, I shall have to mention 

 a number of collateral facts, the knowledge of which will promote a better 

 understanding of the subject to which this monograph is devoted. 



