Stela F, which stands at the east side of the Great Plaza at Copan and faces west, is in a particularly bad state of preservation. It exhibits a standing figure on one side whose head is surmounted by an indescribable combination of a mask, a seated figure and much elaborate feather-work. A noteworthy feature, which recurs on other stelae in Copan and Quirigua, is an appendage which appears like an artificial beard attached to the chin of the personage. At the sides of the stela serpents" heads alternate with diminutive grotesque figures. On the back, or east side of the stela, two cords are represented which appear to have been brought over from the front and which are tied together so as to form five open loops, in each of which, as in a frame, there is a group consisting of four calculiform glyphs. The cord, which is knotted together at the base of the stela, appears to pa.s.s around it. It is impossible not to recognize that this representation of twenty glyphs, as divided into five groups of four, exactly agrees with Cogolludo"s records that the Mayas employed 20-year and 4-year eras and that when five of the 4-year periods had pa.s.sed they called it a ka-tun, and made a carved memorial of it. As Landa tells us that they erected stelae to commemorate the 20-year period, the inference to which the Copan Stela F leads us is that it is a katun and that the twenty glyphs carved on it are year-signs. Examination, however, shows that, whereas the Maya Calendar had but four year-signs which would naturally be bound to repeat themselves in each group of four years, no two glyphs on the Stela F are alike. It is obvious, therefore, that the glyphs are not the four calendar year-signs and reflection shows, indeed, that it would have been quite superfluous to carve these repeatedly on a stela. As each year-sign was identified with a cardinal point and an element and was permanently a.s.sociated with a particular color, the mere employment of the latter would suffice to convey this a.s.sociation of ideas. What is more, the relative positions of the four glyphs composing each group would also indicate the four year-signs and thus the sculptor of the stela would have been at liberty to record by the shape of his glyphs any fact he chose to connect with each year of the era. A curious linguistic fact must also be taken into consideration: The Maya name for the four year-signs was Ah-cuch-haab and the t.i.tle for a chief or ruler of a town was Ah-cuch-cab. The mere presence on the stela, of the figure of the ruler, would suffice to convey the certainty that the count of the four year-signs was understood to be present. On Stelae F and M, each of which displays twenty glyphs and one sculptured personage, the latter is particularly characterized by being a.s.sociated with head-dresses and emblems consisting of elaborate conventionalized plumed serpents" heads.
The inference naturally is that the serpent symbolism, which recurs in some form or other on every stela effigy, expresses or conveys that the rank and t.i.tle of the personage were that of a Kukul-can, the high-priest ruler who impersonated the "Divine Four," or of some lord=Ahau, who was also "ruler of the four regions."
It must be recognized that a stone stela, on which is sculptured the image of a lord and a count of 20, answers exactly to the memorial stone named Ahau-ka-tun, literally, lord, 20 stone, and it is easy to see how the period or era of twenty-four years should come to be called by the name of the stone which commemorated it, and each era to be differentiated by being designated by the personal name of the ruler who held office during its course. The result would be practically the same as the allusion to a particular reign in a nation"s history, with the seeming difference that all ancient American rulers and their subordinates held fixed terms of office, coinciding with the various periods of the calendar.
The inscriptions on the foregoing stelae are made of glyphs of a uniform character. Other stelae at Copan display the interesting set of 6+1=7 signs which recur on so many Central American monuments and strikingly coincide in number with the all-pervading division into six parts plus the middle and synopsis of all. Of this "septenary set of signs," six are uniform in size and character whilst the first is more elaborate and important in every respect and, as I shall set forth by a series of ill.u.s.trations in another publication, actually does symbolize the union of the Above and Below. It is to Mr. Maudslay that we owe the recognition of the existence of this septenary set of glyphs, which he announced as follows to the Royal Geographical Society in 1886:
"A number of Central American inscriptions are headed by what I shall call an initial scroll (the style of which is permanent throughout many variations) and begin with the same formula, usually extending through six squares of hieroglyphic writing, the sixth square, or sometimes the latter half of the sixth square, being a human face, usually in profile, enclosed in a frame or cartouche" (Proceedings, p. 583).
The septenary group occurs on Stelae A, B, C, E, I, P. It is curious to find that the initial sign is sometimes, as on two sides of Stela P, followed not by 6 glyphs only, but by 46=24 glyphs. On the east side of Stela P, it is succeeded by 22 glyphs and a carved design which seems to indicate the beginning or end of the count. On Stela I the initial is also followed by 46=24 glyphs, and on Stela A by 12 double (=24) glyphs on side 1, whilst side 2 displays 13 and side 3, 213=26. On Stela B two sides exhibit 13 glyphs each and the back 2+ the initial. On two sides of Stela C the initial is followed by 27=14 glyphs. It cannot be denied that the foregoing stelae collectively yield counts of 45, 7, 13, 20 and 24, which undoubtedly coincide with the well-known numerical organization and prove that this dominated the people who erected them.
The certainty that the ancient inhabitants of Copan a.s.sociated the idea of a central ruler with quadruple power is afforded by a remarkable bas-relief which Mr. Maudslay has kindly allowed me to reproduce here (fig. 55), from a drawing made by Miss Annie Hunter.(64)
This carved slab, the size of which is 5" by 4" 6", was found in four pieces in the western court of the main structure of Copan and according to Mr. Maudslay"s opinion, "formed part of the exterior ornament of temple 11 or the slope on which it stood." It undoubtedly claims a minute examination, as it strikingly ill.u.s.trates how the native ideas, I have been setting forth in the preceding pages, were originally suggested by the observation of Polaris. Seated cross-legged, and resting on the centre of the foliated swastika, is the figure of a personage whose t.i.tles are clearly discernible.
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Figure 55.
He is designated as a ruler, not only by his att.i.tude of repose, but by the fact that he wears a breast ornament in the form of a face or head (of the sun) and holds in his hand (_i. e._ governs) a vase or bowl (see p.
72). Those show him to be the chief or head of all and the c.u.m-ahau, or lord of the sacred vase or bowl (see p. 93). As the latter contains what appears to be a variant of the glyph ik and the word ik signifies breath, air and wind, by extension life, we realize that he is designated as the lord of breath and life. The glyph which covers his face bears a native cross-symbol and this, as well as the cruciform figure, the centre of which he occupies, conveys the idea of quadruplicate power. The double and bent arms of the cross-symbol strikingly resemble the conventionalized puffs of breath or air which are so frequently depicted in Mexican Codices, as issuing from the mouths of speakers. Almost identical representations of curved puffs are figured as issuing from open serpents"
jaws in a bas-relief at Palenque, of which more anon.
Mr. Maudslay has pointed out that on stelae from Copan and Quirigua a profusion of a.n.a.logous curved signs occurs also in connection with serpents" heads. A special feature of the curved puffs of breath on the Copan "swastika," as it has been named, are small seed-like b.a.l.l.s which are distributed in detached groups of threes along their inner and outer edges, and are usually accompanied by what resembles the small calyx of a flower, making four small objects in all. These b.a.l.l.s, which also recur in the Palenque symbol, forcibly recall a pa.s.sage of the Zuni creation myth recounted by Mr. Cushing.
It relates that, at a certain stage of the creation, "the most perfect of all priests and fathers named Yanauluha ... brought up from the underworld, the water of the inner ocean and the seeds of life production"
... Subsequently, on a feathered staff he carried, "appeared 4 round things, seeds of moving beings, mere eggs they were; two blue like the sky and two red like the flesh of the earth-mother."...
I cannot but think that these words from a purely native source explain the Copan sculpture more correctly than any inference that could be made, and authorize the explanation that the central figure represents the "four times lord," or "lord of the four winds," t.i.tles which were applied in Mexico to Quetzalcoatl and Xiuhtecuhtli. At the same time the bas-relief teaches us that "the four winds" had a deeper meaning than has been realized, for it represents life-giving breath carrying with it the seeds of the four vital elements, emanating from the central lord of life, spreading to the four quarters and dividing itself so as to disseminate vitality throughout the universe. The t.i.tle Kukulcan=the Divine Four, also serpent, proves to be even more expressive of this conception of a central divinity than the Mexican Divine Twin, or serpent. I am therefore inclined to consider that it originated with a Maya-speaking people, to whom, more graphically than to any one else, this bas-relief would have served, as a joint image of the star-G.o.d, the heart of heaven, named Hura-kan; of the terrestrial lord Ah-cuch-cab, the heart or life of the State; of the State, with its hun-kaal or one count of twenty subdivisions of people and its quadruple head and body and, finally, of the native cosmology.
The Copan swastika enables us to come to another interesting conclusion.
It is a refined representation of the set of thoughts suggested by Polaris, the idea of a stable centre being graphically rendered. Movement in four directions is also symbolized. As, in the lat.i.tude of Copan, Ursa Minor is the only circ.u.mpolar constellation which could have been observed in four opposite positions, it is obvious that Ursa Minor with Polaris must have const.i.tuted the Maya Celestial Heart or Life=cuxabal. The following points remain to be discussed in connection with the Copan swastika.
1. To be complete and in keeping with native modes of representation it must have originally been painted with the symbolical colors of the Four Quarters.
2. It is on a wooden club from Brazil or Guiana that, strange to say, I find a cross symbol with bifurcated branches, which most closely resembles the Copan type. Directing the readers to the ill.u.s.tration of this club as fig. 8, pl. XV, in Dr. Stolpe"s work already cited, I would ask them to examine also his fig. 7, with a design expressing dual and quadruple divisions; fig. 9_b_, with circles containing cross lines; 9_a_, with what resembles somewhat a Maltese cross but also conveys duality; fig. 11_b_ with a cross in a scalloped circle and a curious disc between four signs, with a band of alternate black and white squares and its reverse 11_a_, with triangles, to which I shall revert; and figs. 10_c_ and _d_, each with a mound from which a tree is growing. Though tempted to refer to many other symbols I shall limit myself to pointing out that his fig. 1, pl.
XIV, exhibits a group of five circles in a circle which strikingly recall the Mexican examples and the Maya ho=5. As each of the foregoing symbols is intelligible and belongs to a group of ideas which I have shown to have been general throughout America, but to have necessarily originated in the northern hemisphere, it seems pretty clear that they must have gradually found their way to Brazil and Guiana from the north by means of coast navigation and traffic.
3. Concerning the bowl in the hand of the figure occupying the middle of the swastika a few remarks should be added to those already given on pp.
72 and 93.
Formed of clay the bowl was an expressive symbol of the earth. Placed in elevated positions on the terraces of the temples, and filled by the first annual showers which fell upon the parched earth, the bowl of celestial water naturally became invested with peculiar sanct.i.ty, and was gradually regarded as containing particular life-giving qualities. One use to which bowls full of water were put, in ancient Mexico, seems to explain further the ideas a.s.sociated with them. It is well known that bowls of water were used at night for divination purposes, just as were black obsidian mirrors. This seems to prove that the latter were a subsequent invention which was adopted because it permanently afforded a surface for purposes of reflection.
In the native Maya chronicles the reflection of a star upon the trembling and moving surface of the water, is given as the image of the Creator and Former, the Heart of Heaven, and it was believed that the divine essence of life was thus conveyed to earth by light shining on and into the waters. It is well known that it was customary for the priests of the Great Temple of Mexico to bathe at midnight after fasting, in a sacred pool so deep that the water appeared to be black. This artificially-produced peculiarity would have rendered its surface particularly useful for the observation and registration of the movements of stars by their reflections.
Thomas Gage quaintly tells us, moreover, that at the consecration of a certain idol "made of all kinds of seeds that grow in the country ... a certain vessell of water was blessed with many words and ceremonies, and that water was preserved very religiously at the foot of the Altar for to consecrate the King when he was crowned and also to blesse any Captain Generall, when he should be elected for the Warres, with only giving him a draught of that water" (_op. cit._, p. 53). It is well known that infants also underwent a form of baptism.
The preceding and other evidence, which is scarcely required, enables us to realize the full significance which the symbol of a bowl surmounted by the glyph ik=life, breath, soul, was intended to express and convey.
The collection of rain-water in vessels, exposed so as to receive the reflection of the one immovable star-G.o.d, was doubtlessly employed as a test of the stability of the Middle of the Earth by many generations of priest-astronomers. The sanct.i.ty attached to this water, as having absorbed the divine essence of light and the attribution of life-giving properties to it, was but the natural sequence of such star-observation.
As the t.i.tle "the lord of the vase or bowl"=c.u.m-ahau, indicates, the supreme priest of Heaven alone seems to have attended to all rites concerning the sacred bowl and the distribution of its celestial life-giving contents. The symbolical decoration of many native bowls will be found to corroborate this view of their employment and of the virtue attributed to their contents.
By this time I trust that my readers will realize with me that, at Copan, the native set of ideas had long taken deep root and flourished. We have seen that the identical numerical divisions of time and tribes and the same symbolism prevailed as have been traced in Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Yucatan, Zuni, etc. The following monuments will still further establish this kinship of thought. Copan contains two stone slabs which answer to the description of an amay-tun, inasmuch as they are square and appear to be memorial stones. Let us see whether some clue to their purpose can be obtained from the carvings upon them.
On each of the four sides of altar K four personages are carved, all seeming to be of equal rank. Of these 44=16 chieftains, eight wear a breast ornament in the form of a double serpent, whilst the remaining eight wear a somewhat plainer kind. On the west side the two central figures face each other and two diminutive glyphs are carved in the s.p.a.ce between them. The most striking feature about the representation of these personages is, that each of them is seated, cross-legged, on a different composite glyph; some of these exhibit animal forms. This is a fact of utmost importance, for it definitely connects distinct personalities, obviously chieftains with composite glyphs, some composite parts of which are obviously totemic. On the upper surface of this monolith there are 66=36 single glyphs, which yield 9 groups of 4. If these 94 be added to the 44 glyphs on which the chieftains are respectively seated, we obtain 13 groups of 4, equivalent to 52. It is superfluous to repeat that there are fifty-two years in the Mexican cycle and that just as this square altar has 16 figures carved around it, the great monolithic Stone of Tizoc in the City of Mexico has 16 groups. In the latter case each group is accompanied by the name of a tribe and its capital. It looks very much as though the glyphs on which the chieftains on Altar K are seated also express tribal names.
A careful study of the other square monolith at Copan, known as the Alligator altar, will enable us to form a better estimate of the probable meaning of glyphs, employed as seats by chieftains. The Alligator altar takes its name from the sculptured animal which is stretched over its upper surface. Human figures are represented as connected with the different parts of the animal"s body, in a way which forcibly recalls Mr.
Cushing"s explanation of how the various members of a tribe were a.s.sociated with a part only of their totemic animal and bore the name of this part as their t.i.tle of honor, according to a strict order of precedence.
According to Mr. Maudslay"s description: "Upon the upper surface of the monument are two apparently human figures seated upon the arms of the alligator. Both figures are much weather worn; each has what appears to be a glyph in its hand, which is outstretched toward the alligator"s head.
Between the alligator"s arms and legs four human figures are seated in similar positions, two on each side of the body. These figures have large mask head-dresses and carry offerings in their hands. There are two figures on the north side of the monument, one on either side of the tail of the alligator; each is seated on a glyph. The figures are human, but in place of a human head each figure is surmounted by a glyph. Each figure holds a glyph with the numeral ten attached to it in its outstretched hand."
Since the above partial description of the altar was written, Mr. Maudslay has found that one of the above glyphs is "Mol" and the other "Zip," and has identified the glyph used as a head for each figure as the day-sign Cabal. This fact is of particular interest as the meaning of this sign seems to be connected with Caban=the Below, and the two figures with Cabal heads are sculptured at each side of the alligator"s tail which is the part of least honor, not only according to Zuni etiquette, but also according to Mexican ideas, the word for tail being employed, metaphorically, for va.s.sals.
To this description I would add that a careful study of the cast of this monument in the South Kensington Museum, and of the ill.u.s.trations in Mr.
Maudslay"s work reveals that, of the four figures on the west side, one only has a human head, whilst two have human bodies with animal heads and one a semi-human face and the body of a bird. Of the four figures on the east side, the first represents a man seated on a glyph, the second a human body with an animal head and the third and fourth semi-animal, bird and human figures. Amongst the recognizable animal forms represented, we distinguish an ocelot, an unmistakable alligator"s head and the head of a monster with huge jaw and serrated teeth which strongly resembles the Mexican sign c.i.p.actli, a nondescript "marine monster." One detail is worthy of special notice: the left hand of one of the figures on the east side terminates in a serpent"s head, in a fashion recalling that of the Santa Lucia bas-reliefs.
The following resume will make the distribution of the figures and glyphs on the altar quite clear. Top: outstretched alligator body, whose legs and claws are sculptured over the corners of the altar. On each shoulder 1 figure with glyph=2. On each knee 2 figures=4, making a total of 6 figures on the top. On east and west sides respectively, 4 figures; on north side 2 figures, on the south side 4 figures on composite glyphs=14. The total number of figures on top and sides is 20, each of which is intimately a.s.sociated with a glyph. Under the snout of the alligator, on the south side, there are 24=8 glyphs.
When carefully a.n.a.lyzed we ultimately find that the surface of the altar exhibits in the first case two chieftains of equal rank, but respectively seated on the right and left forelegs of the tribal totem. To my idea this demonstrates that the dual rulership, such as existed elsewhere, prevailed at Copan, and that two lords of the alligator tribe were ent.i.tled the right and left forelegs or "arms" of the animal totem. It should be noted here that the Maya name for alligator is chiuan or ain. The dictionaries contain also the following names for the same or allied species: Sea-lizard, alligator (?), ixbaan; lizard in general=ix-mech, or mech, ix-be-bech, ixzeluoh and ix-tulub. Obviously occupying positions of less honor there are 22=4 chiefs of equal rank but seated, respectively, on the right and left hind legs of the totem. These again are evidently equivalent to the four sub-rulers of Mexico and Yucatan, the Maya Bacabs or Chacs.
Lastly, the twenty different figures, connected with particular glyphs, are equivalent to the division of the tribe into as many portions, minus the head. The eight glyphs a.s.sociated with this added to the twelve glyph-figures, complete the numeric organization into twenty. From this monument, the sides of which were probably painted, originally, in four colors, it would seem that the alligator clan, ruled by two chiefs and four lesser rulers, was organized into twelve divisions of people and eight cla.s.ses of another kind. A circular tablet at Quirigua, which I shall describe further on, exhibits a subdivision into 26=12+5+3=20.
It is not necessary to emphasize how remarkably the Copan altar conforms to the Zuni method of clan-organization. It suffices for my present purpose merely to establish the community of thought which existed throughout, but which found its highest artistic expression and development in Central America.
There are several other smaller carved monoliths, one of which usually lies in front of a stela. For this reason they have been popularly named "altars," just as the stelae have been called "idols." The majority of these "altars" contradict this appellation by their utterly unsuitable shapes and profuse carvings on their upper, often irregular, rounded surfaces. Some of these monoliths consist of a monstrous head, the shape of which is almost lost under an indescribable ma.s.s of ornamentation. In some cases, however, they recall the semblance of the large glyphs on which chieftains are represented as seated on the carved sides of the square monoliths just described. So strongly do some of these resemble certain forms, that I venture to express my belief that, on ceremonial occasions, these carved heads may have served as the seats or stools of honor for chieftains of the rank of those portrayed on the bas-reliefs.
The Maya word tem, the plural form for which is tetem, seems to be applicable to such totemistic carved stones. It is translated as stone altar, seat or bench (_cf._ Nahuatl word te-tl=stone). Other minor monoliths are carved with glyphs. "Altar G," ill.u.s.trated in Mr. Maudslay"s work, exhibits four glyphs only-an interesting number, replete with significance to the native mind.
The number 24 occurs on Altar R on which the glyphs are disposed as 24=8+28=24. The number 24 recurs on the top of Altar U, where the glyphs are disposed in 3 rows of 8 each. At the same time the back of this altar exhibits 510=50 and its sides 22=4 glyphs, which may possibly const.i.tute separate records. In the majority of foregoing cases the glyphs are single and comparatively simple. On Altar S, however, we have double and quadruple glyphs, the latter obviously being a highly developed cursive method of recording facts, rendered possible by the minute cla.s.sification of all things in the State into definite divisions with fixed relationships to each other.
Having lingered so long in Copan we can but glance at Quirigua and note its most remarkable features. This ruined city lies on Motagua river, 1,800 feet below and at about a distance of twenty-five to thirty miles from Copan. It is now subjected to almost annual inundations from the river and its situation in marshy surroundings renders it extremely unhealthy. It may have been partly on this account that the neighboring capital of Copan was founded in an elevated and salubrious position.
An interesting fact has been pointed out to me by Mr. Maudslay, namely, that the ground plan of both groups of ruins is almost exactly the same, Copan being only somewhat the larger of the two. This ident.i.ty proves that the same distinct scheme of orientation was carried out in both places and that importance was undoubtedly attached to the relative positions of the pyramid-temples, courts and buildings.(65) A proof that two distinct castes of rulers existed and were respectively a.s.sociated with the northern and southern regions of the capital is furnished by a circ.u.mstance communicated to me by Mr. Maudslay. In Copan, as well as at Quirigua, some of the individuals sculptured on the stelae are beardless, whilst others have beards which seem to be sometimes artificial. These stelae usually stood at the sides of the great courts, and at the bases of the pyramid-temples. Mr. Maudslay has observed that in both places, all of the bearded effigies are situated to the north of the beardless ones. The first, for instance, occupy the northern and the second the southern side of a court; their respective positions being clearly intentional since it recurs in both cases. This circ.u.mstance furnishes additional proof that, in these capitals as elsewhere, the same great primary division into the Above and Below prevailed and shows that the representative rulers of these two castes respectively wore beards or none.
The beard, as an insignia of rank, occurs in several Mexican MSS. and careful observation shows that it is most frequently represented as worn by a high-priest, usually painted black and sometimes wearing the skin of an ocelot. It is found a.s.sociated with advanced age and with red, the color of the north, a fact which coincides with the position a.s.signed to bearded effigies at Copan and Quirigua. In Mexican Codices the culture hero, Quetzalcoatl, is figured with a beard, and tradition records that this was his distinctive feature. Images of Quetzalcoatl=the air-G.o.d, represent him with a beard, and the calendar-sign Ehecatl=wind, is composed of an elongated mouth and chin to which a beard is attached.
Several of the monuments at Quirigua are the largest of the kind which have been found on the American continent. Stelae E and F are twenty-two and twenty-five feet high respectively, and both exhibit two human effigies standing back to back. In point of fact, with a few exceptions, amongst which are female effigies, the majority of stelae at Quirigua are double, namely, A, C, D, E, F, K, in Mr. Maudslay"s work, part XI. I cannot but regard this as a proof that in a peaceful, flourishing and long-established state, the dual form of government maintained itself successfully for an extended period of time. On Stela E is one of the most remarkable ancient American portrait-statues that has yet been discovered.
It portrays a man with n.o.ble and strongly marked features, an aquiline nose and a narrow chin beard, like a goatee.
The Maya dictionaries supply us with the clue to the meaning attached to the beard in pictorial art. The word for beard is meex and for "bearded man," ah-meex, or ah-meexnal, if the beard was long. On the other hand, ah-mek-tancal is the Maya name for "governor and ruler of people or of a town," and ah-mektanpixan means high priest. The first two syllables of these t.i.tles, being identical with the word for a "bearded man," seem to explain the reason for the a.s.sociation of rank with a beard, and _vice versa_. Added to preceding data it aids in forming the conclusion that the bearded personages on the stelae were "high-priests or rulers of people and of towns," that the beard or goatee was the mark of supreme rank and that artificial ones were sometimes worn.
The beardless effigies, on the other hand, obviously represent individuals belonging to a different caste; and the fact that stelae exist at Copan and Quirigua on which two figures are carved, back to back, proves that the a.s.signment of the effigies of the two types to separate sides of the courts was preceded by a time when a closer unity prevailed between the dual rulers. The existence of stelae with female figures proves that here, as well as in Mexico and Peru, there had been a period when "the Below and the cult of the Earth-mother were presided over by a woman."
On each side of the great Stela F is carved the initial followed by 66=36 glyphs, which fact seems to indicate that six glyphs pertained to each of the six regions and recorded facts relating thereunto. On the sides of Stela F, each initial is followed by 34 glyphs only, the count being shorter than that of Stela E by 22=4. One side of Stela C exhibits the initial followed by 213 glyphs grouped in parallel lines, then a horizontal band with 4 glyphs; the other side the initial followed by 46=24 and a group of 4 glyphs. Stela D is particularly remarkable on account of the six squares of pictorial glyphs which follow the "Initial"
which, in this case, exhibits the head and body of a jaguar in its centre.
I refer to Mr. Maudslay"s interesting conclusion that these pictorial glyphs preceded, in date, the more cursive method of representing the initial series. In consequence of this jaguar initial, Stela A becomes particularly noticeable, because one of the personages upon it has a beard, whilst the other is masked as an ocelot or jaguar.
A vivid sense of the actuality of the bond that existed between the ancient dwellers at Copan and Quirigua, their totemic animals and symbolic coloring, is obtained on reading Mr. Maudslay"s following description of the excavation of mound 4 at Copan (Report Proceedings Geographical Society, 1886, p. 578).... "The excavation was then continued ... when more traces of [human] bones were found mixed with red powder and sand....
Continuing the excavation ... a skeleton of a jaguar was found lying under a layer of charcoal ... the teeth and part of the skeleton had been painted red. At about 100 yards to the south of this mound I shortly afterwards opened another ... mound ... and found a few small fragments of human bones, two small stone axes and portions of another jaguar"s skeleton and some dog"s teeth, showing that the interment of animals was not a matter of chance."