Copan (Pl. XXVI, 2; p. 338) and Quirigua evidently bear a close relation one to the other, and are differentiated from all other sites by the size and workmanship of the stelæ. Unfortunately but few traces of buildings remain, and it is impossible to determine their exact type. All that can be said is that the walls were thick, and that both in this respect and in the ground-plan (see Fig. 76; p. 327) the buildings probably represent a stage of development midway between Tikal and other sites. With this placing the dates on the Copan monuments agree, but Quirigua was a later site, almost certainly founded from Copan, though it flourished alongside of it until both records cease at the end of the ninth cycle. The monuments of Quirigua show a certain technical superiority over those of Copan, the stelæ are larger, and often ornamented with far greater wealth of detail. The broader treatment of the Copan carvings (Pl. XXI and Fig. 81; pp. 236 and 339), however, gives a nobler effect to the stelæ of that site, though Quirigua cannot in any sense be regarded as decadent, as witness the magnificent monster with a human figure in its jaws shown on Pl. XXVI, 1; p. 338. [Illustration: _PLATE XXVII_ _Photo. J. Cooper Clark_ 1 2 3 MAYA RUINS AT PALENQUE, CHIAPAS 1. THE “TEMPLE OF THE SUN” 2. THE “PALACE” 3. THE “TEMPLE OF THE CROSS”] Piedras Negras is a site of great interest. On the one hand the stelæ manifest a very great range of quality, on the other the dates commence early, though not so early as Tikal, and end in the same katun as those of that city. The rudest stelæ bear a rather interesting resemblance to the Huaxtec sculptures of the Panuco valley (Pl. X, 1; p. 108), while the best are of a type peculiar to this locality. The latter represent a figure _en face_, seated in a niche to which a ladder gives access, and before which a priest is sometimes represented standing (Pl. XX; p. 224). It may be noted in passing that the board, or, more likely, cloth with the footsteps marked on it, laid upon the ladder, is paralleled in the Dresden MS. by the streamer with similar markings attached to the tree which represents the god (see Fig. 58; p. 264, lower register). The exact relations of Piedras Negras are difficult to determine. On the one hand certain points in connection with costume, notably the voluminous turban-like head-dresses seen on many of the figures, recall the art of Copan (e.g. Fig. 81); on the other hand many of the flatter reliefs bear a distinct resemblance to those of Naranjo, without attaining the perfection of those at Menché. An interesting fragment represents a figure seated in profile with a colossal jaguar towering behind him; unfortunately only the feet and legs of the latter remain, but sufficient to show that the whole scene must have been almost a replica of one of the wooden lintels of Tikal. Jaguar figures,