PLAN OF PART OF THE PALACE AT PALENQUE.
"They tell us of a ruined palace 238 feet long by 180 deep, and standing on a mound or platform of earth and stone forty feet high and measuring about 100 feet each way more than the palace does. The palace was built of stone laid in a mortar of lime and sand, and seems to have been covered with stucco in various colors. There is a great quantity of bass-reliefs and hieroglyphics; many of these have been injured by time and the Indians, but on the other hand a great number are still perfect. Nobody can yet tell the exact extent of the city as it was in the time of its glory. A dense forest has grown over the spot, and it would take an army of men to remove the huge trees and clear away the ground.
MEDALLION BASS-RELIEF.
"You may ask how old the city is and when it was abandoned. That, as well as the city's extent, is a conundrum. Some writers think it was inhabited as late as the time of the Conquest. This is the theory of M. Charnay; and a traveller who preceded him in 1774 says he discovered 'eighteen palaces, twenty great buildings, and 167 houses in a single week,' which is more than can be found by one person in the same time nowadays. According to the account of the expedition of Cortez to Honduras, he must have passed quite close to the site of Palenque, but his faithful chronicler, Bernal Diaz, makes no mention of the city, nor is it referred to in the conqueror's reports to the King.
"M. Charnay made explorations through this region, and to the south-east of Palenque he visited the ruins of another city; this he named in honor of Mr. Pierre Lorillard, of New York, who had defrayed the expenses of the expedition. He had hoped to be the first explorer of these ruins; but on reaching the spot he found himself preceded by an enterprising Englishman, Mr. Alfred Maudsley, of London. The latter generously proposed that the Frenchman should name the town, call himself the discoverer, in fact do anything he pleased, since he (Maudsley) was only an amateur travelling for pleasure, and not for scientific purposes. Charnay accepted the offer in so far as the naming of the place was concerned, but he could hardly call himself the discoverer, as it had been previously visited by residents of Tenosiqué, the nearest modern town of any consequence, and one of them had described it in writing and by drawings.
IDOL IN TEMPLE AT LORILLARD CITY.