CHAPTER IV. 



THE GROUP OF THE CROSS. 



The accompanying outline plate shows the three tablets forming the Group 

 of the Cross in their proper juxtaposition. It has been mentioned that only the 

 left slab is still in place in the Temple of the Cross, while the middle slab has 

 been lying for many years on the ground at some distance from it, exposed to 

 the destroying influences of the changing seasons. The Smithsonian tablet is 

 represented as joining the central one on the right, and a sharp line shows 

 where the two pieces meet. It was drawn, under my supervision, by a skillful 

 artist, after a fac-simile in plaster, cast in the mould made in 1863, when the 

 stone was still in a comparatively perfect state. The larger portion of the illus- 

 tration, as stated in the tirst chapter, is a reproduction of Catherwood's design 

 in the second volume of Stephens's work on Central America. 



Mr. Stephens found the slabs at Palenque to be six feet four inches in 

 height,* and this is the exact height of the Smithsonian tablet, which shows, 

 however, above and below the sculptured part and on its right side smooth por- 

 tions of the stone. It is not improbable that these border-like projections were 

 partly or entirely hidden from view, when the slabs were fixed against the back 

 wall of the sanctuary. The explorers make no statements explanatory of the 

 means by which the bas-reliefs were secured in their places. The sculptured 

 surface of the tablet in the Smithsonian building is bounded at the upper end 

 and on the right side, respectively, by a horizontal, and an approximately ver- 

 tical incised line, the latter being distant two feet eight inches from the left edge 

 of the slab. This measurement, however, is taken across the middle, the dis- 

 tance being greater at the upper end and less at the lower, owing to the obliquity 

 of the upright line. The accompanying photo-lithographic representation of the 

 slab will serve to illustrate these statements. In conformity with Catherwood's 

 delineation, the outline sheet does not show the smooth place beyond the sculp- 

 tured part of the Smithsonian tablet at its upper end, but a portion of the bare 

 stone is visible on the right side and the lower extremity. The slab is three 

 inches and a quarter thick, and consists of a hard fine-gi'ained sandstone of 

 yellowish-gray color. Further on I shall comment on its sculpture. 



* Stephens : Central America, etc.; vol. ii, p. 345. 



