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 1247 
 
 THE SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA, 
 
 GUATEMALA, IN THE ETHNOLOGICAL 
 
 MUSEUM OF BERLIN. 
 
 BY 
 
 HERMAN STREBEL. 
 
 FROM THE SMITHSONIAN EEPOET FOE 1899, PAGES 549-S61 
 (WITH PLATES I-XI). 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1901. 
 
THE SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA, 
 GUATEMALA, IN THE HAMBURG ETHNOLOGICAL 
 MUSEUM.^ 
 
 By Herman Strebel. 
 
 The scientific committee of the Hamburg- America celebration, 
 planned for 1892, had intended to hold an exhibition, and Director 
 Bolau, Mr. L. Friedrichsen, Superintendent C. W. Liiders, Dr. 
 Michau, and the author of the present paper were associated into 
 a subcommittee for that purpose. As everybody knows, the cholera 
 broke out and rendered this promising part of the programme imprac- 
 ticable. It thus became necessary to make some other disposition of 
 so much of the material collected as had been either donated or pur- 
 chased. It had all along been intended that our scientific institute 
 should profit by such things, and so it happened, owing to the excellent 
 financial management of the whole undertaking by the general commit- 
 tee, that our ethnological museum received the gift of a series of 
 plaster casts whose originals are preserved in the Royal Ethnological 
 Museum of Berlin. 
 
 Those originals came from Santa Lucia Cozumahualpa, which is a 
 place in the province of Escuintla, in Guatemala, on the southern or 
 Pacific slope of the Cordilleras, below the Volcano del Fuego. The 
 locality seems to have been settled after 1850 by Cakchiquels from the 
 high plateau, who commenced coffee plantations here. In 1860 the 
 clearing of a piece of forest brought to light a number of sculptured 
 blocks of stone. The commandant of the place, Mr. Pedro de Anda, 
 considered the discover}' of sufficient importance to be brought to the 
 notice of the Guatemalan Government, and a commission of inspection 
 was dispatched to the spot. Unfortunately, their thorough report was 
 never published, and has since not been found in the archi\'es. Two 
 years later, in 1862, the Austrian traveler. Dr. Habel, in the course of 
 his extended explorations, arrived at Santa Lucia, and made drawings 
 and descriptions of the antiquities that had been found up to that date. 
 These were first published at the instance of Prof. Ad. Bastian, 
 director of the Royal Ethnological Museum of Berlin, in Vol. XXII of 
 the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, in 1878. Bastian had 
 
 ' Translated from the Annual of the Hamburg Scientific Institute, Vol. XI, 1893. 
 
 549 
 
550 SOULPTUEES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 
 
 been informed by Habel, when the latter passed through Berlin, of the 
 existence of important ruins in Guatemala, and when, in 1876, durmg 
 his own American travels, his attention was called, in Guatemala, to 
 the discovery in Santa Lucia, and he had seen it himself, he recalled 
 what had been told him by Habel, who had meantime disappeared. 
 Bastian, however, did not rest until he had traced him to New York 
 and had taken the necessary steps to have his report and drawings pub- 
 lished by the Smithsonian Institution, Before leaving Santa Lucia, 
 Bastian, promptly recognizing the importance of the discovery, had 
 purchased of the owner of the land for the Berlin Museum all antiqui- 
 ties which had been or should thereafter be discovered, an act for 
 which Americanistic investigation must be particularly grateful to him. 
 The most difficult part of the task still remained, however, to be per- 
 formed, namely, the transportation of the treasures to the port of San 
 Jose for shipment. Bastian had the happy thought of securing the 
 cooperation of Dr. Hermann Berendt, who had been settled for some 
 years in Guatemala, and who, being well acquainted with the country 
 and the people, and at the same time an eminent linguistic and 
 archaeological Americanist, was as much disposed to further the scien- 
 tific research as he was competent to cope with its practical difficulties. 
 (See my biographical notice of Berendt in the Globus, Vol. LIX, No. 
 22.) The matter was taken in hand with the aid of Engineers Napp 
 and Au, but greater difficulties arose than had been anticipated, for it 
 turned out that the majority of the blocks were too heavy to be drawn 
 to the coast by oxen over the rough roads. However, since they were 
 only sculptured on one face it was ultimately decided that the greater 
 part of their thickness should be sawn away. For this apparatus had 
 to be secured and labor performed, and it is not surprising that it was 
 not until the end of the year 1880 that the material was ready for ship- 
 ment and that it was only in August, 1881, that it reached the Berlin 
 Museum in good condition. Berendt, unhappily, did not live to take 
 satisfaction in this final result. In the year 1878 an old complaint of 
 his was so aggravated by the exertions involved in many journeys 
 between his home and Santa Lucia that he died in April of that year, 
 and Americanist research thus lost one of its truest adherents. Bas- 
 tian, in his paper on "The Guatemalan Sculptures" in the publications 
 of the Royal Berlin Museum for 1882 has given extracts from Berendt's 
 letters relating to this industrious period so trying to the patience of 
 all parties. For further information concerning the entire archteolog- 
 ical find in that neighborhood, of which only a portion, though no doubt 
 the most important portion, has been transferred to Berlin, the reader 
 may consult the above-named works of Bastian and of Habel, as well 
 as papers by Gustav Eisen in the memoirs of the California Academy 
 of Sciences, Vol. II, No. 2, and of Dr. Ed. Seler in the journal II Cen- 
 tenario, No. 26, Madrid, 1892. In these works the ruins are consid- 
 
SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 551 
 
 ered collectively. Eisen's memoir treats of the materials still remaining 
 at Santa Lucia and its environs, of which Berendt sent descriptions 
 and drawings to Bastian, the publication of which is much to be desired. 
 Seler gives remarkable explanations of the principal pieces found at 
 Santa Lucia. 
 
 A. part of these treasures adorning the Berlin Ethnological Museum 
 have now become a gift to our own in the form of excellent plaster 
 casts. They are to be found on the north side of the upper story of 
 the museum of natural history in the prehistoric collection. The 
 author of the present account of them has deemed it incumbent upon 
 him to publish something concerning their significance, so that the 
 public, by understanding them better, may be led to take more interest 
 in them. 
 
 The discoveries at Santa Lucia are remains of an important settle- 
 ment which must have been destroyed long before 1522, the date of 
 the plundering of the country by Alvarado; for had it not been so, 
 we should have had notices about it from the Spaniards. That this 
 destruction must have been a forcible one is proved by the disorderly 
 position of the remains hitherto discovered, especially such as plainlj'^ 
 formed parts of buildings. This is shown by the plan of the site pub- 
 lished by Bastian in the Berlin Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, Vol. VIII, 
 p. 322. The rank tropical vegetation had covered these remains and 
 given them over to oblivion, until, centuries later, chance brought them 
 to light again, and thus gave us a glimpse into a civilization previously 
 quite unknown. 
 
 To the question, what race produced these monuments, no certain 
 answer can be given. Their tj'pe is a new one to us. Comparing 
 them with those of the Maya civilization, we find that they present 
 differences so fundamental that thej^ must be of another origin. The 
 anthropological type of the figures exhibited, at least of those which 
 represent inhabitants of Santa Lucia, contrasts decidedly with those of 
 the Maya sculptures, while the hieroglyphics characteristic of the lat- 
 ter are here wholly wanting. We are thus driven to seek their origin 
 among the Nahoa peoples who formerly inhabited old Mexico, but of 
 whom a part, as we learn from the remains, wandered south as far as 
 the shores of the South Sea and into Central America, everywhere 
 forming settlements of longer or shorter duration. Remains of these 
 settlements have already been found. They are ascribable, with some 
 degree of certainty, to the Nahoa civilization. It is, however, neces- 
 sary to allow for the influence of the new conditions of life which the 
 wanderers must have encountered, as well as for that of contact with 
 foreign civilizations, in modifying original characteristics of their own 
 and in introducing new elements — effects which must have become 
 more marked the longer and the more undisturbedly those causes acted. 
 Such must have been the case with the settlers of Santa Lucia, since 
 
552 SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA C02UMAHUALPA. 
 
 the magnificence of the remains discovered bespeaks of itself a long 
 period of prosperous development. ' The main outlines of the Nahoa 
 civilization are preserved; but new elements, some of them attributa- 
 ble to Maya civilization, have been introduced and have been worked 
 over In a peculiar way, so that a new type has been evolved. Before 
 entering into details we may as well glance at the age of the Santa 
 Lucia monuments. For this estimation definite data are afforded by 
 Maya remains which narrate incursions of foreign hordes. According 
 to these records the settlement must have taken place six or seven 
 centuries ago — that is, in the thirteenth century of our era. Jt may 
 have subsisted for a long time and may have been ultimately destroyed 
 in contests with aboriginal Chakchiquels, Quiches, and other Maya 
 races, which contests we likewise find recorded.^ 
 
 Taken as a whole, the monuments of Santa Lucia exhibit, both in 
 their technique and in their artistic conception and elaboration, a 
 high(>r development than the corresponding productions of old Mexico, 
 and approach the leading works of the Maya civilization, by which 
 they may have been stimulated and aided. The proportions of the 
 human body and the representation of its members are more correct 
 than in the Mexican sculptures, and the bas-relief is executed with 
 great taste. The pieces here considered generally represent priests 
 engaged in performing rites of worship to different divinities; and 
 the head of the divinity is so elaborated as to constitute the main 
 object of the sculpture. The sex of the divinity is not indicated, at 
 any rate not to our present means of discrimination. It may be that 
 the mode of wearing the hair or the ornaments with which the divini- 
 ties are loaded indicate their sex; but not having as yet found any 
 figures of men and women with which they can be compared we are 
 left in the dark upon this point. The particular function of each, 
 divinity is also difficult to determine, since attributes are employed 
 with which we have no other acquaintance; so that it is only in some 
 particular cases that analogy affords any clue to the nature of the 
 god or goddess. Some details of the representations may now be 
 considered in a general way. 
 
 We several times find close to the ornaments characterizing the 
 divinity, and invariably before the mouths of the priests, as well as 
 here and there among lifeless things, a sign in the form of a variously 
 curved fillet, usually like an interrogation mark, with sundry double 
 knot-like side excrescences. This sign must be equivalent to the tap- 
 like sign with a bent end which is common in Nahuatlan represen- 
 
 ' If the first settlement was in the thirteenth century, and if it endured long enough 
 , to develop an original type of civilization and to become rich enough to erect mag- 
 nificent monuments, it could not well have been destroyed without a long struggle, 
 and there would seem to be scant time for every vestige and memory of it to dis- 
 appear before 1522. — Translator. 
 
S0ULPTUEE8 OF SANTA LtTCTA OOZUMASIJALPA. 553 
 
 tations; and this latter we know certainly stands for smoke, breath, 
 speech, or song. Whether or not in the present case any differentia- 
 tion of signification is attached to the different shapes of the curve, 
 the number of binodes, or the differences between the persons or 
 things to which the sign is attached can not be decided at the outset. 
 Not so clear is a shape which, starting from the front of the thick, 
 stiff' girdle of the priest, runs upward to a point and mounts in waves 
 toward the divinity. It looks like the appearances of ilames which, 
 for example, surround the disk of the sun, and are, no doubt, meant 
 for flames, although these latter are much smaller. It can hardly be 
 fluttering ribbons ornamenting the girdle. Yet what a mounting 
 flame should signify in this position, plainly connected with the stiff 
 girdle, is more than we can guess at the outset. We further find 
 occasional simple disks which in Nahuatlan representations are 
 undoubtedly numerals, each disk being a unit. Along with these, or 
 alone, there are also larger disks, some of them with high rims, bearing 
 various devices. These recall the way in which, in Nahuatlan repre- 
 sentations generally, days or periods of time, as well as names, are 
 sometimes presented, although in the details the resemblance ceases. 
 In the costume of the priests the following details are noticeable: 
 Most of the body is bare; for excepting the rich and varied ornaments 
 for head, eai's, and neck the common breech clout of all old American 
 peoples is his principal article of clothing. It is in the form of a long 
 band going around the waist and between the legs, and forming a 
 girdle. The ends hang down before and behind, and have tassels, or 
 fringes. In addition to this, the priest wears a broad girdle whose 
 contour surpasses the line of the body, and is obviousty of stiff 
 matei'ial, probably wood, since it appears to be carved. Hanging 
 from the girdle there is also a sort of skirt, sloping away in front on 
 both sides, where it has laces and fringes, and closed behind. There 
 are many like this in the Codex Vindobonensis. As a leg ornament, 
 we find below the right knee a galloon, or thong, with something 
 hanging from it, or else a multiple rope of pearls; and both wrists 
 seem to be adorned with strings of pearls. Upon the feet there are 
 sandals; frequently only the left foot has a sandal, while the right is 
 bare. One hand of the priest is uniformly covered with something 
 like the head of a man or of a beast. Seler takes this for a mask, not 
 for a real head; and certainly the style of representation is in favor 
 of this interpretation, for it is entirely unlike the realistic heads which 
 the high priest and his assistants in fig. 1 carrj' in their arms. The 
 latter must be the heads cut off of the sacrificed men. Whether these 
 masks are also to be regarded as offerings is doubtful, although the 
 arm which carries one of them is usually raised toward the divinity, 
 and seems to hold out something to him. But why should the sacrifice 
 itself be shown in the one case and in the other only its mask? It 
 
S54 8CULPTDEE8 O^ SANTA LUOIA COZUMAHUALPA. 
 
 may be that the mask is the distinctive mark of the priest, and has 
 some reference to the divinity whom he serves. 
 
 After these general explanations, short descriptions of the single 
 pieces must suiEce. Among the originals of the Berlin Museum there 
 are eight blocks which have approximately equal dimensions. Habel, 
 who measured them in their original condition in situ, gives the height 
 as 12 English feet, the breadth of the sculptured surface as 3, and the 
 thickness of the stone as 3 feet; and he remarks that the face of each 
 is plane in the lower 3 feet, so that the sculptured part is only 9 
 feet high. The blocks must have stood on end, and probably, with 
 open interspaces, formed the fapade of a temple or temples. For, 
 had they been joined together, the sculpture would, in the ornamenta- 
 tion or somewhere, have been continuous from block to block; while, 
 in fact, each is a separate representation, having, in some cases, a border 
 of its own. There is no further connection between them than that of 
 the subjects they represent, which are all religious performances, 
 especially the worship of different divinities. This again agrees with 
 the hypothesis that the blocks are remains of temples. 
 
 Of these eight blocks our museum possesses casts of the sculptured 
 faces of three only, the first three of the following enumeration: 
 
 No. 1. Upon this plinth we see in the middle a priest, characterized 
 by the sacrificial knife in his right hand and by the cut-oflf head of the 
 sacrifice in his left. This kind of sacrifice belongs to the Mayas, not 
 to the Nahoas, who, as is well known, offered the heart of the victim; 
 and the whole composition must be interpreted in the light of Maya 
 customs and conceptions. Land tells us that the high priest is the 
 representative of the sun and that his four assistants answer to the 
 four quarters of the horizon. The four assistants occupy here the four 
 corners of the plinth; but in order to fix their orientation we must 
 consult Nahuatlan ideas. The north is the place whither the dead 
 go and where the god of death abides, which corresponds best with 
 the assistant in the right lower corner, who appears as a skeleton. 
 It is to be noticed that Death is not commonly represented by an 
 entire carcass, but is incarnate only in arms and legs, or even only in 
 hands and feet. This being settled, the assistant of the lower left- 
 hand corner should be the east, that of the upper right-hand corner 
 the west, and that of the upper left-hand corner the south. The last 
 has also a death's head. Before the bridge of his nose there is a hooked 
 object. The south was also regarded as the place of dearth and hunger; 
 so that the reference to death is suitable to it. Like the high priest 
 himself, each of the four assistants bears in his hands the head of a 
 victim. These five heads differ from each other and from their bearers 
 by the ornamentation and the anthropological type. We may reason- 
 ably infer that these heads represent races hostile to the inhabitants of 
 Santa Lucia, and may correspond to the directions in which their 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1899, — Strebel. 
 
 Plate I. 
 
 i( 
 
 / V // ■ - 
 
 
 
 ^*y*'y_Y^si 
 
 "*'»••», 
 
 Fig. 1.— Priest sacrificing a Victim. 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1 899.— Strebel. 
 
 Plate II. 
 
 
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 ■V. 
 
 ) 
 
 
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 •«»«- 
 
 ./•«""•' 
 
 ■"V^' 
 
 ^ >' 
 
 -l" ^**°'*^^»I-«^JV». 
 
 >^' 
 
 V 
 
 ,^«*^ 
 
 Fig. 2.— Sun God and Priest. 
 
SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUOIA OOZUMAHUALPA. 555 
 
 homes lay. In that case this composition would have not merely a 
 ritual but also a political significance. Among the details of the design, 
 the following may be noticed. On the headdress of the high priest 
 there is a crab (Taschenkrebs), over his forehead, a symbol whose par- 
 allel is not known. Feather tufts (Federballen) are braided into the 
 hair, and to it is attached an object reaching nearly to the ground, 
 which looks like the tail end of a serpent. At the back of the wooden 
 girdle there is a representation of a serpent's head looking backward, 
 and in place of the breechclout we see knotted serpents passing round 
 the body, with their heads and tails hanging down. Snakes play a 
 great part in all these compositions. The object upon which the 
 high priest seems to be standing is regarded by Habel as the car- 
 cass of the victim. There is certainly something wrapped round it 
 which resembles a breechclout. But there are also three holes which 
 are hard to interpret; and since the lower contour of the object seems 
 to have been mutilated in the original, we can not well make out what 
 it is. It will be noticed that to this object, as well as to the sacrificial 
 knife that the high priest holds in his hand, the sign of discourse is 
 attached. Above, in the middle of the plinth, there is a raised disk 
 upon which there is a grate-like figure from which depends a hook. As 
 already remarked, no interpretation of this sign is forthcoming; and 
 the same may be said of the shape under the foot of the upper right- 
 hand assistant. It is wrapped up and tied, and an arrow seems to pro- 
 trude from it. 
 
 The plinth just described agrees with the other S'even in size alone. 
 Those seven all represent the same performance, namely, the invoca- 
 tion of different divinities. They are shown in figs. 2 to 8. Figs. 2 
 and 3 are from our casts; figs. 4 to 8 are enlargements of Habel's 
 drawings. 
 
 No. 2. The divinity, who hangs from a serpent's jaw, is surrounded 
 with flames. From its rich necklace is suspended the disk of the sun, 
 also surrounded with flames. Its fingers have claw tips. It is the 
 divinity of the sun, conceived in view of its destructive effects in the 
 tropical coast regions. The hand of the priest's raised arm is covered 
 with a human mask. On the back of the feather mantle which falls 
 behind can be seen, close to the priest's wrist, a human head with hair 
 bound together in a tuft. Noteworthy are the crescent-shaped incis- 
 ions on the knee of the left leg. Whether mere wrinkles of the skin 
 are intended is questionable. This plinth is the only one into which, 
 beside the priest, a second smaller figure is introduced, which probably 
 has merely a symbolic significance. It is another human skeleton. 
 Death, which, however, like the priest, wears the wooden girdle. 
 Its left arm reaches down and its hand is covered with a mask in the 
 form of a snake's head, while the right arm is stretched up. From 
 the mouth of the skeleton to that of the priest extends a shape like 
 
556 SCULPTDRES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 
 
 the sign of discourse, though not curved, but of a broken form. It 
 very likely merely expresses the close connection of the symbolic 
 figure with the priest. Whether the furrowed, pointed, elongated 
 form which, starting from the priest's nose, arches backward, is 
 equivalent to the flame-like shape which in other compositions shoots 
 out from the girdle, must rerriain an open question. Over the head of 
 the priest are two disks with raised rims, upon each of which is figured 
 the head of a dog or some beast. According to the Mexican emblems, 
 this would read "two dogs," which is a date, but may also be a name. 
 Near these disks and over the skeleton we see a stand on which is 
 placed the cut-off head of a victim, the type of which, except for a 
 different earring, agrees exactly with that of the victim carried by the 
 lower left-hand assistant in No. 1. 
 
 No. 3. This plinth is provided with a border. The divinit}' wears 
 the hair bound up with snakes whose ends writhe upward. The 
 necklace, too, is wound round with a snake. The bowed arms are 
 surrounded with flames and the hands hold a peculiar object which 
 beai's a disk, from which something like feathers stick up, and from 
 which hangs a three-cornered thing with a cross cut in it and with an 
 excision at the end shaped like a stile between two fields. This hanging 
 object is very much like certain feet of vessels which are frequently 
 found upon the high plateau of Mexico; but this throws no light upon 
 the object now considered. From the head of the divinity spring 
 three boughs with leaves, flowers, and fruit, as well as other uninter- 
 pretable pendants, and two similar boughs proceed downward from 
 the arms. We have here evidently an earth divinity, and, according 
 to Seler, an early conception of such a divinity as causing drought, 
 hunger, and earthquakes. The flames which surround the upper 
 objects involve a reference to fires or to the sun, and justify Seler's 
 view. In regard to the priest, it is to be noticed that the left hand is 
 covered with a human mask. In what seems to be a mantle falling 
 over the back, a death's head is introduced, precisely like that upon 
 the fire basin that we shall notice below. The wooden girdle is also 
 adorned with a death's head. The crooked incisions which we noticed 
 on the left knee of No. 2 are here seen on both. 
 
 No. i. The plinth has a smooth border. The divinity exceptionally 
 wears a nose ornament in the shape of a clasp with enlarged ends. 
 The hair appears to be intertwined with snakes, and from the orna- 
 ments of the head and neck proceed, above and below, branching 
 boughs, exactly as in No. 3, except that here the upper part forms 
 three teeth or rays, which lead Seler to suspect that this divinity is 
 the goddess of night. Since other characteristics are wanting to that 
 interpretation, such as are used in picture writings to signify the 
 heavens of night, I can not entirely assent to it, and opine that there 
 is only a reference to fruitfulness, and this time without the addition 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1899._Strebel, 
 
 Plate III. 
 
 Fig. 3.— God of Drought, Thunder, and Earthquakes 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1899.— Strebel. 
 
 Plate IV. 
 
 uV\ 
 
 
 
 ■ ^ J / 
 
 Fig. 4.— Goddess of Fruitfulness. 
 
 Fig. 5.— Earth Goddess, IYIother 
 
 OF ALL. 
 
SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 557 
 
 of flames, which show the evil qualities of the earth goddess upon 
 No. 3. The headdress of the priest runs out into three teeth, from 
 which proceed flames, and from his back there falls apparently the 
 skin of a beast of prey, into whose belly a lance is sticking. Seler 
 thinks that his interpretation of the divinity is contirmed by this fea- 
 ture, since the jaguar (if such it is intended to be) was, both with the 
 Mayas and with the Nahoas, the emblem of the sun; and he is shown 
 as stuck through with a spear, to indicate that the sun is robbed of his 
 power. So, according to Seler, the night gains its cause. Yet it would 
 be equally consequent to say that the destructive effect of the sun is 
 overcome and a fruitful season, perhaps the rainy season, is brought 
 in. Seler himself brings confirmation to this interpretation in recall- 
 ing a Dresden design in which the wounded beast of prey, a puma or 
 jaguar, lies at the feet of the rain god. The left arm of the priest 
 is not stretched up, but the forearm is bent down, the hand being 
 covered with the mask of a beast of prey. Another such animal is, 
 according to Seler, depicted on the wooden girdle. If this be so, it 
 exceptionally looks upward, as plainly appears in Habel's drawing. 
 
 No. 5. In this piece a rim surrounds the sculptured face. We have 
 before us only an indistinct copy of a bad photograph, for Habel 
 gives only a drawing of the lower half with the priest. The upper 
 half was subsequently found. The whole is, however, less well exe- 
 cuted than the other pieces. Seler, who had the originals at his dis- 
 position, says that the ornaments above the divinity agree with those 
 which in old Mexico accompany the goddess of maize, named Seven 
 Snakes. She is one of the forms of the older earth goddess — the 
 mother of all that exists — having been differentiated in the course of 
 time among different races; but in all her transformations the eagle 
 continues to be a prominent accompaniment. The downward-shooting 
 eagle seen below, near the right leg of the priest, can be referred to 
 this fact, and so likewise can the eagle mask which covers the priest's 
 left hand, as well as the eagle upon the wooden girdle. The divinity 
 itself wears upon its head a braid of snakes; and from each arm there 
 springs a branch directed upward which seems to correspond with the 
 sign of discourse. In the headdress of the priest there is a human 
 mask from which depends a long feather. 
 
 No. 6. About this block, of which only the upper half has been 
 found, there is a plain border. The divinity is surrounded by the 
 jaws of an alligator, which led Seler to suspect that it was the goddess 
 of water. As a confirmation of this he mentions figures of a crab and 
 of a fish which he says are to be found among the blossoms of the 
 branches which shoot downward from the arms of the goddess. But 
 no such objects can be perceived in the reproduction of a photograph 
 given by Seler, and Habel's drawing and description show only the 
 crab and that at the fracture of the stone whei'e the headdress of the 
 
558 8CULPTUEES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 
 
 priest should be. This crab is, therefore, similar to that in the head- 
 dress of the high priest of No. 1. It may be added that the priest ot 
 No. 6, unlike those of Nos. 2-5, faces the left, as is shown by the sign 
 of discourse before his mouth and by his headdress. 
 
 No. 7. In this design and that of No. 8 the priest also faces the 
 left, so that we may infer that the blocks were so arranged in the build- 
 ing that the two different directions in which the priests stood came 
 opposite each other. [The writer seems to intend to leave it undeter- 
 mined whether he thinks they were in pairs, or whether all the right- 
 facing priests were at the left of the left-facing priests. J The divinity 
 is upon this plinth very peculiarly represented. Upon his back he 
 wears two crooked plates, which stand opposite each other, with their 
 points almost in contact. The headdress is formed of two entangled 
 rattlesnakes, and the ornament of neck and breast is composed 
 of quadrangular plates or dice, as are the bracelets. From the mid- 
 dle of the breast ornament hangs a symbol such as the divinity of 
 No. 3 wears. From either side of this symbol proceed boughs, each 
 bearing leaves and flowers, while the entire boughs have the characters 
 of the sign of disfcourse. We can come to no conclusion in regard to 
 the function of this divinity. Habel's surmise that it is the goddess 
 of the moon was suggested merely by the crescent-shaped plates and 
 is unsupported by any old American examples. The priest has no 
 other headdress than long, wavy hair. His right arm is raised; the 
 left hangs down, and its hand is covered with a human inask, orna- 
 mented with a nose clasp. The wooden ^ girdle has represented upon 
 it a fantastic beast's head, possibly a snake's head. In frOnt of the 
 priest there is a remarkable shape, like a package tied up at the ends, 
 with a banner hanging down over the middle part of it, which banner 
 has a cross on it and a style-shaped excision at the bottom exactly like 
 the symbol that depends from the divinity's breast ornament. Upon 
 the package is placed a human head Avith the sign of discourse before 
 the mouth, and both there and behind it sheaves of feathers seem to 
 stick up. 
 
 No. 8. The whole design is surrounded by a rim. The face of this 
 divinity seems more masculine and aged than the others. It is sur- 
 rounded with boughs bearing leaves, flowers, and fruit, but some of 
 them have the characters of the sign of discourse. The priest has a 
 helm in the form of a human head, and his left hand is covered with a 
 mask which seems to represent the skull of an ape. Upon the wooden 
 girdle a head may be seen, though it is indistinct, while upon his thigh 
 there is a clear representation of a human head. This last wears a 
 high cap and probably is intended for a trophy hanging from the gir- 
 dle. Noteworthy are the flamelike shapes which from the back of 
 
 ^The text has Halsgiirtel, necklace. But I suppose this is a clerical error for 
 Holzgiirtel, wood girdle. — Teanslator. 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1899 Strebel. 
 
 Plate V. 
 
 Fig. 6.— Goddess of Water? 
 
 Fig. 7.— Deity of unknown Function. 
 
-Smithsonian Report, 1899.— Strebel. 
 
 Plate VI. 
 
 
 
 1- 
 
 I. 
 
 V, 
 
 1^^^ 
 
 Fig. 8.— Deity of unknown Function. 
 
SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 559 
 
 the priest^ shoot forward and backward. Seler calls them birds' 
 wings; but this does not agree with Habel's drawing. No further 
 explanation of them or of the function of the divinity can be given. 
 
 Of the following three pieces our Museum possesses casts. They 
 differ from those already noticed not only in their dimensions, but also 
 in respect to the subjects they represent: 
 
 No. 9. The original block is incomplete, especially in the upper 
 part. Habel says its height is 9, its breadth 4 English feet. Upon a 
 richly carved chair, apparently an armchair, sits a man whose rich 
 attire shows him to be a chief. In his hand he holds a paddle-shaped 
 object, but the upper end of it is cut off by the break of the stone. It 
 is probably a scepter or other symbol of the dignity of its bearer, for 
 it can hardly be meant for a weapon. 
 
 Nos. 10 and 11. Habel gives for the respective lengths of these 
 blocks 5 feet 5 inches and 6 feet 1 inch, English measure, and for 
 their heights 2 feet 10 inches and 3 feet. They were, at any rate, 
 introduced into the building as cross pieces, and, judging by their 
 designs, were pendants to one another, although No. 11 has a 
 plain border 8 inches wide, which No. 10 has not. Upon each plinth 
 lies a man opposite to whom stands a symbolic figure, who seems to 
 have some sort of business with him, although the sign of discourse is 
 absent. But what that business may be it is hard to say. It has beetT'^ 
 suggested that the reclining men are ill, and that in No. 10 it isf)eath; 
 in No. 11 the medicine man who confronts the patient. It is, however, 
 possible that the symbolical figures, to which, in the case of No. 10, 
 ten counters, or numerals, and under them a pair of steps with a cross, 
 placed X-wise upon them, and in the case of No. 11 five counters and 
 a pair of steps are attached, are names or dates. The symbolical 
 figures Death and a stag are in old Mexico, and also with the Mayas, 
 day-signs, which combined with numerals would make ' ' 10 Death '" 
 and "3 Stag." These combinations of the signs are favored by the 
 circumstance that in No. 10 Death is joined to the numerals by a, 
 guiding sign.^ But what the steps with the cross, and what the steps, 
 alone should mean, and whether they are, or are not, connected with 
 the numerals, can not for the present be decided. The headdress of 
 the recumbent man of No. 10 has some similarity with that of the 
 head borne by the upper right-hand assistant of No. 1. Noteworthy 
 are an amulet upon his breast and a garter with a rosette upon Ms 
 right leg. The feet are bare. The stiff girdle is absent, but the 
 breechclout is correctly shown in its form and the mode of wearing it. 
 The skeleton, girded with a snake, is surrounded with flames, and 
 points with its right hand to the recumbent man, or probably to the 
 figure with the steps and cross. The recumbent bearded man of No. 
 
 ^ The text reads Gottheit, divinity. — Teanslator. 
 
 ^I suppose he means that Death points his finger at theoii, — XaASaiATOB. 
 
560 SCULPTURES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA, 
 
 11 wears a cap with dependent feathers and ribbons. The stag man 
 has the hoof of the right fore leg covered with a mask; the left is 
 raised and holds something, it is impossible to make out what. From 
 his under jaw proceeds a flame. 
 
 No. 12. This great and finely worked piece was called an altar by 
 Habel; but Seler more correctly designates it as a fire basin. The 
 whole represents a crouching ape carrying on his back the basin 
 wrapped round with a feather cloth {Federtuch), while he seems to 
 hold Death between his fore paws. Such, at least, is the meaning of 
 the symbolic low relief. It was chiefly this figure of Death which 
 induced Habel to regard the whole as a sacrificial stone, and to assume 
 that the blood of the victim was collected in the shallow basin, without 
 making it clear how the victim was to be put to death. Other repre- 
 sentations show that the head of the victim was cut ofl', in order to 
 ofl'er to the divinity the most important part of the man. But with 
 such a mode of death tliere would scarcely be occasion for so colossal 
 a basin. We know, however, that upon the platforms of the temples 
 there stood great fire basins in which fire had to be kept up day and 
 night. Now this piece would serve such a purpose very well; and 
 consequently Seler's interpretation is to be preferred. The symbolic 
 elements which in the form and ornamentation of this piece appear 
 as an ape and as Death, bear no direct relation to such a purpose; but 
 they may have had some ritual significance, indicating, for example, 
 the divinity to which the particular temple was dedicated. The ape 
 and Death, alike in the myths of the Mayas and of the Nahoas, are 
 closely connected, representing perhaps the opposition of life and 
 death, or that of motion and stillness. Among both peoples we find 
 these among the twenty daj' signs. 
 
 No. 13. In conclusion, I will here notice a block whose sawed-off 
 plate in the shipment at the port of San Jose, unfortunately fell into 
 the sea and was irrecoverably lost. It is, therefore, doubly gratifying 
 to meet among Habel's drawings the highly interesting representation 
 of this block. An enlarged copy of the drawing is to be seen in the 
 Museum. Habel gives its height as 9i English feet and its sculptured 
 width as 5 feet. 
 
 The design shows us the king of the vultures {Sarcora/mphv^ pwpa) 
 with outspread wings. The disk of the sun hangs at his neck, so that 
 he is here the sun bird. The king of the vultures is also one of the day 
 signs among both Mayas and Nahoas, and with the latter is further 
 the bringer of worthy old age, but these functions seem to be foreign 
 to the present representation.^ The bird has half eaten a man, the 
 upper part of whose body hangs down, and with his claw he grasps a 
 
 'The Bakair^s of central Brazil, according to von den Steinen, consider the king 
 of the vultures to be the creator of the sun, which would answer exactly to the design 
 
 of No. 13. — AUTHOB. 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1 899.— Strebol. 
 
 Plate VII. 
 
 Fig. 9.-CHIEF seated in a Chair. 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1899. — Strebel. 
 
 PLATE VI 
 
 O 
 □ 
 
 CO 
 I. 
 6 
 
SOULPTUBES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALPA. 561 
 
 sphere, which may be an india rubber ball used in playing ball. The 
 game of ball is, in the picture writings, the sign of Heaven, and the 
 flying ball denotes the sun in its motions. The head of the bearded 
 man agrees with that which the lower right-hand assistant of No. 1 
 carries. He would thus represent a race hostile to the inhabitants of 
 Santa Lucia. From this representation, of which there is a replica, 
 which, I believe, has been preserved, it seems to follow that there was 
 a leading worship of the sun, and that human sacrifices were offered 
 to it. ^ 
 
 The material described is small in number, but in scientific interest 
 it is an important enrichment to the still limited exhibit of our Museum 
 in old American civilization. The sculptures of Santa Lucia are, at 
 any rate, well adapted to bring wider recognition to a proposition long 
 established in science that America, before it was plundered, was in 
 part inhabited by peoples well entitled to be called civilized. It must 
 be remembered that every people follows its own course of develop- 
 ment, and that the forms of expression of the resulting civilization 
 are not only the product of the peculiar genius of the race, but are also 
 influenced in the most diverse ways by the conditions of life and the 
 events of history. Science undertakes the task of exploring the con- 
 ditions of these phenomena, so that, having arrived at a complete 
 understanding of the nature of a civilization and its significance for 
 the people studied, it may attain the only correct standard for its 
 appreciation. In the present case science has not reached that degree 
 of knowledge. Only here and there can it lift the veil which- peculiar 
 thoughts and ideas have woven around the productions of the Santa 
 Lucia civilization. Yet even these few glimpses suflSce to enable us 
 to say that we have here to do with performances which rise far above 
 the common level. Both conception and execution testify to extraor- 
 dinary endowments, especially when we reflect that a material as 
 hard as stone allows expression to the idea only after immense tech- 
 nical difficulties have been overcome. All those races, so far as we 
 know, lacked the chief means that we possess, since the use of iron 
 was unknown, and consequently the working of the stone in such 
 fashion as we here see it worked must have been a fearfully wearisome 
 and prolonged labor. 
 SM 99 36 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1899,— Strebel. 
 
 PLATE IX. 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1 899.— Strebel. 
 
 Plate X. 
 
 Fig. 12— Fire Basin. 
 
Smithsonian Report, 1 899.— Strebe 
 
 Plate XI. 
 
 Fig. 13.— Vulture devouring Man. 
 
' 1 ii! j« 
 
 HI 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 11