Chap. VIII. MANNEKS OF THE WOOLWAS. 137 
identified themselves with the Indians of the table-land. 
At Ldvago, they said, little remained of the customs of 
old ; bat with the people of the interior — "por dentro" — 
the ancient manners had been left unchanged. These latter 
are living in a state of polygamy ; but a man has never 
more than three wives, who in most cases occupy separate 
dwellings, and usually have a great number of children. 
When a young man intends to marry he kills a deer, 
which, with a quantity of firewood, he places before the 
door of the girl. If she accepts this present the marriage 
takes place. When the husband dies the wife cuts her 
hair and burns the hut, and the same is done vice versa. 
The dead are buried with all their property, and for a 
certain time some gruel of maize is daily placed on the 
grave. At certain times of the year they celebrate festivals 
or perform ceremonies at which no stranger nor any of 
their women and children are admitted. On these occa- 
sions they pretend " to dance with tbeir god " — bailan con 
su Dios de ellos, as the alcalde of Acoyapa expressed it. 
This they do, singing at the same time with a loud voice. 
At these festivals certain feats of gymnastics are performed, 
each of them jumping over the next ; the jumping man, 
at the same time, deals the other a blow over the shoulders, 
and if the latter does not show signs of being affected by 
the pain, he is acknowledged as an "hombre valiente" — 
one of the braves. Similar customs have been observed 
amongst various tribes belonging to races and countries 
widely different and distant from each other: they are of 
little interest. I would, however, not omit these particulars, 
as they are well calculated to convey an idea of the mental 
development of this people. 
The next day I returned to Acoyapa, and on the 28th 
we left that place on our wav back to Granada. As it 
