548 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
on the sides are two men’s figures, clothed a la Espanola, of well-cut and beautiful 
stone; these, like those of the circus, have breeches, collar, swords, cap, short cape, 
and bear wands of justice in their hands (Fuentes, vol. 11, p. 137), so that they seem 
to guard the entrance to that superb edifice, perchance the residence or tribunal 
of justice of some cacique or principal Lord.! 
Passing within this portico, one sees two fine and lofty pyramids, on platforms 
and pediments in good taste and of excellent stone, from which project staples to 
which hangs a hammock of stone; and in this are two statues, of the two sexes, 
garbed in Indian style, with short upper garment, towel wrapped about the head, 
with lips, nostrils, and ears bored and with rings, and with plates on the knees and 
arms. ‘The woman’s figure wears an embroidered huipil, long skirts, large disks 
hanging from the ears, and a necklace of small disks about the neck; her hair is 
long and abundant, and fastened in a plait (rodete) on the top of the head. But 
most marvelous is that the hammock in which these two figures are placed moves 
at the lightest touch of the hand, and stays in motion for a long time. Nor is it 
less noteworthy that the hammock shows nowhere the least cementing, but seems 
formed from a single stone. So prodigious and rare a work is it that I do not believe 
the Romans or any other nation could have done it, and we have to believe it exclu- 
sively the work of the Indians. (Fuentes, vol. 11, p. 139.) 
At the entrance where this hammock is found, there is a beautiful and rich 
flight of steps which rises to the pavement of the circus, 10 or 12 steps from the 
facade to the hammock; it is of cut stone exquisitely worked, and is 33 feet de a 
tercia’ in height, and more than 5 in breadth. 
A short distance from the hammock we have just described is the entrance to 
the great Cave of La Tibulca. Hollowed in the foot of a hill, it has the form of a 
great temple built with much regularity and correctness, with great capacity inside, 
whither no one has dared to penetrate, for it is asserted that within are enchant- 
ments, and that kesides, all who daringly venture within are afterwards attacked 
by fevers. Notwithstanding this, it was entered by Captain José de Santiago, 
corregidor of Chiquimula de la Sierra, Padre Maestro Fernando de Monjarras, 
curé of the district, his coadjutor Pablo Gallardo, some Spaniards, their servants, 
and other persons whose names the author does not recall. It is declared that all 
of them, as a result of the trip, contracted “hard and pernicious fevers, a result of 
the enchantment.” Fuentes is not inclined to certainty upon this, but rather 
declares that the fevers were the result of the force of imagination and of the dis- 
orders common in those hot climates, where are various fruits like pineapples, 
custard-apples, bananas, agaves, oranges, and many other fruits. 
The Circus Maximus. of Copan resembles the Great Circus of Toledo. Tradi- 
tion affirms that in the time of the Conquest it was made the deposit and sepulture 
of a great treasure belonging to the native lords of that country and its confines, 
derived from the tributes imposed on the towns in the ranges of Gracias 4 Dios, 
the Choluteca, valley of Trujillo, Olancho, Sula, and Santa Cruz, of which treasure, 
still in existence, we shall say more in the third part. (Fuentes, vol. Il, p. 133.) 
The portal of this cave is adorned with a multitude of ornaments in exquisite taste 
and with all the beauties of art, all of stone cut and very well polished, like columns 
with their capitals, bases, pediments, and other artistic excellences, all in such 
quantity that out of these immense materials (says Fuentes, vol. 11, p. 138) four 
cathedrals could be built, and to spare. But most admirable and come of 
attention is that all this work, so perfect and so exquisitely tooled, could have been 


1This can only be Temple 22, which Maudslay excavated in 1885. The foregoing passage would almost appear 
to indicate that its roof was still intact in the seventeenth century. See pages 316, 317. 
2The foot de a tercia, or one-third of a vara, is about 28 cm. 
