PALENQUE. 281 



of this strange city was extant till it was visited by Mr. 

 Stevens. 



PALENQUE. 



Still more curious and interesting than the last described 

 city, are the ruins of Palenque, in the province of Chiapas, 

 bordering upon Yucatan. One of the chief structures of this 

 ancient city stands on an artificial elevation 40 feet high, 

 310 feet in length, and 260 feet in width. The sides were 

 originally covered with stones, which have been thrown down 

 by the growth of trees. On the summit are the ruins of a 

 building, known as the Palace, about 25 feet in height, with 

 a front measuring 228 feet by 180 feet deep. In front were, 

 originally, fourteen doorways, with intervening piers, covered 

 with human figures, hieroglyphics, and carved ornaments. 

 The walls are of stone, laid with mortar and sand ; and the 

 whole is covered by stucco, nearly as hard as stone, and 

 richly painted. On each side of the steps are gigantic human 

 statues carved in stone, with rich head-dresses and necklaces. 



In one of the buildings is a stone tower of three stories, 

 thirty feet square at the base, and rising far above the sur- 

 rounding walls. The walls are very massive, and the floors 

 are paved with large square stones. In one of the corridors 

 are two large tablets of hieroglyphics. 



There are numerous other buildings, all standing on the 

 summits of similar pyramids. In several of the buildings the 

 roofs still remain, and preserve the stuccoed ornamentation 

 with which the walls are adorned. The colours, in many of 

 them, are still bright; and could the hieroglyphics with which 

 they are surrounded be read, they would probably give as 

 clear a history of the departed inhabitants as do those found 

 in the tombs on the banks of the Nile. The most remark- 



