Small articles of gold, intended chiefly for ornamental purposes, were found everywhere in greater or less abundance by the Spaniards, the gold being generally described as of a low grade. Cortés speaks of the gold in Yucatan as alloyed with copper, and the same alloy is mentioned in Guatemala by Herrera, and in Nicaragua by Benzoni. The latter author says that gold was abundant in Nicaragua but was all brought from other provinces. He also states that there were no mines of any kind, but Oviedo, on the contrary, speaks of 'good mines of gold.' Articles of gold took the form of animals, fishes, birds, bells, small kettles and vases, beads, rings, bracelets, hatchets, small idols, bars, plates for covering armor, gilding or plating of wooden masks and clay beads, and settings for precious stones. Peter Martyr speaks of gold as formed in bars and stamped in Nicaragua, and Villagutierre of silver 'rosillas' in use among the Itzas. We have but slight information respecting the use of precious stones. Oviedo saw in Nicaragua a sun-dial of pearl set on jasper, and also speaks of wooden masks covered with stone mosaic and gold plates in Tabasco. Martyr tells us that the natives of Yucatan attached no value to Spanish counterfeited jewels, because they could take from their mines better ones of genuine worth.[1096]
STONE CARVING.
The few implements in common use among the Mayas, such as knives, chisels, hatchets, and metates, together with the spear and arrow heads already mentioned, were of flint, porphyry, or other hard stone. There is but little doubt that most of their elaborate sculpture on temples and idols was executed with stone implements, since the material employed was for the most part soft and easily worked. The carvings in the hard sapote-wood in Yucatan must have presented great difficulties to workmen without iron tools; but the fact remains that stone implements, with a few probably of hardened copper, sufficed with native skill and patience for all purposes. Villagutierre informs us that the Lacandones cut wood with stone hatchets. Cogolludo speaks of the remarkable facility which the natives displayed in learning the mechanical arts introduced by Spaniards, in using new and strange tools or adapting the native implements to new uses. All implements whether of the temple or the household, seem to have been ceremonially consecrated to their respective uses. Oviedo speaks of deer-bone combs used in Guatemala, and of another kind of combs the teeth of which were made of black wood and set in a composition like baked clay but which became soft on exposure to heat.
The early writers speak in general terms of idols of various human and animal forms, cut from all kinds of stone, and also from wood; Martyr also mentions an immense serpent in what he supposed to be a place of punishment in Yucatan, which was 'compacted of bitumen and small stones.' The Itzas constructed of stone and mortar the image of a horse, modeled on an animal left among them by Cortés. The Spanish authors say little or nothing of the sculpture of either idols or architectural decorations, except that it was elaborate, and often demon-like; but their observations on the subject would have had but little value, even had they been more extended, and fortunately architectural remains are sufficiently numerous and complete, at least in Yucatan, Honduras, and Chiapas, to supply information that, if not entirely satisfactory, is far more so than what we possess respecting other branches of Maya art. Brasseur de Bourbourg speaks of vases exquisitely worked from alabaster and agate in Yucatan; there is some authority for this in modern discoveries, but little or none, so far as I know, in the writings of the conquerors. Earthenware, shells, and the rind of the gourd were the material of Maya dishes. All speak of the native pottery as most excellent in workmanship, material, and painting, but give no details of its manufacture. Herrera, however, mentions a province of Guatemala, where very fine pottery was made by the women, and Palacio tells us that this branch of manufactures was one of the chief industries of Aguachapa, a town of the Pipiles.
All that is known of cloths and textile fabrics has been given in enumerating the various articles of dress; of any differences that may have existed between the Nahua and Maya methods of spinning and weaving cotton we know nothing. It is probable that the native methods have not been modified essentially in modern times among the same peoples. We are told that in Yucatan the wife of a god invented weaving, and was worshiped under the name of Ixazalvoh; while another who improved the invention by the use of colored threads was Yxchebelyax, also a goddess. Spinning and weaving was for the most part women's work, and they are spoken of as industrious and skillful in the avocation. Bark and maguey-fibre were made into cloth by the Cakchiquels, and Oviedo mentions several plants whose fibre was worked into nets and ropes by the Nicaraguans. The numerous dye-woods which are still among the richest productions of the country in many parts, furnished the means of imparting to woven fabrics the bright hues of which the natives were so fond. Bright-colored feathers were highly prized and extensively used for decorative purposes. Garments of feathers are spoken of, which were probably made as they were in Mexico by pasting the plumage in various ornamental figures on cotton fabric.[1097]
SYSTEM OF NUMERATION.
The following table will give the reader a clear idea of the Maya system of numeration as it existed in Yucatan; the definitions of some of the names are taken from the Maya dictionary, and may or may not have any application to the subject:
| 1 | hun, 'paper' |
| 2 | ca, 'calabash' |
| 3 | ox, 'shelled corn' |
| 4 | can, 'serpent' or 'count' |
| 5 | ho, 'entry' |
| 6 | uac |
| 7 | uuc |
| 8 | uaxac, 'something standing erect' |
| 9 | bolon, bol, 'to roll or turn' |
| 10 | lahun, lah, 'a stone' |
| 11 | buluc, 'drowned' |
| 12 | lachá, (lahun-ca), 10 + 2 |
| 13 | oxlahun, 3 + 10 |
| 14 | canlahun, 4 + 10 |
| 15 | holhun, (ho-lahun), 5 + 10 |
| 16 | uaclahun, 6 + 10, etc. |
| 20 | hunkal, kal, 'neck,' or a measure, 1 × 20 |
| 21 | huntukal, 1 + 20 |
| 22 | catukal, 2 + 20, etc. |
| 28 | uaxactukal, or hunkal catac uaxac, 8 + 20, or 20 + 8 catac, 'and' |
| 30 | luhucakal, 2 × 20 - 10 (?) |
| 31 | buluctukal, 11 + 20 |
| 32 | lahcatukal, 12 + 20 |
| 33 | oxlahutukal, 13 + 20, etc. |
| 40 | cakal, 2 × 20 |
| 41 | huntuyoxkal |
| 42 | catuyoxkal |
| 50 | lahuyoxkal |
| 51 | buluctuyoxkal |
| 60 | oxhal, 3 × 20 |
| 61 | huntucankal |
| 70 | lahucankal |
| 71 | buluctucankal |
| 80 | cankal, 4 × 20 |
| 81 | hutuyokal |
| 82 | catuyokal |
| 90 | lahuyokal |
| 100 | ho-kal, 5 × 20 |
| 101 | huntu uackal |
| 102 | catu uackal |
| 110 | lahu uackal |
| 115 | holhu uackal |
| 120 | uackal, 6 × 20 |
| 130 | lahu uuckal |
| 131 | buluc tu uuckal |
| 140 | uuckal, 7 × 20 |
| 141 | huntu uaxackal |
| 160 | uaxackal, 8 × 20, etc. |
| 200 | lahuncal, 10 × 20 |
| 300 | holhukal, 15 × 20 |
| 400 | hunbak, 1 × 400 |
| 500 | hotubak |
| 600 | lahutubak |
| 800 | cabak, 2 × 400 |
| 900 | hotu yoxbak |
| 1,000 | lahuyoxbak or hunpic (modern) |
| 1,200 | oxbak, 3 × 400 |
| 1,250 | oxbak catac lahuyoxkal, 3 × 400 + 50 |
| 2,000 | capic (modern) |
| 8,000 | hunpic (ancient) |
| 16,000 | ca pic (ancient) |
| 160,000 | calab |
| 1,000,000 | kinchil or huntzotzceh |
| 64,000,000 | hunalau |