We know but little of the games and amusements of the Indios in ancient times; but Torquemada has described[42] for us one national game, which seems to have required more skill and agility than the game of court-tennis (I do not speak of the effeminate lawn-tennis). The court consisted of two parallel walls very thick, and about one hundred feet apart. These walls were thirty feet high, and in each, at a height of from twenty to twenty-four feet, was a stone ring usually sculptured in some careful manner. At the open ends of the court were two little temples. A ball of rubber, large and very hard, was used by the players, who received the coming ball, not on a bat or racket, but on the padded buttock, from which the player endeavored to throw it through the ring, but without touching it with his hands. As the hole was only about eighteen inches in diameter, this was a most difficult feat, requiring great flexibility of the pelvic and thigh muscles. The victor was allowed to take the clothes of any of the spectators; so it may be supposed these went to the game in scant garb. Remains of these ball-grounds are found in many cities, and the stone ring of the illustration is at Chichen Itza; it is four feet in diameter, and decorated with the symbols of Quetzalcoatl.

A nation of warriors, it would be supposed their arts would provide arms both offensive and defensive; but there seems to have been nothing of peculiar originality. Arrows and darts, often poisoned, hatchets and wooden swords, in which were inserted obsidian teeth, were their weapons of offence, and those of defence were coats of quilted cotton, which the Spaniards were not slow to adopt, and shields of skins lined with cotton. While the generals and other officers were clothed in skins of pumas, jaguars, eagles, and other animals, it does not appear that the rank and file had any especial uniform.[43] All joined battle with yells and the lugubrious blasts of the tun or teponaztles,—a sort of trumpet sounding even worse than an Alpine lure.

Let us return to Utatlan, and follow for a while the fortunes of the Quichés. Under brave kings their bounds had extended, and towns, tribes, and nations were compelled to acknowledge the kings of Utatlan as their lieges. In all this external prosperity, internal dissensions arose; and the plebs, incited by demagogues, demanded privileges which the king, Quicab, was compelled to grant after the palaces of the nobles had been sacked by the mob. Another more serious trouble arose from this mob-rule. It was the custom for the rulers of the conquered tribes to reside at court at least a part of the year; and the two kings of the Cakchiquels, Huntoh and Vucubatz, were visiting Quicab, when a street-riot, of no importance in itself, turned the mob against the Cakchiquels, and they loudly called upon Quicab to surrender the Cakchiquel kings to their fury. The wise old king warned these of their danger, and advised them to retire to Iximché, or Tecpan Quauhtemalan. They did so, and this city became their capital. Now the fortunes of the Cakchiquels wax, while those of the Quichés wane. The new capital is fortified, and its inhabitants prepare for the strife evidently impending.

The first attack is made by the Quichés, who are beaten, and for a few years remain quiet. Their king Quicab dies, and Tepepul II., the ninth king, reigns with Iztayul III. The kings of the Cakchiquels were now Oxlahuhtzi and Cablahu-Tihax, under whose reign a famine, caused by unusual cold, troubles the capital. The Quichés saw a chance again to subdue their rebellious vassals, and an army was gathered, which with great pomp set out from Utatlan, carrying the god Tohil with it. A deserter from the Quiché army warned the kings of Iximché of their peril, and they bravely prepared for the contest. In the Cakchiquel Chronicle we have this description of the battle:—

“As soon as the dawn began to brighten the mountain-tops the war-cries were heard, standards were unfurled, drums and conchs resounded, and in the midst of this clamor the rapidly moving files of the Quichés were seen descending the mountains in every direction.

“Arrived at the banks of the stream that runs by the suburbs of the city, they occupied some houses and formed in battle under the command of the kings Tepepul and Iztayul.

“The encounter was awful and fear-inspiring. The war-cries and the clangor of the martial instruments stupefied the combatants, and the heroes of both armies made use of all their enchantments. Notwithstanding, after a little the Quichés were broken, and confusion entered their ranks. The most of their army fled without fighting, and the losses were so great that they could not be calculated. Among the captives were the kings Tepepul and Iztayul, who surrendered, together with their god Tohil, the Galel-achi and the Ahpop-achi, grandfather and son of the keeper of the royal jewels, the die-cutter, the treasurer, the secretary, and plebeians without number; and all were put to the sword. Our old men tell us, my children, that it was impossible to count the Quichés who perished that day at the hands of the Cakchiquels. Such were the heroic deeds with which the kings Oxlahuhtzi and Cablahu-Tihax, also Roimox and Rokelbatzin, made the mountain of Iximché forever famous.”

After this defeat the Quiché kings appear in history only as names,—of which seven, including two appointed by the Conquistadores, complete the list. Dull as was their decline, their ending was brilliant; and none of the people of Central America made such a brave struggle for independence as this grand old tribe.

Other nations occupied portions of Guatemala; and before we follow the course of the Cakchiquels we may consider some of these. In Soconusco were several bands of Tultecs who had left the Aztec plateau, and in course of time were attacked by Olmecs and reduced to the most abject slavery. At last this became unbearable, and by the advice of their priests they decided to emigrate; and under sacerdotal guidance they journeyed twenty days along the Pacific coast, until they came to the Rio Michatoya, where the priest who had led them sickened and died. The delay and uncertainty this event caused resulted in the foundation of Itzcuintlan (Escuintla) by some who were weary of the journey. The greater part went on twenty leagues farther; and here came another halt, half remaining there at Cuscatlan (San Salvador) and Xilopanco (Ilopango), while the others went on to the Gulf of Conchagua, on the bounds of Honduras and Nicaragua. These people were called Cholutecas, or Exiles, and their descendants Pipiles.

The Cakchiquels soon got into trouble with a branch of their own people,—the Akahales, who occupied the country between the Volcan de Pacaya and the Lago de Izabal. The king of the Akahales was Ychal-amoyac,—a brave and wealthy man, whose capital, Holum, rivalled Tecpan Quauhtemalan. His wealth was coveted by the victorious Cakchiquels, and he was summoned to their court. Warned of the impending fate, he obeyed the summons, accompanied only by five of his friends. As they entered the audience chamber, in the very presence of the two kings the unfortunate Akahales were assassinated. Their riches were seized, and their towns quietly incorporated into the Cakchiquel kingdom.

Although the Akahales seem to have submitted without fighting, some of the neighboring tribes saw with concern this lawless act of the powerful kings of Tecpan, and felt that their turn might come next. Wookaok, king of the Atziquinihayi, whose country bordered on the Lago de Atitlan, and Belehe-Gih, a mountain cacique on the borders of Quiché, became leaders; and the former intrenched himself in a strong fortress which the Cakchiquels besieged for fifteen days, and on its fall they put to the sword the entire garrison.

Now the Cakchiquels were by far the most important of the ruling tribes of Central America, and it was near the close of the fifteenth century. The white men had already landed on the coast of America, and the history of the tribes was hastening to a close. Insurrections here, treasons and plots there, make the substance of what there is to tell. The attempt of Cay-Hunahpù to incite rebellion shook the kingdom, but failed in the end. Revolutions gradually loosed the feudal chains that bound the subject tribes, and several of them proclaimed their independence. Chief among these were the Sacatepequez, who chose a king from their own tribe with the title Achi-Calel, and the capital of their kingdom was Yampuk; only three kings reigned, until the Conquest. The Pokomans from Cuscatlan came to Sacatepequez seeking land, and they were well provided with lands and settlements by the Sacatepequez, that they might not ally themselves with the hated Cakchiquels.

In 1510 the king of the Cakchiquels, Oxlahuhtzi, died, and the next year his colleague, Cablahu-Tihax, died also; and Hunig and Lahuh Noh succeeded their fathers. Their reign was remarkable for an embassy sent by Montezuma to the kings of Central America. What the object of the Mexicans may have been, the Chronicles do not explain. Fuentes supposes that not Montezuma, but the eighth Mexican king Ahuitzotl was the one who tried to communicate with his southern neighbors. Certainly this king carried his arms as far as Nicaragua along the shores of the Pacific Ocean; but there is no proof that he ever penetrated the interior of Guatemala. Whatever the ambassadors wanted, whether conquest or an alliance against the coming invaders, they met with poor success. At Utatlan the Quiché king refused to listen to them, on the excuse that he could not understand what they said. They went thence to Tecpan, where they found a better reception; but we do not hear that they made any treaty. When they came to the chiefs of Atitlan they were driven away by arrow-shots; and they retreated to Utatlan, when the king warned them to leave his capital that very day, and the country within twenty suns. This is the only record we have of any communication between Mexico and Guatemala before the famous march of Cortez.

In Utatlan Vahxaki-Caam and Quicab were kings when a Cakchiquel wizard, who some say was the king’s son, came by night to the palaces of Utatlan and yelled and shouted so that the poor kings could not sleep; and as bootjacks were not yet invented, they had to listen to this ancient tomcat, who, when they put their heads out of the window, called them mama-caixon and other dreadfully opprobrious epithets. Next day the king called together all his wizards and offered large rewards for the capture of the nocturnal enemy. A Quiché wizard undertook the task, and chased the foreigner a long time, both jumping from mountain to mountain. At last he captured the Cakchiquel and brought him before the royalty he had insulted. When asked if he had made the horrid noises at night, he replied that he had. “Then,” said the king, “you shall see what a festival we will make with you.” Then the nobles began a war-dance to celebrate the capture of that wizard, and transforming themselves into eagles, lions, and tigers, they danced around and clawed the poor Indio. All things being ready for his execution, he turned to the king and all the others, crying, “Wait a bit, until you hear what I wish to say to you. Know that the time is at hand when you will despair at the calamities which are to come upon you, and that mama-caixon must die; and know that some men clothed—not naked like you—from head to foot, and armed, men terrible and cruel, sons of Teja, will come, perhaps to-morrow, perhaps the next day, and will destroy all these palaces, and will make them dwellings for the owls and wildcats, and all the grandeur of this court shall pass away.” When he had spoken they sacrificed him, and paid little attention to his prophecy. Warring here and there, suffering defeat seldom, but troubled with diseases and epidemics, a plague came at last which nearly depopulated the city of Tecpan, and was especially fatal among the nobility, both kings dying. So great was the mortality that there was not time to bury the dead, and they were often left to the vultures.

When this scourge had passed, Achi-Balam and Belehé-Qat were called to the throne, and during their reign came the news of the terrible work of the Spaniards in Mexico. These young kings decided to send an embassy to the mighty chief of the invaders, begging his protection and aid against their enemies. We have to-day the letter of Cortez to Charles V., dated in Mexico, Oct. 15, 1524, describing this embassy of Guatemalans to surrender their country and countrymen to the foreign devils who had destroyed their neighbors beyond the forests of the North. One almost feels that these wretched Cakchiquels deserved the miseries they brought upon themselves. Whether by any combination the tribes of Central America could have resisted the invaders, as did the Lacandones, no man can say. Probably their time had come, and no human or divine influence could change the event; but it is sad to see these many tribes, while the storm was gathering over their devoted heads, fighting among themselves in the most headstrong way: and so they fought until the coming of Pedro Alvarado. Guatemala held three hostile camps,—the Quichés at Utatlan; the Cakchiquels at Iximché or Tecpan Quauhtemalan; and the Tzutohiles at Atitlan.

December 6, 1523, the greatest general and most trusted friend of Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado, departed from the City of Mexico at the head of three hundred infantry (of whom one hundred and thirty were archers and gunners), and one hundred and twenty cavalry. He took four small cannon, in which were used stone balls, forty reserve horses, and his native allies were two hundred Tlaxcaltecas and one hundred Mexicans, besides a large number of tlamenes to carry the baggage. With this warlike array went two ministers of the Prince of Peace, Juan Godinez and Juan Diaz. The conquest of Guatemala was the end to be attained.

Alvarado marched south to Soconusco, and here met his first opponents. Unlike the contemptible Cakchiquels, the brave Quichés would make no terms with the invaders of their country, and as the Spaniards approached they hastened to join the men of Soconusco, and near Tonalá fought their first battle with the white men. The Indios were utterly routed; but they fell back and made preparations for a greater struggle. Oxib-Queh was then Ahau-Ahpop of the Quichés, and his fellow-king or Ahpop-Camhá was Beleheb-Tzi; Tecum-Umam and Tepepul were the other principal chiefs. Tecum, as commander-in-chief of the army, designated Chuvi-Megena (Totonicapan) as the rendezvous of the Quiché forces. His army was immense (the annalists make it equal to the enrolled army of Germany!); but no one knows the exact number of naked soldiers he brought together.

After the victory at Tonalá, Alvarado marched inland towards Zapotitlan, the capital of Suchitepequez; and as he approached the city, sent some spies he had captured in the mountains with friendly messages to their chiefs. No answer, either good or bad, was returned, but a battle was fought on the Rio Tilapa, and again the Spaniards were victorious. Some of the inhabitants of Zapotitlan called from a distance to the invaders and invited them to come into the city; but Alvarado preferred to choose his own time, and the Indios again attacked him. Desperately fighting, they were constantly driven back, and the invaders trampled over their bodies even through the streets of the city and for half a league beyond, where the battle ended; and Alvarado returned to the city and camped in the market-place. More like hungry locusts than human beings, these land-pirates went on destroying army after army in a way that is painful to read about. On the plains of the River Olintepec so great was the slaughter of the Indios that the stream was colored for days with their blood. The loss of the Spaniards was only a few men and horses wounded.

Tzakahá was occupied without resistance, and the Mexican allies changed the name to Quezaltenango. Under a canopy of branches the ambassadors of the Prince of Peace offered sacrifice to the god of battles. Here at the first mass celebrated in Guatemala these blood-stained murderers knelt. No wonder that the priests have in their turn been driven from the country!

Xelahuh was found deserted, and here Alvarado rested three days to remove the rusting blood from his arms. Then came the news that another Quiché army (Alvarado writes to Cortez that it was composed of twelve thousand men from Utatlan and countless numbers from the neighboring towns) was approaching; and the Spaniards marched out to meet them on the magnificent plain between Quezaltenango and Totonicapan. This was the decisive battle, and marvellous are the Indian legends gathering around it. Over the head of Tecum, the Quiché commander, hovered a gigantic quetzal (the nagual of the chief), who savagely attacked the Spanish general. At last the Spanish lance killed the bird, and at the same moment the unfortunate Tecum fell lifeless at the feet of the Conquistador.

In his report to Cortez, Alvarado writes: “That day I killed and captured many people, many of them captains and persons of rank.”

All the prisoners taken in this war (both men and women) were branded on the cheek and thigh and sold as slaves at public auction, a fifth of their price belonging to the King of Spain.

The last army of the noble Quichés being destroyed, and their utmost efforts being unavailing to turn aside the destroyers of their country, it is not difficult to imagine the terror in Utatlan or the hurried counsels of the two kings. In desperation they decided to sacrifice their city, if they might destroy at the same time these invincible Spaniards. The enemy was to be lured within the walls, and the only two means of entrance closed, and then the thatched and wooden roofs were to be fired, and so the imprisoned enemy destroyed. It was an effective plan, and might have been successful with a less wary general than Alvarado. He discovered the plot after he had entered Utatlan; but feigning friendship, he managed to get out of the city on the plea that his horses could not bear the paved streets, and the next morning begged the honor of a visit from the two kings. Oxib-Queh and Beleheb-Tzi came with a considerable retinue of nobles, and Alvarado received them with pretended friendship. When all the preparations were made, a party of soldiers loaded the guests with chains, and then their host bitterly reproached them (the poor heathen) for their plot. By a court-martial they were condemned to be burned alive. This horrible sentence was carried out, and during Holy Week, April, 1524, the last legitimate sovereigns of the most powerful nation in Central America perished in the flames. Bishop Marroquin named the city that succeeded Utatlan, Santa Cruz (holy cross), because the Indian capital was captured on Good Friday!

Alvarado wrote to Cortez: “That I might bring them to the service of His Majesty, I determined to burn the lords; ... and for the well-being and peace of this land I burned them (yo los quemé), and commanded their city to be burned and razed to its foundations.”

The scattered Quichés, driven to fury by the awful death of their beloved monarchs, fought to the death; and Alvarado was obliged to despatch messengers to Iximché to demand aid from his Cakchiquel allies, who hastened to send four thousand warriors to crush the bleeding remains of their ancient rivals.

The reception of the Spaniards at Iximché, the fights with the Tzutohiles, and the destruction of Atitlan, seem tame enough after the martyrdom of the Quichés, the sole defenders of their country. Henceforth the rebellions and battles are only outbursts against individual oppression. Many tribes followed the Cakchiquel example, and submitted without a struggle. Itzcuintlan (Escuintla) refused; but the Spaniards entered the city on a stormy night and murdered most of the inhabitants. Alvarado marched to San Salvador in spite of considerable unorganized opposition, and returned to Iximché, where he founded on the 25th of July the capital of the kingdom of Guatemala, claiming as patron Santiago (Saint James) of Spain. This was afterwards removed to Almolonga (Ciudad Vieja).

While in Iximché, Alvarado showed his foolish Indian allies what his true character was. One of the chiefs of the Cakchiquels had just espoused the beautiful princess Xuchil; but the lustful eye of the Conquistador had fallen on her, and he sent for her on the pretext that he wished to consult her about the people to the southward whom he intended to subdue. The husband in well-grounded alarm begged the general, with tears in his eyes, to return his beloved wife, offering with his petition a rich present of gold and ornaments. “But the proud and hard-hearted Spanish knight, who thought he did honor by his passion for the bride of a Cakchiquel prince, as he had done in Mexico with the daughter of one of the lords of Tlaxcala, accepted the present, but refused with disdain the prince’s petition.” Again Alvarado called upon the kings of Iximché, Belehé-Qat and Cahí-Ymox, to bring him all the gold and silver they possessed, even to the royal insignia; and to emphasize his demand he snatched from the wretched kings their earrings, so that they shed tears at the physical pain. “If within five days all your gold is not here, woe be unto you! I know well my heart!” The kings, advised by a native priest, decided to leave the city with their wives and children, and they resolutely refused to return when Alvarado sent friendly messages and promises to them. Then the Spaniards began a war of extermination and slavery against the Cakchiquels, and the Quichés and Tzutohiles now took the side of the invaders against their hereditary enemies. All this destruction and misery had come upon Guatemala in one year, 1524. When the tribes were conquered, one by one, their sufferings only commenced; for so terrible was the slavery to which the Indian population of Guatemala was reduced that death was welcomed by the sufferers, and the Quiché nobles refused to rear children to serve their conquerors.

I do not care to follow the history of Guatemala under Spanish rule; it would be no pleasure excursion through the sloughs of deceit and over mountains of tyranny. Priests and soldiers vied with each other in iniquity; and the Indios, then as now, seem to have been the most moral part of the population.

In closing this long chapter on the early people of the kingdom, I would call the attention of my readers to the present Indians of Guatemala and their relationship, according to Dr. Otto Stoll. This learned ethnologist classifies the Indios mainly by language rather than by physical data, and I am myself sceptical of the value of linguistic distinctions. I know Bengalis who speak English most perfectly, and I can well imagine their losing their mother-tongue from disuse or disassociation with their brethren; but the Bengali does not thus become an Anglo-Saxon. I believe very little stress should be put on lingual relationships; and also do I protest against any system of classification founded on the cranium alone: the whole body, outer integuments as well as osseous frame, must be called in witness; and one day perhaps the study of human proportions and physical peculiarities will result in a classification in which language plays no part, or at least a very subsidiary one. In the mean time let us take the chart of the Swiss professor as the best thing we have at present. The nineteen tribes or families Dr. Stoll names as follows, and their location is indicated by the numbers on the chart:—

• 1. Mam.
• 2. Ixil.
• 3. Aguacateca.
• 4. Uspanteca.
• 5. Poconchi.
• 6. Quekchi.
• 7. Chol.
• 8. Mopan.
• 9. Quiché.
• 10. Tzutohil.
• 11. Cakchiquel.
• 12. Pipil.
• 13. Sinca.
• 14. Pupuluca.
• 15. Pokomam.
• 16. Chorti.
• 17. Alaguilac.
• 18. Maya.
• 19. Carib.

Of the Aztec stem, only the Pipiles (12) are found in Guatemala. They are probably the descendants of the Tultecs, who were subdued by the Olmecs. Of the Mije stem are the small tribe of Pupulucas (14). The Caribbean stem is represented on the coast by the Caribs (19); and of these so many differing accounts have been given that I am tempted to give a fuller description.

When the West Indies were discovered, they were peopled by several races; but among them none were so formidable as the inhabitants of the southern islands of that sea, now called, from their supposed name, Caribbean. The Caribs dwelt also in the valley of the Orinoco; but seldom chose their home far from the sea. They were understood to have the habit of eating their fellow-men; and it is from a corruption of Caribal that we have the opprobrious term “cannibal.” Whether they did limit their diet to the orthodox fare or not, is by no means clear; for the Spanish conquerors did not scruple to indict, condemn, and put to death the innocent natives who opposed them,—and no stouter opponents than the Caribs did they find. Two distinct tribes are generally included under the name,—the black Caribs, and the yellow: the latter with straight black hair; but the former are no doubt the mixed breed of the true Carib (who was generally at war with the European intruder) and the African slaves who escaped to the protection of the aborigines from their tyrannical masters. In 1796 England removed these troublesome people from St. Vincent to Roatan,—one of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, whence they gradually emigrated to the mainland; and now their villages are found from Belize to Cape Gracios á Dios.

All along this coast they are of distinct and uniform character, to the casual observer differing little from the negro type; of good stature, firm, muscular build, and powerful limbs,—women as well as men. To one who is used to study the physical character of men, the outward resemblance to the negro is less marked. The hair is woolly; but the nose is less flattened, the mouth not so wide, nor are the lips so thick. The shoulders are broad, but so are the hips; and the narrow pelvis of the African is generally wanting. The fingers have large joints, and from the last all the fingers, but especially the thumb, taper sharply to the end. The heel is not so projecting, and the feet are very broad. Other differences are of interest to the student of the human form rather than to the public.

Almost all speak some English,—seldom using the baby-talk of the negro, but not always conforming to the correct idiom; more familiar still with Spanish, they always use their own language in conversation with each other. Several grammars and vocabularies of the dialects spoken by these islanders and by their namesakes in South America have been published (as may be seen in the list of books given in the Appendix), but I have not studied this language enough to learn the difference, if any, between the speech of the yellow and the black tribes. The Caribbee has a disagreeable sound,—perhaps by contrast to the Spanish; but the syllables ber and bub are frequent, and the enunciation is exceedingly rapid, making it very difficult for an alien to catch the words. Add to this the curious fact that the men and women speak a distinct language, and the obstacles a learner meets are important. To illustrate, here are a few of the man and woman words:—

The traveller becomes familiar with such expressions as Igarybai, “let it alone;” Buraba duna nu, “bring me water;” Kimoi, “let us go;” Fagai, “paddle;” Mawèr, “O Lord!” Ih hj, “I don’t know,”—pronounced with a contemptuous nasal twang that would outdo the veriest Yankee.

Talkative beyond measure, it is difficult to quiet them in camp at night, unless they have had a hard day’s work. Good-natured when well treated, they have a very good opinion of themselves, and their self-love is easily disturbed. Superstitious to an extreme, they are not in public very religious; but there are strange stories told of human sacrifices in which a child was the victim. I have noticed that they put a rude cross on the window and door openings of an unfinished house to keep out the devils. When becalmed in a dory with Caribs, I have often heard the prayer:—

“Sopla, San Antonio, barba de oro cachimba de plata!

Blow, Saint Antony, with golden beard and silver pipe!”

And if the saint did not blow when asked repeatedly, the next proceeding was to make a cross of sticks and tow it astern; this last performance, like reading the Lord’s Prayer backwards, usually raised a breeze. The worship of Mafìa (the devil) I believe is general; but they do not like to talk about it. Caribs are less musical than any of the black races I have met; but they are fond of noisy drums, and will dance until utterly exhausted. Some of their dances last two days.

Of all the languages of Central America, no one has been more studied than the Maya. It is the language of Yucatan, and there many foreigners both speak and read it. In Guatemala it is the parent tongue of the great majority of the tribes, including the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Tzutohiles,—those long-time enemies. The reader may see by the table of words I borrow from Dr. Berendt the similarity of certain common words in sixteen of these dialects.

COMPARISON OF CERTAIN WORDS IN THE MAYA DIALECTS.

The Lacandones, those unconquered Indios of the Usumacinta, speak a dialect cognate with that spoken in Yucatan, Campeche, and the sacred island Cozumel; and what gives additional interest to the Maya language is the fact that all the inscribed monuments of Tikal, Copan, Quirigua, and Usumacinta belong to this race, and if interpreted, this is probably the key.

The Quekchi language (6) is spoken by the Indios of Coban Cahabon, Senajú, and adjoining parts of Alta Verapaz, while close at hand (San Cristobal, Tactic, Tucurú, La Tinta, and Teleman) we have the Poconchi form. Externally both tribes are alike, although the Quekchis perhaps dress rather better.

The extant literature of the Quichés has been freely consulted in the preparation of this chapter. Would my readers like to see what the original language of the “Popul Vuh” is like?

Uspantán has a little dialect all to itself (4). Of the Cakchiquel language we have a most interesting remnant in the “Cakchiquel Manuscript,” next in importance to the “Popul Vuh.” In it the account of the creation is copied, as was natural, from the Quiché narrative; but the main portion of the work is a history of the revolution which led to the departure from Utatlan and the occupation of Iximché, and also of the advent of the Spaniards and the subsequent events until the establishment of Christianity as the State religion. The author was the grandson of the king who died of the pest in 1519; and his story goes to the year 1582, when another member of the same family continues it to 1597.

The Tzutohiles (10), who, it will be remembered, were a fighting tribe on the shores of the Lago de Atitlan, are still of the same spirit; and when Mr. Maudslay attempted to photograph them, the women shook their fists in his face. The unwillingness to be photographed I also found among the Quiché women (old ones) of Sacapulas; but a word from the comandante subdued their opposition.

The Ixils (1) dwell in the Sierras west of Coban, and the Mames (2) are found at San Marcos, Chiantla, and Huehuetenango, all westward to Soconusco and south to Ocós. The Aguacateca (3) occupies a small space north of Utatlan, and the vocabulary given by Stoll differs entirely from that of Dr. Berendt’s already quoted. Chorti (16) is spoken at Chiquimula and Zacapa, and in the opinion of some is the language of the sculptors of the glyphs at Copan. Sinca (13) and Alaguilac (17) are almost unknown, and Stoll cannot classify them.

The personality of these tribes is wholly absent from Dr. Stoll’s learned treatise; and my own knowledge of their appearance and way of thought is too limited to lead me to venture to fill the void. I have noticed what every one else speaks of,—the sober bearing of the Guatemaltecan Indios; but I have often seen the face of my mozo de cargo brighten as I greeted him, and I have been even led to think that his mourning expression is worn much as civilized ladies wear their black,—to save themselves trouble. It is laid aside in the family, or with a friend they can trust. Many of the men are well formed, although small, and their faces are often very attractive. I believe them to be neater in their persons and garb than the ladino population.