_The Ruins of Cintla._--The ruins of Cintla were visited and surveyed by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt in March and April, 1869, and, so far as I know, neither before nor since have they been seen by any archaeologist. Nor can I learn that Dr. Berendt ever published the results of his researches. The only reference I can find to them in any of his published writings is in a paper which he read, July 10th, 1876, before the American Geographical Society, and which was published in its Bulletin, No. 2, for that year. The title of this address was, "Remarks on the Centers of Ancient Civilization in Central America and their Geographical Distribution." He certainly prepared a much more extended paper especially on Cintla, with illustrations and maps, fragments of which I have found among the documents left at his death; but if published, I have been unable to trace it. Nor can I discover what became of the considerable archaeological collection which he made at Cintla and brought away with him, a memorandum about which is among his papers. The passage in his address before the Geographical Society touching on Cintla is as follows: "It was by mere chance that in the year 1869 I discovered the site of ancient Cintla, buried in the thick and fever-haunted forests of the marshy coast, and unknown until then to the Indians themselves. In the course of the excavations which I caused to be made, antiquities of a curious and interesting character were laid bare. "Prominent among these ruins, and presenting a peculiar feature of workmanship, are the so-called _teocallis_, or mounds, which here are built of earth, and covered at the top and on the sides with a thick layer of mortar in imitation of stone work. On one of these mounds I found not only the sides and the platform, but even two flights of stairs, constructed of the same apparently fragile but yet enduring material. One of the latter was perfectly well preserved. I likewise saw clay figures of animals covered with a similar coating of mortar or plaster, thus imitating sculptured stone and retaining traces of having been painted in various colors. [Illustration: _Fig. 1.--Map of the Ruins of Cintla._] "The reason for this singular use of cement probably is that in the alluvial soil of this coast, no stones occur within a distance of fifty miles and more from the sea shore; stone implements, such as axes, chisels, grinding stones, obsidian flakes, etc., which are occasionally found, can have been introduced solely by trade. The pottery and the idols made of terra cotta show a high degree of perfection. "Regarding the period down to which such earthenware was made, a broken vase disinterred from one of the mounds in my presence may give a clue. Its two handles represent Spaniards, with their European features, beard, Catalonian cap, and _polainas_, or gaiters."