Page:Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley.djvu/28

20 by wooden beams, upon which rested the frieze ornamented with figures in stucco. A middle room and two small side rooms corresponded to the vestibule, and into the middle room the sanctuary proper was built, the longitudinal wall of which was adorned with very interesting groups of figures. In three points, however, the temple of Xupá differs from its Palenque model:

First, The vaulted ceilings of the side chambers at the rear do not run parallel with that of the vestibule, but at right angles to it.

Secondly, The sanctuary is more massive (thick-walled) in its construction.

Thirdly, The figures on the longitudinal wall of the sanctuary are not in bas-relief, but incised.

In consequence of the fall of the façade as well as of the vaulted ceiling of the middle room, the entrance to the sanctuary was entirely blocked and the sanctuary itself was buried beneath the ruins. Being thus hidden from sight, it might have been preserved to posterity, if a few years ago inquisitive treasure-seekers from the village of Palenque and the monterías on the Cháncala, suspecting a hollow space within this heap of stones, had not made an opening from above, or directly through the vaulted ceiling. These people had not sense enough to surmise that an entrance should be made from in front! When these vandals — using the opening they had made — had descended into the inner chamber, which was painted fiery red, they found that its longitudinal wall was faced with seven narrow stone slabs, on the smooth surfaces of which an extremely interesting group of figures had been incised in outlines drawn with masterly skill. The fact that the thin slabs, which were only forty to forty-five centimetres wide, did not appear to be too heavy for transportation, excited the avarice of these men. Accordingly they decided to pry them off and to sell them secretly. They went to work in a most brutal fashion to execute this decision. It may be assumed that the centre of the mural picture represented an altar (or possibly a cross), which occupied the three middle stones, while at the right and left stood male and female figures, perhaps four in all. As the central portion was incomprehensible to these rogues, it appeared to them of but little value, and they broke the slabs in pieces! I found their fragments scattered about on top of the debris, but I found it impossible to make anything out of them. The slabs with figures seeming to be the most valuable, they dragged them out, but not possessing the proper means of transportation to carry them home, they hid part of them on the slope of the pyramid and others farther off in the forest, who knows where? Only a single slab did these vandals leave on the wall, because, in trying to pry it off with their crowbars, they had knocked off the entire face of the personage represented on it. This figure represents a man of rank, wearing a high helmet with a feather ornament, a necklace,