The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume IV, by Hubert Howe Bancroft

THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.

VOLUME IV.

THE NATIVE RACES.
Vol. IV. ANTIQUITIES.

SAN FRANCISCO:
A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1883.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT.
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

NATIVE RACES
of the
PACIFIC STATES
showing the location of
ANCIENT MONUMENTS

[View larger image.]

THE NATIVE RACES
OF THE
PACIFIC STATES.

ANTIQUITIES.

CHAPTER I.
ARCHÆOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION.

Monumental Archæology—Scope of the Volume—Treatment of the Subject—Sources of Information—Tangibility of Material Relics—Vagueness of Traditional and Written Archæology—Value of Monumental Relics, as conveying Positive Information respecting their Builders, as Corroborative or Corrective Witnesses, as Incentives to Research—Counterfeit Antiquities—Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian monuments—Relics proving the Antiquity of Man—Exploration of American Ruins—Key to Central American Hieroglyphics—No more Unwritten History.

TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT.

The present volume of the Native Races of the Pacific States treats of monumental archæology, and is intended to present a detailed description of all material relics of the past discovered within the territory under consideration. Two chapters, however, are devoted to a more general view of remains outside the limits of this territory—those of South America and of the eastern United States—as being illustrative of, and of inseparable interest in connection with, my subject proper. Since monumental remains in the western continent without the broad limits thus included are comparatively few and unimportant, I may without exaggeration, if the execution of the work be in any degree commensurate with its aim, claim for this treatise a place among the most complete ever published on American antiquities as a whole. Indeed, Mr Baldwin's most excellent little book on Ancient America is the only comprehensive work treating of this subject now before the public. As a popular treatise, compressing within a small duodecimo volume the whole subject of archæology, including, besides material relics, tradition, and speculation concerning origin and history as well, this book cannot be too highly praised; I propose, however, by devoting a large octavo volume to one half or less of Mr Baldwin's subject-matter, to add at least encyclopedic value to this division of my work.

There are some departments of the present subject in which I can hardly hope to improve upon or even to equal descriptions already extant. Such are the ruins of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, so ably treated by Messrs Stephens, Catherwood, and Squier. Indeed, not a few relics of great importance are known to the world only through the pen or pencil of one or another of these gentlemen, in which cases I am forced to draw somewhat largely upon the result of their investigations. Yet even within the territory mentioned, concerning Uxmal and Chichen Itza we have most valuable details in the works of M. M. Waldeck and Charnay; at Quirigua, Dr Scherzer's labors are no less satisfactory than those of Mr Catherwood; and Mr Squier's careful observations in Nicaragua are supplemented, to the advantage of the antiquarian public, by the scarcely less extensive investigations of Mr Boyle. In the case of Palenque, in some respects the most remarkable American ruin, we have, besides the exhaustive delineations of Waldeck and Stephens, several others scarcely less satisfactory or interesting from the pens of competent observers; and in a large majority of instances each locality, if not each separate relic, has been described from personal examination by several parties, each noting some particulars by the others neglected. By a careful study and comparison of information drawn from all available sources respecting the several points, the witnesses mutually corroborating or correcting one another's statements, I expect to arrive in each case practically at the truth, and thus to compensate in a measure for that loss of interest inevitably incurred by the necessary omission of that personal experience and adventure by which antiquarian travelers are wont to impart a charm to their otherwise dry details.

Although necessarily to a great extent a compilation, this volume is none the less the result of hard and long-continued study. It embodies the researches of some five hundred travelers, stated not merely en résumé, but reproduced, so far as facts and results are concerned, in full. Very few of the many works studied are devoted exclusively or even chiefly to my subject; indeed most of them have but an occasional reference to antiquarian relics, which are described more or less fully among other objects of interest that come under the traveler's eye; hence the possibility of condensing satisfactorily the contents of so many volumes in one, and of making this one fill on the shelves of the antiquary's library the place of all, excepting, of course, the large plates of the folio works. Full references to, and quotations from, the authorities consulted are given in the notes, which thus become a complete index to all that has been written on the subject. These notes contain also bibliographical notices and historical details of the discovery and successive explorations of each ruin, and other information not without interest and value. That some few books containing archæological information may have escaped my notice, is quite possible, but none I believe of sufficient importance to seriously impair the value of the material here presented. In order to give a clear idea of the great variety of articles preserved from the past for our examination, the use of numerous illustrations becomes absolutely essential. Of the cuts employed many are the originals taken from the published works of explorers, particularly of Messrs Stephens and Squier, with their permission. As I make no claim to personal archæological research, save among the tomes on the shelves of my library, and as the imparting of accurate information is my only aim, the advantage of the original cuts over any copies that could be made, will be manifest to the reader. Where such originals could not be obtained I have made accurate copies of drawings carefully selected from what I have deemed the best authorities, always with a view to give the clearest possible idea of the objects described, and with no attempt at mere pictorial embellishment.

Confining myself strictly to the description of material remains, I have omitted, or reserved for another volume, all traditions and speculations of a general nature respecting their origin and the people whose handiwork they are, giving, however, in some instances, such definite traditions as seem unlikely to come up in connection with ancient history. This is in accordance with the general plan which I adopt in treating of the Native Races of this western half of North America, proceeding from the known to the unknown, from the near to the remote; dealing first with the observed phenomena of aboriginal savagism and civilization when first brought within the knowledge of Europeans, as I have done in the three volumes already before the public; then entering the labyrinthine field of antiquity from its least obstructed side, I devote this volume to material relics exclusively, thus preparing the way for a final volume on traditional and written archæology, to terminate with what most authors have given at the start,—the vaguest and most hopelessly complicated department of the whole subject,—speculations respecting the origin of the American people and of the western civilization.

In the descriptions which follow I proceed geographically from south to north for no reason more cogent than that of convenience. From the same motive, much more weighty however in this case, I follow the same order in my comparisons between remains in different parts of the continent, comparing invariably each ruin with others farther south and consequently familiar to the reader, rather than with more northern structures to be described later. It is claimed by some writers that the term antiquities is properly used only to designate the works of a people extinct or only traditionally known. This restriction of the term would exclude most of the monumental remains of the Pacific States, since a large majority of the objects described in the following pages are known to have been the work of the peoples found by Europeans in possession of the country, or of their immediate ancestors. I employ the term, however, in its more common application, including in it all the works of aboriginal hands presumably executed before native intercourse with Europeans, at dates varying consequently with that of the discovery of different localities.

REALITY OF MATERIAL RELICS.

Monumental archæology, as distinguished from written and traditional archæology, owes its interest largely to its reality and tangibility. The teachings of material relics, so far as they go, are irrefutable. Real in themselves they impart an air of reality to the study of the past. They stand before us as the actual work of human hands, affording no foothold for scepticism; they are the balance-wheels of tradition, resting-places for the mind wearied with the study of aboriginal fable, stepping-stones on which to cross the miry sloughs of mythic history. The ruins of a great city represent and recall vividly its original state and the populace that once thronged its streets; the towering mound or pyramid brings before the observer's mind toiling bands of slaves driven to their unwelcome task by strong progressive masters; temples and idols are but remnants of religious systems, native fear, superstition, and faith; altars imply victims and sacrificial ceremonies; sculpture, the existence of art; kingly palaces are the result of a strong government, wars, and conquest; sepulchral deposits reveal thoughts of another life; and hieroglyphic inscriptions, even if their key be lost, imply events deemed worthy of record, and a degree of progress toward letters.

What the personal souvenir is to the memory of dead friends, what the ancestral mansion with its portraits and other relics is to family memories and pride of descent, what the ancient battle-ground with the monument commemorating early struggles for liberty is to national patriotism, what the familiar hill, valley, stream, and tree to recollection and love of home,—all this and more are material relics to the study of ages gone by. Destroy such relics in the case of the individual, the family, and the nation, and imagine the effect on our interest in a past, which is, however, in nearly every instance clearly recorded. What would be the consequence of blotting from existence the ruins that stand as monuments of a past but vaguely known even in the most favorable circumstances through the medium of traditionary and written annals? Traditional archæology, fascinating as its study is and important in its results, leaves always in the mind a feeling of uncertainty, a fear that any particular tradition may be in its present form, modified willfully or involuntarily in passing through many hands, a distortion of the original, or perhaps a pure invention; or if intact in form its primary signification may be altogether misunderstood. And even in the case of written annals, more definite and reliable of course than oral traditions, we cannot forget that back beyond a certain time impossible to locate in the distant past, history founds its statements of events on no more substantial basis than popular fable.

COUNTERFEIT ANTIQUITIES.

It is true that false reports may be made respecting the discovery or nature of ruined cities and other monuments; and relics may be collected and exhibited which have no claim whatever to antiquity. Indeed it is said that in some parts of Spanish America, Aztec, Chichimec, or Toltec relics, of any desired era since the creation, are manufactured to order by the ingenious natives and sold to the enthusiastic but unwary antiquarian. To similar imposition and like enthusiasm may be referred the long list of Roman, Greek, Scandinavian, Tyrian, and other old-world coins, medals, and inscriptions, whose discovery in the New World from time to time has been reported, and used in support of some pet origin-theory. Yet practically these counterfeit or fabulous antiquities do little harm; their falsity may in most cases be without difficulty detected, as will be apparent from several instances of the kind noted in the following pages. There are, as I have said, few ruins of any importance that have not been described by more than one competent and reliable explorer. The discovery of wonderful cities and palaces, or of movable relics which differ essentially from the well-authenticated antiquities of the same region, is not accepted by archæologists, or by the public generally, without more positive proof of genuineness than the representations of a single traveler whose reliability has not been fully proved.

The study of ancient monuments, in addition to its high degree of interest, is moreover of great practical value in the development of historical science, as a source of positive information, as a corroboration of annals otherwise recorded, and as an incentive to continued research. It contributes to actual knowledge by indicating the various arts that flourished among the peoples of antiquity, the germs of the corresponding arts of modern times. The monuments show not alone the precise degree of excellence in architecture and sculpture attained by the particular people whose work they are, but by an examination of their differences they throw much light on the origin and growth of these and other arts, while by comparison with the works of other peoples better known they serve to establish more or less clearly national affinities. And not only do they illustrate the state of the fine and useful arts, but also to a great extent public institutions and private customs. Temples, idols, and altars reveal much of religious rites and priestly power; weapons, of warfare; implements, of household habits; ornaments, of dress; tombs and sepulchral relics, of burial ceremonies, regard for the dead, and ideas respecting another life. When, in addition to their indirect teachings respecting the arts and institutions of their builders, antique monuments bear also inscriptions in written or legible hieroglyphic characters, their value is of course greatly increased; indeed under such circumstances they become the very highest historic authority.

It is, however, in connection with the other branches of the science, written and traditional, that material relics accomplish their most satisfactory results, their corroborative evidence being even more valuable than the positive information they convey. For instance, tradition relates wondrous tales of the wealth, power, and mighty deeds of a people that long ago occupied what is now a barren desert or a dense forest. These tales are classed with other aboriginal fables, interesting but comparatively valueless; but some wandering explorer, by chance or as the result of an apparently absurd and profitless research, discovers in the shade of the tangled thicket, or lays bare under the drifting desert-sands, the ruins of a great city with magnificent palace and temple; at once the mythic fable is transformed into authentic history, especially if the traditional statements of that people's arts and institutions are confirmed by their relics.

Again, the written record of biblical tradition, unsatisfactory to some, when not supported by corroborative evidence, narrates with minute detail the history of an ancient city, including its conquest at a given date by a foreign king. The discovery in another land of that monarch's statue or triumphal arch, inscribed with his name, title, and a list of his deeds, confirms or invalidates the scriptural account not only of that particular event but indirectly of other details of the city's annals not recorded in stone. In America material relics acquire increased importance as corroborative and corrective witnesses, in comparison with those of the old world, from the absence of contemporary written annals. Beside constituting the only tangible supports of the more ancient triumphs of American civilization, they are the best illustrations of comparatively modern stages of art whose products have disappeared, and by no means superfluous in support of Spanish chroniclers in later times, "very many, or perhaps most of whose statements respecting the wonderful phenomena of the New World culture," as I have remarked in a preceding volume, "without this incontrovertible material proof would find few believers among the sceptical students of the present day."

IMPORTANCE OF MATERIAL RELICS.

The importance of monumental remains as incentives to historical study and research results directly from the interest and curiosity which their examination invariably excites. Gibbon relates that he was first prompted to write the annals of Rome's decline and fall by the contemplation of her ruined structures. Few even of the most prosaic and matter-of-fact travelers can resist the impulse to reason and speculate on the origin of ruins that come under their notice, and the civilization to which they owe their existence; and there are probably few eminent archæologists but may trace the first development of a taste for antiquarian pursuits to the curiosity excited at the sight of some mysterious relic.

This irresistible desire to follow back remains of art to the artist's hand and genius, prompted the oft-repeated and so long fruitless attempts to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform inscriptions of Persia and Assyria. These efforts were at last crowned with success; the key to the mysterious wedges, and the Rosetta-stone were found, by which the tablets of Babylon, Ninevah, and the pyramids—the Palenque, Copan, and Teotihuacan of the old world—may be read. The palaces, monuments, and statues of ancient kings bear legible records of their lives, dominions, and succession. By the aid of these records definite dates are established for events in the history of these countries as early as two thousand years before the Christian era, and thus corroborations and checks are placed on the statements of biblical and profane history. But the art of interpreting these hieroglyphics is yet in its infancy, and the results thus far accomplished are infinitesimal in comparison with what may be reasonably anticipated in the future.

THE ANTIQUITY OF THE HUMAN RACE.

So much for antique monuments and their teachings—alone and in connection with history and tradition—respecting the peoples to whom they owe their existence. Another and not less important value they have, in connection with geology and paleontology, in what they tell us about the age of the human race on the earth. Biblical tradition, as interpreted in former times, asserts the earth and its inhabitants to be about six thousand years old. Geology has enforced a new interpretation, which, so far as the age of the earth is concerned, is accepted by all latter-day scholars; and geology now lends a helping hand to her sister sciences in their effort to prove, what is not yet universally accepted as truth, that man's antiquity far exceeds the limit which scripture is thought to establish.

Throughout the successive geologic strata of earthy matter that overlie the solid rocky foundations below, traces of man's presence are found. It is in deposits of peat and alluvium that these traces are most clearly defined and with greatest facility studied. The extremely slow accumulation of these deposits and the great depth at which human remains appear, impress the mind of the observer with a vivid idea of their antiquity. Calculations based on the known rate of increase for a definite period fix the age of the lowest relics at from six thousand to one hundred thousand years according to the locality. But geology tells yet no definite tale in years, her chronology being on a grander scale, and these calculations are to scientific men the weakest proofs of man's antiquity. As we penetrate, however, this superficial geologic formation, we find in the upper layers weapons and implements of iron; then, at a greater depth, of bronze; and lowest of all stone is the only durable material employed. In all parts of the world, so far as explorations have been made, this order of the ages, stone, bronze, iron, is observed; although they were certainly not contemporaneous in all regions. With the products of human skill, in its varying stages of development, are mingled the fossil trees and plants of different species which flourished and became locally extinct as the centuries passed away. So animal remains, no less abundant than the others, indicate successive changes in the fauna and its relations to human life, the animals pursued at different epochs for food, the introduction of domestic animals, and the transition from the chase to agriculture as a means of subsistence.

From a study of all these various relics of the past—human, animal, and vegetable—in connection with geologic changes, the student seeks to estimate approximately the date at which man first appeared upon the earth. He observes the slow accumulation of surface deposits and speculates on the time requisite to bury the works of man hundreds of feet deep in dilluvium. He studies savagism in its different phases as portrayed in a previous volume; notes how tenaciously the primitive man clings to old customs, how averse he is to change and improvement; and then reflects upon the centuries that would probably suffice for beings only a little above the beast to pass successively from the use of the shapeless stone and club to the polished stone spear and arrow and knife, to the partial displacement of stone by the fragment of crude metal, to the smelting of the less refractory ores and the mixture of metals to form bronze, and to a final triumph in the use of iron. He reflects farther that all this slow process of development precedes in nearly every part of the world the historic period; that its relics are found in the alluvial plains of the Nile, buried far below the monuments of Egyptian civilization, a civilization, moreover, which dates back at least two thousand years before Christ. Searching the peat-beds of Denmark, he brings to light fossil Scotch firs in the lower strata mingled with relics of the stone age; oak-trees above with implements of bronze; and beech-trunks in the upper deposits, corresponding with the iron age and also with the present forest-growth of the country. He tries to fix upon a period of years adequate to effect two complete changes in Danish forest-trees, bringing to his aid the fact that about the Christian era the Romans found that country covered as now with a luxurious growth of beech, and that consequently eighteen hundred years have wrought no change. Having thus established in his mind the epoch to which he must be carried by the relics of the alluvial deposits, he remarks that during all this period climate has not essentially changed, for the animal remains thus far discovered are all of species still existing in the same climatic zone.

But at the same time he finds in southern Europe abundant remains of polar animals which could only have lived when the everlasting snow and ice of a frigid clime covered the surface of those now sunny lands. Still finding rude stone implements, the work of human hands, mingled with these polar skeletons, he adds to the result of previous computations the time deemed necessary for so essential a climatic transformation, and, finally, he is driven to make still another addition, when he learns that in geologic strata much older than any yet considered, the bones and works of man have been discovered in several apparently well-authenticated instances lying side by side with the bones of mastodons and other ancient species which have long since disappeared from the face of the earth. With the innumerable data of which the foregoing is only an outline before him, the student of man's antiquity is left to decide for himself whether or not he can satisfactorily compress within the term of sixty centuries all the successive periods of man's development.

In our examination of relics in the thinly peopled Pacific States we shall find comparatively few works of human hands bearing directly on this branch of archæology; yet in the north-west regions, newest to modern civilization, the Californian miner's deep-sunk shafts have brought to light implements and fossils of great antiquity and interest to the scientific world.

AMERICAN RELICS AND HIEROGLYPHICS.

In America many years must elapse before explorations equaling in extent and thoroughness those already made in the old world can be hoped for. The ruins from whose examination the grandest results are to be anticipated lie in a hot malarious climate within the tropics, enveloped in a dense thicket of exuberant vegetation, presenting an almost impenetrable barrier to an exploration by foreigners of monuments in which the natives as a rule take no interest. It must be admitted, however, that even the most exhaustive examination of our relics cannot be expected to yield results as definite and satisfactory as those reached in the eastern continent. We have practically no written record, and our monuments must tell the tale of the distant past unaided.

Our hieroglyphic inscriptions are comparatively few and brief, and those found on the stones of the more ancient class of ruins as yet convey no meaning. By reason of the absence of a contemporary written language, the difficulties in the way of their interpretation are clearly much greater than those so brilliantly overcome in Assyria and Egypt. Only one systematic attempt has yet been made to decipher their signification, and that has thus far proved a signal failure; it is believed almost universally that future efforts will be equally unsuccessful, and that our annals as written in stone will forever remain wrapped in darkness. Yet not only was the interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions long deemed an impossibility, but the very theory that any meaning was hidden in that complicated arrangement of wedges was pronounced absurd by many wise antiquaries. Let not therefore our New World task be abandoned in despair till the list of failures shall be swollen from one to seventy times seven.

It is believed that the antiquary's zeal for all coming time will be brought to bear on no other objects than those which now claim our attention and search; that is, although new monuments will be brought to light from their present hiding-places, no additions will be made to their actual number. With the invention of printing and the consequent wide diffusion of national annals, the era of unwritten history ceased, and with it all future necessity of searching tangled forest and desert plain for monumental records of the present civilization. That the key of our written history can ever be lost, our civilization blotted out, ruined structures and vague traditions called anew into requisition for historic use, we believe impossible. Yet who can tell; for so doubtless thought the learned men and high-priests of Palenque, when with imposing pageant and sacrificial invocation to the gods in the presence of the assembled populace, the inscribed tablets had been set up in the niches of the temple; and proudly exclaimed the orator of the day, as the last tablet settled into its place, "Great are our gods, and goodly the inheritance they have bequeathed to their chosen people. Mighty is Votan, world-wide the fame of his empire, the great Xibalba; and the annals and the glory thereof shall endure through all the coming ages; for are they not here imperishably inscribed in characters of everlasting stone that all may read and wonder?"

CHAPTER II.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE ISTHMUS, COSTA RICA, MOSQUITO COAST, AND NICARAGUA.

The Isthmus—Roman Coin and Galley—Huacas of Chiriquí—Incised Stone-carvings—Sculptured Columns—Human Remains—Golden Ornaments—Weapons—Implements—Pottery—Musical Instruments—Costa Rica—Stone Hammers—Ancient Plantations—Images of Gold—Terra Cottas—Axe of Quartz—Wonderful Hill—Paved Road—Stone Frog—Mosquito Coast—Granite Vases—Remarkable Reports—Animal Group—Rock-Paintings—Golden Figure—Home of the Sukia—Nicaragua—Authorities—Mounds—Sepulchres—Excavations—Weapons—Implements—Ornaments—Statues—Idols—Pottery—Metals.

The ancient Muiscas of Colombia, or New Granada, have left interesting relics of their antiquity, which, with some points of resemblance, present marked contrasts to the monuments of Peruvian civilization farther south, and of Maya, Quiché, and Aztec civilizations in North America.[II-1] In that part of Colombia, however, which is included within the limits of the Pacific States, extending from the gulf of Darien westward to Costa Rica, no such relics have yet come to light, except in the western provinces of Chiriquí and Veragua, notwithstanding the extensive explorations that have been made in various parts of the Isthmus in the interests of interoceanic communication.[II-2]

CHIRIQUÍ ROCK-SCULPTURES.

The province of Chiriquí lies on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, and it is in its central region about the town of David, that monuments of a past age have been unearthed.[II-3] These monuments are of three classes; the first consisting of rude figures cut on the surface of large boulders. The best known of this class, and in fact the only one definitely described, is the Piedra Pintal at Caldera, a few leagues from David, which is fifteen feet high, about sixteen in diameter, and somewhat flattened at the top. Top and sides are covered with curves, ovals, and concentric rings; while on the eastern side there are also fantastic figures, with others supposed to represent the sun, a series of varying heads, and scorpions. The figures are cut to a depth of about one inch, but on the parts most exposed to the weather are nearly effaced.

Incised Figures on the Rocks of Chiriquí.

Another lava boulder similarly incised found in the parish of San Miguel is pronounced by Mr Squier, from the examination of a drawing, to resemble stones seen by him in other parts of Central America. I copy Seemann's cuts of several of the characters.[II-4] The second class includes a few stone columns, some of them ten or twelve feet high, found at David and in Veragua as well. These seem never to have been seen in situ, but scattered and sometimes used for building purposes by the present inhabitants. Their peculiarity is that the characters engraved on their surface are entirely different from those of the Piedra Pintal, being smaller and cut in low relief. Drawings of these possibly hieroglyphic signs, by which to compare them with those of Copan, Palenque, and Yucatan, are not extant. The third class comprises the huacas, or tombs, a large number of which have been opened, and a variety of deposited articles brought to light. The tombs themselves are of two kinds. Those of the first kind are mere pebble-heaps, or mounds, three or four feet high, and the only articles taken from them are three-legged stones for grinding corn, known in all Spanish America as metates. The other graves have rude boxes or coffins of flat stones, with, in a few instances, rude stone posts several feet in height. Graves of this class are found to contain golden ornaments, with trinkets and implements of stone and burned clay. In most of them no traces of human remains are met; and when human bones do occur, they usually crumble to dust on exposure to the air, one skull, however, described as broad in the middle and flat behind, having been secured, and a plaster cast exhibited to the American Ethnological Society.[II-5]

POTTERY OF CHIRIQUÍ.

The golden ornaments taken from the huacas of Chiriquí amount to many thousands of dollars in value. They are of small size, never exceeding a few inches in either dimension, are all cast and never soldered, and take the shape of men, animals, or birds. One represents a man holding a bird in each hand, with another on his forehead. The gold is described by Dr Davis as being from ten to twenty carats fine, with some copper alloy; but by another party the alloy is pronounced silver.[II-6] Of stone are found ornaments, such as round agates pierced in the middle; weapons, including axes, chisel-heads, and arrow-heads, the latter of peculiar make, being pyramidal in form, with four cutting edges converging to a point, and in some instances apparently intended to fit loosely into a socket on the shaft; images, perhaps idols, in the shape of animals or men, but these are of comparatively rare occurrence;[II-7] and various articles of unknown use. One of the latter dug up at Bugabita is described as a "horizontal tablet, supported on ornamented legs, and terminating in the head of a monster—all neatly carved from a single stone," being twenty inches long, eight inches high, and weighing twenty-five pounds. Another was conjectured to have served for grinding paints.[II-8] Articles of burned clay are more numerous in the huacas than those of other material. Small vases, jars, and tripods, some of the latter having their three legs hollow and containing small earthen balls which rattle when the vessels are moved, with musical instruments, compose this class of relics. The earthen ware has no indication of the use of the potter's wheel; is found both glazed and unglazed; is painted in various colors, which, however, are not burned in, but are easily rubbed off when moist; and many of the articles are wholly uninjured by time. The specimens, or some part of each, are almost invariably molded to imitate some natural object, and the fashioning is often graceful and true to nature. Perhaps the most remarkable of these earthen specimens, and indeed of all the Chiriquí antiquities, are the musical wind-instruments, or whistles. These are of small dimensions, rarely exceeding four inches in length or diameter, with generally two but sometimes three or four finger-holes, producing from two to six notes of the octave. No two are exactly alike in form, but most take the shape of an animal or man, the mouth-hole being in the tail of the tiger and bird, in the foot of the peccary, in the elbow of the human figure. Some have several air-cavities with corresponding holes to produce the different notes, but in most, the holes lead to one cavity. One had a loose ball in its interior, whose motion varied the sounds. Several are blown like fifes, and nearly all have a hole apparently intended for suspending the instrument by a string.[II-9] Other antiquities are reported to exist at various points of the Isthmus, which white men have never seen; instance a rocking stone in the mountains of Veragua.[II-10]

I close my somewhat scanty information concerning the antiquities of Chiriquí with the general remarks which their examination has elicited from different writers. Whiting and Shuman speak of the sculptured columns of Muerto Island as being similar to those in Yucatan described by Stephens;[II-11] but it is hardly probable that this opinion rests on an actual comparison of the hieroglyphics. Dr Merritt deems the axe or chisel heads almost identical in form as well as material with specimens dug up in Suffolk County, England; some of the same implements resemble those seen by Mr Squier in actual use among the natives of other parts of Central America; while the arrow-heads and musical instruments are pronounced different in some respects from any others known, either ancient or modern. The incised characters represented in the cut on [page 17], together with many others, if we may believe Mr Seemann, have a striking resemblance to those of Northumberland, England, as shown by Mr Tate.[II-12] In some of the terra cottas, a likeness to vessels of Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan origin has been noted; the golden figures, in the opinion of Messrs Squier and May, being like those found further south in the country of the ancient Muiscas.[II-13]

One point bearing on the antiquity of the Chiriquí relics is the wearing away by the weather of the incised sculptures, which appear to Mr Seemann to belong to a more ancient, less advanced civilization than those in low relief.[II-14] Another is the disappearance as a rule of human remains, which, however, as Dr Torrey remarks,[II-15] cannot in this climate and soil be regarded as an indication of great age; and, moreover, against the theory of a remote origin of these relics, and in favor of the supposition that all may be the work of the not distant ancestors of the people found by the Spaniards in possession of the country, we have the fact that gold figures similar to those found in the huacas were made, worn, and traded by the natives of the Isthmus at the time of its discovery and conquest;[II-16] that the animals so universally imitated in all objects whether of gold, stone, or clay, are all native to the country, with no trace of any effort to copy anything foreign; and that similar clay is still employed in the manufacture of rude pottery.[II-17]

COSTA RICAN RELICS.

Costa Rica, adjoining Chiriquí on the west, is the first or most southern of the states which belong politically to North America, all the Isthmus provinces forming a part of Colombia, a state of the southern continent. Stretching from ocean to ocean with an average width of ninety miles, it extends north-westward in general terms some two hundred miles from the Boca del Drago and Golfo Dulce to the Rio de San Juan and the southern shores of Lake Nicaragua in 11° north latitude. Few as are the aboriginal monuments reported to exist within these limits, still fewer are those actually examined by travelers.

Terra Cottas from the Graves of Costa Rica.

IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS.

Drs Wagner and Scherzer, who traveled extensively in this region in 1853-4, found in all parts of the state, but more particularly in the Turialba Valley, which is in the vicinity of Cartago, traces of old plantations of bananas, cacao, and palms, indicating a more systematic tillage of the soil, and consequently a higher general type of culture among the former than are found among the modern native Costa Ricans. The only other antiquities seen by these intelligent explorers were a few stone hammers thought to resemble implements which have been brought to light in connection with the ancient mines about Lake Superior; but the locality of these implements is not stated. Cabo Blanco, reported by Molina[II-18] as containing the richest deposit of ancient relics, yielded nothing whatever to the diligent search of the German travelers; nor did their failure here leave them sufficient faith to continue their researches on the island of Chira, where, according to the same authority, there are to be found ruined aboriginal towns and tombs. At San José they were told of figures of gold alloyed with copper which had been melted at the government mint, and they briefly mention hieroglyphics on a few ancient ornaments nowhere described.[II-19] Mr Squier describes five vessels of earthen ware or terra cotta obtained, in localities not mentioned, from Costa Rican graves. Four of these are shown in the accompanying cut. Fig. 1, symmetrically shaped, is entirely without decoration; Fig. 2 is a grotesque image supposed to have done duty originally as a rattle; Fig. 3 has hollow legs, each containing a small earthen ball, which rattles at each motion of the vase; and the top of Fig. 4 is artistically moulded, apparently after the model of a tortoise's back. An axe of green quartz is also described, which to Mr Squier seemed to indicate a higher grade of skill in workmanship than any relic of the kind seen in Central America. The cutting edge is slightly curved, showing the instrument to have been used as an adze; the surface shown in the cut is highly polished, and the whole is penetrated by a small hole drilled from side to side parallel to the face where the notches appear. This implement seems to present a rude representation of a human figure whose arms are folded across its breast. Other implements similar in material but larger and of ruder execution, are said to be of not unusual occurrence in the sepulchres of this state.[II-20]

Axe of Green Quartz.

Mr Boyle makes the general statement that gold ornaments and idols are constantly found, and that the ancient mines which supplied the precious metal are often seen by modern prospectors. Dr Merritt also exhibited specimens of gold, both wrought and unwrought, from the (ancient?) mines of Costa Rica, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1862.[II-21] While voyaging on the Colorado, the southern mouth of the Rio de San Juan, Mr Boyle was told by a German doctor, his traveling companion, of a wonderful artificial hill in that vicinity, but of whose exact locality the doctor's ideas appeared somewhat vague. On this hill, according to his statement, was to be seen a pavement of slate tiles laid in copper; but the interesting specimens which he claimed to have collected in this neighborhood had been generously presented by him to museums in various parts of the world, and therefore he was unable to show any of them.[II-22] Father Acuña, an enthusiastic antiquary of the Rich Coast, living at Paraiso near Cartago, reports an ancient road which he believes to have originally connected Cartago with the port of Matina, and to have formed part of a grand aboriginal system of highways from the Nicaraguan frontier to the Isthmus, with branches to various points along the Atlantic coast. The road is described as thirty-six feet wide, paved with rounded blocks of lava, and guarded at the sides with sloping walls three feet in height. Where the line of the road crossed deep ravines, bridges were not employed, but in their stead the ascent and descent were effected by means of massive steps cut in the rocky sides. Some relics found near this road were given to New York gentlemen. The priest also speaks of tumuli abounding in the products of a past age, which dot the plains of Terraba, once the centre, as he believes, of a populous American empire.[II-23] A channel which connects the Rio Matina with Moin Bay has been sometimes considered artificial, but Mr Reichardt pronounces it probably nothing more than a natural lagoon.[II-24] In the department of Guanacaste, near the gulf of Nicoya, was found the little frog in grey stone shown, full-sized, in the cut. The hole near the fore feet would seem to indicate that it was worn suspended on a string as an ornament.[II-25]

Frog in Grey Stone.

Such is the meagre account I am able to give of Costa Rican monuments. True, neither this nor any others of the Central American states have been thoroughly explored, nor are they likely to be for many years, except at the few points where the world's commerce shall seek new passages from sea to sea. The difficulties are such as would yield only to a denser population of a more energetic race than that now occupying the land. The only monuments of the aboriginal natives likely to be found are those buried in the ancient graves. The probability of bringing to light ruined cities or temples south of Honduras is extremely slight. It is my purpose, however, to confine myself to the most complete account possible of such remains as have been seen or reported, with very little speculation on probable discoveries in the future.

THE MOSQUITO COAST.

Our next move northward carries us to Cape Gracias á Dios on the Atlantic, and to the gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific, the inclosed territory of Nicaragua stretching some two hundred and fifty miles north-westward to the Wanks River and Rio Negro, widening in this distance from one hundred and fifty to about three hundred miles. Dividing this territory by a line along the central mountain ranges, or water-shed, into two nearly equal portions, the western or Pacific slope is the state of Nicaragua proper, while the eastern or Atlantic side is known as the Mosquito Coast. This latter region is almost entirely unexplored except along the low marshy shore, and the natives of the interior have always been independent of any foreign control.

In respect of ancient remains the Mosquito Coast has proved even more barren of results than Costa Rica. A pair of remarkable granite vases preserved in an English museum are said to have come from this region, but as no particulars of their discovery are given, it is of course possible, considering the former unsettled condition of all Central American boundary lines, not altogether remedied in later times, that there may be an error in locality. It is from ten to twelve inches in diameter and height, as nearly as can be ascertained from the drawing, and Humboldt remarks the similarity of its ornamentation to that found on some parts of the ruins of Mitla in Oajaca, described in a future chapter. One of the vases as represented in Humboldt's drawing, is shown in the cut. The second vase is somewhat larger, more nearly uniform in size at top and bottom, with plain legs, only diamond-shaped ornaments on the body of the vessel, and handles which take the form of a head and tail instead of two heads as in the first specimen.[II-26]

Granite Vase from the Mosquito Coast.

Christopher Columbus in a letter speaks of having seen on this coast, which he calls Cariay, a sculptured tomb in the forest as large as a house; and Mr Helps imagines the Spanish conquerors sailing up the coast and beholding amidst the trees white structures "bearing some likeness to truncated pyramids, and, in the setting sun, dark figures would be seen against the horizon on the tops of these pyramids;"[II-27] but as he is describing no particular voyage, some allowance may be made for the play of his imagination. Mr Boyle is enthusiastic over "the vast remains of a civilization long since passed away," but far superior to that of Spain, including rocks cut down to human and animal shapes, artificial hills encased in masonry, streams turned from their courses, and hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliffs,—all in the Mosquito wilds. As a foundation for this, three men who descended the Rio Mico and Blewfields River from Libertad, Nicaragua, to the sea, claim to have beheld extraordinary ancient works. These took the form of a cliff cut away where the river passed through a narrow cañon, leaving a group of stone animals, among which was a colossal bear, standing erect on the brink of the precipice as if to guard the passage. The natives reported also to Mr Pim the existence of grand temples of the antiguos, with an immense image of the aboriginal god Mico (a monkey) on the banks of this river; but when subjected to cross-questioning, their wonderful stories dwindled to certain rude figures painted on the face of a cliff, which Mr Pim was unable to examine, but which seemed from the native description similar to the cliff-paintings at Nijapa Lake in Nicaragua, to be described on a future page.[II-28]

Golden Image.

COLOSSAL BEAR AND GOLDEN IMAGE.

From a mound of earth fifteen feet in diameter, and five or six feet high, on an island in Duckwarra Lagoon, south of Cape Gracias á Dios, Mr Squier unearthed a crumbling human skeleton, at whose head was a rude burial vase containing chalcedony beads, two arrow-heads of the same material, and the human figure shown full-sized in the cut, fashioned from a piece of gold plate. Antonio, an intelligent Maya servant, could see no resemblance in this figure to any relics of his race in Yucatan. Two additional vases of coarse earthen ware were discovered, but contained no relics. On another occasion, during a moonlight visit to the 'Mother of Tigers,' a famed native sukia, or sorceress, on the Bocay, which is a branch of the Wanks, about fifty miles south-westward from Cape Gracias, Mr Squier claims to have seen a ruined structure, part of which is shown in the cut. The building was of two stories, but the upper walls had fallen, covering the ground with fragments. It is described as "built of large stones, laid with the greatest regularity, and sculptured all over with strange figures, having a close resemblance, if not an absolute identity" with those drawn by Catherwood. A short distance from the building stood an erect stone rudely sculptured in human form, facing east, as in the [cut]. There are, however, some reasons for doubting the accuracy of these Bocay discoveries, notwithstanding the author's well-known skill and reliability as an antiquarian, since they were published under a nom de plume, and in a work perhaps intended by the writer as a fictitious narrative of adventures.[II-29]

Home of the Sukia.

Mosquito Statue.

Across the dividing sierras, the Pacific slope, or Nicaragua proper, has yielded plentiful monuments of her former occupants, chiefly to the researches of two men, Messrs Squier and Boyle. The former confined his explorations chiefly to the region between the lakes and ocean, while the latter has also made known the existence of remains on the north-east of Lake Nicaragua, in the province of Chontales.[II-30]

CLASSIFICATION OF RELICS.

Although nothing like a thorough exploration of the state has ever been made, yet the uniformity of the remains discovered at different points enables us to form a clear idea of the character, if not of the full extent, of her antiquities, which for convenience in description may be classified as follows: I. Mounds, sepulchres, excavations, and other comparatively permanent works; II. Figures painted or cut on rocks or cliffs; III. Statues or idols of stone; IV. Stone weapons, implements, and ornaments; V. Pottery; VI. Articles of metal. Remarking that nowhere in Nicaragua have traces of ruined cities been found, nor even what may be regarded positively as the ruins of temples or other buildings, I proceed to describe the first class, or permanent monuments, beginning in the south-west, following the coast region and lake islands northward, and then returning to the south-eastern province of Chontales.

First on the south are the cemeteries of Ometepec Island, which is by some supposed to have been the general burial place of all the surrounding country. These cemeteries, according to Woeniger, are found in high and dry places, enclosed by a row of rough flat stones placed a few inches apart and projecting only slightly above the surface of the ground. Friederichsthal represents the sepulchres as three feet deep and scattered at irregular intervals over a plain. Boyle found both fixed cemeteries fenced with a line of heavy stones and also separate graves.[II-31] Thus no burial mounds proper seem to exist on the island. The ashes or unburned bones of the dead are found enclosed in large earthen vases, together with what may be considered as the most valued property of the deceased, or the most appropriate gifts of friends, in the shape of weapons, ornaments, vessels, and implements of stone, clay, and perhaps metal, all of which will be described in their turn. When the burial urn is found to contain unburned bones, its mouth is sometimes closed with the skull; in other cases one or more inverted earthen pans are used for that purpose.

EL BAÑO AT MASAYA.

On Zapatero, an island which lies just north of Ometepec, distributed over a level space covered with a dense growth of trees, are eight irregular heaps of loose unhewn stones, showing no signs of system either in the construction of each individual mound or in their arrangement with reference to each other.[II-32] An attempt to open one of the largest of the number led to no results beyond the discovery of an intermixture of broken pottery in the mass of stones. They are surrounded, as we shall see, by statues, and are believed by Mr Squier to be remains of the teocallis known to have served the Nicaraguans as temples at the time of the conquest.[II-33] At the foot of Mt Mombacho, a volcano south of Granada, was found a ruined cairn, or sepulchre, about twenty feet square, not particularly described, but similar to those which will be mentioned as occurring in the department of Chontales; others were said by the inhabitants to have been found in the same vicinity.[II-34] In a steep-banked ravine near Masaya, the rocky sides of which present numerous sculptured figures, or hieroglyphics, a shelf some nine feet wide is cut in the perpendicular cliff which towers one hundred feet in height at its back. On this shelf is a rectangular excavation eight by four feet and eighteen inches deep, with regularly sloping and smoothly cut sides, surrounded by a shallow groove which leads to the edge of the precipice, presumably designed to carry off rain-water. This strange excavation is popularly known as El Baño, although hardly of sufficient size to have served as a bath; a rudely cut flight of steps leads up the cliff to the shelf, and two pentagonal holes penetrate the face of the cliff at its back horizontally to a great depth, but these may be of natural formation. Some kettle-shaped excavations are reported also along the shore of the lake, now and possibly of old used in tanning leather.[II-35] Mr Boyle speaks of the road by which water is brought up from the lake to the city by the women of Masaya, a deep cut in the solid rock, a mile long and descending to a depth of over three hundred feet, as a reputed work of aboriginal engineering, but as he seems himself somewhat doubtful of the fact, and as others do not so mention it, this may not properly be included in our list of ancient monuments.[II-36] In the cliff at Nijapa, an old crater-lake near Managua, is what has been regarded by the natives as a wonderful temple excavated from the solid rock by the labors of the Antiguos, their ancestors. Indeed its entrance bears a strong resemblance, when viewed from the opposite side of the lake, to the arched portals of a heathen temple, but, explored by both Squier and Boyle, it proved to be nothing more than a natural cavern.[II-37]

Across the lake northward from Managua the volcano of Momotombo, projecting into the waters, forms a bay in a locality once occupied traditionally by a rich and populous city. If we may credit the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, its ruins are yet to be seen beneath the waters of the bay.[II-38] Captain Belcher visited the country in 1838, and was told that a causeway formerly extended across from the main to the island of Momotombita, probably for the use of the priests of ancient faith, since the island is rich in idols. He even was able to see the remains of the causeway extending in the dry season some three hundred and sixty yards from the shore; but a closer examination convinced Mr Squier that the supposed ruins were simply a natural formation whose extreme hardness had resisted better than the surrounding strata the action of the waves.[II-39]

On the slope of a small bowl-shaped valley near Leon is what the natives call the Capilla de la Piedra, a natural niche artificially enlarged in the face of a large rock facing the amphitheatre. It is spacious enough to accommodate four or five persons, and a large flat stone like an altar stands just at the entrance. At Subtiava, an Indian pueblo near Leon, is a stone mound, sixty by two hundred feet, and ten feet high, very like those at Zapatero, except that in this case the stones about the edges present some signs of regularity in their arrangement. It is very probably the ruin of some old temple-mound, and even in modern days the natives are known to have secretly assembled to worship round this stone-heap the gods of their antiquity. Several low rectangular mounds were also seen but not examined at the base of the volcano of Orota, north-east of Leon.[II-40]

CHONTAL BURIAL MOUNDS.

Returning to the south-eastern Chontal province, the only well-attested permanent monuments are burial mounds or cairns of stone, although the Chevalier Friederichsthal claims to have found here "remains of ancient towns and temples," which, nevertheless, he does not attempt to describe, and Mr Squier mentions a traditionary ruined city near Juigalpa.[II-41] The cairns are found in the regions about the towns of Juigalpa and Libertad, although exploration would doubtless reveal their existence elsewhere in the province. At both the places named they occur in great numbers over a large area. "At Libertad," says Mr Boyle, "graves were so plentiful we had only the embarrassment of choice. Every hill round was topped with a vine-bound thicket, springing, we knew, from the cairn of rough stone reverently piled above some old-world chieftain." No farther description can be given of them than that they are rectangular embankments of unhewn stone, built, in some cases at least, with regularly sloping sides, and of varying dimensions, the largest reported being one hundred and twenty by one hundred and seventy-five feet, and five feet high. Being opened they disclose earthen burial urns containing, as at Ometepec, human remains, both burned and unburned, and a great variety of stone and earthen relics both within and without the cinerary vase. The burial deposit is oftenest found above, but sometimes also below, the original surface of the ground. These cairns appear to have somewhat more regularity, on the exterior at least, than the stone tumuli of Ometepec. A more thorough examination of both is necessary before it can be determined whether or not the Ometepec mounds are, as Mr Squier believes, the ruins of teocallis and not tombs, and whether some of the Chontal cairns may not be the ruins or foundations of ancient structures. There can be little doubt that the Nicaraguans employed the mound-temple in their worship, and it is somewhat remarkable if modern fanaticism has left no traces of them; yet it is probable that wood entered more largely into their construction than in more northern climes. Mr Boyle found one grave near Juigalpa differing from the usual Chontal method of interment, and agreeing more nearly with that practiced in Mexico and Ometepec; and Mr Pim mentions the occurrence of numerous graves in the province, of much smaller size and of different proportions, the largest being twenty by twelve feet, and eight feet high.[II-42]

Near Juigalpa was seen a hill whose surface was covered with stones arranged in circles, squares, diamonds, and rays about a central stone;[II-43] also a hill of terrace-formation which from a distance seemed to be an aboriginal fortification.[II-44] In the same neighborhood is reported a series of trenches stretching across the country, one of them traced for over a mile, nine to twelve feet wide, widening at intervals into oval spaces from fifty to eighty feet in diameter, and these enlargements containing alternately two and four small mounds arranged in lines perpendicular to the general direction of the trench.[II-45] "Several rectangular parallelograms outlined in loose stone," in the vicinity of Libertad, are supposed by Mr Boyle to be Carib works, not connected with the Chontal burial system.[II-46]

Trench near Juigalpa.

I come secondly to the hieroglyphic figures cut or painted on Nicaraguan cliffs. These appear to belong for the most part to that lowest class of picture-writing common throughout the whole length of the North American continent, even in the territory of the most savage tribes. Doubtless many of these figures were executed in commemoration of events, and thus served temporarily as written records; but it is doubtful if the meaning of any of these inscriptions ever survived the generation which originated them, and certain that they are not understood by native or by antiquarian at the present day. It is not unlikely that some of them in Nicaragua may be rude representations of deities, and thus identified with the same gods preserved in stone, and with characters in the Aztec picture-writings; but the picture-writing of the Nicaraguan Nahuas, unlike that of their brethren of Anáhuac, was not committed to paper during the first years of the conquest, and has consequently been lost.

CLIFF-CARVINGS AT MASAYA.

At Guaximala a cave is mentioned having sculptures on the rocks at its entrance. The natives dared not cross the figured portal.[II-47] In the ravine near Masaya, already spoken of as the locality of the excavation known as El Baño, the steep side-cliffs are covered with figures roughly cut in outline, and often nearly obliterated by the ravages of time. They are shown in Squier's drawings on the following page, the order in which the groups occur being preserved.

Mr Squier detects among the objects thus rudely delineated, the sun twice represented, a shield, arrows or spears, the Xiuhatlatli of the Aztec paintings, which is an instrument for hurling spears, and a monkey. Besides the regular groups, isolated single figures are seen, among which the two characters shown in the accompanying cut are most frequently repeated. The same vicinity is reported to contain figures both painted and cut in other localities.[II-48]

Rock-Sculptures at Masaya.

CLIFF-PAINTINGS AT NIJAPA.

On the old crater-walls, five hundred feet in height at the lowest point, which inclose Lake Nijapa, a few miles south-west of Managua, are numerous figures painted in red. Portions of the walls have been thrown down by an earthquake, the débris at the water's edge being covered with intricate and curious red lines; and most of those still in place have been so defaced by the action of wind and water that their original appearance or connection cannot be distinguished.

Feathered Serpent at Lake Nijapa.

Among the clearest of the paintings is the coiled feathered serpent shown in the cut. It is three feet in diameter, across the coil, and is painted forty feet up the perpendicular side of the precipice. This would seem to be identical with the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, or the Quiché Gucumatz, both of which names signify 'plumed serpent.' Of the remaining figures, shown in the cut on the following page, the red hand is of frequent occurrence here, and we shall meet it again farther north, especially in Yucatan. The central upper figure is thought by Mr Squier to resemble a character in the Aztec paintings; and among those thrown down the sun and moon are said to have been prominent.[II-49]

Rock-paintings of Nijapa.

In the Chontal province none of these pictorial remains are reported, yet Mr Boyle believes that many of the ornamental figures on pottery and stone vessels are hieroglyphic in their nature; founding this opinion on the frequent repetition of complicated groups, as for instance that in the cut, which is repeated four times on the circumference of a bowl.[II-50]

Chontal Hieroglyphic.

STONE STATUES OR IDOLS.

Statues in stone, representing human beings generally, but in some cases animals and monsters also, have been found and described to the number of about sixty, constituting our third and the most interesting class of Nicaraguan relics. Ometepec, rich in pottery and other relics, and reported also to contain idols, has yielded to actual observation only the small animal couchant represented in the cut. It was secretly worshiped by the natives for many years, even in modern times, until this unorthodox practice was discovered and checked by zealous priests. This animal idol was about fourteen inches long and eight inches in height.[II-51]

Ometepec Idol.

IDOLS ON ZAPATERO ISLAND.

The island of Zapatero has furnished some seventeen idols, which are found in connection with the stone-heaps already described, lying for the most part wholly or partially buried in the sand and enveloped in a dense shrubbery. It is not probable that any one of them has been found in its original position, yet such is their size and weight that they are not likely to have been moved far from their primitive locality. Indeed Mr Squier, with a large force of natives, transformed into zealous antiquarians by a copious dispensation of brandy, had the greatest difficulty in placing them in an upright position. An ancient crater-lake conveniently near at hand accounts satisfactorily for the almost entire absence of smaller idols, and would doubtless have been the receptacle of their larger fellow-deities, had the strength of the priestly iconoclasts been in proportion to their godly spirit, as was the case with Mr Squier's natives. As it was they were obliged to content their religious zeal with overthrowing and defacing as far as possible these stone gods of the natives. There seems to be no regularity or system in the arrangement of the statues with respect to each other, and very little with respect to the stone mounds. It is probable, however, that, if the latter are indeed ruined teocallis, the statues stood originally round their base rather than on their summit. The idols of Zapatero, which is within the limits of the Niquiran or Aztec province, are larger and somewhat more elaborate in workmanship than those found elsewhere; and the genital organs appear on many of their number, indicating perhaps the presence here of the wide-spread phallic worship. The cuts show ten of the most remarkable of these monuments.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 1, 2.

Fig. 1 is nine feet high and about three feet in diameter, cut from a solid block of black basalt. The head of the human figure crouching on its immense cylindrical pedestal forms a cross, a symbol not uncommon here or elsewhere in America. All the work, particularly the ornamental bands and the niches of unknown use or import in front, is gracefully and cleanly cut. Fig. 2 is a huge tiger eight feet high seated on a pedestal. The heads and other parts of different animals are often used in the adornment of partially human shapes both in stone work and pottery, but purely animal statues, intended as this apparently is, for idols, are rare. Fig. 3, an idol "of mild and benignant aspect" is shown in the leaning position in which it was found. Fig. 4, standing in the background, was raised from its fallen position to be sketched.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 3, 4.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 5.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 6.

Fig. 5 represents a statue which, with its pedestal, is over twelve feet high. The well-carved head of a monster, two feet eight inches broad, surmounts the head of a seated human form, a common device in the fashioning of Nicaraguan gods. A peculiarity of this monument is that the arms are detached from the sides at the elbows; free-sculptured limbs being of rare occurrence in American aboriginal carvings. Fig. 6 is a slab three by five feet, bearing a human figure cut in high relief, the only sculpture of this kind discovered in Nicaragua. The tongue appears to hang upon the breast, and the eyes are merely two round holes. Fig. 7, on the following page, represents a crouching human form, on whose back is a tiger or other wild beast grasping the head in its jaws, a favorite method among these southern Nahua nations of representing in stone and clay the characteristics of what are presumably intended as beings to be worshiped. The expression of the features in the human face is described by Mr Squier as differing from any of the others found in this group. This idol and the following, with many other curious monuments of antiquity obtained by the same explorer, are now in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is carved on a slab five feet long and eighteen inches wide, representing a person who holds to his abdomen what seems to be a mask or a human face.

Fig. 9 is of very rude execution and seemingly represents a human figure wearing an animal mask, which is itself surmounted by another human face. Two small cup-shaped smoothly cut holes are also noted in the head-dress. Fig. 10 is a stone three feet and a half high, but slightly modified by the sculptor's art, which gave some semblance of the human form.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 8, 9.

From the cuts given a good general idea of the Zapatero monuments may be obtained; of the others described, one is a man with a calm, mild expression of countenance, seated with knees at chin and hands on feet on a round-topped square pedestal which tapers towards the bottom.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 10.

IDOLS AT GRANADA.

Two statues from Zapatero stand at the street-corners of Granada; one, known as the Chiflador, is much broken; the other has the crouching animal on the human head. Another from the same island stands by the roadside at Dirioma, near Granada, where it serves as a boundary mark. According to Mr Boyle this statue is of red granite, and it seemed to Mr Squier more delicately carved than those at Zapatero.[II-52]

In the vicinity of the cairn already spoken of at the foot of Mount Mombacho, were found six statues with abundant fragments. One had what seemed a monkey's head, with three female breasts and a phallus among the complicated sculptures below; a rudely cut animal bore some resemblance to a bear; a broken figure is said by the natives to have represented, when whole, a woman with a child on her back. One female figure, of which there is no drawing, is pronounced by Mr Boyle "very far the best-drawn statue we found in Nicaragua." A sleeping figure with large ears, a natural face, absurd arms, and a phallus, with the life-sized corpse or sleeper of the cut complete the list.

Sleeping Statue of Mombacho.

Mr Boyle believes the statues of Mombacho, like other relics there found, to unite the styles of art of the Chontales and the Aztec natives of Ometepec; showing, besides the cairns, the simplicity of sculpture peculiar to the former, together with the superior skill in workmanship and the distinction of sex noticeable in the monuments of the latter.[II-53]

IDOLS OF PENSACOLA ISLAND.

Pensacola is one of the group of islands lying at the foot of Mt Mombacho in Lake Nicaragua. On this island the three statues shown in the following cuts have been dug up, having been buried there purposely by order of the catholic authorities in behalf of the supposed spiritual interests of the natives. Fig. 1 is cut from hard red sandstone; the human face is surmounted by a monster head, and by its side the open mouth and the fangs of a serpent appear. The limbs of this statue, unlike those of most Nicaraguan idols, are freely sculptured and detached so far as is consistent with safety.

Pensacola Idols.—Fig. 1.

Pensacola Idols.—Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is an animal clinging to the back of a human being, concerning which Mr Squier remarks: "I never have seen a statue which conveyed so forcibly the idea of power and strength." The back is ribbed or carved to represent overlapping plates like a rude coat of mail, and the whole is nine feet high and ten feet in circumference. Fig. 3 is the head and bust—the lower portion having been broken off—of a hideous monster, with hanging tongue and large staring eyes, large ears, and distended mouth, "like some gray monster just emerging from the depths of the earth at the bidding of the wizard-priest of an unholy religion," not inappropriately termed 'el diablo' by the natives, when first it met their view.[II-54]

Pensacola Idols.—Fig. 3.

MOMOTOMBITA RELICS.

Momotombita Island formerly contained some fifty statues standing round a square, and facing inward, if, as Mr Squier believes, we may credit the native report. All are of black basalt, and have the sex clearly marked, a large majority representing males.

Idols of Momotombita.—Fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 is a statue noticeable for its bold and severe cast of features, and for what is conjectured to be a human heart held in the mouth, as is shown in the front view, Fig. 2. Fig. 3 was found at a street-corner at Managua, but had been brought originally from the island. Another, also from Momotombita, was found at Leon and afterwards deposited in the Smithsonian Institution. It evidently served as a support for some other object; the back is square and ribbed like the one at Pensacola, the eyes closed, and "the whole expression grave and serene." The colossal head shown in the cut on the preceding page was among the other fragments found on the island, where two groups of relics are said to exist, only one of which has been explored.[II-55]

Idols of Momotombita.—Fig. 3.

Colossal Head from Momotombita.

Piedra de la Boca.

The Piedra de la Boca is a small statue, or fragment, with a large mouth, standing at a street-corner in Granada, having been brought from one of the lake islands. The natives still have some feelings of dependence on this idol in times of danger. Several rudely carved, well-worn images stood also at the street-corners of Managua in 1838.[II-56]

IDOLS OF SUBTIAVA.

Idols of Subtiava.—Fig. 1.

Idols of Subtiava.—Fig. 2.

At the Indian pueblo of Subtiava near Leon many idols were dug up by the natives for Mr Squier, eight of them ranging from five and a half to eight feet in height and from four to five feet in circumference. The natives have always been in the habit of making offerings secretly to these gods of stone, and only a few months before Mr Squier's visit a stone bull had been broken up by the priests. About the large stone mound before described are numerous fragments, but only one statue entire, which is shown in Fig. 1. It projects six feet four inches above ground and is cut from sandstone. At the lower extremity of the flap which hangs from the belt in front is noted a cup-like hole large enough to contain about a quart. Fig. 2, of the same material, is two feet six inches in height, and represents a female either holding a mask over her abdomen, or holding open the abdomen for the face to look out. Fig. 3 and 4 show a front and rear view of another statue, in which the human face, instead of being surmounted by, looks out from the jaws of some animal. The features of the face had been defaced apparently by blows with a hammer; the ornamentation was thought to resemble somewhat that of the Copan statues. Others mentioned and sketched at Subtiava have a general resemblance to these.[II-57]

Idols of Subtiava.—Fig. 3 and 4.

IDOLS OF CHONTALES.

The Chontal statues are divided by Mr Boyle into two classes; the first of which includes idols, with fierce and distorted features, never found on the graves, but often near them; while the second is composed of portrait-statues, always distinguished by closed eyes and a calm, "simple, human air about their features, however irregularly modeled." The latter are always found on or in the cairns under which bodies are interred, and are much more numerous than the idols proper. Unfortunately we have but few drawings in support of this theory. It is true that the two classes of features are noticeable elsewhere, as well as here, but the position of the statues does not seem to justify any such division into portraits and idols. Mr Boyle also believes the Chontal sculptures better modeled though less elaborate than those of the south-west.[II-58]

Chontal Statues.—Fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 1 is one of several statues found near Juigalpa; it is of the portrait class, and is remarkable for the wen over the eye and a cross on the breast. Fig. 2 is the head of another taken from a cairn near Libertad, and since used to prop up a modern wall. Fig. 3 is what Mr Pim terms a head-stone of one of the graves in the same locality. Many of the images have holes drilled through them; there is no distinction of sex, and here, as elsewhere, there is no attempt at drapery. Entire statues seem to be rare, but fragments very abundant. Mr Squier notes in all the Nicaraguan statues a general resemblance, but at the same time marked individuality, and deems it possible to identify many of them with the gods of the Mexican Pantheon.[II-59]

NICARAGUAN WEAPONS.

My fourth class includes weapons, implements, ornaments, and other miscellaneous articles of stone. There is a mention without description of arrow-heads and flint flakes dug up from the graves of Ometepec. Celts, much like those extant in European collections, are reported as of frequent occurrence; two of granite and one of basalt at Ometepec, and one of chipped flint at Zapatero, the latter being regular in outline, with a smooth sharp edge, believed by Mr Boyle to be of very rare form, and unique in America. Axes are also said to be numerous, there being specially mentioned one of basalt, broad and thin, from Ometepec; and a similar one, three or four inches wide, six inches long, and of a uniform thickness, not exceeding one third of an inch, from Zapatero.

Nicaraguan Weapons.—Fig. 1 and 2.

Nicaraguan Weapons.—Fig. 3 and 4.

Fig. 1 is a rude aboriginal weapon from a cairn near Libertad, called by Mr Pim a hatchet. Fig. 2 is an axe of syenite found by Mr Squier at Granada, where he states that similar relics are not uncommon. Fig. 3 is one of two very beautiful double-edged battle-axes from the Chontal cairns. It is of volcanic stone, twelve and a half inches long by seven and three fourths inches wide. Fig. 4 represents a flint axe from Zapatero Island as sketched by Mr Boyle. A knife ten inches long was also found by Pim in a Chontal grave.[II-60]

Granite Vase from Brita.

STONE IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS.

Stone vessels are rare, though a granite vase, eighteen inches high, as shown in the cut, was dug up at Brita, near Rivas; and two marble vases of very superior workmanship were found in a Libertad mound. One was of the tripod form and badly broken; the other was shaped like a can resting on a stand, with ornamental handles, and having its sides, not thicker than card-board, covered with grecs and arabesques.[II-61]

Metates occur often on both sides the lakes. The cut on the following page shows one dug up at Leon, being very similar to those still in use in the country, but more elaborate in its ornamentation. Those east of the lakes are flat instead of curved, but still superior to any now made, and in connection with them have been found the pestles with which maize was crushed.[II-62]

Nicaraguan Metate.

Broken pedestals and sculptured fragments whose original purpose is unknown occur frequently, and stone rattles were formerly found about Juigalpa. Beads of lava, basalt, and chalcedony, in collections suggestive of small necklaces, are numerous, particularly at Ometepec. Those of lava are often wonderfully wrought, about an inch long, ringed or grooved on the surface, pierced lengthwise with a hole only large enough to admit a fine thread, and yet the whole, of the most brittle material, not thicker than twine. Those of chalcedony are of larger size.[II-63]

The niche near Leon, known as the Capilla de la Piedra, had before its entrance a flat stone resembling an altar. At Zapatero Mr Squier found four stones also apparently intended for sacrificial purposes. One of these, an oval stone imbedded in the earth, and covered on its upper surface with inscribed characters, is shown in the cut. Near the Simon mine in Nueva Segovia, the north-eastern province of the state, was found by Mr Pim a broken font, the only relic of this region, on the exterior of which the following figure is carved, supposed to represent the sun. It has also the peculiarity of what seem intended for long moustaches.[II-64]

Altar from Zapatero.

Sun-sculpture in Nueva Segovia.

Burial Urns from Ometepec.

NICARAGUAN POTTERY.

The fifth class embraces all articles of pottery, abundant throughout the whole extent of the state, but especially so on the lake islands, where the natives actually dig them from the earth to supply their present needs. None of the localities which have yielded other relics is without its deposit of earthen ware, either whole or in fragments. The fact that vessels unearthed by the natives, when unbroken, are wholly uninjured by their long rest under a damp tropical soil, indicates their excellence in material and construction. It is not indeed probable that in material or methods of manufacture the ancient differed essentially from the modern pottery; but in skill and taste the former was unquestionably far superior. Mr Squier pronounces the work equal to the best specimens of the Mexican and Peruvian potters. He finds no evidence of the use of the wheel; Mr Boyle, however, thinks it was employed, but rarely. The clay varies from brown to black, and the glazing, often sufficiently thick to be chipped off with a knife, is usually of a whitish or yellowish hue. The colors with which most articles are painted are both brilliant and durable, red being a favorite. In some cases the paint seems to have penetrated the substance of the pottery, as if applied before the clay was dry. The figures of the cut illustrate the two most common forms of the cinerary, or burial, urns, both from Ometepec, the former sketched by Mr Boyle and the latter by Mr Squier. The urns contain a black sticky earth supposed to represent traces of burned flesh, and often unburned bones, skull, or teeth, together with a collection of the smaller relics which have been described. The bones of animals, deer-horns, and boar-tusks, and bone implements rarely or never occur. Earthen basins of different material and color from the urns are often—always in the Chontal graves—found inverted one over another to close the mouth. The burial vases are sometimes thirty-six inches long by twenty inches high, painted usually on the outside with alternate streaks of black and scarlet, while serpents or other ornaments are frequently relieved on the surface. One or two handles are in most cases attached to each. Mr Squier believes a human skull to have been the model of the urns. Five of them at Libertad are noticed as lying uniformly east and west. It appears evident that many of the articles found in or about the graves had no connection with burial rites, some of them having undoubtedly been buried to keep them from the hands of the Spaniards. The figures of the cuts, from Mr Boyle, show two forms of vessels which are frequently repeated among an infinite variety of other shapes. The tripod vase with hollow legs is a common form, of which Fig. 1 is a fine specimen from Ometepec, five and three fourths inches high, and six inches in diameter, with a different face on each leg. Fig. 2 is a bowl from Zapatero which occurs in great numbers, of uniform shape and decoration, but of varying size, being ordinarily, however, ten inches in diameter and four and one fourth inches high. Both inside and outside are painted with figures which from their uniformity in different specimens are deemed by Mr Boyle to have some hidden hieroglyphic meaning. It is also remarked that vessels intended to be of the same size are exactly equal in every respect. Another common vessel is a black jar, glazed and polished, about four inches high and five and one fourth inches in diameter, made of light clay, and having a simple wavy ornament round the rim. Animals or parts of animals, particularly alligators, often form a part of the ornamentation of pottery, but complete animals in clay are rare, a rude clay stag being the only relic of the kind reported. The device of a beast springing on the back of a human form, so frequent among the statues or idols, also occurs in terra cotta. The four figures of the cut show additional specimens in terra cotta from Mr Squier, of which Fig. 2 is from Ometepec.[II-65]

Ometepec Tripod Vase.—Fig. 1.

Bowl from Zapatero.—Fig. 2.

Nicaraguan Figures in Terra Cotta.

RELICS OF THE USE OF METALS.

It only remains to speak of the sixth and last class of Nicaraguan relics; viz., articles of metal, which may be very briefly disposed of. The only gold seen by any of our authorities was "a drop of pure gold, one inch long, precisely like the rattles worn by Malay girls," taken by Mr Boyle from a cinerary vase at Juigalpa. But all others mention small gold idols and ornaments which are reported to have been found, one of them weighing twenty-four ounces; so that there can be but little doubt that the ancient people understood to a limited extent the use of this precious metal, which the territory has never produced in large quantities. Copper, on the contrary, is said to be abundant and of a variety easily worked, and yet the only relic of this metal discovered is the copper mask, which Mr Squier supposes to represent a tiger's face, shown in the cut. It was presented to him by a man who claimed to have obtained it from Ometepec. Mr Boyle believes, with reason as I think, that in a country abounding in the metal, the skill and knowledge requisite to produce the mask would most certainly have left other evidences of its possession. The authenticity of this mask, when considered as a Nicaraguan relic, may be regarded as extremely problematical.[II-66]

Copper Mask.

Nicaraguan antiquities, concerning which I have now given all the information in my possession, give rise to but little discussion or visionary speculation. Indeed there is little of the mysterious connected with them, as they do not necessarily carry us farther back into the past than the partially civilized people that occupied the country in the sixteenth century. Not one relic has appeared which may not reasonably be deemed their work, or which requires the agency of an unknown nation of antiquity. Yet supposing Nicaragua to have been long inhabited by a people of only slightly varying stages of civilization, any one of the idols described may have been worshiped thousands of years before the Spanish conquest. The relics are over three hundred years old; nothing in themselves proves them to be less than three thousand. Comparison with more northern relics and history may fix their age within narrower limits.

CHAPTER III.
ANTIQUITIES OF SALVADOR AND HONDURAS. RUINS OF COPAN.

Salvador—Opico Remains—Mounds of Jiboa—Relics of Lake Guijar—Honduras—Guanaja—Wall—Stone Chairs—Roatan—Pottery—Olancho Relics—Mounds of Agalta and Abajo—Hacienda of Labranza—Comayagua—Stone Dog-idol—Terraced Mounds of Calamulla—Tumuli on Rio Chiquinquare—Earthen Vases of Yarumela—Fortified Plateau of Tenampua—Pyramids, Enclosures, and Excavations—Stone Walls—Parallel Mounds—Cliff-Carvings at Aramacina—Copan—History and Bibliography—Palacio, Fuentes, Galindo, Stephens, Daly, Ellery, Hardcastle, Brasseur de Bourbourg—Plan of Ruins Restored—Quarry and Cave—Outside Monuments—Enclosing Walls—The Temple—Courts—Vaults—Pyramid—Idols—Altars—Miscellaneous Relics—Human Remains—Lime—Colossal Heads—Remarkable Altars—General Remarks.

ANTIQUITIES OF SALVADOR.

Following the continent westward from Nicaragua, we have the state of Salvador on the Pacific side, stretching some one hundred and eighty miles from the gulf of Fonseca to the Rio de Paza, the Guatemalan boundary, and extending inland about eighty miles. Here, in the central province of San Vicente, a few miles southward from the capital city of the same name, I find the first well-authenticated instance in our progress northward of the occurrence of ruined edifices. But of these ruins we only know that they are the most imposing monuments in the state, covering nearly two square miles at the foot of the volcano of Opico, and that they consist of "vast terraces, ruins of edifices, and circular and square towers, and subterranean galleries, all built of cut stones. A single carving has been found here, on a block of stone eight feet long by four broad. It is in the true Mexican style, representing probably a prince or great warrior."[III-1] Several mounds, considerable in size and regular in outline, were noted on the plain of Jiboa west of San Vicente; also similar ones near Sonsonato in the south-western portion of the state. In the north-west on the Guatemalan boundary, aboriginal relics are vaguely reported on the islands of Lake Guijar, but of them nothing is known.[III-2] And concerning Salvador monuments nothing further is to be said, although Mr Squier heard of ruins in that state rivaling in extent and interest the famous Copan.[III-3]

On the other side of the continent, reaching also across to the Pacific at the gulf of Fonseca, north of Nicaragua, the Mosquito coast, and Salvador, is the state of Honduras. It extends over three hundred and fifty miles westward along the Atlantic shore, from Cape Gracias á Dios nearly to the narrowest point of the isthmus where America is a second time so nearly cut in twain by the gulfs of Honduras and Dulce. The mountain chains which skirt the valley of the Motagua on the south, known as the sierras of Grita, Espíritu Santo, Merendon, Copan, etc., form the boundary line between Honduras and Guatemala. The northern coast, closely resembling in its general character the Mosquito shore, has preserved along its marshy lagoons, so far as they have been explored, no traces of its early occupants. Yet on the coast islands some relics appear. On that of Guanaja, whence in 1502 Columbus first beheld the continent of North America, is reported a wall of considerable extent, only a few feet high, with three-legged stone chairs fixed at intervals in rude niches or fissures along its sides. Chair-shaped excavations in solid rock occur at several other points on the island, together with rudely molded but fantastically decorated vessels of earthen ware. The Guanaja remains are chiefly found in the vicinity of the Savanna Bight Kay.[III-4] On the neighboring island of Roatan fragments of aboriginal pottery and small stone idols are found scattered through the forest.[III-5]

The eastern interior of Honduras, by reason of its gold mines, has been more extensively explored than the Mosquito region farther south; yet with respect to the departments of Olancho and Tegucigalpa I only find the statement by Mr Wells that "mounds containing specimens of ancient pottery are often met with by the vaqueros while exploring the gloomy depths of the forest, but these seldom survive the destructive curiosity of the natives;" this chiefly in the valleys of Agalta and Abajo, and on the hacienda of Labranza. The pottery takes the form of pans and jars to the number of ten to thirty in each mound; no idols or human remains having been reported.[III-6]

COMAYAGUA RELICS.

Still farther west, in the valley of Comayagua, midway between the oceans, about the head-waters of the rivers, to which the names Ulua, Goascoran, and Choluteca are applied as often as any others on the maps, there are abundant works of the former natives, made known, but unfortunately only described in part, by Mr Squier. These works chiefly occur on the terraces of the small branch valleys which radiate from that of Comayagua as a centre, in localities named as follows: Chapulistagua, Jamalteca, Guasistagua, Chapuluca, Tenampua, Maniani, Tambla, Yarumela, Calamulla, Lajamini, and Cururu. The ruins are spoken of in general terms as consisting of "large pyramidal, terraced structures, often faced with stones, conical mounds of earth, and walls of stone. In these, and in their vicinity, are found carvings in stone, and painted vases of great beauty." Concerning most of the localities mentioned we have no further details, and must form an idea of their nature from the few that are partially described, since a similarity is apparent between all the monuments of the region.

Mastodon's Tooth.

Earthen Vase of Yarumela.

About Comayagua, or Nueva Valladolid, we are informed that "hardly a step can be taken in any direction without encountering evidences of aboriginal occupation," the only relic specified, however, being a stone idol of canine form now occupying a position in the walls of the church of Our Lady of Dolores. At Tambla, some leagues south-east of Comayagua, was found the fossil skeleton of a mastodon, whose tooth is shown in the cut, imbedded in a sandstone formation.[III-7] One of the stratified sandstone terraces of the sierra south-west of Comayagua forms a fertile table over three thousand feet above the level of the sea; and on its surface, in an area of ten or twelve acres inclosed by a spring-fed mountain stream, are the ruins of Calamulla, consisting simply of mounds. Of these, two are large, one about one hundred feet long, with two stages, having a flight of steps on the western slope. It shows clear traces of having been originally faced with flat stones, now for the most part removed. Most of the mounds are of earth in terraces, and some of rectangular outline have a small conical mound raised a few feet above the surface of their upper platform. Stone-heaps of irregular form also occur; perhaps places of sepulture; at least differing in their use from the tumuli of more regular outlines which may readily be imagined once to have supported superimposed structures of more perishable materials. The natives have traditions, probably unfounded, of subterranean chambers and galleries beneath this spot. In the same vicinity, near the banks of the Rio Chiquinguare, and about a league from the pueblo of Yarumela, is another group of mounds, lying partly in the forest and partly in lands now under native cultivation. These remains, although in a more advanced state of ruin, are very similar to those of the Calamulla group. It is noted, however, that the tumuli are carefully oriented, and that some have stone steps in the centre of each side. In one or two cases there even remained standing portions of cut-stone walls. Local tradition, which as a rule amounts to nothing in such cases, seems to indicate that these structures were already in a ruined state before the Spanish conquest. At the town of Yarumela, and presumably taken from the group described, were seen, besides a few curiously carved stones, six earthen vases of superior workmanship and design, one of which is represented in the cut, together with separate and enlarged portions of its ornamentation, which is both carved and painted. The flying deity painted in outline on one of its faces is pronounced by Mr Squier identical with one of the characters of the Dresden Codex.[III-8]

RUINS OF TENAMPUA.

At Tenampua, or Pueblo Viejo, twenty miles south-east of Comayagua, near Flores, is a hill of white stratified sandstone, whose sides rise precipitously to a height of sixteen hundred feet above the level of the surrounding plain. The summit forms a level plateau one half a mile wide and one mile and a half long from east to west. On the eastern half chiefly, but also spreading over the whole surface of this lofty plateau, is the most extensive group of ancient works in the whole region, and in fact the only one of which we have a description at all in detail. As in the other localities of this part of the state, the group is made up for the most part of rectangular oriented mounds, some of stone, but most of earth, with a stone facing. The smaller mounds are apparently arranged in groups according to some system; they vary in size from twenty to thirty feet in height, having from two to four stages. The larger pyramidal tumuli are from sixty to one hundred feet long and of proportionate width and altitude, with in many cases a flight of steps in the centre of the side facing the west.

Enclosure at Tenampua.

RUINS OF TENAMPUA.

The structures that have been described are as follows, it being understood that they are but a part of the whole: A mound located on the very edge of the southern precipice commands a broad view over the whole plain of Comayagua, and its position suggests its possible aboriginal use as a station for fire-signals. Just north of this is an excavation, or perhaps a small natural valley, whose sides are faced with stone in steps leading up the slope on all four sides. In the centre of the eastern half of the plain, and consequently in the midst of the principal ruins, is what may be regarded as the chief structure of the group, commanding a view of all the rest. The annexed cut, made up from the description, will aid in giving a clear idea of the work. Two stone walls, an outer and an inner, about ten feet apart, each two feet thick, of which only a few feet in height remain standing, enclose a rectangular area of one hundred and eighty by three hundred feet. Cross-walls at regular intervals divide the space between the two into rectangular apartments now filled with earth to a depth of two feet. The walls terminate on the western side in two oblong terraced mounds between which is the only entrance to the enclosure; while on the opposite side in a corresponding position on the eastern wall is a mound equal in bulk to both the western ones combined. Within the inclosure is a large pyramidal mound in three stages, with a flight of steps on the west, situated just south of a central east and west line. From its south-west corner a line of imbedded stones runs to the southern wall; and between the pyramid and the gateway is a small square of stones. A similar mound, also provided with a stairway, is found in the north-east corner of the enclosure. The stones of which the walls and facings are made, indeed of all the stone work at Tenampua, are not hewn, but very carefully laid, no mention being made of mortar. All the structures are carefully oriented. At the south-east corner of the plateau is a second enclosure which has a gateway in the centre of each of its four equal sides, but whose dimensions are not given. This has in its area two mounds, each with a stairway. Elsewhere, its location on the plateau not being stated, is a raised terrace, or platform, three hundred and sixty feet long, containing one of the most remarkable features of the place, in the form of two parallel mounds one hundred and forty feet long, thirty-six feet wide at the base, ten feet high, and forty feet apart at their inner and lower edges. The outer sides have double walls like those of the chief enclosure, divided into three compartments, and having served apparently as the foundations of three separate buildings. The inner side of each mound slopes in three terraces, the lower ones being faced with large flat stones set upright. In a line with the centre between these parallels and at a distance of one hundred and twenty paces is a mound with a stairway on its southern slope, and at a distance of twenty-four paces on the same line, but in a direction not stated, are two large stones carefully placed with a space of one foot between them. The conjectural use of these parallels, like that of somewhat similar ones which we shall meet elsewhere, is for the accommodation of the ancient nobility or priesthood in their games or processions. On the west end of the plateau are two perpendicular excavations in the rock, twenty feet square and twelve feet deep, with a gallery three feet square leading northward from the bottom of each. The natives have an idea that these passages lead to the ruins of Chapulistagua, but they are probably of natural formation with artificial improvements, and of no great extent. The remains of a pyramid are found in the vicinity of the holes. Near the centre of the plateau, in a spot naturally low and marshy, are two large square excavations which may have been reservoirs. In addition to the works described are over three hundred mounds or truncated pyramids of different sizes, scattered over the surface of the plateau, to the location and arrangement of which, in the absence of a plan, we have no guide. They are covered with a heavy growth of timber, some of them supporting pine-trees two feet in diameter. Only one was opened and its interior found to consist simply of earth, except the upper terrace which was ashes and burned matter, containing fragments of pottery and of obsidian knives. The pottery is chiefly in the form of small flat pans and vases, all decorated with simple painted figures; and one small gourd-shaped vase, nearly entire, was filled with some black indurated matter so hard as not to be removable. As to the original purposes to which the structures of Tenampua were devoted, speculation points with much plausibility to religious ceremonies and temples in the case of the enclosures and larger pyramids; to sepulchral rites in that of the smaller mounds; while the strong natural position of the works on a plateau with high, precipitous, and at nearly every point inaccessible sides, indicates that defense was an important consideration with the builders. The supposed reservoirs favor this theory, which is rendered a certainty by the fortifications which protect the approach to the plateau at the only accessible points, on three narrow ridges connecting this hill with others of the range. These fortifications are walls of rough stone, from six to fifteen feet high and ten to twenty feet thick at the base, according to the weakness or strength of the location. Gullies on the slopes which might afford a cover for approaching foes are carefully filled with stones; and the walls themselves, which also have traces of towers at intervals, while presenting a perpendicular exterior, are terraced on the inside for the convenience of the defenders. Yet the poor thin soil, incapable of supporting a large number of people, indicates that it was not probably a fortified town, but that it must be regarded as a place sacred to the gods, to be defended to the last, and possibly a refuge for the people of the towns below in cases of extreme danger.[III-9]

CLIFF-CARVINGS OF ARAMACINA.

Southward from Comayagua, toward the Pacific shore, we find relics of former times near Aramacina, in the Goascoran region. Here the smooth vertical face of a sandstone ledge forms one side of a natural amphitheatre, and is covered, for a space of one hundred by fifteen feet, with engraved figures cut to a depth of two and a half inches, the incisions serving as convenient steps by which to mount the cliff. Some of the engravings have been destroyed by modern quarry-men; of those remaining some seem to be ornamental and arbitrary, while in others the forms of men and animals may be distinguished. They are pronounced by the observer identical in style with the inscriptions of Nicaragua and Salvador, of whose existence in the latter state we have no other intimation.[III-10]

But one group of antiquities in Honduras remains to be described,—Copan, the most wonderful of all, and one of the most famous of American ruins. The location is in a most fertile tobacco-producing region near the Guatemalan boundary, on the eastern bank of the Rio Copan, which flows northward to join the Motagua some fifty miles below the ruins, at a point something more than one hundred miles above its mouth in the bay of Honduras.[III-11]

Some rapids occur in the Copan River below the ruins, but in the season of high water it is navigable for canoes for a greater part of its course. The name Copan, so far as can be known, was applied to the ruins simply from their vicinity to an adjacent hamlet or Indian pueblo so named, which is located at the mouth of a small stream, called Sesesmil by Col. Galindo, which empties into the Copan a little higher up. This pueblo has greatly deteriorated in later times; formerly both town and province were rich and prosperous. Indeed, in the sixteenth century, in the revolt which broke out soon after the first conquest, the cacique of Copan resisted the Spanish forces long after the neighboring provinces had been subdued. Driven eventually to his chief town, he opposed barricades and ditches to the advancing foe, but was at last forced after a desperate struggle to yield to Hernando de Chaves in 1530. It was formerly supposed that the place where he made his brave stand against Chaves was identical with the ancient city since called Copan, its ruin dating from its fall in 1530. It is now believed, however, that there was no connection whatever between the two, and that, so far as the ruined city of antiquity is concerned, history is absolutely silent. This conclusion is based on the facts that Cortés in his famous march through Honduras in 1524, although passing within a few leagues of this place, heard nothing of so wonderful a city, as he could hardly have failed to do had it been inhabited at the time; that there is not the slightest resemblance between the ruined structures to be described in these pages and the town besieged by Chaves as reported in the chronicles of the period; and above all that the ruins are described by Palacio as being very nearly in their present state, with nothing but the vaguest traditions respecting their origin, only about forty years after the fall of the brave cacique, the latter fact, however, not having been known to those authors who have stated that Copan was inhabited at the conquest.[III-12]

EXPLORATION OF THE RUINS.

This region has never been really explored with a view to the discovery of ancient relics. The few visitors, of whose explorations I give the history and bibliography in full in the annexed note,[III-13] have found enough of the wonderful in the monuments known to exist since the sixteenth century, without pushing their investigations back into the dense and almost impenetrable forest away from the immediate banks of the river. The difficulty attending antiquarian research in a country where the whole surface is covered with so dense a growth that progress in any direction is possible only foot by foot with the aid of the native machete, may be imagined. A hot climate, a moist and malarious atmosphere, venomous serpents and reptiles, myriads of diminutive demons in the form of insects, all do most vigorous battle against the advances of the foreign explorer, while the apathetic natives, whether of American or Spanish blood, feel not the slightest enthusiasm to unveil the mysterious works of the antiguos.

For what is known of Copan the world is indebted almost entirely to the works of the American traveler, Mr John L. Stephens, and of his most skilful artist-companion, Mr F. Catherwood;[III-14] and from the works of these gentlemen, with the slight notes to be gleaned from other sources, I proceed to give all that is known of what is commonly termed the oldest city on the American continent. I will begin by giving Juarros' description in full, since few or none of the objects mentioned by him can be identified with any of those met in the following pages. "In the year 1700, the Great Circus of Copan, still remained entire. This was a circular space, surrounded by stone pyramids about six yards high, and very well constructed; at the bases of these pyramids were figures, both male and female, of very excellent sculpture, which then retained the colours they had been enamelled with; and, what was not less remarkable, the whole of them were habited in the Castilian costume. In the middle of this area, elevated above a flight of steps, was the place of sacrifice. The same author (Fuentes) relates that, at a short distance from the Circus, there was a portal constructed of stone, on the columns of which were the figures of men, likewise represented in Spanish habits, with hose, ruff round the neck, sword, cap, and short cloak. On entering the gateway there are two fine stone pyramids, moderately large and lofty, from which is suspended a hammock that contains two human figures, one of each sex, clothed in the Indian style. Astonishment is forcibly excited on viewing this structure, because, large as it is, there is no appearance of the component parts being joined together; and, although entirely of stone, and of an enormous weight, it may be put in motion by the slightest impulse of the hand. Not far from this hammock is the cave of Tibulca; this appears like a temple of great size, hollowed out of the base of a hill, and adorned with columns having bases, pedestals, capitals and crowns, all accurately adjusted according to architectural principles; at the sides are numerous windows faced with stone exquisitely wrought. All these circumstances lead to a belief that there must have been some intercourse between the inhabitants of the old and new world at very remote periods."[III-15]

EXTENT OF THE RUINS.

The ruins are always spoken of as extending two miles along the bank of the river; yet all the structures described or definitely located by any visitor, are included in the much smaller area shown on Mr Stephens' plan, with, however, the following exceptions: "A stone wall with a circular building and a pit, apparently for a reservoir," is found about a mile up the river; the quarry which supplied material for all the structures and statues,—a soft grit interspersed with hard flinty lumps,—is in a range of hills two miles north of the river, where are scattered many blocks rejected by the ancient workers, one being seen on the very top of the range, and another, the largest noted, half-way between the quarry and its destination at the ruins; Fuentes' wonderful cave of Tibulca is in the same range of hills, and may be identical with the quarry, or, as Col. Galindo thinks, with a natural cave in a mountain two leagues distant; one monument is mentioned at a distance of a mile across the river on the summit of a mountain two thousand feet high, but this does not appear to have been visited; and finally, the natives reported to Mr Hardcastle a causeway in the forest, several leagues in length. Yet although so very little is known of outside monuments, there can be no doubt that such exist, not improbably of great extent and interest; since, although heaps of ruins and fragments are vaguely reported in every direction, no attempt at a thorough examination has ever been made or indeed could be, except by removing the whole forest by a conflagration during the dry season.[III-16]

Temple of Copan.