GUATEMALAN DWELLINGS.
The conquerors have left numerous records of large cities with splendid palaces and temples of stone, but these exist now only in their ruins. The masses had, doubtless, no better houses than those we see at present. Their huts are made of wooden posts and rafters supporting a thatched roof of straw or palm-leaves, the side being stockaded with cane, bamboo, or rush, so as to allow a free passage to the air. Generally they have but one room; two or three stones in the centre of the hut compose the fireplace, and the only egress for the smoke is through the door. The room is scantily furnished with a few mats, a hammock, and some earthenware. Their villages are generally situated upon rising ground, and, owing to the houses being so scattered, they often extend over a league, which gives some foundation to the statements of the conquerors reporting the existence of towns of enormous size. The better kind of villages have regular streets, a thing not to be seen in the ordinary hamlets; and the houses, which are often of adobes (sun-burnt bricks), or of cane plastered over, containing two or three rooms and a loft, are surrounded by neatly kept gardens, enclosed within hedges. When a Guatemalan wishes to build a hut, or repair one, he notifies the chief, who summons the tribe to bring straw and other needful materials, and the work is finished in a few hours; after which the owner supplies the company with chocolate. Some of the Vera Paz tribes are of a roaming disposition. They will take great trouble in clearing and preparing a piece of ground for sowing, and, after one or two harvests, will leave for another locality. Their dwellings, which are often grouped in hamlets, are therefore of a more temporary character, the walls being of maize-stalks and sugar-cane, surmounted by a slight palm-leaf roof. During an expedition into the country of the Lacandones, the Spaniards found a town of over one hundred houses, better constructed than the villages on the Guatemalan plateau. In the centre of the place stood three large buildings, one a temple, and the other two assembly houses, for men and women respectively. All were enclosed with fences excellently varnished. The Nicaraguan villages seem to be the neatest; the houses are chiefly of plaited cane or bamboo frame-work, raised a few feet from the ground, and standing in the midst of well-arranged flowers and shrubbery. Dollfus describes a simple but ingenious method used by the Guatemalans to cross deep rivers. A stout cable of aloe-fibres is passed over the stream, and fixed to the banks at a sufficient height from the surface of the water. To this rope bridge, called garucha, is attached a running strap, which the traveler passes round his body, and is pulled across by men stationed on the opposite side.963
These natives are essentially agricultural, but, like all who inhabit the warm zone, desire to live with the least possible labor. Most of them are content with a small patch of ground round their huts, on which they cultivate, in the same manner as did their forefathers, the little maize, beans, and the banana and plantain trees necessary for their subsistence. There are, however, a number of small farmers, who raise cochineal, cacao, indigo, and cotton, thereby adding to their own and their country's prosperity. In the more thinly settled districts, hunting enables them to increase the variety of their food with the flesh of wild hogs, deer, and other game, which are generally brought down with stone-headed arrows. When hunting the wild hog, they stretch a strong net, with large meshes, in some part of the woods, and drive the animals towards it. These rush headlong into the meshes, and are entangled, enabling their pursuers to dispatch them with ease.
FOOD OF THE GUATEMALANS.
Beans, and tortillas of maize, with the inevitable chile for seasoning, and plantains or bananas are their chief food. To these may be added meat in small quantities, fish, eggs, honey, turtle, fowl, and a variety of fruit and roots. Salt is obtained by boiling the soil gathered on the sea-shore. Maize is prepared in several ways. When young and tender, the ears are boiled, and eaten with salt and pepper; or a portion of them are pressed, and the remainder boiled with the juice thus extracted. When ripe, the fruit is soaked and then dried between the hands, previous to being crushed to flour between two stones. It is usually made into tortillas, which are eaten hot, with a strong sprinkling of pepper and occasionally a slight addition of fat. Tamales is the name for balls of cooked maize mixed with beef and chile, and rolled in leaves. A favorite dish is a dumpling made of maize and frijoles. The frijoles, or beans, of which a stock is always kept, are boiled a short time with chile; they are then mixed with maize, and again put into the pot until thoroughly cooked, when they are eaten with a sauce made of salt, chile, and water. There are a number of fluid and solid preparations made chiefly from maize, and known as atole, to which name various prefixes are added to denote the other ingredients used. Meat, which is usually kept jerked, is a feast-day food. Gage describes the jerking process as follows: Fresh meat is cut into long strips, salted, and hung between posts to dry in the sun for a week. The strips are then smoked for another week, rolled up in bundles, which become quite hard, and are called tassajo or cesina. Another mode of preparing meat is described by the same author: When a deer has been shot, the body is left until decay and maggots render it appetizing; it is then brought home and parboiled with a certain herb until the flesh becomes sweet and white. The joint is afterwards again boiled, and eaten with chile. The Lacandones preserve meat as follows: A large hole is made in the ground, and lined with stones. After the hole has been heated, the meat is thrown in, and the top covered with leaves and earth, upon which a fire is kept burning. The meat takes four hours to cook, and can be preserved for eight or ten days. Cacao forms an important article of food, both as a drink and as bread. The kernel is picked when ripe, dried on a mat, and roasted in an earthen pan, previous to being ground to flour. Formerly, cacao was reserved for the higher classes, and even now the poor endeavor to economize it by adding sapuyal, the kernel of the sapote. They observe no regularity in their meals, but eat and drink at pleasure. When traveling, some roasted maize paste called totoposte, crumbled in boiling water with an addition of salt and pepper, and a cup of warm water, suffice for a repast. Fire is obtained in the usual primitive manner, by rubbing two sticks together.964
Most authorities agree that they are clean in their habits, and that frequent bathing is the rule, yet it is hinted that leprosy is caused partially by uncleanliness.965
WAR, WEAPONS, AND IMPLEMENTS.
Since the Spaniards assumed control of the country, weapons, as applied to war, have fallen into disuse, and it is only in the mountain districts that we meet the hunter armed with bow and spear, and slung over his shoulder a quiver full of reed arrows, pointed with stone. In Salvador and Nicaragua, the natives are still very expert in the use of the sling, game often being brought down by it.966
I find no record of any wars among the aborigines since the conquest, and the only information relating to their war customs, gathered from the account of skirmishes which the Spaniards have had with some of the tribes in eastern Guatemala, is, that the natives kept in the back-ground, hidden by rocks or trees, waiting for the enemy to approach. As soon as the soldiers came close enough, a cloud of arrows came whizzing among them, and the warriors appeared, shouting with all their might. The Lacandones occasionally retaliate upon the planters on their borders for ill-treatment received at their hands. A number of warriors set out at night with faggots of dry sticks and grass, which are lighted as they approach the plantation, and thrown into the enemy's camp; during the confusion that ensues, the proposed reprisal is made. One writer gives a brief description of the ceremonies preceding and following their expeditions. In front of the temple are burning braziers filled with odoriferous resin; round this the warriors assemble