8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL 



(dulce). A handful of this mixture put in hot water forms their only beverage, 

 for they never touch fresh water, and whate\er they drink must be warm. For 

 preparing this beverage, every one carries with him a small iron pot. All these 

 articles are put in a netted bag, called matate. 



There are, at certain intervals on the road, places where the carriers rest during 

 the day or at night. Such places are generally near to a brook, if there is one by 

 the road, or to a rancho, where there are always some sticks of wood left glim- 

 mering by the previous party for making a fire and preparing the drink {piiioJ). 



The usual weight of a man's load is from four to five arrohas — an arroha being 

 fixed by law at twenty-five pounds. Occasionally, a man will carry a great deal 

 more for a short distance. 



To protect the load from rain, every carrier takes with him a kind of cloak 

 (sot/acal), made of the leaflets of a palm stitched together in such manner as to 

 overlap each other and form a short cone Avith a broad base. This cloak is rolled 

 up and secured to one side of the load, indicating the nationality of the bearer ; for 

 by this he is at once recognized as an inhabitant of Guatemala whenever he comes 

 to the neighboring states. 



This mode of carrying loads is undoubtedly the cause of the fashion in which 

 men wear their hair, which is clipped short in front and on the top of the head but 

 allowed to grow to some length on the back part. A similar fashion is observed 

 by the Hanaks, the inliabitants of the fertile plain of Central Moravia. The hair 

 on the top of the head of a professional carrier becomes much abraded. 



Another result of my visit to the Salinas was finding in its neighborhood vestiges 

 of the ancient population, in a pyramid built of blocks of squared stone. In the 

 immediate vicinity of the salt factory is a large heap of fragments of pottery. It 

 is impossible to divine the causes of such accumulations, notwithstanding I found 

 similar ones in South America. I there also collected a vocabulary of tlie Egksclii 

 language, which is related to the Quiclie. One of its peculiarities is the frequent 

 use of JR, and of the guttural sound of gk. 



A further result of my trip to this place was the correction of the erroneous belief 

 in the existence of a city inhabited by aborigines. In crossing the Sierra Madre, 

 from the heights of which it is alleged the city may be seen, I was able to ascertain 

 the altitude of the former, which however is not great enough to permit the view 

 of such a city, even if it actually existed at the distance assigned. I have like- 

 wise arrived at the solution of another problem, namely tliat concerning the exist- 

 ence of the Lacandones, or any other aboriginal tribe in the territory immediately 

 nortli of Guatemala. An impartial consideration of all the accounts extant in 

 regard to these tribes, and my own experience, force me to the conclusion that 

 neither Lacandones nor any other tribes inhabit the territory just named. 



Not being able to reach the Lacandones from Salinas, I concluded to cross the 

 country to Peten, whence, I was told, I could reach them. But being dissuaded 

 from the attempt on account of the inundation of the low country, through which 

 I should have to pass during the rainy season, (which had already commenced,) I 

 resolved to return to Guatemala. Profiting by the circumstance that one of the 

 mayor domos was going to make the monthly tour to the difl'ereut settlements to 



