THE RUINS OF PALENQUE. 



291 



places very difficult to cross. Amid all the wreck of 

 empires, nothing ever spoke so forcibly the world's mu- 

 tations as this immense forest shrouding what was once 

 a great city. Once it had been a great highway, throng- 

 ed with people who were stimulated by the same pas- 

 sions that give impulse to human action now ; and they 

 are all gone, their habitations buried, and no traces of 

 them left. 



In two hours we reached the River Micol, and in half 

 an hour more that of Otula, darkened by the shade of 

 the woods, and breaking beautifully over a stony bed. 

 Fording this, very soon we saw masses of stones, and 

 then a round sculptured stone. We spurred up a sharp 

 ascent of fragments, so steep that the mules could barely 

 climb it, to a terrace so covered, like the whole road, 

 with trees, that it was impossible to make out the form. 

 Continuing on this terrace, we stopped at the foot of a 

 second, when our Indians cried out " el Palacio," " the 

 palace," and through openings in the trees we saw the 

 front of a large building richly ornamented with stuc- 

 coed figures on the pilasters, curious and elegant ; 

 trees growing close against it, and their branches enter- 

 ing the doors ; in style and effect unique, extraordinary, 

 and mournfully beautiful. We tied our mules to the 

 trees, ascended a flight of stone steps forced apart and 

 thrown down by trees, and entered the palace, ranged 

 for a few moments along the corridor and into the 

 courtyard, and after the first gaze of eager curiosity 

 was over, went back to the entrance, and, standing in 

 the doorway, fired &feit-de-joie of four rounds each, be- 

 ing the last charge of our firearms. But for this way 

 of giving vent to our satisfaction we should have made 

 the roof of the old palace ring with a hurrah. It was 

 intended, too, for effect upon the Indians, who had 



