Island of I-com-kill, at the monastery of the Culdees, at the
time of the Reformation, there were three hundred and sixty
crosses."[347:2] The Caaba at Mecca was surrounded by three hundred and
sixty crosses.[347:3] This number has nothing whatever to do with
Christianity, but is to be found everywhere among the ancients. It
represents the number of days of the ancient year.[347:4]

When the Spanish missionaries first set foot upon the soil of _America_,
in the fifteenth century, they were amazed to find that the _cross_ was
as devoutly worshiped by the red Indians as by themselves. The hallowed
symbol challenged their attention on every hand, and in almost every
variety of form. And, what is still more remarkable, the cross was not
only associated with other objects corresponding in every particular
with those delineated on Babylonian monuments; but it was also
distinguished by the Catholic appellations, "the tree of subsistence,"
"the wood of health," "the emblem of life," &c.[347:5]

When the Spanish missionaries found that the cross was no new object of
veneration to the red men, they were in doubt whether to ascribe the
fact to the pious labors of St. Thomas, whom they thought might have
found his way to America, or the sacrilegious subtlety of Satan. It was
the central object in the great temple of Cozamel, and is still
preserved on the _bas-reliefs_ of the ruined city of Palenque. From time
immemorial it had received the prayers and sacrifices of the Aztecs and
Toltecs, and was suspended as an august emblem from the walls of temples
in Popogan and Cundinamarca.[347:6]

The ruined city of Palenque is in the depths of the forests of Central
America. It was not inhabited at the time of the conquest of Mexico by
the Spaniards. They discovered the temples and palaces of Chiapa, but of
Palenque they knew nothing. According to tradition it was founded by
Votan in the ninth century before the Christian era. The principal
building in this ruined city is the palace. A noble tower rises above
the courtyard in the centre. In this building are several small temples
or chapels, with altars standing. At the back of one of these altars is
a slab of gypsum, on which are sculptured two figures, one on each side
of a cross (Fig. No. 29). The cross is surrounded with rich
feather-work, and ornamental chains.[348:1] "The style of scripture,"
says Mr. Baring-Gould, "and the accompanying hieroglyphic inscriptions,
leave no room for