All were fond of perfumes, and besides the odoriferous substances mixed by the ladies in their paint, copal and other gums were burned on many occasions, not only in honor of the gods, but for the agreeable odor of the smoke; sweet-smelling barks, herbs, and flowers were also habitually carried on the person.[1084] All the Mayas, especially females, were rather neat than otherwise in their personal habits, taking great pains with their dress and so-called decorations. They bathed frequently in cold water and sometimes indulged in hot baths, perhaps in steam-baths; but of the latter very little is said, although Brasseur says it was used in Guatemala under the name of tuh. The women were very modest and usually took much pains to prevent the exposure of their persons, but in bathing and on certain other occasions both sexes appear to have been somewhat careless in this respect. In both Yucatan and Nicaragua mirrors were employed by the men, but the women required or at least employed no such aids.[1085] Although such disfigurements as have been described, painting, tattooing, and perforation, are reported by all the authors, and were all doubtless practiced, yet one can hardly avoid forming the idea in reading the narratives of the conquerors, that such hideous mutilations were confined to certain classes and certain occasions, and that the mass of the people in every-day life presented a much less repulsive aspect.
I have already spoken of the tenure of landed property and the laws of inheritance among the Mayas. To the accumulation of wealth in the form of personal property they do not seem to have attached much importance. They were content for the most part with a supply of simple food for their tables, the necessary household utensils, and such articles of dress and ornament as were required by their social rank; with these and a sufficient surplus to entertain their friends in a fitting style, they took little care for the future. Yet traders were a class much honored, and their profession was a lucrative one. An active trade was carried on in each town, as also between different towns, provinces, and nations, in order that the people of each locality might be supplied with the necessary commodities both of home and foreign production. Few details have been preserved respecting the manner of conducting trade, but what is known on the subject indicates that the commercial system was identical with that of the Nahuas, to which a preceding chapter has been devoted. Commodities of every class, food, dress, ornaments, weapons, and implements, were offered for sale in the market-place, or plaza, of every village, where all transactions between buyers and sellers were regulated by an official who had full authority to correct abuses and punish offences against the laws of trade. Fairs were held periodically in all the larger towns, which were crowded by buyers and sellers from abroad. Traveling merchants traversed the country in every direction busied in the exchange and transport of varied local products. Yucatan did a large foreign trade with Tabasco and Honduras, from both of which regions large quantities of cacao were imported. Other international routes of commerce doubtless existed in different directions; we have seen that the Nahua merchants crossed the isthmus of Tehuantepec to traffic in Maya lands, and the southern merchants were doubtless not unrepresented in the northern fairs. Transportation was effected for the most part by carriers overland, and in many parts of the country, as in Yucatan, magnificent paved roads offered every facility to the traveler; quite an extensive coasting-trade was also carried on by water.
The ordinary mercantile transactions were effected by exchange, or barter, of one commodity for another; but where this was inconvenient cacao passed current as money among all the nations. Thus a rabbit in Nicaragua sold for ten cacao-nibs, and one hundred of these seeds would buy a tolerably good slave. Notwithstanding the comparatively small value of this cacao-money, Oviedo tells us that counterfeiting was sometimes attempted. According to Cogolludo, copper bells and rattles of different sizes, red shells in strings, precious stones, and copper hatchets often served as money, especially in foreign trade. Doubtless many other articles, valuable and of compact form were used in the same way. Landa speaks of net-work purses in which the money of the natives was carried.
MARKET REGULATIONS.
We are informed that in Yucatan articles of ordinary consumption, like food, were sold always at a fixed price, except maize, which varied slightly in price according to the yield. Maize was sold by the carga, or load, which was about one half of the Castilian fanega. In Nicaragua the matter of price was left altogether to the contracting parties. The Mayas of all nations were very strict in requiring the exact fulfilment of contracts, which, in Yucatan, as has been said, and in Guatemala also, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, were legalized by the parties drinking together, the beverage being generally colored with certain leaves called max. In the Nicaraguan markets some extraordinary regulations were enforced. Men could not visit the market-place of their own towns, either to buy, sell, or for any other purpose; they even incurred the risk of receiving a sound beating, if they so much as peeped in to see what was going on. All the business was transacted by the women; but boys, into whose minds, by reason of their tender years, carnal thoughts were supposed not to have entered, might be present to assist the women, and even men from other towns or provinces, were welcome, provided they did not belong to a people of different language.
No peculiar ceremonies are mentioned as accompanying the setting-out or return of trading caravans, but some customs observed by travelers, a large proportion of whom were probably merchants, are recorded. In Yucatan all members of a household prayed often and earnestly for the safe return of the absent member; and the traveler himself, when he chanced to come in contact with a large stone which had been moved in opening the road, reverently laid upon it a green branch, brushing his knees with another at the same time as a preventive of fatigue. He also carried incense on his journey, and at each nightfall, wherever he might be, he stood on end three small stones, and on three other flat stones placed before the first he burned incense and uttered a prayer to Ekchua, god of travelers, whose name signifies 'merchant.' When the traveler was belated, and thought himself likely to arrive after dark at his proposed stopping-place, he deposited a stone in a hollow tree, and pulled out some hairs from his eyebrows, which he proceeded to blow towards the setting sun, hoping thereby to induce that orb to retard somewhat its movements. In Guatemala, small chapels were placed at short intervals on all the lines of travel, where each passer halted for a few moments at least, gathered a handful of herbs, rubbed with them his legs, spat reverently upon them, and placed them prayerfully upon the altar with a small stone and some trifling offering of pepper, salt, or cacao. The offering remained untouched, no one being bold enough to disturb the sacred token.[1086]
MAYA BOATS AND NAVIGATION.
Oviedo states that in Nicaragua, or at least in certain parts of that country, the people had no canoes, but resorted to balsas when it became necessary to cross the water. The balsa in this region was simply a raft of five or six logs tied together at the ends with grass, and covered with cross-sticks. The author referred to saw a fleet of these aboriginal vessels which bore fifteen hundred warriors. On the coast of Yucatan and in the lakes of Peten, the natives had many canoes for use in war and commerce, and were very skillful in their management. These canoes were 'dug-outs' made from single trunks, capable of carrying from two to fifty persons, and propelled by paddles. Cogolludo tells us that canoes with sails were seen by Córdova during his voyage up the coast, and some modern writers speak of the famous canoe met by Columbus off the Honduras coast as having been fitted with sails; but in the latter case there seems to be no authority for the statement, and that sails were ever employed may well be considered doubtful. The boat seen by Columbus was eight feet wide, "as long as a galley," bore twenty-five men, and an awning of mats in the centre protected the women and children. All the information we have respecting boats in Guatemala is the statement of Peter Martyr that the 'dug-outs' were also in use there, and of Juarros that the Lacandones had a large fleet of boats; Guatemala was a country, however, whose physical conformation would rarely call for navigation on an extensive scale. Villagutierre says that the Chiapanecs used gourd balsas, or 'calabazas.'[1087]
Wars among the Maya nations were frequent,—more so probably during the century preceding the Spanish conquest, when their history is partially known, than in the more glorious days of the distant past,—but they were also, as a rule, of short duration, partaking more of the character of raids than of regular wars. One campaign generally decided the tribal or national dispute, and the victors were content with the victory and the captives taken. Landa and Herrera report that the nations of Yucatan learned the art of war from the Mexicans, having been an altogether peaceful people before the Nahua influence was brought to bear on them. The latter also suspects that the Yucatec war-customs, as observed by the Spaniards, may have been modified by the teaching of Guerrero and Aguilar, white men held for several years as prisoners before the invaders came; but neither theory seems to have much weight.