THE TEMPLE OF THE CROSS. ' 17 



in bas-relief* Upon entering, I found the entire frontf of the oratory occupied 

 by three stones joined together, on which the objects described in Fig. 26| are 

 allegorically represented. The outward decoration is confined to a sort of 

 moulding finished with small stucco bricks, on which are bas-reliefs . . . ; 

 the pavement of the oratory is quite smooth, and eight inches thick, which it 

 was necessary to perforate in order to make an excavation. Having proceeded 

 in this labor, at about half a yard deep, I found a small round earthen vessel, 

 about one foot in diameter, fitted horizontally with a mixture of lime to another 

 of the same quality and dimensions ; these were removed, and the diadno- beino- 

 continued, a quarter of a yard beneath, we discovered a circular stone, of rather 

 larger diameter than the first articles, and on removing this ft-om its position, a 

 cylindrical cavity presented itself, about a foot wide and the third of a foot deep, 

 containing a flint lance, two small conical pyramids with the figure of a heart in 

 dark crystallized stone (which is very common in this kingdom and known by 

 the name of challa) ; there were also two small earthen jars or ewers with covers 

 containing small stones and a ball of vermilion . . . The situation of the 

 subterranean depository coincides with the centre of the oratory, and in each of the 

 inner angles, near the entrance, is a cavity like the one before described, where 

 two little jars were also buried. It is unnecessary to dilate on the subjects repre- 

 sented by the bas-reliefs on the three stones, or on the situation of the articles 

 found in this place ; they convey to the mind an idea that it was in this spot 

 they venerated, as sacred objects, the remains of their greatest heroes, to whom 

 they erected trophies recording the particular distinctions they had merited fi'om 

 their country, by their services or the victories obtained over its enemies, while 

 the inscriptions on the tablets were intended to eternize their names ; for to this 

 object the bas-reliefs as well as the characters surrounding them evidently 

 refer."§ 



Such is Del Rio's meagre allusion to the interesting sculpture. He was 

 certainly not as well prepared for the task of describing antiquities as his 

 successor, Dupaix, from whose report I translate, in accordance with my adopted 

 plan, the following account of the temple : — 



" This number represents an oratory or temple, which we will call the 

 Temple of the Cross, on account of the remarkable object it encloses. In dimen- 

 sions it is equal to that just described ; but it has only one story. It is situated 



* Th^se are the tablets immured in a house of the village of Santo Domingo. Mr. Stephens erroneously 

 figures them as ornamenting the entrance to the oratory in the so-called Temple of the Sun (No. 6 on the plan). 

 The statements of Dupaix and Galindo, as will be seen, remove every doubt. 



f He should have s.aid "back." 



J The plates in the English translation of Del Rio's report, as before stated, are not numbered. 



§Del Eio: Description etc., p. 17. 

 3 



