GREAT DRAGON OF QUIRIGUA, GUATEMALA HOLMES. 449 



The task of describing these monuments has been undertaken by 

 Maudslay, Hewett, and others, and to the publications of these ex- 

 plorers those who would go deeply into the subject are referred. A 

 single example of the sculptures — a work that takes high rank in 

 the world of art — is selected for detailed presentation in this place. 



THE GREAT DRAGON. 



The stone. — The massiA'e sculpture sometimes called the Great 

 Turtle may well be regarded as the sculptural masterpiece par 

 excellence of the American race. It is a somewhat ovoid mass of 

 coarse-grained sandstone of warmish gray color weighing about 

 20 tons. It is upward of 7 feet in height and is 11 feet 6 inches in 

 greater diameter. When the School of American Archaeology began 

 its work here the surface was, deeply coated with moss and other 

 tropical growths, which were carefully cleaned off by Dr. Hewett in 

 1910, repeating the task of Maudslay some 20 years earlier. The sur- 

 face is now much weather stained, displaying streaks and blotches 

 of dark color, probably due to the weathering out of ferruginous mat- 

 ter contained in the stone. The master sculptor appears to have 

 utilized in a measure the original irregularities of the great block, the 

 flattish base of which rests at the ground level on a floor composed of 

 three hewn stone slabs. 



The origin of the block can not be determined with certainty, 

 although it must have been brought from quarries in the bluffs 2 

 or more miles to the west. That it should have been carried by any 

 means at the command of the aborigines over the soft alluvial flood 

 plain of the Motagua is, however, almost beyond belief; but there 

 seems no alternative to this conclusion, unless we should venture to 

 assume decided changes of climate or altitude since that titanic task 

 was accomplished. It now lies within the ceremonial plaza near 

 the southern margin, the two principal sculptured fronts facing 

 north and south. 



East and west faces. — Approaching the stone from the east it is 

 observed that the entire surface is elaborately sculptured, now in 

 high, now in low relief, and in graceful arrangements of strange 

 forms so diversified and intricate that analysis of the mazelike com- 

 plex seems at first quite impossible (pi. 1). There is a compounding 

 and confusion of natural elements — human, reptilian, avian, and 

 grotesque — in all degrees of convention intermingled with formal 

 patterns, scrolls, cartouches, and glyphic inscriptions, altogether 

 amazing, yet distinctly attractive and highly decorative. Xotwith- 

 standing our failure at first to comprehend a single feature of the 

 work, the touch of the master was recognized in every form and line. 

 The west side (pi. 2) is nearly identical in treatment and proA ed to be 



