Enough has been quoted concerning the ruins of Copan; yet it should be stated, that among those ruins was found a sculptured _Tortoise_,--this will be referred to in the Analogies. As a summary of the ruins of Copan, they are of sculptured _stone_, with the _absence_ of _stucco_; but pyramidal structures and bases; no circular columns, but square or four-sided obelisks, or Idols; Sculptured Altars; flights of steps forming pyramidal slopes, but only on three sides, excepting _in one instance_, and all these bearing distinct testimony of having been painted or dyed with "a red colour;" a perpendicular wall nearly one hundred feet in height; and the sculpture is not only rich in detail, but finely executed. At Copan there is no vestige of wooden beams or lintels in or about the ruins, and no appearance of a roof of any description. The _arch_ is no where found, or any thing indicating that its principle was known to the Copanians. The absence of all _metal_ is another singular feature. The quarry from whence the stone was taken, is about two miles distant from the Temple; and the supposition of Mr. Stephens seems probable--viz., that from the discovery of _flint_-stone, and of the hardest description, the softer stone composing the Altars and Idols, was cut with this flint in lieu of metal. Every thing seems to denote the great antiquity of these ruins over those of any of the other Cities; for it will be shewn that they had a knowledge of the use of metal, and that they had found it. At Ocosingo there is a wooden beam, and at Palenque; and at Uxmal, all the lintels of the doors are of wood, and so hard is its character, that a sharp knife will turn its edge upon it, as if drawn vertically upon a bar of rough steel or iron. Therefore from the facts contained in this summary, together with the "event in the history" of the Chief Altar, and yet to be given,--we have placed Copan as the most ancient, and, as far as discovered, the first architectural City built on the Western Continent. There is one description at Copan which will be reserved for the purpose of refuting (in the subsequent pages) one of Mr. Stephens's conclusions, as expressed in his Reflections upon the collective Ruins of these Cities, "whose antiquity," in the language of the Prophet, "is of ancient days." SECTION III. THE RUINS OF PALENQUE. Palenque is situated in the Province of Tzendales, Mexican America. At the distance of about eight miles from the modern village of Palenque, the now celebrated Ruins are located. They are called the Ruins of _Palenque_ from the name of the nearest village, and not from any history of their own:--like the field of Waterloo--it has given renown to an humble village adjacent. The name, therefore, of "Palenque," can be of no assistance in unfolding the history of these Ruins,--for the original name of the now desolate Temples and Palaces, has been for centuries lost and buried with its fate. Mr. Stephens writes--