COMMERCE OF THE MAYA BLOM 437 



that special signs were placed in the trees on the many islands at 

 the Laguna de Terminos in order to tell the travelers which route 

 to follow (Landa, 1864). 



Over those trails traveled trade and treasures. Marble vases from 

 the province of Ulna, raw or carved jade from its now imlmown 

 sources, the precious feathers of the quetzal bird ; strangely beautiful 

 vases with a metallic luster from that single place in the El Salvador 

 of today where nature injected substances which when heated would 

 produce a glaze of metallic sheen. 



Copper bells, rings, and hatchets came over the trade routes from 

 the distant country of the Aztec ; gold images and pendants traveled 

 from trader to trader until they reached Chichen Itza in northern 

 Yucatan, where they were prized enough to be offered to the gods — 

 thrust into the Sacred Well for sacrifice, and retrieved in our times 

 as links in the history of ancient trade of the Americas. 



In that famous well of sacrifice were found small gold images of 

 a type so distinct and characteristic that one is convinced that they 

 came from the region of Panama. And in that same well were 

 found copper bells which must have traveled south from the great 

 city of the Aztec, Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, and north to the 

 greatest ruined city in our own territory, Pueblo Bonito, in New 

 Mexico, abandoned many centuries ago. 



Before closing, a few words must be given to business ethics 

 among the Maya: Cogolludo (1867) tells us that in sales and con- 

 tracts there was no written agreement, nor did they have letters of 

 payment (cartas de pago: sales contracts) for security, but the 

 contract was valid when the contracting parties drank together in 

 public. This was in particular the custom in regard to the sale of 

 slaves or earthen pots of cacao beans, and even today (Cogolludo 

 wrote about 1655-66 and had access to many early records which have 

 since been lost) these people say that they use this method between 

 themselves when dealing in horses or cattle. The debtor never denied 

 his debt, even though he might not repay it on time. 



" They loaned and borrowed and paid courteously without usury ", 

 so Landa (1864) informs us. 



The Tabi documents — the originals of which are in the library of 

 the Department of Middle American Kesearch of Tulane Univer- 

 sity, where translations made hy Ralph L. Roys are also available — 

 speak in 1593 of a transaction in cacao beans. Evidently Francisco 

 Quen advanced cacao beans on credit to Diego Huchim and Fran- 

 cisco Chim, who added some of their own capital in beans. Later 

 there was an extended litigation before the Spanish courts. Those 

 })oor Indians, accustomed to conduct trade on word of honor, were 



