1086 General Notes. [ October, 
the agreement made with M. Charnay, under the patronage and 
superintendency of Mr. Thorndyke Rice, the French government 
was to have the first set of casts and the National Museum the 
second, The series for our country have arrived and are now 
being set up in a large room appropriated to them in the National 
Museum. There are two groups, one from Palenque, the other 
from Chichen-Itza, and a few pieces from Ocosingo, Tezcoco, &e. 
The Palenque groups are: 1. Bas-reliefs from the temple of In- 
scriptions, twelve pieces; 2. The bas-reliefs constituting the 
“altar” in the temple of the Sun, five pieces (Dr. Rau thinks 
Charnay wrong, and that two of these belong to the next group); 
3. The celebrated group of the cross, three pieces (five according 
to Dr. Rau); 4. Bas-reliefs, katunes, sculptures, columns, &c, 
eighteen pieces; 5. Bas-reliefs from Chichen-Itza, thirty-five 
pieces, among which are the materials for two groups, one con- 
stituting a sculptured dado of great interest, the other forming 
an immense wall and inclined ceiling. These casts are made in 
a composition of plaster and tow, which give them great light- 
ness and strength. A careful scrutiny of these slabs, one after 
another and from day to day, excites reflections concerning theit 
fabricators and their civilization. No doubt the truth lies between 
the two extremes of modern interpretation. The Spaniards de- 
stroyed a well advanced civilization, something like the old Chal- 
dean, but not one superior to their own. On the other 
many evidences of survival obtrude themselves pointing tO @ 
savage origin and communal dwellings; but between the men : 
who lived and wrought at Palenque and Chichen-Itza and of 
roving savages were many milestones of progress. A writer m 
Science drew attention to a discovery of Professor Cyrus beer 
to the effect that the French commission, consisting noe 
Mérimée, Augrand, Longperier, Aubin, De Saint-Priest and 
appointed in 1860 to edit Waldeck’s drawing, took Catherw 
ea a dates een eae 2 coats So. COLOR Raise a ete fy 5 
Catherwood did not. But Charnay’s casts fulfill Dr. ie 
predictions by exhibiting the glyphs which he said ought d ie 
there, in spite of the drawings of both Catherwood and © 
* Monuments anciens du Mexique.” 
REVUE D'ETHNOGRAPHIE.— This journal, under the dir 
Dr. Hamy, has passed safely through its first year, and iginal 
with its present number upon the second volume. The GE 
papers are as follows : 
Corre, Dr. A Séréres de Joal et de Portudal, on the west coast 
oO, ih 
Ouar- 
Tarry, M, H.—Excursion Archéologique dans la vallée de Oued Mya, gee 
gla, in the Desert of Sahara, on the borders of Southern Algeria, pp: =% 
Bertrand, Alex.—Les Troglodytes, ill., pp. 35-64. 
Charnay, Désiré—Exploration des Ruines d’Aké, Yucatan, pp- 65-74 
of Africa, Ph 
