Note III-24 — Chapter III · ANTIQUITIES OF SALVADOR AND HONDURAS. RUINS OF COPAN.

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.