18 ■ THE TEMPLE OF THE CROSS. 



on a liill, the ascent to which is difficult. The front is also turned toward the 

 north ;* but it is distinguished from the former by its interior ornaments. This 

 temj^le contains a peculiar symbol in the form of a cross of very complicated 

 construction, placed on a kind of pedestal. Four human figures, two on each 

 side, contemplate this object Avith veneration. The figures nearest to the cross 

 are dressed in costumes differing from those we have thus far seen ; they appear 

 more dignified and deserve our special attention. One of these personages, 

 taller than the others, offers with uplifted arms a new-born child of fantastic 

 shape ; the second person is portrayed in an attitude of admiration. The two 

 others are placed behind the former. One represents an aged man, who holds 

 in his raised hands a kind of wind-instrument, the end of which he has placed 

 in his mouth, as in the act of blowing it. The tube is straight, consisting of 

 several pieces united by rings, and from its lower extremity proceed three 

 leaves, or rather feathers, since these people had a marked predilection for 

 such ornaments. The last figui-e represents a grave and majestic man, lost in 

 astonishment at what he contemplates. The costumes and ornaments of this 

 great bas-relief are too complicated for description, being, indeed, the accom- 

 plishment of all that the exalted imagination of the artist or inventor could 

 conceive and produce. Only a drawing, or the bas-relief itself, can give an 

 adequate idea of such a work. The ornaments surround the figures on all sides, 

 yet without hiding them. Innumerable hieroglyphs accompany this mysterious 

 representation : they are not only placed near the cross, which is the principal 

 object, but also around the lateral figures, and they are, moreover, carved on 

 slabs of a kind of fine-grained, dark-yellow marble, and arranged in horizontal 

 rows. Imagine our surprise on suddenly beholding this cross ! Yet, upon close 

 and unbiased examination, one sees that it is not the holy Latin cross, which we 

 adore, but rather the Greek cross, disfigured by extraordinary ornaments ; for 

 the former consists of a vertical line divided into unequal parts by a shorter 

 horizontal line, forming, with the other, four right angles. The Greek cross is also 

 composed of two straight lines, the one vertical and the other horizontal ; but 

 the latter divides the former into two equal parts, four right angles being like- 

 wise formed at the point of intersection. Moreover, the complicated and fantastic 

 ornaments here exhibited are in contrast with the venerable simplicity of the true 

 cross and its sublime significance. We must therefore refer this allegorical 

 composition to the religion of this ancient people, a subject concerning which we 

 have nothing to say, being totally ignorant of its ceremonies. 



" How great would be our satisfaction, if it were in our power to give a true 

 interpretation of these bas-reliefs as well as of the hieroglyphs, which are still 

 more unfathomable ! It appears that these nations employed two methods for 



* The building faces the south. 



