Note VI-69 — Chapter VI · ANTIQUITIES OF TABASCO AND CHIAPAS, RUINS OF PALENQUE.

'Palenqué, dans quelques bas-reliefs, a des intentions assyriennes.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. iii. 'The writing of the inscriptions ... has no more relatedness to the Phœnician than to the Chinese writing;' nor is there any resemblance in the architecture. Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 174. Long arguments against any resemblance of the Central American cities to Egyptian monuments. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 436-57; which Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 106-37, labors to refute. No resemblance to Egyptian pyramids, except in being used as sepulchres. Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 186-7. 'The Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the general arrangement of the parts, to the European. It must be admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to itself.' Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 407-8. 'Un bas-relief représentant un enfant consacré à une croix, les têtes singulières à grands nez et à fronts rejetés en arrière, les bottines ou caligulæ à la romaine servant de chaussure; la ressemblance frappante des figures avec les divinités indiennes assises, les jambes croisées, et ces figures un peu roides, mais dessinées dans des proportions exactes, doivent inspirer un vif intérêt à quiconque s'occupe de l'histoire primitive du genre humain.' Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., p. 328. See also Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19; Dupaix, p. 32, and elsewhere; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 326-9; Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 11.