92 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
almost all the inhabitants of this town have groves 
[‘myllpas’] of cacao in those Lowlands, in four 
plantations which they have, called San Bernar- 
dino,!*® which is large, Sant Francisco and Santan- 
dres and Santa Barbara. They harvest quantities of 
cacao from their lands, and anotto, chile, large shrimp 
[in streams], and many of the fruits in which the 
region abounds. ...” Pineda was prone to exag- 
gerate the wealth of the Indians, in order to justify 
high tribute requirements by the Crown (see 
Relaciones, etc., 1908, pp. 75-76). 
In a letter from several Atitlan chiefs to the King 
of Spain, written in 1571, it was said of their 
“nation” that “. .. their chief was named Atziquini- 
hai, and along with him, the sub-chiefs were called 
Amactzutuhile ... [who own] ... plantations named 
Sant Bartholmé and Sant Andrés and Sant Fran- 
cisco and Sancta Barbola, and likewise they had 
servants and animals, and things given in tribute, 
such as precious stones . . . gold, cacao, and feathers, 
chickens, honey, and many plantations of corn and 
cacao; 38% 
The Capotitlan description states that Atitlan “has 
annexes at the towns of San Bartolomé and San 
Francisco and Toliman the lower, called San Lucas, 
and the towns of San Pedro and San Pablo” (Anon., 
Ms. 1579, p. 23, f.116). A hamlet of San Cristobal is 
also mentioned, probably being near the site of 
modern Chicacao (it was 2 leagues east of 
San Antonio Suchitepequez), and it was evidently 
also a colony of Atitlan.1°8 
Cacao plantations.—The richness of the cacao 
plantations of the entire piedmont is frequently re- 
ferred to by early writers. In the Capotitlan manu- 
script (Anon., Ms. 1597, p. 17, f. 113) the term 
“cacao mines” is used. It was the Lowland cacao 
groves (cacaotales) which Alvarado threatened to 
destroy, and he thereby brought the Zutuhils to 
terms (Diaz del Castillo, 1837, p. 415). On the 
136 This probably should be San Bartolomé, for the apparently more 
accurate description of ‘‘Capotitlan” in 1579 speaks of “San. Vernaldino 
[of the town of] St. Antonio su Chetepequez. ..” (Anon., Ms. 
1579, p. 23, f. 116). This is more likely, for San Bernardino is west of 
San Antonio. (See also p. 15, ftn. 8.) 
137 Anon., Ms. 1571. A portion of the above is translated in Brinton 
(1885, p. 38), who refers also to Ternaux-Compans, Recueil, etc. (1840, 
p. 419). 
138 Ibid., p. 9, f. 109. It has been possible for me to locate these long- 
disappeared Lowland settlements of Atitlan (map 11) by identifying cer- 
tain of the numerous. streams mentioned by the companions of Alonso 
Ponce (who meticulously counted and recorded them all; Ponce 1873, 
vol. 1, pp. 431-434), then comparing them with those on the detailed 
Railway Survey map (Intercontinental Railway Commission, 1898, 
map 2). With the exception of Santa Barbara, which still exists, I 
have found no reference to any of these villages later than the 16th 
century. 
basis of the present Highland territory of Santiago 
Atitlan, without knowledge of their former Lowland 
plantations, this passage would appear confusing, for 
all the territory of the present-day municipio of 
Santiago is well above the limits of cacao growth. 
The domain of the Zutuhils at the time of the Con- 
quest probably included the southern Lake shore 
from San Pablo to San Lucas, inclusive, and the 
Lowlands, extending east-west from Santa Barbara 
to San Bartolomé Aguacatepeque.!9 (The southern 
limit is nowhere indicated.) This was precisely the 
parochial visita and guardiania of Ponce’s time 
(1586), and as defined in the 1579 Capotitlan report. 
Immediately east of the Lowland Atitlan colonies, 
there were probably plantations of Solola. . 
Pineda writes of the Indians of Tecpanatitlan 
(Solola): “... they go to the Lowlands of Capotit- 
lan, one day’s ride away, and all these things [High- 
land products] they take on horses, everyone having 
two or three for cargo and others which they ride. 
They exchange their goods for cacao and cotton by 
barter, and sell cacao to the Spaniards for money. 
Of the cotton they weave more clothes to sell... 
and these Indians are intermarried with those of the 
Capotitlan Lowlands.” (For an appraisal of Pineda’s 
comments, see above.) 
Coffee replaces cacao.—The production of 
coffee on a large scale revolutionized the agriculture 
of the piedmont, for cacao had declined and coffee 
became the one big money crop. 
As early as 1783 coffee is mentioned quite casually 
as a minor plant in Soconusco.14? 
The unpublished Solola “Monograph of the De- 
partment” (September 1926) relates that in Patulul 
(about 12 miles east of Chicacao) coffee planting 
began between 1855 and 1860, reaching its peak in 
1895. Coffee brought with it a wave of prosperity 
for Guatemala, reflected, among other things, in 
expansion of railroads.144 
Chicacao, a coffee colony.—The unpublished 
1930 census report states that Chicacao was founded 
in 1889 (March 5), before which time it was an 
189 The agnomen “Aguacatepeque” appears in the Capotitlan manu- 
script (Anon., Ms. 1579, p. 10, f. 109). 
140 (Anon., Ms. 1783, p. 49) “. .. achiote abounds without being 
cultivated, and coffee, little consumed, produces on the same lands as 
cacao,”” 
141 It was coffee export that occasioned the Intercontinental Railway 
Commission survey (1891-92); the road went through to Cocales (sta- 
tion 3 miles below Patulul) in 1897, This was the western terminal 
from Guatemala City until the opening of the Mazatenango extension, 
in 1903, which was a ‘“‘memorable occasion” (Libro Azul, 1915, p. 87) 
that joined the Ferrocarril Central with the Occidental line (in opera- 
tion since 1883 between Mazatenango and Champerico). 
