the primitive colonists of that region, and seeks to sustain his views by references to the Dharma Sastra of Manou and the Zend Avesta. The reader has no doubt been surprised at the frequent occurrence of the [Τ]-shaped niches in the Palenque palace, and has observed the same symbol employed on some of the hieroglyphics of the Tablet of the Cross. The Egyptian tau, one of the members of the _Crux ansata_, is certainly present at Palenque, but whether it was derived from any one of the Mediterranean peoples who employed it, cannot be ascertained. Among the Egyptians it signified “life,” as is shown by the best Egyptologists.[592] The tau was usually surmounted by a roundlet, though such was not always the case. On a stele from Korasabad, an eagle-headed man is depicted as holding the oval in one hand and the cross in the other.[593] M. Mariette recently, while exploring the ancient temple of Denderah, discovered the sacred symbol in a niche of the holy of holies. It is probable that this emblem was the central object of interest in these inner precincts of the temple, as it was preserved with scrupulous care as the hidden wisdom.[594] Macrobius tells us that the _crux ansata_ was the hieroglyphic sign of Osiris or the Sun,[595] but other writers inform us that it was an ancient symbol of majesty and divinity, and so employed in a modified form in the hands of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.[596] The associations of the tau in Central America are such as to lead us to believe that it may have had a significance analogous to that which it possessed on the shores of the Mediterranean, the Nile, and the Ganges. The Palenque Cross tablet is a most singular work of American antiquity, and though Mr. Stephens attempted to prove that no analogy exists between it and Egyptian sculptures, still Mr. Bancroft has shown that the former was unfortunate in his selection of Egyptian specimens for the purpose of comparison, since marked analogies between the sculpture of the Vocal Memnon of Thebes and the top of the fallen obelisk at Carnac and the Palenque Tablets exist.[597] [Illustration: Mexican Vases in the National Museum.] [Illustration: Statuettes in the National Museum.]