228 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



tions made at various times have brought to light statues, bas-reliefs, and much 

 decorative work. South-eastwards on the verge of the plateau stands the healthy- 

 town of San Tomas Chichicndenango, which is still inhabited by the descendants 

 of the ancient Quiche nobility : it was here that the Dominican, Ximenez, made 

 the lucky find of the Popol-Vnh, or "Book of Myths." 



West of Quiche, the chief headstreams of the Motagua intermingle with those 

 of the ITsumacinta, in the department of Haehuetenango, one of the most sparsely 

 peopled in the republic. Haehuetenango [Gueguetcnango), that is, '' City of the 

 Ancients," has also replaced an old Indian town, Zakuleu, or "White Earth," 

 which is said to have been the capital of the Mamé nation. The modern town 

 lies in tha temperate zone, and in a fertile district yielding both European and 

 tropical fruits, and watered by a stream descending from the north-west to the 

 Grijalva. In the neighbourhood is the flourishing town of Chiantla, whose 

 convent, enriched b}' the offerings of multitudes of pilgrims, was formerly one of 

 the wealthiest in the New World. Argentiferous lead-mines, now no longer 

 worked, also contributed to the opulence of the Dominican friars of this district. 



On the upper Chixoy, which is the main headstream of the Usumacinta, the 

 only town is the Quiche settlement of Sacapu/as, which crowns an eminence 3,840 

 feet high, on the right bank, a short distance below the Rio Negro and Rio Blanco 

 confluence. Immediately below the town numerous thermal springs flow directly 

 from the granite cliffs, at temperatures varying from 104° to 158° Fahr. They 

 are both saline and bitter, somewhat like seawater in taste, which is due to the 

 simultaneous presence of sodium chloride and sulphate of magnesia. Other 

 springs flowing farther east, although less saline, are more utilised by the natives 

 in the preparation of salt. The chief salt pan is at present that of Magdalcna, 

 about ten miles north-west of Sacapulas, beyond some steep intervening cliffs. 

 Here two copious streams, one yielding over twenty gallons a second, and contain- 

 ing four per cent, of pure salt, flow from the foot of a hill, which was formerly 

 forest-clad, but which, since the opening of the works, has become completely 

 treeless. ' 



Salama, capital of the department of Baja Vera Paz, is also situated in the 

 upper Usumacinta basin, on an eastern tributary of the Chixoy, 2,865 feet 

 above sea-level, consequently quite within the tropical zone. 8an Geroninio, an 

 old Dominican establishment a few miles east of Salama, has become the centre 

 of a flourishing sugar plantation, the produce of which is exported far and wide, 

 despite the difficult communications. This Vera Paz region, which, for several 

 years after the arrival of the Spaniards was known as the " Land of War," contains 

 numerous ruins of large cities, now overgrown with rank vegetation. Puchio 

 Viej'o, ov the " Old Town," which stands on the slopes above San Geronimo, 

 occupies the site of the ancient Xababal. Rahinal lies farther west on an affluent 

 of the Chixoy, surrounded by banana, orange, and sugar plantations, in a district 

 dotted over with numerous old sepulchral mounds. Northwards are seen the 

 ruins of a fortress, and about six miles to the north-west the remains of Nim- 

 PokoD), formerly a capital of the Pokoman nation, and traditionally said to have 



