1898-99.] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA, 107 
cross, so thin and delicate, which is the principal object in the temple of 
the cross, is formed by an opening piercing the wall from side to side to 
serve for a window. Many, however, have been noticed representing a 
Greek T. As for the pavement of their buildings, it is composed of a 
hard and fine stucco, similar to that made use of to cover the partition 
walls. 
There is a curious fact connected with the art of painting among the 
Tzendals of Palenque. It refers to a bas-relief presenting writing in 
square cartouches, sculptured on a slab framed in the wall of a landing 
ona staircase which seemed to lead to the subterranean halls of the 
the palace. It projected about six inches. Du Paix, having had it torn 
away with much difficulty, so solidly was it inserted, found to his great 
astonishment, that the reverse of the slab presented the colored sketch 
of the subjects engraved in relief on the outside. Was this, said one of 
the commentators on the expedition, a precaution against the ravages of 
time or the instability of human things? Did the director of the palace 
desire that this law or legend, whatever it may have been, engraved upon 
the stone, should pass down to posterity in spite of the vicissitudes of time 
and circumstance? Layard, in his work on Nineveh and its remains, 
shows that the ancient Assyrians set the example of this double writing, 
long ages before America was discovered by man. 
Mr. Baldwin, following Stephens and Catherwood, thus writes, ‘“ The 
largest known building at Palenque is cafled ‘The Palace.’ It stands 
near the river on a terraced pyramidal foundation, 40 feet high and 310 
feet long, by 260 broad at the base. The edifice itself is 228 feet long, 
180 wide, and 25 feet high. It faces the east, and has 14 doorways on 
each side, with 11 at the ends. It was built entirely of hewn stone, laid 
with admirable precision in mortar which seems to have been of the best 
quality. A corridor, nine feet wide, and roofed by a pointed arch, went 
round the building on the outside, and this was separated from another 
within of equal width. The palace has four interior courts, the largest 
being 70 by 80 feet in extent. These are surrounded by corridors, and 
the architectural work facing them is richly decorated. Within the 
building were many rooms. From the north side of one of the smaller 
courts rises a high tower or pagoda-like structure, thirty feet square at 
the base, which goes up far above the highest elevation of the building, 
and seems to have been still higher when the whole structure was in 
perfect condition. The great rectangular mound used for the foundation 
was cased with hewn stone, the workmanship here, and everywhere else 
throughout the structure, being very superior. The piers around the 
courts are covered with figures in stucco or plaster, which, when broken, 
