Original plate from the rare hand-colored edition. Striking view of ancient pyramids and other ruins rising above the jungle, with a group of Indians in foreground along with their two dogs. Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854) accompanied writer John Lloyd Stephens to Central America in 1839, and made numerous drawings of the majestic ancient cities they discovered, using a camera lucida to aid him. These drawings were used to illustrate two works by Stephens on the expedition, and also resulted in his magnificent portfolio of hand-colored lithographs, from which the present plate comes.