20 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
see the 5 in the Great Plaza, A, B, D, F, and H, and the 2 on or near the 
Acropolis, N and P, which leaves J as the one he missed. Stela J stands 
off to one side by itself (see plate 6), and when the entire city was over- 
grown, as in Galindo’s time, it could very easily have been overlooked. 
Four years later Stephens made the same omission. 
The several descriptions of Copan noted up to this point not only had a 
very limited circulation, as we have seen, but were also brief and superficial, 
scarcely more than mentioning the wonders of the place. Indeed, the only 
published accounts of the ruins prior to Stephens’s time were those of Juarros 
and Galindo, which do not appear to have attracted general attention. 
Moreover, they contain nothing of importance not given in greater detail 
by later writers, and they have been included here chiefly for bibliographic 
purposes. 
The first writer to make the ruins of Copan generally known outside of 
Central America was the American diplomat, traveler, and explorer, John 
L. Stephens; and for practical purposes his excellent description of the city 
has all the value and merit of original discovery. 
Stephens was sent to Central America, in October 1839, on a special 
confidential mission by President Van Buren, the object of which having 
been fulfilled, or failing, he was at liberty to travel where he pleased. He 
visited a number of important archeological sites in the Maya field, notably 
Uxmal, Palenque, Ocosingo, Santa Cruz Quiché, and Copan, and published a 
fascinating account of his adventures, entitled Jncidents of Travel in Central 
America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. He was accompanied by the English 
artist Catherwood, who made the illustrations for this book, original drawings 
of great merit and beauty. Rarely indeed has such a happy combination of 
circumstances arisen as that which permitted these two men to work 
together; rarely has the brush so effectively supplemented the pen—so effec- 
tively, in fact, that Stephens’s text illuminated with Catherwood’s drawings 
has remained the classic book of travel on the Maya field for more than three- 
quarters of acentury. It was one of the most widely read books of its time 
in this country and went through ten editions within three months of its 
publication. It was republished in England, Germany, and Mexico, and 
achieved great popularity abroad. Its astonishing success would seem to 
have been due, not only to the simple and clear style of Stephens’s writing and 
the quaint charm of Catherwood’s drawings, but also to the unusual and 
diverting character of the subject-matter. Here for the first time the world 
read of the wonders of the great ruined cities of Central America and saw 
reproductions of their strange monuments; and here for the first time the 
fundamental importance of this great native civilization in the history of the 
New World began to be perceived. The many editions of this book and 
its sequel, /ncidents of Travel in Yucatan, accurately reflect the widespread 
interest which they aroused. 
Stephens, as already noted, gave the first description of Copan which 
attained a general circulation. He not only disproved the fabulous stories 
