424 REPORT OF EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA 



character. The j-ellow-fever Las never apppeared, tliougli tlie cholera has made 

 great havoc among the Peteneros. 



The inhabited part of Peten is separated by wide deserts from all the sur- 

 rounding countries. The traveller is obliged to journey, in going to Yucatan, 

 nine days, to Verapaz and Guatemala eight days, (in Ijad weather eleven,) and 

 to Tobasco and Belize six days, through an uninhabited country. The Spanish 

 settlement in this region, after the conquest of the Itzas in 1G97, was for half a 

 century only a military outpost with a small garrison from Guatemala. After- 

 wards it was used l)y the government of that dependenc}' as a criminal colony, 

 (presidio. J The offspring of the prisoners, of their keepers, and of the natives, 

 with some admixture of negro fugitives from the coast, together with the rests of 

 the Lacandon tribe on the Passion river and the iumiigrated ]\Iaya Indians of the 

 moniana, form the actual population of the department. In their isolated situa- 

 tion and at a distance of about 270 miles from the city of Guatemala, they neces- 

 sarily have rrunained in a rather primitive state. The htdinos, or so-called whites, 

 (though with a good deal of mixed blood,) form a kind of patriarchal aristoc- 

 racy. The Indians and negroes are the field-hands and house-servant* of the 

 whites, und«r the system of peonage, as in some parts of Mexico and Central 

 America, obliged to serve the master to whom they are indebted until their 

 debt is p?5d. Others live free in the villages, subject to the local authorities 

 appointed by the government. The corregidor is at the same time civil gover- 

 nor, raih'tHry chief, judge, revenue collector, and postmaster. Ecclesiastically 

 subject to the l)ishop of Guatemala, a vicar and two curates are assigned for the 

 spiritual administration of the whole department. Tlie raising of cattle and 

 horseiJ is almost exclusively the business of the country; oxen, horses, hides, 

 mocc-«sins for the negroes of the British colony, a little colfee, wild cocoa, India- 

 rub'>»^r, and kala (the palm leaves of which the so-called Panama hats are made) 

 are tlieir only articles of exportation. The returns consist in cheap merchandise, 

 drv goods, hardware, etc., imported from Belize. Such is the state of agriculture 

 that in the richest soil there is scarcely produced the necessary quantity of Indian 

 corn beans, sugar-cane, tobacco and Sisal hemp for their own consumption. 

 All the land belongs to the government, but is free for the use of every one. 

 Schools exist nominally in the city and larger villages, but they are for the 

 greater part of the year closed on account of the want of funds. There >> little 

 division of labor ; every one builds his own house, raises his own corji, and, if 

 he has the means, some cattle, hogs, and chiclvcns. Every one is by turns 

 butcher or baker, and sells meat or bread, (the latter only in the city,) and makes 

 his own soap and candles. Almost all make moccasins, and a few industrious 

 persons occupy themselves, besides raising their corn, as carpenters, tailors, and 

 silversmiths. No store, no physician, no apothecary is to be found in the coim- 

 try. The people, poorly educated, unrestrained, and ^\ith but few necessities, 

 lead a lazy and sensual life, much given to gambling and intoxication, and join- 

 ing now and then in a petty conspiracy, or even in an open revolt. On the 

 other hand they are good-natvu'ed, kind and hospitable ; crimes against })ersons 

 or property are of rare occurrence. In their social intercourse they exhibit the 

 mild and polite manners characteristic of the Spanish-American, and in their 

 external behavior they are far above the same classes in more civilized countries 

 of America and Europe. 



The city of Flores during the last 15 years has been reduced to half its for- 

 mer size by a continuous rising of the lake in the midst of which it is situated. 

 This is occasioned, it is supposed, by the stoppage of a subten-anean outlet. It 

 has now about 900 inhabitants, who live, crowded together, in miserable huts 

 builfof sticks covered Avith mud and roofed with palm leaves. The connection 

 with their fields and stock, which are on the main land, is effected b}' frail canoes, 

 and is often altogether interrupted when a northern wind strongly agitates the 

 waters of the lake. I found here, as everywhere in the country, the most friendly 

 reception, thanks to the special orders of the government in my behalf and to the 



