At the mound 1 (Pl. 41), the largest of all, and the one situated
farthest to the north and west, several statues were found remaining
in the same position, that they originally must have occupied, because
the mound was still surrounded by six figures, standing in its
circumference; and larger or smaller fragments of the pedestals of
three others were found in the ground, although the statues themselves
were thrown down beside them, and more or less broken. Judging by the
regular distances between these statues, it is probable, that there
have been twelve figures standing in the periphery of this building or
temple. The fact that those remaining in the ground fronted outwards,
and that their backs, which were turned towards the building, were not
smooth, but only plane-cut, strengthens my hypothesis that the figures
have formed part of a stone- or logwall enclosing the building. All
those statues of the mound 1, of which the upper parts remained, with
the exception of D, and another not delineated one, carried on their
heads a more or less long and broad projection in the form of a tenon,
and on this account I venture to propose the hypothesis, that they have
served to support the wall-plate of a more or less circular building.
All the statues were monoliths, cut from blocks of blackish basalt of a
pretty considerable hardness. The roof itself has probably been covered
with palm leaves, a supposition confirmed by certain indications in
CEREZEDA and OVIEDO. That the temples should have been open, as SQUIER
seems to think, I venture to doubt, on account of the above described
form of the statues; this appears to show that they must have been
united with one another by a wall, probably of cut stones.
A
Pl. 1.
Male, standing figure, in an easy posture, with the arms hanging
straight down. It stood quite upright, but was buried in the earth
to the elbows; by digging round it, it was laid bare to just below
the knees. It was the finest and most nobly sculptured of all the
Nicaraguan statues that I have had an opportunity of seeing. The face,
neck, and chest were carefully elaborated, the mouth closed with full
lips, the Adam’s apple marked out at the throat, the muscles of the
chest, as well as of the arms, correctly rendered; the hands on the
contrary were somewhat stiff, with the thumbs in the same plane with
the other fingers. The shoulders, elbows, and hips were well formed
(the arms were, however, not detached from the body), but passed
gradually backwards into the plane-cut back of the stone. The head
was covered with a large, rounded hood or cap, projecting above, and
drawn out in rounded flaps at the sides of the neck. Upwards and
backwards this hood passed into a kind of capital, ornamented at the
sides with a semi-circular depression, bordered by a rounded rim, with
globularly enlarged ends. The tenon-shaped projection above the head
was unusually large, tapering upwards, surrounded in front by a double
frame, at the sides by a simple, broad, sharply cut one. The statue
was perfectly equilateral. It did not seem to have been exposed to any
injury whatever, and was on the whole the best preserved of all in this
locality. The whole length of the statue from the upper edge of the
tenon to the knee was 225 cm., the breadth across the shoulders 58 cm.,
the length of the tenon 65 cm.
B
Pl. 2 and 3.
Female, standing figure, its head slightly bent forwards, and its
arms hanging straight down. It was found erect, but imbedded in the
earth to the navel; the head was broken off, but was found close to
the statue. The statue was very well sculptured, but not so carefully
finished as the preceding one. The forehead was adorned with a low
turban or round band, upon which was placed the heavy capital, with
carvings in relief on the sides. The capital was surmounted by the
square-shaped tenon, the lower part of which was surrounded by twenty
staves with rounded tips. These ornaments seem to indicate, that in
this statue, as well as in the former one, which was adorned with a
double frame, the lower part of the tenon has been visible, and only
its uppermost portion inserted into the plate of the building. The face
and chest were well preserved, although not so accurately rendered as
in A. The mouth was half-open, the eyes were well marked, deep cut, the
ears hidden by large, square, flat, and grooved pieces. The breasts
were held up by a double, round band. The breadth across the shoulders
was extraordinarily great. The shoulders were high and thin, the arms
very short and feeble in proportion to the body, not entirely detached,
but much more so than in A. The length of the statue from the upper
edge of the tenon to the knee was 226 cm., the breadth across the
shoulders 66 cm.; the length of the tenon 34 cm.
C
Pl. 4.
Male, half-sitting figure, with straight hanging arms; of considerably
less size than A and B, and very badly damaged. The head and neck
were broken off, and crushed into small fragments, impossible to
reconstruct. The pedestal was round, column-shaped, without any
ornaments. The figure had powerful arms, detached from the sides of the
body. The legs were unusually thick and strong, the feet clumsy, with
thick, short toes. In the middle of the chest there was a carved oval,
with a little circle in its centre. The length of the statue from the
shoulder to the sole of the foot was 110 cm., the breadth across the
shoulders 56 cm.