SAPPEisJ INDEPENDEITT INDIAN STATES OP YUCATAN 629 



The public and private buildings of the independent Mayas, with- 

 out exception, are thatched, wooden huts, such as are customary else- 

 where among the Indian inhabitants of the peninsula. The houses 

 of sun-dried brick or stone which existed before the rebellion are 

 either destroyed or have fallen to ruins, and in Santa Clara Tcaiche, 

 for example, only the numerous foundation walls and cellars still 

 recall their former existence. 



The dress, mode of life, and occupations of the independent Mayas 

 are very simple, and in this respect the general is in no wise distin- 

 guished from his subjects, except that he keeps saddle horses in 

 accordance with his greater Avealth. 



In dress the independent Indians scarcely differ from the rest of 

 the Mayas. The women Avear a white cotton skirt and a white guipil 

 of the same material reaching to the knees, which is often orna- 

 mented with red embroidery around the hem and the neck of the 

 bodice. The hair is gathered in a knot at the back of the head. Their 

 ornaments are large gold earrings, while necklaces, so popular among 

 the Indian women elsewhere, are seldom worn here. The men wear 

 white cotton trousers and shirts, straw hats, and sandals, which are 

 fastened to the feet with cords. The Indians cultivate the more 

 important plants for food, luxury, and textile filxn-s; raise cattle, 

 swine, and poultry; spin and weave their clothing and braid their 

 straw hats and hammocks, etc., so that they are obliged to import 

 comparatively few articles, only arms, annnunition, salt, ornaments, 

 and the like. The products of the chase are of great importance 

 to the household of the Indians of Icaiche and Santa Cruz, who live 

 in the forest regions. The chase is of less importance to the Mayas 

 of Ixkanha, who live in the region of the dry brush-covered plains, 

 and border only on the south and east on the region of unbroken ]U'i- 

 meval forests. 



A few English have settled in the district of Chan Santa Cruz, and 

 a few English and Yucatecos in the district of Icaiche for the purpose 

 of cutting nudiogany and logwood. For every ton of wood that they 

 export they pay a certain sum to the general of the district, and out of 

 this income he meets the public expenses, such as the cost of arms 

 and ammunition and the salary of the clerk. Any surplus remaining 

 seems to belong to the general himself. There are no taxes oi- duties. 

 As the Ixkanha district is nowhere contiguous either to the sea or to 

 navigable rivers nor is intersected by highways, the logwood, which 

 is present in considerable quantities, can not be made marketable. ( )n 

 the other hand, the people collect a good deal of chicle, a kind of 

 gum obtained from the milky juice of the chicosapote. I do not 

 know from w^hat source the public revenues of Ixkanha are derived. 



The Indians of Santa Cruz trade chiefly with Corozal, the Mayas 

 of Icaiche with Orange AValk, while the trade of the people of 



