16 PALENQUE. 



On the back wall of the south-east room (marked A on Plate XV.) is a well- 

 preserved stucco ornament, surrounding the T-shaped hole (see Plate XVII., b). 

 Nearly the whole of the ornament had become covered with an incrustation of carbonate 

 of lime, and where this could be removed the original colours with which the stucco 

 had been painted were found to be fairly well preserved. 



Plate XVIII. is a restoration made from a number of photographs and coloured 

 sketches. 



The only parts of this drawing for which the evidence is incomplete are the red 

 scrolls issuing from the mouths of the serpent birds in the upper portion of the plate. 

 The scrolls in the mouths of the birds in the lower part of the design are still quite 

 well preserved. 



All the wall-holes in the building are T-shaped. The lintels were all of wood, and 

 wooden struts formerly spanned the vaults. 



The angle of the roof of this house is of a lower pitch than usual, and probably on 

 this account much of the northern side of the roof has fallen away. 



A bridge thrown across the very narrow space between the roof of this house and 

 that of House E is still in place. 



House C. (Plates XIX. to XXIX.) 



This house divides the eastern from the western court and stands upon a platform 

 raised about eight feet above the level of the courts. In the middle of the eastern 

 face of this foundation is a stairway 20 feet wide built of large well-squared stones, 

 and flanked on each side by two large blocks of stone placed nearly at the same angle 

 as the steps, each with a kneeling figure carved on it. Three of the upper steps 

 have a hieroglyphic inscription cut on both the rise and tread of the steps. (See 

 Plate XXIII.) 



The perpendicular face of the foundation on either side of the stairway is divided 

 into panels between kneeling figures, and each panel contains an inscription of four 

 glyphs. (See Plate XXII.) 



In the western court the face of the foundation of this building (Plates XXV. to 

 XXVII.) is also encased in large well-cut slabs of stone, and is ornamented with an 

 inscription. (See Plates XXVII. and XXIX.) The stairway leading down to the 

 floor of the western court is at the south end of the western corridor. 



The north end of the foundation of House C runs into that of the long northern 

 house. 



