TOPOGEAPHY OF GUATEMALA. 227 



was formerly the chief crop, has recently been replaced by coffee and the alimen- 

 tary plants required by the hands employed on the plantations. Hence the neigh- 

 bouring port of Qhamperico, which is connected by rail with Retalhuleu, now exports 

 little except coffee. Being a hotbed of fever in the rainy season, Champerico is 

 scarcely inhabited except in the dry period, and especiall}^ in Ajjril and November, 

 when the skippers, nearl}^ all from the United States, come for their cargoes of 

 coffee. 



Totonicapam stands on the same plateau as Quezaltenango, twelve miles more 

 to the north-east, but in a colder climate, at an altitu'le of 8,200 feet, that is, 460 

 higher than its neighbour and 660 higher than Mexico. Its inhabitants are chiefly 

 Quiche Indians, who still mostly speak the national language, and who, so far from 

 considering themselves inferior to the Ladinos, constitute, on the contrary, a sort of 

 local aristocracy. Many, in fact, descend from the old " caciques " of Tlaxcala who 

 accompanied Alvarado on his expedition, and who in return for their services 

 received special class privileges together with exemption from taxation. The best 

 dwellings in the town belong to these Tlaxcalans. Like the neighbouring capital, 

 Totonicapam is an industrial centre, producing textiles, earthenware, furniture, 

 guitars, marimbas, and other musical instruments. Sahcoja, a few miles to the 

 south-west, although now an obscure village, was at one time a place of some note. 

 It was the first settlement founded by Alvarado in 1524, and its chur.h, dedicated 

 to the Virgin of Victory, became a famous place of pilgrimage. Afterwards most 

 of its inhabitants removed to Quezaltenango. Between these two towns flows the 

 Olintepec brook, called by the natives Xiquigil, or " Bloody River," to comme- 

 morate the day when it flowed with the blood of thousands of Quiches massacred 

 by Alvarado in the decisive battle which made him master of the land. 



Another historic place is Santa Cruz Qitiche, or simply Quiche, which still bears 

 the name of the nation whose capital it was, but which is now almost exclusively 

 inhabited by Ladinos. It stands at an altitude of 6,220 feet, about 25 miles north- 

 east of Totonicapam on a plain of the temperate zone watered by the headstreams 

 of the Rio Grande (Motagua). This plain is enclosed by deep barrancas separat- 

 ing it from the terraces on which stood the monuments of Utatlan, residence of the 

 ancient Quiche kings. Surrounded by precipices over 1,300 feet high on the south 

 side, the terrace of the Acropolis presents a nearly level surface for about a third 

 of a mile in all directions, and is connected with the neighbouring heights by a 

 precipitous track which was formerly defended by strong fortresses. The palace 

 of Utatlan, said by the chroniclers to have rivalled that of Montezuma in size, 

 was spacious enough to contain a whole population of women, servants and 

 soldiers ; the school contained over 5,000 children educated at the charge of the 

 sovereign, and when this potentate mustered his forces on the terrace to oppose 

 the advance of the Spaniards, he is said to have passed in review as many as 72,000 

 combatants. The pyramid known as the Sacrificaforio still presents a somewhat 

 regular contour, and preserves the traces of steps. Beyond the citadel, the slopes 

 of the hills, the surrounding heights and plains are strewn for a vast space with the 

 ruins of edifices now for the most part overgrown with vegetation. The excava- 



