THE PALACE TOMBS ANTIQUARIAN SPECULATIONS. 215* 



stair-way through a dark shaft leads to a subterranean apartment of 

 one hundred feet in length, by thirty in width, w T hose walls are cov- 

 ered with Grecian ornaments similar to those on the exterior of the 

 edifice, as shown in the plate. These external walls are said to be 

 decorated with labyrinthine figures, formed by a mosaic of small por- 

 phyritic stones, and we recognize in them the same designs which 

 are admired in the ancient vases, falsely called Etruscan, and on 

 the frieze of the old temple usually assigned to the god Redicolus, 

 which lies near the grotto of Egeria at Rome. 



But the objects which chiefly distinguish the architectural remains 

 of Mitla from all other Mexican antiquities are six porphyritic 

 columns, w T hich support the ceiling of a vast saloon. These singu- 

 lar columns, — almost the only ones found in the New World, — 

 evince the extreme infancy of art; — they have neither bases nor 

 capitals, and are cut in a gradually tapering shape from a solid 

 stone, more than fifteen feet in length. 



The distribution of the apartments in this extraordinary edifice 

 presents some striking analogies with the monuments of Upper 

 Egypt, described by Denon and the savants who composed the 

 institute at Cairo. Don Pedro de Laguna, who examined them 

 carefully many years ago, discovered on their walls some curious 

 paintings of sacrifices and martial trophies. In order to form an 

 idea of the almost Cyclopean style of architecture, we may remark 

 the extraordinary dimensions of the stones above the entrances to 

 the principal halls. Mr. Glennie states that one of these masses is 

 eighteen feet eight inches long, four feet ten inches broad, and three 

 feet six inches thick. A second is nineteen feet four inches long, 

 four feet ten and a half inches broad, and three feet nine inches 

 thick, whilst a third is nineteen feet six inches long, four feet ten 

 inches broad, and three feet four inches thick. The antiquarian 

 will not fail to observe, that there is some similarity between the 

 exterior of these Oajacan remains and those which have been un- 

 covered and described in Yucatan, by Stephens, during his second 

 expedition. It is not improbable that an intercourse existed be- 

 tween the inhabitants of these districts, prior to the Spanish Con- 

 quest. We believe that these architectural remains and nearly all 

 of those in Yucatan, Chiapas and Guatemala, were the abodes and 

 temples of the Indians who dwelt in Mexico and the adjacent coun- 

 tries when Grijalva and Cortez first landed on our continent. The 

 distance from Oajaca, through Chiapas and Tabasco, to Yucatan is 

 not too great to have prevented even a rapid communication from 



Mitla to Uxmal, or Palenque. The reader will recollect that the 

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