DESCRIPTION OF COPAN BY GALINDO. 597 
gigantic monster the shape of which resembles that of a large toad standing, with 
human arms and the claws of a tiger.! } 
The steps of the temple generally are 12 inches high and more than half a yard 
deep, with an inward inclination; the first two, which lead from the plaza or square 
upwar to the place where the sacrifices were performed, are of the aforesaid size, 
but the others are from 1.5 to 2 yards high. From the side of the narrow pass to 
the third step the wall of the place where sacrifices were performed is perpendicular. 
On the other side of the latter there is an obelisk, 3 yards and 22 inches high [Stela 
P]. On its western front there is worked in semi-relief figure No. 11; on the opposite 
side there are two perpendicular rows of double squares with characters and on 
each side appears the same thing, but with single squares. (No. 18 represents one 
of the latter.) ‘The whole column is whitewashed, and over it can still be seen parts 
of the red color which in ancient times must have covered the whole stone, but 
which water and time have caused to disappear almost entirely. 
A short distance to the left of this obelisk there is a kind of solid table, very 
remarkable, somewhat raised from the ground, together with other smaller stones 
[Altar Q]. It is 1 yard and 23 inches long, is of the same width, and is 27 inches 
thick or high; the upper part is divided into 49 squares with characters, having a 
cornice 4 inches thick, and surrounding the 4 faces of the table there are 16 human 
figures, seated on cushions or benches, with legs crossed, and with fans, or some- 
thing else which I can not accurately describe, in their hands, as drawn and shown 
in Nos. 20, 21, 22, and 23. On the steps which lead up from the place where the 
table is situated to the place where sacrifices are performed [Mound 16, plate 6], 
there are many gigantic skulls carved on the extremities of large loose stones. 
To the left of the place where sacrifices are performed there is a solid stone, 
the exterior shape of which resembles that of a canoe; No. 9 shows its outline, while 
No. Io represents its upper surface. It is 1 yard and 20 inches high, 26.5 inches 
wide, and 29 inches in thickness or height. 
Near to the corner of this pyramid of sacrifice [Mound 16] there is found a 
rectangular table or stone [Altar H’], elevated above the ground like that already 
described [Altar Q] by smaller stone supports; it is 2 varas 21 inches long, and I 
vara 20 inches wide, and 13 inches thick or high; three sides of its edge contain 
characters, which are in squares (casillas) four to a block; figure 17 represents one 
of these rectangular groups; the edges of the stone thus contain 24 squares on the 
long side, and 16 on the smaller sides; the other long side, which faces south, and the 
top and bottom are plain. At the other side of the canoe there is a stone, or table, 
similar to the last described, but very broken [Altar I’]. 
The three tables referred to [Altars Q, H’, and I’|—the one called canoe and 
the obelisk [Stela P]—are found in the plan on the level of the little plaza [the 
Western Court], and from thence descent is made toward the south and west to the 
ground. From the northern side ascent is made by steps to a part of the temple 
whose height is equal to that of the place of sacrifice, and exceeds that of the river 
wall [Temple 11]. At the foot of this elevation, on the level of the ground and near 
the corner which the temple forms to the northwest, is another obelisk with human 
figures on its front and back, and a row of smaller figures on the two sides, with 
evidence of all having been of a red color [Stela N].. In front it has a small altar or 
circular table at a distance of 2 yards. 
In the narrow passageway of the temple is a circular stone 1 yard 4 inches in 
diameter and 16 inches thick. Although it somewhat resembles a millstone, but as 

1This gigantic monster resembling a toad is one of the pair of rampant jaguar figures which flank the Jaguar 
Stairway on the west side of the Eastern Court, at the Main Structure. 
