COPAN. 11 



aid of the plan and description given in Stephens's ' Travels in Central America,' to 

 see all the monuments then known to exist there. 



My next visit was in January 1885, when I had already gained some experience in 

 investigating Indian ruins. I was accompanied by the three brothers Gorgonio, Carlos, 

 and Jose Domingo Lopes, two of whom had been with me during former expeditions. 



Near the frontier of Honduras I was met by two gentlemen, Don Carlos Madrid and 

 Don Jorge Dowson, who had been sent by General Bogran, the President of Honduras, 

 to assist in my investigations. At the end of a few days I bade good bye to these 

 gentlemen, who returned to their homes, and then, leaving Gorgonio Lopes in charge 

 of the work of clearing away the undergrowth and cleaning the sculptured monu- 

 ments, I myself set out for Yzabal to meet Mr. Guintini, a skilled worker in plaster, 

 who had been my assistant during an expedition to the ruins of Quirigua in the year 

 1883. 



Unfortunately the steamer in which Mr. Guintini sailed from England broke her 

 shaft, and had to go back to Cork for repairs, so that his arrival was considerably 

 delayed. I occupied the time with a visit to Chaal and Cajabon, and to the ruins of 

 " Chacujal," on a branch of the Eio Polochic. On returning to Yzabal I met Mr. 

 Guintini, and, after starting off' the pack-mules with the heavy baggage and moulding- 

 materials, we set out ourselves and arrived at Copan on the 26th February, and 

 remained camped there until the beginning of June. The list of baggage was a long 

 one, for, in addition to supplies of food, we needed for our work the following 

 articles : — axes, picks, crowbars, and other tools, surveying and photographic apparatus, 

 photographic dry-plates and chemicals, lime, bales of moulding-paper, and four tons of 

 plaster oi Paris. This plaster was shipped from England in tin-lined barrels, which 

 were opened at Yzabal, and the plaster was then packed in waterproof sacks, each 

 holding about 85 lbs. Two of these sacks was as much as a mule could carry. 



The only " roads " in this part of the country are rough mule-tracks, in some places 

 almost impassable during the wet season ; and although the journey from Yzabal to 

 Copan can be accomplished on a good riding-mule in three days, pack-mules need more 

 than double that time for the journey, even during fine weather. 



The village of Copan stands at an elevation of 1700 feet above the sea-level, and during 

 the months of March, April, and May the climate is almost perfect. The heat is, of 

 course, considerable at midday, but the mornings, evenings, and nights are delightful. 

 There is a good supply of water, and as the country is partly cleared of forest, and 

 under cultivation, there is none of the cooped-up feeling which is experienced when 

 working in a small clearing in a tropical forest, as was the case at Quirigua. There 

 are very few mosquitoes, but unfortunately there is a still worse pest in the myriads of 

 ticks which, at the beginning of the dry season, swarm over every leaf and blade of grass. 



Soon after we had set to work on my return from Chaal, war broke out between the 

 Eepublics of Guatemala and Honduras on the one side and San Salvador and Nicaragua 



c2 



