Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-01-21

already Killed three Dui rs and won no end
of plaudits for pluck and skill, when a
little brown beast proved too spry for him
and ran a horn straight through one of
his legs, draggir < him several times around
the arena befo re he could be extricated.
The National Museum of the City of
Mexico las at last received from Tabasco
all that remains of the historic
"CRoss OF PALENQUE,"
Which for many years has been the Won
derment of the archaeological world. 1t
came in sections, part OF it more than
three years ,agc, and the last bit has only
just arrived. \ small portion of this cele-
brated cross, taken from Palenque as far
back as 1912, is in the National Museum
at Washington. To make the priceless
relic complete, the Museum authorities at
Washington have been, or will be, asked
to furnish the Mexican museum with a
duplicate cast of the piece possessed by
them.
The ancient temple from which this
cross was taken, or rather the ruins of il,
may re reached without much trouble. ii
one .las time and money enough at COM
nIahd. From Vera Cruz you &c by steamer
10 Frontera, near the nlouth of the Ia.
basco river, which once bore. and ought tc
retain, The name Of Grijalva, who discov.
cred it in 1918. The anchorage is six
miles from Frontera, where green anG
muddy waters, laden with green bfanche.
and orchid-covered treeltcunks proclaim {
mighty stream, drainingan area of tropical
vegetation.
a rickety little vessel creeps out from
| 4l,a ln,r lo-,c.l,- III
passengers to Frontera, or to San Juan
Bautiste, the capital city of Tabasco
Though only six miles to shore, the fare
thereto is Eve dollars, or twelve to Sar
Juan, some fifteen miles up the river.
If you happen to hit a season of higl
waters, and don't die of yellow fever in tn,
meantime, you may sail on up the Rio Ia
basco to point whence an overland Jour
ney of only two days will bring you to ont
of the greatest ruins of the world-the ia
nous Palenque group. They lie abou
eight miles from the little village of Pal
enque, and though Cortez, on his murder
Gus march to Honduras in 1924, must hav,
passed close by them, neither he nor Diaz
his garrulous companion, make any men
ton of them, and they were not discovers
till two centuries and half later.
In 1877 Captain Antonio del Rio wa
sent by the Spanish King to explore them
but his report was not given TO the worl
till 49,, when somebody published it il
London. In 1907 the ruins were again in
vestigated by Captain Dupaix, at the in
stance Of Carlos "; but his labors wer
never made public till nearly thirty year
afterwards, in Paris. The best accounts q
their present appearance we owe to tn
American travellers, j. L. Stephens am
Frederick Ober.
THE RUINED STRUCTURES
Were erected upon terraced hillocks G
vast dimensions. The grandest is tina
now called "The Palace" 23S feet long b
$50 feet deep, but only % feet high
The greatest interest, however, centers il
the little edlfice known as casa humble
two" which, it is unnecessary to say,
not the name bestowed upon it by tn
original builders-ir which was found tn
famous tablet covered with strange sculpt
uring and hieroglyphics, including tn
tlgure OF the cross, about which arch@olo
. gists have wrangled SO long and bitterly.
Here is Mr. Stephens description: 9Th
principal subject of this tablet is the eros:
[ 1t is surmounted by a strange bird am
loaded with Undesirable ornaments TIL
two figures are evidently those of very i'm
1portant personages. They are well drawn
and in symmetry of proportion are equal t
many that are carved on the walls of tn
temples OF Egypt Both ar
looking toward the cross. and one seems i,
the act of making an offering, perhaps of
child. All speculations on the subject are c
course entitled to little regard, but perhap
1t would not be wrong to ascribe to thes
personages asacerdotal character The hiel
oglyphics, doubtless, explain them all Nea
them are other hieroglyphics, which remin
US of the Egyptian mode of recordin
the name, history, office or character of tn
persons represented This tablet or eros
has gwen rise to more learned speculation
than any others found at Palenque.
Aside from this there is much evidence t.
prove that
BEFORE THE ADVENT OF COLUMBUS.
The cross was introduced into America
bat we have not space to produce it. Ont
author grayelv asserts that it was origin
ally brought here by Saint Thomas him
sell, who preached to the aborigines o
Mexico away back in the by-gones. Thos
early historians seem to have had grea
faith in the frequent naturalization of til,
saints Gomara assures us that the glori
Gus apostle, st. James, assisted in person
IN the Spanish conquest of Tabasco, ridin.
on dappled horse. Bernal Diaz says witt
candor that he did not behold thi
apparition himself, but adds "Althougl
l, unworthy sinner that | am, was unfit t.
behold either of those holy apostles. (St
Peter and st. James, upwards of four hun
dred of us were present; let their testi.
mony be taken"
Mr.. Charles Rau, of Washington, in hi
'Palenque Tablet" published in tn,
Smithsonian Contributions to knowledge
about nine years ago, made an interesting
comparison between the glyphs sculpturet
on this tablet of the cross, and the symbols
of the celebrated "Maya alphabet" o
Zanda, the first Bishop of Yucatan. H,
found many points of contrast between tn,
two, and only such differences as woulc
naturally arise between the writing of tn,
same language at epochs several years
apart.
The temple which contained the table
stands on an artificial pyramid, 1874 fee
high, from whose summit the view ex
tends to the Laguna del Terminus anC
the Gulf of Mexico. Regarding the stuc
coadornments so characteristic of Palenque
Stephens says: "The roof of the tempt,
shows two slopes the lower one being rich
ly ornamented with stucco figures, plant
and flowers, mostly ruined Among then
are fragments of a beautiful head and tw,
bodies, IN business of proportion and sym
metry approaching the Greek models."
| What mysteries lie hidden, with tn,
mold of buried races, within those tangled
forests of Tabasco, who can tell?
FANNIE B. WARD.
How Beauty May Be Preserved.
Some odd-minded investigator, who ha