COPAN. 63 



Altar U. (Plates XCVII. and XOVIII.) 



Length 5 feet. Breadth 2 feet. Height 3 feet. 



The front of this altar (Plate XCVII. , a) is a huge grotesque face without a lower 

 jaw. Across the forehead is a broad band, similar in shape and ornamention to some 

 of the breastplates. 



On each side of the altar is a serpent's head with open mouth in which a human 

 figure is seated cross-legged. 



On the top and back of the altar (Plate XCVII., b) is a hieroglyphic inscription, 

 and there are also two glyphs on each side of the altar above the serpents' heads 

 which appear to belong to the inscription. It is of course impossible as yet to 

 determine the sequence of the glyphs with certainty, but on Plate XCVIII. the whole 

 of the inscription is drawn, and the glyphs are numbered in the order which appears 

 to me most likely to be correct. The glyphs on the top of the altar are much weather- 

 worn. 



The Serpent Bird. (Plate XCIX.) 



In describing the back of Stela H (page 51) mention was made of a sort of grotesque 

 bird with two plumed and tasselled serpents' heads of the conventional type in the 

 place of outstretched wings. It appears now to be desirable to give some other 

 examples of this peculiar design (which, for convenience of reference, will be called the 

 ' Serpent Bird '), as an appreciation of the factors composing it enables one to understand 

 much of the complicated ornament which is of such frequent occurrence on the 

 monuments. 



The most essential character of the design seems to be the presence of a conventional 

 snake's head (without a lower jaw) in place of, or overlying, the bony structure of the 

 bird's wing. 



The ' Serpent Bird ' may of course be only another way of expressing the idea 

 intended to be conveyed by the ' Feathered Serpent,' of which so many examples have 

 already been given, but the two forms appear to be sufficiently distinct to justify the 

 employment of different names. 



On Plate XCIX. are given examples of the Serpent Bird taken from sculpture in 

 widely distant localities. 



Fig. a is copied from the upper part of the central slab fixed into the back wall of the 



Temple of the Feathered Cross at Palenque. The wing of the bird is erect and 



the serpent's head (which is coloured red throughout the series) is inverted. 



Fig. I from the back of Stela H at Copan (Plates LX. and LXI.) gives a front view of the 



bird and shows clearly a peculiarity of frequent occurrence in the design, namely, 



biol. centr.-amer., Archseol., September 1893. k 



