photograph from this cast is given in figure on page 185.[164] [Illustration: SANCTUARY TABLET, TEMPLE (TEOCALLI) OF THE SUN, PALENQUE] [Illustration: “ALTAR” IN FRONT OF STELA D, COPAN] At Copan twenty-three stelæ, or monolithic monuments, elaborately carved with human figures and hieroglyphs, have been found. Each had in front a sculptured block designated as an altar. Their average height is twelve feet, and their breadth and their thickness each about three feet. Stelæ and so called idols have been exhumed around Lake Nicaragua, but all remains grow less important towards the south except in Chiriqui, as well as towards the north. Indeed, here in Yucatan seems to have sprung the living fountain that watered all the desolation of the Western world. [Illustration: STELA NO. 6, COPAN] [Illustration: BACK OF STELA NO. 6] [Illustration: PUMA-SHAPED STOOL OF GREY ANDESITE, CHIRIQUI.] The stelæ at Copan are some of the most artistic and altogether remarkable sculptures found on the continent. They are highly decorative, and the execution of the intricate designs with the poor stone tools at their command is extraordinary. But all the productions of the Mayas pass easily beyond those of any other stock on this continent. Some of the conventionalised animal heads used as gargoyles are exceedingly well done and so also are several works called “singing-girls” (see figures pages 19 and 79). There are no geometric patterns at Copan, and the designs and execution are of a high order, yet at the same time thoroughly Amerindian. The rattlesnake enters into many of the designs and is represented by itself frequently. It was an animal of great importance to all Amerinds from the thirty-eighth parallel down. Charnay gives an illustration of what he calls votive stones, that are apparently the representation of the rattle of the revered reptile. The segments are clearly indicated and altogether the design seems to me unmistakable. The region of the South-west and Mexico is also the richest in species of any part of America, no less than “eight out of a total of seventeen species occurring at or near the boundary between the United States and the Mexican Republic.” In southern Arizona seven different species are found. “Their centre of distribution appears to be the tableland of Mexico with its extension northward into the south-western United States.”[165] [Illustration: HEAD SCULPTURED IN STONE, CHULTUNES OF LABNA, YUCATAN]