34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 64 



and a shelter for hei-self and children, is driven to an alliance with 

 some other man who is a better provider. The consequence is that 

 in British Honduras all degrees of racial mixture are to be found 

 between Indian women and European, East Indian, Chinese, and 

 Negro men, who, again intermarryiAg, produce a bewildering racial 

 kaleidoscope. 



The Indians are a short-lived race, a fact due partly to their 

 indigestible and badly cooked food and partly to the prevalence 

 among them of malarial fever (choTcuil), with accompanying anemia 

 (xcan mucui) and splenic enlargement (cancJiikin) , but chiefly to 

 overindulgence in alcohol whenever an opportunity offers. Notable 

 exceptions to this rule are, however, not uncommon, and once an 

 individual passes the four-score mark he or she is quite likely to live to 

 well over 100 years; dried up, wrinkled, and feeble, but clinging to 

 life with an almost incredible tenacity. 



Drunkenness 



Landa frequently mentions the fact that in his day drunkenness 

 (l-altal) was the curse of the Indians and the cause of many crimes 

 among them, including murder, rape, and arson.' At the present 

 time these remarks apply equally well; indeed, drunkenness is prob- 

 ably more prevalent than formerly, as the rum is made locally and 

 is far more intoxicating than the halcM, which Landa describes as a 

 drink made from fermented honey, water, and roots. Moreover, the 

 people drink rum at all times and seasons, whereas both the prepara- 

 tion and consumption of lalcJie were to some extent ceremonial, as 

 was the resulting intoxication. Drunkenness is not considered in 

 any way a disgrace, but is looked on rather as an amiable weakness. 

 The women, especially the older ones, drink a good deal but they 

 usually do so in the privacy of their own houses. I have seen, 

 however, a little girl of 14 or 15 purchase a pint of rum in a village 

 liquor store, and go out on the plaza, where she drank it in a few 

 gulps; then, lying down in the fierce heat of the afternoon sun, she 

 lapsed into alcoholic coma. Alcohol effects an extraordinarily rapid 

 change for the worse in the Indian's temperament; from a quiet, 

 poUte, rather deferential individual, he is converted almost in a 

 moment into a maudhn idiot, staggering about singing foolish 

 snatches of native songs, and endeavoring to embrace everyone he 

 comes in contact with. When thwarted while in this condition his, 

 temper is hkely to flare up at the slightest provocation, whereupon 

 the thin veneer of civilization and restraint is sloughed in a moment, 

 and he becomes savage, impudent, overbearing, and contemptuous 



1 Que los indios eran muy dissolutos en bever y emboracharse, de que les seguian muchos males, como 

 matarse uuos a otros, violar las camas . . . y pegar fuego a sus casas.— Landa, Belacion de las Cosas de 

 Yucatan, chap, xxii, p. 122. 



