Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1837-1839, 1838-06-09
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,

1t may not DO known 10 all our readers that me
New WOrId,' as il has long been called: possesses
within itself evidence Of being one Of tho oldest
countries in existence. The mounds Of tho West
States, and other -asional traces Of the for
Encr existence o. I: nation, with far more knowI-
edge Of .o arts than the 'abOrgnes' o.: our cOun-
~ over possessed, familiar To all; but the
fact Of the existence ofnumerous and wonderful
relics Of antiquity, which rival even the bea"t-
f,l md ma jestic monuments 81 ancient Egypt, Is
known to comparatively few. Yet such IS the
case. Even the 'hundrcd-gafcd Thcbcs' could
never boast Of larger, II VI moro magnificent
temples and pr ramids, than those III when Inc
ancient Tultccas Of Central America worship
pod.~ And to preservation, tho Egyptians
must unhesita,ingly give place TO the Amer'-
can.
We propose, therefore, TO lay before our read
crs n brief account Of tho city Of OfMfum called
be the Spaniards Ciu3ad del Palenque or city
of the Desert, and by the English, tay 81
i,a1cacia, the ruins Of which tic within inc
present province Of Real Chiapa. Most "f tn"
ma,cria,s for ,his notice arc drawn from couple
Of articles in the Knickcrbockcr, by l.. u. Cha
min. Esq. who has spent much time IN Amer
ican Antiquities.
The CITY c. PaI.mquc situated on Gle
waited plain, now covered with forests, and lay
ON tho borders Of a river called Oiu'um. From
the extent Of ruins it appears that the city was
about thirty miles long, fco miles ride ct its ter
n.iaasing point, and moro than sixty miles IN
circumference, being about ten times as large as
the CITY of New York, and might easily, and
probably did, contain as many rs f1rec mHi'o"
of inhnI;s1nss. Fourteen temples Of these an
cient people, who arc now denom'nated Ia'tccas,
arc still! standing, and in o!crablc state Of pres
cryation They arc all builfof hcwn stone,i the
most durable style Of architecture. and round
AMI by tho side Of them are walls, columns, Tor
tifications, passes, viaducts, extensive cxcava-
tons, sub;errancan passages, &c &c, all at
testing the former existence of n numerous,
wealthy, and i'll many respects a civilized M
ton.
These monuments have Il striking resemblance
to those Of Egypt, and arc unlike those OF the
Mcxicans. rs theirs from ours. Lake the cxcava-
ted temples os Flora. the natives knew nothing
OF tho origin or the history Of the nation who
bs;l, ,hcu Tradition nscribcs them to race
OF wandering masons. but who they were, from
whrucc ihey cac. or whence they went. II
gives no information whatever Many OF them
like tho Egyptian, arc covered with curiousiy
wr,ugi,. hcrogfvphics. The Tuliccas also ap
pear TO have possessed q complete hierogiyphic
alphabet. with its double character Of phonetic
(s,gns representing sounds or lctiers) and sym
bo!ic, (sgns representing ideas or iacis) which
Judging from their appearance, were used witt
greater regularly, precision and beauty, than c
ven the Egyptian.
Tho trocsli, or central .emc..u Of the city. l.
still standing, and though in many things rescm
bling the Egyptian temples, 's vet in many point
rccuiiaslv American. This building stands 81
the summit Of a towering pyramid. filed with sub
tcrrancan rooms and passages, with eleven i'm
mensc windows on the side, and five on the end
the whole crowned with a tower, originally
stories high, with a cupoia. Some Of these sui
tcrraucan rooms arc nearly t~o hundred fec
long, and propor,ionally wide. To what use the
wcro pu., is not easy, IT possible, to conjee
sure.
Tho other temples arc built in a similar mar
nor, and bu, little inferior in size. The quarrie
from whence these stones were taken situ;
ted on tho mountain in the immediate viciaia,
and these, with other excavations which aboau
IN Ccntral America. the Of which arc nj
known. arc called by the n,tivcs, 'cranarics
the giants They strongly represent sirni''
excavations near Argos, in Greece, there know
BY the name of the Treasury VI Air.,us.
In addition 10 this, tho peculiar phvs:o=uorny