INDIAN SETTLEMENTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 545 



of eartli which, as refinement increased, were incased in a covering of 

 stone. Frequently, however, the whole wall was built of stone, and 

 even the terraced pyramids consisted only of a kernel of earth, some- 

 times containing stone chambers within, while a covering of stone on 

 the outside gave to the building a suitable outward form and durability. 

 This is the point of development where the majority of the buildings 

 of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, and Verapaz remained stationary, 

 and even among the Maya tribes, who are so much further advanced, 

 similar structures are still met with. At this time the stones that form 

 the outer case were either not cut at all or only roughly; really well- 

 cut stone is very rarely met with in such structures. This depended, 

 naturally, very largely on the nature of the stone found in these dis- 

 tricts. In Alta Verapaz and parts of central Chiapas the material is 

 an easily split dolomite or limestone: in the Chiapas and Motozintla 

 districts granite prevails; in the districts of the Tzotzil and the 

 southern Pipiles other eruptive stones of more recent origin, which 

 the Indians with their extremely imperfect tools must have found very 

 hard to cut. The same difficulty no doubt also accounts for the fact 

 that we find in the highlands of Guatemala and Chiapas compara- 

 tively few sculptures in stone, and that wherever any are found the 

 nature of the material on band has been specially favorable. Andesite, 

 of recent origin or disunited, has frequently been used for the purpose, 

 more rarely sandstone or even limestone; for small articles sometimes 

 argillaceous schist, but never dolomite. In proportion as the available 

 stone material was less fit for building and sculpture the love of 

 ceramics increased, and, to mention but one example, the Indians 

 of Alta Verapaz remained far behind their neighbors in all that con- 

 cerned architecture; but, on the other hand, they furnished pottery of 

 such admirable good taste and true artistic skill that they do not seem 

 to have been surpassed by any of the Maya tribes. This would lead 

 to the conclusion that architecture is not a standard by which we can 

 measure the culture possessed by a people, because the absence of 

 suitable material may easily interfere with their development and force 

 their artistic predilections into other channels. Nor must it be for- 

 gotten that architecture is fostered and improved in proportion as it is 

 favored by a nation politically and financially powerful. This seems 

 to have been much less the case in Alta Yerapaz than in Yucatan or in 

 the highlands of Guatemala. 



Edifices consisting merely of earth and of stone, simply piled one 

 upon the other, are generally found in a lamentable condition, and it 

 is but rarely possible to trace the outlines of such buildings accurately. 

 The same difficulty applies to the nature of the steps which are almost 

 always found on pyramids, and frequently on ramparts. As far as my 

 researches go, the ground plan is generally square, rarely (by cutting off 

 the corners) of five or more sides, but in spite of these variations, in the 

 upper part of the buildings, square once more. Bound foundations 

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