TOPOGRAPHY OF GUATEMALA. 225 



but since the arrival of the Spaniards more or less modified by the addition of new 

 legends. Thus in the " Moors' dance " the chief personages are Charlemagne and 

 Tamerlane. There are also the " negroes' ball," and even the " dance of the 

 conquest," the performers on these occasions wearing wooden masks and fantastic 

 garbs of leaves or herbage, and exciting themselves to a pitch of frenzy. Such 

 is the passion and fury of these Bacchanalian dancers that one easily realises the 

 ancient religious ceremonies, when the devotees fell on the palpitating bodies of 

 the victims and devoured their flesh. 



Conscious of the strength derived from numbers, and even mindful of the evils 

 brought on them by servitude, the Indians have kept aloof from the Ladinos, and 

 have often taken advantage of the local revolutions to rise in revolt against their 

 oppressors. In 1838, an Indian army, under Rafael Carrera, penetrated victoriously 

 into the capital, proclaiming that they had been " raised up by the Virgin Mary 

 to kill the whites, foreigners and heretics." But in their very triumphs they had to 

 feel the ascendency of the more civilised Ladinos, with whom they are brought 

 yearly more and more into contact. As the term "white" is sometimes applied 

 to the Ladinos, who are all of mixed origin, many of the rural populations are in 

 the same w^ay regarded as pure Indians though they also have a strain of foreign 

 blood. On the plantations ci'ossings continually take place between the ruling class 

 and their «erf s and the black slaves originally introduced by the Dominican friars 

 to cultivate their lands have also contributed to this mixture of races. Pure 

 negroes can scarcely am^ longer be found in Gruatemala, although their more or 

 less modified features may be recognised in whole populations. 



Topography. 



The Guatemalan population is grouped chiefly in the cold and temperate lands 

 of the Pacific coast range. All towns of any importance are situated on the high 

 grounds between the coastlands and the upper Motagua and Usumacinta valleys. 

 Near the Mexican frontier the first town on the plateau is San Marcos, which lies 

 in the cold zone on an eminence whence is commanded a wide prospect of the sur- 

 rounding coffee plantations. On a neighbouring plain stands the native town of 

 San Pedro Sacatepeques, whose inhabitants no longer speak Marné, the old language 

 of West Guatemala. By a recent decree they have been declared Ladinos, which 

 has the consequence of allowing them more freedom in the administration of their 

 local affairs. The natural outlet of San Marcos and its plantations is the Ocos 

 estuary some 50 miles towards the south-west. On this part of the coast the j)lains 

 are vast low-lying savannas, often under water, dotted over with permanent 

 lagoons and forest tracts. In April the traders and planters from Soconusco, in 

 Mexico, and from west Guatemala assemble at this place for the transaction of 

 business. The Ocos estuary was long regarded as the frontier between Mexico 

 and Guatemala. West of the port, which is open to foreign trade, the frontier 

 station has been fixed at the village of Ayutla, a place of pilgrimage much fre- 

 quented by the Soconusco Indians. 

 48 



