Travels Amongst American Indians, Their Ancient Earthworks and Temples / Including a Journey in Guatemala, Mexico and Yucatan, and a Visit to the Ruins of Patinamit, Utatlan, Palenque and Uxmal

by Lindesay Brine

At Yajalon, as at Bachajon and Ocosingo, the church was in ruins. There was nothing left of it except the bare walls, marks of the old altars and parts of the chancel. Long grass was growing over the ground of the nave. The convent was also in a ruinous condition and only one side of the quadrangle remained. The interior was overgrown with weeds and grass, and was used as a pasture for the horses belonging to the convent.

The Presbitero was eloquent upon the subject of the wrongs suffered by the Catholics in Mexico, and he particularly dwelt upon the harm that had been done to the people in consequence of the decrees which had nationalised the possessions of the church, suppressed the convents and abolished all religious fraternities. He thought that the withdrawal of the monks would have an injurious effect upon the condition of the Indians, and that they would gradually relapse into a state of ignorance and barbarism. Thus the system begun by Bishop Las Casas, and carried on afterwards by monks and priests would come to an end, and all their efforts to advance and benefit the aboriginal tribes be rendered useless and vain.

It is difficult at this distance of time to estimate correctly the value of the work done by Las Casas, and the consequences of the enactments in favour of the Indians, obtained by his appeals to the Spanish government. In this diocese of Chiapas his zeal led to the establishment of numerous churches and convents. Dominicans and brethren of other orders came over from Europe for the purpose of living amongst these Indians, converting them, educating them and forming centres of local civilization. To a certain extent the ceremonies of the church, and especially the worship of images, seemed to obtain a powerful hold upon the devotional nature of many of the tribes, and the monks obtained great influence over them.

Thus far the work begun by Las Casas unquestionably did much good in this and the adjoining provinces. The exhortations of the principal authorities of the Church in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were also beneficial in moderating the hardships inflicted upon the natives by the Spanish landowners. But in advocating the cause of the Indians, Las Casas, in the fervour of his zeal, created evils the effect of which he could not have foreseen. It was in consequence of the measures adopted through the representations of this ardent reformer that negro slavery was introduced into America. It was also chiefly owing to his efforts that consecutive ordinances was decreed, which, although issued with the intention of putting a stop to the harsh treatment of the Indians, made it almost impossible to carry on successfully the government of New Spain. Thus, by the abolition of forced labour, it was found that there was an immediate danger of the lands granted to the Spaniards becoming thrown out of cultivation and their owners ruined. In no part of New Spain was this danger more to be apprehended than in the neighbourhood of La Antigua Guatemala, and in the country through which I passed on my way to Santa Cruz del Quiché. The lands there were fertile and the farms prosperous. The Indians performed labour upon them under fixed rules which, although strict and exacting, were not opposed to their previous habits. When these regulations were withdrawn the Indians ceased to work. Finally protests were made to the government, and it was pointed out that this usage of forced labour was not introduced by the Spaniards, but that it had previously been practically the base of the tribal administration.

There was another usage which was stopped by orders from Spain. This was the employment of natives as carriers of merchandise. The abolition of this system was found to be disadvantageous to the prosperity of the country, and it was submitted to the king that it had always been the custom amongst the Indians to transport all things by men working as porters, for before the arrival of the Spaniards there were no horses or other beasts of burden. The practice of personally carrying heavy loads still forms part of the habits of all the inferior classes of Indians in Central America.

The restrictions enforced upon the Spanish landowners did not however much affect the prosperity of the church, particularly in the more remote districts, where the priests and friars devoted themselves to the spiritual welfare and education of the natives. At the convents, schools were established for boys and, in the chief towns, sisters belonging to nunneries in Spain, came across the Atlantic to teach the girls. The monks also endeavoured to arrange that the boys upon completing their studies, should teach other Indians and thus spread education amongst them. These exertions which, in their origin, seemed to promise well were not subsequently attended with success, and the authority of the brethren declined. Finally the declarations of Independence, the revolutions, and the establishment of republics, dealt a fatal blow to all educational work.

Amongst the various consequences of the nationalisation of ecclesiastical property, it had come to pass that in the country parishes, there were no funds available for maintaining the churches in repair, and they were all rapidly falling into ruins. The Presbitero was convinced, now that the influence of the priests upon the characters of the tribes was no longer felt, and the church services were not maintained, that the Indians, especially the Tzendales under his care, would return to the practice of their ancient idolatries.

Upon a subject so doubtful as the effect of the teaching of the priests upon the minds of the Indians it is difficult to form an opinion. In the sixteenth century the Roman Catholic religion appeared to be willingly accepted by the natives; but several of the priests that I had met and who discussed this question, were in doubt as to whether this readiness to conform with the ceremonies had not some vague connection with some previous religious customs. The influence of the friars also possibly had some relation to the system of Indian priesthood before the conquest; for, according to the statements of the Spaniards, there was a strange and inexplicable coincidence between certain regulations by which they were bound, and those of the Franciscans and Dominicans.

It was fortunate that during my detention at Yajalon I was the guest of a man so well informed and highly educated as the Presbitero Fernando Macal. It was an exceptional fate for him to be thus placed in that parish, with its numerous detached hamlets, to perform clerical duties amongst these intractable tribes. At the convent in the evening, the Presbitero usually discussed questions of theology, together with his opinions upon the aboriginal and mixed races in Chiapas. The President occasionally joined us, but his mind was preoccupied with anxiety about the maintenance of order. All the time, both day and night, the pueblo was disturbed by the continuous and monotonous sounds of native music.

On the fourth morning the Carnival was over and a dissipated, savage-looking Tzendal named Villafranca appeared at the convent wall, and volunteered to act as my guide to Tumbalá and Palenque. The necessary arrangements were made to secure the fulfilment of his duties. The mule was brought out of the quadrangle and we were soon ready to start. I was warned that the paths over the sierras were in a bad condition, and that many difficulties would have to be overcome in passing through the forests.