GEOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



483 



who has passed many years in the exploration 

 of Mexico, and the investigation of the habits, 

 manners, and religion of the Indian tribes, 

 found there by the Spanish invaders, published 

 near the close of 1861 a remarkable work, en- 

 titled Popol Vuh. which he declares to contain 

 the sacred book of the Quiches translated 

 from the hieroglyphic language, and also the 

 legends of the settlement of Mexico by that tribe 

 and their heroic annals, and a few months later 

 followed it with a grammar and dictionary of 

 the Quiche language. During the past year M. 

 Ferdinand Denis has furnished to the Senie 

 Orientals et Americaine, a Mexican paleograph 

 bearing upon the same subject. Dr. Poyet. 

 well known by his Turkish explorations, has 

 been for the past two years exploring South- 

 eastern Mexico, and has sent home some in- 

 teresting maps and descriptions of his dis- 

 coveries in the State of Vera Cruz. 



M. Garcia y Cubas has published within the 

 past year a large atlas of the Mexican Republic, 

 and M. Francis Lavallee has issued a work on 

 the natural and political history, productions, 

 Arc., of that country. 



In Central America the surveys and explora- 

 tions connected with the proposed opening of 

 new routes to the Pacific have brought to light 

 many interesting facts. The United States 

 Government have purchased a considerable 

 tract of land at Chiriqui in Costa Rica, and 

 proposed to send out a colony of free men of 

 color there, but the protest of the Costa Rican 

 Government led to a delay and finally to the 

 abandonment of the project. In the little town 

 of Vertud in the department of Gracias. Hon- 

 duras, a grotto has recently been discovered, in 

 the upper part of which is a fountain called 

 fuente de sangre (fountain of blood), the liquid 

 thrown up by which resembles in color, smell, 

 and taste the blood of mammals. From the 

 fountain it flows through the lower part of the 

 grotto, depositing in its progress some apparent 

 coagula, and discharges itself into the waters 

 of a neighboring creek, which it reddens. Vul- 

 tures, buzzards, and dogs seek for it greedily, 

 especially when it is coagulated, and fatten from 

 partaking of it. Considerable quantities of it 

 have been taken away in bottles for analysis, 

 but it decomposes very rapidly, and almost al- 

 ways bursts the bottles which contain it. Prof. 

 Silliman has made an analysis of it and finds it 

 very rich in organic matters, and regards its sen- 

 sible properties as probably due to the presence 

 in it of large quantities of colored infusoria. 



Honduras has established Amapula on the 

 island of Tigr6 as its principal port on the Pa- 

 cific. A German geographer, M. Max of Son- 

 nenstern, has issued the past year a very com- 

 plete map of Central America, the result of re- 

 cent explorations, and Dr. Frantz has published 

 a narrative of his visits to the volcanoes of 

 Costa Rica. 



In South America, there have been as usual 

 many political changes and revolutions, and 

 though perhaps less actual geographical explo- 



rations than usual, the results of previous ex- 

 plorations have been published to a greater ex- 

 tent than at any former period. 



In New Grenada, or as that republic now 

 styles itself, the Confederation of the United 

 States of Colombia, a French expedition under 

 the direction of M. Boudiol is engaged in ex- 

 ploring the isthmus of Darien, in order to de- 

 termine definitively the practicability of an 

 interoceanic canal. Sefior Samper, a distin- 

 guished scholar and a native of New Grenada, 

 has published in the Spanish language during 

 the past year a complete history, geographical, 

 ethnological, and political of the Confederation, 

 and has also communicated to the scientific 

 journals of France several interesting papers 

 concerning the physical features and races of 

 New Grenada, Maurice Wagner, a German 

 geographer, has issued a very complete map of 

 the isthmus of Panama, and has accompanied 

 it by a full letter-press description of the phys- 

 ical geography of the isthmus, and Mr. William 

 Bollart has published a work on the antiquities 

 and ethnology of New Grenada. The Confed- 

 eration has, by a decree, taken possession of the 

 two islands St. Andrew and Providence, situ- 

 ated opposite the coast of Mosquitia, and which 

 are 1 very rich in guano. 



Venezuela has been in a condition of civil 

 war during the whole of the past year, and 

 has had little opportunity for geographical ex- 

 plorations, but a very elaborate paper on its 

 geology, prepared by M.. Wall, has appeared in 

 the Zeitschrift der Erdkunde ; and Don Ramon 

 Paez, son of the present President of that re- 

 public, has published at the commencement of 

 the present year (1863). an interesting work en- 

 titled. " Wild Scenes in South America, or Life 

 in the Llanos of Venezuela." which is a valu- 

 able contribution to the natural history and 

 geography of the country. M. Cortambert, a 

 French geographer, has compiled an elaborate 

 work, from the notes of Dr. Plassard, on the 

 productions and people of the Orinoco basin, 

 and among others upon the geophagi or earth- 

 eaters of that country. 



In Ecuador, an American engineer, named 

 James Wilson, has made a journey of explora- 

 tion from the shores of the province of Esmer- 

 aldas to Quito, with a view to ascertain the 

 practicability of constructing a railroad to con- 

 nect Esmeraldas and Quito. 



It has been known for many years past that 

 the Jiraros, a tribe of Indians occupying the 

 eastern part of the Republic of Ecuador, wor- 

 shipped the heads of the prisoners whom they 

 had taken in battle and decapitated ; and it was 

 said by travellers that they had some process 

 by which they reduced these heads to a very 

 small size. Many attempts have been made to 

 obtain some of these idol heads for the ethno- 

 logical collections of Europe or America ; but 

 such was the reverence in which they were 

 held by the Jivaros, that until 1861 it was 

 impossible to obtain a single specimen. In 

 June. 1861, Prof. Cassola brought one to Lon- 



