As yet no systematic excavation has ever been carried on there, although no field in Central America offers a richer return to the archæologist. It is not at all improbable that still more valuable sculptures may be buried in the paradise of luxuriant growth, in which cacao, quina, india rubber, mahogany, bamboo and gigantic ferns abound, through the depths of which the jaguar, puma, tapir and peccary roam at will, while birds of brilliant coloured plumage are exceedingly numerous.
The ruins consist of a large number of mounds, pyramids, terraces or platforms, both square and rectangular, measuring from six to forty feet in height, some standing in groups of four arranged around a central square or plaza, while others occupy an isolated position. The greater number of these structures have been faced with squared stones and had flights of stone steps on one side leading to the top.
There are three principal structures in the main group, near which are standing thirteen large monuments in the form of stelae, and large, rounded masses carved to represent grotesque animals. These are in what is probably the great plaza, or square, the heart of the ancient city. At the northern end is a large rectangular terraced structure about three hundred feet long from east to west and one hundred and seventy-five feet from north to south. Near the northwestern corner is what appears to be an artificial lagoon, or pond, which probably has an outlet in the Montagua River. At the southern base of the structure are standing three stelae, or monoliths, ranging in height from fourteen to eighteen feet and having carved on the front and back representations of human figures. On one is a man with a chin beard. Both sides are entirely covered with hieroglyphic writing in the form of squares, called katuns. On another is perhaps the most important hieroglyphic inscription yet found in America. It consists of two kinds of writing. The upper half of the inscription is in pictures elaborately and intricately carved, while in the lower half are the abbreviated and conventional characters such as are commonly found in the Mayan glyphs.
Undoubtedly an unravelling of the picture writing will aid greatly in deciphering the hundreds of inscriptions which are found in the territory once occupied by the Maya race, formerly the most advanced of all the ancient peoples of America. In only two other monuments is this form of “picture” writing found, one example being in the ruins of Copan, Honduras, where the back of a stela is entirely covered with pictures.
About two hundred feet south of these three monoliths are the two highest monuments which have been discovered in the new world. The first stands twenty-five feet above the ground; the other is twenty-two feet high. The first mentioned is leaning at an angle of forty-five degrees, and as it stands there must be at least ten feet of its length under ground. There are full-face human figures carved on the front and back, and a hieroglyphic inscription on either side. (Fortunately it has been accurately moulded by Mr. Maudslay in plaster, and a cast is in the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, and in the Peabody Museum at Harvard College.)
The second stela, twenty-two feet high, is by far the most artistically carved of all the standing monoliths. It has large, full-face human figures on the front and back, and both sides are occupied by hieroglyphs. The figure best preserved represents a man with a small chin beard. He is standing on a platform covered with symbolic carving. His feet, which are placed heel to heel, are shod with elaborate sandals. On his head is an immense head dress, made up of five superimposed grotesque faces or masks. From either side extend feathers, which are carved gracefully around the sides above the inscriptions, the whole effect being most striking.
The ears of the person are almost covered with huge ear ornaments. The breast and body to the waist are loaded with ornaments, and an elaborately worked loin cloth hangs from the waist, down between the legs to the feet. In the right hand is held a kind of wand or sceptre, much resembling a “jumping jack.” The upper part is a grotesque little figure, with a long nose, representing a deity. From the bottom of the stick hang feathers. The left hand is covered by a shield, on the face of which is a mask, probably a representation of the sun god.
Near at hand are two fallen stelae about ten feet in length, entirely covered with moss and vegetable debris. About eight hundred feet south of these two large stelae is a high truncated pyramid, more than one hundred and fifty feet in diameter at the base. A short distance east and northeast are three large monuments, and from three hundred to four hundred feet south in a plaza enclosed on three sides, is another group of stelae.
The most important of these is in the form of a conventionally carved gigantic turtle, the most extraordinary sculpture in Central America. Roughly described, it is a cube about eight feet in size and probably weighing twenty tons. It is entirely covered with picture and hieroglyphic writing, and representations of a symbolic character, among which are several exaggerated animal and human faces and figures. (A plaster cast of this is also found in the above named museums.) In addition, there is an interesting figure carved on another stela, representing a woman, with fat, round cheeks, which has been called the enano, or dwarf. Besides the monuments now standing there are several fallen stelae, some complete, while others are broken.
The rock out of which they are carved is a gray porphyry, the quarries being several miles from the ruins and more than six hundred feet above the valley. The stones were probably all transported in the rough and carved on the spot where they now stand, the debris being used in the construction of the pyramids and edifices. The labour of transporting these immense stones must have been stupendous, and indicates a very high knowledge of mechanics.