As I have said, the Indians of Central America differ widely from their fiercer brethren of our country, not less in their modes of life than in all their social and civil relations. This Poyer community afforded an example of a purely patriarchal organization, in which the authority of paternity and of age was recognized in the fullest degree. Every evening the old men, each taking a lighted brand, gathered within a small circle of stones, at one corner of the house, and there deliberated upon the affairs of the community, and settled its proceedings for the following day. In these conferences neither the women nor young men were permitted to take part. All the labor of the community was performed in common, and all shared equally in the results. In one or two of the recesses which I have described, were some ancient and helpless crones, who were treated with all the care and tenderness of children. The whole establishment, according to the best of my count, consisted of about one hundred and forty persons, young and old, of whom thirty-five were full-grown men.
In figure the Poyers or Payas are identical with the Towkas and Woolwas, except more muscular—the consequence, probably, of their cooler climate and severer labor. The women were less shy, perhaps from their more social mode of living. In common with those of the coast, they go naked to the waist, whence depends a skirt of striped cotton cloth, reaching to the knees. Their hair is invariably parted in front, and held in place by a cotton band, bound tightly around the forehead. They were always occupied. Some, squatting on the ground, spun the native cotton, of which all the Indians raise small quantities, while others wove it into cloth. Both processes were rude but ingenious. The spindle consists of a small ball of heavy wood, through which passes a thin shaft, the whole resembling an overgrown top, the lower end resting in a calabash, to prevent it from toppling over. Some of the cotton is attached to this spindle, which is twirled between the thumb and forefinger. While it is in motion the thread is carefully drawn out from a pile of cotton in the lap of the spinner. When it stops the thread is wound on the spindle, and the same process repeated. The process of weaving was certainly a simple one, but after several unsatisfactory attempts to describe it, I am obliged to confess my inability to do so, in an intelligible manner.
But a principal occupation of the women was the grinding of maize for tortillas, and of preparing the cassava. For these purposes there were a number of flat stones elevated on blocks, which were called by the Mexican name of metlatl. These were somewhat concave on the upper surface, in which fitted a stone roller, worked by hand. With this the maize was speedily ground to a fine consistence; the paste was then made into small cakes, which were baked rapidly on broad earthen platters, supported over brisk fires. The cakes require to be eaten when crisp and hot, in order to be relished; for when cold they become heavy and tasteless. Upon these stones they also crushed the stalks of the indigenous sugar-cane to extract the juice, which, mixed with powdered wild-cacao, is allowed to ferment, constituting an agreeable and exhilarating beverage, called ulung.
Every morning all the girls went down to the stream to bathe, which they did without any overstrained affectation of modesty; but the mothers and old women always sought a spot secluded from the general gaze. It was only when thus engaged that the girls were at all playful. They dashed the water in each others’ faces, and sought to drag each other under the surface, in the deep pools, where they swam about as mermaids are supposed to do, and as if the water was their native element. At all other times they were as distant and demure as the daintiest damsels in all New England.
The Poyers are certainly a provident people. Although there were no signs of plantations in the vicinity of their establishments, yet, at various points in the neighborhood, where there occurred patches of rich interval land, were small fields of sugar-cane, plantains, squashes, maize, yucas, and cassava, all protected by fences, and attended with the utmost care. From every beam of the house depended bunches of plantains and bananas, huge yams, and dried flesh of various kinds, but chiefly that of the waree, while closely packed, on platforms under the roof, were a few bales of sarsaparilla, which I found they were accustomed to carry down to the coast for purposes of barter.
The Poyers or Payas, as I have intimated, are eminently agriculturists, and although they sometimes follow the chase, it is not as a principal means of support. Nor is it followed from any fantastic notion of excitement or adventure, but in a direct and downright manner, which is the very reverse of what is called “sport.” I had an example of this in their mode of fishing, which quite astonished all my previous notions on that subject, and which evinced to me furthermore, that fishes, although cold-blooded, are not exempt from having their heads turned, provided they are approached in a proper manner.
My Poyer boy, who was unwearying in his devices to entertain and interest me, one day conceived a brilliant idea, which he hastened to communicate to the old men, who held a sober monexico, or council upon it, and resolved that there should be made a grand demonstration upon the fish, for the double purpose of amusing the stranger, and of replenishing the supplies. The resolution, taken at night, was carried into execution in the morning. While a portion of the men proceeded down the stream to construct a temporary wier of boughs, others collected a large quantity of a species of vine called bequipe, which is common in the woods, has a rank growth, is full of juice, and emits a pungent odor. These vines were cut in sections, crushed between stones, and placed in large earthen pots, left to steep, over a slow fire.
I watched all the operations with curious interest. About the middle of the afternoon they were completed; the pots containing the decoctions were duly shouldered, and we all started up the stream. At the distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile, we met a number of men wading down the channel, and beating the water with long poles, by way of concentrating the fish in the direction of the wiers. Here the pots were simultaneously emptied in the stream, which the contents tinged of a brownish hue. Up to this moment, the various preparations had greatly puzzled me, but now I discovered that the purpose of the decoction was to poison, or rather to intoxicate the fish, which it did effectively; for, as we proceeded down the stream, numbers rose struggling to the surface, vainly endeavoring to stem the current, which swept them toward the wiers.
At every step they became more numerous, until the whole stream was thronged with them. Some were quite stupefied, and drifted along helplessly, while others made spasmodic efforts to resist the potent influence of the bequipe. But, sooner or later, they too drifted down, with a faint wagging of their tails, which seemed to express that they fairly “gave it up.”
The wier had been built at the foot of a considerable pool, which was literally covered with the stupefied fishes. There were many varieties of them, and the Indians stationed at that point were already engaged in picking out the largest and best, tossing the others over the wier, to recover their senses at their leisure, in the clear water below. As soon as the fish were thrown ashore, they were taken charge of by the women, who cleaned them on the spot, and with wonderful dexterity. They were afterward taken to the house, rubbed with salt, and smoke-dried over fires, after the manner which I have already described, as practiced by the Sambos at Pearl Cay Lagoon.