EEPOET ON EXPLORATIONS IN CENTEAL AMERICA, IN 1881. 

 By Dr. J. F. Br.ansford, U. S. N. 



VISIT TO COPAN. 



Sir : I have the honor to make the following* report of work done in 

 Central America in 1881, in obedience to my instructions; first, to de- 

 termine whether the Rio Copan could be used in the transportation of 

 the monoliths from the ruins of Coijan ; second, to find if possible the 

 source of the jadeite of Costa Rica. 



Sailing from New York on December 24, 1881, I arrived at Aspin- 

 wall January 1, and San Jos6, Guatemala, on the 8th. Next day the trip 

 was made by rail from San Jos6 to Escuintla. The road runs through 

 low land, almost perfectly level, for 18 miles, then rises by rather a 

 sharp grade some 8 or 10 miles more to Escuintla. This town is about 

 the same distance from the sea as Santa Lucia de Cotzumalquapa, 

 just where the foot-hills begin, and the whole of this piedmont belt 

 seems to be rich in antiquities. The ancient inhabitants of Central 

 America were apparently fond of good scenery, especially when there 

 might at the same time be enjoj^ed the advantages of a fertile soil. And 

 these two conditions are nowhere more happily combined than in the 

 foot-hills of the Pacific slope of Guatemala. From every coigne of van- 

 tage the eye may glance over the rich forests to the placid waters of the 

 Pacific, while on the other hand the hills slope up towards the superb 

 volcanoes de Agua and Fuego, which seem facing each other, each 

 grand monarch mountain followed by along line of retainers. 



The soil, which is extremely rich, is, in the neighborhood of Escuintla, 

 devoted principally to sugar, the coffee plantations appearing at a 

 greater elevation. The road from Escuintla to Palen, always rising, 

 winds its way among these plantations, at every turn unfolding a new 

 beauty in landscape. At one point we were on the edge of a cliff, deep 

 down below in a ravine — a sort of Watkins Glen on a ^rand scale — the 

 river from Lake Amatitlan rushed and tumbled. It was near sunset, 

 the light green of the fields of sugar-cane in the foreground were given 

 fine effect by the dark forest beyond. The tops of the volcanoes were 

 clear cut, but lower ; ghost-like white clouds in silent succession loomed, 

 and breaking away floated off seaward. Some fires had been burning 

 in the lowland woods aU day, and the smoke-laden atmosphere took on 

 purple tints as the red sun slowly sank in the Pacific. 



The volcan de Fuego, which was in active eruption in 1880, is rugged 

 toward the peak, with ravines and patches of bare rock. The volcan 



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