GANN] MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 29 



pointed, bow and stern, and when steel tools are available to their 

 makers the lines are often very graceful. Many of the boats, how- 

 ever, foUow to some extent the contours of the logs from which 

 they were made, being exceedingly clumsy and difficult to manage. 

 On the rivers and lakes the only method of propulsion is by means 

 of a broad-bladed cedar paddle about 5 feet long, or, where the water 

 is shallow and the bottom hard, a long pole. Both men and women 

 have acquired considerable dexterity in paddling and can keep it 

 up at a 4-mile-an-hour gait from early morning till late at night, 

 with very short intervals for refreshment. They use their canoes 

 for trading corn, vegetables, lime, and live stock among villages 

 along the river banks, for line fishing, spearing, and netting, and 

 for getting from place to place. On the large lagoons and along 

 the seacoast they sometimes use the pole to support a lug sail. 



SPINNING AND WEAVING 



Spinning (kuch) is done by means of a spindle (hecliech) of hard- 

 wood, 12 to 14 inches long, weighted about 3 inches from the bottom 

 with a hardwood or pottery ring 

 (pi. 5). The upper end is re- 

 volved by the fmger and thumb 

 of the right hand, which are con- 

 stantly rubbed on a piece of stone- 

 like substance, made from deer- 

 skin burned and ground to a 

 powder, to prevent them from 



i' 1 • -. /£ r\\ rm. j.i Fig. 9.— Stonelike substance used to prevent 



Stickmg (fig. 9). The cotton from sticking wWle spinning. 



(taman) may be held in the left 



hand, or on the shoulder; the lower end of the spindle rests in a 

 smaU calabash (luch), which is cemented into a support of woven 

 liana (met), the luch and met together being known as toh (fig. 10). 



Weaving is done on a simple loom consisting of a cloth beam and 

 yam beam (xuncTie) of light strong wood, connected by the warp 

 (cheiT) (pi. 6). The cloth beam is attached round the back of the 

 weaver by a thick henequen cord (yamal), enabling him to tighten the 

 warp at will by simply loaning backward. The yarn beam is usually 

 attached to a doorpost. The shuttle (hotosh) consists of a light 

 stick, pointed at both ends, on which the weft is womid obliquely. 

 AU the alternate warp strands may be raised together by moans of 

 a heddle (mamaccTie) consisting of a number of loops attached to a 

 rod, each loop passuig round a warp strand, so that when the rod is 

 raised the warp threads are raised with it. The lease rods (halahteJi) 

 consist of splints of hard heavy wood, usually sapodilla, 2 to 3 inches 

 broad, one-third of an inch thick in the center, with sharp edges and 

 pointed ends. A loose rod {toboche) about the size of the yarn beam 



