The American Egypt : a record of travel in Yucatan . BAS-RELIEF ON PIER OF TEMPLE, PALENQUE. PALENQUE AND MENCHE the presiding deity of the temple, with perhaps ascription of the god and his attributes. On the piers ateach side of the tem-ple are stone tabletscarved in bas-reliefeach with a figure,of which we repro-duce Stephenssdrawing. They un-doubtedly representpriests in full cere-monial dress. Thedrawings form theirown in thesecond is the ap-pearance of fishes inthe headdress, whichappears to be com-posed of a birdholding a fish. Somefifteen hundred feetto the south
The American Egypt : a record of travel in Yucatan . BAS-RELIEF ON PIER OF TEMPLE, PALENQUE. PALENQUE AND MENCHE the presiding deity of the temple, with perhaps ascription of the god and his attributes. On the piers ateach side of the tem-ple are stone tabletscarved in bas-reliefeach with a figure,of which we repro-duce Stephenssdrawing. They un-doubtedly representpriests in full cere-monial dress. Thedrawings form theirown in thesecond is the ap-pearance of fishes inthe headdress, whichappears to be com-posed of a birdholding a fish. Somefifteen hundred feetto the south of thesetemples is yetanother pyramidcrowned by a build-ing 20 feet long and80 feet deep, whichStephens found inalmost completeruin. The most re-markable feature ofit is a bas-reliefwhich once repre-s e n t e d a couch,formed of a two-headed jaguar, someportions of the figureonce seated still re- 221full de-. BAS-RELIEF ON PIER OF TEMPLE, PALENQUE. maining. Of this couch design we shall havejnore to say when we come to our arguments as to the origin of Mayan architecture. Near the Temple of the Sun, Stephens found the only statue 222 THE AMERICAN EGYPT so far discovered at Palenque. It is 10 feet 6 inches high,2 feet 6 inches of which is in the ground, and the sides are roundedwhile the back is of rough stone. Many have been the visitorsto Palenque during the sixty-eight years which have elapsedsince Stephens explored it, but little or nothing has been dis-covered which would justify a reversal of that famous archaeo-logists finding, viz. : that the stories of the vast area of theruins are mere fairy tales, and that in the buildings here brieflydescribed we have the relics of the only important stonestructures of a once great and powerful city. That it wasdesolate at the time of the Conquest is more than likely, forit is absolutely certain that Cortes in his march to Honduraspassed within
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