THE GROUP OF THE CROSS. 37 



stalemonts relative to the Smithsonian tablet, which, as I believe, is a fair sample 

 of Palenquean bas-relief sculpture. 



The glyphs on that slab form, approximately, quadratic figures, with sides 

 measuring from three and a half to nearly four inches, and project three-six- 

 teenths of an inch (or five millimetres) from the stone. Those which have 

 escaped injury are sharp and well-defined, showing quite distinctly even the 

 smaller incised marks, such as dots, i*ings, etc. The accompanying photo-litho- 

 graph represents the sculpture on the slab so well that any further description 

 appears superfluous. 



Having described the Smithsonian tablet as it is, I must not omit to give 

 due praise to the Palenquean sculptors, who succeeded in producing such work 

 with tools of an inferior quality, probably with instruments of flint. The 

 builders of Palenque may have had implements of copper or bronze, but they 

 certainly could not have used them for working a material as obdurate as that of 

 which the Smithsonian slab is composed. Instruments of flint or some other 

 hard stone were much better suited for that purpose.* It has been demonstrated 

 by modern experiments that stone of considerable hardness can be worked with- 

 out the aid of metallic tools.f 



In the preceding pages several extracts relating to the appearance of the 

 Bas-relief of the Cross have been given, and as far as mere de.scription is con- 

 cerned, but little remains to be added : it is the significance of the group that 



*"The Yucatecs had small axe? of a peculiar metal (doubtless bronze), whieli were fastened to wooden 

 handles. In battle thcj' used them as weapons, and at home for cutting wood. As the metal was not very hard, 

 they sharpened the edges of their hatchets by beating them with stones." — Dierja de Landa : Relation des Clioses 

 de Yucatan; Paris, 1864, p. 171. — Copper not being found in Yucatan, the natives are supposed to have obtained 

 it from more northern regions by way of barter. The often-mentioned large canoe which, during the fourth 

 voyage of Columbus (1502), was seen landing at the Island of Guanaja (or Bonacca), in the Bay of Honduras, 

 and was supposed to have come from Yucatan, carried among its goods hatchets, bells, and other articles of 

 copper, together with a rude crucible for melting the metal. Relics of copper or bronze seem to be comparatively 

 rare in Yucatan. Some years ago, I had occasion to examine a large collection of Yucatec antiquities sent to 

 New York, with a view to sell it, by Don Florentino Gimeno, of Campeche. Among all the specimens there was 

 not one made of copper or bronze. 



f The question was practically solved during the International Anthropological Congress, held at Paris 

 in the year 1867. There are in the Museum of Saint-Gcrmaiu casts of the sculptured stone plates forming 

 portions of a dolmen on the Island of Gavr'Innis, in the Bay of Morbihan, Brittany. These stones exhibit 

 surfaces covered all over with intricate spiral lines, and on one of the slabs, a compact gray granite, are also seen 

 rude representations of stone axes, the outlines of which are regularly and deeply incised (see Figures 152 and 

 153 in Fergusson's "Rude Stone Monuments"). The savants who were present considered it impossible to 

 execute such sculptures without employing tools of steel or hardened bronze. But M. Alexandre Bertrand, the 

 director of the museum, was of different opinion, and proceeded to make a trial. A piece of the same granite was 

 worked with stone chisels and axes, and the experiment proved to be a perfect success. After a day's labor, a circle 

 and a few lines were engraved. A chisel of polished flint used during the whole time was hardly injured ; one of 

 nephrite had become somewhat blunted, and a similar implement of greenstone still more. But the edge of a 

 bronze axe used in the operation was instantly bent, and it became evident that those sculptures had not been 

 executed with bronze, but with stone. The labor of years, however, was probably required before the builders of 

 that dolmen succeeded in tracing all their figures on the surfaces of the stones. This account is given by Professor 

 Carl Vogt in one of a series of letters addressed, in 1807, from Paris to the Cologne Gazette. 



