430 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ling, but not unworthy to stand side by side with the re- 

 mains of Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman art. 



But there was one thing which seemed in strange 

 want of conformity with all the rest. It was the first 

 object that had arrested my attention in the house of 

 the dwarf, and which I had marked in every other 

 building. I have mentioned that at Ocosingo we saw a 

 wooden beam, and at Palenque the fragment of a wood- 

 en pole ; at this place all the lintels had been of wood, 

 and throughout the ruins most of them were still in their 

 places over the doors. These lintels were heavy beams, 

 eight or nine feet long, eighteen or twenty inches wide, 

 and twelve or fourteen thick. The wood, like that at 

 Ocosingo, was very hard, and rang under the blow of 

 the machete. As our guide told us, it was of a species 

 not found in the neighbourhood, but came from the dis- 

 tant forests near the Lake of Peten. Why wood was 

 used in the construction of buildings otherwise of solid 

 stone seemed unaccountable ; but if our guide was cor- 

 rect in regard to the place of its growth, each beam 

 must have been carried on the shoulders of eight In- 

 dians, with the necessary relief carriers, a distance of 

 three hundred miles ; consequently, it was rare, costly, 

 and curious, and for that reason may have been consid- 

 ered ornamental. The position of these lintels was most 

 trying, as they were obliged to support a solid mass of 

 stone wall fourteen or sixteen feet high, and three or four 

 in thickness. Once, perhaps, they were strong as stone, 

 but they showed that they were not as durable, and con- 

 tained within them the seeds of destruction. Most, it is 

 true, were in their places, sound, and harder than lignum 

 vitse; but others were perforated by wormholes; some 

 were cracked in the middle, and the walls, settling upon 

 them, were fast overcoming their remaining strength; 



