of the age of their children only until they have attained about six
or eight years; after that they forget it. Although they grow into
young manhood or womanhood very quickly, really old age comes late,
except in the appearance of the women, who at the age of thirty-five
look like women of forty-five.
Their most common diseases are pleurisy, intermittent fevers, and
jaundice, while fits, fainting spells, and hysterics are exceedingly
rare.
As a rule the women are abstemious, economical, and very hospitable.
They love work, and are fond of raising chickens and turkeys, which
they sell in order to enable them to buy what they most need, or else
they prepare such fowl for banquets, marriages, christenings, the day
of All Souls, or for the novenas which they celebrate for the Holy
Cross or the saint of their special devotion. They do not fancy all
manner of necessities, nor do they pretend to live on the work of
their husbands; rather they work constantly in order to dominate them,
and in this they succeed generally, at least to a certain degree. They
will upbraid them if they undertake anything without asking their
advice. They do not forget offenses they may have received until they
are avenged. In their old age they are liable to commit small
insignificant thefts, and they especially seem to like to become
mendicants, even though they do not need to be. They seem to do this
as a kind of compensation for what in their earlier days they may have
given to the poor.
Sentiments of gratitude do not last long. However, we must in this
case always except those who were reared in the homes of white people.
With few exceptions (when perhaps poor methods or little care in their
education, or perchance bad example and ill-treatment dominated),
these Indian girls are virtuous, assiduous, disinterested, and very
well-disposed toward all the different branches of service and ready
to learn whatever they are taught. They are modest, and are fond of
dressing themselves nicely and decently. They are so affectionate,
true, and grateful, that many a time they grow old in the service of
one family, and if this family meets with misfortune and perhaps
becomes impoverished, they will go to work outside to help support
them, of which I could mention many cases. Just the opposite happens
with the men, who, although they were educated in a white family from
early childhood, and many a time with the same care as the white
children, the cases are rare that they do not gradually drift apart,
become estranged, give themselves up to vice, and finally forget their
benefactors entirely.
DRESS
The ordinary costume of the men consists of a shirt of white cotton
like ours, worn outside the white drawers of the same material, which
are wide and reach to the calf of the leg; a belt, white or in colors,
is worn around the waist under the shirt; a kerchief; a straw hat, and
sandals consisting of only soles which are adjusted to the foot by
cords of agave fiber, complete his costume. While at work in the field
they take all their clothes off and wear only a loin-cloth, which
they call _huit_, consisting of a piece of cotton cloth fastened
around the hips, the points passing between the thighs to be fastened
to the belt below the navel. From this belt hangs the sheathed machete
on the left side.
When they go out, the Indian women wear on their heads either a piece
of cotton cloth of about half a yard in width by two and a half yards
in length, the ends of which hang down the back, or else they tie a
red kerchief around the head, a very bright red being their favorite
color. A _hipil_ of cotton is fashioned like a wide sacque-coat, with
an opening in the center to put the head through, fitting around the
neck, having openings on the two sides for the arms. This _hipil_
reaches to about the calf of the leg, falling on a skirt or petticoat,
also of white cotton, three or four fingers longer. It is fastened
around the waist under the _hipil_, which falls loosely over it. The
hem of both the skirt and the _hipil_ are very often roughly
embroidered in blue or red thread. For traveling they wear sandals
like the men.
LANGUAGE
The Indians of Yucatan speak the Maya language, though somewhat
adulterated through contact with Spanish. Several Spanish expressions
have gradually crept into their idiom, especially in cities and
principal towns where the Indians are in almost constant intercourse
with whites and mestizos. Many among them can speak Spanish perfectly
well, but as a rule they avoid it, and will answer in Maya to those
who speak Spanish to them.
STATURE, PHYSIOGNOMY, COLOR
Generally speaking, the Indians of Yucatan are of about the same
stature as all intertropical races, of a round face, straight black
hair, rather coarse, not very pronounced eyebrows, very little beard
or none at all, a low narrow forehead, black and expressive eyes, a
somewhat flat nose, small but outstanding ears, protruding
cheekbones, a regular mouth with thin lips and beautiful teeth, a
stout neck, broad chest and shoulders, arms, thighs, and limbs of
robust and muscular build. Their hands and feet are small, and the
toes of their feet stand closer together than the heels. They have no
hair on their bodies except on the head. Their color is a
copper-brown, darkened through constant exposure to the sun,
especially as they go about almost totally naked. The color of the
women is therefore much lighter, and this is also the case with such
men as have been reared from childhood in homes of the white people.
Among the women there are some very pretty ones, slender in form, with
an airy but graceful carriage, and a very sweet voice; but the hard
work to which they are subjected from early childhood causes them to
lose their beauty at an early age. There are also some truly fine
types among the men.
SAVAGE TRIBES
Of real savage tribes there are none in Yucatan. After the greater
part of the peninsula, cities as well as villages, had been
reconquered from the possession of the Indians who had taken them
during their insurrection in 1847, which was general, the most
tenacious and unruly ones among them settled in the eastern part of
the peninsula, where they have built several towns, the principal one
being Chan-Santacruz. From these fastnessess they frequently sally
forth to attack and even to raze our absolutely defenseless villages.
These attacks cause frightful suffering not only to members of other
tribes and races, without regard to sex or age, but they are at times
even greater among those of their own race, who at one time or another
have either absolutely refused to join their ranks, or, after
following their lead for some time, have deserted, and returned to
live in peace among the white people.
Another and by far the most numerous band of those rebellious Indians
went to settle in the south of the peninsula, and by virtue of the
treaty they celebrated with General Vega have given up all
hostilities, although they remain in complete independence of national
as well as of state authorities, and in peaceful business intercourse
with this city (Merida), and also with Campeche and other points in
close proximity to their abodes. Colonel Juan Sanchez Navarro drew a
map, which he presented, together with his report, before the
government of Yucatan on April 12 of the present year, on which map he
gives an approximate idea of the localities on the peninsula still
occupied by rebellious Indians who maintain a hostile attitude and
those who have agreed to peaceful intercourse. The first mentioned he
calls the eastern group, and the last named the southern one.
SANTIAGO MENDEZ.
Merida, _October 24th, 1861_.
NOTE BY ANTONIO GARCIA Y CUBAS
After having written about several groups of aborigines who inhabit
the central part of the republic, I wish to extend these notes with
the aid of documents in my possession to the Indians of Tabasco and
Chiapas.
The customs, habits, and inclinations of all those Indians in general
do not, with any certainty, evoke any hope for the improvement of
their race and their subsequent utility and usefulness to the nation.
The task I have set for myself is a very delicate one, and there may
exist a great many people who will attribute to lack of patriotism the
frank statement of many defects in our population; but I observe that
our nation is not moving toward its aggrandizement with the alacrity
and speed which the progressives among the authorities wish to see.
Therefore I consider it necessary to study and point out the defects.
I do not wish it to appear as if the conceptions expressed in these
lines were imputations of my own imagination, and I wish to state,
therefore, that whatever is said in this report is extracted from
official documents in my possession.
The aborigines living in the towns and villages of the district of
Jalpa, and the same may be said of the rest of the Indians of Tabasco,
despite their docility, prefer the wild, uncivilized life of the
mountains to the advantages of communal life, if by so doing they are
able to evade all public responsibilities and duties. They come
together only for their religious festivities, and on all such
occasions they are given to drunkenness and gluttony to such a degree
that they contract very serious diseases which in a great many cases
hasten their demise. With very few exceptions they live in complete
vagrancy, and they propagate without respecting any degree of blood
relationship. They insist on curing their diseases with all sorts of
roots and plants, which, however, mostly impair their health, causing
great mortality, especially among children. This may be regarded as
the principal cause why very few among their number reach the age of
fifty years.
The aborigines who inhabit the borders to the river Usumacinta and its
tributaries are for the greater part natives of Yucatan, and are like
all the rest of their kind, very fond of drinking. The Indians of
Tenosique, about forty years ago, were known as very honest and
trustworthy, but their intercourse with the rebels and emigrants from
Yucatan have demoralized them to a great extent.
These and other defects, with but a few honorable exceptions, are
revealed in the documents treating of the Indians of the district of
Comitan, state of Chiapas, which, however, I am not going to
enumerate, so as to avoid repetitions, and by so doing make this
article altogether too long.
All the above mentioned shows the decadence and general degeneration
of the aborigines, as compared with the very scant elements of
vitality and vigor that might help in the movement toward progress in
our republic. The same customs, the same reserve and diffidence which
characterized the Indian of colonial days is manifestly still his
today under the so-called protective laws of the republic, which
barely give him the title of citizen. Yet, as I have stated before, I
do not belong to those who despair of his ultimate civilization, and I
believe that the most efficacious means of effecting this is by
crossing his breed or race by way of colonization, introducing other
nations and elements to come in contact with him.
That this efficacious means of stopping the infinite defects which
retard, if they do not hinder, the natural progress of our nation, has
not been attained, to my idea, lies in the fact that so far no
protective laws have existed which, founded on prevision, afford
guaranties and procure work for colonists. There are no laws that fix
the boundaries of the immense stretches of waste-land within our
country, nor a careful study of climate, geology, and production.
There is not, to my knowledge, any report establishing the best
methods of making all our territory productive either through sales or
the renting of all lands that cannot be tilled by their original
owners. Our own elements, as we have tried to demonstrate in this
article, are either heterogeneous or too scarce and insufficient to
accomplish the task of carrying the nation onward on the road of
aggrandizement. Hence it is, according to my idea, colonization, and
colonization alone, that may serve as the final remedy for our
national ills.
If we had today laws such as I have had reference to, we would at this
very moment see European colonists arrive continually, attracted by
hopes of a splendid future which our fertile soil and our salubrious
climate offer to the industrious and enterprising man. Our population
would increase daily at the same pace with the United States of Brazil
and Buenos Aires, where European immigration forms an element of
prosperity.
It remains for our government to fix in the most decisive way the
answer to this question in the interest of the future of our country.
ANTONIO GARCIA Y CUBAS.
Mexico, _May 1st, 1870_.
NOTES ON THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE INDIANS OF YUCATAN
INFORME CONTRA IDOLORVM CVLTORES DEL OBISPADO DE YVCATAN.
MADRID, 1639
BY PEDRO SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR
The abuses and superstitions in which those Indians of Yucatan believe
and the abuses which they cherish are mostly inherited from their
forebears, and are as numerous as they are varied in kind. I am
including in this report all I was able to investigate, so that they
may enable the curates to disapprove them publicly, and in their
sermons to reprimand the Indians on account of them.
They believe in dreams which they try to interpret to suit the
occasion.
On hearing the cawing (or cackle) of a bird they call _kipxosi_, they
interpret it to mean poor success to whatever enterprise they are
engaged in at the time. They consider it as a bad omen or foreboding,
as the Spaniards do with the female fox or the cuckoo.
If, while the Indian is traveling, he stumbles over a big stone among
a pile which had been dug up to build or level a road, he venerates it
by placing on the top of it a little twig, brushing his knees with
another one in order not to get tired. This is a tradition of his
forefathers.
If he happens to be traveling near sunset, and he fears that he will
arrive late or even at night at the village he is bound for, he will
drive a stone into the first tree he finds, believing that this will
retard the setting of the sun. Another superstition to the same effect
is the pulling out of some of his eyelashes and blowing them toward
the sun. These are superstitions that came down to him by tradition
from his forebears.
During lunar eclipses they still believe in the tradition of their
forefathers to make their dogs howl or cry by pinching them either in
the body or ears, or else they will beat on boards, benches, and
doors. They say that the moon is dying, or that it is being bitten by
a certain kind of ant which they call _xubab_. Once, while at the
village of Yalcoba, I heard great noises during an eclipse of the moon
which occurred that night, and in my sermon the next day I tried to
make them understand the cause of the eclipse in their own language,
according to the interpretation from the Philosopher: "The lunar
eclipse is the interposing of the earth between the sun and the moon
with the sun on top and the moon in the shadow." With an orange to
represent the sphere of Sacrobosco, and two lit candles on either
side, I explained to them plainly and at sight what an eclipse really
was. They seemed astonished, and quite happy and smiling, cured of
their ignorance and that of their forefathers. I gave orders to their
chieftain (cacique) that he should punish in the future all those who
made a noise on such occasions.
They also call certain old Indian shamans when a woman is in labor,
and, with words of their former idolatry, he will enchant her and hear
her confession. They do the same with some other patients. I could not
find out all about this, for which I am very sorry.
There are some Indian medicine-men who, with similar enchantment, are
supposed to cure the bites or stings of snakes, especially of the
rattlesnakes, of which there are a great many here. The victims of
such bites are sometimes delirious, and often the flesh around the
wound will decay until they die. The remedy the wizards give them,
according to what I heard, is to make them eat human excrement or
drink the juice of lemons, or else they will take a domestic fowl and
place its beak on the wound, and have it suck in this way the poison
of the snakebite. The hen or chicken will of course die, and they
immediately replace it by another live one, and repeat that until all
the poison is absorbed.
When they build new houses, which occurs every ten or twelve years,
they will not inhabit nor even enter them unless the old wizard has
been brought even from a distance of one, two, or three leagues to
bless it or consecrate it with his stupid enchantment. This, however,
I have only heard, and I am now sorry never to have recorded it
personally.
They are fortune-tellers, and they perform this feat with a heap of
grained corn, counting always two and two grains, and if it comes out
in even numbers, the fortune-teller will continue counting one, two,
or three times over until it comes out uneven, bearing all the while
in mind the main facts or reason for which he had been called on to
tell the fortune, _vera gratia_. Once a girl ran away from home, and
her mother, like any true Indian woman would have done in a similar
case, immediately called one of those fortune-tellers, who drew lots
on all the different roads until the fortune told of or pointed to a
certain road the girl had taken and where she would be found. They
sent out to look for her and found her in the village to which that
road led. I punished that wizard, who was a native of a village at one
league from Valladolid, and while I examined him with patience and
slowly, I found that all the words he used in that so-called
fortune-telling, while he counted the grains of corn, were no more
than "Odd or even, odd or even" (_huylan nones, caylan pares_). He
could not even tell me whether those words were meant as an invocation
to Satan. In fact, he seemed not to know what they meant, for this
particular wizard was a very great simpleton, almost imbecile.
In this city of Merida it is publicly known that there exist several
Indian sorceresses (witches), who by using certain words can open a
rosebud before it is time for its opening, which is given to the one
they wish to attract to their lascivious desire. They let him smell of
it, or they place it under his pillow; but should the person who gives
it to him smell its perfume, she is said invariably to lose her mind
for a long while, calling to the one she expected to inhale it, and in
whose name the rose was opened by the witch--a worthy matter which
serves as medicine as well as punishment, especially if it hits the
double mark. It has also been assured that the Indian women of this
city are wont to throw a certain enchantment into the chocolate which
is ready for their husbands to drink, and by it they become
bewildered. This I only heard however, and I could not vouchsafe its
truth.
I will also note here what I saw as a child, and that is that they
used to drown in a hole young puppies of a breed of dogs they raise as
pets as well as for food. These are a kind of dogs, with but little or
no hair at all, which they call _tzomes_.[14] It is an old Jewish
dogma of _cosher_. See the Apostle, _ut abstineant se a suffocatis_,
etc.--that they abstain from the food of animals dying by smothering
or any kind of natural death.
OF THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF THE INDIANS OF YUCATAN IN 1545
REPORT OF FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ
When our people discovered the kingdom of Yucatan they found crosses
there, and one cross in particular which was made of stone and mortar,
of a height of ten palms, and was erected in the center of a court or
enclosure, very prominent and fair, and crowned with battlements; it
stands alongside of a sumptuous temple and is very much frequented by a
great number of people. This is on the island of Cozumel, which lies
near the mainland of Yucatan. It is said that this cross was really
adored as the God of Water or Rain; as often as there was a drought they
went to sacrifice quail before it, as will be told later. When asked
whence or through whom they had first heard of that sign, they replied
that a very handsome man had once passed through their country and that
he left it with them, that they might always remember him by it. Others,
it is said, answered that it was because a man more resplendent than the
sun had died on that cross. This is referred to by Peter Martyr in
chapter I of his Fourth Decade.