The eastern stairway is thirty feet wide, and on each side of it, at i, i, on a surface about fifteen feet long by eleven feet high, formed by immense stone slabs inclined at about the same angle as the stairway itself, is sculptured in low relief a group of human figures in peculiar attitudes. The northern group is shown in the accompanying cut. Stephens pronounces the attitude of the figures one of pain and trouble. "The design and anatomical proportions of the figures are faulty, but there is a force of expression about them which shows the skill and conceptive power of the artist."[VI-23] Stephens' plate of this side of the court shows remains of stucco ornamentation and also a line of small circular holes over the doorways of the inner corridor. The opposite or western stairway is narrower than the eastern, and at its sides, at j, j, are two colossal human figures sculptured in a hard whitish stone, as shown in the cut, in which, however, the stairway is shown somewhat narrower than its true proportions. Waldeck sees in these figures a male and female whose features are of the Caucasian type. At the sides of the stairway, at k, k, k, stand three figures of smaller dimensions, sculptured on pilasters which occur at regular intervals. On the basement wall between the pilasters are found small squares of hieroglyphics.[VI-24] In the centre of the court Waldeck found some traces of a circular basin.
Sculptured Figures in Palace Court.
COURTS OF THE PALACE.
The western court, 2, measuring about thirty by eighty feet, has a narrow stairway of three steps at l, leading up to the central building C. At the ends of this stairway, at o, o, are two large blocks similar in position to those at j, j, but their sloping fronts bear no sculptured figures. As in the other court, however, there are some squares of hieroglyphics on the basement walls. The piers round this court, such as remain standing, bear each a stucco bas-relief.[VI-25]
In the southern court, 3, stands the structure known as the Tower, marked G on the plan. Its base is about thirty feet square, and rests like the other buildings on the platform of the pyramid some eight or ten feet above the pavement of the courts. This base is solid, but has niches, or false doorways, on the sides. Above the base two slightly receding stories are still standing, with portions of a third, each with a doorway—whose lintel has fallen—in the centre of each side, and surrounded by two plain cornices. The walls are plain and plastered. The whole structure is of solid masonry, and the fact that large trees have grown from the top, presenting a broad surface to the winter winds, which have not been able to overturn the Tower, shows the remarkable strength of its construction. The height of the standing portion is about fifty feet above the platform of the pyramid. Respecting the interior arrangement of the Tower, I am unable to form a clear idea from the descriptions and drawings of the different visitors, notwithstanding the fact that Waldeck gives an elevation, section, and ground plan of each story. Stephens describes the structure as consisting of a smaller tower within the larger, and a very narrow staircase leading up from story to story. Waldeck deemed the Tower a chef d'œuvre, while to Stephens' eyes it appeared unsatisfactory and uninteresting. Dupaix, without doubt erroneously, represents the doors as surmounted by regular arches with keystones.[VI-26]
Respecting the other interior buildings of the Palace, the construction of which is precisely the same as that of the main corridors, very little remains to be said, especially since their location and division into apartments are shown clearly in the plan. According to Waldeck, the central room of the building D had traces of rich ornamentation in stucco on its walls; and he also claims to have found here an acoustic tube of terra cotta, the mouth of which was concealed by an ornament of the same material, but of this extraordinary relic he gives no description. Stephens found in one of the holes in the ceiling the worm-eaten remains of a wooden pole, about a foot in length, the only piece of wood found in Palenque, and very likely not a part of the original building at all. Except this chamber, the building is mostly in ruins, although, as we have seen, the northern piers remain standing.[VI-27]
The roofs of some of the interior buildings seem to have been somewhat better preserved than those of the main corridors, so that the sloping roof, double cornice, and remains of stucco ornamentation were observable. In the western apartment of the building C, the walls have several, in one place as many as six, distinct coatings of plaster, each hardened and painted before the next was applied. There was also noticed a line of what appeared to be written characters in black, covered by a thin translucent coating.[VI-28]