re. The only explanation which we have met is contained
in that oft-quoted article by Mr. Holden. He regards it as the
representation of the Maya god of war. We are warned that the weak part
of Mr. Holden's method is his assumption that the mythology of the Mayas
was the same as that of the Aztecs, when the evidence is not strong
enough to assert such a fact.<40>

Illustration of Bas-relief of the left-hand of the Altar of the Cross.
(Bureau of Ethnology.)-------------------

We feel that we have been somewhat lengthy in describing the ruins of
Palenque. But it is one of the most important groups of ruins that this
continent possesses. The most faithful work on the part of the scholars
of all lands has not as yet succeeded in clearing up the mystery
connected with it. We can tread the courts of their ancient citadel,
clamber up to the ruined temples and altars, and gaze on the unread
hieroglyphics, but, with all our efforts, we know but little of its
history. There was a time when the forest did not entwine these ruins.
Once unknown priests ministered at these altars. But cacique, or king,
and priest have alike passed away. The nation, if such it was, has
vanished, and their descendants are probably to be found in the savage
tribes of Yucatan to-day. "In the romance of the world's history,"
says Mr. Stephens, "nothing ever impressed me more forcibly than the
spectacle of this once great and lovely city, overturned, desolate, and
lost, discovered by accident, overgrown with trees for miles around,
without even a name to distinguish it. Apart from every thing else, it
was a mournful witness to the world's mutation.

"'Nations melt
From power's high pinnacle, when they have felt
The sunshine for awhile, and downward go.'"

The ruins at Palenque have been so well known, that but little attention
has been given to other ruins in the States of Tobasco and Chiapas; and
yet, according to M. Charney, imposing ruins of great extent exist in
the western part of Tobasco. At a place about thirty-five miles from
San Juan, in a north-westerly direction, he found veritable mountains
of ruins "overgrown with a luxuriant vegetation."<41> In the absence of
cuts, we can not do more than give a general idea of these ruins.

He asserts that the whole State of Tobasco, and part of Chiapas, is
covered with ruins. One landed proprietor informed him that, on his
estate, he had counted over t