142 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCTENCt. 



THE TABLET OF THE CROSS. 



BY WARREN WATSON. 



An iuteresting and ingenious article appeared in the Century Magazine for 

 December, 1881, on "The Hieroglyphics of Central America," a subject which 

 has attracted the labors of many savants and the curiosity of the civilized World. 

 Hitherto the inscriptions upon the mysterious ruins of Copan and Palenque have 

 proved inscrutable; and the mossy records of a forgotten American civilization, 

 preserved for posterity with such laborious care, are "sermons in stones" that 

 none may read or expound. For a time it was supposed that a key had been 

 discovered in the ^^ Relacion" of Bishop Lauda, which contains what purports to 

 be a Maya alphabet with an awkward explanation of the mode in which the let- 

 ters were combined into words. But all efforts to decipher the inscriptions by its 

 aid have thus far been fruitless. 



In the article referred to, Mr. Edward S. Holden gives the result of his re- 

 searches, in this field, with so much eclat that the reader is almost ready to admit 

 his claim as discoverer of a clue to the difficult problem. This clue is the result 

 of the study of a segment of hieroglyphs from the celebrated ''Tablet of the 

 Cross " at Palenque; and this being the fact a grave doubt arises as to the value 

 of his discovery. 



The " Tablet of the Cross," when in situ, occupied the south wall of the inner 

 sanctuary of a small temple at Palenque. It consisted of a centre-piece, which 

 contained the famous cross, on each side whereof was an inscription in hiero- 

 glyphics. The cross was embellished with the most bewildering arabesques and 

 bore, perched on its top a grotesque bird ; it rested on a hideous caricature of the 

 human face. On the west side of the cross stood the figure of a priestess, per- 

 haps, and on the east side a priest was making an offering to the bird. To the 

 east of the priest were six perpendicular rows of hieroglyphics, there being seven- 

 teen in each row ; and a similar inscription appeared to the west of the priestess. 

 That the whole tablet, as thus described, is a genuine antique there is no sort of 

 doubt; the difficulty lies in accepting the authenticity of the east inscription as 

 given by Mr. Holden. 



He states that " the cuts which accompany the present article are all copied 

 from those given by Stephens, except the few which have been taken direct from 

 Mr. Bancroft's "Native Races of the Pacific States " and from monographs for 

 comparison. Turn to the cut given by Mr. Stephens of the Tablet of the Cross, 

 (Cent. Am., Vol. II, p. 345,) and it will be found that only the centre and the 

 west inscription are represented ; and (on page 346) Mr. Stephens states : " The 

 stone on the right (east) is broken, and unfortunately altogether destroyed." In 

 Mr. Holden's cut the tablet is given entire with both inscriptions; that part, how- 

 ever, drawn by Mr. Catherwood, for Stephens' work, is reproduced exactly with 



