In Retrospect 281 



pletely substitute themselves for the enjoyment once de- 

 rived from a human companionship. This has been a con- 

 solation to me, and I know it has been for others. 



I once thought seriously of shifting over from being a 

 naturalist to becoming a student of archaeology and ethnol- 

 ogy, but here my predecessor at the Agassiz Museum, Sam- 

 uel Henshaw, did me a real favor. He berated me so vig- 

 orously and with such vituperation for having any such 

 notion that he really drove it completely out of my head. 

 He cited the enormity of J. W. Fewkes's sins in having 

 made just such a transfer. But I have sneaked off on many 

 occasions to sit musing and wishing that I knew more about 

 the inwardness of archaeology, and, in my off hours, I have 

 read a great deal in it. 



I love to go alone to the ruins of Quirigua in Guatemala 

 in that sumptuous forest setting and watch a toucan come 

 volplaning across the ancient plaza. Those gorgeous stelae 

 stand now in solitary grandeur where once the whole 

 scene must have been thronged with brilliantly costumed 

 Indians. 



I have listened with breathless enjoyment to the tales 

 Mary B. has told when she and her husband, Alfred Kid- 

 der II, have returned from Barquisimeto in Venezuela where 

 they have dug in early ruined sites, or from Lake Yohoa or 

 the Ulua River Valley in Honduras where they found 

 not only buildings of the early Mayan Empire but burials 

 and superb polychrome pottery as well. I followed with 

 feelings of mingled envy and wrath their visits to the high- 

 lands of Peru and BoUvia where they worked for many 

 months; envy at the success of their archaeological labors 



