s in this section of the country is
that of Copan, situated in Honduras, but very near the Guatemala line.
This is commonly spoken of as "the oldest city in America,"<1> and
has some evidence to substantiate this claim. Whatever be its relative
antiquity, it is doubtless very old, as it was probably in ruins at
the time of the conquest. There are several facts going to prove this
assertion. When Cortez, in 1524, made his march to Honduras, he passed
within a few leagues of this place. He makes no mention of it, which he
would have been very apt to do had it been inhabited. Fifty years later
Garcia De Palacio made a report on these ruins to the king of Spain.
According to this report, it was then in much the same state as
described by modern travelers, and the same mystery surrounded it,
showing that it must have been in ruin much longer than the short space
of time from the conquest to the date of his report. But few travelers
have visited Copan, and fewer still have left a good description of it.
Mr. Stephens, accompanied by Mr. Catherwood, explored it in 1839, and
this constitutes our main source of information.<2>

We feel that here is the place to speak a word of caution. In common
with other writers, we have used the word cities, in speaking of the
ruins of Maya civilization. In view of the criticisms that have been
freely expressed by some of the best scholars of American ethnology, as
to the generally accepted view of the civilization of the Mexican and
Central American races, it is necessary to be on our guard as to the
language employed. In the case of Copan, for instance, all the remains
known, occur in an irregularly inclosed space of about nine hundred
by sixteen hundred feet, while but a portion of such inclosed space is
covered by the ruins themselves. Now it can, of course, be said that
this space contains simply the remains of public buildings, so to
speak--such as temples, palaces, and others--while the habitations of
the great body of the common people, poorly built, and located outside
of this area, may have vanished away. But, on the other hand, it may
also be that in this small area we have the ruins of all the buildings
that ever stood at Copan. In which case the word city is a misnomer;
pueblo would be more appropriate. But looking at them in the simplest
light, we shall find there is still a great deal to excite astonishment.
Fragments of the wall originally inclosing the area in which are
locate