806 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Copan for a tributary. The river at that time was some 40 yards wide 

 and 6 inches deep, where it goes in rapids over a bar at the ford. Above 

 and below, the width and depth are greater. After passing some strong 

 rapids it empties into the Motagua, about 3 miles lower. Some 10 or 12 

 miles from Zacapa, Gualan is situated on the Motagua, at the head of 

 navigation for boats of large size. 



At Zacapa I was kindly received by Mr. Thomas Payne, an English 

 merchant, who assisted me in securing mules and a guide for Copan. 

 We started early next morning and kept up the river, leaving the road 

 to Chiquimula, and following a trail which gradually ascended some 

 1,500 feet to a peak overlooking the valley of Zacapa on one hand, and 

 on the other giving a tine view of the more distant Chiquimula. At the 

 foot of this hill, toward the latter town, was the junction of the rivers 

 Chiquimula and Jocotan, forming the Eio Zacapa. Turning and following 

 the ridge in a northeasterly direction for awhile we changed our course 

 again, and, descending, came to the bank of the Rio Jocotan at the foot 

 of the rapids opposite the Peligro Negro. The latter, a cliff, is the end 

 of the mountain which separates the valleys of Jocotan and Chiquimula. 

 It is a sheer wall of rock between 2,000 and 3,000 feet high, and well 

 deserves the name Black Danger. At this point my hope of utilizing 

 the river for transportation of the Copan statues was at once dispelled. 

 For 2 miles it rushes through a narrow and tortuous channel which it 

 has cut in the rock, and the lightest canoe could not have passed at the 

 time of my visit. 



It is reported that occasionally during the wet season canoes pass 

 successfully, but I doubt whether even then they can make the passage 

 loaded. The rugged character of the hills forces the trail down to the 

 bank here, and we had to follow the river some 4 or 5 miles until clear 

 of the pass, then began to ascend again. These old Indian trails were 

 famous for following the crest of the ridge, and frequently there was 

 barely room for our sure-footed mules, the ground sometimes falling 

 away abruptly on both sides. At midday we were well above the clouds. 

 At lower points the gusts of wind would occasionally bring up a light 

 cloud, and for a few minutes we would be enveloped in fog and misty 

 rain. We were some 5,000 feet above the village and valley of Jocotan 

 on the opposite side of the river. From that point of view it was the 

 loveliest valley I had ever seen — a garden of milpas or patches of Indian 

 corn and sugar-cane, and in some places coffee, on the hills. Cultivated 

 land could be seen to the very mountain top wherever a bit of ground had 

 been found not too steep for an Indian to stand on. This region gets 

 much of the moisture borne on the winds which are turned away from 

 Zacapa by the mountains northeast of that town. During the dry season 

 the people of Zacapa, stifling in heat and dust, can look up and see the 

 crest of the ridge veiled in mist, while cool showers occasionally come 

 part of the way down the hills and then fade away in the face of the 

 brazen valley. 



