' : C< ;>u &re situated In the *mi. pan i the *«ncrs !*i of the Bifhltr of Hon *uca* on. a lew mUec from the uoa*.- tiur uuat* Mountain*, •bo loutta.i; of the Curdsibra. reach Dm hh DlrtlhdD of tuBF !JN teat. Mimai ft aa eet-ry aide their low er »k>pe? . ie-ir-ws wrstfc a. well Ufk Impenetrate thicket of low tree* ahu burhaa. aad their aw mm its rwrnlj . * ered with piae. The » alley at this po ut 1* about a miie an... a k.< 4 »tde. aad it la «s«c this rich r.rer •.« an.sent lil.n tue'rrjuit* was built. The rt . - i Boot east we • now (Lifting the t e*a - ms, as! araia having troaaed tg alt-tg t-. *_»# :r. southern »- :• / - -t *tr» - a eat j tensed in the dry e- -at -am* . alb- . tcrreut frequently •** * *-tt j wash* e* er ti* rttaa hare set in. f • . j. .•■.-.■rt tier *. r*i jl. V-o oa a’, tide l-y OfJTZP/Pf TSiP TfPfPLP I %5£AT£D FJGL'PF (PAPT/ALL Y FP3TOPPD) J,ry C£AT£F OF JZA/FWAY 'A WfU--P#£^£J?VFD <5T£LA—> jpfjrzfiATfO# af JXUMHXY TO Cj->AJ*££& Our CG£AT 7£J*tAL£*~ t a* *”t bet. Itaa and Yamal, from 'be ac ■ in <4 mo it- sell as Spuulsb writers. • - • <4 wb.-sa de cited their it: formation troin n - »«H nrqualPted wrh the former h story of 'be country And while this Information is 4i»•» quite fragmentary. ncverrheloaa ft sheds • sec . . nsiderable l.ghi on he pre-Otitimblcn t.'Uey of ta which no ccwepfely entbrands al l a t *htc great centers of the Maya eafttwf* f vt <. rats t ’-he former history of Yoi . a. an «d6< ill of the Audencia of Gua ter_i_. ' - ted the*, ruins and later described 'be* a . rtter ru Ht* p li the then king of 15*011 Is tbi* eomauinicatton. alter a de srrtj cn *4 the d;3et« nt t. Idlag* he says he endmesmi to aseenslB who the former in habitants of (be Hty were *T endow’«rad with all passible care to aa ^ certai* from the Indians through the tradi tsons derived 'rorn the ancient*, what people tsved hoc, or what *b«y knew or had h, ard froqs -beir ancestors concerting them But hey bod bo boohs relating to tbetr antiquities, nos to I b :*ete tha> In all this district there is more th-a at, which 1 possess They say that ia ancient times there came from Yuca tan a g*wnt lord who built these ediAres. but that as tb, ene of soma year* he returned to bis u .« country ienving them entirely de* sorted " rnfortunately. 'he reliability of this tradi txm is dtepruwsd by too many different lines ■f evidence to permit our accepting it. In the •rst place the mructures at Copan are far too numerous and massive to have been buiH wt-hin the span of a single tfe: and its eiab ornlely sculptured monuments are far loo in tties', to have k« carved in one generation w ith the tool* available Had that “G -«et lord from Yucatan* lived twice the allowed three scone yean and ton. his life. <*en then, could not have embraced one-fourth of the period of building activity at Copan. Again, as we shall see, the hieroglyphic in scriptions at Copan indicate that it was far older than any of the Yucatan sites, and that it probably had been abandoned many years before the rise of the great northern cities. Still another reason for doubting that Copan was colonized from Yucatan arise when we ex amine the historical data bearing on each. All the early writers native as well as Spanish, with the exception of Palacio. above quoted, pas> over the great southern metropolis in ab solute silence: but when they come to describe \ ucatan nearly ail of them mention the two largest of the ancient cities there, Chichen Itza and 1'xmal. and In some instances even aiv« brief outlines of their history The striking absence of tradition relating to such an extensive site as Copan can only • Indicate one thing—that its fall and subse quent desolation bad outlived the memory of man even at the time of the Spanish Conquest :n 1 and a generation later, when Palacio visited the place, it had been forgotten so long that he was unable to find out anything about its former history except the very dubious tra dition given above. The ruins are more easily reached today from Gautemala than from Honduras, in which latter Republic they are located. One leaves the Guatemala Northern railroad at Zacapa, and either by horseback or carl, journeys east ward lor two days, stopping overnight at Jaco tan The actual distance traveled cannot be more than 35 or 40 miles at the outside, but the road is so rough and winds through coun try so mountainous that It takes two days to reach he ruins after leaving the railroad. The modern village of Copan. where one can secure accommodations of a sort, is about three-quar ters of a mile from the main group of ruins. It is built over a part of the site of the ancient city, and has two beautifully sculptured altars standing in the plaza under a large tree. Sev eral other sculptural monuments are to be found in various pigsties and chicken yards throughout the village, and there is another group of two or three, a short distance to the northwest in the "campo eann/* or burying ground. Taking the path, leading to the east from the village, a fifteen minutes' walk brings one to the entrance on the west side of the Great Plaza, the largest and doubtless the most im portant court in the city. This imposing area. some ::00 feet long by 250 wide, is surrounded on three sides by a terrace 10 to 15 feet high. The interior sides of this are stepped so that standing in the center of the plaza the effect is that of a sunken conn surrounded on all sides but one. with tiers of stone seats or benches. The southern or open side is occupied by a small pyramid about 20 feet high, which, standing midway between the ends of the ter race. appears to inclose the area. This pyra mid, because of its central position with refer ence to the Great Plaza, must have been a much more important structure than its 6ize would now seem to indicate. Standing on its Eummn ana loosing nortnwara. a great open air auditorium lies at one's feet. Tier upon tier of stone benches rising around its sides, and five great monumental states, posted like gigantic sentinels guarding its sacred pre cints. This mound, so conspicuously located on the open side of the Great Plaza, attracted the at tention of the English traveler and archaelol ogist. Mr. A. P. Mauds lay, who visited Copan in 1885. spending several months there in pho tograhping and making molds of the sculptures and in studying the ruins. He cleared its sides and excavated It. The summit, he says, is very small, and shows no signs of any build ing ever having stood there. Digging through the floor he sank a shaft into the interior of the pyramid and found at a depth of six feet from the top an earthen pot which contained several jade beads, a few pearls, a jade spin dle whorl, perforated disk, and some roughly tarved pieces of pearl shell. The bottom of the pot was covered with some finely ground cinnabar and several ounces of quick silver. Fragments of human bones were taken out during the course of these excavations and. finally, at a depth of nine feet below the level of the plain, a skeleton of a jaguar was un covered. The use of this pyramid without a building of any kind surmounting It must forever re main a mystery. Perhaps here in full view of the assembled inhabitants of the ancient city were practiced the bloody rites of human sacriflec: or perhaps the decrees of rules or the omens from above were handed down. Who can say now? One thing alone seems reasonably cer tain; the close proximity and commanding relation of this pyramid to such a vast open air auditorium as the Great Plaza Indicates that it formerly played some very Important part in the life of Copan. The most interesting feature of the Great Plaza, however, is not this pyramid, but the great sculptured monuments, whfch are scat tered here and there around the inclosure. Of these, five are now standing and three lie pros trate. They average not far from 12 feet in height and are about 3V4 feet in breadth. The general treatment of them all is much the same. The side facing the plaza is uniformly sculptured with the likeness of a human be ing sometimes cf one sex and sometimes of the other, carved in very high relief, which, in places, amounts to sculpture in the round. The clothing and headdresses of these figures are exceedingly ornate. The sides and backs of these monuments are usually covered with hieroglyphics, though this latter is not a constant feature. Near each one of them, usually just in front, there is a smaller block of stone, sometimes round and sometimes square. These, because of their close connec tion with the larger monuments, have been called altars, and it is not unlikely that they I may have served some such a purpose. They ! are elaborately sculptured with grotesque fig- I ures and in some ca^es with hieroglyphics also. Leaving the Great Plaza and its interesting monuments behind, and proceeding southward about 100 yards, we enter a narrow court 290 1 feet in length by 135 feet in width. This in closure has been named "The Court of the Hieroglyphic Stairway," because of its most re- 1 markable feature—an imposing flight of stairs j ascending the pyramid at its southern end. This stairway, including the elaborately sculptured balustrades on each side, measures 33 feet in width. Its steps, which average a foot in height. ; have their vertical faces covered with hiero- ! glyphics. This monumental stairway, rising steeply for . SO feet, its steps ami balustrades elaborately sculptured, and full-size human figures occupy ing its center at regular intervals clear to the j summit, must have presented in former times a striking appearance and offered an effect but little short of stupendous. Ascending the steep slope which forms the southeastern side of the court of the Hiero glyphic Stairway, we find ourselves on the sum mit of a broad terrace overlooking the Eastern Court. This inclosure, though somewhat small iabout 125 feet square), originally must have been one of the most beautiful parts of the city, judging from the elaborate sculptures now strewing it in great profusion. On its south side rises :he highest pyramid at Copan. the summit 112 feet above the level of the river. Across the greater part of the western side extends a broad. j rathe: low stairway, flanked by two life-sized j rampant jaguars sculptured in high relief. This j flight of steps leads to a broad terrace overlook ing another court. The remaining sides of the | Eastern Court are occupied by high terraces. j which support a number of ruined structures.: One of these on the northern terrace was exca- j vated by Mr. Maudslay. who found there a beau tiful interior doorway nine feet wide, over which there is an elaborate frieze supported at j Its ends by crouching human figures of heroic size, the whole being carved in high relief al most amounting to sculpture in the round. The structures on the eastern and remain:ng terrace have for the most part disappeared, their destruction having been due to a change in the course of the Copan river, which now washes the exterior base of this terrace. This cutting away of the great substructure of the main group of buildings by the river is one of the most interesting and at the same time deplorable features at Copan. since ultimately, if : not cheeked, it can mean nothing more nor less than the total destruction of the city. But this wholesale demolition is not being ac ecmplished without its accompanying lesson in archaeology. This great vertical wall, cut ty : the river all along the eastern side of the main group, is the largest cross-section of an arch-1 aeologieal site in the world. Here, like an open ‘ book, one may read the successive periods of the city's growth. At different levels from the 1 hollows upward throughout the rubble hearting of the substructure there are horizontal strata of cut paving stones. These are the pavements of different plazas dating from successive i epochs of the city's history, and they clearly demonstrate that the growth of Copan has been gradual. As time passed and the population in creased. newer and larger structures and plazas were built to meet the needs of the growing city. These constructions, as we see from the cross-section of the substructure, were built di rectly above the older ones. When it became necessary to build a new plaza its rubble foun dations were laid on the paving of the old plaza which it was to replace, and thus the highest of , the substructure slowly increased. A careful study of the floors of these successive plazas would doubtless teach much as to the different epochs of the city’s occupancy, and might even i reveal important facts relative to its history Before closing this description, it may not be | out of place to explain here our reasons for hav- I ing called Copan “The Mother City of the Mayas." Briefly stated, it is because of the greater antiquity of its hieroglyphic inscriptions as compared with those of every other Maya city now known. This greater age of Copan is indicated, not only by the actual dates recorded in its earliest inscriptions, but also by a cruder technique in their execution. I^ater. in the best period of the southern Maya civilization, sculp ture is found to be in very high relief or even in the round, and is characterized by a great pro fusion and elaboration of detail. Nothing of this, however, appears In the earliest monu ments at Copan. where the relief is so low that it amounts to little more than Incised lines, the sculptor apparently not feeling sure enough of his technique to attempt anything more ambi tious. Aside from this question of technique, how ever. the dates themselves recorded on these more crudely sculptured monuments are much earlier than those on the more elaborate ones. The earliest historic date at Copan preceded the earliest historic dates of all the other great Maya cities by intervals ranging from 20 to 300 years, or. expressed In terms of Maya chronok. ogy. from one to fifteen katuns, the Maya “ka tun" being approximately equal to 20 of our own years. For these two reasons, then, the more primi tive character of Us earliest monuments and the actual priority of its earliest dates, we have called Copsn “The Mother City of the Mayas” Picked Berries Fw< Van, ftatiac n the Lee re* rrtriiaa fcuac o*er the aster a trace (he sartaee. aad he ass car bead out of the water and grabbing' tfce bemea He watched the carp re peat the operation half a dozen times. He then tried his bait and succeeded in booking the fish, but had to shoot It before be could land it. The carp weighed 32 pounds. Death and birth are two boundaries. Beyond these boundaries there Is an identical something. Hcpe. "When I come home tonight,” said Tommy's father, after Tommy had, while in a temper, upset the milk on the clean tablecloth, “I shall punish you.” "Gee,” said Tommy along about noon, “I hope they'll give dad a raise to< sy.” “Why do you want him to get a raise?” the boy’s mother asked. "He always seems to be so kind and cheerful for about a week after he gets a -raise ” Cats to Be Taxed in Munich Though the taxation of cats has been discussed for some time in Ber lin. the drastic step has been averted. Munich, however, has decided to put the threat into operation and a charge of five marks per cat per annum is to be made in the Bavarian capital. It is not. in the first place, as a source of revenue that the tax is to he imposed, for ostensibly the purposes sought are the public health and the protection of singing birds. Whatever the cause puss is to be the object of the tax collectors- energies and must hence forth wear the badge of authority or fall into the ruthless hands of the cat catchers, a corps to be formed to en force the new decree at its inception. There are man who Wound like pure gold, and then there are others who BMkaa aoiae like braaa. 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