Palenibang was conquered by the Englisli in 18 1_', and liy the Dutch in 1821. PALENCIA, pa-lan'the-i. The capital of the Province ol I'ali-ncia in Old Castile, Northern Spain (Map; Spain, CI). It is situated on the left bank of the Carrion, 24 miles north of Valla- dolid, and is an old town with narrow streets and few modern improvements, it lias a beauti- ful episcopal palace and a notable Church of San Miguel with a massive square tower. The most prominent building, however, is the Gothic cathe- dral, which, though it is ill situated and has an uninteresting exterior, is beautifully ornamented within, and contains a rich collection of old Flemish tapestries. The town has a hospi- tal, a bull ring seating 8000 spectators, a pro- vincial institute, a seminary, a normal school, and a numicipal academy of arts. The chief manufactures are shawls and blankets, agricul- tural machinery, fire-works, chocolate, and bricks. Population. in"l8S7, 15.028; in I'.IOO. l.i.tilO. The ancient I'alhintia was the capital of the Vaccici. It was taken by the Romans after an obstinate resistance, and remained an important city through the Middle Ages, being in the twelfth ceriturv the seat of the Castilian kings and Cortes'.
PALENCIA, Diego Ferx. dez. See Fernandez DE Palencia.
PALENQUE, pa-lan'ka. An ancient city of
vast e.xtent lying near the village of ftanto Do-
mingo del Palenque, in the State of Chiapas,
Southern Mexico, and bordering on Guatemala.
It is located on the steep slopes of the Tumbala
foothills amid the most beautiful tropical sur-
roundings. Almost impenetrable vegetation cov-
ers the country, so that up to the present only
six existing ancient structures have been de-
scribed, though it is believed many more exist
in the forest. By a series of walled terraces level
areas on the slopes have been prepared for the
buildings. These were set on steep pyramids,
the sides of which were faced with stone or cov-
ered with steps. Twelve of these pyramids re-
main in the Palenque group, the greatest height
being atH)ut 80 feet. The largest building is
called the Palace: the others are named Temple
of the Inscriptions, of the Sun, of the Cross, of
the Cerro, and of the Beau Relief. The plan of
the temple is simple, showing an oblong, rec-
tangular area, divided into two vaulted chambers,
the front wall pierced with from one to five door-
openings, the middle wall pierced with as many
doorways as there are compartments in the back
chamber. The two vaulted chambers are the unit
of construction, the complicated plan of the pal-
ace being made up of a series of such units. The
vaults are corbeled and have the form of the
so-called JIayan arch, a variety of the triangu-
lar. In the rear chamber were set on the back
wall finely carved slabs of sacred character,
which the building was intended to inclose as a
saYictuary. The exteriors of the buildings present
several remarkable architectural features; above
the vertical walls the roof slopes away at the
slant of the arch within, resembling a mansard:
the top of the roof slopes gently to the ridge,
which is crownied with a high, narrow, perforate
comb in the form of an arch, the walls having
openings crossed with slabs resemblimr a grille.
The exterior of the buildings was surfaced with
plaster and decorated with relief models tinted
with color. The mansard slope had complicated
relief work in stucco representing masks ancl
figures of gods. The latticework roof comb
also bore stucco figures in high relief. The chief
feature of the palace is a unique square tower
40 feet high, of which at present four stories
and a blind story remain. The builders of
Palenque decorated their edifices with sculpture
and modeling exclusively in bas-relief, while those,
of Yucatan sculptured in the round. The most
remarkable of the Palenque reliefs are the tab-
lets from the sanctuaries adorned with figures
and hieroglyphics. Two of them bear lif;ures in
the form of a square cross between standing fig-
ures which have attracted world-wide notice. They
are in low relief and are worked out with a
delicacy of form and refinement of finish si])erior
to that of any other work of stone in this hemi-
sphere. In stucco work also the Palenque artists
were the greatest modelers in America. Colors
were lavishly used and included black, white,
blue, two reds, yellow, and green. While some
dressed stone was used, the finish of the walls
was almost invariably in plaster. Two impor-
tant pieces of engineering are found at Palenque,
one an arched bridge of masonry 30 feet wide
and 40 feet long across the Otolum. and the other
a subterranean arched waterway 500 to 000 feet
long, 10 feet high, and 7 wide, massively built
and inclosing the same stream. New artifacts
have come to light at Palenque : some tombs in
the pyramids have been excavated and terra-
cotta figures showing the characteristic head
profile and costume, beads of jadeite, spindle
whorls, lance-heads, obsidian knives, etc.. have
been found. As to the age of the structures it
does not seem possible to arrive at any deter-
mination. Comparative arch;pologv'. however,
.shows that the builders were of the JIayan stock,
which is responsible for the wonderful architec-
tural remains of Chiapas and Yucatan.
Consult: Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Cen-
tral America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (New York,
1848) ; Bancroft, The "Satire Races of the Pacific
Hiates (ib., 1874-76); Bandelier. Report on an
Archwoloejieal Tour in Mexico 1881 (Cambridge,
1885); Maudslay. Biolopia Centrali-Americana,
A rehaolorj!/ (London. 1897): Holmes, Ancient
Cities of ilexico (Chicago, 18i15) ; Charnay, The
Ancient Cities of the .Yeir World (New Y'ork,
1887) ; Peiiafiel, Monumentos del arte mexicano
antiguo (Berlin, 1890) ; Morgan. Bouses and
House Life of the American Aborigines (Wash-
ington, 1881).
PALEOBOTANY. The branch of paleontol-
ogv- which deals with fossil plants. The terms
vegetable paleontology, fossil botany, phyto-
paleontology, and paleo-phytologv- are useil
synonymously, and within the scope of the sub-
ject is included the consideration of all dead
vegetable matter which is. or which was at any
time, buried in the earth: or which has left its
traces there in the form of casts or impressions
either in solid rock or in incoherent deposits; or
which may have become preserved in whole or in
part by incrustation, by petrifaction, or by car-
bonization.
History. Paleobotany, as a science, is prac- tically a product of the nineteenth century, al- though a number of writers on natural history, Agricola. Albertus Magnus. Matthiolus. Gesner, and others, had long previously described petri-
