RESEARCH AT THE RUINS OF CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN. 77 



3. Healthfulness. 



Chichen Itza is by far the most healthful site in the Alaya area. It 

 is free from the malarial fevers which render Copan, Quirigua, and Uxmal 

 so perilous. These fevers are so pernicious at Uxmal that it is said no 

 child born at the hacienda has ever lived to adult age.^ The untimely 

 death of Dr. J. G. Owens, of the Peabody Museum, at Copan in 1893, still 

 lingers in memory as a tragic reminder of the unhealthfulness of that 

 locality. During the three seasons the School of American Archaeology 

 carried on work at Quirigua, every member of the field staff suffered severe 

 attacks of malaria at one time or another. Such conditions are of course 

 inevitable where the rainfall is so excessive and where there is so much 

 standing water in which mosquitoes may propagate. Chichen Itza, with 

 its ideal natural drainage, offers a marked contrast to the above. Mosqui- 

 toes are practically unknown there, and with this element of danger absent 

 there is nothing to make the place unhealthful. Since the amount of work 

 which may be accomplished by any scientific expedition depends largely 

 on the health of its field force, the incontestable claims of Chichen Itza in 

 this respect should not be overlooked. 



4. Labor Conditions. 



The success of any large field research depends not a little upon local 

 labor conditions, and in selecting a site for intensive study this fact should 

 be borne in mind. In the south, two American industrial organizations 

 have established themselves during the last decade, and these have mate- 

 rially increased the cost of labor in certain parts of the Maya area: the 

 United Fruit Company, with plantations in eastern Guatemala, Hondu- 

 ras, and British Honduras, and the American Chicle Company in northern 

 Guatemala, southern Yucatan, and British Honduras. The increasing 

 number of laborers necessary to the activities of these two corporations 

 has steadilj- raised the price of labor in the regions where they operate. 

 In 1912 the School of American Archaeology was obliged to pay 75 cents 

 (gold) a day for laborers at Quirigua, with every indication that the price 

 would soon advance to one dollar a day. Indeed, the Guatemala Northern 

 Railroad Avas already paying the latter price for Carib labor.- Another 

 drawback at some of the large southern cities is their remoteness from 

 settlements of any kind, necessitating the importation of outside labor, 

 always a costly and usually an unsatisfactory proceeding. At Chichen 

 Itza efficient Indian laborers may be had at from 37| cents to 50 cents 

 (gold) a day. These wages are doubtless as low as those prevailing else- 

 where in the Maya area, and they are from a third to a half lower than are 

 paid in Guatemala and British Honduras by the two corporations above 

 mentioned. The Maya Indian is intelligent, strong, and willing, and the 

 amount of work he can accomplish in a day is astonishing.' A working 

 force of 50 to 75 could easily be brought together at Chichen Itza, and 

 for efficiency would equal, if not surpass, a similar force from any other 

 part of the Maya area. 



'"Archaological Studies among the Ancient Cities of Mexico," W. H. Holmes, Chicago, p. 80. 



^At Quirigua the native laborer at 75 cents a clay was so inefficient as to be actually more costly than 

 the imported Carib laborer at $1 a day. 



^The writer has had experience with both the Maya and Guatemalteco, and lias found the former to be 

 about twice as capable and efficient as the latter. 



