10 EXPLORATIONS OF PALENQUE. 



In 1828 the manuscripts and drawings of Dupaix were handed OA^er by the 

 Mexican government to M. H. Baradere and taken by him to Paris, where they 

 were published, in 1834, in two large folios as " Antiquites Mexicaines. Rela- 

 tion des Trois Expeditions du Capitaine Dupaix, ordonnees en 1805, 1806, et 

 1807, pour la Recherche des Antiquites du Pays, notamment celles de Mitla et 

 de Palenque ; accompagnee des Dessins de Castaneda, etc. Suivie d'un Parallele 

 de ces Monuments avec ceux de I'Egypte, de I'lndostan et du Reste de FAncien 

 Monde, par M. Alexandre Lenoir, etc." The first volume opens with a dedica- 

 tion to the Mexican Congress by M. Baradere, and contains, in addition to the 

 other matter, notes and commentaries from several authors (Warden, Farcy, 

 Baradere and De Saint-Priest); Dupaix's report is given in Spanish and 

 French. An atlas of one hundred and sixty-six plates constitutes the second 

 volume. 



Among the writers to whom reference will be made in the following pages I 

 have to mention Colonel Juan Galindo, who communicated papers on Mexican 

 and Central American antiquities to learned societies in Europe and America. 

 Of special interest in its bearing on Palenque is a letter addressed to the Geo- 

 graphical Society of Paris, dated April 27th, 1831, and published in the "Anti- 

 quites Mexicaines " among the appended notes and documents as " Notions 

 transmises par M. Juan Galindo, Officier Superieur de I'AmeriquG Centrale, sur 

 Palenque et auti'es Lieux Circonvoisins." Another communication, relating to 

 the ruins of Copan and incidentally to those of Palenque, was sent by him to 

 the Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President of the American Antiquarian Society, 

 It is dated Copan, June 19th, 1835, and was published in the second volume of 

 the " Ai'chceologia Americana."* 



For the most extensive exploration of the Palenquean ruins Ave are indebted 

 to the before-mentioned French artist, Jean-Frederic de Waldeck, Avho Avas born 

 in 1766, and died in 1875, at the far advanced age of one hundi'ed and nine years. 

 In 1798 he accompanied the famous scientific expedition to Egypt as a A^olunteer, 

 and traveled afterward in various jiarts of Africa, encountering many dangers 

 and hardships. In the year 1819 he visited Chile and other parts of America. 

 After his return to France, Avhile engaged in copying the plates for Del Rio's 

 work, he thought he discovered deficiencies in those designs, and it became his 

 settled resolve to undertake a personal exploration of the ruins. In 1832, at 

 the age of sixty-six, when most men feel a desire to retire from the cares 

 and troubles of actiA^e life, he arrived, full of vigor and enthusiasm, at Palenque, 

 and built himself a dwelling at the foot of the pyramid supporting the Temple 



* Colonel Gnlindo's tragic fate has been described by Mr. Stephens in his work on Central America, etc., vol. 

 i, p. 423. Serving under General Morazan, he perished after a disastrous encounter near Tegucigalpa, in Ilondu- 

 ros. This happened during Mr. Stephens's visit. 



