EXPLORATIONS OF PALENQUE. H 



of the Cross, where he lived, according to his own statement, two years,=^= busily 

 engaged in surveying and drawing the ruins. The means for carrying on this 

 work had partly been furnished by the Mexican government, then in the hands 

 of Bustamante. 



Many years, however, passed by after his return to France, before the 

 results of his labors became known to the world. Finally, in 1860, the French 

 government appointed Messrs. Merimee, Angrand, Longperier, Aubin, De 

 Saint-Priest and Daly as a commission to examine Waldeck's drawings and to 

 report on their merit ; and the verdict being favorable, the plates deemed worthy 

 of publication were selected for execution. Waldeck's text, however, was 

 rejected, and the literary part of the work entrusted to the pen of Brasseur de 

 Bourbourg. It appeared at Paris, in 1866, as a large folio volume entitled 

 " Monuments Anciens du Mexique. Palenque et autres Ruines de TAncienne 

 Civilisation du Mexique. Collection de Vues, Bas-reliefs, etc., dessines par M. 

 de Waldeck. Texte redige par M. Brasseur de Bourbourg." The title fui'ther 

 states that the work was published under the auspices of the Minister of Public 

 Instruction. It is divided into the following sections : 1. Avant- proj)os, contain- 

 ing M. Leonce Angrand's report on Waldeck's drawings, addressed to the Min- 

 ister of Public Instruction, and other details concerning the publication of the 

 volume ; 2. Introduction aux Btdnes de Palenque^ treating of the discovery of the 

 ruins and of the different rej^orts relating to them (Calderon, Bernasconi, 

 Muiioz, Del Rio, Dupaix, Stephens, Morelet, Charnay) ; 3. Becherches sur les 

 Buines de Palenque et sur les Origines de VAncienne Civilisation du Mexique ; 

 eight chapters, embracing an elaborate essay on the Mexican and Central Ameri- 

 can nations : their traditions, migrations, mythology, customs, etc.; 4. Description 

 des Buines de Palemixhe et Explication des Dcssins qui y ont rapport. Bedigces 

 far M. de Waldeck — his only literary contribution to the work. It is nothing 

 but a descriptive list of the plates, and covers only eight pages. " The pub- 

 lishers," says Bancroft, "probably acted wisely in rejecting Waldeck's text as a 

 whole, since his archjeological speculations are always more or less absurd ; but 

 it would have been better to give his descriptive matter more in full."'!- As a 

 consequence, it follows that the new information concerning the ruins themselves, 

 as given in the work, must almost exclusively be derived from the plates. The 

 learned Abbe who acted as editor could add no new facts, not having visited 



* Waldeck : Voyage Pittoresque et Archeologique dans la Province d'Tucatan ; Paris, 1838, p. vii.— This 

 work is a richly illustrated large folio volume, which the author dedicated to Lord Kingsborough, who had gener- 

 ously furnished him with means for pursuing his investigations. The archaological part chiefly relates to the 

 ruins of Uxmal. This exploration is of later date than that of Palenque ; but he hastened the publication of the 

 work, fearing some one might take hold of the subject, his drawings having been confiscated by order of President 

 Santa Anna, the head of the same government, he says, which formerly had lent him its assistance. He had kept, 

 however, duplicates of his designs, which enabled him to illustrate the volume. He complains bitterly of this 

 treatment, calling the Mexicans barbarians who want to be considered as an enlightened people. ^ 



f Bancroft : Native Races etc., vol. iv, p. 293. 



