The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 4, Antiquities: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 4Bancroft, Hubert Howe
History
The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 4, Antiquities: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 4
Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Indians -- Bibliography; Indians of Central America; Indians of Mexico; Indians of North America -- Pacific Coast of North America
From a mound of earth fifteen feet in diameter, and five or six feet
high, on an island in Duckwarra Lagoon, south of Cape Gracias á Dios,
Mr Squier unearthed a crumbling human skeleton, at whose head was a
rude burial vase containing chalcedony beads, two arrow-heads of the
same material, and the human figure shown full-sized in the cut,
fashioned from a piece of gold plate. Antonio, an intelligent Maya
servant, could see no resemblance in this figure to any relics of his
race in Yucatan. Two additional vases of coarse earthen ware were
discovered, but contained no relics. On another occasion, during a
moonlight visit to the 'Mother of Tigers,' a famed native _sukia_, or
sorceress, on the Bocay, which is a branch of the Wanks, about fifty
miles south-westward from Cape Gracias, Mr Squier claims to have seen
a ruined structure, part of which is shown in the cut. The building
was of two stories, but the upper walls had fallen, covering the
ground with fragments. It is described as "built of large stones, laid
with the greatest regularity, and sculptured all over with strange
figures, having a close resemblance, if not an absolute identity" with
those drawn by Catherwood. A short distance from the building stood an
erect stone rudely sculptured in human form, facing east, as in the
cut. There are, however, some reasons for doubting the accuracy of
these Bocay discoveries, notwithstanding the author's well-known skill
and reliability as an antiquarian, since they were published under a
nom de plume, and in a work perhaps intended by the writer as a
fictitious narrative of adventures.[II-29]
[Illustration: Home of the Sukia.]
[Illustration: Mosquito Statue.]
* * * * *
Across the dividing sierras, the Pacific slope, or Nicaragua proper,
has yielded plentiful monuments of her former occupants, chiefly to
the researches of two men, Messrs Squier and Boyle. The former
confined his explorations chiefly to the region between the lakes and
ocean, while the latter has also made known the existence of remains
on the north-east of Lake Nicaragua, in the province of
Chontales.[II-30]
[Sidenote: CLASSIFICATION OF RELICS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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