gann] MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 55 



tioned by Laiida as having been in use at the time of the conquest/ 

 and somewhat resembling the clay jar with a piece of gibnut hide 

 stretched over the opening for a head, still in use as a drum among 

 the Lacandones.2 'pj^g j^^g g^j. Alfred Moloney obtained in the village 

 of Succots a tunhul, or wooden drum, with two rubber-tipped drum- 

 sticks, which had been brought by the Indians from Guatemala at the 

 time of their emigration from that country. This had been handed 

 down from Alcalde to Alcalde from time immemorial, and was used 

 to summon the villagers on special occasions, as a fire or the election 

 of new Alcaldes. 



FOOD 



The staple article of diet among the ancient Maya seems to have 

 been maize, as it is at the present day among their descendants. 

 Numbers of rubbing-stones and rubbers, both broken and whole, 

 are found in the mounds, as are also the clay disks used for baking 

 corn cakes. The bones of various animals, which had probably been 

 used for food, are also found; among these are the peccary, gibnut, 

 armadillo, puma, tapir, and manatee, together with woula (snake), 

 alligator, and (of birds) the curassow and wild turkey. Shells of 

 the conch, cockle, oyster, and fresh-water snail are also found in 

 abundance. The Maya probably kept small domestic animals and 

 birds,^ as great numbers of rough stone troughs are found in the 

 mounds, precisely similar to those manufactured and used by the 

 modern Maya Indians for watering their fowls, while eggs, with tur- 

 keys and other birds, have been found, held in the hands of figurines 

 upon the incense burners, as offerings to the gods. They seem to have 

 made periodical expeditions to the cays and islands off the coast to 

 fish and collect shellfish, as quantities of net-sinkers, flint chips, 

 potsherds, and broken javelin heads are found on many of the cays. 

 But few mounds, however, which give evidence of permanent human 

 occupancy have been discovered in this situation. 



SPIXXIXG AND WEAVING 



Judging by the great number of spindle-whorls found in the mounds 

 and on village sites, cotton spinning must have been practically 

 universal among the women. Oval perforated stones of a size 

 suitable for loom weights have been found, and it is probable that 



1 Tienen ataljlas pequenos que tar'ien con la mano, y otro atabal de palo hueco de sonido pesado y triste; 

 tanenlo con un palo larguillo pucsto al cal)o cierta leche de un arl)ol.— Landa, op. cit., p. 124. 



s The drum is composed of a clay jar al)out twenty inches high. Over the top of the jar is stretched a 

 piece of the hide of the tcpcizquinte for a head. The whole drum is painted white. On one side near the 

 top there is a head similar in all respects to that found in all the sacred ollas. This head, as it has Ijeen 

 explained, represents one of the lesser gods called Qaiyum.— Tozzer, A Comparative Study of the 

 Mayas and the Lacandones, p. HI. 



3 Crian aves para vender de Castilla, y de las suyas y para comer. Crian pa.xaros para su recreacion y 

 para las plumas para hazer sus ropas galanas.— Landa, op. cit., p. 190. 



