The reader will pardon this slight digression, and the writer makes the following assertion for the investigation of the curious, without any fear of a negative being produced. The conclusion is from many years of observation; viz., That every thing in Nature of the Animal or the Vegetable kingdom; the Rainbow and the Elements; that all the works of Art embraced in the comprehensive term, Architecture (Edificial or Naval): in the Arch itself, and even in Mechanics; that in all these productions of Nature or Art there are ONLY THREE GRAND PARTS! And many of those parts contain within themselves three subdivisions. Those subdivisions are only accessories, holding the same relation to the whole, that the secondary colours do to the primitives of the Rainbow. We will give a few illustrations from Nature and Art. For instance,—the Fruit-tree,—the three primitive parts are the roots, trunk, and branches, these are composed of fibrum, sap, and bark; the accessories are the leaves and fruit; the leaf consists of the stalk, fibres, and the web; the fruit, of the rind, the apple, and the core. The Human form will bear the same test; viz., head, trunk, and limbs—nay, the very principles of life, brain—lungs, and heart; and also the great combinations in Chemistry! The sublime science of Astronomy also supports the conclusion. For the illustration from Art—a Temple. The three grand divisions are the foundation, body, and roof; the front of the edifice is in three parts—viz., columns, entablature, and pediment; these being subdivided, and three parts again appear: 1st, a Column,—the shaft, capital, and abacus; 2d, the Entablature,—the architrave, frieze, and cornice; 3d, the Pediment,—the apex, and the two corners, forming a triangle. The triangle is, also, the facial characteristic of a square Pyramid, and its square base contains two triangles; but the true Pyramid contains only three sides, each, with the base, present triangles. If man's efforts in Art have produced by accident the
TRIA JUNCTA IN UNO,—
we must feel that nothing in Nature can be accidental, and investigation will prove that the Divine "three" pervade all! We are not aware that the above assertion has ever been made by any author, but we are convinced from years of observation, that although original and startling, it is no less the truth—for being founded in Nature it could not be otherwise. In the third volume this subject will be enlarged upon; for the present we claim the discovery of this great philosophical principle—the true active one of Nature and of Art, with the possession of which a man has the key to the arcana of both.
The Mexican Aborigines then had, apparently, no knowledge of the art of mixing colours, from which fact a strong proof is gained of their great antiquity.
"The piers (i. e. the square columns of the Temple) which are still standing, contained other figures of the same general character, but which unfortunately are more mutilated, and from the declivity of the terrace it was difficult to set up the camera lucida in such a position as to draw them. The piers which are fallen were no doubt enriched with the same ornaments. Each one had a specific meaning, and the whole probably presented some allegory or history, and when entire and painted, the effect in ascending the terrace must have been imposing and beautiful."
This "allegory or history" we have endeavoured to decipher in the Analogies. The sculpture of this Temple, like the metopes of the Parthenon, should not be viewed in separate parts, but as a whole; for the parts, like single letters, are useless in themselves, but when placed together in proper and consecutive localities, they instantly express a word, or sentences, and thence convey to the mind the full intelligence of the subject.
"The tops of the doorways are all broken. They had evidently been square, and over one were large niches in the wall on each side, in which the lintels had been laid. The lintels had been all fallen, and the stones above formed broken natural arches [angles?]. Underneath were heaps of rubbish, but there were no remains of lintels. If they had been single slabs of stone, some of them must have been visible and prominent, and we made up our minds that the lintels had been of wood, and perhaps we should not have ventured the conclusion, but for the wooden lintel which we had seen over the doorway at Ocosingo, and by what we saw afterwards in Yucatan (Uxmal), we were confirmed beyond all doubt in our opinion. I do not conceive, however, that this gives any conclusive data in regard to the age of the buildings. The wood (lintels) if such as we saw in the other places (i. e. Ocosingo and Uxmal) would be very lasting, its decay must have been extremely slow, and centuries may have elapsed since it perished altogether."
The decaying of the lintels at Ocosingo and Palenque, and their existence and preservation at Uxmal enables a data to be formed in reference to the order of their erection; for the non-appearance of any wooden lintels at Copan authorizes the placing of that city first in chronological order, followed by the cities of Ocosingo and Palenque, and from the argument, and the preservation of the wood, Uxmal was built after the foregone.
"The building has two parallel corridors running lengthwise on all four of its sides. In front these corridors are about nine feet wide, and extend the whole length of the building, upwards of two hundred feet. In the long wall that divides them there is but one door, which is opposite the principal door of entrance, and has a corresponding one on the other side, leading to a courtyard in the rear.