TOPOGRAPHY OF GUATEMALA. 235 



exploration of Central America, the very existence of these ruins was unknown, 

 and travellers passed within a few miles of the place without hearing of them. 

 At that time nothing was known of any abandoned Indian city in this district 

 except Copan, which lay just beyond the Guatemalan frontier towards the source 

 of the Comotiin. According to Stoll, the Quirigua remains strike the spectator 

 especially for their remarkable state of preservation, although not built of particu- 

 larly hard materials and exposed to a destructive climate at once very damp and 

 very hot ; moreover, the inundations of the Motagua occasionally reach the site 

 of the ruins, and furrow the surface with ravines. Hence he infers that the 

 monuments cannot date from any remote period, and perhaps were even in a 

 perfect condition when the Spaniards made their appearance in the country. 

 The slave-hunters, who wasted the land in quest of labourers for the Cuban and 

 St. Domingo plantations, may have been the destroyers of these Indian cities, 

 although Maud-ilay thinks they must have already been in ruins at the time 

 of Cortes' expedition. Being everywhere in search of provisions for his starving 

 followers, the conqueror would certainly have applied to Quirigua for succour had 

 such a large city been in existence at that time. The ruins of Chapiilco, which are 

 said to lie on the south side of the Motagua valley over against Quirigua, have 

 not yet been explored. Paved causeways and sepulchral mounds occur here and 

 there in the surrounding forests. 



The present route from Guatemala to the Atl intic diverges from the Motagua 

 valley at Barbasco, and after crossing the Mice range a little to the east of 

 Quirigua, leads down to Izahal, an unhealthy place on the south side of the Golfo 

 Dulce. Under the Spanish rule this port, which has the immense advantage of 

 lying some 60 miles inland, but which is inaccessible to vessels of deep draught, 

 was unable to develop any trade, owing to the corsairs at that time infesting the 

 surrounding waters. Bvit after the declaration of independence, Izabal almost 

 entirely monopolised the foreign trade of Guatemala, such as it was. Then the 

 discovery of the Californian goldfields, and the establishment of regular lines of 

 steamers between Panama and San Francisco, had the result of diverting the whole 

 life of Guatemala from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard. Thus Izabal found 

 itself abandoned, and its silent streets are now overgrown with the sensitive 

 mimosa. But the improvement of the communications, and peopling, or rather 

 repeopling of the land facing the Atlantic, cannot fail to revive and even increase 

 the trade of Izabal. 



At the mouth of the Eio Dulce, on the Gulf of Amatique, stands the seaport of 

 Livingston, so named in honour of a jurist who drew up the legal code of Guate- 

 mala. The first colonists settled herein 1806, and the place is at present inhabited 

 bj^ Caribs, agriculturists, fishers, and seafarers, who carry on a coasting trade with 

 Belize and Honduras. Livingston has recently been declared a free jiort, and is 

 already much frequented by American skippers, who here ship bananas and other 

 fruits in exchange for spirits. This port is the third in Guatemala, ranking next 

 in importance to San José and Champerico. 



On the east bank of the neighbouring Hio Dulce, and near the present village 



