COMMERCE OF THE MAYA BLOM 435 



From time to time his advance-guard would pick up these jour- 

 neying traders, and his letter to the king often mentions these en- 

 counters (Cortes Letters, McNutt edition, 1908). 



One of them, who was a native of Acalan, told me that he was a trader hav- 

 ing its principal trade in the town of Nito, where those Spaniards lived, and that 

 there was a large traffic carried on there by merchants from all parts of the 

 country, and that his own people of Acalan lived in a quarter of their own, 

 having as their chief a brother of Apaspalon, the lord of Acalan * * * 

 (Vol. 2, p. 280). 



That day they found two Indians, natives of Acalan, near a lake, who said 

 that they were coming from Mazatlau where they had traded salt for cotton 

 clothing, which indeed appeared to be true, for they were loaded with cloth- 

 ing « * * (Vol. 2, p. 265). 



Landa (1864) tells us plainly that 



The occupation to which they are most inclined is trading, carrying salt, 

 clothing and slaves to the lands of Ulua and Tabasco, exchanging it for cacao and 

 beads of stone which both were like money and with this money they could buy 

 slaves and other beads, granting that they were fine and good, which the chiefs 

 wore as jewelry during the feasts, and they had other beads made out of certain 

 red shells which were valued as money and personal jewelry, and they brought 

 them in their network bags. 



In this connection the Motul dictionary (1929) informs us' that the 

 Maya word teni or hotem means " pocket " or " bag ", in which the 

 trading Indians carry the cacao beans which they spend. According 

 to the Cortez Letters, vol. 2, pp. 263, 264 : 



Apaspolon, (the lord of Acalan) * * * ^g ^i^q richest trader and has 

 the greatest shipping traffic of anybody. His commerce is very extensive and 

 at Nito * * * there is an entire quarter peopled with his agents under 

 command of one of his brothers. The chief article of merchandise of those 

 provinces are cacao, cotton cloth, colors for dyeing and a kind of stain with 

 which they smear their bodies to protect themselves against heat and cold ; tar 

 for lighting purposes, resin from pine for incensing their idols, slaves and 

 certain red beads of shell which they greatly esteem for ornamenting their 

 persons in their feasts and festivities; they trade in some gold which is mixed 

 with copper and other alloys * * * 



If we had traveled over the trade routes of the ancient Maya, we 

 would have met innumerable caravans of slaves carrying merchan- 

 dise, and led by merchants, carrying palm-leaf fans in their hands 

 as a symbol of their occupation, and with a net-work bag- containing 

 their cacao-bean cash at their belt. Everj^ evening the merchants 

 would stop, preferably by a roadside altar dedicated to Shaman-Ek 

 (Shaman: North; Ek: Star) and there they would offer incense 

 and gifts to their guide and guardian, the North Star. 



Sometimes the roads would be mere foot trails, but at other times 

 they w^ould be wide and well-paved roads, such as have been located 

 in the region of Uxmal (Stephens, 1834) or the mighty paved high- 



1116G6— 35 29 



