Note VI-29 — Chapter VI · ANTIQUITIES OF TABASCO AND CHIAPAS, RUINS OF PALENQUE.
Reading edition
View of the building from the south-west, representing it as a detached structure, in Dupaix, pl. xiv., fig. 21. This author speaks of a peculiar method of construction in this building: 'Su construccion varia algo del primero, pues el miembro que llamaremos arquitrabe es de una hechura muy particular, se forma de unas lajas grandísimas de un grueso proporcionado é inclinadas, formando con la muralla un angulo agudo.' The plate indicates a high steep roof, or rather second story. It also shows a shaped window and two steps on this side. For plates and descriptions of the tablet see Stephens, vol. ii., p. 318; Waldeck, pp. iv., vi., pl. xvii.; Dupaix, pp. 16, 23, pl. xviii., fig. 26, pl. xxvi., fig. 33; Del Rio, p. 13, pl. xv.-xvii.; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70. Waldeck's pl. xvi., fig. 3, is a ground plan showing more detail than the general plan; and pl. xi., fig. 3, is a study of the cornices (?) in the interior. The sculptured tablet probably represents Cuculkan, or Quetzalcoatl. Morelet's Travels, p. 97. No doubt the medallion represented a sun, and the table beneath was an altar to the sun. Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 83.
