SACRED DANCES OF THE PAWNEES, by Gordon Wm. Lillie, (Pawnee Bill).. ANCIENT WORKS IN IOWA, by Cyrus Thomas. NATIVE AMERICAN SYMBOLISM, by Stephen D. Peet. (Illustrated.) First Paper... 215 CORRESPONDENCE-Iroquois White Dog Feast, by W. M. Beauchamp; A Modern EDITORIAL.-Relics in Siberia and Japan, (Illustrated.). NOTES ON EUROPEAN ARCHÆOLOGY, by Henry Phillips, Jr. -Ethnical Mutilations; NOTES FROM THE FAR EAST, by Prof. John Avery-The People of the Maldines; RECENT INTELLIGENCE-The American Association; Bradford Hist. Society, G. LITERARY NOTES-Mr. Henshaw and Elephant Pipes; Transactions of the Victo- ria Institute; Old Testament Student; American Journal of Archæ ology; BOOK REVIEWs-Bulletin du Musie D' Historie Naturelle De Belgique; Bulletin 241 252 253 255 American Antiquarian AND Oriental Journal. This is a Bi-Monthly Illustrated Magazine, Published in Chicago, III., and edited by Rev. S. D. Peet, assisted by gentlemen residing in New York, Philadelphia, Washington and various other places. Its object is mainly to furnish a medium of communication between Archæologists in different parts of the globe, but it is an interesting magazine for any one to read. THERE ARE EIGHT DEPARTMENTS in the Journal, each of which is represented by an associate editor, who is expected to furnish notes on his own specialty, as follows: CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGY, by Prof. A. C. MERRIAM, Columbia College, New York; "The Far-East," by Prof. J. AVERY, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine; BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY, by Rev. SELAH MERRILL, D. D., Consul at Jerusalem; ABORIGINAL AMERICAN LITERATURE, by Dr. D. G. BRINTON, Philadelphia, Pa.; NATIVE MYTHOLOGY, by Rev. J. O. DORSEY, Ethnological Bureau, Washington, D. C.; EUROPEAN ARCHEOLOGY, by HENRY PHILLIPS, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.: ANCIENT ÁRT and ARCHITECTURE, by Dr. J. D. BUTLER; INDIAN LINGUISTICS, by A. S. GATSCHET, Ethnological Burcan, Washington, D. C. To the journal are all gentlemen who are well known for their scholarship. The most of them are citizens of the United States, but some are residents in England, France, Greece, China, India, Africa and remote countries. The Magazine has a Department of CORRESPONDENCE, which may be regarded as a most interesting feature. This is sustained by gentlemen who are engaged in original research in various parts of the globe, and who furnish the results of their investigations for publication to us directly. We frequently hear from the Mounds, and report all discoveries among them, but persons in Colorado, Arizona, California, Washington Territory, Nicaragua, New Mexico and Mexico, and many and more remote places send us letters which we are glad to receive and to publish. The progress of Archæology is so rapid that the only way to conduct a journal is to keep up a correspondence with all parts, and so bring together the result for comparison. We do not propose to be narrowed down to any limited province or field, but, while particular in giving the details, shall take a broad and comprehensive view of the science, expecting our readers to select the points from the general information, on which they may build up their own specialties. BOOK REVIEWS we shall hope to make useful. A department called "Reports" will review the proceedings of Societies, and Book Reviews proper will be confined to the volumes sent by publishers for notice. We offer the journal to the public as one which has already been in the field for several years, and one which has gained a reputation for itself throughout the world, and think that the friends of Archæology will realize the importance of sustaining it. F. H. REVELL, Publisher. STEPHEN D. PEET. Editor. TESTIMONIALS. This magazine, which is justly recognized as an authority on the subject of Archæology, is invaluable to the scholar and others for whom the study of Mythology and research into the literature and legends of races of prehistoric times possess a charm, which increases as opportunities widen to assist them.-The Household. The object is to collect material on the antiquities of this country, and it has, through its competent editor and scholarly correspondents, already done a great work.-Western Farmer. We have for several years been acquainted with this publication, which is steadily growing in interest and popularity among ant q arians.-Chr.scian Advocate. Intensely interesting to our reading farmers and literary men, especially to those on whose lands are found relics of pist races, peoples now known only by the records left in mounds and the accompan ing implements, pottery, etc.-L'armer and Fruit Grower. We recommend all our readers who have time and taste for the study of the past, to procure the American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. The number before us for September is especially rich in papers on those American antiquities which are everywhere becoming matters of interest.-The Wesleyan. The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, edited by Rev. Stephen D. Peet, Chicago, Ill., has a valuable table of contents, and is designed for the most thoughtful class of readers. It is considered authority on the subject of Archæology.-Rural Californian. Subscription Price, $4.00 Per Year. Palenque, at present an insignificant village, marks the site of very famous and extensive ruins. They are the ruins of one of America's oldest cities, and in their pristine completeness were inhabited by a Maya people. They lie within the northern boundary of Chiapas and on the very confines of Tabasco in the southern limits of Mexico. The country about is elevated above the poisonous levels of Tobasco and offers to the eye a wonderful exuberance of vegetable 1.fe which M. Morelet in his travels characterized as le reve biblique de 'l Eden. There, buried in the midst of a dense forest, covering an area larger than Ohio' or Pennsylvania, whose umbrageous solitudes are only broken by the screech of the monkey or illumined by the flash of the firebeetle, rest the remains of one of the great Maya cities. Its very extent is hidden in the vast jungle that enshrouds it, and its mournful edifices are dilapidated by the rank growth of vegetation that invades their sanctuaries, pushes aside their stones and crumbles their tablets and inscriptions. In 1750 the Spanish Government first became aware of the existence of these ruins and in 1787 Captain Antonio del Rio undertook their examination, but not until 1822 did the world of letters profit by his explorations. In 1805, 1806, 1807 Capt. Dupaix executed the second reconnaissance, but in a similar manner his observations failed to see the light until 1834-5. Individual enterprises succeeded these as Waldeck, Morelet, Charnay, Galindo-none, however, more memorable or successful than that of Stephens and Catherwood 1 "The whole State of Tobasco and part of Chiapas are covered with ruins.”—N. A. Review Feb. 1881. Part VI, page 187. "The imagination fails to realize the vast amount of labor it would involve to explore even a tithe of these ancient cities."-N. A. Review, May, 1881. Part VII. *For notes on this article, see editorial, This in 1839-40. 2Fabulous stories of the size of this city have prevailed, as its covering over 20 square miles, but neither corroboration or, indeed denial, can be given so long as the present gigantic wilderness impenetrably conceals its past limits. region, including portions of Tobasco, Chiapas, Yucatan and Honduras, is swept by one vast and thickly woven covering of primeval forests, and doubtless numerous cities are now crumbling into silent ruin unknown, unseen, beneath its gloomy and deadly shades. Palenque was unknown to Cortez, though he passed near them, because even then its glories had become forgotten by the natives 3 The so-called palace (Fig. 1) is the principal structure and here Stephens and Catherwood remained while studying this extinct city. It is a building of hewn stone placed upon a high pyramidal pedestal or terrace of earth which was formerly faced with stone, now littering its mouldering stairs. The terrace is 40 feet high, 310 fect long and 260 feet wide. The palace looking toward the east is 222 feet long by 180 feet deep and is entered by 14 door-ways 9 feet wide, separated by piers 6 and 7 feet wide. Within, are four courts embraced within corridors and communicating with groups of rooms, while its whole intricate ground plan was probably enclosed in an outer corridor which surrounded the building. The piers are faced with painted stucco and elegant bas-reliefs ornament their sides. The height of the building is 25 feet and a projecting cornice of stone gives its top architectural dignity and beauty. Next within the outer corridor comes the inner corridor, running on all sides of the building and only interrupted in places by narrow long rooms or partitions. A long wall ten feet high divides them, and only one door connects the two, through apertures a foot wide of 2" The city extended from north to south about one mile and a quarter and about one mile and three-quarters from east to west."-Part VIII in N. A. Review for June, 1881, page 584. 3 "I still persist in the belief that this palace was inhabited by the priests who served the different temples round about, and that Palenque was a great religious centre like Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago, Cholula, etc."-Part VII. 4 "The more I see of this palace the more forcibly do its corridors remind me of the walks of a cloister."-Part VI. forms like --, T, affording communication between them. They were each 10 feet wide. The ceilings were trapezoidal in shape, and in place of arches the stones ascended in inverted stairs, spanned at their narrowest approach by a flat stone, the whole smoothed by a plane surface of stucco. On penetrating further, a large courtway 80 by 70 feet, is first entered, the sides of whose steps were carved into strange shapes exhibiting astonishing manipulatory skill and expressional power. This courtyard was overgrown and impeded with trees. The other courtyards are smaller but are all decorated with sculpts, stucco ornaments and hieroglyphics. 5A tower three stories high, forms a prominent feature rising above the lower apartments but terminating abruptly against a stone ceiling, and suggesting, from its utter vacuity of design no possible purpose in its now dismantled and imperfect state. This building (Fig. 2) is called the "Palace"" by the natives but whether the name expresses its original purpose is not known. The figures from Catherwood's drawings are instructive and striking. Central America, vol. I. p. 311. One represents a standard bearer, perhaps a royal attendant in 5 Speaking of the ruins of Camalcalco, Charnay says: "Here we found no longer simple ruins, but veritable mountains of ruins. The first ruin that attracted my notice was a square tower surmounted by a gigantic tree like the famous tower of Palenque. To the north of this is a great edifice consisting of two parallel halls. Here again we are reminded of Palenque, but this building is much larger than any in that place, besides it has three square windows, whereas the buildings at Palenque have none."-Part VI., N. A. R., page 187. 6 The cut illustrates the palace restored. The restoration is, however, an imagin ary one and may be very incorrect, for very little is really known of the shape of the : superstructure or the finish of the building.-ED. |