I'buiu by Valdeavellano & Ci. 



THE BEAUTIJ^UL SITUATION OF OUIRIGUA 



"The ruins lie on low, flat land, flooded and renewed each rainy season by the Motagua's 

 overflow — rich, inexhaustible alluvial soil, and ideal for banana-growing. A more inspiring 

 spot can hardly be imagined. Under the immense ceiba and other coast trees (70 and 80 

 feet to the lowest branches, each as big as a 30-year maple and hung with orchids or Spanish 

 moss) has grown up a thicket of palms and fern trees, forming, when the underbrush is 

 cleared, arching forest galleries impossible to describe" (see text, page 331). 



Many travelers have passed through 

 since the completion of the railway ; but, 

 with the exception of Maudslay, none 

 has attempted to give more than such a 

 description as I am now writing. At 

 present all men are equal, for no one has 

 succeeded in deciphering the historical 

 writings of Quirigua. 



the; site; of quirigua cleared 



In the spring of 1910 the tract of land 

 surrounding the monuments, on the left 

 bank of the Motagua River, was opened 

 for planting by the United Fruit Com- 

 pany of Boston, and a park left about 

 the principal ruins. The company gen- 

 erously supplied labor and many other 

 facilities for clearing this park of under- 



brush and cleaning the stones, so that at 

 last an organized study was made possi- 

 ble, under the guidance and supervision 

 of Prof. Edgar L. Hewett (Director of 

 the School of American Archeology, at 

 Santa Fe, New Mexico) and of Mr. Syl- 

 vanus Griswold Morley (see article by 

 Mr. Morley, pages 339 to 360). 



Both of these gentlemen have spent 

 many months in exploration and detailed 

 examination, and under Mr. Hewett's 

 able direction the institute has an oppor- 

 tunity for study hardly paralleled in the 

 history of American archeological re- 

 search. 



Quirigua should become the starting 

 point, the workshop, and the school for 

 beginners in this branch until the gradual 



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