In Indian Mexico — Chapter XXII - In the Maya Land, part 2

It was useless to urge effort, and we spent the time talking with the old judge in regard to the habits and superstitions of the indians and in walking with the judge of _primera instancia_ up to the ridge which overlooked the town, and which was crowned by a little _hermita_.

The population of Yucatan is still, for the most part, pure indian of Maya blood and speech.

The former importance of this people is well known;

they had made the greatest progress of any North American population, and the ruins of their old towns have often been described.

They built temples and public buildings of stone and with elaborate carved decorations; they ornamented walls with stucco, often worked into remarkable figures; they cast copper and gold; they hived bees, and used both wax and honey in religious ceremonial.

They spun and wove cotton, which they dyed with brilliant colors; they had a system of writing which, while largely pictorial, contained some phonetic elements.

They are still a vital people, more than holding their own in the present population, and forcing their native language upon the white invaders.

Nominally good Catholics, a great deal of old superstition still survives, and they have many interesting practices and beliefs.

The cura presented me a _ke'esh_ of gold, which he took from the church, where it had been left by a worshipper.

It is a little votive figure crudely made, commonly of silver; the word means "exchange," and such figures are given by the indians to their saint or to the Virgin in exchange for themselves, after some sickness or danger.

The ridge overlooking the town is of limestone, and is covered with a handsome growth of trees and grass.

The terrace on which the _hermita_ is built is flat and cleared; it is reached by a gently graded ascent, with a flight of wide and easy steps, now much neglected.

The little building is dismantled, though there is some talk of reconstructing it.

Behind it is a well of vile and stagnant water, which is reputed to cure disease.

From the ridge a pretty view of Tekax is to be had, bedded in a green sheet of trees.

The town is regularly laid out, and presents little of interest, though the two-storied _portales_ and the odd three-storied house of Señor Duarte attract attention.

There are also many high, square, ventilated shafts, or towers, of distilleries.

From the terrace where we stood, in the days of the last great insurrection, the indians swept down upon the town and are said to have killed 2,500 of the people, including men, women and children.

The school-teacher of the town is a man of varied attainments, being also a photographer, watch-maker, medical-adviser, chemist, and so forth.

His house is full of scientific instruments--a really good camera, a fine aneroid barometer, several thermometers, including self-registering maximum and minimum, etc. , etc. All seem excellent in quality, but I could not learn that he makes any use of them, except the camera.

The _cura_, and the judge deride his possession of the instruments, doubting whether he knows how to use them.

They assert that he has an apparatus for projection, for which he paid 1,000 pesos, which has never yet been unpacked.

When we called on him he showed us, by his hygrometer, that the air was very humid, though the temperature was at 86° Fahr.

, and told us, what probably is true, that in this heavy, hot weather, every wound and bruise, however trifling, is likely to become serious.

In illustration of this fact, the _cura_ mentioned that his Spanish carpenter, who merely bruised his leg against the table, has suffered frightfully for three months, having now an ugly sore several inches across, that makes walking difficult.

Great care is necessary with any injury that breaks or bruises the skin.

We ourselves had already experienced the fact that insect-bites became ugly open sores that showed no signs of healing; as a fact, none of us succeeded in curing such for several weeks after leaving Yucatan.

In the afternoon, the priest, the judge of _primera instancia_ and myself took a coach to ride out to a neighboring _hacienda_, where there was a great sugar-mill, Louis accompanying us on horseback.

Our road ran alongside the ridge and consisted of red limestone-clay.

It was fairly good, though dry and dusty, and closely bordered with the usual Yucatecan scrub.

The ridge, along which we were coursing, is the single elevation in the peninsula; beginning in northeastern Yucatan, it runs diagonally toward the southwest, ending near Campeche.

It is generally covered with a dense growth of forest, unless artificial clearings have been made.

Covies of birds, like quail, were seen here and there, along the road, and at one point a handsome green snake, a yard or more in length, glided across the way.

Snakes are said to be common, and among them several are venomous--the rattlesnake, the coral-snake, and most dreaded of all, a little dark serpent a foot or so in length, with an enormous head, whose bite is said to be immediately fatal.

There are also many tree-snakes, as thick as a man's arm.

In the forest, mountain-lions are rare, but "tigers" are common.

We found Santa Maria to be an extensive _hacienda_, and the sugar-mill was a large structure, well supplied with modern machinery, and turning out a large amount of product.

We saw a few of the indian hands, went through the factory, and were shown through the owner's house, which has beautiful running water and baths, though there is little furniture, and nothing of what we would consider decoration.

It was after dark before we started to town, and when we got there we found two wedding parties waiting for the padre's services.

The promised crowd filled the market Sunday, and our work went finely.

Between the town officials and the priest, subjects were constantly supplied.

Among the indians who presented themselves for measurement was old Manuel, sacristan from Xaya; he is a _h'men_, and we had hoped that he would show us the method of using the _sastun_, or divining crystal.

He is a full-blood, and neither in face nor manner shows the least emotion.

Automatic in movement, he is quiet and phlegmatic in manner;

having assumed the usual indian pose for rest, a squat position in which no part of the body except the feet rests upon the ground, or any support, he sat quietly, with the movement of scarcely a muscle, for hours at a time.

He sang for us the invocation to the winds of the four quarters, which they use in the ceremony of planting time.

Though he is frequently employed to say the "milpa mass" and to conjure, he claims that he never learned how to use the _sastun_, but told us that another _h'men_ in his village knew it well.

One of the _padre's_ companions has been ill ever since he came to Yucatan; Sunday he suffered so greatly that a doctor was sent for in haste.

Nothing was told us as to what his trouble might be, but personally I suspected that he had the small-pox.

In connection with his illness, we learned for the first time that another companion of the priest, brought from Spain, died in the room I was occupying, less than two weeks before, from yellow fever.

We had known that one of his companions had died of yellow fever, but supposed it was some months earlier.

Toward evening the priest was sent for by a neighbor, who needed the last service.

On the _padre's_ return, we learned that this person was believed to be dying from _vomito_.

For a moment we were in doubt what was best to do, especially as the police had told us that the _padre_ had permitted no fumigation of his premises after his comrade's death, simply sprinkling holy water about the place.

That night the young man in the next room suffered greatly, and I could not help but wonder what ailed him.

However, I decided that what danger there might be from the disease we had already risked, and as we expected to remain but one or two more days, it seemed hardly worth while to make a change.

Monday we planned a visit to San Juan and Xaya.

The horses had been ordered for five o'clock, but mass had been said, chocolate taken, and all was ready, long before they appeared.

Six, seven, eight all passed, and at last, at nine, only three animals appeared.

This decided us to leave Ramon behind to pack the busts which we had made, while the others of the party, with the _padre_, mounted on his own horse, should make the journey.

A foot _mozo_ carried the camera.

The road was of the usual kind, and was marked at every quarter league with a little cross of wood set into a pile of stones and bearing the words, De Tekax----L. As we passed La Trinidad we noticed great tanks of water for irrigation before the house, and tall trees with their bare, gray roots running over and enveloping the piles of stones on which they had been planted.

There were no other plantations or villages until just before the ninth cross--two and a quarter leagues--we came to the hennequín plantation of San Juan.

The mayor domo was delighted to see the _padre_ and greeted us warmly, taking us at once to the great house.

We rode between long lines of orange trees, loaded with sweet and juicy fruits, and were soon sitting in the cool and delightful hallway.

It is impossible to say how many dozens of those oranges four of us ate, but we were urged to make away with all we could, as the daily gathering is something more than five thousand.

Soon an elaborate breakfast was ready for us, but before we ate we took a drink of fresh milk from cocoanuts cut expressly for us.

We had salmon, eggs, meat-stew, beans, tortillas, and wine.

But the mayor domo expressed his regret that he did not know we were coming, as he would gladly have killed a little pig for us.

As dessert a great dish of fresh _papaya_ cut up into squares and soaking in its own juice, was served.

Sitting in the cool corridor, after a good breakfast, and looking out over a beautiful country, with promises that all the subjects necessary for measurement should be supplied, the idea of riding on to Xaya lost attractiveness, and we sent a foot-messenger with an order to the town authorities to send the _h'men_ with his _sastuns_ without delay to see us.

[Illustration: MAYA DANCE; SAN JUAN] [Illustration: THE H'MEN WITH HIS SASTUN; SAN JUAN] This was our first opportunity to see the industry of hennequín, which is the chief product of this _hacienda_.

The leaves, after cutting, are brought from the field tied up in bundles.

These are opened, and the leaves are fed into a revolving, endless double chain, which carries them on iron arms upward and dumps them onto a table, where three men receive them and feed them into the stripper.

This consists of a round table, into the inner, excavated, circular face of which a round knife with dull edge fits closely, though at only one place at once; the leaves, fed between the table and knife, are held firmly by them at about one-third their length.

The projecting two-thirds of the leaves hang downward; as the table revolves the leaves thus held are carried to a vertical revolving rasp which strips out the flesh, leaving the fibre masses hanging.

These taken out from between the table and the knife are fed again to a second revolving table which holds the masses of fibre, leaving the unstripped portion of the leaves exposed to a second rasp, which strips it.

The hanks of fibre are dropped from the second table onto a horizontal wooden bar, where they are rapidly sorted over by a man who throws inferior and spotted bunches to one side.

The whole operation is rapid and beautiful.

The fresh fibre is then hung over bars, in the southern wind, to dry, after which it is baled in presses for shipment.

[Illustration: MAYA HOUSE; SAN JUAN] We had no trouble in completing the measurement of subjects from the indian hands on the place, and made portraits and photographs of native dancers.

In the afternoon the _h'men_ appeared.

He was an extremely clean and neat indian of forty-five, and carried at his side a little sack, within which, carefully wrapped up in a handkerchief, were his _sastuns_.

There were five in all; three were small round balls of glass, broken from the stoppers of perfume bottles; one was somewhat barrel-shaped and of bluish color, while the other, the largest of all, was rather long, fancifully formed, and with facets ground out upon it;

it was yellowish in tint.

The two latter were apparently from toilet bottles.

Telling him that I was anxious to learn about something which had been stolen from me, I asked what was necessary in the way of preparation.

He demanded a candle and _aguardiente_.

A great taper of yellow wax and a bottle of spirits were supplied.

Taking these in his hand, he entered the little chapel of the _hacienda_, considering it a good place for conjuring.

He piously kissed the altar tables and the bases of the crucifixes and saints; then picking out a dark corner he opened his cloth, took out his glasses, lighted the candle and squatted for his operation.

Taking one of the crystal balls between his fingers, he held it between the flame and his eye and looked intently into it, as if seeking something.

One after another, the five crystals were carefully examined.

Finally, laying the last aside, he shook his head.

He could see nothing, nothing whatever, that interested the gentleman, unless indeed sickness; this he pointed out in one of the little balls;

redness, fever.

Being urged to try again, after an interval he got down to real business; he took the _aguardiente_, dipped the crystals into the liquor, repeating formulas as he did so, and again made the test, but with no better result.

He could see nothing, absolutely nothing, of stolen property; there was nothing in the crystal of interest to the gentleman, except fever; that there was, he was certain.

This practice of divining by means of crystals is a survival from the old pagan days.

It is probable that there is no indian town of any size in Yucatan where some _h'men_ does not make use of it.

We had now finished our work with Maya Indians, except the measurement of a few women and the making of a single bust.

Upon rather strong representation to the _jefe_, a desperate effort was made by the policemen and the women were secured.

Among the village police-force, one man had attracted our particular attention, as representing a type of face, quite common among the Mayas, which we have called the serpent-face.

It is round and broad, with retreating chin and receding forehead, and with curious, widely-separated, expressionless eyes.

We had already measured and photographed the subject, but, because he was a policeman and had been useful, we thought we would not subject him to the operation of bust-making.

Seeing, however, that no other equally good subject had presented itself, we decided to make his bust, and told him so.

To our surprise he refused.

The _jefe_, for once, acted promptly and without hesitation issued an absolute order that the man's bust should be made.

The order had no effect.

The officials scolded, threatened, but Modesto Kan was immovable.

The _jefe_ ordered that he should be thrown into jail, which order was promptly obeyed, but all to no purpose.

Our subject said we might whip him, fine him, keep him in jail, or kill him, but he would not have his bust made.

Hours passed, and neither remonstrance nor threats on the part of the _jefe_ or ourselves were of the least avail.

On my last interview with him, I found him lying on a mat with so high a fever that I dared not urge the matter further, and we desisted from our efforts to secure him.

It was the only subject among 3,000 Indians, with whom we failed to carry out our work.

A story which the old judge had told us had its influence in my permitting this subject to escape.

These Mayas often die for spite, or because they have made up their mind to do so.

Don Manuel at one time was summoned by a rich indian with whom he was well acquainted.

The man was not old, and had land, good houses, many head of cattle, much maize, and many fowls.

He had three children, and owned the houses near his own in which they lived.

Everything was prospering with him.

Yet the message to the judge was that he should come at once to hear this indian's last words.

With a companion he hastened to the house, and found the man in his hammock, dressed in his best clothes, waiting for them.

He seemed in perfect health.

When they accosted him, he told them he was about to make his will, and say his last words.

They told him that a man in health had a perfect right to make his will, but remonstrated with him for saying that he was about to speak his last words.

He insisted, however, that he was about to die.

In vain they argued with him; he had had his dream.

He gave to one child, house, animals, corn, poultry; to the second, similar gifts; to the third, the same.

Then, having bidden them all farewell, he lay down in his hammock, took no food or drink, spoke to no one, and in six days was dead.

Such cases are not uncommon among Maya indians of pure blood.

When we reached home that night we found Ramon unwell.

Next day, the last of our stay at Tekax he was suffering with fever.

He had done no work while we were absent the day before, and all the packing and doing-up of plaster fell upon the others of the party.

As for him, he collapsed so completely that it scared me.

The ordinary _mestizo_ has no power of resistance; no matter how trifling the disease, he suffers frightfully and looks for momentary dissolution.

It was plain from the first moment that Ramon believed that he had the yellow fever; instead of trying to keep at work or occupying himself with something which would distract his attention, he withdrew into the least-aired corner of a hot room and threw himself onto heap of rugs and blankets, in which he almost smothered himself, cut off from every breath of fresh air.

In vain we urged him to exert himself; in the middle of the afternoon we took him to the doctor, who assured us that the case was in no way serious--at the worst nothing more than a light attack of malaria.

In the afternoon the _jefe_, neglecting the _padre_, invited the judge of _primera instancia_ and myself to accompany him upon a little expedition to the neighboring Cave of the Fifth of May.

We went in a coach, taking Louis, who sat with the driver, as photographer; on the way, we visited the town cemetery, which we found a dreary place, with no effort at adornment and with an air of general neglect.

We passed a number of places where they were boiling sugar, and at one we stopped to see the mode of dipping calabashes for _dulces_; the fruits are gourd-like, but have considerable soft pulp within the thin, hard crust; several holes are bored through the external shell and the calabashes, slung by strings into groups at the end of a pole, are dipped into the boiling sap or syrup; the dipping is done two or even three times, and the clusters are removed and allowed to drip and dry between dips.

The loose flesh is soaked through with the syrup, making a rich, sweet mass, much used for desserts.

Finally, we turned into another place where sugar was being made, and found it the cleanest and neatest of its kind.

Here we sampled little cakes of clean brown sugar, and were treated with similar cakes in which peanuts and squash-pips were embedded, making a delicious confection.

We were here supplied with a clean, fresh _jícara_ cup, and, walking along the path a few rods, ascended slightly to the mouth of the cave, which was far handsomer than we had expected.

The limestone of Yucatan abounds in caves and subterranean water-courses, especially near the base of the ridge already mentioned.

The mouth of the cavern was fringed with ferns and other vegetation.

A flight of rustic steps led down to the nearly level floor of red cave-earth.

The light from outside entered sufficiently to show the greater portion of the cave.

The rock walls, opposite the opening, were brilliantly green with some minute growth; from the floor rose a heap of stone upon the top of which was set an _olla_ of large size to catch the water dripping from the roof;

it was full of most beautifully clear, cool water, which we dipped out with our _jícara_ and drank.

At two or three other places on the floor, and on projections from the side walls of the cave, were other _ollas_, or broken water-troughs of stone, for catching water.

Lighting our candles we went behind a pendant veil of thick stalagmite.

At some spots hummocks of snow-white crystalline matter, with a reticulated surface, had been deposited by dripping water.

A few great masses of stalagmite rose from the floor, and there were some columns of the same material.

On returning from the cavern, nothing would do but we must breakfast with the _jefe_, which we did, in state, though at our usual boarding-house.

[Illustration: FRESHLY-DIPPED CALABASHES, NEAR TEKAX]