FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES[II-1]A general view of South American antiquities is given in another chapter of this volume.[II-2]I might except a Roman coin of the time of Cæsar Augustus, and a buried ship, or galley, of antique model, said to have been discovered in early times by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Panamá, and which figured somewhat largely in early speculations on the question of American origin. I need not say that the evidence for the authenticity of such a discovery is extremely unsatisfactory. See:García,Orígen de los Ind., p. 174, with quotation fromMarineo,Sumario, (Toledo, 1546,) fol. 19—apparently the original authority in the matter—and a reference to other editions and works;Solórzano Pereyra,De Ind. Jure, tom. i., p. 93;Id.Política Ind., tom. i., p. 22;Horn,Orig. Amer., p. 13;Simon,Noticias Historiales, (Cuença, 1626,) lib. i., cap. x.[II-3]Authorities on the Isthmian antiquities are not numerous. Mr Berthold Seemann claims to have been the first to discover stone sculptures near David in 1848, and he read a paper on them before the Archæological Institute of London in 1851. He also briefly mentions them in hisVoy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13, for which work drawings were prepared but not published. Some of the drawings were, however, afterwards printed inBollaert's Antiq. Researches in N. Granada, (Lond., 1860,) and a few cuts of inscribed figures also inserted with farther description by Seemann inPim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 25-32. It is stated in the last-named work that M. Zeltner, French Consul at Panamá, whose private collection contained specimens from Chiriquí, published photographs of some of them with descriptive letter-press. Bollaert also wrote a paper on 'The Ancient Tombs of Chiriquí,' inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 151, 159. On various occasions from 1859 to 1865, travelers or residents on the Isthmus, chiefly parties connected with the Panamá railway, sent specimens, drawings, and descriptions to New York, where they were presented to the American Ethnological Society, or exhibited before and discussed by that body at its monthly meetings, an account of which may be found in theHist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 113, 144, 176-7, 239-41, 274, 338, vol. v., pp. 50-2, vol. vi., pp. 119, 154, vol. ix., p. 158. A report on the Chiriquí antiquities by Dr Merritt was printed by the same society. The above, with slight mentions inCullen's Darien, p. 38, fromWhiting and Shuman's Report on Coal Formations, April 1, 1851, and inBidwell's Isthmus, pp. 37-8, fromHay's Report, inPowles' N. Granada, are the only sources of information on the subject with which I am acquainted.[II-4]Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 25, 28-31;Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13;Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 338.[II-5]Hist. Mag., vol. ix., p. 158.[II-6]Id., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 239-40.[II-7]Three statues presented by Messrs Totten and Center in 1860 were about two feet high, of a dark, hard stone, in human form with features and limbs distorted. Two of them had square tapering pedestals apparently intended to support the figures upright in the ground.Id., vol. iv., p. 144.[II-8]Id., vol. iv., pp. 239-40, 274.[II-9]Hist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 144, 177, 240-1, 274.[II-10]Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 314.[II-11]Cullen's Darien, p. 38.[II-12]Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 25-32;Tate's Ancient British Sculptured Rocks.[II-13]Bidwell's Isthmus, p. 37;Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 176.[II-14]'A much higher antiquity must be assigned to these hieroglyphics than to the other monuments of America.'Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 313.[II-15]Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 50.[II-16]Vol. i., chap. vii. of this work.[II-17]Merritt and Davis, inHist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 176, 274.[II-18]In a work which I have not seen. That author'sCoup d'Œuil sur la République de Costa Rica, andMemoir on the Boundary Question, furnish no information on the subject.[II-19]Wagner and Scherzer,Costa Rica, pp. 465-6, 471, 522-4, 561.[II-20]Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 338-9, and plate.[II-21]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 86;Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 119.[II-22]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 25-6.[II-23]Meagher, inHarper's Mag., vol. xx., p. 317.[II-24]Reichardt,Cent. Amer., pp. 121-2.[II-25]Squier's Nicaragua, p. 511.[II-26]Pownal, inArchæologia, vol. v., p. 318, pl. xxvi.;Humboldt,Vues, tom. ii., p. 205, pl. xiii.; (Ed. in folio, pl. xxxix.);Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 27-8, tom. ii., suppl. pl. vii., fig. xi.[II-27]Colon,Carta, inNavarrete,Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 307;Helps' Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 138.[II-28]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 296-9;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 401.[II-29]Bard's (E. G. Squier) Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore, pp. 216-17, 254, 258-60. The 'King of the Mosquitos' somewhat severely criticised the work, in which, by the way, His Royal Highness is not very reverently spoken of, as 'a pack of lies, especially when it was notorious that the author had never visited the Mosquito Coast.'Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 271.'Le désert qui s'étend le long de la côte de la mer des Antilles, depuis le golfe Dulce jusqu'à l'isthme de Darien, n'a pas offert jusqu'à présent de vestiges indiquant que le peuple auquel on doit les monuments de Palenquè, de Quiragua, de Copan, ait émigré au sud de l'isthme.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 301.[II-30]Squier's Nicaragua;Boyle's Ride Across a Continent. Mr E. G. Squier resided in Nicaragua as Chargé d'Affaires of the United States during the year 1849-50. On account of his position he was afforded facilities for research not enjoyed by other foreigners, and which his well-known antiquarian tastes and abilities prompted and enabled him to use to the best advantage during the limited time left from official duties. Besides the several editions of the work mentioned, Mr Squier's accounts or fragments thereof have been published in periodicals in different languages; while other authors have made up almost wholly from his writings their brief descriptions of Nicaraguan antiquities. SeeWappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 341;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 128-35;Tiedemann, inHeidelberger Yahrb., 1851, pp. 81, 91, 170;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 463, 484, 498, 544;Andree, inWestland, tom. ii., pp. 3, 251;Heine,Wanderbilder, p. 181;Holinski,La Californie, p. 252;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 124. Frederick Boyle, F.R.G.S., visited the country in 1865-6, with the examination of antiquities as his main object. Both works are illustrated with plates and cuts; and both authors brought away interesting specimens which were deposited by the American in the Smithsonian Institution, and by the Englishman in the British Museum. 'J'avoue n'avoir rien rencontré d'important dans mes lectures, en ce qui touche les états de Costa Rica et de Nicaragua.'Dally,Races Indig., p. 12.[II-31]'Nicht ... von abgesonderten Steinen umgeben, sondern fanden sich, in einer Tiefe von drei Fuss, unregelmässig über die Ebene zerstreut.'Friederichsthal, inSivers,Mittelamerika, p. 128;'Les îles du lac, notamment Ométépé semblent avoir servi de sépultures à la population des villes environnantes, ... car on y rencontre de vastes nécropoles ou villes des morts, ressemblant par leur caractère à celles des anciens Mexicains.'Id.inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297; inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100;Woeniger, inSquier's Nicaragua, pp. 509-10;Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 86.[II-32]Plan showing their relative position, inSquier's Nicaragua, p. 477.[II-33]'On y trouve (sur les îles du lac) encore un grand nombre de débris de constructions antiques.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135.[II-34]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 42.[II-35]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 439-41.[II-36]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 10-11.[II-37]Id., vol. ii., pp. 161-2;Squier's Nicaragua, p. 396.[II-38]'Ils montrent avec effroi les débris de la cité maudite, encore visibles sous la surface des eaux.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 149.[II-39]Belcher's Voyage, vol. i., p. 171;Squier's Nicaragua, p. 299.[II-40]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 306-8;Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.[II-41]Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1811, tom. xcii., p. 297;Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.[II-42]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 159-61, 195-212, 291;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 126; On the buildings of the ancient Nicaraguans, see vols. ii. and iii. of this work; alsoBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 114;Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.;Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-6.[II-43]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 154-5.[II-44]Froebel,Aus Amer., tom. i., pp. 379-80;Id.,Cent. Amer., pp. 119-20.[II-45]Livingston, inSquier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 334-5.[II-46]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 212.[II-47]Heine,Wanderbilder, p. 181.[II-48]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 435-41; 'Sur les parois du rocher on voit encore des dessins bizarres gravés et peints en rouge, tels que les donne M. Squier.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 147.[II-49]Mr Boyle found the cliff-paintings to have suffered much since Mr Squier's visit, thirteen years before; so much so that none could be made out except the winged snake and red hand. He also states that yellow as well as red pictures are here to be seen.Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 160-1;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 391-6. In a letter, a fragment of which is published in theAnnual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, p. 364, Mr Squier declares the paintings precisely in the style of the Mexican and Guatemalan MSS., closely resembling, some of the figures indeed identical with, those of the Dresden MS. Pim and Seemann,Dottings, p. 401, also noted the 'coiled-up lizard' and other pictures, calling the locality Asososca Lake. Scherzer,Wanderungen, p. 72, andTrav., vol. i., p. 77, mentions also sculptured figures on this crater-wall.[II-50]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 142-3.[II-51]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 510-17. There were formerly many idols resembling those of Zapatero, but they have been buried or broken up. A group is reported still to be found near the foot of Mt Madeira, but not seen.Woeniger, inId., p. 509.Froebel,Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 261.[II-52]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 180, 470-90, 496;Id., (ed.1856,) vol. ii., p. 336;Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 388. 'L'île de Zapatero a fourni des idoles qui sont comme des imitations grossières du fameux colosse de Memnon, type connu de cette impassibilité réfléchie que les Égyptiens donnaient à leurs dieux.'Holinski,La Californie, p. 252. 'There still exist on its surface some large stone idols.'Scherzer's Trav., vol. i., p. 31. 'Statues d'hommes et d'animaux d'un effet grandiose, mais d'un travail qui annonce une civilisation moins avancée que celle de l'Yucatan ou du Guatémala.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135;Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 122.[II-53]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 42-7;Friederichsthal, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100;Id., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297.[II-54]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 448-57. The head offig. 1is the Mexican sign tochtli. The animal infig. 2may be intended for an alligator.Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 387.[II-55]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 285-7, 295-301, 402;Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 341.[II-56]Belcher's Voyage, vol. i., p. 172;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 179, 402.[II-57]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 264-5, 301-7: 'Some of the statues have the same elaborate head-dresses with others of Copan; one bears a shield upon his arm; another has a girdle, to which is suspended a head.'Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363.[II-58]If idols, to Mr Boyle they indicate a worship of ancestors, of which, however, there seems to be no historical evidence. Mr Pim suggests that the idols of mild expression may be those worshiped before, and those of more ferocious aspect after, the coming of the Aztecs.[II-59]The other Chontal statues more or less fully described are the following: A huge monolith, of which twelve feet six inches were unearthed, having a cross on the breast with two triangles, and the arms and legs doubled back; a head four feet eight inches in circumference, and one foot ten inches high; an idol four feet eight inches high, wearing on its head an ornamented coronet, resembling a circlet of overlapping oyster-shells, with a cross on the left shoulder and a richly carved belt; a stone woman thirty-seven inches high, having the left corner of the mouth drawn up so as to leave a round hole between the lips, and the arms crossed at right angles from the elbows; a very rude idol with pointed cap, holes for eyes, and a slit for a mouth, whose modern use is to grind corn; and lastly, a statue with beard and whiskers.Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 147-9, 158-64, 210-12, 242, 290-5;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 126-8.[II-60]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 290-1, vol. ii., pp. 97, 144-5;Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 126-7.[II-61]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 200-2, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45-6;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 515, 521; cut of the leg of a stone vase,Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339.[II-62]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 256-7.[II-63]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-2, 159, vol. ii., pp. 43, 98;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 521-2;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 126-7.[II-64]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 307-8, 476, 488;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 128.[II-65]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, 201, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45, 86, 90-7;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 299, 490, 509-10;Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-8, 362;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 126;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 128-9.[II-66]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, vol. ii., p. 87;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 509-11.[III-1]Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 341;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 123-4.[III-2]'Hier sollen sich gleichfalls noch ununtersuchte interessante indianische Monumente finden.'Reichardt,Cent. Amer., p. 83. 'Nothing positive is known concerning them.'Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 341. Hassel says they are the remains of the old Indian town of Zacualpa.Mex. Guat., p. 368.[III-3]Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.[III-4]Young's Narrative, p. 48. Mr Young also saw, but does not describe, several 'curious things' besides these chairs where once the antiguos seated, perhaps, their gods of stone.[III-5]Sivers,Mittelamerika, p. 182. 'I understand the adjacent island, Roatan, exhibits yet more proofs of having been inhabited by an uncivilized race.'Young's Narrative, p. 48. 'Jusqu'à ce jour on n'y a découvert aucune ruine importante; mais les débris de poterie et de pierre sculptée qu'on a trouvés ensevelis dans ses forêts, suffisent pour prouver qu'elle n'était pas plus que les autres régions environnantes privée des bienfaits de la civilisation.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 612-3.[III-6]Wells' Explor. Hond., p. 553. Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 166-7, without reference to any particular locality, mentions pottery as frequently found in graves and among ruins, including pipe-heads, cigar-holders, drinking-cups, sacrificial vessels, and jugs.[III-7]Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 132-3;Scherzer's Trav., vol. ii., p. 95;Id.,Wanderungen, p. 371;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 310;Harper's Mag., vol. xix., p. 610, with a cut of the mastodon's tooth.[III-8]Visit to the Guajiquero Ind., inHarper's Mag., vol. xix., pp. 608-11. For account of the DresdenMS., see vol. ii. of this work.[III-9]Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 134-9;Scherzer's Trav., vol. ii., pp. 95;Id.,Wanderungen, p. 371;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 310.[III-10]Atlantic Monthly, vol. vi., p. 49. Las Casas has the following on the province of Honduras at the time of the conquest: 'Tenia Pueblos innumerables, y una vega de treinta leguas y mas, toda muy poblada ... la ciudad de Naco que tenia sobre dos cientas mil animas, y muchos edificios de piedra, en especial los templos en que adoraban.'Hist. Apologética,MS., cap. lii.[III-11]On the north bank of the Copan, in latitude 14° 45´, longitude 90° 52´, four leagues east of the Guatemalan line, twenty leagues above the junction of the Motagua, which is sixty-five leagues from the bay.Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-50. Latitude 14° 39´, longitude 91° 13´ west of Paris; six hundred and forty mètres above the sea level; forty-five leagues from San Salvador, fifty-eight leagues from Guatemala.Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. 'Thirty miles east of Chiquimula.'Cyclopedia.Three hundred miles from the sea, (perhaps by the windings of the stream). By reason of accidental injury to the instruments the latitude and longitude could not be obtained. Situated on the east bank of the stream according to plan.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. 'Until lately erroneously located in Guatemala, are many miles within the boundaries of Honduras, and but a few days' travel from the original landing-place of the Spanish discoverers.'Wells' Explor. Hond., p. 552. Not to be confounded with Coban, metropolis of Vera Paz, one hundred and fifty miles west of Copan.Gallatin, inAmer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 5.[III-12]'Copan was a colony of Tultecos.' 'The Spaniards found Copan inhabited, and in the summit of its perfection.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 546, 549. On the expedition of Cortés referred to, seeAlaman,Disertaciones, tom. i., pp. 203-25;Cogolludo,Hist. Yucathan, pp. 45-58;Cortés,Cartas, pp. 396-492;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 245-74;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. viii., to lib. viii., cap. vii.;Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. x.;Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 278-99;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 588;Villagutierre,Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 39-50;Helps' Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 33-57. Stephens seems to be in some doubt as to the identity of ancient and modern Copan, there being 'circumstances which seem to indicate that the city referred to was inferior in strength and solidity of construction, and of more modern origin.'Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 99-101. 'The ruins of the city of that name and their position do not at all agree with the localities of the severe battle which decided the contest.' 'There is every appearance of these places (Copan and Quirigua) having been abandoned long before the Spanish conquest.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 171. 'Whatever doubts may have existed on the Subject, and as regards the high antiquity of the Ruins of Copan ... they are set at Rest by this Account of Palacio. They were evidently very nearly in their present Condition, at the Time he wrote, three hundred Years ago.'Squier's Pref.toPalacio,Carta, p. 9. 'Certain it is that the latter was a ruin long before the arrival of the Spaniards.'Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 345.[III-13]TheLicenciadoDiego García de Palacio,Oidor(Justice, not Auditor) of theReal Audienciaof Guatemala, in accordance with the duties of his office, traveled extensively in Guatemala and adjoining provinces, embodying the results of his observations on countries and peoples visited in a relation to King Felipe II. of Spain, dated March 8, 1576, which document is preserved in the celebrated Muñoz collection of MSS. It contains a description of the ruins of Copan which exists in print as follows;Palacio,Relacion, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-9;Palacio,Carta dirijida al Rey, Albany, 1860, pp. 88-96, including an English translation by E. G. Squier;Palacios,Description, inTernaux-Compans,Recueil de Doc., pp. 42-4, which is a somewhat faulty French translation;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38-40;Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 242-4; and it is mentioned by Señor J. B. Muñoz in a report on American antiquities, written as early as 1785, of which a translation is given inBrasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, pp. 7-8; Herrera,Hist. Gen., quotes, or rather takes from, Palacio's relation extensively, but omits the portion touching Copan. This first account of the ruins is by no means the worst that has been written. Although naturally incomplete, it is evidently a bona-fide description by an actual visitor, written at a time when the ruins were very nearly in their present condition, and their origin wrapped in mystery, although the stirring events of 1530 were yet comparatively fresh in the memory of the natives. The next account is that inFuentes y Guzman,Recopilacion Flórida de la Historia del Reino de Guatemala,MS., 1689. This work was never printed, although said to be in preparation for the press in 1856.Ximenez,Hist. Ind. Guat., p. vii. Fuentes' description of Copan was, however, given to the public in 1808, inJuarros,Compendio de la Hist. de la Ciudad de Guatemala, a work translated into English in 1823, under the title ofA Statistical and Commercial Hist. of the Kingdom of Guatemala. From Juarros the account is taken by many writers, none, so far as I know, having quoted Fuentes in the original. Where the latter obtained his information is not known. His account is brief, and justly termed by Brasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, p. 14., 'la description menteuse de Fuentes,' since nothing like the relics therein mentioned have been found in later times. Yet it is possible that the original was mutilated in passing through Juarros' hands. This description, given in full in my text, is repeated more or less fully inStephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 131;Warden,Recherches, p. 71;Conder's Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 299-300;Malte-Brun,Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 470-1;Humboldt, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329;Hassel,Mex. Guat., pp. 385-6;Cortés,Adventuras, p. 321, and in many other works mentioned in connection with matter from later sources. Next we have the exploration of Colonel Juan Galindo, an officer in the Central American service, sometime governor of the province of Peten, made in April, 1835. An account of his observations was forwarded to theSociété de Géographieof Paris, and published in theBulletinof that Society, and also in theLiterary Gazetteof London. A communication on the subject was also published inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 545-50; and the information furnished to the French Geographical Society was published en résumé inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73, 76. Ten drawings accompanied Galindo's report, but have never been published, although the author announced the intention of the Central American government to publish his report in full with plates. He says, 'je suis le seul qui ait examiné les ruines de Copan, et qui en ait fait la relation,' but he knew nothing of Palacio's visit. 'Not being an artist, his account is necessarily unsatisfactory and imperfect, but it is not exaggerated.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. 'Had an enquiring mind, but a very superficial Education.'Squier's Pref.toPalacio,Carta, p. 8. Most of Galindo's account is also given with that of Juarros, inBradford's Amer. Antiq., pp. 96-9; also some information from the same source inBrownell's Ind. Races, p. 52, and inLarenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 267. In 1839 Messrs Stephens and Catherwood visited Copan. Mr Stephens, as I find by a careful examination of his book, spent thirteen days in his survey, namely, from November 17 to 30; while Mr Catherwood spent the larger part of another month in completing his drawings. The results of their labors appeared in 1841 and 1844 under the titles:—Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. i., pp. 95-160, with twenty-one plates and seven cuts;Catherwood's Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, in folio, with large lithographic plates. Slight descriptions of the ruins, made up chiefly from Stephens, may be found as follows:—Helps' Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 54-5;Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 76-9, with plan and cut;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 64-74, 57, with plan and plates;Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 57-69, 116;Davis' Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5;Id., (Ed. 1847,) p. 30;Dally,Races Indig., pp. 12-13;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 111-14, with cut;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 308;Tiedemann,Heidelb. Yahrb., 1851, p. 85;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., pl. 9-12, the text being from Galindo and Juarros;Reichardt,Cent. Amer., pp. 91-2;Amérique Centrale,Colonization, pt. ii., p. 68;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462-4, 483;Macgregor's Progress of Amer., pp. 877-8;Frost's Great Cities of the World, pp. 279-82, with cut. Dr Scherzer in 1856 started to explore Copan, but, owing to the political state of the country at the time, was unable to get nearer than Santa Rosa, where the padre said moreover that recent land-slides had much injured the effect of the ruins. This author gives, however, a brief account made up from Stephens, Galindo, and Juarros.Scherzer's Trav., vol. ii., pp. 41, 86-7, 94-5.Id.,Wanderungen, pp. 332, 366, 371. In September, 1856, the Jesuit Padre Cornette is said to have visited the ruins; M. César Daly, at a date not mentioned, prepared on the spot plans and drawings of the different structures which he intended to publish in theRevue Générale de l'Architecture, but whether or not they have ever appeared, I know not; the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg made two visits to Copan in 1863 and 1866; some slight additional information on the subject was communicated by Mr Center, on authority not given, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1860; and Mr Hardcastle, who had spent several weeks in exploring the ruins, furnished some farther notes at a meeting of the same society in April, 1862; and, finally, photographs were made of the ruins by M. Ellerly, director of the Alotepeque silver-mines. But these later explorations have not as yet afforded the public much information, except that the photographs mentioned, when compared by Brasseur de Bourbourg with Catherwood's plates, show the latter as well as Stephens' descriptions to be strictly accurate.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 96, tom. ii., p. 493;Id.,Palenqué, pp. 8, 17;Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114, vol. vi., p. 154.[III-14]The only unfavorable criticism of Mr Stephens' work within my knowledge, is that 'the Soul of History is wanting!' 'The Promethean spark by which the flame of historic truth should illuminate his work, and be viewed as a gleaming beacon from afar, to direct wanderers through the dark night of wonders, has found no spot to rest upon and to vivify!'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 55. And we may thank heaven for the fault when we consider the effects of the said 'Promethean spark' in the work of the immortal Jones.[III-15]Juarros' Hist. Guat., pp. 56-7. That any such structure as the rocking hammock ever existed here is in the highest degree improbable; yet the padre at Gualan told Stephens that he had seen it, and an Indian had heard it spoken of by his grandfather.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144.[III-16]'The extent along the river, ascertained by monuments still found, is more than two miles.' 'Beyond the wall of enclosure were walls, terraces, and pyramidal elevations running off into the forest.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133, 139, 146-7. 'Extended along the bank of its river a length of two miles, as evidenced by the remains of its fallen edifices.' 'Mounts of stone, formed by fallen edifices, are found throughout the neighbouring country.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547, 549-50. 'La carrière ... est à 2000 mètres au nord.' 'Là se trouve beaucoup de bois de sapin pétrifié.'Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. 'The ground, being covered with ruins for many square miles, and much overgrown by a rank vegetation, would require months for a thorough examination.' 'No remains whatever on the opposite side of the river.'Hardcastle, inHist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. 'Les plaines de Chapulco s'étendent entre Copan et le pied des montagnes de Chiquimula. Elles sont couvertes de magnifiques ruines.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 105.[III-17]Plan inStephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 133, reproduced inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57; and inWillson's Amer. Hist., p. 76. Galindo's drawings also included a plan. By reason of the disagreement between Stephens' plan and text in the matter of dimensions, I have omitted the scale as useless. The southern wall of the enclosure, to accommodate the size of my page, I have placed some two hundred feet north of its true position. Those portions of the temple shaded by cross-lines are the portions still standing according to the survey.[III-18]The southern wall in one place rises 30 or 40 feet in steps.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134. 'One wall eighty feet high and fifty feet thick for half its height, or more, and then sloping like a roof, was formed of stones often six feet by three or four, with mortar in the interstices.'Hardcastle, inHist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. Mr Center 'mentioned a Cyclopean wall ... undescribed in any publication, but reported to him by most credible witnesses, about 800 feet long, 40 feet high, —— feet thick, formed of immense hewn stone.'Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114. Stones 'cut into blocks.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 549. Before reaching the ruins 'está señal de paredes gruesas.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37.[III-19]According to Stephens' text, which states that the river or west side is 624 feet, and the whole line of survey, which cannot in this case mean anything but the circumference, is 2866 feet, thus leaving 809 feet each for the northern and southern sides. His plan, and consequently my own, makes the dimensions about 790 feet north and south by 600 east and west, the circuit being thus 2780 feet. 'Not so large as the base of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133. Galindo,Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547, makes the dimensions 750 feet east and west (He calls it north and south, but on the supposition that the ruins are on the north bank of the river instead of the east) by 600 feet north and south, a circumference of 2700 feet; or if his measurements be understood to be Spanish, their English equivalent would be about 690 by 552 feet, circuit 2484 feet. The same author,Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, gives 653 by 524, and 2354 feet; or if French measure be understood, its equivalent is 696 by 588, and 2568 feet. As large as Saint Peter's at Rome.Davis' Antiq. of Amer., pp. 4-5.[III-20]'Broad terrace one hundred feet high, overlooking the river, and supported by the wall which we had seen from the opposite bank,' cut showing a view of this wall from across the river.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 104, 95-6, 139. Same cut inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 112. 'Built perpendicularly from the bank of the river, to a height, as it at present exists, of more than forty yards.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. 'Una torre ó terrapleno alto, que cae sobre el rio que por allé pasa.' 'Hay una escalera que baja hasta el rio por muchas gradas.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38. 'The city-wall on the river-side, with its raised bank, ... must then have ranged from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty feet in height' in imitation of ancient Tyre, the only city of antiquity with so high a wall on a river-bank.Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 63, 161-2.[III-21]At the south-west corner a recess is mentioned which Mr Stephens believes to have been occupied by some large monument now fallen and washed away.Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134.[III-22]This court may have been Fuentes' circus, although the latter is represented as having been circular. The terrace between it and the river is stated by Stephens to be only 20 feet wide; according to the plan it is at least 50 feet.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 142-4, 133, 140. The pavement of the court is 20 yards above the river; the gallery through the terrace is 4 feet high and 2½ feet wide; the vault below the court is 5½ by 10 by 6 feet, its length running north and south with 9° variation of the compass.Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. 'Una plaza muy bien fecha, con sus gradas á la forma que escriben del Coliseo romano, y por algunas partes tiene ochenta gradas, enlosada, y labrada por cierto en partes de muy buena piedra é con harto primor.' The river-wall 'háse caido y derrumbado un gran pedazo, y en lo caido se descubrieron dos cuevas debajo del dicho edificio,' a statement that may possibly refer to the gallery and vault.Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8.[III-23]'There was no entire pyramid, but, at most, two or three pyramidal sides, and these joined on to terraces or other structures of the same kind.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 139. The author intends to speak perhaps of the Temple only, but Mr Jones applies the words to Copan in general, and considers them a flat contradiction of the statement respecting the three detached pyramids.Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 63. 'Les édifices sont tous tombés et ne montrent plus que des monceaux de pierres.'Galindo, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73. 'Several hills, thirty or forty feet in height, and supporting ruins, appeared to have been themselves entirely built of stone.'Hardcastle, inHist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. 'Unas ruinas y vestigios de gran poblazon, y de soberbios edificios.' 'Hay montes que parecen haber sido fechos á manos.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37. The latter sentence is incorrectly translated by M. Ternaux-Compans, 'il y a des arbres que paraissent avoir été plantés de main d'homme.'Recueil de Doc., p. 42. Mr Squier makes the same error: 'Trees which appear to have been planted by the hands of men.' Translation ofPalacio,Carta, p. 91.[III-24]SeeStephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140, 138, 136-7, 134, 149, 158, 157, 156, 155, 153, 152, 150, 151, for description of the statues in their order from 1 to 14, with plates of all but 4, 6, and 12, showing the altars of 7, 10, and 13. Plates of 3, 5, 10, and 13 are copied from Stephens inLarenaudière,Mex. et Guat., pl. ix-xi.; and of No. 13, from the same source, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57. We have already seen the idea of Fuentes respecting these statues, clad in Spanish habits; that of theLicenciadoPalacio is as follows: 'Una estátua grande, de más que quatro varas de alto, labrada como un obispo vestido de pontificial, con su mitra bien labrada y anillos en las manos.' In the plaza, which would seem to be the court A, where no statues were found by Stephens, were 'seis estátuas grandísimas, las tres de hombres armados á lo mosáico, con liga gambas, é sembradas muchas labores por las armas; y las otras dos de mujeres con buen ropaje largo y tocaduras á lo romano; la otra, es de obispo, que parece tener en las manos un bulto, como cofrecito; decian ser de idolos, porque delante de cada una dellas habia una piedra grande, que tenia fecha una pileta con su sumidero, donde degollaban los sacrificados y corria la sangre.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8. Galindo says 'there are seven obelisks still standing and entire, in the temple and its immediate vicinity; and there are numerous others, fallen and destroyed, throughout the ruins of the city. These stone columns are ten or eleven feet high, and about three broad, with a less thickness; on one side were worked, inbasso-relievo, (Stephens states, on the contrary, that all are cut inalto-relievo) human figures, standing square to the front, with their hands resting on their breast; they are dressed with caps on their heads, and sandals on their feet, and clothed in highly adorned garments, generally reaching half way down the thigh, but sometimes in long pantaloons. Opposite this figure, at a distance of three or four yards, was commonly placed a stone table or altar. The back and sides of the obelisk generally contain phonetic hieroglyphics in squares. Hard and fine stones are inserted (naturally?) in many obelisks, as they, as well as the rest of the works in the ruins, are of a species of soft stone, which is found in a neighbouring and most extensive quarry.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548; and inBradford's Amer. Antiq., p. 97. A bust 1m., 68 high, belonging to a statue fifteen to twenty feet high.Galindo, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. Pillars so loaded with attributes that some scrutiny is required to discover from the head in the centre that they represent a human form. An altar not infrequently found beside them would, if necessary, show their use. They are sun-pillars, such as are found everywhere in connection with an ancient sun-religion.Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 464.[III-25]Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-8;Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73, supplementary pl. vii., fig. 14. This head bears a remarkable resemblance to one given by Humboldt as coming from New Granada, shown in fig. 13, of the same plate. Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144, gives the dimensions of the two niches as 1 foot 8 in. by 1 foot 9 in. by 2 feet 5 in.; the relics having been removed before his visit.[III-26]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 103-4, 142-3, with cut. Cut also inLarenaudière,Mex. et Guat., pl. x.[III-27]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140-2, with plates;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 57, 67-8. Plate. Mention of the altar with a comparison of the cross-legged chiefs to certain ornaments of Xochicalco.Tylor's Anahuac, p. 190. The altar is described by Galindo as a very remarkable stone table in the temple, 'two feet four inches high, and four feet ten inches square; its top contains forty-nine square tablets of hieroglyphics; and its four sides are occupied by sixteen human figures inbasso-relievo, sitting cross-legged, on cushions carved in the stone, and bearing each in their hands something like a fan or flapper.'Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548. To Mr Jones, possessed as that gentleman is with the 'Soul of History,' this altar is the 'Rosetta-stone' of American antiquity. The four supporting stones are eggs; serpents occur in the ornaments; the objects held in the hands of the lesser personages of the sides are spiral shells; the figures are seated cross-legged, or in the oriental style; one chief holds a sceptre, the other none. Now these interpretations are important to the author, since he claims that theserpentwas the good demon of the Tyrians; a serpent entwining aneggis seen on Tyrian coins; thespiral shellwas also put on Tyrian medals in honor of the discovery of the famous purple; the style of sitting is one practiced in Tyre; the chief representing Tyre holds no sceptre, because Tyre had ceased to be a nation at the time of the event designed to commemorate. The conclusion is clear: the altar was built in commemoration of an act of friendship between Tyre and Sidon, by which act the people of the former nation were enabled to migrate to America!Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 65-6, 156-62. More of this in a future treatise on origin.[III-28]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 134-9, 156;Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 548-9;Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76;Davis' Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 68-9. Palacio's miscellaneous relics are, a large stone in the form of an eagle with a tablet of hieroglyphics a vara long on its breast; a stone cross three palms high, with a broken arm; and a supposed baptismal font in the plaza.Relacion, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38.[III-29]Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 67;Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 142;Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 197.[III-30]Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 102-3, 151. 'La sculpture monumentale des ruines de Copan peut rivaliser avec quelques produits similaires de l'Orient et de l'Occident européens. Mais la conception de ces monuments, l'originalité de leur ornementation suffit à plus d'un esprit pour éloigner toute idée d'origine commune.'Dally,Races Indig., p. 13.[III-31]'We have this type of skull delineated by artists who had the skill to portray the features of their race. These artists would not select the most holy of places as the groundwork of their caricatures. This form, then, pertained to the most exalted personages.'Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 302, 338-9.[III-32]'The hieroglyphics displayed upon the walls of Copan, in horizontal or perpendicular rows, would indicate a written language in which the pictorial significance had largely disappeared, and a kind of word-writing had become predominant. Intermingled with the pictorial devices are apparently purely arbitrary characters which may be alphabetic.'Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 322. They are conjectured to recount the adventures of Topiltzin-Acxitl, a Toltec king who came from Anáhuac and founded an empire in Honduras, or Tlapallan, at the end of the eleventh century.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 101-2. Like those of Palenque, and some characters of the Dresden MS.Squier's Pref.toPalacio,Carta, p. 10. 'No he hallado libros de sus antigüedades, ni creo que en todo este distrito hay más que uno, que yo tengo.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 39. I have no idea what this one book spoken of may have been. The characters are apparently hieroglyphics, 'but to us they are altogether unintelligible.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 55-6, 66.[IV-1]About five miles down the river from El Pozo de los Amates on the main road from Guatemala to Yzabal, in a forest of cedar and mahogany, about a mile from the left bank of the river, on the estate of the Señores Payes.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-23. Stephens' map locates Quirigua, however, on the south bank of the river. 'Quirigua, village guatémalien, situé sur la route et à huit lieues environ du port de l'Isabal; les ruines qui en portent le nom existent à deux lieues de là sur la rive gauche du fleuve Motagua.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, introd., p. 22. 'Sur la rive gauche de la rivière de Motagua, à milles vares environ de cette rivière.'Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7. 'Liegen in der Nähe des kleinen Dorfes Los Amates, 2 Stunden unterhalb Encuentros, am linken Ufer des Motagua, ¾ Stunde vom Flusse entfernt, mitten im Walde. Der Weg von Yzabal führt in einer Entfernung von 3 Stunden an dem Orte vorbei.'Reichardt,Cent. Amer., p. 69. 'Eine der unbekanntesten und merkwürdigsten Ruinenstätten Central-Amerika's, nahe dem See von Isabal, in einer schwer zugänglichen Wildniss.'Wagner and Scherzer,Costa Rica, p. x. 'Quirigüa, c'est le nom d'une ville considérable, bâtie par les Aztèques à l'époque où florissait la magnifique Anahuac. Ses ruines mystérieuses sont aujourd'hui ensevelies à environ trois lieues du triste village qui porte son nom.'Sue,Henri le Chancelier, pp. 110-11. Nearly two English miles from the river-bank.Scherzer,Quiriguá, p. 5. Mention inWappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 276;Hesse, inSivers,Mittelamerika, p. 256.[IV-2]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-24, with two plates. An account made up from Catherwood's notes was, however, inserted in the Guatemalan newspaperEl Tiempoby the proprietors of the Quirigua estate, and translated into French inLe Moniteur Parisien, from which it was reprinted inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7; and inAmérique Cent., pt. ii., pp. 68-9, both French and Spanish text is given. The same description is also given inValois,Mexique, pp. 202-3. Scherzer's pamphlet on the subject bears the titleEin Besuch bei den Ruinen von Quiriguá im Staate Guatemala in Central-Amerika, (Wien, 1855,) and I have not found it quoted elsewhere.Baily's Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, also contains a brief account from a source not stated, and this is quoted nearly in full inHelps' Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 138-9. The ruins are slightly mentioned inMacgregor's Progress of Amer., vol. i., pp. 878-9, and inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 114-17, where it is incorrectly stated that Mr Stephens personally visited Quirigua. Brasseur de Bourbourg says: 'Nous les avons visitées en 1863, et nous possédons les dessins des plusieurs des monolithes qu'on y voit, faits par M. William Baily, d'Izabal.'Palenqué, introd., p. 22. See also the additional references inNote 1.[IV-3]The French version of Catherwood's notes has it, 'Au centre du cirque, dans lequel on descend par des degrés très-étroits, il y a une grande pierre arrondie, dont le contour présente beaucoup d'hiéroglyphes et d'inscriptions; deux têtes d'homme, de proportion plus grande que nature, parraissent soutenir cette table, laquelle est couverte de végétation dans la plus grande partie.'Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 377.[IV-4]'Wahrscheinlich benutzten die Erbauer einen hier schon vorhandenen grossen Felsblock zu ihren Zwecken, denn der Transport eines Steines von solcher Grösse und Umfang mit den bewegenden Kräften welche diesen Völkern muthmasslich zu Gebote standen, wäre sonst kaum begreiflich.'Scherzer,Quiriguá, p. 7.[IV-5]'Plus inclinée que la tour de Pise.'Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 376.[IV-6]Stephens' text,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 122, leaves it uncertain whether it is the statue or the altar afterwards mentioned which rests on the elevation. The French text, however, indicates that it is the former.[IV-7]SeeNotes 6and3.[IV-8]Baily,Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, sums up all the relics at Quirigua as follows: seven quadrilateral columns, twelve to twenty-five feet high, three to five feet at base; four pieces of an irregular oval shape, twelve by ten or eleven feet, not unlike sarcophagi; two large square slabs seven and a half by three feet and over three feet thick; all except the slabs being covered on all sides with elaborately wrought and well-defined sculptured figures of men, women, animals, foliage, and fanciful representations. All the columns are moreover of a single piece of stone.[IV-9]Yet Scherzer thinks that 'es ist nicht ganz unwahrscheinlich, dass die Monumente von Quiriguá noch zur Zeit der spanischen Invasion ihrer religiösen Bestimmung dienten, und dass auch eine Stadt in der Nähe noch bewohnt war.'Quiriguá, p. 15, although there is no record of such a place in the annals of the conquest.[IV-10]Although Baily,Cent. Amer., p. 66, says 'they do not resemble in sculpture those of Palenque ... nor are they similar to those of Copan.... They suggest the idea of having been designed for historical records rather than mere ornament.'[IV-11]The sculpture presents no old-world affinities whatever. A certain coarseness of execution, implying inferior tools, distinguishes them from the coarsest Egyptian carvings. Both grouping and execution indicate a still "barbaric state of art, with no advanced idea of beauty, the patience and industry of the workmen being more remarkable than their ideas or skill."Scherzer,Quiriguá, p. 11-12.[IV-12]Hesse, inSivers,Mittelamerika, p. 256.[IV-13]Palacio,Carta, pp. 62.[IV-14]Padre Urrutia published an account of his investigations at Cinaca-Mecallo in theGaceta de Guatemala, according toBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81. The most complete description, however, he gave in a letter to E. G. Squier, who published the same in hisCent. Amer., pp. 342-4. The substance of the letter may be found inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 124; and a French version inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 182-6.[IV-15]Juarros' Hist. Guat., pp. 45, 308-9, taking the information fromFuentes,Recopilacion Florida, MS., tom. ii., lib. iv., cap. ii. Of course no importance is to be attached to these and similar reports.[IV-16]Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-4.[IV-17]Valois,Mexique, pp. 430-1.[IV-18]Dupaix,Rel. 3meExpéd., p. 9, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., tom. iii., pl. vii., fig. 12, and inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 290, vol. vi., p. 470, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 12. Kingsborough's translation incorrectly represents this relic as having been found at Palenque, although the original reads 'lo encontró en Guatemala' and the French 'l'a trouvée à Guatemala.' M. Lenoir,Parallèle, p. 72, thinks the engraved device may show some analogy with the astronomical traditions of the ancients, the serpent of the pole, the dragon, the constellation Ophis, the apples of the Hesperides, etc.; and the reverse may be the Mexican tradition of the creation, the Python, or the serpent killed by Cadmus!! Cabrera,Teatro Crítico, pp. 53-5, pl. i., who was the bearer of one of the medals to the king of Spain, speaks of it as made of brass, and pronounces it to be 'a concise history of the primitive population of this part of North America.' The bird, in his opinion, is an eagle with a serpent in its beak and claws. His application of this relic to history will be more appropriate when I come to treat of the origin of the Americans.

[II-1]A general view of South American antiquities is given in another chapter of this volume.

[II-2]I might except a Roman coin of the time of Cæsar Augustus, and a buried ship, or galley, of antique model, said to have been discovered in early times by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Panamá, and which figured somewhat largely in early speculations on the question of American origin. I need not say that the evidence for the authenticity of such a discovery is extremely unsatisfactory. See:García,Orígen de los Ind., p. 174, with quotation fromMarineo,Sumario, (Toledo, 1546,) fol. 19—apparently the original authority in the matter—and a reference to other editions and works;Solórzano Pereyra,De Ind. Jure, tom. i., p. 93;Id.Política Ind., tom. i., p. 22;Horn,Orig. Amer., p. 13;Simon,Noticias Historiales, (Cuença, 1626,) lib. i., cap. x.

[II-3]Authorities on the Isthmian antiquities are not numerous. Mr Berthold Seemann claims to have been the first to discover stone sculptures near David in 1848, and he read a paper on them before the Archæological Institute of London in 1851. He also briefly mentions them in hisVoy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13, for which work drawings were prepared but not published. Some of the drawings were, however, afterwards printed inBollaert's Antiq. Researches in N. Granada, (Lond., 1860,) and a few cuts of inscribed figures also inserted with farther description by Seemann inPim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 25-32. It is stated in the last-named work that M. Zeltner, French Consul at Panamá, whose private collection contained specimens from Chiriquí, published photographs of some of them with descriptive letter-press. Bollaert also wrote a paper on 'The Ancient Tombs of Chiriquí,' inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 151, 159. On various occasions from 1859 to 1865, travelers or residents on the Isthmus, chiefly parties connected with the Panamá railway, sent specimens, drawings, and descriptions to New York, where they were presented to the American Ethnological Society, or exhibited before and discussed by that body at its monthly meetings, an account of which may be found in theHist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 113, 144, 176-7, 239-41, 274, 338, vol. v., pp. 50-2, vol. vi., pp. 119, 154, vol. ix., p. 158. A report on the Chiriquí antiquities by Dr Merritt was printed by the same society. The above, with slight mentions inCullen's Darien, p. 38, fromWhiting and Shuman's Report on Coal Formations, April 1, 1851, and inBidwell's Isthmus, pp. 37-8, fromHay's Report, inPowles' N. Granada, are the only sources of information on the subject with which I am acquainted.

[II-4]Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 25, 28-31;Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13;Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 338.

[II-5]Hist. Mag., vol. ix., p. 158.

[II-6]Id., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 239-40.

[II-7]Three statues presented by Messrs Totten and Center in 1860 were about two feet high, of a dark, hard stone, in human form with features and limbs distorted. Two of them had square tapering pedestals apparently intended to support the figures upright in the ground.Id., vol. iv., p. 144.

[II-8]Id., vol. iv., pp. 239-40, 274.

[II-9]Hist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 144, 177, 240-1, 274.

[II-10]Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 314.

[II-11]Cullen's Darien, p. 38.

[II-12]Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 25-32;Tate's Ancient British Sculptured Rocks.

[II-13]Bidwell's Isthmus, p. 37;Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 176.

[II-14]'A much higher antiquity must be assigned to these hieroglyphics than to the other monuments of America.'Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 313.

[II-15]Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 50.

[II-16]Vol. i., chap. vii. of this work.

[II-17]Merritt and Davis, inHist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 176, 274.

[II-18]In a work which I have not seen. That author'sCoup d'Œuil sur la République de Costa Rica, andMemoir on the Boundary Question, furnish no information on the subject.

[II-19]Wagner and Scherzer,Costa Rica, pp. 465-6, 471, 522-4, 561.

[II-20]Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 338-9, and plate.

[II-21]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 86;Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 119.

[II-22]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 25-6.

[II-23]Meagher, inHarper's Mag., vol. xx., p. 317.

[II-24]Reichardt,Cent. Amer., pp. 121-2.

[II-25]Squier's Nicaragua, p. 511.

[II-26]Pownal, inArchæologia, vol. v., p. 318, pl. xxvi.;Humboldt,Vues, tom. ii., p. 205, pl. xiii.; (Ed. in folio, pl. xxxix.);Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 27-8, tom. ii., suppl. pl. vii., fig. xi.

[II-27]Colon,Carta, inNavarrete,Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 307;Helps' Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 138.

[II-28]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 296-9;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 401.

[II-29]Bard's (E. G. Squier) Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore, pp. 216-17, 254, 258-60. The 'King of the Mosquitos' somewhat severely criticised the work, in which, by the way, His Royal Highness is not very reverently spoken of, as 'a pack of lies, especially when it was notorious that the author had never visited the Mosquito Coast.'Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 271.'Le désert qui s'étend le long de la côte de la mer des Antilles, depuis le golfe Dulce jusqu'à l'isthme de Darien, n'a pas offert jusqu'à présent de vestiges indiquant que le peuple auquel on doit les monuments de Palenquè, de Quiragua, de Copan, ait émigré au sud de l'isthme.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 301.

[II-30]Squier's Nicaragua;Boyle's Ride Across a Continent. Mr E. G. Squier resided in Nicaragua as Chargé d'Affaires of the United States during the year 1849-50. On account of his position he was afforded facilities for research not enjoyed by other foreigners, and which his well-known antiquarian tastes and abilities prompted and enabled him to use to the best advantage during the limited time left from official duties. Besides the several editions of the work mentioned, Mr Squier's accounts or fragments thereof have been published in periodicals in different languages; while other authors have made up almost wholly from his writings their brief descriptions of Nicaraguan antiquities. SeeWappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 341;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 128-35;Tiedemann, inHeidelberger Yahrb., 1851, pp. 81, 91, 170;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 463, 484, 498, 544;Andree, inWestland, tom. ii., pp. 3, 251;Heine,Wanderbilder, p. 181;Holinski,La Californie, p. 252;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 124. Frederick Boyle, F.R.G.S., visited the country in 1865-6, with the examination of antiquities as his main object. Both works are illustrated with plates and cuts; and both authors brought away interesting specimens which were deposited by the American in the Smithsonian Institution, and by the Englishman in the British Museum. 'J'avoue n'avoir rien rencontré d'important dans mes lectures, en ce qui touche les états de Costa Rica et de Nicaragua.'Dally,Races Indig., p. 12.

[II-31]'Nicht ... von abgesonderten Steinen umgeben, sondern fanden sich, in einer Tiefe von drei Fuss, unregelmässig über die Ebene zerstreut.'Friederichsthal, inSivers,Mittelamerika, p. 128;'Les îles du lac, notamment Ométépé semblent avoir servi de sépultures à la population des villes environnantes, ... car on y rencontre de vastes nécropoles ou villes des morts, ressemblant par leur caractère à celles des anciens Mexicains.'Id.inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297; inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100;Woeniger, inSquier's Nicaragua, pp. 509-10;Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 86.

[II-32]Plan showing their relative position, inSquier's Nicaragua, p. 477.

[II-33]'On y trouve (sur les îles du lac) encore un grand nombre de débris de constructions antiques.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135.

[II-34]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 42.

[II-35]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 439-41.

[II-36]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 10-11.

[II-37]Id., vol. ii., pp. 161-2;Squier's Nicaragua, p. 396.

[II-38]'Ils montrent avec effroi les débris de la cité maudite, encore visibles sous la surface des eaux.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 149.

[II-39]Belcher's Voyage, vol. i., p. 171;Squier's Nicaragua, p. 299.

[II-40]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 306-8;Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[II-41]Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1811, tom. xcii., p. 297;Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[II-42]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 159-61, 195-212, 291;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 126; On the buildings of the ancient Nicaraguans, see vols. ii. and iii. of this work; alsoBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 114;Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.;Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-6.

[II-43]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 154-5.

[II-44]Froebel,Aus Amer., tom. i., pp. 379-80;Id.,Cent. Amer., pp. 119-20.

[II-45]Livingston, inSquier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 334-5.

[II-46]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 212.

[II-47]Heine,Wanderbilder, p. 181.

[II-48]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 435-41; 'Sur les parois du rocher on voit encore des dessins bizarres gravés et peints en rouge, tels que les donne M. Squier.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 147.

[II-49]Mr Boyle found the cliff-paintings to have suffered much since Mr Squier's visit, thirteen years before; so much so that none could be made out except the winged snake and red hand. He also states that yellow as well as red pictures are here to be seen.Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 160-1;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 391-6. In a letter, a fragment of which is published in theAnnual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, p. 364, Mr Squier declares the paintings precisely in the style of the Mexican and Guatemalan MSS., closely resembling, some of the figures indeed identical with, those of the Dresden MS. Pim and Seemann,Dottings, p. 401, also noted the 'coiled-up lizard' and other pictures, calling the locality Asososca Lake. Scherzer,Wanderungen, p. 72, andTrav., vol. i., p. 77, mentions also sculptured figures on this crater-wall.

[II-50]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 142-3.

[II-51]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 510-17. There were formerly many idols resembling those of Zapatero, but they have been buried or broken up. A group is reported still to be found near the foot of Mt Madeira, but not seen.Woeniger, inId., p. 509.Froebel,Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 261.

[II-52]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 180, 470-90, 496;Id., (ed.1856,) vol. ii., p. 336;Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 388. 'L'île de Zapatero a fourni des idoles qui sont comme des imitations grossières du fameux colosse de Memnon, type connu de cette impassibilité réfléchie que les Égyptiens donnaient à leurs dieux.'Holinski,La Californie, p. 252. 'There still exist on its surface some large stone idols.'Scherzer's Trav., vol. i., p. 31. 'Statues d'hommes et d'animaux d'un effet grandiose, mais d'un travail qui annonce une civilisation moins avancée que celle de l'Yucatan ou du Guatémala.'Brasseur de Bourbourg, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135;Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., p. 122.

[II-53]Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 42-7;Friederichsthal, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100;Id., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297.

[II-54]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 448-57. The head offig. 1is the Mexican sign tochtli. The animal infig. 2may be intended for an alligator.Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 387.

[II-55]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 285-7, 295-301, 402;Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 341.

[II-56]Belcher's Voyage, vol. i., p. 172;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 179, 402.

[II-57]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 264-5, 301-7: 'Some of the statues have the same elaborate head-dresses with others of Copan; one bears a shield upon his arm; another has a girdle, to which is suspended a head.'Id., inAnnual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363.

[II-58]If idols, to Mr Boyle they indicate a worship of ancestors, of which, however, there seems to be no historical evidence. Mr Pim suggests that the idols of mild expression may be those worshiped before, and those of more ferocious aspect after, the coming of the Aztecs.

[II-59]The other Chontal statues more or less fully described are the following: A huge monolith, of which twelve feet six inches were unearthed, having a cross on the breast with two triangles, and the arms and legs doubled back; a head four feet eight inches in circumference, and one foot ten inches high; an idol four feet eight inches high, wearing on its head an ornamented coronet, resembling a circlet of overlapping oyster-shells, with a cross on the left shoulder and a richly carved belt; a stone woman thirty-seven inches high, having the left corner of the mouth drawn up so as to leave a round hole between the lips, and the arms crossed at right angles from the elbows; a very rude idol with pointed cap, holes for eyes, and a slit for a mouth, whose modern use is to grind corn; and lastly, a statue with beard and whiskers.Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 147-9, 158-64, 210-12, 242, 290-5;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 126-8.

[II-60]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 290-1, vol. ii., pp. 97, 144-5;Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 126-7.

[II-61]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 200-2, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45-6;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 515, 521; cut of the leg of a stone vase,Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339.

[II-62]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 256-7.

[II-63]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-2, 159, vol. ii., pp. 43, 98;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 521-2;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 126-7.

[II-64]Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 307-8, 476, 488;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 128.

[II-65]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, 201, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45, 86, 90-7;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 299, 490, 509-10;Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-8, 362;Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 126;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 128-9.

[II-66]Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, vol. ii., p. 87;Squier's Nicaragua, pp. 509-11.

[III-1]Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 341;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 123-4.

[III-2]'Hier sollen sich gleichfalls noch ununtersuchte interessante indianische Monumente finden.'Reichardt,Cent. Amer., p. 83. 'Nothing positive is known concerning them.'Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 341. Hassel says they are the remains of the old Indian town of Zacualpa.Mex. Guat., p. 368.

[III-3]Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[III-4]Young's Narrative, p. 48. Mr Young also saw, but does not describe, several 'curious things' besides these chairs where once the antiguos seated, perhaps, their gods of stone.

[III-5]Sivers,Mittelamerika, p. 182. 'I understand the adjacent island, Roatan, exhibits yet more proofs of having been inhabited by an uncivilized race.'Young's Narrative, p. 48. 'Jusqu'à ce jour on n'y a découvert aucune ruine importante; mais les débris de poterie et de pierre sculptée qu'on a trouvés ensevelis dans ses forêts, suffisent pour prouver qu'elle n'était pas plus que les autres régions environnantes privée des bienfaits de la civilisation.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 612-3.

[III-6]Wells' Explor. Hond., p. 553. Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 166-7, without reference to any particular locality, mentions pottery as frequently found in graves and among ruins, including pipe-heads, cigar-holders, drinking-cups, sacrificial vessels, and jugs.

[III-7]Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 132-3;Scherzer's Trav., vol. ii., p. 95;Id.,Wanderungen, p. 371;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 310;Harper's Mag., vol. xix., p. 610, with a cut of the mastodon's tooth.

[III-8]Visit to the Guajiquero Ind., inHarper's Mag., vol. xix., pp. 608-11. For account of the DresdenMS., see vol. ii. of this work.

[III-9]Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 134-9;Scherzer's Trav., vol. ii., pp. 95;Id.,Wanderungen, p. 371;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 310.

[III-10]Atlantic Monthly, vol. vi., p. 49. Las Casas has the following on the province of Honduras at the time of the conquest: 'Tenia Pueblos innumerables, y una vega de treinta leguas y mas, toda muy poblada ... la ciudad de Naco que tenia sobre dos cientas mil animas, y muchos edificios de piedra, en especial los templos en que adoraban.'Hist. Apologética,MS., cap. lii.

[III-11]On the north bank of the Copan, in latitude 14° 45´, longitude 90° 52´, four leagues east of the Guatemalan line, twenty leagues above the junction of the Motagua, which is sixty-five leagues from the bay.Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-50. Latitude 14° 39´, longitude 91° 13´ west of Paris; six hundred and forty mètres above the sea level; forty-five leagues from San Salvador, fifty-eight leagues from Guatemala.Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. 'Thirty miles east of Chiquimula.'Cyclopedia.Three hundred miles from the sea, (perhaps by the windings of the stream). By reason of accidental injury to the instruments the latitude and longitude could not be obtained. Situated on the east bank of the stream according to plan.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. 'Until lately erroneously located in Guatemala, are many miles within the boundaries of Honduras, and but a few days' travel from the original landing-place of the Spanish discoverers.'Wells' Explor. Hond., p. 552. Not to be confounded with Coban, metropolis of Vera Paz, one hundred and fifty miles west of Copan.Gallatin, inAmer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 5.

[III-12]'Copan was a colony of Tultecos.' 'The Spaniards found Copan inhabited, and in the summit of its perfection.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 546, 549. On the expedition of Cortés referred to, seeAlaman,Disertaciones, tom. i., pp. 203-25;Cogolludo,Hist. Yucathan, pp. 45-58;Cortés,Cartas, pp. 396-492;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 245-74;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. viii., to lib. viii., cap. vii.;Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. x.;Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 278-99;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 588;Villagutierre,Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 39-50;Helps' Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 33-57. Stephens seems to be in some doubt as to the identity of ancient and modern Copan, there being 'circumstances which seem to indicate that the city referred to was inferior in strength and solidity of construction, and of more modern origin.'Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 99-101. 'The ruins of the city of that name and their position do not at all agree with the localities of the severe battle which decided the contest.' 'There is every appearance of these places (Copan and Quirigua) having been abandoned long before the Spanish conquest.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 171. 'Whatever doubts may have existed on the Subject, and as regards the high antiquity of the Ruins of Copan ... they are set at Rest by this Account of Palacio. They were evidently very nearly in their present Condition, at the Time he wrote, three hundred Years ago.'Squier's Pref.toPalacio,Carta, p. 9. 'Certain it is that the latter was a ruin long before the arrival of the Spaniards.'Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 345.

[III-13]TheLicenciadoDiego García de Palacio,Oidor(Justice, not Auditor) of theReal Audienciaof Guatemala, in accordance with the duties of his office, traveled extensively in Guatemala and adjoining provinces, embodying the results of his observations on countries and peoples visited in a relation to King Felipe II. of Spain, dated March 8, 1576, which document is preserved in the celebrated Muñoz collection of MSS. It contains a description of the ruins of Copan which exists in print as follows;Palacio,Relacion, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-9;Palacio,Carta dirijida al Rey, Albany, 1860, pp. 88-96, including an English translation by E. G. Squier;Palacios,Description, inTernaux-Compans,Recueil de Doc., pp. 42-4, which is a somewhat faulty French translation;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38-40;Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 242-4; and it is mentioned by Señor J. B. Muñoz in a report on American antiquities, written as early as 1785, of which a translation is given inBrasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, pp. 7-8; Herrera,Hist. Gen., quotes, or rather takes from, Palacio's relation extensively, but omits the portion touching Copan. This first account of the ruins is by no means the worst that has been written. Although naturally incomplete, it is evidently a bona-fide description by an actual visitor, written at a time when the ruins were very nearly in their present condition, and their origin wrapped in mystery, although the stirring events of 1530 were yet comparatively fresh in the memory of the natives. The next account is that inFuentes y Guzman,Recopilacion Flórida de la Historia del Reino de Guatemala,MS., 1689. This work was never printed, although said to be in preparation for the press in 1856.Ximenez,Hist. Ind. Guat., p. vii. Fuentes' description of Copan was, however, given to the public in 1808, inJuarros,Compendio de la Hist. de la Ciudad de Guatemala, a work translated into English in 1823, under the title ofA Statistical and Commercial Hist. of the Kingdom of Guatemala. From Juarros the account is taken by many writers, none, so far as I know, having quoted Fuentes in the original. Where the latter obtained his information is not known. His account is brief, and justly termed by Brasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, p. 14., 'la description menteuse de Fuentes,' since nothing like the relics therein mentioned have been found in later times. Yet it is possible that the original was mutilated in passing through Juarros' hands. This description, given in full in my text, is repeated more or less fully inStephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 131;Warden,Recherches, p. 71;Conder's Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 299-300;Malte-Brun,Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 470-1;Humboldt, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329;Hassel,Mex. Guat., pp. 385-6;Cortés,Adventuras, p. 321, and in many other works mentioned in connection with matter from later sources. Next we have the exploration of Colonel Juan Galindo, an officer in the Central American service, sometime governor of the province of Peten, made in April, 1835. An account of his observations was forwarded to theSociété de Géographieof Paris, and published in theBulletinof that Society, and also in theLiterary Gazetteof London. A communication on the subject was also published inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 545-50; and the information furnished to the French Geographical Society was published en résumé inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73, 76. Ten drawings accompanied Galindo's report, but have never been published, although the author announced the intention of the Central American government to publish his report in full with plates. He says, 'je suis le seul qui ait examiné les ruines de Copan, et qui en ait fait la relation,' but he knew nothing of Palacio's visit. 'Not being an artist, his account is necessarily unsatisfactory and imperfect, but it is not exaggerated.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. 'Had an enquiring mind, but a very superficial Education.'Squier's Pref.toPalacio,Carta, p. 8. Most of Galindo's account is also given with that of Juarros, inBradford's Amer. Antiq., pp. 96-9; also some information from the same source inBrownell's Ind. Races, p. 52, and inLarenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 267. In 1839 Messrs Stephens and Catherwood visited Copan. Mr Stephens, as I find by a careful examination of his book, spent thirteen days in his survey, namely, from November 17 to 30; while Mr Catherwood spent the larger part of another month in completing his drawings. The results of their labors appeared in 1841 and 1844 under the titles:—Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. i., pp. 95-160, with twenty-one plates and seven cuts;Catherwood's Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, in folio, with large lithographic plates. Slight descriptions of the ruins, made up chiefly from Stephens, may be found as follows:—Helps' Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 54-5;Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 76-9, with plan and cut;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 64-74, 57, with plan and plates;Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 57-69, 116;Davis' Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5;Id., (Ed. 1847,) p. 30;Dally,Races Indig., pp. 12-13;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 111-14, with cut;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 308;Tiedemann,Heidelb. Yahrb., 1851, p. 85;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., pl. 9-12, the text being from Galindo and Juarros;Reichardt,Cent. Amer., pp. 91-2;Amérique Centrale,Colonization, pt. ii., p. 68;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462-4, 483;Macgregor's Progress of Amer., pp. 877-8;Frost's Great Cities of the World, pp. 279-82, with cut. Dr Scherzer in 1856 started to explore Copan, but, owing to the political state of the country at the time, was unable to get nearer than Santa Rosa, where the padre said moreover that recent land-slides had much injured the effect of the ruins. This author gives, however, a brief account made up from Stephens, Galindo, and Juarros.Scherzer's Trav., vol. ii., pp. 41, 86-7, 94-5.Id.,Wanderungen, pp. 332, 366, 371. In September, 1856, the Jesuit Padre Cornette is said to have visited the ruins; M. César Daly, at a date not mentioned, prepared on the spot plans and drawings of the different structures which he intended to publish in theRevue Générale de l'Architecture, but whether or not they have ever appeared, I know not; the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg made two visits to Copan in 1863 and 1866; some slight additional information on the subject was communicated by Mr Center, on authority not given, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1860; and Mr Hardcastle, who had spent several weeks in exploring the ruins, furnished some farther notes at a meeting of the same society in April, 1862; and, finally, photographs were made of the ruins by M. Ellerly, director of the Alotepeque silver-mines. But these later explorations have not as yet afforded the public much information, except that the photographs mentioned, when compared by Brasseur de Bourbourg with Catherwood's plates, show the latter as well as Stephens' descriptions to be strictly accurate.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 96, tom. ii., p. 493;Id.,Palenqué, pp. 8, 17;Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114, vol. vi., p. 154.

[III-14]The only unfavorable criticism of Mr Stephens' work within my knowledge, is that 'the Soul of History is wanting!' 'The Promethean spark by which the flame of historic truth should illuminate his work, and be viewed as a gleaming beacon from afar, to direct wanderers through the dark night of wonders, has found no spot to rest upon and to vivify!'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 55. And we may thank heaven for the fault when we consider the effects of the said 'Promethean spark' in the work of the immortal Jones.

[III-15]Juarros' Hist. Guat., pp. 56-7. That any such structure as the rocking hammock ever existed here is in the highest degree improbable; yet the padre at Gualan told Stephens that he had seen it, and an Indian had heard it spoken of by his grandfather.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144.

[III-16]'The extent along the river, ascertained by monuments still found, is more than two miles.' 'Beyond the wall of enclosure were walls, terraces, and pyramidal elevations running off into the forest.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133, 139, 146-7. 'Extended along the bank of its river a length of two miles, as evidenced by the remains of its fallen edifices.' 'Mounts of stone, formed by fallen edifices, are found throughout the neighbouring country.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547, 549-50. 'La carrière ... est à 2000 mètres au nord.' 'Là se trouve beaucoup de bois de sapin pétrifié.'Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. 'The ground, being covered with ruins for many square miles, and much overgrown by a rank vegetation, would require months for a thorough examination.' 'No remains whatever on the opposite side of the river.'Hardcastle, inHist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. 'Les plaines de Chapulco s'étendent entre Copan et le pied des montagnes de Chiquimula. Elles sont couvertes de magnifiques ruines.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 105.

[III-17]Plan inStephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 133, reproduced inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57; and inWillson's Amer. Hist., p. 76. Galindo's drawings also included a plan. By reason of the disagreement between Stephens' plan and text in the matter of dimensions, I have omitted the scale as useless. The southern wall of the enclosure, to accommodate the size of my page, I have placed some two hundred feet north of its true position. Those portions of the temple shaded by cross-lines are the portions still standing according to the survey.

[III-18]The southern wall in one place rises 30 or 40 feet in steps.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134. 'One wall eighty feet high and fifty feet thick for half its height, or more, and then sloping like a roof, was formed of stones often six feet by three or four, with mortar in the interstices.'Hardcastle, inHist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. Mr Center 'mentioned a Cyclopean wall ... undescribed in any publication, but reported to him by most credible witnesses, about 800 feet long, 40 feet high, —— feet thick, formed of immense hewn stone.'Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114. Stones 'cut into blocks.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 549. Before reaching the ruins 'está señal de paredes gruesas.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37.

[III-19]According to Stephens' text, which states that the river or west side is 624 feet, and the whole line of survey, which cannot in this case mean anything but the circumference, is 2866 feet, thus leaving 809 feet each for the northern and southern sides. His plan, and consequently my own, makes the dimensions about 790 feet north and south by 600 east and west, the circuit being thus 2780 feet. 'Not so large as the base of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133. Galindo,Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547, makes the dimensions 750 feet east and west (He calls it north and south, but on the supposition that the ruins are on the north bank of the river instead of the east) by 600 feet north and south, a circumference of 2700 feet; or if his measurements be understood to be Spanish, their English equivalent would be about 690 by 552 feet, circuit 2484 feet. The same author,Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, gives 653 by 524, and 2354 feet; or if French measure be understood, its equivalent is 696 by 588, and 2568 feet. As large as Saint Peter's at Rome.Davis' Antiq. of Amer., pp. 4-5.

[III-20]'Broad terrace one hundred feet high, overlooking the river, and supported by the wall which we had seen from the opposite bank,' cut showing a view of this wall from across the river.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 104, 95-6, 139. Same cut inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 112. 'Built perpendicularly from the bank of the river, to a height, as it at present exists, of more than forty yards.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. 'Una torre ó terrapleno alto, que cae sobre el rio que por allé pasa.' 'Hay una escalera que baja hasta el rio por muchas gradas.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38. 'The city-wall on the river-side, with its raised bank, ... must then have ranged from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty feet in height' in imitation of ancient Tyre, the only city of antiquity with so high a wall on a river-bank.Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 63, 161-2.

[III-21]At the south-west corner a recess is mentioned which Mr Stephens believes to have been occupied by some large monument now fallen and washed away.Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134.

[III-22]This court may have been Fuentes' circus, although the latter is represented as having been circular. The terrace between it and the river is stated by Stephens to be only 20 feet wide; according to the plan it is at least 50 feet.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 142-4, 133, 140. The pavement of the court is 20 yards above the river; the gallery through the terrace is 4 feet high and 2½ feet wide; the vault below the court is 5½ by 10 by 6 feet, its length running north and south with 9° variation of the compass.Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. 'Una plaza muy bien fecha, con sus gradas á la forma que escriben del Coliseo romano, y por algunas partes tiene ochenta gradas, enlosada, y labrada por cierto en partes de muy buena piedra é con harto primor.' The river-wall 'háse caido y derrumbado un gran pedazo, y en lo caido se descubrieron dos cuevas debajo del dicho edificio,' a statement that may possibly refer to the gallery and vault.Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8.

[III-23]'There was no entire pyramid, but, at most, two or three pyramidal sides, and these joined on to terraces or other structures of the same kind.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 139. The author intends to speak perhaps of the Temple only, but Mr Jones applies the words to Copan in general, and considers them a flat contradiction of the statement respecting the three detached pyramids.Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 63. 'Les édifices sont tous tombés et ne montrent plus que des monceaux de pierres.'Galindo, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73. 'Several hills, thirty or forty feet in height, and supporting ruins, appeared to have been themselves entirely built of stone.'Hardcastle, inHist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. 'Unas ruinas y vestigios de gran poblazon, y de soberbios edificios.' 'Hay montes que parecen haber sido fechos á manos.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37. The latter sentence is incorrectly translated by M. Ternaux-Compans, 'il y a des arbres que paraissent avoir été plantés de main d'homme.'Recueil de Doc., p. 42. Mr Squier makes the same error: 'Trees which appear to have been planted by the hands of men.' Translation ofPalacio,Carta, p. 91.

[III-24]SeeStephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140, 138, 136-7, 134, 149, 158, 157, 156, 155, 153, 152, 150, 151, for description of the statues in their order from 1 to 14, with plates of all but 4, 6, and 12, showing the altars of 7, 10, and 13. Plates of 3, 5, 10, and 13 are copied from Stephens inLarenaudière,Mex. et Guat., pl. ix-xi.; and of No. 13, from the same source, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57. We have already seen the idea of Fuentes respecting these statues, clad in Spanish habits; that of theLicenciadoPalacio is as follows: 'Una estátua grande, de más que quatro varas de alto, labrada como un obispo vestido de pontificial, con su mitra bien labrada y anillos en las manos.' In the plaza, which would seem to be the court A, where no statues were found by Stephens, were 'seis estátuas grandísimas, las tres de hombres armados á lo mosáico, con liga gambas, é sembradas muchas labores por las armas; y las otras dos de mujeres con buen ropaje largo y tocaduras á lo romano; la otra, es de obispo, que parece tener en las manos un bulto, como cofrecito; decian ser de idolos, porque delante de cada una dellas habia una piedra grande, que tenia fecha una pileta con su sumidero, donde degollaban los sacrificados y corria la sangre.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8. Galindo says 'there are seven obelisks still standing and entire, in the temple and its immediate vicinity; and there are numerous others, fallen and destroyed, throughout the ruins of the city. These stone columns are ten or eleven feet high, and about three broad, with a less thickness; on one side were worked, inbasso-relievo, (Stephens states, on the contrary, that all are cut inalto-relievo) human figures, standing square to the front, with their hands resting on their breast; they are dressed with caps on their heads, and sandals on their feet, and clothed in highly adorned garments, generally reaching half way down the thigh, but sometimes in long pantaloons. Opposite this figure, at a distance of three or four yards, was commonly placed a stone table or altar. The back and sides of the obelisk generally contain phonetic hieroglyphics in squares. Hard and fine stones are inserted (naturally?) in many obelisks, as they, as well as the rest of the works in the ruins, are of a species of soft stone, which is found in a neighbouring and most extensive quarry.'Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548; and inBradford's Amer. Antiq., p. 97. A bust 1m., 68 high, belonging to a statue fifteen to twenty feet high.Galindo, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. Pillars so loaded with attributes that some scrutiny is required to discover from the head in the centre that they represent a human form. An altar not infrequently found beside them would, if necessary, show their use. They are sun-pillars, such as are found everywhere in connection with an ancient sun-religion.Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 464.

[III-25]Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-8;Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73, supplementary pl. vii., fig. 14. This head bears a remarkable resemblance to one given by Humboldt as coming from New Granada, shown in fig. 13, of the same plate. Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144, gives the dimensions of the two niches as 1 foot 8 in. by 1 foot 9 in. by 2 feet 5 in.; the relics having been removed before his visit.

[III-26]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 103-4, 142-3, with cut. Cut also inLarenaudière,Mex. et Guat., pl. x.

[III-27]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140-2, with plates;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 57, 67-8. Plate. Mention of the altar with a comparison of the cross-legged chiefs to certain ornaments of Xochicalco.Tylor's Anahuac, p. 190. The altar is described by Galindo as a very remarkable stone table in the temple, 'two feet four inches high, and four feet ten inches square; its top contains forty-nine square tablets of hieroglyphics; and its four sides are occupied by sixteen human figures inbasso-relievo, sitting cross-legged, on cushions carved in the stone, and bearing each in their hands something like a fan or flapper.'Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548. To Mr Jones, possessed as that gentleman is with the 'Soul of History,' this altar is the 'Rosetta-stone' of American antiquity. The four supporting stones are eggs; serpents occur in the ornaments; the objects held in the hands of the lesser personages of the sides are spiral shells; the figures are seated cross-legged, or in the oriental style; one chief holds a sceptre, the other none. Now these interpretations are important to the author, since he claims that theserpentwas the good demon of the Tyrians; a serpent entwining aneggis seen on Tyrian coins; thespiral shellwas also put on Tyrian medals in honor of the discovery of the famous purple; the style of sitting is one practiced in Tyre; the chief representing Tyre holds no sceptre, because Tyre had ceased to be a nation at the time of the event designed to commemorate. The conclusion is clear: the altar was built in commemoration of an act of friendship between Tyre and Sidon, by which act the people of the former nation were enabled to migrate to America!Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 65-6, 156-62. More of this in a future treatise on origin.

[III-28]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 134-9, 156;Galindo, inAmer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 548-9;Id., inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76;Davis' Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 68-9. Palacio's miscellaneous relics are, a large stone in the form of an eagle with a tablet of hieroglyphics a vara long on its breast; a stone cross three palms high, with a broken arm; and a supposed baptismal font in the plaza.Relacion, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38.

[III-29]Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 67;Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 142;Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 197.

[III-30]Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 102-3, 151. 'La sculpture monumentale des ruines de Copan peut rivaliser avec quelques produits similaires de l'Orient et de l'Occident européens. Mais la conception de ces monuments, l'originalité de leur ornementation suffit à plus d'un esprit pour éloigner toute idée d'origine commune.'Dally,Races Indig., p. 13.

[III-31]'We have this type of skull delineated by artists who had the skill to portray the features of their race. These artists would not select the most holy of places as the groundwork of their caricatures. This form, then, pertained to the most exalted personages.'Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 302, 338-9.

[III-32]'The hieroglyphics displayed upon the walls of Copan, in horizontal or perpendicular rows, would indicate a written language in which the pictorial significance had largely disappeared, and a kind of word-writing had become predominant. Intermingled with the pictorial devices are apparently purely arbitrary characters which may be alphabetic.'Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 322. They are conjectured to recount the adventures of Topiltzin-Acxitl, a Toltec king who came from Anáhuac and founded an empire in Honduras, or Tlapallan, at the end of the eleventh century.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 101-2. Like those of Palenque, and some characters of the Dresden MS.Squier's Pref.toPalacio,Carta, p. 10. 'No he hallado libros de sus antigüedades, ni creo que en todo este distrito hay más que uno, que yo tengo.'Palacio, inPacheco,Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 39. I have no idea what this one book spoken of may have been. The characters are apparently hieroglyphics, 'but to us they are altogether unintelligible.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 55-6, 66.

[IV-1]About five miles down the river from El Pozo de los Amates on the main road from Guatemala to Yzabal, in a forest of cedar and mahogany, about a mile from the left bank of the river, on the estate of the Señores Payes.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-23. Stephens' map locates Quirigua, however, on the south bank of the river. 'Quirigua, village guatémalien, situé sur la route et à huit lieues environ du port de l'Isabal; les ruines qui en portent le nom existent à deux lieues de là sur la rive gauche du fleuve Motagua.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, introd., p. 22. 'Sur la rive gauche de la rivière de Motagua, à milles vares environ de cette rivière.'Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7. 'Liegen in der Nähe des kleinen Dorfes Los Amates, 2 Stunden unterhalb Encuentros, am linken Ufer des Motagua, ¾ Stunde vom Flusse entfernt, mitten im Walde. Der Weg von Yzabal führt in einer Entfernung von 3 Stunden an dem Orte vorbei.'Reichardt,Cent. Amer., p. 69. 'Eine der unbekanntesten und merkwürdigsten Ruinenstätten Central-Amerika's, nahe dem See von Isabal, in einer schwer zugänglichen Wildniss.'Wagner and Scherzer,Costa Rica, p. x. 'Quirigüa, c'est le nom d'une ville considérable, bâtie par les Aztèques à l'époque où florissait la magnifique Anahuac. Ses ruines mystérieuses sont aujourd'hui ensevelies à environ trois lieues du triste village qui porte son nom.'Sue,Henri le Chancelier, pp. 110-11. Nearly two English miles from the river-bank.Scherzer,Quiriguá, p. 5. Mention inWappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 276;Hesse, inSivers,Mittelamerika, p. 256.

[IV-2]Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-24, with two plates. An account made up from Catherwood's notes was, however, inserted in the Guatemalan newspaperEl Tiempoby the proprietors of the Quirigua estate, and translated into French inLe Moniteur Parisien, from which it was reprinted inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7; and inAmérique Cent., pt. ii., pp. 68-9, both French and Spanish text is given. The same description is also given inValois,Mexique, pp. 202-3. Scherzer's pamphlet on the subject bears the titleEin Besuch bei den Ruinen von Quiriguá im Staate Guatemala in Central-Amerika, (Wien, 1855,) and I have not found it quoted elsewhere.Baily's Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, also contains a brief account from a source not stated, and this is quoted nearly in full inHelps' Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 138-9. The ruins are slightly mentioned inMacgregor's Progress of Amer., vol. i., pp. 878-9, and inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 114-17, where it is incorrectly stated that Mr Stephens personally visited Quirigua. Brasseur de Bourbourg says: 'Nous les avons visitées en 1863, et nous possédons les dessins des plusieurs des monolithes qu'on y voit, faits par M. William Baily, d'Izabal.'Palenqué, introd., p. 22. See also the additional references inNote 1.

[IV-3]The French version of Catherwood's notes has it, 'Au centre du cirque, dans lequel on descend par des degrés très-étroits, il y a une grande pierre arrondie, dont le contour présente beaucoup d'hiéroglyphes et d'inscriptions; deux têtes d'homme, de proportion plus grande que nature, parraissent soutenir cette table, laquelle est couverte de végétation dans la plus grande partie.'Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 377.

[IV-4]'Wahrscheinlich benutzten die Erbauer einen hier schon vorhandenen grossen Felsblock zu ihren Zwecken, denn der Transport eines Steines von solcher Grösse und Umfang mit den bewegenden Kräften welche diesen Völkern muthmasslich zu Gebote standen, wäre sonst kaum begreiflich.'Scherzer,Quiriguá, p. 7.

[IV-5]'Plus inclinée que la tour de Pise.'Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 376.

[IV-6]Stephens' text,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 122, leaves it uncertain whether it is the statue or the altar afterwards mentioned which rests on the elevation. The French text, however, indicates that it is the former.

[IV-7]SeeNotes 6and3.

[IV-8]Baily,Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, sums up all the relics at Quirigua as follows: seven quadrilateral columns, twelve to twenty-five feet high, three to five feet at base; four pieces of an irregular oval shape, twelve by ten or eleven feet, not unlike sarcophagi; two large square slabs seven and a half by three feet and over three feet thick; all except the slabs being covered on all sides with elaborately wrought and well-defined sculptured figures of men, women, animals, foliage, and fanciful representations. All the columns are moreover of a single piece of stone.

[IV-9]Yet Scherzer thinks that 'es ist nicht ganz unwahrscheinlich, dass die Monumente von Quiriguá noch zur Zeit der spanischen Invasion ihrer religiösen Bestimmung dienten, und dass auch eine Stadt in der Nähe noch bewohnt war.'Quiriguá, p. 15, although there is no record of such a place in the annals of the conquest.

[IV-10]Although Baily,Cent. Amer., p. 66, says 'they do not resemble in sculpture those of Palenque ... nor are they similar to those of Copan.... They suggest the idea of having been designed for historical records rather than mere ornament.'

[IV-11]The sculpture presents no old-world affinities whatever. A certain coarseness of execution, implying inferior tools, distinguishes them from the coarsest Egyptian carvings. Both grouping and execution indicate a still "barbaric state of art, with no advanced idea of beauty, the patience and industry of the workmen being more remarkable than their ideas or skill."Scherzer,Quiriguá, p. 11-12.

[IV-12]Hesse, inSivers,Mittelamerika, p. 256.

[IV-13]Palacio,Carta, pp. 62.

[IV-14]Padre Urrutia published an account of his investigations at Cinaca-Mecallo in theGaceta de Guatemala, according toBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81. The most complete description, however, he gave in a letter to E. G. Squier, who published the same in hisCent. Amer., pp. 342-4. The substance of the letter may be found inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 124; and a French version inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 182-6.

[IV-15]Juarros' Hist. Guat., pp. 45, 308-9, taking the information fromFuentes,Recopilacion Florida, MS., tom. ii., lib. iv., cap. ii. Of course no importance is to be attached to these and similar reports.

[IV-16]Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-4.

[IV-17]Valois,Mexique, pp. 430-1.

[IV-18]Dupaix,Rel. 3meExpéd., p. 9, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., tom. iii., pl. vii., fig. 12, and inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 290, vol. vi., p. 470, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 12. Kingsborough's translation incorrectly represents this relic as having been found at Palenque, although the original reads 'lo encontró en Guatemala' and the French 'l'a trouvée à Guatemala.' M. Lenoir,Parallèle, p. 72, thinks the engraved device may show some analogy with the astronomical traditions of the ancients, the serpent of the pole, the dragon, the constellation Ophis, the apples of the Hesperides, etc.; and the reverse may be the Mexican tradition of the creation, the Python, or the serpent killed by Cadmus!! Cabrera,Teatro Crítico, pp. 53-5, pl. i., who was the bearer of one of the medals to the king of Spain, speaks of it as made of brass, and pronounces it to be 'a concise history of the primitive population of this part of North America.' The bird, in his opinion, is an eagle with a serpent in its beak and claws. His application of this relic to history will be more appropriate when I come to treat of the origin of the Americans.

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