INSCRIPTIONS: OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 239 
The almost complete destruction of such a masterpiece, therefore, is 
little short of a calamity, and as the discussion of its inscription proceeds, 
the irreparability of the resulting loss to students of the Maya hieroglyphic 
writing will become increasingly apparent. | 
Garcia de Palacio, writing in 1576, speaks of “a grand stairway descend- 
ing by a great number of steps to the river.’! At present there is no stairway 
at all on the east side of the Acropolis (see plate 6), nor any traces of the former 
existence of one. Indeed, there is no other stairway at the Main Structure 
which corresponds to Garcia de Palacio’s “grand stairway descending by a 
great number of steps” so well as the Hieroglyphic Stairway on the west 
slope of Mound 26. ‘Therefore, in spite of the fact that he incorrectly 
locates it on the east slope of some mound—and presumably Mound 26, 
since in this position it would lead to the river—it is not improbable that in 
the above quotation he may have referred to the Hieroglyphic Stairway 
on the west side of this mound instead. If so, it was intact in his day (1576). 
The landslide which caused the destruction of the Hieroglyphic Stair- 
way, however, must have taken place prior to the visits of Galindo and 
Stephens in 1834 and 1839 respectively, since neither makes any mention 
of a stairway here, although the latter describes several adjacent monuments, 
notably Stela M and its altar, and Stela N. On the contrary, Stephens draws 
a picture of extreme desolation and ruin in this particular part of the city: 
“The whole quadrangle is over-grown with trees, and interspersed with frag- 
ments of fine sculptures, particularly on the east side, and on the northeast corner is 
a narrow passage [the passageway between Mounds 9g and 1o, plate 6], which was 
probably a third gateway.’’’ 
Stephens was far too careful an observer to have overlooked the Hiero- 
glyphic Stairway had it been intact in his time, particularly since he describes 
and figures the monument (Stela M) and altar correlated with its base. On 
the other hand, had this landslide been of very recent occurrence, perhaps 
within a decade or two, he certainly would have noted the destruction 
wrought as recent. We may therefore conclude that the landslide which 
destroyed the Hieroglyphic Stairway occurred considerably prior to his visit 
in 1839. There exists indirect and rather unsatisfactory testimony bearing 
on this point from another source. In 1854, Scherzer, the German traveler, 
was deterred from visiting Copan because he was told by the priest at Santa 
Rosa Copan, the capital of the Department in which the ruins are located, 
that “a recent landslip had much injured the effect of these ruins.’”! 
The only landslide which has “much injured” the appearance of the 
ruins, so far as can be judged to-day, is the one which destroyed the Hiero- 

1 See Appendix IV, p. 542. 
2 The “beautiful and rich flight of steps....of hewn stone exquisitely wrought,” described by Fuentes y 
Guzman, 113 years later (7. ¢., in 1689, see Appendix V, p. 547) is probably the Jaguar Stairway on the west side 
of the Eastern Court, first because he says it has 10 or 12 steps, about the number in the Jaguar Stairway, and 
second because nearby was “a portico of excellent architecture, which is like the entrance of some palace. On the 
sides are two perfect figures of men dressed in the Spanish fashion;” in which description we can hardly fail to 
identify Temple 22 on the north side of the Eastern Court. See p. 316. 
3 Stephens, 1841, vol. 1, p. 138. 4 Scherzer, 1857, vol. 11, p. 95. 
