6 QUIRIGUA. 



spring of the roof is about seven feet, the floor is in some parts still coated with 

 cement, and there are traces of a stucco facing on the walls. Gorgonio was most 

 fortunate in falling in with an American engineer, Mr. Walter Heston, who very 

 kindly returned with him to the ruins and made a plan of the building, which was 

 forwarded to me. The building was remeasured by Mr. Price in 1894, and the 

 ground-plan is given on the preceding page. 



There can be but little doubt that the mounds on the southern and western sides 

 of the south court would well repay excavation. 



The slopes and steps on the east and south sides of the court of the Great Turtle 

 must have afforded the best examples of masonry at Quirigua ; the stones are of 

 large size and fairly well cut, but the structure has been hopelessly ruined by the 

 penetrating roots of the forest trees, which have pierced every joint and forced the 

 stones apart. 



If the plans of Copan and Quirigua are placed side by side it will be seen that there 

 is a striking similarity between the grouping and orientation of the structures, and this 

 similarity extends to the position of the monuments so far that in both cases the 

 bearded figures are found towards the nortb and the beardless figures to the south of 

 the plans, nearer the main masses of masonry. These beardless figures are not 

 necessarily those of women, as the dress and ornaments do not differ from those of the 

 figures on the ether monuments. Moreover, there is at Copan one monument, Stela H, 

 which undoubtedly bears the figure of a woman clad in a woman's dress. 



The abrupt termination of our examination of these structures at Quirigua in 

 1894 will always be a matter of regret to me. Now, however, that the railway runs 

 so close to the site of the ruins, and that it is possible to superintend the work without 

 a prolonged encampment on the low forest ground, I trust that some traveller may be 

 tempted to complete the survey of the ruins. I feel sure that important discoveries 

 will reward the work of excavating the larger mounds. 



Description of Stelae and Monolithic Animals. 



A sample of the stone of the Great Turtle, examined in London, is described as "a 

 breccia composed of felspar, mica, and quartz, very absorbant, and weighing about 

 130 lbs. to the cubic foot." s 



Much of the ornament on the stelae at Quirigua is similar to that already described 



