The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras
by Thomas William Francis Gann · English · Gutenberg #46973 · 387,427 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras
Author: Thomas William Francis Gann
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAYA INDIANS OF SOUTHERN YUCATAN AND NORTHERN BRITISH HONDURAS ***
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 64
THE MAYA INDIANS OF SOUTHERN YUCATAN
AND NORTHERN BRITISH HONDURAS
BY
THOMAS W. F. GANN
[Illustration: decoration]
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1918
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
WASHINGTON, D. C., _November 4, 1916_.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript of a memoir
entitled "The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British
Honduras," by Thomas W. F. Gann, and to recommend its publication as a
bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Very respectfully,
F. W. HODGE,
_Ethnologist-in-Charge_.
Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,
_Secretary, Smithsonian Institution_.
CONTENTS
PART 1. CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, AND MODE OF LIFE
Page
Introduction 13
Habitat 14
Personal characteristics 15
Dress 18
Industrial activities 20
Agriculture 20
Procuring food; cooking 21
Hunting 23
Fishing 25
Construction of houses and furniture 26
Pottery making 28
Boat building 28
Spinning and weaving 29
Minor industries 30
Tobacco curing 30
Basket and mat weaving 30
Social characteristics 32
Villages 32
Marriage and children 32
Drunkenness 34
Chiefs 35
Diseases and medicines 36
Games 39
Religion 40
PART 2. MOUND EXCAVATION IN THE EASTERN MAYA AREA
Introduction 49
Classification of the mounds 49
Ancient inhabitants of the region 51
Physical appearance 51
Dress 52
Weapons 52
Houses 53
Arts 53
Musical instruments 54
Food 55
Spinning and weaving 55
Games 56
Religion 56
Chronology 58
Description of mounds 59
Mound No. 1 59
Mound No. 2 63
Mound No. 3 65
Mound No. 4 67
Mound No. 5 70
Mound No. 5 A 72
Mound No. 6 74
Mound No. 6 A 78
Mound No. 7 79
Mound No. 8 80
Mound No. 9 83
Mound No. 10 86
Mound No. 11 90
Mound No. 12 92
Mound No. 13 99
Mound No. 14 99
Mound No. 15 103
Mound No. 16 105
Mound No. 17 109
Mound No. 18 111
Mound No. 19 112
Mound No. 20 112
Mound No. 21 114
Mound No. 22 115
Mound No. 23 116
Mound No. 24 118
Mound No. 25 120
Mound No. 26 123
Mound No. 27 124
Mound No. 28 124
Mound No. 29 125
Mound No. 30 125
Mound No. 31 128
Mound No. 32 129
Mound No. 33 130
Mound No. 34 132
Mound No. 35 133
Mound No. 36 134
Mound No. 37 134
Mound No. 38 134
Mound No. 39 135
Mound No. 40 136
Mound No. 41 137
Two painted stucco faces from Uxmal 140
Authorities cited 143
Index 145
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES Page
1. Group of Santa Cruz Indians 18
2. Maya girls fishing 26
3. Fish drying on one of the cays off the coast of Yucatan 26
4. Maya Indian houses. _a._ Leaf-thatched house,
_b._ Indian house on Rio Hondo 26
5. Maya woman, 105 years old, spinning cotton 29
6. Maya loom 29
7. Sketch map of British Honduras, with adjacent parts of
Yucatan and Guatemala, indicating the positions of mounds
excavated 59
8. Figurines of warriors from Mound No. 1 60
9. Figurines from Mound No. 1 60
10. _a._ Section through earthwork inclosing circular space,
Santa Rita. _b._ Section of wall through Santa Rita 70
11. Egg-shaped vase from Mound No. 5 70
12. Metates and brazos from Mound No. 6 75
13. _a._ Small pottery seal. _b._ Bowl in which skull was
found, _c._ Skull 75
14. Skull and bones from Mound No. 8 80
15. Stone objects from Mound No. 10 88
16. _a._ Model of jadeite bivalve shell, _b._ Light-green
jadeite mask, _c._ Ax head, or celt. _d._ Terra-cotta
cylinder 91
17. Painted basin and cover from Mound No. 16 105
18. Pottery from Mound No. 16 107
19. _a._ Decoration on vase shown in figure 60.
_b._ Decoration of vessel from Mound No. 17 110
20. Incense burner from Mound No. 24 119
21. _a._ Small vase decorated with human head.
_b._ Human bones from Mound No. 29 125
22. Painted clay figurine from Mound No. 33 131
23. Pottery vase from Yalloch, Guatemala 142
24. Pottery vase from Yalloch, Guatemala 142
25. Pottery vase from Yalloch, Guatemala 142
26. Pottery cylinder from Yalloch, Guatemala 142
27. Pottery cylinder from Yalloch, Guatemala 142
28. Pottery cylinder from Yalloch, Guatemala 142
TEXT FIGURES
1. Map showing Yucatan, Campeche, British Honduras, and part
of Guatemala. 14
2. Gold earrings made and worn by the Santa Cruz Indians 19
3. Cross of tancasche bark worn by children 19
4. Powder horn and measure of bamboo used by the Indians 23
5. Watertight box for caps, matches, or tinder, with corncob
stopper 23
6. Whistle for attracting deer by imitating their call 24
7. Indian carrying load of bejuco, a liana used as rope in
house building 26
8. Domestic altar 27
9. Stonelike substance used to prevent fingers from sticking
while spinning 29
10. Calabash with liana base used in spinning 30
11. Chichanha Indian priest in front of altar at Cha chac
ceremony 43
12. Priest tracing cross on cake and filling it in with sikil 44
13. Sacrificing a turkey at the Cha chac ceremony 45
14. Plan of Santa Rita mounds 59
15. Figurine from Mound No. 1 60
16. Figurines from Mound No. 1 61
17. Unpainted object from Mound No. 1 62
18. Clay alligator found in Mound No. 2 64
19. Objects from Mound No. 4 68
20. Pottery vessels from Mound No. 4 69
21. Objects found in Mound No. 5 71
22. Diagram of Mound No. 6 74
23. Diagram of trenches in Mound No. 6 76
24. Bowls, vases, and dishes found in Mound No. 6 77
25. _a._ Skull. _b._ Limestone foundation. _c._ Excavation.
_d._ Grooved flag in situ. _e._ Projecting lip 78
26. Circular openings leading into natural cavity 80
27. Ground plan of chultun 82
28. Ground plan of Mound No. 9 84
29. Wall construction of Mound No. 9 84
30. Details of Mound No. 9 85
31. Obsidian object and pottery vase from Mound No. 10 87
32. Obsidian arrowhead from Mound No. 10 89
33. Flint object from Mound No. 10 89
34. Obsidian object from Mound No. 10 90
35. Inscription on mask, plate 16, _b._ 91
36. Inscription on ax head, plate 16, _c._ 92
37. Flint spearheads 94
38. Flint objects 94
39. Devices scratched on stucco in aboriginal building 95
40. Eccentrically shaped implements found at summit of mound 96
41. Flint object found at base of stela 96
42. Flint object found at base of stela 96
43. Flints found in ruins at Naranjo 97
44. Objects from Benque Viejo 98
45. Obsidian objects found in a mound near Benque Viejo 99
46. Flint object from Seven Hills 100
47. Horseshoe-shaped flint object found near San Antonio 100
48. Figure from River Thames, near London 101
49. Flint objects from Tennessee 102
50. Flint objects from Italy 103
51. Small cup-shaped vase from Mound No. 15 104
52. Objects from Mound No. 15 104
53. Conventionalized representation of bird on vessel shown
in plate 17 106
54. Decoration on vessel shown in plate 17 106
55. Perforated beads found in Mound No. 16 107
56. Jadeite beads found in Mound No. 16 107
57. _a._ Circular shell disks from Mound No. 16.
_b._ Greenstone ear plugs from Mound No. 17 108
58. Obsidian disk inserted in tooth of skeleton found in
Mound No. 17 109
59. Bird carrying a fish outlined on shallow plaque found in
Mound No. 17 110
60. Cylindrical pottery vase found in Mound No. 17 110
61. Larger pottery vase found in Mound No. 17 111
62. Coiled plumed serpent painted on plaque found in Mound
No. 17 111
63. Pottery vase found in Mound No. 18 112
64. Glyph outlined on outer surface of rim of vase shown
in figure 63 112
65. Torso, head, and headdress from Mound No. 20 113
66. Fragment of pillar found in Mound No. 20 113
67. Another view of incense burner shown in plate 20 119
68. Incense burner decorated with crude clay figurine from
Mound No. 25 120
69. Crude clay figurine found in Mound No. 25 121
70. Crude clay figurine found in Mound No. 25 122
71. Small pottery vases found in Mound No. 26 123
72. Red pottery vase found in Mound No. 27 124
73. Pottery vessels found in Mound No. 31 128
74. Chocolate pot found in Mound No. 31 128
75. Pottery vessels found in Mound No. 32 129
76. Head cut from limestone found in Mound No. 32 130
77. Greenstone mask found in Mound No. 32 130
78. Soapstone lamp found in Mound No. 33 131
79. Rough pottery vessel found in Mound No. 33 132
80. Objects found in Mound No. 34 132
81. Figure in diving position on small vase 133
82. Design incised on femur of deer found in Mound No. 39 135
83. Copper object found in Mound No. 39 136
84. Ruins found in Mound No. 40 137
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION OF MAYA WORDS
Vowels and consonants are pronounced as in Spanish, with the following
exceptions:
ǩ _k_ explosive
K ordinary palatal _k_
X _sh_ as in shut
TŠ _ch_ explosive
Ɔ _ts_
Ai like _i_ in confide
tt _t_ explosive
THE MAYA INDIANS OF SOUTHERN YUCATAN AND NORTHERN BRITISH HONDURAS
By THOMAS W. F. GANN
PART 1. CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, AND MODE OF LIFE
INTRODUCTION
The southern and eastern parts of Yucatan, from Tuluum in the north to
the Rio Hondo in the south, are occupied to-day by two tribes of Maya
Indians, the Santa Cruz and Icaichè or Chichanha. The number of Santa
Cruz was estimated by Sapper in 1895 at about 8,000 to 10,000, but at
the present day has probably been reduced to about 5,000. The Icaichè,
the number of whom he estimated at 500, and is given by the _Guia de
Yucatan_ in 1900 as 803, now comprise not more than 200. This decrease
is due to the policy of extermination carried out among the Santa Cruz
for years by the Mexican Government, and the consequent emigration of
many of the Indians to British Honduras, Guatemala, and northern
Yucatan. The northern and western parts of British Honduras contain
between 5,000 and 6,000 Indians; those in the north are partly
indigenous and partly immigrants drawn from Yucatecan tribes who have
left their homes after various political disturbances, especially after
the occupancy of their towns of Bacalar and Santa Cruz by the Mexican
Government. The Indians of the western part of the colony are also
partly indigenous, but for the greater part Itzas, who have come in from
Peten in Guatemala.
The objects shown in figures 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 31, 35, 36, 47, 51, 52,
55, 56, 57, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 69, 70, 76, and 77, and in plates 8, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18a, and 19 are in the Liverpool Museum; those
shown in figures 15, 40, and 41 and in plate 9 are in the British
Museum; those shown in figure 45 and in plates 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and
28 are in the Bristol Museum; and those shown in figures 67 and 68 and
in plates 20, 21, and 22 are in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation.
HABITAT
The northern-part of British Honduras, between the Rio Hondo and the Rio
Nuevo, consists of an almost level plain, having an area of nearly 1,000
square miles. The soil is a vegetal humus; varying from a few inches to
several feet in depth, the average depth being about 2 feet; beneath
this is a stratum of marly limestone, outcrops of which are found in
many places. The southern part of Yucatan, which, unlike the northern
part, is comparatively well watered, is also flat, though a few small
hills are found along the northern bank of the Rio Hondo, commencing
about 50 miles from its mouth (fig. 1). Most of the land along the
rivers is swampy, producing only reeds, coarse grasses, and mangrove
trees. Beyond the swamp country are found "cuhun ridges," consisting of
river valleys or depressions in the surface which have become filled
with alluvium brought down by the rivers from the interior, forming an
exceedingly rich soil suitable for the cultivation of maize and nearly
every tropical product. It is upon these "cuhun ridges" that most of the
mounds and other relics of the ancient inhabitants are found and that
nearly all the villages of the modern Indians are built. Large tracts of
what is known as "pine ridge" are scattered throughout this area; these
are level or slightly undulating plains covered with gravel and coarse
sand--exceedingly poor soil, producing only wiry grass, yellow pines,
and small pimento palms. On these "pine ridges" Indian mounds are hardly
ever found, nor do the Indians of to-day build villages upon them except
in rare instances and for special local reasons. With the exception of
the extreme northern part, nearly the whole of this area is well watered
by rivers and streams, while scattered throughout it are numerous
lagoons and lakes, the largest of which is the Bacalar Lagoon.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Map showing Yucatan, Campeche, British
Honduras, and part of Guatemala. The area
dealt with is shaded.]
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
The manners, customs, religious conceptions, and daily life of all these
Indians are very similar, though among the Indians of British Honduras,
who come more closely in contact with outside influences, old customs
are dying out, and old ideas and methods are being superseded by new.
The language of the tribes here considered, with slight local
dialectical variations, is the same; all are of the same physical type;
in fact, there can be little doubt that they are the direct descendants
of those Maya who occupied the peninsula of Yucatan at the time of the
conquest. Physically, though short they are robust and well
proportioned. The men average 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 3 inches in
height, the women about 2 inches less. The skin varies in color from
almost white to dark bronze. The hair of both sexes is long, straight,
coarse, black, and luxuriant on the head, where it extends very low over
the forehead, but is almost entirely absent from other parts of the
body. The women usually wear their hair hanging down the back in two
plaits. Their faces are round and full, with rather high cheek bones;
the skull is highly brachicephalic in type. The following indices were
taken from a small number of Santa Cruz Indians, mostly males of middle
age:
Maximum length of head cm. 17.52
Maximum breadth of head cm. 15.44
Cephalic index _88.11_
Facial height cm. 11.68
Maximum bi-zygomatic breadth cm. 12.84
Facial index _84.40_
Nasal height cm. 5.13
Nasal breadth cm. 3.55
Nasal index _69.80_
The eyes are large and dark brown, the ears small and closely applied to
the head, the nose rather broad, and the jaw prognathous. The mouth is
fairly large and the teeth excellent, though toward middle age they
become greatly worn down in many individuals from eating corn cake
impregnated with grit from the stone metate, and from the same cause
they are frequently much incrusted with tartar. The figure in both sexes
is short and broad. The long bones and the extremities are small and
delicate. Both men and women are, however, capable of considerable and
prolonged exertion. The former can carry loads of 150 pounds for 20
miles in the macapal (_tab_), a netted bag which is slung over the back
and held up by a band passing round the forehead, while the latter can
work for hours at a time grinding corn on the metate without apparent
fatigue. Many of the younger women would be considered very good
looking, measured by the most exacting standard, though they reach
maturity at an early age, and deteriorate in appearance very rapidly
after marriage, the face becoming wrinkled and the figure squat and
shapeless. In walking the men bend the body forward from the hips, keep
the eyes fixed upon the ground, and turn the toes in, habits acquired
from carrying the macapal on all occasions. So accustomed have they
become to this contrivance that many of them, when starting on a journey
of even a couple of miles, rather than go unloaded, prefer to weight the
macapal with a few stones as a counterpoise to the habitual forward
inclination of their bodies above the hips. Children begin carrying
small macapals at a very early age, and it is probably to this habit and
not, as Landa suggests, to the custom among the women of carrying their
children astride the hip that the prevalence of bowlegs (_kūlba ōk_)
among the Indians is due. These people have a peculiar and indescribable
odor, rather pleasant than otherwise; it is not affected by washing or
exercise, is much stronger in some individuals than in others, and is
perceptible in both sexes and at all ages. The women are, on the whole,
both physically and mentally superior to the men, and when dressed in
gala costume for a "baile" with spotlessly clean, beautifully
embroidered garments, all the gold ornaments they possess or can borrow,
and often a coronet of fire beetles, looking like small electric lamps
in their hair, they present a very attractive picture. They are polite
and hospitable, though rather shy with strangers; indeed in the remoter
villages they often rush into the bush and hide themselves at the
approach of anyone not known to them, especially if the men are away
working in the milpas. They are very fond of gossip and readily
appreciate a joke, especially one of a practical nature, though till one
gets to know them fairly well they appear dull and phlegmatic. When
quarreling among themselves both women and girls use the most disgusting
and obscene language, improvising as they go along, with remarkable
quick-wittedness, not binding themselves down to any conventional oaths
or forms of invective, but pouring out a stream of vituperation and
obscenity to meet each case, which strikes with unerring fidelity the
weak points in the habits, morals, ancestry, and personal appearance of
their opponents. The young girls are as bad as, if not worse than, the
older women, for whom they seem to have no respect. They are extremely
clean in their persons, and wash frequently, though with regard to their
homes they are not nearly so particular as hens, dogs, pigs, and
children roll about together promiscuously on the floor, and fleas,
lice, and jiggers abound only too frequently. The description given by
Landa (chap. XXXII, p. 192) of the Indian women at the time of the
conquest applies equally well to their descendants of the present day:
Emborachavanse también ellas con los combites, aunque por si, como
comian por si, y no se emborachavan tanto como los hombres.... Son
avisadas y corteses y conversables, con que se entienden, y a
maravilla bien partidas. Tienen poco secreto y no son tan limpias
en sus personas ni en sus cosas con quanto se lavan como los
ermiños.
The women are very industrious, rising usually at 3 or 4 o'clock in the
morning to prepare the day's supply of tortillas or corn cake. During
the day they prepare tobacco (_kutz_) and make cigarettes; gather cotton
(_taman_), which they spin (_kuch_), weave (_sakal_), and embroider for
garments; weave mats of palm leaf and baskets (_xush_) of a variety of
liana (_ak_); make pottery (_ul_), and cotton and henequen cord, of
which they construct hammocks (_ǩan_). In addition to these tasks they
do the family cooking and washing, look after the children, and help
their husbands to attend to the animals. Till late at night the women
may be seen spinning, embroidering, and hammock-making by the light of a
native candle or a small earthenware cuhoon-nut oil lamp, meanwhile
laughing and chatting gayly over the latest village scandal, the older
ones smoking cigarettes, while the men squat about on their low wooden
stools outside the house gravely discussing the weather, the milpas, the
hunting, or the iniquities of the Alcalde. Among the Indian women of
British Honduras the old customs are rapidly dying out; spinning and
weaving are no longer practiced, pottery making has been rendered
unnecessary by the introduction of cheap iron cooking pots and
earthenware, candles have given place to mineral oil lamps, and even the
metate is being rapidly superseded by small American hand mills for
grinding the corn. The men's time is divided between agriculture,
hunting, fishing, and boat and house building, though at times they
undertake tasks usually left to the women, as mat and basket making, and
even spinning and weaving. The Indians of British Honduras who live near
settlements do light work for the rancheros and woodcutters; they have
the reputation of being improvident and lazy, and of leaving their work
as soon as they have acquired sufficient money for their immediate
needs, and this is to some extent true, as the Indian always wants to
invest his cash in something which will give an immediate return in
pleasure or amusement. The men are silent, though not sullen, very
intelligent in all matters which concern their own daily life, but
singularly incurious as to anything going on outside of this. They are
civil, obliging, and good-tempered, and make excellent servants, when
they can be got to work, but appear to be for the most part utterly
lacking in ambition or in any desire to accumulate wealth with which to
acquire comforts and luxuries not enjoyed by their neighbors. It happens
occasionally that an individual does perforce acquire wealth, as in the
case of the head chief of the Icaichè Indians, who was paid a salary by
the Mexican Government to keep his people quiet, and royalties on chicle
cut on his lands by various contractors. He accumulated a considerable
sum, all in gold coin, which he stored in a large demijohn and hid in
the bush. At his death, as no one knew the place where the demijohn was
buried, the money was permanently lost. They are remarkably skillful at
finding their way in the bush by the shortest route from point to point,
possessing a faculty in this respect which amounts almost to an
instinct; they are skillful also at following the tracks of men and
animals in the bush by means of very slight indications, as broken twigs
and disturbed leaves, imperceptible to an ordinary individual. The men
are very stoical in bearing pain. I have removed both arms at the
shoulder joints, with no other surgical instrument than a long butcher's
knife, and no anesthetic except several drinks of rum, for an Indian,
crushed between the rollers of a native sugar mill, without his uttering
a single complaint. The Indians are undoubtedly cruel, but not wantonly
so, as the shocking acts of cruelty reported as being perpetrated by
them from time to time are usually by way of reprisal for similar or
worse acts on the part of the Mexicans. Before the rising of the Indians
in 1848, they were throughout this part of Yucatan practically in a
state of slavery, and were often treated by their Spanish masters with
the utmost barbarity. As an instance of this it is recorded of a
well-known merchant of Bacalar that he was in the habit of burying his
Indian servants in the ground to the neck, with their heads shaved,
exposed to the hot sun; their heads were then smeared with molasses and
the victims were left to the ants; and this punishment was inflicted for
no very serious offense. It is hardly to be wondered at that such
treatment left in the Indians' hearts an undying hatred for their
masters which, when in their turn they gained the ascendancy, found vent
in acts of the most horrible cruelty--flogging, burning, mutilation, and
even crucifixion.
DRESS
The men wear hats of platted palm leaf, which they make themselves;
those woven from coarse split palm leaf are known as _xani pok_, those
of very fine leaf, like Panama hats, bear the name _bomi pok_ (pl. 1).
They wear cotton trousers (_eex_), or in some sections short cotton
drawers (_xkulex_), with a short, loose, shirt-like jacket of cotton
hanging outside the trousers. On the feet they use sandals of danta hide
(_xanapkeuel_) held in place by a leather or henequen thong passing
between the great and second toes and around the back of the heel to the
front of the instep, where it is fastened. Formerly the cotton was
grown, spun, and woven at home, but nowadays it is giving place to cheap
imported English and American goods, while the sandals are being
superseded by moccasins and even by imported shoes. The moccasins the
Indians make themselves, tanning the hides (usually of deer or antelope)
in lime and red mangrove bark and stitching the parts together with thin
strips of leather. These moccasins, which are made on crude wooden
lasts, are very comfortable and wear well.
[Illustration: PLATE 1
GROUP OF SANTA CRUZ INDIANS]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Gold earrings made and worn by the Santa Cruz
Indians.]
The women wear two garments of cotton; the huipil (_yuptè_), a loose
short-sleeved blouse, cut square at the neck, and reaching nearly to the
knees, and a short skirt reaching to between the knee and the ankle,
known as a _pik_. The neck, the lower border, and the armholes of the
blouse and the edge of the skirt were formerly beautifully embroidered
in varicolored floral and geometrical devices; now, however, cotton
manufactured in England or the United States and stamped in colors to
imitate the original embroidery is rapidly coming into use. The women
formerly went barefooted or wore loose slippers; now they frequently
wear imported shoes, often with high heels, a feature which renders
their walk and carriage awkward and stilted. They often go bareheaded,
but sometimes wear a sort of shawl (_bostch_) around the head and
shoulders. Many of them wear large round or oval plaques of gold (_tup_)
in the ears, survivals, probably, of the enormous round ear disks worn
by the ancient Maya (fig. 2). Some of the women wear long gold chains,
with religious medallions attached, while the smaller children wear a
variety of curious objects, as small coins, shells, beads, dried seeds,
and berries, with figurines in wood, stone, pottery, and metal, strung
round their necks. Many of these are worn as charms or amulets to
protect the wearer against diseases, accidents, or evil spirits, or to
bring good luck. A charm worn by nearly all children consists of a small
cross of _tancasche_ bark (fig. 3) which is regarded as a sovereign
remedy for flatulence, a complaint from which, owing to the nature of
their diet, nearly all suffer.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Cross of tancasche bark worn by children.]
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES
AGRICULTURE
Of all the arts practiced by the Indian, agriculture is by far the most
important; indeed the greater part of his time and labor are devoted to
the milpa (_kol_), or corn plantation, which affords him his principal
means of livelihood, for if the corn crop fails he knows that actual
starvation will menace his family until the next crop is gathered. The
virgin bush, in which the milpa is made, is cut down about December or
January, only the large and hardwood trees being left standing. This is
the most arduous part of the work, and the neighbors often assist in it,
being helped in turn when making their own milpas. The bush is allowed
to dry until the end of May (the dry season lasting from January to
May), when it is burned off. After the burnt area has been cooled by the
first shower of rain it is planted in corn (_ixim_). This is a simple
operation, two or three men going over the ground, each with a bag of
corn and a sharp-pointed stick, making small holes at fairly regular
intervals, into each of which they drop a few grains of corn, and then
cover them with earth. About October the corn begins to ripen, whereupon
each stalk is bent about a foot below the ear and allowed to hang down
for several days in order that rain may not gain entrance and spoil the
grain in the final stages of ripening. During this period the owner
spends nearly all his time in the milpa, sleeping there in a little
palm-leaf shack at night, since many animals, as deer and wild hogs, are
very fond of corn, which is subject to raids also by neighboring Indians
and by tame pigs from the village. When the corn is ripe, it is stored,
still in the husk, upon a low platform, in a small house specially built
for the purpose, often, in order to avoid transportation, situated
within the milpa. It is shelled as required for use, the surplus from
that eaten by the family and stock being exchanged at the nearest
village for cash or for cotton cloth, rum, iron cooking pots,
ammunition, and other luxuries. The shelling is done by rubbing the
husked ear against a rough flat surface, made by binding a number of
corncobs (_bacal_) together into a circle with liana. Many fruits and
vegetables besides corn are grown in the milpa, including yams (_xaci
macal_), camote (_īs_), pumpkins (_kuum_), squashes (_xka_), tomatoes
(_paak_), plantains (_haz_), colalu (_xterkoch_), aguacate (_on_), plums
(_abal_), oranges (_pakaal_), siricote (_kopte_), sapodillas (_ya_),
mamai (_chacal haz_), okra, garden egg, melon, breadfruit, sweet lime,
pineapple, and a variety of others.
PROCURING FOOD; COOKING
Both men and women take for the first meal of the day a hot thick drink
known as _posol_, made from ground corn and water, often flavored with
honey; later they eat tortillas, beans, and chili pepper, accompanied
with a cold drink made from corn. In the evening they make their
principal repast, which includes game, pork, fish, or eggs, with beans
and other vegetables, plenty of chili pepper, and either chocolate or
some hot drink made from corn. They use a great variety of drinks
concocted of ground maize and water, including _chocosacan_, a solution
of the masa from which tortillas are made, in water, flavored with a
little salt; _pinol_, a solution of ground toasted corn seasoned with
pimento and other spices; _posol_, boiled corn ground to a paste and
mixed with hot water; _sachà_, very much like posol, but the corn is not
cooked soft, so that the beverage is gritty; and, lastly, _atol_, which
is chocosacan boiled till the mixture becomes thick and glutinous.
Tortillas, or corn cake, sometimes eaten hot, sometimes cold, and at
times toasted, are the Indian's chief mainstay in the way of food, as
they appear at every meal, and at a pinch he can exist on them alone for
a very long period. Tortillas are made in the following way: The grain
is first soaked overnight in a lye of wood ashes, treatment which
softens the grain and loosens the outer husk. The softened grain is next
ground into a fine paste on an oblong stone, slightly concave, known as
a metate (_ka_), by means of a stone rolling pin thicker in the middle
than at the ends, designated as a brazo (_u kabka_). This procedure
takes considerable time, as the grain has to be ground a number of times
in order to get the paste to the required degree of fineness. When the
paste or masa is ready it is flattened by hand into small round cakes
(tortillas), which are baked on an iron or earthen plaque (_xamach_)
over a glowing wood fire.
The hunters are experts at barbecuing (_macan_) the carcasses of various
birds and animals, chiefly deer, peccary, wild turkey, and curassow, as
they often get a large supply of game when several days' journey from
the village, which, unless preserved in some way, would quickly spoil.
The carcasses are cut into joints; the birds plucked, cleaned, and split
open; and the meat thus prepared is hung in a small palm-leaf shack
rendered as nearly airtight as possible, upon the floor of which is
kindled a fire of damp cedar chips. These give off some heat and great
quantities of aromatic smoke, so that in about 24 hours the meat is
sufficiently cured to last for several weeks. Meat prepared in this way
is considered a great delicacy. If it is wished to preserve the meat for
longer periods the process is prolonged and salt may be rubbed in.
Strips of meat and carcasses of birds may sometimes be seen hanging
from the rafters over the fire in the kitchen so desiccated, hard, and
blackened that it would appear impossible to eat them; but after months
of drying this meat, when soaked in warm water for 24 hours, is not
unpalatable. The Indians wash their hands before and after eating, a
very necessary practice, as they eat exclusively with their fingers,
using the tortillas to scoop up gravy, beans, and other mushy
foodstuffs. They eat at small round tables about 16 inches high,
sitting, or rather squatting, around them on little blocks of wood 4 to
5 inches high. They are very fond of salt, which among the coast Indians
is obtained by evaporating sea water, among the inland villages by trade
from Yucatan and Guatemala. Since this supply has been almost cut off,
owing to the troubles with Mexico, the Indians frequently use for salt
the ashes obtained by burning botan tops. Men and women do not eat
together, as the women are preparing relays of hot tortillas for the men
while the meal lasts. Their food and mode of eating is well described by
Landa (chap. XXI, p. 120):
Que por la mañana toman la bebida caliente con pimienta, como esta
dicho y entre dia las otras frias, y a la noche los guisados. Y que
si no ay carne hazen sus salsas de la pimienta y legumbres. Que no
acostumbravan comer los hombres con las mugeres, y que ellos comian
por si en el suelo, o quando mucho sobre una serilla por mesa: y
que comen bien quando lo tienen, y quando no, sufren muy bien la
hambre y passan con muy poco. Y que se lavan las manos y la boca
despues de comer.
Indeed, the foregoing description would apply almost as well to Indians
of the more remote villages of the present day as to those of the time
immediately after the conquest. In localities where they have come in
contact with more civilized communities their menu has been considerably
enlarged by the introduction of imported foodstuffs, while their methods
of eating have been changed by the introduction of knives, forks, and
spoons. The native methods of cooking are very primitive. Three large
flat stones so placed as to form an equilateral triangle, known as
_koben_, form the only fireplace; in this is kindled the fire of sticks
or split logs, over which is placed the earthenware or iron cooking pots
or plaque for baking tortillas, resting on the stones. Fire (_kaak_) is
usually obtained through the use of matches among the Indians of British
Honduras. Hunters and others who spend a great part of their time in the
bush employ flint and steel. Among the Indians in the remote villages
fire is still made by swiftly rotating a sharp-pointed shaft of some
hardwood (usually dogwood) in a hole made in a small slab of very light
dry wood (commonly gumbo limbo). There is no chimney to the kitchen, the
smoke finding its way out as best it can through the doors and crevices
in the walls; consequently the whole of the interior, with its
permanent furnishings, is colored a fine rich brown.
HUNTING
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Powder horn and measure of bamboo used by the
Indians.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Watertight box for caps, matches, or tinder,
with corncob stopper.]
It must be admitted that the Indian is no sportsman in the pursuit of
game, the claims of the pot being always paramount. He rarely shoots at
a flying bird unless to fire into the midst of a flock of parrots or
wild ducks, and when after the larger game he waits till he can deliver
the contents of his gun point-blank into some vital part. This practice
may be due partly to the limitations of his weapon, which till recent
years consisted of a muzzle-loading section of gas pipe, nearly as
dangerous when discharged to the hunter as to the game, and partly to
the fact that the bush is usually so dense that an animal, if not shot
at point-blank range, can not be gotten at all. It is probably not more
than four generations since the use of the bow and arrow died out among
the Indians in the western part of British Honduras, as old men among
them have told me that they could remember seeing a few still in use
when they were very young. The flint arrowheads, they said, were
obtained down the Mopan River. This seems quite possible, as at Baker's,
not far from Belize, there is an outcrop of flint, where, judging by the
great heaps of fresh-looking chips and rejects still in existence, a
considerable "factory" must have existed at a comparatively recent date.
Some of these old men could still make fairly serviceable bows and
arrows, the heads of the latter being cut from hardwood.
The principal game animals of this region are the deer (_ke_), two
species of wild hog, the warri and peccary (_kekem_), gibnut (_halib_),
armadillo (_vetsh_), wild turkey (_kutz_), parrot (_tut_), pigeons of
various kinds (_mucui_), curassow (_kambul_), quam (_cosh_), quail
(_num_), and partridge (_mankolom_). Besides these, birds in great
variety, reptiles, and mammals are killed and eaten from time to time,
including plovers, garzas, toucans, water hens, wild ducks, and
chichalacas. The iguana (_tolok_) is eaten by the Indians in the west of
British Honduras, as are also the woula (_ochkan_), a large constrictor
snake, and the rattlesnake, known as the _cazon i kash_, or "little
shark of the woods." Turtles (_sacak_) are often captured along the east
coast of Yucatan and the adjacent islands, and their eggs in the
breeding season form a great delicacy for the Santa Cruz Indians living
in the neighborhood of Tuluum. Hicatee (_ak_) and bucatora are caught in
great numbers in all the rivers and lagoons. The tiger (_balam_), puma
(_coh_), picote (_chic_), monkey (_maash_), tapir (_tzimin_), squirrel
(_kuuk_), cane rat (_tšo_), and other animals are hunted from time to
time, either for their skins or flesh. Deer are secured in considerable
numbers in the rutting season by imitating their call with a wooden
whistle (fig. 6); they are also found in the milpas, just after the
burning, where they come to lick the slightly saline ashes. At this time
the owners build platforms on poles 10 to 12 feet high, on top of which
they spend the whole night in an extremely cramped and uncomfortable
position, waiting for deer or other game to approach near enough for an
easy shot. A favorite method of hunting the larger game animals is to go
out at night with a split-pine torch attached to the hat; this attracts
animals of all kinds, whose eyes may be seen gleaming in the dark,
affording an easy mark, though not infrequently a neighbor's errant pig
pays the penalty of curiosity.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Whistle for attracting deer by imitating their
call.]
Traps of two kinds are in common use. One employed to snare larger game
is constructed in the following way: A path frequented by game in going
to and from a watering place is found; along this is dug a shallow
trench opposite a good springy young sapling; two stakes are driven in,
one on each side of the trench, the one farthest from the tree being
crooked at the top. A piece of henequen cord, provided with a noose at
one end, and with a stick long enough to extend from one stake to the
other, firmly tied by its middle above the noose, is attached to the top
of the sapling by its other end. The sapling is then bent down and held
in place by the stick above the noose, which is fixed lightly between
the crook in one stake and the stake opposite to it, the loop hanging
suspended between the two. Lastly, a number of sticks and leaves are
scattered lightly over the trench and beside the stakes and loop.
Animals coming along the run are very apt to put their necks in the
loop, and by pulling on this, to release the cross stick, whereupon they
are immediately suspended in the air by the jerking back of the bent
sapling. Animals of all sizes, from rabbits to tigers, are caught in
traps of this kind, the strength and adaptability of which vary with the
size of the bent tree and the adjustment of the noose. Another trap,
used only for small animals, consists of an oblong cage made of split
bamboo or cabbage bark. Over the opening, which is in the top, rests an
accurately balanced strip of board, baited at one end with corn. When
the animal endeavors to reach the bait it is precipitated into the trap,
and the board swings back into place, covering the exit. Before they
obtain guns the boys use slings, with which they can throw pebbles with
remarkable force and accuracy, bringing down birds, squirrels, and other
small game. They keep many tame animals, some for food, others as pets,
including pigs, dogs, cats, peccaries, gibnuts, rabbits, quashes, nicos
de noche, and squirrels; also birds, as parrots, doves, quam, curassow,
chichalaca, sinsonte, pavo real, and many others.
FISHING
Many fish are found in the coastal waters, in the rivers, and in the
lagoons of the interior, including cazones, tarpon, skipjacks, snappers,
eels, baracoudas, stone bass, cobarli, jewfish, tubers, bay snooks,
river snooks, and a variety of others. They are caught with hook and
line, in cast and seine nets, in traps, and by spearing or harpooning.
Fish traps are cylindrical in shape, with a funnel-shaped opening at
each end, the apex of the funnel pointing toward the center of the trap,
so that entrance is easy but exit very difficult. The traps, made of
split bamboo, are placed upon the bottoms of rivers or lagoons, baited
with "masa," which attracts multitudes of the tiny fish there abounding;
these in their turn attract larger fish, which enter the trap in pursuit
of the small fry and are captured. Harpooning at night by the light of a
split-pine torch is about the nearest approach to real sport which the
Indian enjoys; this is usually done near the bar of a river, on a calm
dark night, by three men in a canoe, one paddling, one holding the
torch, and the third wielding the harpoon. This implement consists of a
slender cane 10 to 12 feet in length provided with a sharp barbed
spindle-shaped steel head, fitting into the hollow at one end, so that
on striking the fish the head parts from the shaft to which it is
attached by a cord held in the hand of the harpooner. The fish are
attracted by the light of the torch, and the harpooner strikes at the
swirl which they make alongside the dory. Harpooning is rather an
exciting form of sport, as it is impossible to tell what sort of fish
has been struck until it is landed. Hicatee and bucatora are harpooned
with an unbarbed triangular point, this giving the best hold on their
tough shells; they are captured also by spreading small nets in the
vicinity of the stumps and holes along the river banks, which they
frequent.
CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES AND FURNITURE
The Indians construct their houses in the following manner: First a
number of straight trees about 8 inches in diameter at the base and
crotched at the top are selected in the bush for posts. These are
usually Santa Maria, chichem, sapodilla, or some hardwood. They are cut
down, and after having been peeled are dragged to the site of the new
house, where they are firmly planted, one at each of the four corners
and others, the number depending on the size of the house, at short
intervals between in the lines of the walls. In the crotches other
slightly smaller poles 5 to 6 inches in diameter, also peeled, are laid;
to these are attached still smaller poles, which run up to the ridgepole
(_honache_), forming rafters (_uinciche_). All this framework is firmly
bound together by means of ropes of liana (fig. 7). Rows of long thin
pliable sticks are next bound round the rafters, and to these are
attached layer upon layer of "huana" (_shaan_) leaves till a thatch,
sometimes 18 inches thick and quite impervious to rain, is formed (pl.
4).
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Indian carrying load of bejuco, a liana used
as rope in house building.]
The walls between the posts are filled in with "tasistas," a small palm
trunk, or in some cases with strips of split cabbage palm. The outer
sides of the walls may be daubed with a mixture of mud and hair, or of
chopped fiber (_pakloom_), and whitewashed, or they may be thatched with
palm leaves. The floor is made of marl dust pounded down to a flat hard
surface.
[Illustration: PLATE 2
MAYA GIRLS FISHING]
[Illustration: PLATE 3
FISH DRYING ON ONE OF THE CAYS OFF THE COAST OF YUCATAN]
[Illustration: PLATE 4
a. LEAF-THATCHED HOUSE
b. INDIAN HOUSE ON RIO HONDO
MAYO INDIAN HOUSES]
Doors and windows may be made of wickerwork of liana, of split cabbage
palm, or of a frame of sticks thatched with palm leaves. When a man
undertakes the building of a new house his neighbors usually help him,
and the residence is ready for occupancy in a few days, as all the
materials are growing ready to hand in the neighboring forest, and
require only cutting down and assembling. The facility with which their
dwellings are constructed, and the difficulty in getting more than one
or two crops in succession from each plantation, with their primitive
agricultural methods, probably account for the frequent changes in site
which one notices in Indian villages. As the lands in one neighborhood
become impoverished, the population has a tendency gradually to desert
the old village, and start a new one in a more favorable locality.
The kitchen, which is a replica of the house on a small scale, is
usually placed a few yards behind it.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Domestic altar.]
The furniture is of the simplest, consisting of a small round cedar
table, with a little bowl-shaped projection which contains a lump of
masa when tortillas are being made and chili peppers or salt at
mealtimes. The seats are mere blocks of wood, 3 or 4 inches high
(_caanche_), with perhaps one or two more pretentious low hollow-backed
wooden chairs covered with deer skin or "tiger" skin. A number of
calabashes of all shapes and sizes, with a few earthen water jars, iron
cooking pots, and plaques for baking tortillas, are found in all houses.
Hammocks (_káan_) of cotton or henequen fiber are always conspicuous
articles of furniture, as they are slung all around the room, making it
very difficult to move about in it when they are let down. In many
houses contact with the hammocks is not desirable, as lice have a habit
of leaving the body of the hammock during the day and secreting
themselves in the knots between the body and the arms, whence they may
transfer themselves to the garments of the unwary. If the hammock is
large the father and mother often sleep in one, their heads at opposite
ends, while the smaller children, frequently to the number of three or
four, occupy another. There can be no such thing as privacy, as the
whole family commonly sleep, live, and eat in a single room, which at
most is divided into two apartments by a flimsy cotton curtain. A
prominent object in most Indian houses is an altar (_canche_), or high
square table, upon which stands a wooden cross (fig. 8). The altar is
covered with a cotton cloth, embroidered in flowers and religious
symbols; the cross is draped with ribbon or strips of colored fabric,
and sometimes with crude models, in silver or gold, of legs, arms, and
hands, representing thank offerings to some favorite Santo for the
healing of corresponding parts of the body. Little images in wax, and,
if the Indian can obtain them, religious oleographs and medallions, with
colored-glass vases, are commonly found upon the altar, which is
frequently dressed with fresh flowers.
The Indian's only tool is his machete, a heavy cutlass-like knife, about
16 inches long; with this he cuts and cleans his milpa, makes his house
and most of his furniture, digs postholes, and fights and defends
himself.
His indispensable belongings consist of a hammock, a few calabashes and
pots, a machete, and a cotton suit, all of which he can carry slung over
his back in a macapal; with his wife and dogs trotting behind him, he
can leave his old home and seek pastures new with a light heart and
untroubled mind, knowing that the bush will provide for all his needs.
POTTERY MAKING
Pottery making is rapidly dying out through the greater part of this
area, owing to the importation of more convenient and durable vessels.
It is undertaken almost exclusively by the older women, who employ a
fine light yellow clay mixed with sand or powdered quartz. They make
vessels in considerable variety, both as to size and shape, which are
used for the storage of water and dry material, as corn, beans, and
achiote, and as cooking pots. They do not use a potter's wheel, but mold
the smaller utensils by hand and build up the larger by the addition of
fragment upon fragment of clay. The outside is smoothed over with a
little wooden spade-like implement. No polish, glaze, or paint is
applied to the pottery, either inside or out; the highest effort at
decoration resulting in merely a few incised lines just below the neck,
or a rough scalloping around the rim. The pottery is burned in a clear,
open wood fire; when completed the ware is known as _ul_.
BOAT BUILDING
The Indians living in the neighborhood of lakes and rivers possess
dories or canoes which vary in size from tiny craft 5 to 6 feet long by
16 to 18 inches beam, capable of holding only a single individual, to
large craft 25 feet or more in length, large enough to hold a dozen
people. All their canoes are constructed by the simple process of
hollowing out large logs, the more durable ones being made from cedar,
the lighter ones from wild cotton (_yaxche_).
[Illustration: PLATE 5
MAYA WOMAN, 105 YEARS OLD, SPINNING COTTON]
[Illustration: PLATE 6
MAYA LOOM
_a._ Yamal. _b._ Xunche. _c._ Sikinche. _d._ Toboche.
_e._ Cheil. _f._ Mamacche. _g._ Yoch. _h._ Botoch.
_i._ New spindle. _k._ Old spindle. _l._ Cotton cloth.]
The boats are pointed, bow and stern, and when steel tools are available
to their makers the lines are often very graceful. Many of the boats,
however, follow to some extent the contours of the logs from which they
were made, being exceedingly clumsy and difficult to manage. On the
rivers and lakes the only method of propulsion is by means of a
broad-bladed cedar paddle about 5 feet long, or, where the water is
shallow and the bottom hard, a long pole. Both men and women have
acquired considerable dexterity in paddling and can keep it up at a
4-mile-an-hour gait from early morning till late at night, with very
short intervals for refreshment. They use their canoes for trading corn,
vegetables, lime, and live stock among villages along the river banks,
for line fishing, spearing, and netting, and for getting from place to
place. On the large lagoons and along the seacoast they sometimes use
the pole to support a lug sail.
SPINNING AND WEAVING
Spinning (_kuch_) is done by means of a spindle (_hechech_) of hardwood,
12 to 14 inches long, weighted about 3 inches from the bottom with a
hardwood or pottery ring (pl. 5). The upper end is revolved by the
finger and thumb of the right hand, which are constantly rubbed on a
piece of stonelike substance, made from deerskin burned and ground to a
powder, to prevent them from sticking (fig. 9). The cotton (_taman_) may
be held in the left hand, or on the shoulder; the lower end of the
spindle rests in a small calabash (_luch_), which is cemented into a
support of woven liana (_met_), the _luch_ and _met_ together being
known as _toh_ (fig. 10).
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Stonelike substance used to prevent fingers
from sticking while spinning.]
Weaving is done on a simple loom consisting of a cloth beam and yarn
beam (_xunche_) of light strong wood, connected by the warp (_cheil_)
(pl. 6). The cloth beam is attached round the back of the weaver by a
thick henequen cord (_yamal_), enabling him to tighten the warp at will
by simply leaning backward. The yarn beam is usually attached to a
doorpost. The shuttle (_botosh_) consists of a light stick, pointed at
both ends, on which the weft is wound obliquely. All the alternate warp
strands may be raised together by means of a heddle (_mamacche_)
consisting of a number of loops attached to a rod, each loop passing
round a warp strand, so that when the rod is raised the warp threads are
raised with it. The lease rods (_halahteh_) consist of splints of hard
heavy wood, usually sapodilla, 2 to 3 inches broad, one-third of an inch
thick in the center, with sharp edges and pointed ends. A loose rod
(_toboche_) about the size of the yarn beam is used to roll up the
completed material (_yoch_). The loom for cotton cloth is usually 2-1/2
to 3 feet broad, but much smaller looms are frequently used for narrower
strips of material.
MINOR INDUSTRIES
TOBACCO CURING
The tobacco leaves are hung in bunches, often under the roof of the corn
house, in the milpa, in a free current of air, till they are thoroughly
dry; they are then powdered in a shallow basin, or the bottom cut from a
large calabash, and mixed with the leaves of the _chiohle_, a species of
vanilla, which gives a distinctive flavor and fragrance to the tobacco;
finally the mixture is rolled into cigarettes (_chiople_) in a covering
of corn husk (_coloch_).
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Calabash with liana base used in spinning.]
BASKET AND MAT WEAVING
Baskets are woven from a special thin tough liana and from split cane;
those of liana (_ak_), which are large and coarse, are commonly used for
carrying corn from the milpa, slung over the shoulders like a macapal.
The split-cane baskets, which are smaller and more neatly woven, are
used in the house for all sorts of domestic purposes.
Henequen fiber is used by the Indians for a great variety of purposes.
The fiber is obtained from the leaf, which is cleaned upon a smooth
board (_pokche_) about 4 feet long by 6 inches broad, in the following
way: The top of the board is held against the lower part of the
operator's chest while the lower end rests on the floor. The leaf is
placed on the board and the pulp scraped from the fiber with a bar of
hardwood, triangular in section. At the upper end of the board is a deep
notch in its side, in which the cleaned part of the leaf is clamped,
thus fixing the part which is being scraped. The cleaning has to be
done very early in the morning, as when the sun gets hot the juice from
the pulp produces an unpleasant itching rash upon the skin. The fiber
when cleaned and dried is made into rope and cord; from the cord
hammocks, sacks, a coarse kind of cloth, and many other articles are
manufactured. Candles are made by dipping a wick of twisted cotton into
melted black beeswax (_box keb_), obtained from wild bees. Sometimes a
number of the logs in which the wild bees hive are brought in to the
village and placed one above the other, on trestles, to form a sort of
apiary, in order that honey and wax may be always obtainable.
Oil for cooking and for burning in small earthenware lamps with twisted
cotton wicks is obtained by breaking up the kernel of the cuhoon nut and
boiling it in water. A clear rather thin oil floats to the surface,
which may easily be skimmed off. Near the sea coconut oil is prepared in
the same way.
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
VILLAGES
The villages vary in size from two or three houses to two hundred or
more, with inhabitants numbering from 10 or 12 to more than 1,000. In
the smaller villages the houses are very irregularly disposed; in the
larger they are arranged more or less regularly so as to form streets
around a large central space, or plaza, where the dance house and church
are usually situated. Each house is surrounded by its own patio, or
yard, generally inclosed in a fence of "tasistas," in which the bush is
allowed to grow to a considerable height in order to provide a
convenient latrine for the women and children. Dogs, pigs, and vultures
serve as scavengers. Many of the Indians, especially the Santa Cruz, are
at great pains to conceal the whereabouts of their villages. Along the
main roads only a few scattered groups of huts will be seen, while the
larger villages are approached by tracks so inconspicuous that they may
easily be missed. The villages themselves are surrounded by a maze of
narrow tortuous paths, in which a stranger may wander about for some
time before finding his way in. The Santa Cruz are said sometimes to cut
the tongues from their cocks in order to prevent them crowing and so
betraying the situation of the village.
The Indians are very jealous of outside interference in their affairs
and do not permit foreigners to reside in their villages. An exception
was made in the case of a number of Chinese coolies imported into
British Honduras many years ago, most of whom ran away to the Santa Cruz
country, where they were well received and married Indian wives. Among
their offspring, it is interesting to note, are found a very unusual
proportion of defectives. On one occasion the Mexican Government
commenced to cut a road through from Peto to Santa Cruz, the Indian
capital. Five of the Santa Cruz Indians went to see the work going on
and were well received and given useful presents. On returning to their
own country, however, they were executed by the head chief as traitors
for encouraging the entry of outsiders into their territory.
MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN
The Indian girls married formerly at about 14 or 15, the boys at about
17 or 18 years. After the conquest of Bacalar, however, and the
expulsion of Yucatecans from Indian territory a law was passed making
marriage compulsory for all girls of 12 years of age and upward. This
was probably done with the idea of increasing the population, which had
been considerably depleted by the long-continued war. Formerly, the
first question of a girl's father to her suitor was "_Hai tzak a kul hai
tzak taman?_" (How many macates of corn and cotton have you?); but at
the present day there are not enough men to "go round." The Indians of
British Honduras are usually married by the Catholic priest, though the
actual ceremony is often performed months or even years after the young
couple have set up housekeeping together, since owing to the remoteness
of many of the Indian settlements the priest can visit them only at long
intervals. Among the Santa Cruz marriages are not considered legal
unless performed by an official known as the _yumxcrib_ (probably
derived from the Maya _Yum_, "lord," and Spanish _escribano_), who holds
a position somewhat analogous to that of colonial secretary in a British
colony.
The babies and smaller children in general are pretty, merry little
things. The mothers almost invariably nurse them well into the second
year, as the mammary glands are remarkably well developed and the
secretion is abundant and long continued. Children are much desired by
both parents and are well treated and loved, though not spoiled. If the
father and mother separate, the very young children remain with the
mother; of the older children, the boys go with the father, the girls
with the mother. If small children are left destitute by the death of
both parents, the nearest relative takes them, and in the absence of
relatives they are distributed by the subchief among families of his
choosing in their own village. When a man dies his widow takes the home,
furniture, domestic animals, corn, and plantations; other possessions,
if such exist, are divided equally between the widow and the older
children, each taking such articles as will be most useful to him or
her. When a woman dies her jewelry, ornaments, and clothes are divided
between her daughters. The marriage tie is a somewhat loose one, and the
more the Indians come in contact with civilization the looser it seems
to become. In British Honduras, where the Indians are closely associated
with Spaniards, Mestizos, Negroes, and other races, the women change
their partners with the utmost facility. The Negroes are called
_kisinbosh_, "black devils," by the Indians, a term which, however it
originated, is now employed without any particularly opprobrious
significance, as many of the Maya women show no repugnance to a Negro
husband. A good deal of the immorality is brought about by the cheapness
of rum and the facility with which it is obtainable by the Indians. The
husband takes to drink, neglects his wife and family, and probably gets
entangled with some other woman: the wife, in order to obtain food,
clothing, and a shelter for herself and children, is driven to an
alliance with some other man who is a better provider. The consequence
is that in British Honduras all degrees of racial mixture are to be
found between Indian women and European, East Indian, Chinese, and Negro
men, who, again intermarrying, produce a bewildering racial
kaleidoscope.
The Indians are a short-lived race, a fact due partly to their
indigestible and badly cooked food and partly to the prevalence among
them of malarial fever (_chokuil_), with accompanying anemia (_xcan
mucui_) and splenic enlargement (_canchikin_), but chiefly to
overindulgence in alcohol whenever an opportunity offers. Notable
exceptions to this rule are, however, not uncommon, and once an
individual passes the four-score mark he or she is quite likely to live
to well over 100 years: dried up, wrinkled, and feeble, but clinging to
life with an almost incredible tenacity.
DRUNKENNESS
Landa frequently mentions the fact that in his day drunkenness
(_kaltal_) was the curse of the Indians and the cause of many crimes
among them, including murder, rape, and arson.[1] At the present time
these remarks apply equally well; indeed, drunkenness is probably more
prevalent than formerly, as the rum is made locally and is far more
intoxicating than the _balchè_, which Landa describes as a drink made
from fermented honey, water, and roots. Moreover, the people drink rum
at all times and seasons, whereas both the preparation and consumption
of _balchè_ were to some extent ceremonial, as was the resulting
intoxication. Drunkenness is not considered in any way a disgrace, but
is looked on rather as an amiable weakness. The women, especially the
older ones, drink a good deal but they usually do so in the privacy of
their own houses. I have seen, however, a little girl of 14 or 15
purchase a pint of rum in a village liquor store, and go out on the
plaza, where she drank it in a few gulps; then, lying down in the fierce
heat of the afternoon sun, she lapsed into alcoholic coma. Alcohol
effects an extraordinarily rapid change for the worse in the Indian's
temperament; from a quiet, polite, rather deferential individual, he is
converted almost in a moment into a maudlin idiot, staggering about
singing foolish snatches of native songs, and endeavoring to embrace
everyone he comes in contact with. When thwarted while in this condition
his temper is likely to flare up at the slightest provocation, whereupon
the thin veneer of civilization and restraint is sloughed in a moment,
and he becomes savage, impudent, overbearing, and contemptuous toward
the stranger, and ready to draw his machete and fight to kill, with
friend or foe alike.
CHIEFS
On the death of the head chief (_noh calan_ or _nohoch yumtat_) among
the Santa Cruz and Icaichè the oldest of the subchiefs (_chan
yumtopilob_) is supposed to succeed him; as a matter of fact there are
always rival claimants for the chieftainship, and the subchief with the
strongest personality or greatest popularity among the soldiers usually
succeeds in grasping the office. There are nearly always rival factions
endeavoring to oust the chief in power, and the latter rarely dies a
natural death. The village subchiefs are elected by the people. The
power of the head chief is practically absolute over the whole tribe.
Some years ago, when Roman Pec was head chief, one of the subchiefs came
to Corozal, the nearest town in British Honduras, to purchase powder,
shot, and other supplies. He remained some time, as he had many friends
in the place, and obtained, among other things, a bottle of laudanum to
relieve toothache. On returning to his village he was met by three
soldiers, who informed him that he was to go with them at once to the
head chief, as the latter was angry with him on account of his long
absence from the country. Aware that this was equivalent to a sentence
of death, he asked permission to retire to his house for a few minutes,
to get ready for the journey, and taking advantage of the opportunity,
he swallowed the whole contents of the bottle of laudanum. This began to
take effect very shortly, and long before reaching the capital he was
dead.
The method of executing those sentenced to death is curious. The accused
does not undergo a formal trial, but the evidence against him is placed
before the head chief; if he is convicted, he has an opportunity of
defending himself and of producing witnesses in his behalf. Three or
four soldiers are chosen by the chief to carry out the sentence; this
they do by chopping the victim to death with their machetes when they
catch him asleep or off his guard. Several men always perform this act,
all chopping the victim at the same time, so that no single individual
may be directly responsible for his death. Imprisonment as a punishment
for crime is unknown, fine, flogging, and death being the only three
methods employed for dealing with criminals. Fines and flogging may be
administered by the subchiefs, but sentence of death can be passed only
by the head chief. The severity of the flogging is regulated by the
nature of the offense, and after it is over the recipient is compelled
publicly to express sorrow for his crime and go around humbly kissing
the hands of all the spectators, after which he is given a large
calabash of anise to drink. The heaviest punishment is inflicted for
witchcraft or sorcery, as the _pulya_, or sorceress, is greatly dreaded
by the Indians. She is literally chopped limb from limb; but whereas the
bodies of other victims executed in this way are always buried, that of
the _pulya_ is left for the dogs and vultures to dispose of.
Military service is compulsory for all adult males among the Santa Cruz,
though many avoid such service by payment to the chief of a certain sum
in money or its equivalent. Small garrisons were kept up at Santa Cruz,
Chan Santa Cruz, Bacalar, and other Indian towns where soldiers were
permanently stationed. No uniform was provided, though many of the men
were armed with Winchester rifles. They were provided also with a ration
of corn and beans, and often took their wives along with them as cooks.
DISEASES AND MEDICINES
Indian men and women of all ages and classes, when attacked by any
serious malady, are found to be lacking in vitality and stamina; they
relinquish hope, and relax their grip on life very easily, seeming to
hold it lightly and as not worth a fight to retain. An elderly man or
woman will sometimes take to the hammock without apparent physical
symptoms of disease beyond the anemia and splenitis from which nearly
all suffer, and merely announce _Ile in cimli_, "I am going to die."
They refuse to eat, drink, or talk, wrap themselves in a sheet from head
to foot, and finally do succumb in a very short time apparently from
sheer lack of vitality and absence of desire to continue living.
Malaria is without doubt the chief scourge of the Indian's existence.
Many of the villages are built in low-lying situations, with
mosquito-breeding swamps all round them, while the scrubby bush and rank
vegetation are allowed to grow in the yards right up to the houses,
furnishing good cover and an excellent lurking place for the insects;
moreover, the Indians seldom use mosquito curtains, as they seem to have
acquired a sort of immunity to the irritation caused at night by the
noise and biting of the pests. Practically all Indians suffer from
malaria, which is the main cause of the splenic enlargement and anemia
so prevalent among them. In some cases the spleen reaches an enormous
size, nearly filling the abdominal cavity, and deaths from a slight blow
or fall, causing rupture of this organ, are by no means uncommon.
Malaria is usually treated by means of profuse sweating (_kilcabankil_),
the patient lying wrapped in a cotton sheet in the hammock, with a fire
burning beneath and drinking sudorific bush medicine. This in itself is
an excellent remedy, but in the midst of the sweat patients frequently
plunge into cold water, thus becoming thoroughly chilled, a procedure
very apt to bring on pneumonia, to which they are peculiarly subject.
The splenic enlargement is treated by applying a number of small
circular blisters (_xacal_) containing chichem juice to the skin, over
the affected organ, which seem to be remarkably efficacious in reducing
the swelling.
In the winter when the nights are cold the Indians often lie out all
night in the wet, a practice which frequently results in pneumonia and
death. Hookworms and many other varieties of intestinal parasites are
prevalent, owing to the earth-eating habits of the children, the earth
being taken usually from the immediate vicinity of the house, where pigs
and other domestic animals have their quarters. This disgusting habit no
doubt accounts in part for the swollen bellies and earthy color of many
of the children.
Smallpox (_ǩak_) invading an Indian village is a terrible scourge, far
worse than in a more civilized community of the same size, where partial
immunity has been acquired. Sometimes the whole unaffected population
depart en masse, leaving the dead unburied and the stricken lying in
their hammocks, with a supply of food and water, to do the best they can
for themselves. The Indians employ the same mode of treatment for this
disease as for malarial fever--sweating followed by immersion in cold
water, treatment which, it need hardly be said, is not infrequently
followed by disastrous results.
Venereal diseases of all kinds are remarkably rare among all the Indian
tribes. Among the Santa Cruz and Icaichè such diseases were practically
unknown. Even among the mixed breeds of British Honduras they are
comparatively rare, notwithstanding the fact that these natives have
come much in contact with people of many other races, especially of late
years with Mexican Chicleros, nearly all of whom are affected with
venereal disease in one form or another.
Simple fractures of the long bones are set very neatly and skillfully in
the following way: The fractured limb is pulled away from the body with
considerable force in order to overcome the displacement; over the
fractured bone is wound a thick layer of cotton wool, and over this are
applied a number of small round, straight sticks, completely surrounding
the limb, their centers corresponding nearly to the seat of fracture;
these are kept in place by a firm binding of henequen cord. The limb, if
an arm, is supported in a sling; if a leg, the patient is confined to
his hammock till the fracture is firmly knit. Excellent results are
secured by this method, the union being firm, and the limb nearly always
uniting in good position.
Bleeding, a favorite remedy for all complaints, is especially resorted
to in cases of headache and malarial fever. Usually the temporal vein,
less frequently one of the veins in the front of the forearm, is opened,
having been first distended with blood by tying a ligature around the
upper arm. A chip of obsidian, a sharp splinter of bone, or a snake's
tooth, serves as a crude lancet; the use of the last causes
considerable pain, but is believed to have some esoteric virtue
connected with it.
Decoctions made from the charred carcasses of animals at one time were
much employed, certain animals being regarded as specifics for certain
diseases. Thus, during an epidemic of whooping cough (_xinki sen_) a
decoction from the charred remains of the cane rat was almost
exclusively given to the children to relieve the cough, though in this
case it is difficult to trace the connection between the remedy and the
disease.
Many eye troubles are treated by placing a small rough seed beneath the
lower lid of the affected eye, where it remains for a day; when the seed
is withdrawn it is covered with mucus, to which the doctor points as the
injurious matter, the cause of all the trouble, which he has removed.
Massage is practiced chiefly for uterine and ovarian pains by the older
women, who also act as midwives; it is used also in conjunction with
kneading and manual manipulation in the cure of neuralgic pains,
strains, stiffness, and rheumatism.
In confinements, which usually take place either in the hammock or on
the floor, the dorsal position is invariably assumed. In such cases also
massage over the uterus is performed by the midwife. If the desired
results are not secured, the patient is made to vomit by thrusting a
long coil of hair down her throat, while a woman of exceptional lung
power is sent for to blow into her mouth, with the object of hastening
delivery.
The Indians use for medicinal purposes a great variety of plants which
grow in their country; some of these are purely empirical remedies;
others produce definite physiological results and are frequently used
with good effect, while a few, apparently on the assumption that
"similia similibus curantur," are employed because of some fancied
resemblance in form to the diseased part, as _xhudub pek_, twin seeds of
the size of small eggs, the milky juice of which is used as an external
application for enlarged glands and for various forms of orchitis.
The following plants are used medicinally by the Indians as remedies for
the diseases named, respectively:
_Acitz._--The milky juice of a tree, used as an application for
chronic sores and ulcers.
_Acam._--The leaves of this plant are applied hot to reduce the
swelling and relieve the pain in enlargement of the spleen and
liver.
_Purgacion Xiu._--An infusion made from the leaves is administered
warm in bladder and urethral troubles.
_Pakaal._--An infusion made from the leaves of the orange tree is
given as a sudorific.
_Pichi._--A paste made from the leaves of the guava is applied to
"bay sore," a specific ulcer somewhat resembling "oriental sore."
_Pomolche._--A mouth wash made from the milk of this tree is used
in cases of stomatitis and ulceration of the mouth.
_Quimbombo._--The wild okra is greatly esteemed as an external
application in cases of snake bite.
_Sisim._--An infusion made from the leaves is used as a sudorific
in cases of malarial fever.
_Sicilpuz._--A yellowish fruit sometimes used as a purgative.
_Cabalpixoy._--The fruit of this tree is given in cases of
diarrhea, and an infusion made from the bark is used in diarrhea
and dysentery.
_Claudiosa Xiu._--An infusion made from the whole bush is greatly
esteemed as a bath and lotion in all uterine and ovarian
complaints.
_Chalche._--The spinous leaf of this plant is used as a local
application to relieve neuralgic pains, and an infusion made from
the leaves is given for rheumatism.
_Chamico._--An infusion made from the leaves of the convolvulus
mixed with other leaves is given to relieve asthma and bronchial
catarrh.
_Chaac._--The arrowroot, eaten raw, is regarded as a useful remedy
in all bladder and urethral complaints.
_CuƆuc._--The wood, ground into a paste, is applied to the heads
of small children suffering from fever and convulsions.
_Ruda._--The leaves of this plant are universally used as an
external application for children suffering from convulsions, and
frequently in the same manner for the relief of almost any nervous
complaint in adults.
_Pica pica._--A sort of cowhage which, mixed with atol or some
corn beverage, is largely used as a vermifuge for children.
GAMES
Both children and adults play many games, most of which have probably
been introduced since the conquest. A favorite among these is a game
known as _tak in kul_, in which a number of players stand in a row with
their hands behind their backs while one, who holds a small pottery disk
in his hand, stands behind the row, another standing in front. The one
holding the disk places it in the hands of one of those in the line, who
in turn passes it to his neighbor, so that it travels rapidly up and
down the line. The player in front has to guess in whose hand the disk
is at the moment of guessing. If he is right, the holder of the disk has
to come in front while the one who guessed correctly joins the line.
_Chac_ is a sort of "knucklebones," played with pottery disks, which are
tossed from the palm to the back of the hand and back again; the one who
drops fewest disks in a given number of double throws wins the game.
The boys make little bows (_pohoche_) and arrows (_hul_) tipped with
black wax, with which they play war and hunting games.
A seesaw made from a small tree balanced on a stump is popular, as is
also a sort of merry-go-round constructed from a cross of poles fixed on
top of a stump by means of a wooden pin, which rotates freely. The
children sit at the extreme ends of the poles and make the contrivance
rotate by kicking against the ground vigorously at intervals as they go
around.
The bull roarer, made from a dry seed pod, is popular in some villages
and is probably one of the few toys used by the natives before the
conquest.
Cricket, baseball, marbles, kites, and spinning tops have been
introduced among the Indians of British Honduras, and all have their
devotees.
RELIGION
The Indians, who are extremely superstitious, believe that the air is
full of _pishan_, or souls of the dead. They imagine that these souls
are at liberty at all times to return to earth, and that at certain
seasons they are compelled to do so. They are regarded as being capable
of enjoying the spirit, though not the substance, of food or drink
provided for them. Some of these _pishan_ the Indians believe to be
friendly and some inimical to mortals. They believe also in spirits,
usually mischievous or harmful, known as _xtabai_, who often take the
form of beautiful women, though they have never been human. The natives
will whisper a message into the ear of a corpse with the certainty of
having it conveyed to a friend or relative in the next world. They
firmly believe that the clay images of the gods upon incense burners, at
one time found in considerable numbers in forests which had been uncut
since the days of their ancestors, live, walk about, and dance at
certain seasons. Another belief held by the Indians is that the images
of Christian saints are endowed at times with life and perform acts
desired by their devotees. A celebrated wooden image, supposed to
represent San Bernardo, was credited with considerable powers in this
respect, and when an Indian wanted rain for his milpa, the return of an
errant wife, or any similar blessing, he would come and pray to the
image to obtain it for him. On one occasion an Indian came asking the
saint to aid him in the recovery of pigs which he had lost, and on
returning to his village found that the pigs had arrived home before
him. Next day he returned with the intention of making an offering to
the saint, and incidentally to the owner of the house where the image
was kept. He found the poor Santo with torn clothes and many burs
sticking all over him. On inquiring how this happened he was informed
that the saint had been out in the bush hunting for pigs, a quest which
had given him a great deal of trouble before he could find and drive
them home, and that when he got back he was tired out, his clothes torn
by thorns, and covered with burs--an explanation with which the Indian
was perfectly satisfied.
The men are very unwilling to dig either in ancient mounds or ruins, as
they are afraid of being haunted by the _pishan_ of those whose remains
they may disturb; and nothing will induce them to go into caves or
burial chambers in mounds. Many curious superstitions hang about the
ruins found throughout the country. I was assured by an Indian at Benque
Viejo that he had gone on one occasion to the ruins situated near the
village, and seeing a pigeon seated on a tree, raised his gun to shoot
it; before he could do so, however, the pigeon turned into a cock, and
this almost immediately into an eagle, which flew at him, driving him
away. There is another superstition about these ruins to the effect that
when the first settlers came to Benque Viejo they wished to build the
village near the ruins, where the land is very good for growing corn,
but were repeatedly driven off by a little old man with a long gray
beard. At last, giving up the idea, they contented themselves with the
present site for the village.
For many years, between the expulsion of the Yucatecans from Bacalar by
the Indians and the conquest of the latter by the Mexican troops, some
12 years ago, no Catholic priests were permitted to visit the Santa Cruz
country. The Indians, however, appointed priests from among themselves,
who carried out, so far as can be ascertained from those of their number
who left the territory and settled in British Honduras, a sort of
travesty of the rites of the Roman Catholic Church freely interspersed
with many of those of their ancient religion, which had survived. The
headquarters of this religious cult was the capital, where it centered
around what was known as the "Santa Cruz," a plain wooden cross, 2 to 3
feet high, which had probably been removed from some church after the
expulsion of the Spaniards. This cross was supposed to be gifted with
the power of speech (a belief arising no doubt from the exercise of
ventriloquial powers by one of the priests), and acted as a sort of
oracle, to whom all matters of importance--civil, military, and
religious--were submitted for decision. It need hardly be said that the
cross never failed to return an answer to all these questions, in entire
conformity with the wishes of the chief.[2]
The Indians here under consideration occupy an intermediate position
between the civilized Maya of northern Yucatan, who have lost nearly
all tradition and traces of their former civilization, and the
Lacandones of the Usumasintla Valley, who have probably changed but
little in their customs and religious observances since the conquest.
Nominally they are Christians, but the longer one lives among them,
and the better one gets to know them, the more he realizes that their
Christianity is to a great extent merely a thin veneer, and that
fundamentally their religious conceptions and even their ritual and
ceremonies are survivals--degenerate, much changed, and with most
of their significance lost--but still survivals of those of their
ancestors of pre-Columbian days. To Christianity, not as a separate
religion, but as a graft on that which they already practiced, they
seem to have taken kindly from the first; and at the present day, as
will be seen, the sun god, the rain god, St. Laurence, and Santa Clara
may all be invoked in the same prayer, while the Cross is substituted
in most of the ceremonies for the images of the old gods, though many
of the latter are called on by name. The four principal religious
ceremonies of the Indians are, as might be supposed, closely associated
with agriculture, especially with the corn crop. The first of these
ceremonies takes place at the cutting of the bush in which the corn
plantation is to be made, the second at the planting of the corn, the
third during its ripening, and the fourth at harvest time. Of these the
third, known as the _Cha chac_, which takes place during the ripening
of the corn, and whose object is to secure sufficient rain for that
purpose, is by far the most important, and it alone will be described,
as it embraces the offerings and ritual of all the other ceremonies.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Chichanha Indian priest in front of altar at
Cha chac ceremony.]
The day previous to the ceremony the men of the family prepared
the _pib_, an oblong hole in the ground, in which the various corn
offerings were to be baked, while during the night the women were busy
grinding corn to make masa (a thick paste of ground maize) and pumpkin
seeds to make _sikil_. Very early in the morning of the day of the
ceremony the priest with his assistant arrived at the house of the
giver. This priest called himself _men_, but was called by the owner
a _chac_, while the Chichanha priest called himself an _ah kin_. The
Indians chose a site in the midst of a grove of large trees. After
clearing away the undergrowth they swept clean a circular space about
25 feet in diameter. In this they proceeded to erect two rude huts,
one 12 feet the other 6 feet square; both were thatched with huano
leaf, and the floor of the smaller hut was covered with wild plantain
leaves. In the center of the larger hut was erected a rough altar 6 by
4 feet and 4 feet 6 inches high, built of sticks bound together with
bejuco (fig. 11). The central part of this altar was covered by an
arch of "jabin" branches with the leaves still attached. About a dozen
small calabashes in their ring supports (Maya _chuyub_) were placed on
the altar, and three more were hung to a string passing from the side
of the shed to a post a few yards away. The masa prepared the previous
night was then brought out in four large calabashes, two of these
being placed under the altar and two on top of it; a large calabash of
_sikil_ and one of water were also placed on the altar and a jar of
_balchè_ (a drink made of fermented honey in which is soaked the bark
of a tree) beneath it.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Priest tracing cross on cake and filling it
in with sikil.]
Beneath the suspended calabashes was placed a small table containing
piles of tortillas and calabashes of masa and water. In carrying out
this ceremony it is essential that everything used in it be perfectly
fresh and new; the leaves, sticks, bejuco, and jabin must be freshly
cut, and the masa, _sikil_, _balchè_, and even the calabashes must be
freshly made. The masa was taken from the large to the small shed,
where the priest and several male members of the family sat around
it. After flattening out a small ball of the masa the priest placed
it on a square of plantain leaves and poured over it a little _sikil_
(a thin paste made of ground pumpkin seed and water). Then the next
man flattened out a piece of masa, which he placed over the _sikil,_
and the process was continued until a cake was formed containing 5
to 13 alternating layers of masa and _sikil_. On top of each cake,
as it was completed, the priest traced with his forefinger a cross
surrounded with holes; these were first partly filled with _balchè_,
which was allowed to soak into the cake, after which they were filled
completely with _sikil_, whereupon the whole cake was carefully tied up
in plantain leaf, with an outer covering of palm leaf (fig. 12). These
cakes are known as _tutiua_; their number is generally gauged by the
number of participants in the ceremony. When _sikil_ is not available,
a paste of ground black beans is used; in this case the cakes are known
as _buliua_ (Maya _bul_, "bean"; _ua_, "bread"). The priest next made
a deep depression in a ball of masa about the size of a tennis ball,
which he filled with _sikil_, covering it with the masa, so as to leave
a ball of masa with a core of _sikil_.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Sacrificing a turkey at the Cha chac
ceremony.]
A number of these balls, known as _yokua_, were made, each wrapped in
plantain leaves. When finished, all of them were wrapped in a large
palm leaf and tied into a bundle with split palm-leaf strands. Two more
_tutiua_ were next made, and lastly all the masa and _sikil_ left were
mixed together with a few ounces of salt. After being well kneaded
this mass was divided into two portions, each of which was tied up in
plantain and palm leaf coverings. In the meantime some members of the
family had filled the _pib_ or oven with firewood, over which they
placed a layer of small blocks of stone. The priest next made a bowl
of _sachà_ (literally "white water," a drink made from ground corn
and water), with which he filled the small calabashes on the altar,
as well as the suspended calabashes; these he explained were for the
_tuyun pishan_, or solitary souls. A turkey and four fowls were then
placed in front of the altar, alive, while the priest lighted a black
wax candle by blowing a piece of glowing wood to a flame; this candle
he placed upon the altar. He next took up the turkey, around whose neck
the assistant had placed a wreath of jabin leaves, and poured a little
_balchè_ down its throat, its legs being held by the assistant (fig.
13). While doing this the priest murmured the following prayer:
In kubic ti hahnal cichpan colel, ti San Pedro, San Pablo, San
Francisco.
_Translation_
I offer a repast to the beautiful mistress, to San Pedro, San
Pablo, San Francisco.
The turkey and the other fowls were then killed by having their necks
wrung, and the carcasses of all five were removed to the house to be
prepared by the women. The various bundles of masa and _sikil_ in
their leaf coverings were next removed to the _pib_, where the fire
had burned itself out, leaving the hole half full of ashes and red-hot
stones. A lining of plantain bark was laid over the stones, upon which
the bundles were arranged; over these were placed more hot stones and
over the latter palm leaves; lastly, the earth which had been dug from
the _pib_ was raked over all. The priest next took a small quantity of
the _sachà_ from a calabash, in a jabin leaf, and scattered it on the
ground in three directions, meanwhile murmuring this prayer:
Cin kubic ti atepalob, ti noh yum kab yetel uahmetan, atepalob,
tiaca tzib nah.
_Translation_
I offer to the majestic ones, to the great lord, corn cake, great
ones. [_Tiaca tzib nah_ is somewhat obscure. The reading,
according to Don Juan Martinez, of Merida, should be _tia ca
Ɔib-nah_.]
Afterward the priest repeated the performance with _sachà_ from the
calabashes on the altar, and lastly with some from the calabashes of
the _tuyun pishan_. The _sachà_ was then distributed in calabashes to
the participants, it being essential that every drop of it be drunk.
After a wait of about an hour all proceeded to the _pib_, which,
after it had been sprinkled by the priest with _balchè_ from a small
calabash, was opened. The red-hot leaf-wrapped bundles were carried
to the small shed, where the coverings were removed, exposing the
_tutiua_ and _yokua_, crisp, brown, and hot. These were placed upon the
altar, with the exception of one _tutiua_, which was tied to the string
holding the calabashes of the _tuyun pishan_. The cakes made from
the remainder of the masa and _sikil_ were now crumbled into a large
calabash and mixed with another large calabash of _kool_ (a reddish
liquid made from water, ground corn, black pepper, and achiote). The
two mixtures were stirred with a peeled wand of jabin till they formed
a thick paste known as _sopas_. While the _sopas_ was being made the
hearts, heads, and intestines of the fowls were removed to the _pib_
where they were buried, lest some animal by eating them should defile
the offering. The cooked and dismembered turkey and other fowls were
brought out to the small shed in calabashes; the livers, gizzards, and
immature eggs were chopped up fine and well mixed with the _sopas_. A
small calabash full of this mixture was placed with the calabashes of
the _tuyun pishan_, while the rest, in a large calabash, the fowls'
claws standing upright in it, was placed upon the altar, together with
the dismembered birds wrapped in a clean cotton cloth. The priest next
removed some _balchè_ from the jar and filled a calabash, which he
placed upon the altar, as he did so murmuring these prayers:
Ea, in cichpan colel kanleoox, yetel bacan tech in cichkelem tat
yum San Isidro, ah kolkal, yetel bacan tech yum kankin, culucbalech
ti likin, yetel bacan in chanttupchaac, culucbal chumuc caan, ti
likin, yetel bacan yum canchaacoob; kin kubic yetel bacan ahooil
atepalo chumuc caan, yetel bacan tech in cichkelem tata ahcanan
kakabool, yetel bacan tech in cichkelem tata Cakaal Uxmal, yetel
bacan tech in cichpan colel Santa Clara, yetel bacan tech in
cichkelem tata yum xualakinik, yetel bacan tech in cichpan colel
Xhelik, yetel bacan tech in cichkelem tatayum Santo Lorenzo, yetel
bacan tech in cichpan colel Guadelupe, yetel bacan tech tun yum
Mosonikoob, meyahnaheex ichil cool kat tocah. Cin kubic bacan letie
Santo Gracia, utial a nahmateex, yetel bacan tech u nohchi Santo
uai yokol cab halibe in yumen sates ten in cipil. Minan a tzul
pachkeech letie Santo Pishan, Ooki in mentic letie Santo Promicia.
_Translation_
Now my beautiful lady of the yellow-leaf breadnut, as well as you,
my handsome father San Isidro, tiller of the earth; as well as
you, lord sun, who art seated at the east; as well as you,
Chanttupchaac, who art seated in the middle of the heavens, in the
east; as well as you, Yumcanchaacoob: I deliver to you, with the
majestic servants in the middle of the heavens. As well as you, my
handsome father, Ahcanankakabool; as well as you, my handsome
father Cakaal Uxmaal; as well as you, my beautiful lady Santa
Clara; as well as you, my handsome father Xualakinik; as well as
you, my beautiful lady Xhelik; as well as you, my handsome father
San Lorenzo; as well as you, my beautiful lady of Guadelupe; as
well as you, Lord Mosonicoob, that blows within the milpa when it
is burnt. I deliver then to you this Holy Grace, that you may
taste it, and because you are the greatest Santos on earth. That
is all my master. Pardon my sins; you have not to follow the holy
souls, because I have made this holy offering.
Cin Kubic ti nah tatail, ti u cahil San Roque, u cahil Patchacan,
ti Chan Sapote.
_Translation_
I offer you, great father, for your town of San Roque, your town
of Patchacan, and Chan Sapote.
The assistant then brought up some burning incense (_pom_) on a piece
of plantain bark, which the priest took, and after waving it about
for a short time placed it upon the altar, after which he dipped out
a small portion of _balchè_ and scattered it in three directions,
murmuring while doing so the following prayer:
Noh Nah ti Uxmal, ti atepaloob Ixcabach Chen Mani, ti Xpanterashan,
Chacanchi, Chacantoc, ti Xnocachan, Xcunya, Yaxutzub, Yaxaban, ti
atepaloob.
_Translation_
Great house of Uxmal, of the majestic Ixcabach, Chen Mani, of
Xpanterashan, Chacanchi, Chacantoc, of Xnocachan Xcunya, Yaxatzub
Yaxaban of the majestic ones.
A small portion of _balchè_ was next passed around to each of the
participants, the priest again scattering a little on the ground and
repeating the prayer. The calabash, which was now nearly empty, was
then removed to the house for the benefit of the women. It was soon
brought back by the assistant and refilled from the jar, and the same
procedure gone through again. This was repeated till no more _balchè_
remained to be drunk. The priest then scattered some of the _sopas_
in four directions, using one of the fowls' claws to scoop it up from
the calabash, after which what remained of the _sopas_ was divided
up among the participants, each one being given a calabash in which
a fowl's claw was placed for use as a fork. A small quantity of the
mixture which remained was taken to the house for use of the women.
Lastly the priest removed the _tutiua_ and _yokua_ from the altar, and
divided these among the participants, giving each one at the same time
a corn-husk cigarette. The ceremony was now finished, and the last
act was completely to destroy all the objects used in it, including
buildings, altar, calabashes, and _chuyubs_; this was done by fire.
This Cha chac ceremony as performed by the Santa Cruz and Icaichè
Indians bears a strong resemblance to certain ceremonies performed
before the conquest, in honor of the Chacs, or Rain gods, and also to
ceremonies carried out at the present day by the Lacandon Indians.
The names given to the modern priests were, according to Landa, all
in use in his day. The Chacs were four old men chosen to assist the
priests.[22] The _men_ was an inferior priest or sorcerer, while the
name _Ahkin_[4] was applied after the conquest, both to their own
and to Christian priests by the Maya. Landa also mentions (Chap. XL,
p. 260) a fiesta given to the Chacs, in conjunction with other gods,
held in one of the plantations, when the offerings were consumed by
the people after being first presented to the gods; these offerings
consisted of turkeys and other fowls, corn cake, _sikil_, and
_posol_,[5] all of which are used in the modern Maya Cha chac.
The god Yumcanchacoob (Lord of all the Chacs) of the Santa Cruz
probably corresponds to Nohochyumchac (Great Lord Chac) of the
Lacandones, as does the Ahcanankakabol (keeper of the woods) of
the Santa Cruz, to the Kanancash of the Lacandones, whose name has
practically the same significance. A belief in _Xtabai_, or spirits,
and _Ikoob_, or Wind gods, seems common alike to the Santa Cruz, the
Lacandones, and the Indians of Yucatan.
PART 2. MOUND EXCAVATION IN THE EASTERN MAYA AREA
INTRODUCTION
CLASSIFICATION OF THE MOUNDS
In the following pages is a description of the mounds opened during
the last few years in that part of the Maya area now constituting
British Honduras, the southern part of Yucatan, and the eastern border
of Guatemala (pl. 7). For descriptive purposes these mounds may be
divided, according to their probable uses, into six main groups:
_1. Sepulchral Mounds._--This group includes mounds which, originally
constructed for other purposes, were afterwards used as burial sites.
_2. Refuse Mounds._--This group includes kitchen middens, shell heaps,
deposits of waste material remaining after the manufacture of lime, and
heaps of stones gathered from the surface of the ground.
_3. Foundation Mounds._--As the buildings themselves invariably stood
on the summits of flat-topped mounds, such mounds, capped with the
débris of the earlier structures, formed the bases of later ones.
_4. Defensive Mounds._--Some of these mounds were crescent-shaped;
others were in the form of a horseshoe.
_5. Lookout Mounds._--These mounds extend in chains, at intervals of 6
to 12 miles, along the coast and up some of the rivers; they are lofty,
steep-sided, and usually form the nuclei of groups of other mounds.
As a rule they contain neither human remains nor artifacts, though in
one or two of them superficial interments seem to have been made at a
comparatively late date.
_6. Mounds of Uncertain Use._--No trace of human interment was found
in these mounds. Many of them are too small at the summit to have
supported buildings, and it seems probable that they are sepulchral
mounds, in which no stone, pottery, or other indestructible objects
were placed with the corpse, and in which the bones have entirely
disintegrated. The larger mounds of this class, many of them flat
topped, are carefully constructed of blocks of limestone, marl dust,
and earth, and no doubt at one time served as bases for buildings
either small temples or houses--which, being built of wood, have long
since vanished.
Most of the mounds are distributed in small and large groups, the
latter usually containing one or more examples of each class, the
former consisting for the greater part of small burial mounds, probably
of late date, as they are less carefully constructed than the mounds of
the larger groups, and the objects which they contain are of rougher
and cruder workmanship.
The burial mounds comprise more than half of all the mounds opened,
followed in order of numbers by (a) foundation mounds; (b) mounds of
uncertain use; (c) refuse mounds; (d) lookout mounds; (e) defensive
mounds.
It has been found that, as a rule, rich land contains many mounds;
poor land, fewer; and sour-grass savannah, pine ridge, and swamp, none
at all. The better the land the more numerous the mounds scattered
over it, as is natural, since the more fertile the land the denser
the population it would sustain. Not all the mounds opened have been
described, as small burial mounds, especially in the same group, in
both construction and contents, resemble one another closely, as do
foundation mounds also.
This part of the Maya area must either have been occupied during
a very considerable period or at one time must have supported a
dense population, as wherever it is possible to cultivate the soil,
especially to raise maize, mounds are to be found in great abundance;
moreover, the surface everywhere bears such indestructible rubbish
as potsherds, flint chips, and fragments of obsidian knives. It
would probably be impossible to find anywhere in this area an acre
of moderately good land on which dozens of such objects could not
be discovered. This indicates that what is now dense tropical bush,
with a few small Indian villages scattered through it at considerable
intervals, was at one time a highly cultivated and thickly populated
country.
Referring to Yucatan before the conquest, Landa uses the words, "toda
la tierra parescia un pueblo;"[6] while 200 years after the conquest
Villagutierre[7] mentions by name 10 tribes with whom the Itzas were at
war, who lived to the east of the lagoon, nine days' journey away--in
a region corresponding to the territory of coastal tribes of British
Honduras and Quintana Roo.
ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF THE REGION
From the contents of the mounds we are able to deduce many valuable
facts relating to the physical appearance, social life, religion, and
art of the former inhabitants of this area.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
A very accurate idea of the physical appearance of these people may be
derived from the figurines, paintings, stucco moldings, and skeletons
found in the mounds. It would appear that they very closely resembled
the modern Maya Indians.[8] They were broad of face, with small
features and rather high cheek bones; without beard or mustache, but
with straight, black, coarse hair, which was allowed by both men and
women to grow long.
The skull was naturally brachicephalic, and as this characteristic
was (and is now by the Maya) admired, it seems to have been almost
invariably accentuated artificially by pressure applied over the
occipital and frontal regions during early infancy.[9] The average
cephalic index of eight skulls removed from the mounds was found to be
110. The following list gives the average lengths of a number of bones
of adults taken from the mounds, though in no case were all the bones
of one individual found in a sufficiently perfect condition to permit
of their accurate measurement:
Humerus, 29.21 cm.
Ulna, 25.38 cm.
First phalanx (little finger), 3.04 cm.
Femur, 36.83 cm.
Tibia, 33.27 cm.
Metatarsal bone of great toe, 5.33 cm.
The bones are small, the ridges for muscular attachment not well
marked, and the phalanges, metacarpal, and metatarsal bones small
and delicate, indicating a body with rounded contours, poor muscular
development, and small extremities. The front teeth in some cases were
filed, in others filled with round plugs of obsidian, iron pyrites, or
jadeite, for ornamental purposes.
DRESS
Among the lower class the men seem to have worn no garment except the
_maxtli_, consisting of a loin-cloth wound several times around the
waist, the ends hanging down in front and behind, like small aprons.
The women wore two garments, similar to those of the modern Maya, the
_huipil_, or loose, sleeveless upper garment reaching to the hips (at
the present this is worn longer, reaching well below the knees) and
a short, loose skirt, both of cotton, and both embroidered in colors
at the borders.[10] The warriors wore in addition to the _maxtli_ a
breastplate of thick quilted cotton, saturated with salt, arrow and
spear proof, and ornamented with bows, studs, and tassels. To its
upper border was attached a hollow bar, through which passed a cord,
continued round the back of the neck, holding the breastplate in place.
Both warriors and priests wore very elaborate headdresses. Those of the
former were decorated with plumes of feathers and many of them held in
front the head of some animal carved in wood,[11] as the jaguar, eagle,
peccary, snake, or alligator. Some of the headdresses of the priests
were shaped like a bishop's miter, while others resembled the Egyptian
headdress. All classes wore sandals of leather or platted henequen
fiber. The ornaments worn consisted of large circular ear plugs of
shell, greenstone, or pottery, many with a tassel dependent from the
center; studlike labrets at each side of the mouth; and occasional
triangular ornaments attached on each ala of the nose. Round the neck
were worn strings of beads, some in the form of human or animal heads,
others with a gorget of greenstone or shell in the form of a human
mask dependent from them. Wristlets and anklets of large oval beads,
fastened with ornamental loops, were common, and copper finger rings
have been found on two occasions, though it is possible that these
may not have been introduced till after the conquest. Among the upper
classes the ornaments were made from jade, greenstone, iron pyrites,
obsidian, mother-of-pearl, and copper; among the lower, from pottery,
shell, and stone.
WEAPONS
The offensive weapons of the natives here dealt with consisted of flint
and obsidian tipped arrows,[12] javelins, and spears, flint and stone
axes, with slingstones, and stone-headed clubs, made for the most part
of hard limestone. Their defensive weapons were small circular shields
of leather-covered wickerwork and thick cotton breastplates.
HOUSES
The lower classes probably lived exclusively in thatched pimento-walled
houses, identical in construction with those used by the Maya of the
present day; naturally, these have completely disappeared, but the
former sites of villages composed of such huts may easily be recognized
by the presence of half-choked wells and the great number of malacates,
broken pots, weapons, implements, ornaments, and rubbing stones, which
are to be found scattered all over them. The priests, caciques, and
upper classes doubtless lived in the stone houses, the remains of
which lie buried in considerable numbers in the mounds. The walls of
these houses were of stucco-covered stone and lime, the floors of hard
cement, and the roofs, no doubt, of beams and thatch, as many of them
are too wide to have been covered by the so-called "American arch."
Many of these buildings were doubtless used as temples, but probably
the majority of them were private houses.[13] In one of them an
interment had taken place beneath the floor of the house before the
structure was destroyed.[14]
ARTS
The former inhabitants of this part of the Maya area do not seem
to have fallen far behind those of northern Yucatan in the arts of
sculpture upon stone, stucco molding, mural painting, ceramics, and the
manufacture of stone implements and weapons, as excellent examples in
all these fields have been found.
At Seibal, Holmul, Naranjo, and Benque Viejo, cities of the old
Empire lying along the British Honduras-Guatemala frontier, examples
of sculptured stelæ and altars have been found, equal in fineness of
workmanship to those found at any other site within the Maya area. The
molded stucco figures at Pueblo Nuevo are beautifully executed, while
the painted stucco upon the temple walls at Santa Rita is probably the
finest example of this kind of decoration yet brought to light in the
whole Maya area. The colors used (green, yellow, red, blue, black, and
white) seem to have been derived from colored earths and vegetal dyes
ground to a paste in small shallow stone mortars with spatulate flint
grinders, which have been found with traces of paint still adhering to
them. Ornaments in the form of human and animal faces and heads nicely
cut from jadeite and greenstone are not uncommon. Some bear incised
hieroglyphic inscriptions. The greenstone shell from Kendal, described
later on, in its fineness of finish and accurate imitation of the
natural form, is a remarkable example of gem cutting.
Most of the domestic pottery used was of a rather coarse hard red
ware. This comprises large amphora-like water jars, shallow dishes,
saucers, and bowls, used probably to hold food; cooking pots of various
sizes and shapes, chocolate pots with upright spouts, and disks for
baking tortillas. In addition to these, thick brittle vessels of very
coarse pottery, some of exceptionally large size, are found, which were
probably used as receptacles for corn, beans, pepper, and other light
dry substances. Of the finer kinds of pottery some are ornamented with
incised devices, executed after the vessels had been fired, others are
covered with devices in polychrome, and still others with ornaments
molded while the clay was plastic. Lastly, these three methods, or any
two of them, may be combined in the decoration of any one vessel.
The objects most frequently depicted on the vases are human heads,
simple glyphs, animal and mythological figures, and flowers. Most of
the vessels are polished, some of them to a high degree, but the art
of glazing does not seem to have been understood. The finer kinds of
pottery are thin, tough, light, and very hard. The appliqué work,
displayed best in incense burners, upon which the figure of the god
in high relief is built up bit by bit, is rather coarse, but in some
examples very effective. Stone implements and weapons of great variety
have been discovered, including ax, spear, javelin, and arrowheads,
knives, clubs, throwing stones, hammerstones, scrapers, chisels,
borers, paint and corn grinders, fiber cleaners, and many others.
Flint, chert, obsidian, greenstone, and limestone were the materials
most commonly used in the manufacture of implements and weapons. Very
remarkable eccentrically shaped objects, including crosses, crescents,
rings, and a variety of other forms, chipped with great care and
precision, from flint, chert, and obsidian, are also found, though not
in great numbers. They seem to be confined almost exclusively to this
part of the Maya area.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
With the exception of clay whistles of from one to four notes, no
musical instruments have been found in the mounds, unless the hollow
cylinder (10-1/2 inches high by 4 inches in diameter) from Yalloch may
be regarded as a small hand drum similar to those mentioned by Landa
as having been in use at the time of the conquest,[15] and somewhat
resembling the clay jar with a piece of gibnut hide stretched over the
opening for a head, still in use as a drum among the Lacandones.[16]
The late Sir Alfred Moloney obtained in the village of Succots a
_tunkul_, or wooden drum, with two rubber-tipped drumsticks, which
had been brought by the Indians from Guatemala at the time of their
emigration from that country. This had been handed down from Alcalde to
Alcalde from time immemorial, and was used to summon the villagers on
special occasions, as a fire or the election of new Alcaldes.
FOOD
The staple article of diet among the ancient Maya seems to have been
maize, as it is at the present day among their descendants. Numbers
of rubbing-stones and rubbers, both broken and whole, are found in
the mounds, as are also the clay disks used for baking corn cakes.
The bones of various animals, which had probably been used for food,
are also found; among these are the peccary, gibnut, armadillo, puma,
tapir, and manatee, together with woula (snake), alligator, and (of
birds) the curassow and wild turkey. Shells of the conch, cockle,
oyster, and freshwater snail are also found in abundance. The Maya
probably kept small domestic animals and birds,[17] as great numbers of
rough stone troughs are found in the mounds, precisely similar to those
manufactured and used by the modern Maya Indians for watering their
fowls, while eggs, with turkeys and other birds, have been found, held
in the hands of figurines upon the incense burners, as offerings to the
gods. They seem to have made periodical expeditions to the cays and
islands off the coast to fish and collect shellfish, as quantities of
net-sinkers, flint chips, potsherds, and broken javelin heads are found
on many of the cays. But few mounds, however, which give evidence of
permanent human occupancy have been discovered in this situation.
SPINNING AND WEAVING
Judging by the great number of spindle-whorls found in the mounds and
on village sites, cotton spinning must have been practically universal
among the women. Oval perforated stones of a size suitable for loom
weights have been found, and it is probable that they were used as
such, as they do not seem to be adapted to any other purpose. With this
exception we learn nothing of the art of weaving from the contents of
the mounds. Henequen fiber was doubtless used for the manufacture of
rope, mats, hammocks, and other objects, as grooved flat stones for
beating the pulp from the fiber are common.
GAMES
The appliances for at least two distinct games have been found.[18]
The first consists of a large spherical block of limestone, nicely
polished, and about 1 foot in diameter, found associated with 6 to 12
smaller spherical stones, each about 3 inches in diameter, of very
light material somewhat resembling pumice stone. The second consists
of a number of small disks of shell, about three-fourths of an inch
in diameter. Collections of these have been found together on several
occasions; they might have been used as beads or ornaments but for
the fact that they are neither perforated nor decorated with incised
figures as shell beads usually are.
RELIGION
Of the 15 gods of the codices classified by Schellhas five may be
recognized in this area with a fair degree of certainty. God A, the god
of death, in the form of a human skull, decorates the outside of not
a few small pottery vessels, and is depicted upon the painted stucco
wall at Santa Rita. God B, the long-nosed god, is usually identified
with Cuculcan. Representations of this god are found throughout the
whole area in great abundance, painted upon pottery and stucco,
incised on bone and stone, and modeled in clay. This god is associated
with the cities of Chichen Itza and Mayapan, and is supposed to have
entered Yucatan from the west; indeed it is possible that he may
originally have been the leader of one of the Maya immigrations from
that direction. He appears to have been by far the most popular and
generally worshiped deity in this area, and it is his image which is
found on nearly half of all the incense burners discovered. God D,
probably Itzamna, appears in the codices as an old man with a Roman
nose, shrunken cheeks, toothless jaws, and a peculiar scroll-like
ornament beneath the eye, to the lower border of which are attached
two or three small circles. In some representations a single tooth
projects from the upper jaw, and in a few the face is bearded. This
god is not infrequently found associated with the serpent. A typical
representation of him is seen upon the Santa Rita temple wall;[19]
here he is depicted standing upon intertwined serpents, holding in his
right hand a feather-plumed serpent. This god is represented upon some
incense burners, and is found not infrequently associated with Cuculcan.
God K, the god with an elaborate foliated nose, often closely
associated with God B, his face in some cases forming the headdress
ornament of the latter god, is unmistakably depicted upon the Santa
Rita temple wall.[20] God P, the Frog god, is found on some small
pottery vases, and on a few incense burners. Nothing found in the
mounds proves definitely the practice of human sacrifice in this area,
but that it existed is almost certain, as Villagutierre refers to it as
prevalent among the Itza of Peten at the time of their conquest,[21] at
the end of the seventeenth century, and Landa mentions it as occurring
among the Maya at the time of the coming of the Spaniards.[22] Near
the headwaters of the Rio Hondo a mound was opened, which contained,
in a stone-walled chamber, a number of human skulls unaccompanied by
other bones. It is possible that these may have been the remains of
sacrificial victims, as it was customary to remove the head of the
victim after death, which became the perquisite of the priests.
Human sacrifice among the Maya was probably a somewhat rare event,
taking place only on extraordinary special occasions, as in times of
public calamity--for example, during the prevalence of famine, war,
or pestilence--when it was felt that a special propitiatory offering
to the god was called for. This practice was confined to one, or at
most to a very small number of victims, never reaching the proportions
which it did among the Aztec, by whom it was probably introduced
into Yucatan. The main offering of the Maya to their gods seems to
have consisted of an incense composed of copal gum and aromatic
substances. Landa mentions this as largely employed at the time of the
conquest; Villagutierre encountered it among the Itza at the end of
the seventeenth century; and Tozzer found it in use among the Lacandon
Indians at the present day. The incense itself has been found all over
this area, as well as great numbers of incense burners.
In addition to incense, the blood of fish, birds, and animals was
smeared over the images of the gods, as an offering, together with
human blood obtained by cutting the ears, tongue, genitals, and other
parts of the body. The hearts of various animals, together with live
and dead animals (some cooked and some raw) and all kinds of foods and
drinks in use among the people,[23] were also employed as offerings to
the gods. In the hands of figurines upon the incense burners are found,
modeled in clay, fruit, flowers, eggs, cakes, birds, small animals, and
other objects, all evidently intended for the same purpose.
CHRONOLOGY
Three distinct periods of Mayan civilization seem to be represented
in this area. The center of the earliest of these was along the Rio
Grande, in southern British Honduras, within 20 miles of the Guatemala
frontier, where the Leyden Plate was discovered, upon which is
inscribed the earliest but one known Maya date--namely, Cycle 8, Katun
14, Tun 3, Uinal 1, Kin 12. If the massive stone-faced pyramids and
terraces of these ruins are contemporaneous with the Leyden Plate, as
seems possible, they must be reckoned among the earliest monuments of
the first, or southern Maya, civilization. The Benque Viejo temple, in
the extreme western part of British Honduras, comes next in point of
time. This was almost certainly contemporaneous with its near neighbor,
Naranjo, where the earliest Initial Series found is 9.10.10.0.0, and
the latest 9.19.10.0.0, giving the city an age of at least 9 katuns,
or 180 years. It will be seen that the difference between the Leyden
tablet date and the earliest recorded date at Naranjo is rather more
than 16 katuns, or 320 years.
The latest of all the sites is undoubtedly Santa Rita, which shows
strong Mexican influence; this belongs to the second era of Maya
civilization, which reached its highest development in Yucatan and
the northern cities. Excluding the Tuluum Stela, the date upon which,
9.6.10.0.0, is almost certainly not contemporaneous,[24] the only
Initial Series deciphered with certainty in Yucatan up to the present
time is that at Chichen Itza, 10.2.9.1.9, nearly 3 katuns, or 60 years,
later than the latest at Naranjo; but probably the Santa Rita site
is much later in date than this, and if we may judge by the objects
found in the mounds in the vicinity, some of which show strong Spanish
influence, it was occupied up to and beyond the conquest.
[Illustration: PLATE 7
SKETCH MAP OF BRITISH HONDURAS, WITH ADJACENT PARTS OF
YUCATAN AND GUATEMALA, INDICATING THE POSITIONS OF
MOUNDS EXCAVATED]
DESCRIPTION OF MOUNDS
MOUND NO. 1
Mound No. 1 (No. 24 on the plan of Santa Rita (fig. 14), situated midway
between Nos. 6 and 22) was conical in shape, nearly circular at the
base, 18 feet high, and 90 feet in circumference. It was built
throughout of large irregular blocks of limestone, the interstices being
filled with limestone dust and earth, forming together a sort of friable
mortar, which rendered the whole structure nearly as compact as a solid
block of masonry.
[Illustration: FIG. 14. Plan of Santa Rita mounds.]
Excavation near the center of the mound, at a depth of 2 feet below the
surface, brought to light a large circular disk of roughly hewn
limestone, 3 feet in diameter by 8 inches thick. On lifting this it was
found to cover the mouth of a bell-like cist, nearly 3 feet in diameter
and about 5 feet in depth. On opening the cist, which was slightly
narrower at the bottom than at the top, it was found to be nearly half
filled with very fine brown dust, at the bottom of which lay a roughly
made circular urn 18 inches in diameter, covered by a mushroom-shaped
lid.
The urn was filled to the top with small crudely executed pottery
figurines of men and animals. There were 49 of these in all, consisting
of 4 warriors, with shield and spear, 3 seated human figures, 4 standing
figures (eating and fanning themselves), 4 lizards, 4 alligators, 4
snakes, 4 birds, 4 dragon-like creatures, 4 tigers, and 14 quashes or
picotes. The warriors (pl. 8) are represented in a crouching position,
with the right knee and left foot upon the ground; each holds in the
right hand a small spear and on the left forearm a circular shield.[25]
Two of them exhibit tusk-like objects projecting from their mouths. The
figures are 4-1/2 inches high; they are painted in red and white
throughout. The headdress consists of a boat-shaped cap worn with the
bow and stern projecting over the ears. The seated figures (pl. 9; fig.
15) are each 6 inches in height; these are painted throughout in red,
white, and green. Each is seated upon a low four-legged stool, and
grasps in one hand by its greatly enlarged spatulate glans the
projecting penis, on which he is seemingly performing some sort of
surgical operation with a long knife held in the other hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Figurine from Mound No. 1.]
The headdress consists of a mitre-like erection in front, with a long
queue hanging down to the waist behind. Button-like labrets are worn on
each side of the mouth in two of the figures, and all wear large
circular ear plugs. The standing figures (fig. 16) are each 5-1/2 inches
high, and had been painted throughout in red and white, though not much
of the original color now remains. The headdress consists of a broad
flat cap decorated in front with a row of circular beads, and on each
side with a large tassel, which hangs down over the ear plugs. Each
figure wears a small narrow _maxtli_ and button-like labrets at each
angle of the mouth. In one of the figures the right hand is extended,
while the left holds a circular fan. In the other the forearms are
flexed at right angles, with hands held open in front of the waist, as
if about to receive something. The lizard effigies, though crudely made,
are most lifelike representations about 6 inches in length. The
alligators resemble very closely those taken from another mound at Santa
Rita.[26]
[Illustration: PLATE 8
FIGURINES OF WARRIORS FROM MOUND NO. 1]
[Illustration: PLATE 9
FIGURINES FROM MOUND NO. 1]
[Illustration: FIG. 16. Figurines from Mound No. 1.]
The tigers and dragon-like creatures are exactly similar to those
figured in Nos. 6 and 4 of the same plate. The bird and snake effigies
are very crude and ill made; the former, about 1-1/2 inches in length,
represent birds in the act of flying, with wings extended. The snakes,
each represented with a double curve in the body, are about 5-1/2
inches in length and one-half inch in diameter; they are made of rough
clay, painted red. The effigies of the quashes, though rough and
crudely made, are rather vigorous and lifelike in execution. Each is
about 3 inches long. This small arboreal animal, which abounds in the
district, is represented in a variety of comical positions; so well
indeed has the artist studied his model that one can not help thinking
that he must have kept some of the little animals as pets, as many of
the Maya Indians do at the present day. The figures when first found
were so brittle that it was impossible to remove them from the pot
without breakage, as they had been seemingly only sun dried. After
exposure to the sun and air, however, for a few days they gradually
hardened.
The only unpainted object found in the urn was a natural-size model of
the human penis, in a state of semierection (fig. 17). This differed
from all the other objects in that it had been fired, instead of merely
sun dried, and is on that account much harder. Upon the upper surface
of the glans penis are three longitudinal incisions, extending almost
from base to apex, evidently made with a sharp-pointed implement while
the clay was still soft.
With these figurines a number of perforated beads of jade and some of
a dark-red stone, all nicely polished, were found; also the tooth of a
large alligator, perforated at the base, evidently for suspension with
the beads.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Unpainted object from Mound No. 1.]
About 6 feet to the north of the center of the mound, at a depth of 3
feet below the surface, was discovered a small stone cist or chamber,
18 inches square, built of roughly cut blocks of limestone. Within
this were found most of the bones of a male of medium height and fair
muscular development. These bones were exceedingly friable, but showed
no effects of fire; with the exception of the tibiæ, they were in
no way abnormal. The upper articular surface of the right tibia had
disappeared. The shaft was rounded in section, the prominent angles
at the front and sides being obliterated. It was slightly bowed, with
the convexity anteriorly, and was considerably enlarged, especially
in its upper two-thirds, which were composed chiefly of very friable
cancellous tissue, rendering the bone much lighter than its appearance
indicated. The surface of the upper part of the bone was marked by the
presence of a number of small pits or depressions. Of the left tibia
only a few fragments were found, but so far as could be judged from
these a change somewhat similar to that observed in the right tibia
had taken place in it. The bones and other objects found in this mound
would suggest at first sight the possibility of the individual buried
beneath it having suffered during life from some form of venereal
disease, closely allied to, if not identical with, syphilis. On reading
Landa's account[27] of two forms of ceremonial self-mutilation carried
out by the Yucatecan Maya at the time of the conquest there can be
little doubt, however, that the figurines shown in plate 9 and figure
15 are meant to represent individuals inflicting on themselves one
or other of these, but, owing to the crudeness of the workmanship,
it is difficult to determine which. In one the foreskin was pierced
and expanded in much the same way that the ears were treated when
sacrificing to the idols. In the other, a number of men, sitting in
a row in the temple, each pierced his glans penis from side to side,
and passing a long piece of cord through all the apertures, strung
themselves together in this way.
MOUND NO. 2
Mound No. 2 (No. 25 on the plan, fig. 14) was situated a short distance
to the south of Mound No. 19. It was circular at the base, conical in
shape, 6 feet high at its highest point, and 40 yards in circumference.
On the summit of the mound, partially buried in the earth, was found a
conch shell, much worn by the weather, with the tip cut smoothly off,
and still capable of being used as a trumpet. The surface layer of the
mound was composed of earth, in which were embedded a few limestone
blocks. Within this layer, which was 18 inches thick, near the center
of the mound and a few inches beneath the surface, was found a turtle,
hewn from a block of limestone, measuring 13 inches in length and 10
inches in breadth. The next layer was composed of ashes, charcoal,
and pieces of half-charred wood. This layer, which varied from 3 to
8 inches in thickness, extended evenly over the whole surface of the
mound, and within it were found 16 beads of jade, two small round
three-legged vases, and the fragments of two pottery images. The beads
were all perforated and finely polished; two of them represented human
faces, and one the head of some animal, probably an alligator. One
is unusually large, measuring 3-3/4 inches in length by 3/4 inch in
breadth.
The clay images are so fragmentary as not to be worth figuring, but
in construction, ornamentation, and size they appear to be almost
identical with those found in the mounds at Santa Rita, already
described.[28] One of the vases is 3-1/4 inches and the other 2-3/4
inches in height; both are ovate. All the objects taken from this layer
show traces of having been exposed to the action of fire. The beads
are all more or less cracked and blackened, and the pottery images and
vases are discolored. The next layer was composed of mortar, embedded
in which were numerous pieces of limestone; it varied in depth from
18 inches to 2 feet. The upper part of this layer, to a depth of 2 to
3 inches, was yellow and very hard, and seemingly had been fired; the
lower part was lighter in color and very friable. Within this layer,
toward the center of the mound, was found the alligator effigy shown
in figure 18. This animal is 15-1/2 inches in length from the snout
to the tip of the tail. The interior is hollow, and in the center of
the dorsal region is a circular opening 3-1/2 inches in diameter,
surrounded by a rim 1-1/2 inches high and covered by a saucer-like
lid. Within the widely opened jaws is seen a human face, having at
each corner of the mouth a small pottery disk, and in the ears two
large circular ear plugs.[29] Between the eyes of the alligator are
two claw-like horns, 1 inch in length, each terminating in three
curved prongs, which point forward. Within the body were found two
small perforated beads of polished jade. The inside of the jaws is
colored red; the whole of the body, together with the head and limbs,
is colored brown; the forehead and cheeks of the face held between the
animal's jaws are colored blue; the nose, mouth, and chin, white.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Clay alligator found in Mound No. 2.]
This is by far the largest and most carefully modeled of the pottery
figurines found at Santa Rita, the smallest detail having received
careful attention, and the scales, claws, and teeth being separately
and accurately formed.[30]
The fourth and deepest layer was 2-1/2 feet in thickness, and was
built of blocks of limestone, each weighing from 50 to 200 pounds,
roughly fitted together, without clay or mortar to fill in the
crevices. Scattered all through this layer were great numbers of
fragments of pottery censers decorated externally with human figures;
nearly 150 pounds of these were taken from it, representing probably
20 incense burners. The whole of the pottery when first found was
exceedingly brittle, but hardened in a few hours on being exposed
to the air and sun. At the bottom of this layer, and resting on the
ground, were found a number of pieces of black porous material with a
peculiar odor. The bottom of a large round pot, 10 inches in diameter,
was also found full of the same substance, which is probably a mixture
of copal gum with various aromatic substances, which had been used as
incense and partially charred at the bottom of the incense burner.
Fragments of the bottoms of round pots were found scattered about on
the ground level, many of them having bits of this charred incense
still adhering to them.
The mound appears to have been constructed in the following manner:
First, a number of pieces of burning incense and round jars containing
the same substance were strewn thickly over an area approximately 40
yards in circumference; next a foundation or platform 2-1/2 feet in
height was formed by placing together a number of large rough blocks of
limestone, among which were scattered the fragments of about 20 incense
burners, decorated outside with human figures in high relief. Over
this was plastered a layer of mortar 18 inches to 2 feet in thickness
in which was embedded the alligator seen in figure 18. Fires were
lighted on top of this mortar till its upper layers were discolored,
and into the fire while still burning were thrown fragments of two clay
images, two small oval vases, and a number of beads. Over the ashes and
charcoal left by the fires earth and blocks of limestone were heaped to
a height of 18 inches, and in this layer was buried the stone turtle
already referred to; finally on top of the earth layer was placed a
conch-shell trumpet.
MOUND NO. 3
Mound No. 3 (No. 26 on the plan, fig. 14) was situated immediately
between Mounds Nos. 6 and 11. It was roughly circular in shape, 120
feet in circumference and 3 feet in height. On being dug away to the
ground level it was found to be composed of earth and small blocks
of limestone, among which were numerous potsherds and fragments of
terra-cotta images, though the latter were so small that it was
impossible to tell how many images they represented. The potsherds
varied very much, some being rough and undecorated, others polished
and well painted in geometrical devices. Fragments of flint spearheads
and obsidian knives were also found in this mound. On reaching the
ground level the opening of a narrow passage 18 inches square was
discovered which led obliquely downward toward the east for a distance
of 8 feet; it was lined with roughly squared flags of limestone and
terminated in a small stone-lined chamber 2 feet square. On the floor,
half buried in fine dry earth, lay a small urn, roughly made of coarse
pottery, neither painted nor glazed. It was circular in form, 38-1/2
inches in circumference, with a semicircular handle at each side, and
was covered by a mushroom-shaped lid; with the lid in situ the whole
formed a somewhat irregular sphere. In the urn and almost completely
filling it were 20 small pottery figurines, comprising 3 warriors, 1
seated human figure, 4 alligators, 4 dragons, 6 quashes or picotes, and
2 serpent-like creatures.
The warrior figures resemble very closely those found in Mound No. 24
(see pl. 8), the only difference being that while two of them hold
shields on their left forearms, and grasp spears in their right hands
(as in pl. 8), the third warrior from this mound grasps a long dagger,
instead of a spear, in his right hand. The seated figure is very
similar to those from Mound No. 24 (see fig. 15), the only difference
being that the glans penis is grasped in the left hand while the right
hand wields the knife. The alligators are closely similar to those
already described, except that they are solid throughout instead of
being hollow. They are painted red, white, and black, and vary in
length from 5-1/2 to 6-1/2 inches. The tigers are similar to those
found in Mound No. 24, but are rougher, and not so carefully modeled;
all are hollow and are painted red throughout. The four dragon-like
creatures vary from 6 to 7 inches in length; the body, which is round
and slender, ends in a flattened bifid tail; the mouth, which is held
wide open, is furnished with a set of formidable teeth. Upon the upper
lip is a horn-like excrescence, and over the thorax are one dorsal and
two lateral fins. Each animal is painted white over the whole surface;
the inside of the mouth is painted red over the white layer. The six
quashes are exactly similar to those found in Mound No. 24, as are also
the two serpents.
Mounds containing animal and human effigies appear to be singularly
limited in their distribution. At Santa Rita seven have been explored
in all, each containing 1 to 49 effigies, some very crudely and
roughly made from sun-dried clay, others nicely modeled and painted
in various colors. Probably several more of these mounds had been
removed by the former owners of the estate to obtain stone for building
and road-making purposes, as figurines similar to those taken from
the excavated mounds were found in the possession of coolie laborers
working on the estate, which they said they had found from time to
time when digging for stone. The effigies comprise figures of men,
alligators, turtles, quashes, lizards, birds, sharks, and snakes,
together with two-headed dragons and other mythologic animals. Similar
mounds containing animal effigies have been found at Douglas, about
18 miles southwest of Santa Rita; at Bacalar, 25 miles northwest; at
Corozal, less than a mile south; and near San Antonio, about 9 miles
north of it. In each of these localities only a single effigy was
found, the workmanship of which resembled so closely that of the Santa
Rita specimens that it would be difficult to decide from which locality
they had come.
So far as it has been possible to ascertain, no similar human and
animal effigies have been previously discovered in this section of the
Maya area. The significance of these figurines appears to be somewhat
obscure. They are not invariably found associated with human remains,
though this may be owing to the fact that the bones have completely
perished through decay or because cremation has been practiced. They
show no signs of use or wear and were evidently made only to be buried.
The hollow specimens frequently contain one or more beads of red shell,
greenstone, or clay in their interiors, while in most cases they have
been found associated with fragments of pottery incense burners, which
in this region seem to have been very commonly mortuary in use. On
the whole it seems probable that these figurines were merely votive
offerings to the gods, buried with the dead. Some of them may indicate
the occupation of the individual with whom they were buried. A priest
and warrior from the same mound have been described, whose occupant may
have combined the double office, while a small statuette of an old man,
with a macapal slung over his shoulders, by a strap passing across the
forehead (typical of an Indian laborer of the present day), was found
by a coolie digging out stone from a mound at Santa Rita many years ago.
MOUND NO. 4
Mound No. 4 (No. 7 on the plan of the Santa Rita mounds)[31] has
recently been excavated, together with nearly the whole of the
earthwork on its south side. The mound was circular at the base,
conical in shape, 57 feet in height, 471 feet in circumference, and was
built of blocks of limestone held together by mortar. On the south side
of the mound and continuous with it was a circular earthwork 100 yards
in diameter. The walls inclosing the circular space varied from 10 to
25 feet in height. They were higher toward the north, where they were
continuous with the large mound, and lower toward the south, where an
opening 30 feet wide gave access to the inclosure. The summit of the
mound was truncated, circular, and about 20 feet in diameter.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Objects from Mound No. 4.]
It was covered by a layer of alluvial earth 4 inches in thickness, on
removing which the following objects were brought to light, lying on the
layer immediately subjacent, near the center of the mound: (a) A
leaf-shaped spearhead of very light yellow flint, 5 inches in length;
(b) a leaf-shaped spearhead of reddish flint, 5-1/2 inches in length;
(c) an eccentrically-shaped flint object (fig. 19, _a_), 4-1/4 inches in
breadth by 2-3/4 inches in depth, of light grayish flint, very neatly
and carefully chipped; (d) a large, well-made flint arrowhead, deeply
grooved on each side of the base, 2-1/2 inches in length, and of light
grayish color (fig. 19, _b_); (e) the broken end of a roughly chipped
flint hook or crescent (fig. 19, _c_). With these flint objects were
found a small red-stone bead and a quantity of pieces of broken images,
as arms, legs, faces, hands, breastplates, etc., in rough pottery. Below
the alluvial layer the mound was composed of large blocks of limestone,
held together by mortar, giving it the consistency of masonry and
rendering digging in it very difficult. At a depth of 6 feet a small
oblong chamber was opened, built of rough blocks of limestone, about 8
feet by 3 feet, within which were found fragments of human bones, the
head pointing to the north. At both head and feet a few very roughly
chipped spearheads were found. At a depth of 10 feet another small
chamber, 4 feet in length by 2 feet in height and 2 feet in breadth, was
opened, also composed of rough blocks of limestone. Within this were
four basin-shaped vessels; two, somewhat larger than their fellows, were
superimposed upon them (fig. 20). These basins were made of rough
pottery, colored yellow, with a broad red stripe round the rim. Each was
pierced by a pair of small round holes, 1 inch apart, repeated at equal
intervals four times round the circumference, about one-half inch from
the margin. The perforations in the upper vase corresponded exactly to
those in the lower when they were discovered, suggesting that they had
been connected by cords of henequen fiber, _ti-ti_, or some perishable
material which had disintegrated. It was considered certain that these
vessels would contain a number of the small pottery figures which
similar vessels from neighboring mounds had yielded. On removing the
cover from the first one, however, it was found to contain nothing but
a small quantity of impalpable dust. The second contained about an equal
quantity of similar dust, together with a small rough opal. The
excavation of this mound was continued to a depth of about 18 feet, but
nothing further was discovered.
The circular space inclosed within the earthwork was surfaced by a layer
varying from 2 feet to 3 feet in thickness, resting on the bedrock, and
composed of rubble and powdered marl beaten into a compact mass, covered
by two layers of cement, one beneath the other, which formed a smooth
level floor over the whole inclosure. A great part of the earthwork and
the rubble from the floor of the inclosed space have been removed to
repair the Corozal streets. Nothing, however, was found within them with
the exception of a few broken flint axheads and spearheads, some
hammerstones (which are found practically everywhere), fragments of
obsidian knives, and quantities of potsherds. Plate 10 shows a section
through the earthwork in process of removal at its western extremity.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Pottery vessels from Mound No. 4.]
The wall is 21 feet 8 inches in height at this point, though only about
17 or 18 feet are shown in the photograph, as the ground was filled
up behind the men excavating by a heap of limestone dust 3 or 4 feet
high, left after the stones had been removed. The wall is composed
here from the ground up of--(1) a layer of small rubble, 18 inches
in thickness, the stones composing which had apparently been picked
off the land; (2) a layer of cement, 6 to 8 inches in thickness (the
upper surface of this layer is continuous with the upper surface of
the cement covering the inclosed space, and the two together evidently
formed originally one continuous flat, smooth pavement); (3) a layer of
large rough blocks of limestone, 8 feet in thickness, built in together
with some care, but without the intervention of mortar (these blocks
had evidently been quarried out especially for this purpose, as they
were quite fresh and showed no signs of weathering); (4) a cement layer
3 feet in thickness, composed of alternate thin layers of bluish gray
cement and thick layers of yellowish cement, which can be faintly seen
in the photograph. At the point B, plate 10, were found a quantity
of ashes and small pieces of charred wood; the large stones in the
neighborhood were also blackened by the action of fire, and ashes were
mixed with the lower part of the cement layer, which would seemingly
indicate that a large fire, lasting a considerable period, had been
kept up at this point on top of layer c before the cement capping was
added. The top layer, 8 feet high, is composed of loose, friable mortar
with rough blocks of limestone set in it irregularly and finished
with a conical cap. In the upper center of plate 10, _b_, may be
distinguished a trench, 3 feet in width, which runs through the whole
thickness of this layer. Its walls are composed of rough limestone
blocks mortared together. The trench was completely filled in with
small loose rubble similar to that found in layer _a_.
The high, steep, solidly constructed mounds, the bases of many of which
are connected with more or less circular earthworks, were probably
lookouts or observation mounds. Most of these mounds terminate in a
narrow flattened summit too small to have supported even the smallest
temple, while many of them form the centers or nuclei of other groups
of mounds. Few contain anything besides the stone, mortar, and earth
of which they are constructed, though some of them contain superficial
interments. That at Santa Rita is exceptional in that it includes
stone-faced cysts. These mounds extend in a more or less regular chain
along the coast of Quintana Roo and British Honduras, reaching from
the top of Chetumal Bay nearly as far south as Northern River, and
extending inland in a southwesterly direction along the courses of the
Rio Hondo and Rio Nuevo, though many are situated at a considerable
distance from either sea or rivers.
MOUND NO. 5
Mound No. 5 (No. 27 on the plan, fig. 14), situated about 200 yards to
the southeast of the fortification, was 3 feet in height, 30 feet in
diameter, and nearly circular. It was built of blocks of limestone,
rubble, limestone dust, and earth. Many of these blocks had evidently
been taken from some building, as they were well squared. About the
center of the mound, at the ground level, a small cyst was discovered, 3
feet long, 2 feet broad, and 1 foot high, built throughout of rough
flags of limestone. Within it were two vases; one, shown in figure 21,
_a_, is of rough unpainted pottery, 4-1/2 inches high, with a small
ear-like projection on each side, each of which is ornamented with an
ear plug. Vases with these ear-like projections and ear plugs are not
uncommon in this area, and are probably highly conventionalized incense
burners. The figure of the god outside (which, as will be shown later
on, was represented after a time by the face only) has here had every
feature and ornament of the face eliminated with the exception of the
ears and ear plugs, which would always be unmistakable.
[Illustration: PLATE 10
a. SECTION THROUGH EARTHWORK INCLOSING CIRCULAR SPACE.
SANTA RITA
b. SECTION OF WALL THROUGH SANTA RITA.]
[Illustration: PLATE 11
EGG-SHAPED VASE FROM MOUND NO. 5]
The other, seen in plate 11, is an egg-shaped vase standing on three
short legs. It is decorated outside with a human face and was originally
painted white throughout and ornamented with black lines. It has a small
opening at the top covered by a triangular stopper. Within this vase
were found two small polished beads, one of greenstone, the other of red
shell. Throughout the mound were found numerous fragments of incense
burners, with the small head of a tiger, 2 birds, 5 small beads, 2
malachates, 4 net sinkers, and the ceremonial bar shown in figure 21,
_c_; all in rough pottery. About 5 feet from the northern edge of the
mound were found human bones, representing a single interment, seemingly
of a male of middle age. The skull and long bones, which were very
brittle, though they hardened on being exposed to the air for a day,
were gotten out only in fragments. The molar and premolar teeth are
heavily coated with tartar but are not greatly worn down at the crown;
the incisors, on the other hand, are very much worn and in life must
have been nearly level with the gum. Marked attrition of the incisors
seems to be present in nearly all the teeth of individuals past middle
life found in sepulchral mounds throughout this area, which is rather
remarkable, as the staple diet of the ancient inhabitants must have been
nearly identical with that of the Indians of the present day; that is,
maize ground to a fine paste on a stone metate, which of necessity
contains a good deal of grit from the metate, so much so that the modern
Maya say that an old man eats two rubbing stones and six rubbers during
his life. This gritty _nistamal_ wears down the back teeth of the modern
Maya almost to the gum, but does not materially affect the front teeth;
yet it is the latter, not the former, which we find affected in maxillæ
from the mounds. One of the molar teeth from this burial has had a
triangular piece removed from its crown (fig 21, _f_). Along one edge of
the gap left the tooth is carious.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Objects found in Mound No. 5.]
Mingled with the human bones were found: (a) A flat, oblong object, made
of finely polished bone, 1 inch broad and one-tenth inch thick. Its
original length could not be determined, as the upper part had been
broken away. (b) Three beads, one of polished greenstone, two of
polished red shell; one of the latter was 1-1/3 inches long, with two
incomplete perforations passing through it longitudinally. It had
probably been intended to form part of a wristlet. (c) Parts of three
small obsidian knives which had evidently seen considerable use, as
their edges were much chipped. (d) The curious object shown in figure
21, _d_, front view, and _e_, side view. It is made of copper, and was
evidently used as tweezers, either for the removal of hair, for which
purpose it would be admirably adapted, as the lower expanded parts of
the blades when pressed together come into such close apposition that
the smallest and most delicate hair can be removed by means of them;[32]
or for the extraction of small thorns from the skin. Landa mentions the
fact that the Maya were in the habit of removing the hairs from their
chins and lips, but if this little implement was the only one employed
for the purpose the custom can not have been a very common one in this
locality, as no other similar specimen was found in any of the mounds.
Passing from north to south through the mound, about 8 feet from its
center, were two parallel rows of limestone flags, set perpendicularly,
about 18 inches apart. Against the outer of these rows lay a
considerable accumulation of animal bones, probably those of the tapir.
In the space between the outer row of flags and the edge of the mound
were found 10 oblong blocks of limestone, averaging 18 by 10 inches, the
upper surfaces of which were hollowed out to a depth of 3 or 4 inches.
These were probably intended as water receptacles for the use of fowls
or small animals kept about the home, as precisely similar small stone
troughs are made and used by the modern Indians for this purpose. The
space between the rows of flags was floored with mortar, but nothing was
found within it.
MOUND NO. 5 A
Mound No. 5 A (No. 28 on the plan, fig. 14) was situated within a few
yards of the opening into the circular earthwork attached to Mound No.
7. It was long and narrow, nowhere exceeding 2 feet in height. It was
built throughout of small limestone bowlders, mixed with a large
proportion of black earth. The limits of the mound were difficult to
define, as the earth of which it was built had been washed down and
mingled with the surrounding soil to so great an extent that it was
almost impossible to determine where one began and the other ended.
This mound or ridge has not as yet been completely explored, but in the
part which has already been dug down two interments were found. The
first was quite superficial, about 1 foot below the surface, near the
eastern extremity of the ridge. The bones were those of a well-developed
male, of rather unusual height and muscular development for a Maya
Indian; they were in an exceptionally good state of preservation, though
not protected from the surrounding earth by cist or burial chamber.
Unfortunately, the skull was smashed into small fragments by a careless
blow of the pickax before it was realized that a burial existed at the
spot. The body appeared to have been buried lying upon the right side,
with the legs flexed at the knees and thighs. From one of the incisor
teeth a quadrangular piece had been cleanly removed (fig. 21, _g_).
Unfortunately, the tooth in contact with it on the other side could not
be found, so that it was impossible to ascertain whether a corresponding
piece had been removed from this also. The tooth was much worn at the
cutting edge. Landa describes a grinding down of the teeth to a sawlike
edge, for ornamental purposes, practiced by the Yucatecans at the time
of the conquest,[33] and it seems probable that this tooth was operated
on for a similar purpose.
With the bones were found: (a) An oblong piece of marble-like stone, 2
inches long, 1-1/2 inches broad, and 1 inch deep, polished on all its
surfaces, probably used for smoothing or burnishing; (b) what appeared
to be a piece broken from a rubbing stone which had been squared, and
which showed marks on its upper surface indicating that it had been used
for giving an edge to stone implements; (c) fragments of rough unpainted
pottery.
The second interment was that of a child 8 to 10 years of age. The site
of this burial was within a few feet of the first, at a depth of about a
foot below the surface. The bones, which were in a fair state of
preservation, were in contact with the earth of which the mound was
built. The corpse appeared to have been laid on the side, with the legs
drawn up. With the bones were found only a few ornaments broken from
pottery incense burners, as ear plugs, small animal heads, and part of a
quilted breastplate.
This mound was probably of a much later date than the other mounds
described at Santa Rita. It is merely an irregular ridge built of earth
and stones, while the earlier mounds just referred to are well defined
and constructed of blocks of limestone with rubble, limestone dust, and
mortar filling in the interstices. The bones, though placed under the
most unfavorable conditions, having been in direct contact with the damp
earth, are in an excellent state of preservation, far better, indeed,
than even the best preserved of those in the other mounds where the
conditions are decidedly more favorable. The skeletons of children are
practically never found in the other mounds, as the bones have long
since disappeared completely, while here we find the bones of a child
under 12 years of age in a fairly good state of preservation. There are
a number of those sepulchral ridges at Santa Rita, many of them hardly
distinguishable from the surrounding soil; they are all seemingly of
much more recent date than the other mounds, and are probably the work
of Maya Indian tribes who flourished long after the conquest.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Diagram of Mound No. 6.]
MOUND NO. 6
Mound No. 6 was situated near the southwestern boundary of Santa Rita.
The mound was nearly circular, with flattened top, 25 yards in diameter,
and 10 feet high at its highest point. Toward the southern side of the
mound was unearthed a wall (fig. 22, A) 2 feet thick, 2 feet high, and
about 15 yards long. From the ends of the wall roughly made masses of
limestone and mortar (fig. 22, BB) passed almost through the mound,
inclosing a rectangular space, C. The wall was evidently the remains of
an older structure, as it was built of well-squared stones and had been
broken down at both the top and sides. The masses of masonry (fig. 22,
BB) were 5 to 6 feet thick by about 5 feet high. The space C was filled
with alternating layers of mortar and small rubble. The spaces (fig. 22,
FFF) at the periphery of the mound were filled with rubble mixed with
earth.
[Illustration: PLATE 12
METATES AND BRAZOS FROM MOUND NO. 6]
[Illustration: PLATE 13
a. SMALL POTTERY SEAL
b. BOWL IN WHICH SKULL WAS FOUND
c. SKULL
Length, 15.9 cm.; breadth, 15.9 cm.;
height, 13.3 cm.; circumference, 47.9 cm.]
The rubble, wherever found in the mound, contained large quantities of
potsherds, together with flint chips and a few hammerstones. In the
spaces FFF were found numerous fragments of metates and brazos, with one
unbroken specimen of each (pl. 12). At the points marked (fig. 22, 1, 2,
3, 4) four human interments were encountered at a depth of 12 to 18
inches beneath the surface. The bodies had been buried lying on the
back, fully extended. The bones were in a very poor state of
preservation, and with each interment were found a few flint chips,
hammerstones, broken spearheads, obsidian knives, and one or two small,
very roughly made, round cooking pots. The whole mound was removed to
provide material for the Corozal streets. On reaching the ground level
it was found that a series of trenches had been cut through the earth
beneath, to the bedrock, and filled in with small rubble. Figure 23
gives a plan of these trenches, which are in the form of two
parallelograms, measuring 9 yards by 6 yards, joined by a third of
approximately the same area. The trenches varied from 3 to 4 feet in
breadth and from 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 feet in depth, according to the
thickness of the layer of earth over the bedrock. The space marked
figure 23, A, contained remains of at least 30 interments; some of these
were in small semicircular excavations made in the surrounding earth
from the sides of the trenches; these are shown at figure 23, D; others
were made in holes dug in the earth at various points within the space
A. The bodies buried in the excavations at the sides of the trenches
seem to have been crowded in, in a variety of positions, in order to
accommodate themselves to the size and shape of the cavity. Most of
those in the space A had been buried head downward, the skulls resting
in some cases in earthenware bowls, with the back bent, legs flexed, and
knees drawn up against the chin. Nearly all these bones were decayed and
friable, and could not be removed without crumbling away. The only
exception was the burial marked figure 23, D´, from which the upper part
of the skull was recovered almost entire, though the facial bones and
lower jaw were lost. This skull (pl. 13, _c_) rested in the bowl shown
in plate 13, _b_, a handsome piece of pottery, standing upon four nearly
globular hollow legs, with slits in their sides, and within them small
spheres of clay which rattled when the bowl was moved. It is painted
yellow and red throughout, and is nicely polished. A great number of
objects were found accompanying the bones in the space A. These included
flint ax heads and spearheads, flint scrapers, and hammerstones, two
obsidian spearheads, and fragments of obsidian knives, shell and clay
beads, and a small cylindrical pottery seal about 3 inches in length,
with a geometrical device in low relief stamped upon it (pl. 13, _a_).
The bones of the peccary, curassow, snake, and of some variety of fish
were also found, together with the shells of conches, cockles, snails,
and hooties (a large variety of freshwater snail still eaten by the
natives). A block of crystalline limestone, 18 inches long by 8 inches
high and 12 inches broad, was found in one of the semicircular pits
leading from the trench at the upper border of space A, figure 23. It
was traversed by 14 longitudinal grooves on its upper surface, which was
slightly concave; each groove was 1/2 inch broad by 1/4 inch deep, quite
smooth, and nearly straight. The stone had seemingly been used as a hone
for giving an edge to small stone implements.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Diagram of trenches in Mound No. 6.]
Extending out toward the northeast from the main mound was a low
structure (fig. 22, G) 4 feet in height and 25 yards in length. It was
composed throughout of layers of clay, rubble, and limestone dust, not
very clearly separated. Three separate interments were found beneath
this mound near its center (fig. 22, H), the bones in all of which were
very much decayed. From the first of these the shallow bowl (fig. 24,
_a_), 7-1/2 inches in diameter by 1-1/2 inches deep, together with the
vase _d_, 8 inches in height, were taken. The vase was of rather fine
pottery, painted a uniform dark red throughout. Nothing else was found
with this interment.
From the second grave were taken a bowl exactly similar to that shown in
figure 24, _a_, two flat dishes 12 inches in diameter (fig. 24, _e_),
and a small polished bone ring 1 inch in length, seemingly a section
from one of the larger long bones of some large animal. The vessel _g_,
6 inches in diameter, was also found with this burial; it is made of
fine pottery, painted red, and possesses a curious upturned spout, which
bends inward toward the rim of the pot to such an extent that it would
be impossible either to drink or pour out the contents therefrom. These
curious pots, usually with the spout parallel to the perpendicular axis
of the vessel, are quite common among Maya pottery from this district;
they were supposed to have been used as chocolate pots, but drinking
from them must have been a feat of legerdemain.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Bowls, vases, and dishes found in Mound
No. 6.]
From the third grave came two bowls, both almost spherical, the one 12
inches, the other 6 inches, in diameter (fig. 24, _c_). At the point K,
near the end of the mound G (fig. 22), three interments were found, very
close together, on the ground level; these had evidently been contained
at one time in a small oval cist, built of rough blocks of limestone,
which had now completely caved in. With the bones were found the vases
shown in figure 24, _b_, _f_, _h_, of the same red-painted pottery as
was found elsewhere in the mound. Six well-made bone awls, or lance
heads, each about 6 inches in length, together with a heap of the
shells of some large bivalve, one of which was polished and perforated
for use as an ornament, were also found among these bones. The stones of
which the cist had been built, the bones, and the objects accompanying
them were so inextricably mixed that it was impossible to tell which
objects belonged to each set of bones. Passing through the long axis of
this mound was a rubble-filled trench, 3 feet in breadth, dug down to
the bedrock, exactly similar in structure to those already described. No
interments were found at the sides of this trench, which is shown in
figure 23, E.
[Illustration: Flag of limestone shown in D, fig. 25.]
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--_A_, skull; _B_, limestone formation;
_C_, excavation; _D_, grooved flag in situ;
_E_, projecting lip.]
MOUND NO. 6 A
Mound No. 6 A, another of the group of mounds adjoining the
southwesterly boundary of Santa Rita, measured 18 feet by 15 feet at the
base, by about 3 feet high at the highest point, and was built
throughout of earth, large blocks of limestone, and limestone dust. The
mound rested directly on the limestone formation. Into this, near the
center of the mound, an oval excavation had been made (see C C, fig. 25)
about 10 inches in depth, and in size just large enough to contain the
skull which was found within it. A ledgelike projection was left at one
edge of the excavation (see E, fig. 25), and just beneath this rested
the point of the jaw. A large heavy flag of limestone (see D, fig. 25),
from which a semicircular segment had been chipped, was placed above the
excavation opposite the lip, so that the groove in the stone inclosed
the neck and clamped the skull tightly down in the little hole which
had been made to receive it. On each side of the skull the femora were
found, in a nearly vertical position, condyles downward, and between the
femora many fragments of other bones were brought to light, including
the tibiæ, arm bones, and vertebræ. Resting upon the limestone flag
which covered the skull lay a large, rudely made chert hammerstone, 8
inches long by 4 inches broad, which had probably been used in chipping
out the semicircular groove to fit the neck. Near the center of this
mound, 2 feet below the surface, two very neatly made flint hammerstones
were found. The dimensions of this skull were: Length, 14.22 cm.;
breadth, 16.76 cm.; circumference, 48.26 cm.; cephalic index, 123. The
base of the skull was so much damaged that the height could not be
ascertained. The extreme breadth in comparison with the length, giving
it a remarkably brachicephalic appearance, was possibly, to some extent
at least, the result of post-mortem compression from before backward
within the little cavity which contained it.
MOUND NO. 7
Mound No. 7, situated very close to No. 6 A, was oval in shape,
measuring 30 yards by 10 yards at the base, and 8 feet high along the
summit. It was built throughout of large blocks of limestone, limestone
dust, and a small proportion of earth. It rested upon the natural
limestone formation, into which, near the western end of the mound, a
shallow oval pit 18 inches in length by 10 inches in depth had been dug.
In this was found a somewhat imperfect skull, resting with the foramen
magnum uppermost. The other bones, which were distributed irregularly
around the hole, were in a poor state of preservation. Upon one side of
the skull lay a small shallow bowl, with four hollow legs, each
containing a pellet of dry clay loose in its interior; and upon the
other side a small three-legged vase. Both of these were of rather crude
pottery, painted dark-red throughout and polished. Two other excavations
similar to this were found in the limestone beneath this mound, each
containing fragments of a skull in a very advanced state of decay,
surrounded by fragments of the other bones. No additional pottery or
other objects were found beside them. The two mounds last described are
the only ones in which this peculiar method of interment appears to have
been employed. The procedure seems to have been somewhat as follows:
First, the earth capping was removed from the limestone rock, over the
area to be occupied by the mound; next, shallow oval pits were dug in
the rock into which the skulls were wedged; each body was bent, and the
thighs were flexed on the abdomen, so that the knees touched the rock on
each side of the head; finally, the mound was built up of limestone
dust, earth, and blocks of limestone around the body, in this position.
MOUND NO. 8
Mound No. 8, situated very close to Mound No. 7, was roughly circular,
36 feet in diameter and 4 feet high on its flattened top. It was built
throughout of earth, limestone dust, and blocks of limestone. Projecting
from the western edge of the mound was a large, roughly hewn block of
limestone, 3 feet by 4 feet, and 8 inches in thickness. Running through
the center of the mound from east to west were two parallel rows of
limestone flags, 2 feet apart, projecting 18 inches from the limestone
rock upon which the mound was erected and in which they were embedded.
Near the center of the mound, between the rows of limestone flags and
resting on the earth, covered only with limestone dust, was found a
single interment. The skull is shown in plate 14. Its dimensions are:
Length, 17.01 cm.; breadth, 16.51 cm.; height, 10.68 cm.; circumference,
51.30 cm.; cephalic index, 97. The body, which was stretched at full
length, had probably been laid face downward, as the bones of the
forearms, also shown in plate 14, were found beneath the skull. With the
bones of the hands were found four copper rings, considerably oxidized;
three were plain narrow bands, while the fourth was a broad flat band
decorated with incised double volutes. Some of the phalanges were
colored a bright-greenish tinge, from contact with the rings. Three of
the rings and three phalanges are shown in plate 14. These bones were
all in a remarkably good state of preservation, probably owing to the
fact that they were completely surrounded by fine limestone dust.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Circular openings leading into natural
cavity.]
Within a few yards of this mound was the opening of a small _chultun_,
with steps leading to the interior. It was oval in shape, 15 feet long,
and at one time had been covered with plaster, which had nearly all
peeled off. The floor was covered with earth, of which there was a
pyramidal heap under the opening. Nothing was found in this _chultun_
except great quantities of fragments of large, rough earthenware water
vessels.
[Illustration: PLATE 14
SKULL AND BONES FROM MOUND NO. 8]
About 300 yards to the east of the mound three circular openings were
found (see AAA, fig. 26) leading into a large irregular natural cavity
(see C, fig. 26) formed in the limestone (see BB, fig. 26). Each of
these openings was about 2 feet in diameter, and close to one of them
a circular slab of stone, 6 inches in thickness, and of about the same
diameter as the opening, was found, which had probably been used as
a cover for the latter. This _chultun_, unlike the first one, was of
purely natural formation; the walls, which were rough and irregular,
showed no signs of tool marks. The chamber varied in height from 8 to
9 feet beneath the openings, where it was highest, to 2 to 3 feet at
the sides. There was a considerable accumulation of earth upon the
floor (see DD, fig. 26), which had evidently fallen and been blown in,
as it was collected in two heaps beneath the openings. There were no
stone steps leading down into this _chultun_, and access must have been
gained to the interior by means of wooden ladders, which had long since
disappeared. Numbers of potsherds, shells, pieces of charcoal, clay
beads, and fragments of flint and obsidian implements were found upon
the floor. Several skeletons of small mammals were also found among the
earth, but these creatures had probably fallen in after the _chultun_
ceased to be used, and had been unable to get out.
At a distance of less than half a mile from the last-mentioned
_chultun_ another was discovered under somewhat curious circumstances.
A large flat mound was completely removed for the sake of the stone and
limestone dust which it contained, to be used in repairing the Corozal
streets. About the center of the mound, at the ground level, a heavy
circular flag of limestone, 2 feet 4 inches in diameter, was brought
to light. On removing this it was found to cover a round well-like
opening, which expanded below into a small _chultun_, 12 feet long by
9 feet in greatest diameter. The chamber was egg-shaped and showed no
signs of having ever been stucco-covered. From the opening a short
flight of steps, cut in the rock, led to the bottom of the _chultun_.
Nothing was found in this _chultun_ with the exception of two small
bowls of rather coarse earthenware, painted red and polished; one
almost globular in shape, 6 inches in diameter; the other circular,
flat-bottomed, 3-1/2 inches in height. The mound which covered this
_chultun_ appeared to have been one of the commonest kind of burial
mounds. At its summit fragments of a rude circular earthenware pot were
found, and near its center fragments of human bones, together with
three flint hammerstones and two small round vessels, one of light
yellow, the other of yellowish-red, pottery.
One of the most remarkable of the _chultuns_ found in this area is
situated at San Andres, within a mile of the village of Corozal.
It was accidentally found by some coolies in digging marl, and as,
unfortunately, the entire roof of the larger chamber and a considerable
part of that of the smaller had caved in, it was impossible to
discover how it had been entered from outside, as no trace of steps
remained. A ground plan of this _chultun_ is shown in figure 27. The
small chamber, A, is 8 feet long, 7 feet broad, and 5 feet 6 inches
high in the center; it is cut out of solid rock. The large chamber
(C) is 15 feet in diameter, but as nearly the entire roof has fallen
in, it is impossible to estimate its exact height. The chambers are
partially separated by a wall (B) built of rough blocks of stone and
tough mortar, which has been partly broken down. In the side of the
small chamber, opposite the wall, are three oblong shafts (D, D, D,
fig. 27) cut into the rock, by the side of the chamber wall, which is
here nearly perpendicular. Each of these is about 1 foot in depth by 8
to 9 inches in breadth, and is separated from the chamber by a single
row of bricks (E, E, E, fig. 27) mortared together, reaching from
the roof to the floor, so that there is no communication between the
shafts and the chamber. Each shaft opened originally on the surface of
the ground, but the openings had become blocked by vegetable refuse
from the surrounding bush. The bricks which fill in one side of each
shaft are of two kinds. The first, by far the more numerous, are made
of sun-dried clay, yellowish in color, and very friable: they contain
considerable powdered marl. They measure 8 by 4 by 2-3/4 inches. The
bricks of the second kind also are made of clay, mixed with many
pebbles; they have been fired, are of a reddish color, far harder and
tougher than the first variety; they measure 8 by 4 by 2-1/4 inches.
Nothing was found in either chamber except a few potsherds of various
kinds.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Ground plan of chultun.]
These underground chambers, or _chultuns_, seem to be fairly common
throughout Yucatan. Considerable doubt exists as to the uses to which
they were put.[34] It seems probable that those the walls of which
were plastered with an impervious cement lining were intended as water
receptacles, since they could easily have been filled by drainage
from the thatched roofs of buildings in the vicinity, which have long
since completely disappeared. Though the southern part of Yucatan,
unlike the northern, is fairly well watered, plastered _chultuns_ are
not infrequently found there, but always situated at considerable
distances from a good permanent water supply, as a lagoon or river. The
uncemented _chultuns_ would not hold water, and had probably been used
as storehouses for corn and other provisions. Some of these chambers
were undoubtedly used as burial places, as one at Platon, on the Old
River,[35] was covered by a burial mound, and itself contained human
bones; but it is possible that their use for this purpose may have been
secondary only. The San Andres _chultun_ is somewhat puzzling, as it
was certainly not a reservoir for water, nor were any traces of human
burial found within it. It had probably been used as a storehouse for
food, though it is difficult to understand the object of the oblong
shafts, leading into the open air, found at the side of the smaller
chamber, as they must have been quite useless for ventilating purposes,
not having any opening into the chamber itself through which the air
might circulate.
MOUND NO. 9
Mound No. 9, situated close to the _chultun_, with three openings, was
oval in shape with flattened summit, 44 feet in breadth, 66 feet in
length, and 14 feet high at its highest point. On removing the summit
of the mound to a depth of about 4 feet the floor of a building, with
parts of the walls, was exposed. The cap of the mound, covering the
ruins of the building, was composed of blocks of marl, clay, rubble,
and limestone. The lower part of the mound, upon which the building
stood, was constructed of large blocks of limestone mortared together,
forming a solid block of masonry. The building was in a very ruinous
condition; as much of its ground plan as could be traced is shown in
figure 28. The walls, A, A, A, are 3 feet 4 inches in thickness.
Such parts as remain standing are built of well-squared stones held
together by mortar (see fig. 30). They are covered with stucco inside,
which is continuous with the cement flooring of the rooms; outside
they were also covered with stucco above the water table (B, figs. 28
and 29) but nearly all of this had been broken away. The water table,
which projects 3 inches from the wall, is 12 inches deep; it is built
of well-squared stones not covered with stucco, and is continuous below
(figs. 29 and 30) with C, a layer of hard cement 18 inches broad,
which apparently ran completely round the building, and possibly acted
as a drain to carry off the water after heavy tropical showers. The
main room was 8 feet in breadth and had probably been about 30 feet
in length, with four doors opening into it, two on each side. This
was floored with very hard, smooth, polished cement, which even now
is in an excellent state of preservation; this flooring is continuous
through the doorways with the top of the water table, with which it is
on the same level. Nothing was found in excavating this mound, with
the exception of a fragment of a conch-shell trumpet, a piece of an
obsidian knife, numerous potsherds, and half of a flint paint grinder,
with traces of green paint still adherent to it. All of these objects
were found on the floor of the main room.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Ground plan of Mound No. 9.]
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Wall construction of Mound No. 9.]
Mounds erected over the ruins of buildings are extremely common all
through this part of the Maya area; some are very large, covering
buildings which had been placed on lofty stone pyramids; some are very
small, as when they cover buildings of a single small room, built
almost on the ground level. All the buildings are in ruins, all are
raised more or less on stone platforms above the ground level, and all
show traces of having been covered with stucco, both internally and
externally. In some cases this stucco is very beautifully decorated in
colored devices, as in the mound already described at Santa Rita;[36] in
others the stucco is molded in various designs and ornaments, which may
or may not be colored, as in the mound at Pueblo Nuevo on the Rio Nuevo,
presently to be described. Most of these mounds contain nothing except
the building which they cover, but some had been used as burial places,
the interments evidently having taken place after the building had been
covered in, as they are found irregularly distributed through the loose
superstructure which forms the cap of the mound, quite close to the
surface.[37]
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Details of Mound No. 9.]
MOUND NO. 10
Vague reports had been in circulation for some years as to the existence
of a mound close to the headwaters of the Rio Hondo, where the Indians
still practiced to some extent their ancient religion. It was said that
the mound contained a stone chamber in which stood on a stone pedestal a
life-sized image, painted in various colors, and that around the walls
of the chamber were niches in which rested life-sized stone turtles,
also painted; furthermore, that the bush Indians of the neighborhood
were in the habit of coming to the mound for the purpose of burning
incense before the idol.
The mound was found situated quite close to the bank of the Rio Hondo,
buried in the bush which covers this part of Yucatan. It was 80 feet in
height, 350 feet in circumference, conical in shape, and completely
covered by high bush continuous with that of the surrounding forest.
After clearing the underbrush from the mound an opening 3 feet square
was discovered about 17 feet from the summit of the mound on its
northern aspect, the walls of which were faced with cut stone. From this
opening a low passage led to a small stone-faced chamber 8 feet high, 6
feet broad, and 10 feet long, the floor of which was composed of earth
and lime well beaten down to form a hard, smooth surface. Projecting
from the walls were eight small stone brackets, upon which nothing was
found. No trace whatever was seen of a painted image or of turtles. The
walls and ceiling of the room, especially the latter, were considerably
blackened by smoke, possibly caused by burning incense.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Obsidian object and pottery vase from Mound
No. 10.]
Excavation was commenced at once in the floor of the chamber. At a depth
of 8 inches the hard floor gave place to soft brown sand, which was
continuous to a depth of 2 feet, where several small deposits or pockets
of lime were found inclosed within it, each of which contained a number
of obsidian knives and small cores. The knives were deeply indented on
each side of the base, as if to facilitate hafting. The cores, of which
20 were found, were slender and varied from 1 to 3 inches in length. On
digging down through an additional 18 inches of the brown sand a layer
of lime was exposed about 18 inches in thickness, filling the entire
lumen of the chamber, in which were found irregularly scattered 60
cruciform objects, finely chipped in obsidian, each from 3 to 4 inches
in length (fig. 31, _a_). These would have served as either arrowheads
or small javelin heads, or possibly were intended for ceremonial
purposes only. With them were a single pottery vase and two small
triangular javelin heads of obsidian. The vase (fig. 31, _b_) was
circular in shape, 6 inches in diameter, with a long piglike face
protruding from one side. It was made of dark-brownish pottery, painted
red and finely polished externally. It was filled with small mussel-like
bivalve shells embedded in lime. A number of these shells were found
also closely adjacent to the vase in the lime which surrounded it.
Beneath the layer of lime lay a layer of brown sand, 3 feet thick, in
which absolutely nothing was found. Below this appeared another layer of
lime, mixed with sand, 4 feet thick, near the bottom of which were found
40 human skulls, neatly disposed in rows. These, when first uncovered,
seemed to be in a moderately good state of preservation, but when
removed from their bed of lime and sand they crumbled so easily that it
was found impossible to preserve them. The skulls were all placed in the
same horizontal plane, each one nearly in contact with its neighbor. No
other bones were found with them, or in fact in any other part of this
mound, with the exception of two small oblong objects of bone, about 2
inches in length, each still bearing traces of paint, which were
discovered among the skulls. These skulls would seem to have been either
the result of secondary interments or the remains of sacrificial victims
whose bodies were either eaten or buried elsewhere. In favor of the
first theory is the fact that the Maya did not practice human sacrifice
to anything like the same extent that their neighbors, the Aztecs, did,
and slaughter involving forty-odd victims must have been practically
unknown among them. Furthermore, in one or two instances small shallow
stone-lined graves, covered with large slabs of stone, have been found
at and around the bases of large mounds, and it seems quite possible
that these graves may have held the bodies of distinguished dead until
their skulls were in a fit condition to be removed to the mound or until
a sufficient number had accumulated to make it worth while opening the
chamber for their reception. In favor of the second theory is the fact
that, judging by what could be seen of the teeth and lower jaws, all the
skulls were of individuals in the prime of life, no jaws of very young
or of very old individuals being discovered. Immediately beneath the
skulls were unearthed 12 objects of chert fashioned with great care.
Seven of these were spearheads, the other five of eccentric form. The
spearheads varied in length from 37 cm. (pl. 15, _c_) to 29 cm. (pl. 15,
_f_); they were very well made, some from gray, others from
brownish-yellow, chert. The eccentric flints comprised: (a) An animal
form, possibly meant to represent a bush rabbit, 30 cm. in length from
the forehead to the tip of the tail (pl. 15, _a_); (b) an animal form,
evidently meant to represent a turtle or tortoise, 28 cm. in length from
the head to the tip of the tail (pl. 15, _g_); (c) a halberd-shaped
implement (pl. 15, _b_), exquisitely chipped from light-ocher-colored
chert, 44 cm. in its greatest length by 19 cm. in breadth across the
widest part of the head. This implement is furnished with two
sharp-pointed cutting projections in front, separated by a groove; at
the back is a larger triangular sharp projection. The whole implement is
well balanced, for use in the hand, by a bulging or thickening of its
body between these three projections; (d) an implement chipped from
yellowish chert, 44 cm. in length, serrated on each side, pointed at one
end and rounded at the other (pl. 15, _d_); (e) a crescentic implement,
chipped from yellowish chert, 26 cm. in its greatest length, 17-1/2 cm.
across the widest part of the crescent. From the convexity of the
crescent project three spines, the central one long and serrated, the
lateral ones merely pointed knobs. This object is more crudely chipped
and less symmetrical than any of the others (pl. 15, _e_).
These eccentrically shaped flint and chert objects seem to be limited in
their distribution to that part of the Maya area comprised in southern
Yucatan, eastern Guatemala, and most of the colony of British Honduras.
The earliest known specimens are probably those now preserved in the
Salisbury Museum, England, which have been thus described:
Among the numerous stone weapons and implements which have been
discovered, and serve to illustrate the primitive arts of the New
World, three remarkable relics from the Bay of Honduras, in South
America, are deserving of special attention. They were found about
the year 1794, with other examples, in a cave between two and three
miles inland. * * * One is a serrated weapon, pointed at both ends,
measuring 16-1/2 inches long. [This object is almost exactly
similar to plate 15, _d_, except that the latter is pointed at one
end only, the opposite one being rounded.] Another is in the form
of a crescent, with projecting points. It measures 17 inches in its
greatest length, and it is conjectured may have served as a weapon
of parade, like the state partisan or halbert of later times. The
third, which is imperfect, has probably resembled the previous one
in general form.[38]
The second of these implements very closely resembles that shown in
plate 15, _e_, the Salisbury specimen being somewhat larger, more
symmetrical, and more carefully chipped.
About 3 feet beneath these flint objects, embedded in the sand which
filled this part of the chamber, were discovered 20 cruciform obsidian
arrowheads or javelin heads, similar to that shown in figure 31, _a_;
40 small obsidian cores; 2 obsidian arrowheads, of the shape shown
in figure 32; 12 well-made obsidian knives, grooved on each side of
the base, and two crescentic objects chipped from chert, somewhat
resembling that seen in plate 15, _e_, but smaller, without projecting
spines at the convexity of the crescent, and altogether more crudely
and carelessly made.
[Illustration: PLATE 15
STONE OBJECTS FROM MOUND NO. 10]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Obsidian arrowhead from Mound No. 10.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Flint object from Mound No. 10.]
After the sand and lime had been removed from this chamber to a depth of
nearly 30 feet it was found that the walls became continuous with the
solid foundation of masonry upon which the mound stood. This was very
difficult to penetrate, and so far as was ascertained contained nothing
further of interest. The roof of the chamber was next attacked from the
summit of the mound. To a depth of nearly 2 feet nothing was found but
fine, brown alluvial soil, full of the roots of plants and trees.
Beneath this the real structure of the mound began, for not so much as a
solitary potsherd or chip of flint was found in the earth on the summit
of the mound, indicating clearly that this layer had accumulated since
its construction. Beneath the earth layer, to the roof of the chamber,
the mound was composed of blocks of limestone of varying size, loose
friable mortar, and powdered limestone. In the first 8 feet nothing
except a few potsherds was found. At this depth two shallow circular
saucers, each 7-1/2 cm. in diameter, were unearthed. These were made of
coarse red unpainted pottery, and close to them lay a finely chipped
flint object (fig. 33, _a_, _b_). This was rounded at both ends,
narrower at the handle than at the base, and markedly convex on its
under surface (fig. 33, _a_, _b_). The front part of the under surface
was quite smooth and polished, evidently from attrition, while that part
of it marked A A bore distinct traces of blue paint. There can be little
doubt that this implement was a paint grinder, as a specimen almost
exactly similar was found in a mound near Corozal, bearing traces of
green paint on the under surface. Fourteen nicely polished reddish stone
beads, spherical in shape, together with four smaller beads of a
light-green color, and a leaf-shaped spearhead of flint, were found
adjacent to the paint grinder. Immediately beneath these was found an
object made of what seems to be reddish-brown agate; this is 10 cm. in
length, oval in section, 1 cm. in its greatest breadth, tapering off to
a blunt point at each end, and finely polished all over. With it were
nearly 300 small triangular obsidian objects of the shape shown in
figure 34. These vary in length from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 cm. They are thick
at the upper angle, the side subtending this forming a sharp cutting
edge. In some of the
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