SAPPEit] INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF YUCATAN 627 



their treaty with Mexico, l)ut in 1869 Mexican troops were obliged to 

 enter the district of Ixkauha to suppress an insurrection of the 

 Indians under (General Arana, the brother of Gen Eugenio Arana, 

 now in office. On the other hand, both states have had to repel occa- 

 sional incui-sions of the eastern Mayas, who have been hostile since 

 the conclusion of peace in 1853, and thus the southern Indians have 

 served as a bulwark and outpost, as it were, for that portion of the 

 state of Canipeche Avhich is under Mexican authority. 



Among the Icaiche Indians, Avho retreated farther southward 

 after the destruction of Chichanha, the Avarlike spirit once roused 

 would not be quieted, and manifested itself in numerous raids into 

 the territory of British Honduras, where at one time the Indians 

 advanced as far as the neighborhood of the city of Belize." In 1868 

 the Icaiche Indians, under their leaders Marcos Canul and Eafael 

 Chan, occupied the city of Corozal, but withdrew through fear of 

 the Santa Cruz Indians; and in 187'2 the Avarlike Gen Marcos Canul 

 attacked the city of Orange Walk, but Avas fatally Avounded dur- 

 ing the siege by a SavIss named OsAvald; Avhereupon the Indians 

 withdreAv. The British Government complained to the Mexican 

 GoA^ernment of the repeated Indian iuA^asions, and Avhen the Mexi- 

 cans explained that the Icaiche Indians Avere not under Mexican 

 authority, but Avere an independent tribe, the English pointed out 

 that the leaders of the Indians Avere Mexican generals. The pro- 

 test, howcA^er, Avas not folloAved up, since the Icaiche Indians made no 

 more raids into British territory after CanuFs death, neither under 

 Rafael Chan, Canul's successor, nor under the excellent Santiago 

 Pech, nor mider the present cacique. Gen Gabriel Tamay. At pres- 

 ent, indeed, great Avarlike enterprises on the p-cwt of the Icaiche 

 Indians are quite inconceivable, for their number has been c(mtinually 

 reduced by Avar, rum, and pestilence, and in the year 181)2 virulent 

 smallpox and Avhooping-cough epidemics sAvept away about half of 

 their number, so that noAv the entire population of the once feared 

 indepeiident Indian state can be estimated at only about 500 souls. 

 Nevertheless, in Icaiche, a feAV Indians are always stationed as sen- 

 tinels in a special hut called the cuartel ("barracks"), and in the 

 house in Avhicli I liA'ed during my residence there five loaded repeat- 

 ing rifles hung on the crossbeams of the roof, a sign that the Icaiche 

 Indians are ahvays on their guard against the Santa Cruz Indians, 

 Avho, in fact, a short time before (during the rule of General Tamay) 

 had made an unsuccessful attack upon the village. 



In Ixkanha there are a larger number of soldiers on guard, day 

 and night, in the barracks, under the command of a captain, and 

 although thev do not Avear a uniform any more than do the Indians 

 of Icaiche, they are a somewhat nearer approach to disciplined 



" See, respecting these Indian raids, A. R. Gibbs, British Honduras, London, 1883. 



