Page:Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley.djvu/29

Rh a breastplate of scales, etc. As the face has been entirely destroyed, this figure is worthless and I have made no drawing of it. I searched the terraces of the pyramid very thoroughly for the missing stones, and was fortunate enough to find one of them. This slab was ornamented with the outlines of a lovely female form, having a high and graceful head-dress, a pure Maya profile, a collar of net-work with an edge of beads, and a disk on the middle of the breast. Under her right arm she holds a small animal (bird?) prepared for a sacrificial gift. She wears the girdle with a mask in front and a St. Andrew's cross at the side, a skirt of net-work with bead fringe, etc. I have made a tracing of this single acquisition of my explorations (Fig. 4).

My annoyance at the ruthless destruction of the decorations of the sanctuary of the temple at Xupá will probably be shared by all Americanists. This crime was probably perpetrated somewhere about the year 1890, notwithstanding the local authorities of Palenque, or rather of El Salto de Agua, had repeated and strict injunctions from the central government to protect the ancient monuments.

It is probable that the temple was once crowned by an airy roof-comb of twofold character, erected on the roofs of the vaulted chambers, which was similar to that of the temples of Palenque. The entire structure viewed from the eastern environs must have been most imposing.

On the temple site itself I could discover no sacrificial altars or stelæ with figures of gods; I found only the remains of numerous smaller structures.

Before starting on the return journey from these ruins I made an excursion to the montería established on the Mistolhá by an American, McQueen. My object was in part to inquire of his men whether in their wanderings in this wilderness they had seen ruins, and in part to gratify my desire to photograph the magnificent waterfall formed by the river.

Mr. McQueen received me kindly and gave me a guide to the waterfall. As there had been heavy rains during the preceding days, we had difficulty in crossing the Mistolhá, in order to reach the waterfall from the right bank. The waterfall is about two leagues below the montería and is indeed a splendid sight. The boiling mass of water rushes down a wall of