Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-02-18
OLDEST AMERICAN CITY.
REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES RECENT.
LY MADE AT CopAN

ot tftNt ithlHits ana IhiuCts "a mug
structure 800 Feet High.
The Central American explorer,
George Byron Gordon. contributes an
article entitled "Thc Mysterious City
of Honduras, to the Century. This
gives IN account of the recent remark
able discoveries made ut Corau. Mr..
Gordon says
Hidden away among the mountains
Of Honduras, in Il beautiful valley
which, oven in that li,tlc.travcicd
country, where remotencSs is II char
Hcteristic attribute " places, is uuusu-
ullyseIludod, Copau is one of the
greatest mysteries of the ages. After
the publication, in 1870, of stephens
account of his visit 10 the RUNS, which
made them known for the first time to
the world, the interest awakened by
his graphic description, and tho draw
ings that accompanied it from the
skillful pencil of CNthcrwood, re-
laps ed and until within the last de-
Cade writer's on the subject OF Amcri.
can archaeology were dependent en-
tirely for Information concerning
Copan upon the writings of stephens,
which were regarded by many with
skepticism and mistrust Not only do
the recent explorations confirm the ac-
count given by stephens NJ regards
the magnitude and Importance OF tho
ruins, but the collection of relics now
III the Peabody museum is sufficient
to convince the most skeptical that
here are the remains Of city, uu-
known to history, rs remarkable and
as worthy of our careful consideration
as any of the ancient centres of civil
cation in the Old World. Whatever
the origin Of its people, this old city
is distinctly American the growth of
American soil and environment. The
gloomy forest, the abode of monkeys
and jaguars, which clothed the valley
at the time of Stephens visit. was in
great part destroyed about thirty
years ago by acolony from Guatemala,
who came to plant i'll the fertile soil
of the valley the tobacco for which,
much more than for the ruins, that
valley is famous throughout Central
America today. They left the trees
that grew upon the higher structures,
forming n picturesque grove, II rem.
uant of which still remnius---a few
cedars and ceibas of gigantic proper
tons, clustered about the ruins of the
temples shrouding them in sombre
shade, and sending their huge roots
into the creyices and uneXplored
chambers and vaults and galleries Of
the vast ediices.
The area comprised within the limits
of the old city consists of level plain
seven or eight miles long aud two
miles wide at the greatest. This plain
is covered with the remains of stone
houses, doubtless the habitntlons Of
the wealthy. The streets, squares and
courtyards were paved with stone or
with white cement made from lime
and powdered rock, and the drainage
was accomplished by meansof covered
canals and underground sewers built
of stone aud cement. On the slopes
of the mountains, too, are found nu-
est peaks fallen columns and ruined
structures may DO seen.
On the right bank of the CopaI
river, in the midst OF the city, stands
the principal group Of structures--th
temples. palaces and buildings Qf
public character. These form part of
what has been called, for want Of
better name, the Main Structure--a
vast, irregular pile, rising from the
plain in steps and terraces of masonry
and terminating in several great pyra-
midal elevations, each topped by the
remains of a temple which, before our
excavations begun, looked like Il huge
pile of fragments bound together by
the roots of trees, while the slopes of
the pyramids and the terraces and
payementS below are strewn with the
ruins Of these superb ediiices This
huge structure, unlike the great pyra-
mids Of Egypt and other works of II
similar character, IL not the embOdi-
mcnt of definite idea, built in accor-
dance with preconceiyed plan and
for n specific purpose, but is rather the
complex result OF long process Of de-
velopment, corresponding to the
growth of culture and keeping pace
with the expanding tastes Of the peo-
pie or the demands Of their national
life. It's sides face the four cardinal
points; its greatest length from north
to south is about eight hundred feet,
and from east TO west IT measured
originally nearly as much, but IA part
of the eastern side has been carried
away by the swift cuYent Of the river
which flows directly against 1t. The
interior Of the structure is thus eX-
posed in the form Of cliff one hun
bred and twenty feet high, presenting
IA complicated system Of buried walls
aud floors down t. the waters edge
doubtless the remains of older build