Indians of Central America -- Nicaragua -- Antiquities; Nicaragua -- Antiquities
Ceiba has certainly been densely populated in ancient times. This
fact is testified by the rich quantities of relics discovered there
from time to time. In _Rivas_ Dr. FLINT showed me objects of bronze,
stone, and earthen-ware as well as small ornaments of thin golden
plate, spirally twisted glass-staves a. o., that were found in Ceiba.
And although my own excavations did not turn out so productive as
I had been led to expect by the rich treasures I had seen from the
island, they, however, yielded extremely valuable contributions to
my collection. These will be spoken of below, in connection with the
results of my diggings in Zapatera and Ometepec. No statues are now to
be found in the island, but it is reported by tradition that several
were formerly to be found at the north side of the island, which were
carried off long ago to a hacienda in the isthmus. These statues
are said to have been comparatively small-sized. On the other hand,
the island is rich in rock-carvings, and its highest point, a flat
mountain ridge, level as floor, has, from this cause, received the
name of _Cerro de Pantheon_. This mountain ridge is, in my opinion,
the continuation of that edge of a crater which surrounds Bahia de
Chiquero. The carvings found on its south-western spur, _Punta de
Pantheon_, cut in the solid rock at a depth of two meters below the
lowest surface of the lake, prove that the island has sunk at a late
period, and thus corroborate my hypothesis of the earlier connection
between Ceiba and Zapatera. This connection has been dissolved by the
gradual sinking of the volcano.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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