INHABITANTS. 
225 
repulsive in aspect ; and, in a moral point of view, deeply de- 
graded and grossly ignorant. Their language, too, is more 
harsh and less musical ; and they are notorious in history as the 
most brutal and idolatrous of all the Isthmus tribes. Their con- 
version to Christianity is merely nominal, and religion is un- 
known to them, except in the exterior forms of worship. Even 
now, they secretly offer sacrifices of birds and animals to some 
unknown deity, and their minds are filled with dark and terrible 
superstitions. They pay little respect for age, and it is no un- 
common thing to see old men and women bearing the burden of 
a beast. A singular object of their ambition, no less worthy of 
remark, is the desire to possess the greatest number of mules — a 
circumstance not easily accounted for, considering the little use 
they make of their animals, even in the carriage of their goods, 
which they seem to prefer to bear on their own shoulders. In- 
deed, this practice of carrying burdens is so common, that when 
they have no pack to carry, they have been known to put 
stones into their tenates in preference to travelling without any 
thing. 
They are chiefly given to agricultural pursuits, and their crops 
of maize, beans, rice, and plantains are very considerable; but 
their milpas are often many miles from their habitations, in the 
rich bottom-lands that skirt the tributary streams of the Coat- 
zacoalcos. As laborers, they possess great muscular strength 
and activity, and might, under rigid treatment, become exceed- 
ingly useful. They are, however, given to drink, and their 
lack of honesty is not the least objectionable feature in their 
character. ISTot more than a third part of these Indians speak 
Spanish. 
The Zoques inhabit the mountainous region to the east, from 
the valley of the Chicapa on the south, to the Rio del Corte on 
the north. Originally occupying a small province lying on the 
confines of Tobasco, they were subjugated by the expedition to 
Chiapas under Luis Marin.* At present they are confined to 
the villages of San Miguel and Santa Maria Chimalapa. In 
some of their characteristics they are similar to the Mijes, but 
* Vide Zockharfs Trans, of Bernal Diaz, Vol. IL, p. 186. 
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