80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [buij.. 2,s 



among- them; but ttie resinous mass over the l)urial chambers in the 

 other two cases was entirel}" lacking- here. 



These discoveries are especially interesting because the painted ves- 

 sels belong- among those which, partl}^ by reason of the character of 

 the figures, but especiall}' b}^ reason of the hieroglyphs which are found 

 on diii'erent ones, are proved to be akin to the Ma^^a manuscripts and 

 sculptures of the great ruin cities of Central America and Yucatan. 

 Such vessels have also been found in other parts of Guatemala, and 

 this fact rather contradicts the statements of the authors, who, while 

 they la}" stress on the fact that the Ma^'as of Yucatan and Peten 

 had "signs and letters with which they wrote their histories and noted 

 their ceremonies, and the order of sacrifices to their idols, and their 

 calendar", ncA'ertheless mention nothing of the kind concerning the 

 races of Guatemala. The isolated statement of Zorita that he was 

 convinced from the paintings of the natives of Utatlan that their 

 ancient history dated back eight hundred years rather indicates picture 

 writings of the nature of the historical codices of the Mexicans. 



The locality of Chama is quite near the region in w hich occur ruins 

 of Maya character or sculptures with hierogl^'phs. At least four 

 of the vessels which Mr Dieseldorff described in print bear a fairly 

 uniform character, although they were found in three different places, 

 and if they were not manufactured in this locality they must certainly 

 have all originated in the same region. The hieroglyphs conform in 

 general to those of the reliefs and manuscripts, though it is not possi- 

 ble to connect them with particular manuscripts or reliefs. But sev- 

 eral of the pictorial representations, however, seem to refer to certain 

 conditions peculiar to Guatemala. ** Whether these vessels were made 

 in Chama itself, or whether the}^ were brought there in trade, can only 

 be decided when not mere single fragments, but the entire contents 

 of the graves and the earth surrounding them are made known or 

 become accessible for study, as has been done by Mr Strebel. That 

 the place of manufacture can not be ver}' distant, however, must, it 

 seems, be accepted as certain. 



The eastern provinces have especial importance in the Qu'ekchi 

 region. In Cahabon, as StoU learned from Professor Kockstroh,* a 

 part of the ancient Chols were settled, and three barrios of this village 

 at that time still claimed the region on the upper Sarstun and to the 

 north of this river as having belonged to their ancestors. Doctor 

 Sapper has been unable to find traces of the Choi language in Cahabon. 

 Still, the dialect of the people of Lanquin and Cahabon differs from 

 that of the Qu'ekchi of Coban. They likewise differ in certain pecu- 

 liarities in the building of their houses and in their burial customs.'' 



Doctor Sapper has investigated a few of the caves in this eastern 



«See Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1894, v. 26, p. 577, and following; 1895, v. 27, p. 27. 



b Stoll, Guatemala, p. 359. 



<^Petermann'.s Geographische Mittheilungen, 1893, pp. 7, 8. 



