10 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
the eastern departments, where Ladinos predominate, 
most Indians of the region under consideration in 
this report still speak varieties of Maya known as 
Quiché, Cakchiquel, Zutuhil, and Mam. These are 
mutually unintelligible, for the most part. Even 
within one linguistic region, there are local expres- 
sions and idioms which are used only in certain 
municipios. As a consequence of these linguistic 
differences, Spanish is the trade language largely de- 
pended upon in markets where diverse tongues 
converge. 
The present inhabitants of Guatemala, especially 
the Indians, are essentially vegetarians. Maize sup- 
plies perhaps as high as 80 percent of the total food 
consumed. It is eaten mainly in the form of tortillas 
(thin, unseasoned griddle cakes) and tamales, though 
gruels, hot (atol) or cold (posol), and pinol (ground, 
toasted maize and spice drink; see p. 148) are com- 
monly made from maize, and the ears in milk stage 
(elotes) are often roasted and eaten during the season 
of their immaturity. An extensive survey throughout 
the area indicated that tortillas are eaten more than 
tamales only where firewood is abundant. This is 
because much more fuel is required to heat a griddle 
with a few flat cakes on it than to boil enough water 
in a deep jar to cook a large number of closely packed 
tamales. Consequently, in an open area where fire- 
wood is at a premium, as in the high Valley of 
Quezaltenango, nearly all maize is eaten in the form 
of tamales, and tortillas are rare. Toasted tortillas 
(totoposies), the only ones that are sometimes salted, 
are taken on long journeys, for they do not become 
sour. Nearly dry paste of black beans is also a com- 
mon food for the trail. 
Beans, especially black kidney varieties from bush 
and vine, are second in importance to maize in the 
diet, and they supply a large proportion of the pro- 
tein requirements. A variety of fruits and vegetables, 
mostly native and including many wild greens (as 
chipilin, pp. 142, 147) that are gathered, provide much 
of the rest of the food. Special beans have been devel- 
oped for eating in the pod (ejotes). Little wheat 
bread and meat are eaten, and then nearly all on 
festive occasions, as both are relatively expensive. 
Ladinos eat more of these introduced foods, along 
with European vegetables, than do Indians (see 
De o/) 
Coffee is the common drink. Water is almost al- 
ways heated before it is drunk by the Indians, as cold 
water is considered ‘“‘bad for the stomach.” Thus, 
unknowingly they check dysentery, typhoid, and 
other water-borne diseases. Chicha, widely made 
ferment of maize (usually black), is also boiled in 
the process. 
Native Indian population is especially concentrated 
in the Guatemala Highlands as it apparently was also 
before the Conquest. Most of the archeological sites 
of Southwest Guatemala are in the Highlands and 
along the piedmont,® while they are almost lacking on 
the low Pacific Coastal Plain. Kroeber (1939, p. 161) 
has concluded that “. in general, prehistoric, 
historic, and modern populations in Mexico and 
Central America tend to be dense and sparse in the 
same areas.’ Population figures in Spanish Colonial 
records are vague and unreliable, so that we can, at 
best, only approximate the numbers of Indians living 
in the region even during historic time. For this 
reason, estimates must be only expert guesses, and 
authorities vary widely in their tabulations. Whereas 
Sapper (1924, p. 100) arrived at a total of 5 or 6 
million inhabitants for Central America (including 
Chiapas) in 1500, Kroeber’s more moderate and care- 
fully thought-out estimate is only 3,300,000 for all of 
Mexico and Central America (ibid., p. 160). 
The temporary impact of the Conquest, with con- 
sequent reductions and eventual recovery of native 
populations, has been summarized by Kroeber as 
follows: 
The Conquest no doubt did cause shrinkage in numbers; 
but in the well-settled regions this effect seems to have been 
transient, and probably began soon to be made good by an 
increase attendant on the new experience of internal peace 
under Spanish Colonial government. . .. If our 3,000,000 
[for areas of high culture in Mexico and Central America 
(Guatemala and El Salvador)] be accepted as anywhere 
near the truth, there has been a definite increase not only of 
total population, but also of Indian population in Mexico, 
[and Guatemala and El Salvador] since aboriginal time 
[idem]. 
Kroeber’s estimate of 12,000,000 Indians (including 
half of the Mestizos) in Mexico and Guatemala in 
6 It was here that Alvarado encountered the greatest resistance during 
his invasion of Guatemala in 1524. Of this, Bernal Diaz writes that, 
after passing through (friendly) Soconusco, ‘‘which was in that time 
very populous with over 15,000 inhabitants,” (archeological and his- 
torical evidences, especially Ponce, 1873, indicate that this was mainly 
in the piedmont), they met resistance at Zapotitlan, where ‘‘many 
squadrons of warriors” defended a bad river (Samala?) pass. They 
were “not only from the ‘poblaciones’ of Zapotitlan, but from other 
neighboring towns” as well—the account indicates that these were 
piedmont centers—and were so numerous that the Spanish forces could 
hardly “get by the injured.’ Continuing toward Quezaltenango 
(Xelajui), they were met on the open plain by “all the forces of those 
neighboring towns” (around and including Quezaltenango), which 
amounted to more than 16,000 (‘‘dos xiquipiles’). If we may base an 
estimate upon such a report, it will be concluded that there were 
considerably fewer Indians in that valley just after the Conquest than 
there are today. 
