"At present they are great imitators of all the different sorts of handiwork that are made, and so they learn all the trades with ease. There are many Indians in their villages, beside those who live in the City and in the Towns, who are great workers as smiths, locksmiths, bridlemakers, shoemakers, carpenters, wood-carvers, sculptors, saddlers, tradesmen who make many curious things out of shell, bricklayers, stonecutters, tailors, painters, and so on. What causes wonder is that there are many Indians who work at four or six trades where a Spaniard would have but one ... but with that almost innate coolness for work they supply their wants and turn out good work, which they sell more cheaply than the Spaniards do, so that those tradesmen who go to Yucathan fare badly at their trades; so there are but few of them, and they seek other means of earning a livelihood.
"They wear clothes of very white cotton, of which they make shirts, breeches, and certain mantles a vara and a half square which they call tilmas or hayantes. These can be made to serve as capes by drawing the two corners up on the shoulder and making a knot; indeed, very many people use ones made out of somewhat coarse woven wool, and even many of stuffs brought from Spain, such as damasks and other silks. Some use jackets, and many wear shoes and hempe sandals. The usual custom, however, is to go barefoot, especially in their own houses and fields, but the opposite is true of some Caciques and leading men, and of women. Most of the men wear hats of straw or palm-leaves, and nowadays many buy felt hats. The women use Uaipiles, which is a garment that falls from the throat to the middle of the leg, with an opening at the top, where the head goes, and two others at the top of the sides for the arms, which are covered half-way down. Because this garment is not tied in at the waist, it also serves as a shirt. From the waist to the feet is another garment called Pic, and it is like petticoats and goes under the outer garment. Most of these are worked with blue and red thread, which makes them sightly. If a Spanish woman is seen in this dress it looks, on her, most improper. Little Indian girls who are growing up with Spanish women become great embroiderers, seamstresses, and patchers, and they make things that are sold at large prices and much esteemed.
"For Sundays and Feast-days when they go to Mass, and when they are to be confessed, both men and women have cleaner and neater clothes, which they keep for this. Other customs and things of theirs will be learned through the laws that have been given to remedy them, which will be related in the Fifth Book.
"There were Indians in the past days of their ancestors who had larger bodies than those now common, bodies which were found in the sepulchres of this land and which had gigantic stature. In 1647 in the village of Vecal, on the royal road of Campeche, Padre Fray Juan de Carrión (now Provincial Commissioner for the next General Chapter) ordered his Indians to make an arbor for a reception he was to hold. They had just set up the sticks with which it was to be made when the tools hit upon a very large sepulchre made of flag-stones placed one over another without any peculiarities of carving whatever. The Indians ran away from it and went to call the Padre, who, on arriving, ordered them to take out whatever was in the sepulchre. The Indians did not want to do this, saying that it was prohibited for them to touch anything of that sort. So the Padre, with the aid of a small boy, got out the bones of a man of formidable size. There were in the sepulchre three bowls of very fine pottery having three hollow balls in place of feet, and there was a small black box of what appeared to be jasper. The Padre burned the bones, threw them away, and filled up the hole, rebuking the Indians for not wishing to touch it, on the plea that it was forbidden to them to do so...."
[CHAPTER II]
THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL
FEATURES OF THE ITZA STATE DURING
THE PERIOD OF 1445-1697
The Significance of the Itzas. The dates of the Itza dominance over the region around Tayasal are roughly those given above. Although the Spaniards became a factor in the lives of the Itzas about 1525, their presence does not alter the fact that this tribe was so powerful as to be able to preserve its independence for a long time. The Itzas may be considered as presenting, in diminished form, all the more important political and social conditions that had formerly characterized the great Maya states in the northern part of the peninsula. We will now study these conditions so as to understand better the problems the Spanish conquerors were called upon to meet and to solve later on. In spite of the proximity of the Spaniards, it is doubtful whether the Itzas changed much during the two hundred and fifty years they occupied the Peten or Tayasal region.
The Location of Peten or Tayasal. The Itza stronghold was located at Peten or Tayasal.[2.1] The present city of Flores, located on a small island in the Lake of Peten, is sometimes thought to be the site of ancient Tayasal. Others think that Tayasal was really on the peninsula north of Flores. This latter opinion is held by Mr. Morley and Dr. Tozzer, who have been on the spot. The former believes that the lake was formerly higher than now, which would explain how the present peninsula, formerly an island, attained its present condition. The island of Flores is scarcely more than half a mile in diameter; Avendaño says that Tayasal was half a league long. The reader is urged to compare Plates II and III for the purpose of seeing how the modern appearance of Tayasal or Peten is different from its appearance a few centuries ago. As visitors to Tayasal usually either came or left by way of Tipu, the distance from Tayasal to the shore which they generally traveled was that from the village to the eastern end of the lake, a journey often said to be six leagues in length, which is approximately correct. Perhaps the most important piece of evidence is that given by Avendaño's sketch map (Pls. Ia, Ib). He gives three cayos or islands in the lake. They are arranged in such a way that the Cayo Grande (Tayasal) is to the east; just northwest of it is Otro Cayo (Another Cayo). I believe that after the general level of the lake fell these two cayos were united and formed the present peninsula. Flores is on the cayo shown by Avendaño as just south and east of these two. Maler, who is among those who have used the name Tayasal, says that the name means "in the midst of green waters."
Description of Peten and its Surroundings. We will now give Padre Avendaño's account of the region occupied by the Itzas and ruled by their king, Canek: "Before we leave the said Peten Ytza, it is well to give the clearest information about it, its territories and its people, so that, in the future, historians may have clear light about it and may give in full the necessary information. Peten Ytza is situated in the middle of a great lake and there are not only this one on which the King lives, but also four other Petens, or islands which also lie in the said lake. Others say that these Petens are seven in number, and still others that there are thirty, and that this lake also surrounds the seven, as some say, as well as the thirty which the others speak of. What is certain is that I stopped there and asked purposely what number of people and Petens the Ytzalana nation contained, and they told me that there were only five Petens. The lake which surrounds them is large, its length I have not measured, nor have I gone over more than the part of it by which I came, which was three leagues across, more or less (entering it at the West and going eastward), till one reaches the Peten on which the King lives. But the length of the said lake which runs from North to South (as far as we could see it), although we did not succeed in seeing to its end, was probably from eight to ten leagues.[2.2] There are some who say that the said lake is sixty leagues long. If it is true that it surrounds the above thirty Petens, it is not improbable that it is of that length. The principal Peten or island (the court where the King lives) must be more than half a league long and is a high island from which many hills are seen all around. The situation is very pleasant on account of these hills being in sight, as well as the five Petens which the lake encloses, so that from the said Petun any one is seen who comes across the lake from a distance from any one of the four directions, as well as those who go fishing on the lake...."
The Lake neither Rises nor Falls. "I asked them why they had their houses so close to the shore of the lake, and if they had any trouble with its risings and fallings. They told me that they had no trouble, since the lake never rose or fell. From this it is inferred that it is also true that no river enters it or flows out of it on the surface,--either of rapid or gentle current, as many who speak of this lake try to show; since, if such a stream entered it, or left it, it could not fail to increase with the freshets, as in dry times to grow smaller; although we should not be able to deny the hidden and subterranean connection of this lake with other neighboring lakes, because of its permanent preservation of level...."