We will advance another reason for believing that Copan was the first City built in Mexican America,--viz., the _square_ column (or obelisk) _only_, is found there,--while in other ruins, excepting Palenque, the _circular_ is perceptible,--the latter are found at Mitla and Uxmal,--thus establishing (almost conclusively) that those cities were of later erection,--for the square column is easier in formation than the circular,--and the latter is produced from the former,--and consequently _two columns_ are made in producing the circular shaft. The square is, also, better adapted, from its facial character, for the purposes of Sculpture; as illustrated in the Idol-obelisks at Copan,--and that which would be the simplest in construction, and giving the greatest facility for its peculiar adaptation, would naturally be selected by a People for their first Temple:--yet, reserving to themselves for practice at a future day, the knowledge possessed in the more refined branches of the Art:--they subsequently illustrated that superior knowledge at Palenque and Uxmal. In the conclusion of this section, however, it will be shewn that the _square style_ of Architecture was essentially Tyrian, and that it is distinctly visible at Copan and Palenque. An analogy in regard to antiquity is found from the stuccoing or plaistering of the walls. This custom in Art is one of the most ancient on record. Mr. Stephens would infer from the fact of stuccoing that they had a modern origin, and actually calls it in one place--"_plaister of_ PARIS!" The custom is mentioned by the first Lawgiver 1451 YEARS before the Christian Æra! "And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy GOD giveth thee, _that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: and thou shalt_ WRITE _upon them all the words of this law_." [Deut. xxvii. 2, 3.] Here is not only the proof of the ancient custom of stuccoing, or hard plaistering;--but, also, the fact of _Sculpture_, or _writing upon Stucco_,--of course in its damp state, and when dry it became, as at Palenque, "as hard as stone." Again,--It, also, covered the interior of the palatial walls of Babylon, and was the surface upon which was traced the handwriting at Belshazzar's Feast,--this was 538 B. C. "In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick,--upon the _plaister of the wall_ of the King's palace." [Dan. v. 5.] Another analogy is found upon this point of art, as being used by both the ancient Tyrians and the Aborigines;--for the walls of Tyrus were built of large blocks of stone--not very hard--but protected from the weather by _hard white-plaister_,--or _stucco_;--the walls of Palenque seem to be a direct imitation.