HISTORY OF THE SITE. 19 
of its contents is to be found in several letters which Galindo wrote from 
Copan in June 1834 to scientific societies both in Europe and America. 
Galindo’s report is superficial, and contributes but little to the pre- 
vious knowledge of the site. His historical speculations are highly extrav- 
agant and correspondingly valueless. Thus, for example, he asserts with 
considerable emphasis that America is the cradle of the human race: ‘‘The 
Indian human race of America I must assert to be the most ancient on the 
globe” ;? and his contention that Copan was colonized by the ‘‘Tultecos’’ 
from Mexico about the close of the sixth century after Christ is, of course, 
equally preposterous. He follows the error of Fuentes y Guzman and 
Juarros in believing that the site was occupied as recently as 1530;? and he 
seems to have known of no description of the ruins based on a personal 
examination previous to his own.’ 
One of the most interesting points brought out by Galindo is that none 
of the stele appears to have fallen since his time. He says in this connec- 
tion: “There are seven obelisks still standing and entire, in the temple and 
its immediate vicinity; and there are numerous others, fallen and destroyed, 
throughout the ruins of the city.’ 
To-day there are 8 stele standing at Copan: A, B, D, F, H, J, N, 
and P, one more than given by Galindo. He could hardly have failed to 

1Two of these were written on the same day, June 19, 1834, and but for one or two paragraphs are identical. 
One (Galindo, 1835) appeared in the London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, 
etc., No. 965, Saturday, July 18, 1835, pp. 456,457. This letter opens with a paragraph, referring to an earlier 
article of his on Palenque, which had also appeared in the same weekly, but omits the sentence re erring to the 
coming publication of his report and drawings by the government of Central America. 
The second letter (Galindo, 18352) was addressed to the Hon. T. L. Winthrop, president of the American 
Antiquarian Society. Curiously enough, as printed this letter bears the heading “Copan, June 19, 1835,” 
clearly a misprint for 1834, as proved by the original of Galindo’s report to the government of Central America 
in the Gates collection. See Appendix XI. Barring the omission of the first paragraph and the insertion of the 
sentence referring to the projected publication of the report, the two letters are identical. This letter was pub- 
lished in the Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. 11, pp. 543-550. 
Galindo appears to have written another letter of 36 pages, also from Copan, accompanied by to drawings, to 
the Société de Géographie de Paris about the same time: “Enfin une lettre en 36 pages datée de Copan avec dix 
dessins assez bien exécutés” (Galindo, 1836, p. 268). Neither this letter nor the accompanying drawings seem to 
have been published, though two summaries appeared, one in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (deuxiéme 
serie, tom. V, pp. 260, 267-272, 288), cited here as Galindo, 1836, and the other in Antiquités Méxicaines (tom. 1, 
premiere partie, pp. 73, 75, 76), cited here as Galindo, 18364. These two summaries are also practically identical. 
The ten drawings which accompanied Galindo’s letter to the Société de Géographie were: “1. The general 
plan and a view of the great temple of Copan, bathed by the river of that name, and commonly called las ventanas 
or the windows; the ruins are imposing; they are distinguished by many columns, sculptured and painted monu- 
ments standing by themselves, which the author compares to obelisks. 2. Some plans and elevations. 3. Some 
details of figures which ornament the obelisks and altars.” (Galindo, 18362, p. 77.) 
Hamy (1886, p. 83) says five lithographs of these drawings were made at Bineteau’s about the year 1836, but 
that after a few proofs had been struck off the drawings were effaced from the stones before any titles were engraved. 
He compared these proofs with Galindo’s originals, which were still in the archives of the Société de Geographie in 
1886. 
2Galindo, 18354, p. 545. 
“Many may smile at our ideas of the word antiquity, when informed that this place has fallen to ruin only 
since the Spanish Conquest in 1530” (Galindo, 18354, p. 545); and again, “The Spaniards found Copan inhabited 
and in the summit of its perfection.” (Jdid., p. 549.) And again, ‘Copan continued to be inhabited, even after 
the conquest, but in a state of perpetual decadence. Some 75 years ago [circa 1760] the cultivation of tobacco 
was brought from there to the plains of Santa Rosa, and the population gradually decreased to a village of three 
houses situated to the west of the Sesesmil canyon [the site of the present village], which formerly comprised 
the western suburb of the city.” (Appendix XI, p. 603.) 
4“T am the only one, he said, who has examined the ruins of Copan, and who has written about them.” 
(Galindo, 1836a, p. 73.) 
5Galindo, 18354, p. 548. 
