NORTH AMERICAN TRIBES. (continued 2)

The general condition of the arts in ancient Mexico is familiar to all who have turned their attention to American history. It has indeed received more than its due share of attention from the number and prominence of the Nahuas at the conquest. They were little if at all superior to many of their neighbors in cultural progress. Even in architecture, where they excelled, the Zapotecs, Totonacos and Tarascos were but little behind them. Numerous artificial pyramids and structures of hewn stone remain in the territories of all these to prove their skill as builders. The Mexicans may be said to have reached the age of bronze. Many weapons, utensils and implements, were manufactured of this alloy of copper and tin. Gold, silver, lead and copper, were likewise deftly worked by founding and smelting into objects of ornament or use. Lead was also known, but not utilized. The majority of implements continued to be of stone. They were fortunate in having for this purpose a most excellent material, obsidian, which volcanic product is abundant in Mexico. From it they flaked off arrow points, knives and scrapers, and by polishing worked it into labrets and mirrors. A variety of nephrite or jade was highly esteemed, and some of the most elaborate specimens of Mexican art in stone are in this hard, greenish material. Fragments of colored stones were set in mosaic, either as masks, knife handles or the like, with excellent effect.

With the undoubtedly dense population of many districts, the tillage of the ground was a necessary source of the food supply. The principal crop was as usual maize, but beans, peppers, gourds and fruit were also cultivated. Cotton was largely employed for clothing, being neatly woven and dyed in brilliant colors.

The religious rites were elaborate and prescribed with minuteness. Priests and priestesses were vowed to the cult of certain deities. Their duties consisted in sweeping and decorating the temples, in preparing the sacrifices, and in chanting at certain periods of the day and night. The offerings were usually of quails, rabbits or flowers, but, especially in Tenochtitlan, human sacrifices were not infrequent. The victims were slaves or captives taken in war. At times their flesh was distributed to the votaries, and was consumed as part of the ceremony; but as this was a rite, the Aztecs cannot be said to have been anthropophagous.

The priestly class had charge of the education of the youth of the better class. This was conducted with care and severity. Large buildings were set apart for the purpose, some for boys, others for girls. The boys were taught martial exercises, the history of the nation, the chants and dances of the religious worship, forms of salutation, the art of writing, etc. The girls were instructed in household duties, the preparation of food, the manufacture of garments, and the morals of domestic life.[155]

The literature which represented this education was large. It was preserved in books written upon parchment, or upon paper manufactured from the fibrous leaves of the maguey. This was furnished in great quantities from different parts of the realm, as much as 24,000 bundles being required by the government annually as tribute. A book consisted of a strip of paper perhaps twenty feet long, folded like a screen into pages about six inches wide, on both sides of which were painted the hieroglyphic characters. These were partly ideographic, partly phonetic; the latter were upon the principle of the rebus, conveying the name or word by the representation of some object, the word for which had a similar sound. I have called this the ikonomatic method of writing, and have explained it in detail in several essays on the subject.[156]

Their calendar recognized the length of the year as 365 days. The mathematical difficulties in the way of a complete understanding of it have not yet been worked out, and it may have differed in the various tribes. Its elements were a common property of all the Nahua peoples, as well as many of their neighbors; which of them first devised it has not been ascertained.

UTO-AZTECAN LINGUISTIC STOCK.

a. Shoshonian Branch.

Bannacks, in Montana and southern Idaho.

Cahuillos, in southern California.

Chemehuevis, branch of Pi-utes, on Cottonwood Island.

Comanches, in northern Texas, on both banks of Rio Grande.

Kauvuyas, southern California, near the Pacific.

Kechis, in southern California, branch of Kauvuyas.

Kizh, in southern California, branch of Kauvuyas.

Moquis, in Moqui Pueblo, Arizona.

Netelas, in southern California.

Pa-Vants, south of Great Salt Lake.

Pi-utes, in southern and central Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah.

Shoshonees or Snakes, in New Mexico and Colorado, Idaho and southern Oregon.

Utes or Utahs, in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, etc.

Wihinasht, in Oregon, south of Columbia river.

b. Sonoran Branch.

Acaxees, (?) in the Sierra de Topia.

Cahitas, south of Rio Yaqui.

Coras, in the Sierra de Nayarit.

Eudeves, a sub-tribe of Opatas.

Guaymas, on Rio de Guaymas.

Mayos, on R. Mayo, sub-tribe of Cahitas.

Nevomes, see Pimas.

Opatas, head-waters of Rio Yaqui.

Papayos, or Papagos, sub-tribe of Pimas.

Pimas, from Rio Yaqui to Rio Gila.

Sabaguis, sub-tribe of Pimas.

Tarahumaras, in the Sierra of Chihuahua.

Tehuecos, on R. del Fuerte, dialect of Cahita.

Tecoripas, speak dialect of Pima.

Tepehuanas, in Durango.

Tubares, in upper Sinaloa.

Yaquis, on Rio Yaqui.

c. Nahuatlecan Branch.

Alaguilacs, on Rio Motagua in Guatemala.

Aztecs, in the valley of Mexico.

Cuitlatecos, south and west of Michoacan.

Mexicans, see Aztecs.

Meztitlatecas, in the Sierra of Meztitlan.

Nicaraos, in Nicaragua between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific.

Niquirans, see Nicaraos.

Pipiles, on Pacific coast in Soconusco and Guatemala.

Seguas, near Chiriqui Lagoon.

Tecos, see Cuitlatecos.

Tezcucans, in valley of Mexico.

Tlascalans, in Tlascala, east of valley of Mexico.

Tlascaltecans, in San Salvador.

2. THE OTOMIS.

According to Aztec tradition, the Otomis were the earliest owners of the soil of Central Mexico. Their language was at the conquest one of the most widely distributed of any in this portion of the continent. Its central regions were the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato; from the upper portion of the valley of Mexico it extended north to the Rio Verde, on the west it adjoined the Tarascans of Michoacan, and on the east the Huastecs of Panuco.

The Otomis are below the average stature, of dark color, the skull markedly dolichocephalic,[157] the nose short and flattened, the eyes slightly oblique. Following the lead of some of the old writers, modern authors have usually represented the Otomis as rude savages, far inferior to the Nahuas. Doubtless the latter often so represented them, but this does not correspond with what we learn of them from other sources. Although subjected by the Nahuas, they do not seem to have been excessively ignorant. Agriculture was not neglected, and from their cotton the women wove clothing for both sexes. Ornaments of gold, copper and hard stones were in use; their religion was conducted with ceremony;[158] and they were famous for their songs and musical ability.[159] The members of the nation to-day are laborious, good tempered, and endowed with a remarkable aptitude for imitation, especially in sculpture. Some of the women are quite handsome.[160]

Their language has attracted a certain amount of attention, partly from its supposed similarity to the Chinese, partly because it is alleged to differ from most American tongues in showing no incorporation. Both of these statements have been proved erroneous.[161] It is a tongue largely monosyllabic, of extremely difficult enunciation, worn down by attrition almost to an isolating form, but not devoid of the usual traits of the languages of the continent. There are several dialects, the relations of which have been the subject of fruitful investigations.[162]

OTOMI LINGUISTIC STOCK.

Jonaz, in Prov. of Queretaro.

Matlaltzincos, in Valley of Mexico and Mechoacan.

Mazauhas, southwest of Valley of Mexico.

Mecos, see Jonaz.

Otomis, throughout Central Mexico.

Pames, in Queretaro and Guanajuato.

Pirindas, see Matlaltzincos.

3. THE TARASCOS.

The Tarascans, so called from Taras, the name of a tribal god,[163] had the reputation of being the tallest and handsomest people of Mexico.

They were the inhabitants of the present State of Michoacan, west of the valley of Mexico. According to their oldest traditions, or perhaps those of their neighbors, they had migrated from the north in company with, or about the same time as the Aztecs. For some three hundred years before the conquest they had been a sedentary, semi-civilized people, maintaining their independence, and progressing steadily in culture.[164] When first encountered by the Spaniards they were quite equal and in some respects ahead of the Nahuas. The principal buildings of their cities, the chief of which was their capital Tzintzuntan, were of cut stone well laid in mortar. A number of remains of such have been reported by various travelers, many of them being conical mounds of dressed stones, locally called yacates, which probably are sepulchral monuments.[165]

In their costume the Tarascos differed considerably from their neighbors. The feather garments which they manufactured surpassed all others in durability and beauty. Cotton was, however, the usual material. Gold and copper are found in the mountains of the district, and both these metals were worked with skill. Nowhere else do we find such complete defensive armor; it consisted of helmet, body pieces, and greaves for the legs and arms, all of wood covered neatly with copper or gold plates, so well done that the pieces looked as if they were of solid metal.[166]

A form of picture-writing was in use in Michoacan, but no specimen of it has been preserved. The calendar was nearly the same as that in Mexico, and the government apparently more absolute in form. Many but confused details have been preserved about their religion and rites. There was a mysterious supreme divinity, Tucapacha, though Curicaneri, who is said to have represented the sun, was the deity chiefly worshipped. Large idols of stone and many of smaller size of terra cotta may still be exhumed by the energetic archæologist. Cremation was in vogue for the disposition of the dead, and human sacrifices, both at funerals and in the celebration of religious rites, were usual.

The Tarascan language is harmonious and vocalic, and its grammar is thoroughly American in character, the verb being extraordinarily developed, the substantive incorporated in the expression of action, and the modifications of this conveyed by numerous infixes and suffixes.

4. THE TOTONACOS.

The first natives whom Cortes met on landing in Mexico were the Totonacos. They occupied the territory of Totonicapan, now included in the state of Vera Cruz. According to traditions of their own, they had resided there eight hundred years, most of which time they were independent, though a few generations before the arrival of the Spaniards they had been subjected by the arms of the Montezumas. The course of their early migrations they stated had been from the west and northwest, and they claimed to have been the constructors of the remarkable pyramids and temples of Teotihuacan, ten miles northwest of the city of Mexico. This boast we may be chary of believing, but they were unquestionably a people of high culture. Sahagun describes them as almost white in color, their heads artificially deformed, but their features regular and handsome.[167] Robes of cotton beautifully dyed served them for garments, and their feet were covered with sandals. The priests wore long black gowns with collars, so that they looked like Dominican monks. The religion which prevailed among them was a sun-worship with elaborate rites, among which were the circumcision of boys and a similar operation on girls.

These people were highly civilized. Cempoalla, their capital city, was situate about five miles from the sea, at the junction of two streams. Its houses were of brick and mortar, and each was surrounded by a small garden, at the foot of which a stream of fresh water was conducted. Fruit trees and grain fields filled the gardens and surrounded the city. Altogether, says the chronicler, it was like a terrestrial paradise.[168] That this description is not overdrawn, is proved by the remarkable ruins which still exist in this province, and the abundant relics of ancient art which have been collected there, especially by the efforts of Mr. Hermann Strebel, whose collections now form part of the Berlin Ethnographic Museum.[169]

The affinities of the Totonacos are difficult to make out. Sahagun says that they claimed kinship with the Huastecs, their neighbors to the north, which would bring them into the Maya stock. Their language has, in fact, many words from Maya roots, but it has also many more from the Nahuatl, and its grammar is more in accord with the latter than with the former.[170] Besides these, there is a residuum which is different from both. For this reason I class them as an independent stock, of undetermined connections.

5. THE ZAPOTECS AND MIXTECS.

The greater part of Oaxaca and the neighboring regions are still occupied by the Zapotecs, who call themselves Didja-Za.[171] There are now about 265,000 of them, about fifty thousand of whom speak nothing but their native tongue. In ancient times they constituted a powerful independent state, the citizens of which seem to have been quite as highly civilized as any member of the Aztecan family. They were agricultural and sedentary, living in villages and constructing buildings of stone and mortar. The most remarkable, but by no means the only specimens of these still remaining are the ruins of Mitla, called by the natives Ryo Ba, the “entrance to the sepulchre,” the traditional belief being that these imposing monuments are sepulchres of their ancestors.[172] These ruins consist of thirty-nine houses, some of adobe, but most of stone, and two artificial hills. The stone houses have thick walls of rough stone and mortar, faced with polished blocks arranged in a variety of symmetrical patterns, such as are called grecques. Sometimes these patterns are repeated on the inner walls, but more frequently these were plastered with a hard white coat and painted an Indian red, with numerous figures. These delineations are on a par with those from the valley of Mexico and the ancient cities of Yucatan, and reveal much the same technique. One of the rooms is called the “hall of the columns,” from six round monolithic columns nearly ten feet in height, which were intended to support a roof of heavy stone slabs.

The Mixtecs adjoined the Zapotecs to the west, extending along the coast of the Pacific to about the present port of Acapulco. In culture they were equal to the Zapotecs; having a preference for an agricultural life, constructing residences of brick and stone and acquainted with a form of picture or hieroglyphic writing, in which they perpetuated the memory of their elaborate mythology.[173] They pretended to have taken their name from Mixtecatl, one of the seven heroes who set out from Chicomoztoc, “the land of seven caves,” far in the north, and at other times pretended descent from the fabulous Toltecs, claims which Sahagun intimates were fictions of the Nahuas living among them.[174]

The Zapotecs made use of a calendar, the outlines of which have been preserved. It is evidently upon the same astronomical theory as the Mexican, as was their system of enumeration. Their language is not inharmonious. It is called the ticha za, “language of the noble people.”

ZAPOTEC-MIXTEC LINGUISTIC STOCK.

Amusgos, in Guerrero.

Chatinos, in Oaxaca, department of Jamiltepec.

Chuchonas, on borders of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

Cuicatecos, in Oaxaca, department of Teotilan.

Mazatecos, in Oaxaca, near boundary of Puebla, in ancient province of Mazatlan.

Mixtecos, in Oaxaca and Guerrero.

Papabucos, in Oaxaca.

Soltecos, in Oaxaca.

Zapotecos, in Oaxaca.

6. THE ZOQUES AND MIXES.

The mountain regions of the isthmus of Tehuantepec and adjacent portions of the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca are the habitats of the Zoques, Mixes, and allied tribes. The early historians draw a terrible picture of their valor, savagery and cannibalism, which reads more like tales to deter the Spaniards from approaching their domains than truthful accounts.[175] However this may be, they have been for hundreds of years a peaceful, ignorant, timid part of the population, homely, lazy and drunken, but not violent or dangerous. The Mixes especially cultivate abundance of maize and beans, and take an interest in improving the roads leading to their towns.[176]

The faint traditions of these peoples pointed to the south for their origin. When they lived in Chiapas they were conquered by the Chapanecs (Mangues), and this induced many of them to seek independence in the Sierra to the north and west. At present the main village of the Mixes is San Juan Guichicovi, while the Zoques are scattered between the Rio del Corte and the Rio Chiapa. They are described as agricultural and laborious, but also as stupid, inclined to drunkenness, and very homely.[177]

A comparison of the two languages leaves no doubt as to their derivation from a common stem.

ZOQUE LINGUISTIC STOCK.

Chimalapas, a sub-tribe of Zoques.

Mixes, in Oaxaca, and on the Isthmus.

Tapijulapanes, on Rio de la Sierra.

Zoques, in eastern Tabasco, Chiapas and Oaxaca.

7. THE CHINANTECS.

The Chinantecs inhabited Chinantla, which is a part of the state of Oaxaca, situated in the Sierra Madre, on the frontiers of the province of Vera Cruz. Their neighbors on the south were the Zapotecs and Mixes, and on the north and east the Nahuas. They lived in secluded valleys and on rough mountain sides, and their language was one of great difficulty to the missionaries on account of its harsh phonetics. Nevertheless, Father Barreda succeeded in writing a Doctrina in it, published in 1730, the only work which has ever appeared in the tongue. The late Dr. Berendt devoted considerable study to it, and expressed his conclusions in the following words: “Spoken in the midst of a diversity of languages connected more or less among themselves, it is itself unconnected with them, and is rich in peculiar features both as to its roots and its grammatical structure. It is probable that we have in it one of the original languages spoken before the advent of the Nahuas on Mexican soil, perhaps the mythical Olmecan.”[178]

The Chinantecs had been reduced by the Aztecs and severely oppressed by them. Hence they welcomed the Spaniards as deliverers. Their manners were savage and their disposition warlike.[179] Other names by which they are mentioned are Tenez and Teutecas.

8. THE CHAPANECS AND MANGUES.

In speaking of the province of Chiapas the historian Herrera informs us that it derived its name from the pueblo so-called, “whose inhabitants were the most remarkable in New Spain for their traits and inclinations.”[180] They had early acquired the art of horsemanship, they were skillful in all kinds of music, excellent painters, carried on a variety of arts, and were withal very courteous to each other.

One tradition was that they had reached Chiapas from Nicaragua, and had conquered the territory they possessed from the Zoques, some of whom they had rendered tributary, while others had retired further into the Sierra. But the more authentic legend of the Chapas or Chapanecs, as they were properly called from their totemic bird the Chapa, the red macaw, recited that their whole stock moved down from a northern latitude, following the Pacific coast until they came to Soconusco, where they divided, one part entering the mountains of Chiapas, the other proceeding on to Nicaragua, where we find them under the name of Mangues, or Chorotegans, along the shores of Lake Managua.[181] Here they occupied a number of populous villages, estimated by the historian Oviedo to contain about forty thousand souls.[182] They were agricultural and sedentary, and moderately civilized, that is, they had hieroglyphic books, wove and spun cotton, were skilled in pottery and had fixed government. They are described as lighter in color than most Indians, and wearing long hair carefully combed. A small band wandered still further south, to the vicinity of Chiriqui Lagoon.[183]

The Chapanec language is one of marked individuality. Its phonetics are harmonious, but with many obscure and fluctuating sounds. In its grammatical construction we find a singular absence of distinction between subject and object. While the appreciation of number in the form of nouns is almost absent, their relations are expressed with excessive particularity, so that a noun may have different forms, as it is used in different relations.[184] There is comparatively slight development of the polysynthetic structure which is generally seen in American languages.

CHAPANEC LINGUISTIC STOCK.

Chapanecs, on Rio Grande in Central Chiapas.

Chorotegans, see Mangues.

Dirians, in the mountains south of Lake Managua.

Guetares, in Costa Rica.

Mangues, on Lake Managua, Nicaragua.

Orotinans, on the Gulf of Nicoya.

9. CHONTALS AND POPOLOCAS; TEQUISELATECAS AND MATAGALPAS.

According to the census of 1880 there were 31,000 Indians in Mexico belonging to the Familia Chontal.[185] No such family exists. The word chontalli in the Nahuatl language means simply “stranger,” and was applied by the Nahuas to any people other than their own. According to the Mexican statistics, the Chontals are found in the states of Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Tobasco, Guatemala and Nicaragua. A similar term is popoloca, which in Nahuatl means a coarse fellow, one speaking badly, that is, broken Nahuatl. The popolocas have also been erected into an ethnic entity by some ethnographers, with as little justice as the Chontallis. They are stated to have lived in the provinces of Puebla, Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Mechoacan, and Guatemala. Sometimes the same tribe has been called both Chontales and Popoloras, which would be quite correct in the Nahuatl tongue, since in it these words are common nouns and nearly synonymous in signification; but employed in an ethnographic sense, they have led to great confusion, and the blending into one of distinct nationalities. I shall attempt to unravel this snarl as far as the linguistic material at my command permits.

The Chontales of Oaxaca lived on the Pacific coast on the Cordillera in that State, in the Sierra Quiegolani. They were brought under instruction in the latter part of the sixteenth century by Father Diego Carranza, who labored among them for twelve years with gratifying success, and wrote a Doctrina, Sermones and Ejercicios Espirituales in their language.[186] Unfortunately these works are no longer to be found, and the only specimen of their idiom which I have obtained is a vocabulary of 23 words, collected by John Porter Bliss in 1871. This is too limited to admit of positive identification; but it certainly shows several coincidences with the Yuma linguistic stock.[187] Provisionally, however, I give it the name of Tequistlatecan, from the principal village of the tribe, where Father Carranza built his church. The Chontales of Guerrero were immediately adjacent to those of Oaxaca, in the same Sierra, and there is every reason to believe that they belonged to the same family; and from their location, history and associations, I do not doubt that Orozco y Berra was right in placing the Triquis in the same family.[188]

The Chontales of Tabasco occupied most of the basin of the Rio Grijalva. Herrera states that their language was that in general use in the province, being richer in words than the Zoque, or the provincial Mexican which has been introduced.[189] This leads us to believe that it was a Maya dialect, a supposition confirmed by a MS. vocabulary obtained by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt. By this it is seen that the Chontal of Tabasco is a member of the numerous Maya family, and practically identical with the Tzendal dialect.[190]

In Nicaragua two entirely different peoples have been called Chontales. The first of these is also sometimes mentioned as Popolucas. Their tongue is, or a generation ago was, current in and around the city of Matagalpa and in various hamlets of the departments of Matagalpa, Segovia and Chontales. The only specimen I know of it is a vocabulary, obtained in 1874 by the Rev. Victor Noguera, and supplied by him to Dr. Berendt. It contains a small percentage of words from the neighboring dialects, but in the mass is wholly different, and I consider it an independent stock, to which I give the name Matagalpan.

The second Chontales of Nicaragua are those mentioned as Chontal-lencas by M. Désiré Pector, and are none other than the Lencas described by Mr. E. G. Squier.

The Chontal of Honduras is located geographically in those regions where the Chorti dialect of the Maya stock prevails, and there is no reasonable doubt but that it is Chorti and nothing more.

The Chontales described by Mr. E. G. Squier as living in the mountains north of Lake Nicaragua, about the sources of the Blewfield river, and of whose language he gives a short vocabulary,[191] are proved by this to be members of the extensive family of the Ulvas.

Of the various tribes called Popolocas, that living at the period of the conquest in and near Puebla was the most important. Their chief city was Tecamachcalco, and they occupied most of the old province of Tepeaca. We can form some idea of their number from the statement that in the year 1540 Father Francisco de las Navas visited their country for missionary purposes, and in less than two months converted (!) and baptized 12,000 of them, and this without any knowledge of their language.[192] The first who did obtain a familiarity with it was Francisco de Toral, afterwards first bishop of Yucatan. He described it as most difficult, but nevertheless succeeded in reducing it to rules and wrote an Arte y Metodo of it, now unfortunately lost.[193] Its relationship has remained obscure. De Laet asserted that it was merely a corrupt dialect of the Nahuatl;[194] while Herrera was informed by his authorities that it was a wholly different tongue.[195] In this opinion he was right. In 1862 Dr. Berendt succeeded in obtaining a short vocabulary of it as it is still spoken at Oluta, Tesistepec, San Juan Volador and the neighboring country. A comparison shows that it belongs to the Mixe family. The ancient province of Tepeaca adjoined directly the territory of the Mixes, and this identification proves that their tongue was more important and extended much more widely than has hitherto been supposed. It was spoken, therefore, by the Tlapanecos, Coviscas and Yopes, who were located in this region.

The Popoloca of Oaxaca is an entirely different tongue. It is mentioned as identical with the Chochona, and some have supposed this dialect, in which we have a Catecismo by Father Roldan, was the same as the Popoloca of Tepeaca. This is an error. As I have said, the first missionary to master and write about the latter was Father Toral, who wrote his Arte about 1561; but more than ten years before that, to wit, in 1550, Father Benito Fernandez had printed in the city of Mexico his Doctrina en Lengua Misteca, and had composed variants in the Tepuzcolola and Chochona dialects of that tongue.[196] The Chochona or Popoloca, of Oaxaca, belongs to the Zapotec-Mixtec, and not to the Zoque-Mixe family.

The Popolocas who lived in and near Michoacan were also called Tecos, and Orozco y Berra enumerates the language they spoke, the Teca, among those which are extinct.[197] The name Tecos, however, was merely an abbreviated form of Cuitlatecos, and was applied to the conquered Nahuatl population around Michoacan. In some of the old glossaries teco is explained by Mexicano.[198] The language they spoke belonged to the Nahuatl branch of the Uto-Aztecan stock.

The Popolocas of Guatemala were located at the close of the eighteenth century in two curacies widely apart.[199] One of these was Yanantique, partido of San Miguel, province of San Salvador, and contained the villages Conchagua and Intipuca. Now Intipuca is a Lenca name, as stated by Mr. Squier, and we are thus authorized to identify these Popolocas with the Lencas. The other Popolocas were at and near Conguaco in the partido of Guazacapan, province of Escuintla, where they lived immediately adjacent to the Xincas. Dr. Otto Stoll identifies them with the Mixes, but by an error, as he mistook the vocabulary collected by Dr. Berendt of the Popoloca of Oluta, for one of the Popoloca of Conguaco.[200] What language is spoken there I do not know, as I have not been able to find a word in it in any of my authorities.

Dr. Julius Scherzer has further added to the confusion about the Popolocas of Guatemala by printing at Vienna a vocabulary under this name which he had obtained near the Volcan de Agua.[201] It is nothing more than the ordinary Cakchiquel dialect of that locality, known as the lengua metropolitana from its official adoption by the church.

10. THE MAYAS.

The geographical relations of the members of the Maya stock are in marked contrast to those of the Uto-Aztecan—its only rival in civilization. Except the colony of the Huastecas on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in the valley of the Rio Panuco, all its dialects were in contiguity. The true Maya, which is believed to be the purest form of the language, extended over the whole of the peninsula of Yucatan, around Lake Peten, and far up the affluents of the Usumacinta, the dialect of the Lacandons being closely akin to it. The principal tribes in Guatemala were the Quiches, the Cakchiquels and the Mams; while in Tabasco the Tzendals and the Tzotzils held an extensive territory. We cannot identify the builders of the ruined cities of Palenque in Tabasco and Copan in Honduras with the ancestors of any known tribe, but the archæological evidence is conclusive that whoever they were, they belonged to this stock, and spoke one of its dialects.

The historic legends of several members of the family have been well preserved. According to the earliest authorities, those of the Quiches went back more than eight hundred years before the conquest,[202] that is, to about 700 A. D.; while the chronicles of the Mayas seem to present a meagre sketch of the nation nearly to the beginning of the Christian era.[203] The uniform assertion of these legends is that the ancestors of the stock came from a more northern latitude, following down the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. This is also supported by the position of the Huastecas, who may be regarded as one of their tribes left behind in the general migration, and by the tradition of the Nahuas which assigned them a northern origin.[204] So far no relationship has been detected with any northern stock, but the striking similarity of some art remains in the middle Mississippi to those of Yucatan, suggests that one should search in this vicinity for their priscan home.[205]

Physically the Mayas are short, strong, dark, and brachycephalic. The custom of compressing the skull antero-posteriorly which formerly prevailed, exaggerated this latter peculiarity. When first encountered by the Spaniards they were split into a number of independent states of which eighteen are enumerated in Yucatan alone. According to tradition, these were the fragments of a powerful confederacy which had broken up about a century before, the capital of which was Mayapan. The tribes were divided into gentes, usually named after animals, with descent in the male line. A man bore the names of both his father’s and mother’s gens, but the former was distinguished as his “true name.” The chieftainship was hereditary, a council from the gentes deliberating with the ruler.

The art in which these people excelled was that of architecture. They were born builders from a remote epoch. At the time of the conquest the stately structures of Copan, Palenque, T’Ho, and many other cities were deserted and covered with an apparently primitive forest; but others not inferior to them Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Peten, etc., were the centers of dense population, proving that the builders of both were identical. The material was usually a hard limestone, which was polished and carved, and imbedded in a firm mortar. Such was also the character of the edifices of the Quiches and Cakchiquels of Guatemala. In view of the fact that none of these masons knew the plumb-line or the square, the accuracy of the adjustments is remarkable.[206] Their efforts at sculpture were equally bold. They did not hesitate to attempt statues in the round of life-size and larger, and the facades of the edifices were covered with extensive and intricate designs cut in high relief upon the stones. All this was accomplished without the use of metal tools, as they did not have even the bronze chisels familiar to the Aztecs. Gold, silver and copper were confined to ornaments, bells and similar purposes.

The chief source of the food supply was agriculture. Maize was the principal crop, and the arable land was carefully let out to families by the heads of the villages. Beans and peppers were also cultivated and bees were domesticated, from which both honey and wax, used in various arts, were collected. Cotton was woven into fabrics of such delicacy that the Spaniards at first thought the stuffs were of silk. It was dyed of many colors, and was the main material of clothing. Brilliant feathers were highly prized. Their canoes were seaworthy, and though there was no settlement of the Mayas on the island of Cuba as has been alleged, there was a commercial interchange of products with it, since Columbus was shown wax from Yucatan and was told about the peninsula. An active commerce was also maintained with southern Mexico, along the Gulf Coast, the media of exchange being cacao beans, shells, precious stones and flat pieces of copper.[207]

The points which have attracted the most attention in Maya civilization, next to its architecture, are the calendar and the hieroglyphics. The calendar is evidently upon the same basis as that of the Mexicans, turning upon the numerals thirteen, twenty, and four. But the Mayas appear to have had more extended measures for the computation of time than the Aztecs. Besides the cycle of twenty years, called by them the katun, and that of fifty-two years, they had the ahau katun, or Great Cycle, of two hundred and sixty years.

Both the Cakchiquels, Quiches and Mayas of Yucatan were literary peoples. They made frequent use of tablets, wrote many books, and covered the walls of their buildings with hieroglyphs carved on the stone or wood, or painted upon the plaster. Their characters are entirely different from those of the Mexicans. Most of them have rounded outlines, something like that of a section of a pebble, and for this reason the name “calculiform” has been applied to the writing. Their books were of maguey paper or of parchment, folded like those of the Mexicans. Although five or six of them have been preserved, as well as numerous inscriptions on the walls of buildings, no satisfactory interpretations have been offered, largely, perhaps, because none of the interpreters have made themselves familiar with the Maya language.[208]

Imperfect description of the myths and rites of the Yucatecan Mayas are preserved in the old Spanish authors; while of the Quiches we have in the original their sacred book, the Popol Vuh with a fair translation by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg.[209] This may well be considered one of the most valuable monuments of ancient American literature, and its substantial authenticity cannot be doubted. Its first part presents a body of ancient mythology and its second the early history of the tribe. The latter is supplemented by a similar document relating to the history of their neighbors the Cakchiquels, written at the time of the conquest, which I have published from the unique MS. in my possession.[210] Many facts relating to their ancient mythology, history and superstitions were written down by educated natives of Yucatan in a series of documents entitled “the Books of Chilan Balam,” copies of a number of which have been preserved.[211] They are replete with curious material.

MAYA LINGUISTIC STOCK.

Achis, in eastern Guatemala, now extinct.

Aguatecas, in Aguacatan, Guatemala.

Cakchiquels, in central Guatemala.

Chaneabals, in eastern Chiapas.

Chinantecos or Cinantecos, same as Tzotzils.

Choles, in Depart. Palenque, in Chiapas.

Chortis, in valley of Rio Montagua, near Copan.

Huastecas, on Rio Panuco, north of Vera Cruz.

Ixils, on head-waters of Rio-Salinas, in Guatemala.

Lacandons, on the Rio Lacandon.

Mams, in western Guatemala.

Mayas, in peninsula of Yucatan.

Mopans, north of the Chols, in Guatemala.

Quekchis, on Rio Cahabon, in Guatemala.

Quiches (Utlateca), head-waters of Rio Grande, Guatemala.

Pokomams, south of Rio Grande, in Guatemala.

Pokonchis, in central Guatemala.

Tzendals, in Tabasco and Chiapas.

Tzotzils, in Chiapas.

Tzutuhils, south of lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

Uspantecas, on Rio Negro, Guatemala.

11. THE HUAVES, SUBTIABAS, LENCAS, XINCAS, XICAQUES, “CARIBS,” MUSQUITOS, ULVAS, RAMAS, PAYAS, GUATUSOS.

The small tribe of the Huaves occupies four hamlets on the isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Pacific Ocean.[212] The men are tall and strong but the women are unusually ugly. Their occupation is chiefly fishing and they have the reputation of being dull. The language they speak is said to be of an independent stock, and according to various writers the tribe claims to have come from some part of the coast a considerable distance to the south. The vocabularies of their tongue are too imperfect to permit its identification.

The Subtiabas are inhabitants of the valley of that name near the modern city of Leon in Nicaragua. They were called Nagrandans by Mr. E. G. Squier,[213] because the site of ancient Leon was on the plain of Nagrando and the province also bore this name at the time of the conquest. They are probably the descendants of the ancient Maribois, whom both Oviedo and Palacios place a few leagues from Leon and to whom they ascribe an independent language; but it is an error of some later writers to confound them with the Chorotegans or Mangues, to whom they had no relationship whatever. Their language stands by itself among the inter-isthmian stocks.

The Lenca is spoken by several semi-civilized tribes in central Honduras. Its principal dialects are the Intibucat, Guajiquero, Opatoro and Similaton. It is an independent stock, with no affinities as yet discovered. The Guajiqueros dwell in remote villages in the San Juan Mountains southwest of Comayagua, the capital of Honduras. We owe to the late Mr. E. G. Squier vocabularies of all four dialects and an interesting description of the present condition of the stock.[214]

A little known tribe in a low stage of culture dwelt on the Rio de los Esclavos, the Xincas. They extended about fifty miles along the Pacific coast and thence back to the Sierra which is there about the same distance. The one vocabulary we have on their tongue shows some loan words from their Nahuatl neighbors the Pipiles, but in other respects it appears to be a stock by itself. Its radicals are generally monosyllabic, and the formation of words is by suffixes.[215] The tribe was conquered by Alvarado, in 1524, who states that their principal village was at Guazacapam. It was built of wood and populous. There are some reasons for believing that previous to the arrival of the Quiches and Cakchiquels on the plains of Guatemala that region was occupied by this nation, and that they gave way before the superior fighting powers of the more cultured stock.

The Xicaques live in the state of Honduras to the number of about six thousand. Their seats are on the waters of the Rio Sulaque and Rio Chaloma. They acknowledge one ruler, who is elective and holds the office for life. Their language contains a few Nahuatl words, but in the body of its vocabulary reveals no relationship to any other stock.

The word Carib is frequently applied by the Spanish population to any wild tribe, merely in the sense of savage or wild. Thus on the upper Usumacinta the Lacandons, a people of pure Maya stock, are so called by the whites; on the Musquito coast the uncivilized Ulvas of the mountains are referred to as Caribs. There are a large number of pure and mixed Caribs, probably five or six thousand, in British Honduras near Trujillo, but they do not belong to the original population. They were brought there from the island of St. Vincent in 1796 by the British authorities. Many of them have the marked traits of the negro through a mingling of the races, and are sometimes called “Black Caribs.” The Rev. Alexander Henderson, who has composed a grammar and dictionary of their dialect, gives them the name Karifs, a corruption of Carib, and is the term by which they call themselves.

That portion of Honduras known as the Musquito coast derived its name, not from the abundance of those troublesome insects, but from a native tribe who at the discovery occupied the shore near Blewfield Lagoon. They are an intelligent people, short in stature, unusually dark in color, with finely cut features, and small straight noses—not at all negroid, except where there has been an admixture of blood. They number about six thousand, many of whom have been partly civilized by the efforts of missionaries, who have reduced the language to writing and published in it a number of works. The Tunglas are one of the sub-tribes of the Musquitos.

On the head-waters of the streams which empty along the Musquito coast reside the numerous tribes of the Ulvas, called by the English Smoos. These are dark, but lighter in color than the Musquitos, and are much ruder and more savage. The custom of flattening the head prevails among them, and as their features are not handsome at the best, and as they are much afflicted with leprous diseases, they are by no means an attractive people.

THE ULVA LINGUISTIC STOCK.

Bulbuls, see Poyas.

Carchas or Cukras, on Rio Meco above Matlack Falls.

Cocos, on Rio Coco.

Micos, on Rio Mico.

Parrastahs, on Rio Mico.

Pantasmas, on upper basin of Rio Coco.

Melchoras, on Rio de los Ramas.

Siquias, on upper Rio Mico.

Smoos, see Woolwas.

Subironas, on Rio Coco.

Twakas, at San Blas and on Rio Twaka.

Woolwas, Ulvas, Smoos, on head-waters of Blewfield river.

The Ramas, described as men of herculean stature and strength, with a language of their own, reside on a small island in Blewfield Lagoon.

Toward the mountains near the head-waters of Black River, are the Payas, also alleged to be a separate stock. But unfortunately we have no specimens of these tongues.[216]

The upper waters of the Rio Frio and its affluents form the locality of the Guatusos or Huatusos. By some older writers these were supposed to be of Nahuatl affinities, and others said that they were “white Indians.” Neither of these tales has any foundation. I have seen some of the Guatusos, and their color is about that of the average northern Indians; and as for their language, of which we have rather full vocabularies, it is not in the slightest related to the Nahuatl, but is an independent stock. They are a robust and agile set, preferring a wild life, but cultivating maize, bananas, tobacco and other vegetables, and knitting nets and hammocks from the fibres of the agave. The huleros, or gatherers of india rubber, persecute them cruelly, and are correspondingly hated. It is doubtful if at present they number over six hundred.[217]

The mountain chain which separates Nicaragua from Costa Rica, and the head-waters of the Rio Frio from those of the more southern and eastern streams, is the ethnographic boundary of North America. Beyond it we come upon tribes whose linguistic affinities point towards the southern continent. Such are the Talamancas, Guaymies, Valientes and others, which I must include, in view of recent researches into their languages, in the next section.