282 Naturalist at Large 



and wrath at the stories of the animal life which they saw 

 but which they had not the means or the time to collect 

 for the Museum. 



It is always a question whether archaeological monu- 

 ments are more spectacular on their native heath or when 

 delivered into captivity. I believe it is a blessing that that 

 high spidery trestle bridge on which the railroad has to 

 cross to Guatemala City was not sufficiently strong to al- 

 low the Quirigua monuments to be transferred to the Capi- 

 tol. They are superb in their original setting. Now they 

 are safe in situ for all time, thanks to Dr. Alfred Kidder 

 of the Carnegie Institution, and the co-operation of the 

 United Fruit Company which owns the land on which they 

 stand. Some day I hope the remains of the buildings can 

 be pointed up and saved from further disintegration as 

 has been done at Copan in Honduras, where I have never 

 been, or at Xochicalco in Mexico, where I saw the wonder- 

 ful Teocalli with its frieze of plumed serpents in 19 lo. 



I was never fitted to be a teacher, but Mr. Lowell gently 

 and firmly led me to a point where I gave a series of Lowell 

 Lectures. These appeared in book form. The book went 

 through two editions and sold much better in England 

 than it did in America. For a while I was much sought for 

 as a speaker describing our travels, but that was in a day 

 when people traveled less widely and less easily than they 

 do now. I even reached a point where I made a speech on 

 Prize Day at Groton School, another at the dedication of 

 the new Museum of the University of Michigan, and a 

 third in the new Biological Laboratories at the University 

 of Riclimond. But as I read them over again now these 



