PALENQUE— TULHA. 



163 



a large number of chambers, passages, and apartments of all kinds. Like all the 

 other monuments, it stands on a raised platform, which takes the usual shape of 

 a truncated pyramid. One of the façades shows a row of pillars supporting a 

 projecting architrave of a highly original design. The walls of this edifice are 

 covered with sculptures, while in another was found the famous " Greek cross," 

 symbol of the " tree of life," or of " fecundity," which has given rise to so much 

 discussion amongst archaeologists. South-west of Palenque, about midway on the 

 road to San Cristobal, capital of Chiapas, in an upland valley watered by a western 

 affluent of the Usumacinta, are grouped the houses of Ococingo, whose name has 

 also been assigned to an ancient city lying five miles farther east. By the Indians 



Fig. 69. — Ruins in the Lacandon and Tzendal Countries. 

 Scale 1 : 2,80().(K)0. 



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5 mojQvel j_ Ococ go" 



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s Bartolome 





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95 



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eo Miles. 



this place is called Tonila, that is, " Stone Houses," and the ruins are said, on 

 pure conjecture, to be those of Talha, ancient capital of the southern Toltecs. 

 Amongst them was discovered a plaster carving, whose perfectly Egyptian 

 expression greatly surprised Stephens, Catherwood, and Brasseur de Bourbourg. 

 It takes the form of a medallion with large wings spread out above the porch of 

 a palace. In the whole district between Ococingo and Palenque the hills and 

 mountains are crowned with sepulchral mounds, and according to the inhabitants 

 of the country, other magnificent structures are hidden away amongst the hills 

 of Tumhala, and farther south in the direction of San Cristobal and Comitan. 



One of these unknown cities in the Lacandon territory was lately discovered 

 on the left bank of the Usumacinta, in a district which must have been frequently 



