THE TABLET OF THE CROSS. 143 



his signature, while, joined to this part in a clumsy fashion, the east inscription 

 also appears bearing the signature " C. F. Trill." From this fact we are assured 

 that Mr. Holden's cut is a piece of patchwork; and the assertion of Mr. Stephens' 

 that at the time of his visit this inscription was "altogether destroyed" forces us 

 to seek the source of Mr. Trills' drawing in the works of earlier explorers. 



Calderou surveyed the ruins of Palenque in 1764, and was the first to make 

 drawings of its antiquities; but his drawings were never published and are proba- 

 bly lost. In 1786 Del Rio made a very thorough exploration of the ruins. His 

 report was published snd translated into English, and the translation contains a 

 drawing of the Cross Tablet ; but only the centre is given, both inscriptions being 

 omitted. Dupaix was the next to explore and depict the ruins ; and he had am- 

 ple time (from 1805 to 1808) and the fullest means and opportunities to do his 

 work thoroughly. His picture of the Tablet contains only the central stone with 

 a row of eight fanciful hieroglyphs on each side. In 1831 Galindo described the 

 ruins and made some sketches; but these have not been published and it is not 

 known whether the Tablet of the Cross was among them. In 1832, Waldeck, 

 who had engraved the plates for the English translation of Del Rio's report, visit- 

 ed the ruins and devoted two years to their examination. His drawings are the 

 most careful, complete and beautiful that antiquarian zeal could produce, but the 

 Tablet, as depicted by him, contains only the centre piece and the west inscrip- 

 tion ; that is it is precisely similar to Mr. Catherward's picture. Then came the 

 visit of Stephens and Catherwood in 1840. Since that time M. Charnay has 

 photographed the Tablet, but strangely enough, his plate contains the central 

 stone alone. Other drawings are said to exist in various Spanish, Mexican, and 

 Central American collections but none, other than those mentioned, have been 

 given to the world in any publication accessible to students. The east inscription 

 does not appear in the admirable compilation of Bancroft, in Shoot's "North 

 Americans of Antiquity, or in any monagraph by original explorers that I have 

 been able to find. 



Now where did Mr. Holden get his authority to complete Mr. Catherwood's 

 drawing by adding to it the east inscription? If the restoration of the Tablet, 

 thus made, is authentic, he has performed a service of great value to American 

 antiquarians (less favored with means of obtaining information) whether his exe- 

 getical speculations merit the claim he so enthusiastically makes for them or not; 

 and it is hoped that the authenticity of his cut can be established. In the mean- 

 time, it seems a waste of leisure to attempt the interpretation of these baffling in- 

 scriptions, by means of a clue deduced from the stone so mysteriously recovered 

 from the fragments found by Mr. Stephens, around the doors and corridors of 

 the Temple of the Cross. 



