36 COPAN. 



Stela A. (Plates XXV. to XXX., see also Plate IV., a and b.) 

 [Compare Stephens's ' Central America,' vol. i. p. 158.] 



Height 11 feet 6 inches. Average breadth 3 feet *. 



This monument (A, Plate I.) stands in the Great Plaza on the north side of the 

 detached mound (No. 4, Plate I.) and faces the east. As is usually the case, the base 

 of the monument has been surrounded by four large blocks of stone, now somewhat 

 broken and displaced. A portion of the sculpture on the lower part of the monument 

 has been damaged by fire, and the surface of the stone has flaked off, but the rest of 

 the carving, although considerably weatherworn, is in a fair state of preservation. 



The want of proper proportion in the representation of the human body is con- 

 spicuous in the principal figure carved on the front of this Stela. The body is far too 

 short for the size of the head and limbs. The face is beardless ; the mouth slightly 

 open, showing the teeth. The nose is broken, but was probably prominent and aqui- 

 line. The hair is pushed off the forehead, and is hanging down in straight lines on 

 either side of the face. The forehead is receding, and there can be no doubt that it 

 was the custom of the people to compress the bones of the skull in infancy. The lobe 

 only of the ear is shown ; unfortunately the ornament which passed through the centre 

 of it is broken off, but it was in all probability either a round disc or was similar in 

 design to that shown in profile in the second part of Glyph 21 on Plate XXX. The 

 absence of the shell of the ear in all designs of this class is at first somewhat perplexing, 

 but a reference to the Mexican mask figured in the text (pp. 33 and 35) shows how the 

 shell of the ear, as less susceptible to ornamentation, may have dropped by degrees out 

 of the design, and how the enlarged lobe with its central ornaments and pendants may 

 have become the conventional method of expressing the whole feature. The hands are 

 held up over the breastplate, and the feet are turned outwards almost in a straight 

 line heel to heel. This conventional attitude is preserved throughout all the monuments 

 of this class at Copan. 



The following detailed description of the ornamentation of this Stela is given in 

 terms which would be naturally used in describing dress and personal ornaments them- 

 selves and not stone representations of them : — 



The head-dress is composed of folds or plaited strips of some stiff material, which 

 has already been mentioned as of frequent occurrence, and which can be easily recog- 

 nized. At the four corners of the head-dress, apparently attached to the ends of the 

 plaited strips, are serpents' heads without lower jaws. 



A short close-fitting cape covers the shoulders and chest. This cape is made 

 of square or oblong flattened plates, with a row of rounded plates or beads along the 



* The base of each. Stela is buried to an unknown depth in the ground; the height given is that of the 

 sculptured surface above ground. 



