LOSS OF ANTIQUITIES BY FIRE. 179 



doubt owing to their being more sheltered than those 

 over the outer doorway. This was the only sculp- 

 tured beam in Uxmal, and at that time it was the 

 only piece of carved wood we had seen. We con- 

 sidered it interesting, as indicating a degree of pro- 

 ficiency in an art of which, in all our previous ex- 

 plorations, we had not discovered any evidence, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, at Ocosingo, where we had found a 

 beam, not carved, but which had evidently been re- 

 duced to shape by sharp instruments of metal. This 

 time I determined not to let the precious beam es- 

 cape me. It was ten feet long, one foot nine inches 

 broad, and ten inches thick, of Sapote wood, enor- 

 mously heavy and unwieldy. To keep the sculp- 

 tured side from being chafed and broken, I had it 

 covered with costal or hemp bagging, and stuffed 

 with dry grass to the thickness of six inches. It 

 left Uxmal on the shoulders of ten Indians, after 

 many vicissitudes reached this city uninjured, and 

 was deposited in Mr. Catherwood's Panorama. I 

 had referred to it as being in the National Museum 

 at Washington, whither I intended to send it as 

 soon as a collection of large sculptured stones, which 

 I was obliged to leave behind, should arrive ; but on 

 the burning of that building, in the general confla- 

 gration of Jerusalem and Thebes, this part of Ux- 

 mal was consumed, and with it other beams after- 

 ward discovered, much more curious and interest- 

 ing ; as also the whole collection of vases, figures, 

 idols, and other relics gathered upon this journey. 

 Vol. I— O 



