90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 64 



They are thick at the upper angle, the side subtending this forming a 

 sharp cutting edge. In some of the implements this edge is notched, 

 as if from use. These implements were probably used as scrapers, or 

 small chisels or gouges, for which purposes they would be suitable, 

 either hafted or unhafted. It is possible that they may have been 

 used as teeth for the sword known to the Aztec as mextatl, which 

 was also in use among the Maya at the time of the conquest. This 

 weapon was constructed by setting a number of sharp obsidian 

 splinters in deep lateral grooves, cut in a long piece of hard wood, 

 which were filled with liquid resin in order to prevent the splinters 

 from shifting from their positions. 



In the Stann Creek district of British Honduras, on the banks of 

 the Sittec River, at a distance of approximately 15 miles from its 

 mouth, there exists an extensive clearing in the bush known as 

 "Kendal Estate." The soil here is remarkably fertile and weU suited 

 for the cultivation of every kind of tropical vegetable product. As 

 has been pointed out before, wherever throughout northern Central 

 America one finds patches of exceptionally rich soil, there, on clearing 

 the bush, will be found in greater or less numbers the 

 mounds erected by the former inhabitants, together 

 with the indestructible refuse usually associated with 

 former village sites, as fragments of pottery, flint and 

 obsidian chips, broken and rejected implements and 

 Fig. ~34.— Obsidian weapous, shoUs of various edible shellfish, clay beads, 

 object from Mound ng^ sinkers, malacates, broken rubbing stones, etc. 

 The converse of this holds true to some extent, as one 

 of the guides relied on by the modern degenerate Maya Indian in his 

 annual selection of land for a milpa, or corn plantation, is the num- 

 ber of mounds which he finds upon it. Indeed this remarkable index 

 as to the degree of fertility of the soil appears to be almost the only 

 useful heritage transmitted to him by his courageous and compara- 

 tively liiglily civilized ancestors. 



Mound No. U 



Mound No. 11, at Kendal, occupies a conspicuous position upon 

 the summit of a small natural elevation, situated on the left bank 

 of the river close to its margin. It is 60 feet long, 40 feet broad, and 

 20 feet high, its long diameter running due east and west. An exca- 

 vation was made' into the north slope of the mound, which exposed a 

 three-walled chamber, 8 feet in length by 4 feet 8 inches in width. 

 There was no wall on the south side. The north wall, owing to the 

 outer slope of the mound trending over it, was only 1 foot in height; 

 the east and west walls were each 4 feet high. All three walls were 

 about 18 inches thick. The chamber was packed with water-worn 



