Chapter III (2)

[III-13] The Licenciado Diego García de Palacio, Oidor (Justice, not Auditor) of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, in accordance with the duties of his office, traveled extensively in Guatemala and adjoining provinces, embodying the results of his observations on countries and peoples visited in a relation to King Felipe II. of Spain, dated March 8, 1576, which document is preserved in the celebrated Muñoz collection of MSS. It contains a description of the ruins of Copan which exists in print as follows; _Palacio_, _Relacion_, in _Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Inéd._, tom. vi., pp. 37-9; _Palacio_, _Carta dirijida al Rey_, Albany, 1860, pp. 88-96, including an English translation by E. G. Squier; _Palacios_, _Description_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Recueil de Doc._, pp. 42-4, which is a somewhat faulty French translation; _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38-40; _Squier's Cent. Amer._, pp. 242-4; and it is mentioned by Señor J. B. Muñoz in a report on American antiquities, written as early as 1785, of which a translation is given in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenqué_, pp. 7-8; Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, quotes, or rather takes from, Palacio's relation extensively, but omits the portion touching Copan. This first account of the ruins is by no means the worst that has been written. Although naturally incomplete, it is evidently a bona-fide description by an actual visitor, written at a time when the ruins were very nearly in their present condition, and their origin wrapped in mystery, although the stirring events of 1530 were yet comparatively fresh in the memory of the natives. The next account is that in _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recopilacion Flórida de la Historia del Reino de Guatemala_, _MS._, 1689. This work was never printed, although said to be in preparation for the press in 1856. _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind. Guat._, p. vii. Fuentes' description of Copan was, however, given to the public in 1808, in _Juarros_, _Compendio de la Hist. de la Ciudad de Guatemala_, a work translated into English in 1823, under the title of _A Statistical and Commercial Hist. of the Kingdom of Guatemala_. From Juarros the account is taken by many writers, none, so far as I know, having quoted Fuentes in the original. Where the latter obtained his information is not known. His account is brief, and justly termed by Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Palenqué_, p. 14., 'la description menteuse de Fuentes,' since nothing like the relics therein mentioned have been found in later times. Yet it is possible that the original was mutilated in passing through Juarros' hands. This description, given in full in my text, is repeated more or less fully in _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 131; _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 71; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., pp. 299-300; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., pp. 470-1; _Humboldt_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, pp. 385-6; _Cortés_, _Adventuras_, p. 321, and in many other works mentioned in connection with matter from later sources. Next we have the exploration of Colonel Juan Galindo, an officer in the Central American service, sometime governor of the province of Peten, made in April, 1835. An account of his observations was forwarded to the Société de Géographie of Paris, and published in the _Bulletin_ of that Society, and also in the _Literary Gazette_ of London. A communication on the subject was also published in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp. 545-50; and the information furnished to the French Geographical Society was published en résumé in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73, 76. Ten drawings accompanied Galindo's report, but have never been published, although the author announced the intention of the Central American government to publish his report in full with plates. He says, 'je suis le seul qui ait examiné les ruines de Copan, et qui en ait fait la relation,' but he knew nothing of Palacio's visit. 'Not being an artist, his account is necessarily unsatisfactory and imperfect, but it is not exaggerated.' _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 132. 'Had an enquiring mind, but a very superficial Education.' _Squier's Pref._ to _Palacio_, _Carta_, p. 8. Most of Galindo's account is also given with that of Juarros, in _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 96-9; also some information from the same source in _Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 52, and in _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._, p. 267. In 1839 Messrs Stephens and Catherwood visited Copan. Mr Stephens, as I find by a careful examination of his book, spent thirteen days in his survey, namely, from November 17 to 30; while Mr Catherwood spent the larger part of another month in completing his drawings. The results of their labors appeared in 1841 and 1844 under the titles:--_Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central America_, vol. i., pp. 95-160, with twenty-one plates and seven cuts; _Catherwood's Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America_, in folio, with large lithographic plates. Slight descriptions of the ruins, made up chiefly from Stephens, may be found as follows:--_Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. iii., pp. 54-5; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 76-9, with plan and cut; _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 64-74, 57, with plan and plates; _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 57-69, 116; _Davis' Antiq. Amer._, pp. 4-5; _Id._, (Ed. 1847,) p. 30; _Dally_, _Races Indig._, pp. 12-13; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 111-14, with cut; _Wappäus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 308; _Tiedemann_, _Heidelb. Yahrb._, 1851, p. 85; _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. 9-12, the text being from Galindo and Juarros; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 91-2; _Amérique Centrale_, _Colonization_, pt. ii., p. 68; _Müller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 462-4, 483; _Macgregor's Progress of Amer._, pp. 877-8; _Frost's Great Cities of the World_, pp. 279-82, with cut. Dr Scherzer in 1856 started to explore Copan, but, owing to the political state of the country at the time, was unable to get nearer than Santa Rosa, where the padre said moreover that recent land-slides had much injured the effect of the ruins. This author gives, however, a brief account made up from Stephens, Galindo, and Juarros. _Scherzer's Trav._, vol. ii., pp. 41, 86-7, 94-5. _Id._, _Wanderungen_, pp. 332, 366, 371. In September, 1856, the Jesuit Padre Cornette is said to have visited the ruins; M. César Daly, at a date not mentioned, prepared on the spot plans and drawings of the different structures which he intended to publish in the _Revue Générale de l'Architecture_, but whether or not they have ever appeared, I know not; the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg made two visits to Copan in 1863 and 1866; some slight additional information on the subject was communicated by Mr Center, on authority not given, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1860; and Mr Hardcastle, who had spent several weeks in exploring the ruins, furnished some farther notes at a meeting of the same society in April, 1862; and, finally, photographs were made of the ruins by M. Ellerly, director of the Alotepeque silver-mines. But these later explorations have not as yet afforded the public much information, except that the photographs mentioned, when compared by Brasseur de Bourbourg with Catherwood's plates, show the latter as well as Stephens' descriptions to be strictly accurate. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 96, tom. ii., p. 493; _Id._, _Palenqué_, pp. 8, 17; _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p. 114, vol. vi., p. 154.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[III-26] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 103-4, 142-3, with cut. Cut also in _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. x.

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

[III-28] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 134-9, 156; _Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp. 548-9; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. ii., p. 76; _Davis' Antiq. Amer._, pp. 4-5; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 68-9. Palacio's miscellaneous relics are, a large stone in the form of an eagle with a tablet of hieroglyphics a vara long on its breast; a stone cross three palms high, with a broken arm; and a supposed baptismal font in the plaza. _Relacion_, in _Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Inéd._, tom. vi., p. 38.

[III-29] _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 67; _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 142; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 197.

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

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

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