632 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



informed me that a new contract might now be jnade. He conferred 

 with the Icaiclie Indians, communicated their conditions to me 

 through his interpreter, and when I declared iiiyself satisfied with 

 them, the clerk was instructed to draw up the contract and to sign it 

 '• in the name of General Arana "', upon which the Icaiche Indians, 

 after the proceedings had lasted about an hour, received permission to 

 accompany me farther. Although the whole affair was of no impor- 

 tance whatever, I was glad to observe how much trouble the com- 

 mandant took to protect against possible fraud the Indians who on 

 their part did not in the least distrust me, and how quietly and 

 straight to the point the whole transaction was conducted. The mis- 

 trust of foreigners is very easily explained Avhen one knoAvs how fre- 

 quently the Indians are defrauded and cheated of their stipulated 

 pay by the half-breed element of the population. 



As to the character of the independent Mayas, I can make an almost 

 wholly favorable report from my own experience. Having come 

 from Honduras, where the indolent negro and half-breed population, 

 spoiled by the too liberal laws, can often be kept only with difficulty 

 to the fulfillment of engagements into Avhich they have entered, I was 

 particularly impressed by the reliableness of these Mayas, by the 

 punctuality with which they fulfilled a promise once given, and by 

 the fidelity which they showed to me on my journey. My Maya 

 guides freely shared their hunting booty with me and the bearers who 

 accompanied me from Guatemala. Everywhere, even in the most iso- 

 lated hut, we found hospitable entertainment. Family life was peace- 

 ful and quiet, Avherever I had an opportunity to observe it, and 

 although the Mayas are someAvhat reserved and more silent than the 

 tribes of Guatemala and Chiapas, they are by no means of a sullen 

 disposition, but, on the contrary, very quick to appreciate a harmless 

 jest. It is often said of the Maj^as that they are honest in important 

 matters, but that they readily steal trifles; but I haA^e never had the 

 least thing stolen from me during my travels in Maya territory. On 

 the other hand, drunkenness is a prevailing vice; and I can believe 

 the accusation of cruelty against the Mayas, the more readily as from 

 my own observation I judge that a certain trait of cruelty is peculiar 

 even to the mildest of the Central American Indians, The blood- 

 thirsty cruelty and Avarlike readiness Avhich the Santa Cruz Indians 

 in ])articular evince in their expeditions have made their name exceed- 

 ingly feared, and have caused the generally accepted report of their 

 great numbers and invincible armies. 



This reputation and the slight commercial relations of the inde- 

 pendent Mayas are probably the principal reasons Avhy scientific tra Ad- 

 ders so seldom visit these regions and Avhy tlieir topography and pecu- 

 liar political conditions are so little kitoAvn. Engineer Miller, the 

 account of whose travels in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 



