[IV-11] The sculpture presents no old-world affinities whatever. A certain coarseness of execution, implying inferior tools, distinguishes them from the coarsest Egyptian carvings. Both grouping and execution indicate a still "barbaric state of art, with no advanced idea of beauty, the patience and industry of the workmen being more remarkable than their ideas or skill." Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 11-12.
[IV-12] Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 256.
[IV-13] Palacio, Carta, pp. 62.
[IV-14] Padre Urrutia published an account of his investigations at Cinaca-Mecallo in the Gaceta de Guatemala, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81. The most complete description, however, he gave in a letter to E. G. Squier, who published the same in his Cent. Amer., pp. 342-4. The substance of the letter may be found in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 124; and a French version in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 182-6.
[IV-15] Juarros' Hist. Guat., pp. 45, 308-9, taking the information from Fuentes, Recopilacion Florida, MS., tom. ii., lib. iv., cap. ii. Of course no importance is to be attached to these and similar reports.
[IV-16] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-4.
[IV-17] Valois, Mexique, pp. 430-1.
[IV-18] Dupaix, Rel. 3me Expéd., p. 9, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., tom. iii., pl. vii., fig. 12, and in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 290, vol. vi., p. 470, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 12. Kingsborough's translation incorrectly represents this relic as having been found at Palenque, although the original reads 'lo encontró en Guatemala' and the French 'l'a trouvée à Guatemala.' M. Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 72, thinks the engraved device may show some analogy with the astronomical traditions of the ancients, the serpent of the pole, the dragon, the constellation Ophis, the apples of the Hesperides, etc.; and the reverse may be the Mexican tradition of the creation, the Python, or the serpent killed by Cadmus!! Cabrera, Teatro Crítico, pp. 53-5, pl. i., who was the bearer of one of the medals to the king of Spain, speaks of it as made of brass, and pronounces it to be 'a concise history of the primitive population of this part of North America.' The bird, in his opinion, is an eagle with a serpent in its beak and claws. His application of this relic to history will be more appropriate when I come to treat of the origin of the Americans.
[IV-19] Hist. Mag., vol. vi., pp. 57-8.
[IV-20] Juarros' Hist. Guat., pp. 488-9. The ruins are situated on a rock commanding the junction of the rivers Pixcayatl and Motagua. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 524. Ruins of the ancient capital of the Cakchiquel kings. Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 333, 335. 'Remarquable par les ruines de l'ancienne forteresse du même nom.' Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 266; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470.