INVESTIGATIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 13 



were almost tlie only weapons of the common soldiers. The General was very 

 anxious to buy my giui, but was unable to give the price I set upon it, namely, a 

 good riding mule, of which he had none to spare. Besides tortillas and beans, 

 deer's meat was tl>e only food they had to eat ; deer are plenty in that section of tin; 

 country. Here, for the first time in my life, I saw a herd of them, allowino- me 

 to approach near enough to kill them with small shot, which I did not do. 



The next morning we started from Agua Sarca„in opposite directions, I into the 

 interior of Guatemala, and the General with his staff and force of twenty-eio-ht 

 men, all mounted, under the sound of the bugle, for Ciudad Real, where one hundred 

 and eighty men were awaiting him. AVith this force he calculated to capture San 

 Aristobal, the capital of Cliiapas ; and I lieard later of liis success. 



Farther on, I visited the ruins of some ancient edifices on the plain of AVhuero- 

 huetenango (Germ, spell.), and likewise those of Pabyaj, on a hill near Sajcap. The 

 latter were constructed of thin slabs of mica-gneiss, lying in courses like bricks, 

 united with mortar, and plastered similarly to the remains seen near Rabinal. It 

 is commonly believed there that a subterraneous passage connects these edifices 

 with the former palace of Quiche. I was informed of the existence of the walls of 

 a church some twenty miles distant ; I did not go there, thinking it to be the 

 ruins of a modern structure. 



The brother of the Alcalde, in San Martin Schilotepeque (Germ, spell.), showed 

 rne an "idol" carved in stone, and a kind of flute of burnt clay. Both these relics 

 he had gotten near the river Pyscaia, where are the remains of ancient Mischko 

 (Germ, spell.). 



The curate of San Juan Sacatapeques, who possesses the original of the celebrated 

 grammar of the Quiche language, and is well versed in the manners and customs 

 of the people, assured me of the still existing custom of immolating a human victim 

 in honor of the god of the mountains, in the spring of the year, — that is before the 

 commencement of the rainy season. On this account no person ventures to go out 

 unaccompanied in the months of January, February, and Marcli. He said also 

 that among the Indians the opinion obtains that foreigners eat cliildren. This 

 prejudice is made use of to frighten children. 



The custom of making offerings by burning incense is still practised, as I have 

 seen it done in front of churches. 



I received from the curate of Jacana the statement that the inhabitants of tliat 

 village, though baptized, are still greatly addicted to the customs of their ancestors. 

 The curate assured me that they still sacrilice cocks and sheep, and he suspects 

 that they even immolate children. In the vicinity of the village is a "mound" on 

 which are numberless small wooden crosses, the parents planting there a cross for 

 the benefit of each child. The curate added that, in spite of all his endeavors, he 

 could not succeed in eradicating these customs. During my presence there two 

 couples of parents came to the curate, the one with a girl five years old, and the 

 other with a boy eight years of age; they w^anted him to marry them ; but he tried 

 to dissuade the parents from such an act. He informed me that the custom exists 

 in that part of the country of marrying children at the age of ten and twelve years ; 

 the married parties remain with their respective parents uiitil they are grown up. 



