Without doubt the most popular, if not the most admired, of the statues that adorn Festival Hall is the "Boy Pan," nestled in the foliage at the base of the pedestal in the group just described. This roguish little god of woodland music has, besides his traditional attributes, a certain urchin quality that is very appealing. He has just taken his pipe from his lips, momentarily diverted by the presence of an alert lizard his melody has attracted. The lizard is here hidden in the leafage. The arch amusement of the whole figure, the mischievous, boyish smile upon his face, have allurement, just lifted from the normal by the quaint suggestion of small horns still in velvet. Here in his youth is the wholesome, simple, poetic Pan of the earlier myths, he who grew into the "Great God Pan," rather than the hero of the more subtle and diversified later legends. His pertness is contrasted with the shy modesty of the Young Nymph, the companion figure at the foot of the opposite pylon.

Detail, Spire Base
Palace of Horticulture

The Palace of Horticulture, a combination of French Renaissance with the Byzantine, is consistently flowery in decoration. It has been given a carnival expression. The general sculptured adornments are heavy garlands and overflowing baskets, and profuse ornamentations of flowers. Large flower-decked jars stand in niches; the cartouches bear the flower motif. Suggestions of lattices and arbors appear in the low domes on the porches surrounding the great greenhouses, reminiscent of French garden architecture of the Great Age.

The superb central glass dome that gives the building distinction is crowned by a huge flower basket and draped at its base by a long garland. At the foot of the sharply ascending spires - the slender shafts of which are carved with conventionalized vines and bear tapering flower urns as finials - stand graceful garlands of girls. These pleasing spire bases, the attendants of Flora, are by Ernest Louis Boutier, a Parisian. They carry small baskets of flowers on their heads, a chain of flowers binds them. The same feeling is continued in the caryatids on this building, by John Bateman. These, also flower-capped, are repeated on the Press and Y. W. C. A. buildings, smaller structures in the South Gardens adjoining the Horticultural Palace, thus unifying the buildings in the plaza.

Cortez
In Front of Tower of Jewels

Equestrian statues of Cortez and Pizzaro stand in the Avenue of Palms at the base of the Tower of Jewels to suggest the early history of the South and West of this hemisphere as a background to the present achievements at Panama and, indeed, at San Francisco. This spirited and romantic presentation of the fearless conquistador, Hernando Cortez, shows him at the very height of his proud successes. Charles Niehaus, whose work is always direct and convincing, has made us feel the Spanish conqueror's own sense of victory. We know that now Mexico, the Tlascalans and the Emperor Montezuma have been vanquished, that the victor's ruthless ambition is already dreaming of the conquest of New Spain and the navigation of the Pacific. There are infused into the work a brilliancy and dash that fill the imagination with the glamor of that picturesque period of history. The perfect horsemanship, the restrained but vigorous motion, the whole bearing, have a stirring beauty. There is also intended and expressed in the countenance a sense of vision, as if Cortez had here a prophetic moment in which he saw the future of the continent he claimed.

Pizarro
In Front of Tower of Jewels

Pizzaro, the companion equestrian to Cortez, is the work of Charles Cary Rumsey. The grim, stern and epic history of the bold, arrogant adventurer who was merciless in success and dauntless in failure is ruggedly suggested by this figure, mounted upon a heavily armored charger and advancing with drawn sword. The fact that Pizzaro was a member of Balboa's party when that explorer discovered the Pacific and that he himself was in charge of a Spanish colony at Darien in 1510, makes his appearance at this Exposition appropriate. But it is, after all, the conqueror of the Incas, the indomitable, who spared neither his men nor his enemy until the rich cities of the Southern Empire had been pillaged of their gold and destroyed, who is here portrayed. After achieving wealth and honors Pizzaro was slain by the followers of a rival conquistador. The position of these two equestrians is well chosen; the colonnade of the Tower makes an impressive background.

The Pioneer
Avenue of Palms

History of a later period, nearer to the heart of Westerners, is embodied in Solon Borglum's lusty and venerable Pioneer. This impressive equestrian stands on the Avenue of Palms at the entrance to the court of Flowers. It is interesting to note that, in this rugged and commanding figure, fineness, dignity and nobility are emphasized as well as the more customary endurance and hardihood conventionally associated with the character. On the leather trappings of the old Pioneer's horse, the tepee, the canoe and other symbols of Indian life are marked. The sculptor is himself the son of pioneers and has treated this subject with sincerity and affectionate insight. The Pioneer has been greatly appreciated and has received special notice in a number of addresses delivered by distinguished guests of the Exposition. Its veracity is attested by the fact that resemblance to several famous pioneers has been imagined in it by their admirers.