Indians of Central America -- Nicaragua -- Antiquities; Nicaragua -- Antiquities
I now return to the description of the several statues.
G
Pl. 9 and 10.
This statue, a double figure, was dug up out of the ground between
the mounds 1 and 2. It has probably stood free, because considerable
portions of its back were well elaborated. It is quite evident, that
it has not served to support a roof, as the upper part of the head
of the upper figure wanted every trace of a tenon, and was carefully
finished. It represented a male figure, somewhat stooping, with bent
arms, the hands leaning on the hips. Upon this human figure that of an
animal was seated, embracing with its fore-paws the head of the male
figure. The animal was probably intended to represent a monkey. The
male figure had an ugly face, with a long straight nose; the eyes were
formed by quite circular cavities, the mouth was widely open, and the
chin very short. The ears were covered by thick, square, flat pieces,
as in the image B. The neck was long, the shoulders were much raised,
large and powerful; the arms were bent, pressed close to the sides of
the body, very narrow when seen from the front, broad and flat when
seen side-ways. The chest and stomach were pretty roughly worked; the
muscles however were sharply marked. The legs were short, without any
trace of muscles or even of knees. The feet were completely wanting,
the legs being abruptly cut off. The second figure, the monkey, rested
its lower jaw upon the head of the principal figure, clasping the hind
part of it with its long fingers. The head was large, with prominent
muzzle and jaws, low, curved forehead, and broad nose, with round
nostrils. The hanging ears were long and broad, rounded backwards. The
mouth was open, showing strong, sharp teeth. The fore-legs or arms
were very long, the fore-arm was bent at a right angle to the upper
arm, the shoulder-blades were very broad and powerful. The back was
strongly curved inwards, the tail long, longer than the animal itself,
hanging straight down. The hind legs were short, strongly bent, drawn
up towards the abdomen, and abruptly cut off above the feet, as in the
principal figure. The length of the statue from the top of the animal’s
head to the upper edge of the pedestal was 175 cm. The breadth of the
human figure across the shoulders was 31 cm.; the breadth of the monkey
across the shoulders was 21 cm.
G 1
Not figured.
It was of the same kind as G, i. e. representing a human figure, on
whose shoulders and head an animal was seated. It was much damaged,
and almost impossible to delineate. The anterior portion of the
animal’s head was crushed, as were also the legs and arms of the human
image, whose face seemed designed to represent a skull with a long
neck. The face of the principal figure was 21 cm. long. The length of
the animal from the crown of the head to the root of the tail was 50
cm. The legs and claws of this animal were larger than those of the
monkey in G.
G 2
Not figured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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