Figures are also shown wielding the formidable spear tipped with flint. Some of the spear-heads taken from the Sacred Well are from eight to nine inches long and two to three inches wide, and razor-edged. Spears were usually gaily decorated with feathers attached to the shaft where it joined the head. In the bas-reliefs is shown, also, a spear-head with serrated edges. For fighting at close quarters the battle-ax was used. It consisted of one or several stones or of a metal blade fitted into a wooden helve.
In addition to the armor worn there were shields. Some of the shields were built to fit closely the back and sides of the warrior and were fastened to the broad band of his belt. Other shields, carried in the usual manner, were made and ornamented in several different ways. Usually the base was wood, embossed with metal, studded with jewels or ornamented with feathers. I was fortunate enough to be with Don Eduardo at one time during the dredging of the well and had the thrill of picking from the muck of the dredge the golden section of a shield-front, which had been a large round ornamented disk of considerable size, embellished with carvings of flowers and scrolls.
The net also was used in battle and, as shown in the bas-reliefs, was carried by the spear-thrower, in his left hand. Very likely it was effective in stopping the thrust of a spear. Or—who knows?—it may have been used to entangle the enemy in the manner of the Roman gladiator armed with net and trident.
The warriors went into battle to the resounding blare of horns, and trumpets were used to signal troops in action. There were whole companies of horn-blowers, each man provided with a horn nearly as tall as himself. Horns and horn-blowers are clearly shown in the murals of a second-story room in La Casa de las Monjas.
Our information obtained from a study of the bas-reliefs and murals and from the articles retrieved from the Sacred Well and other finds checks with remarkable closeness the writings of Landa, whose sources of knowledge were chiefly legend and the old Maya writings. Landa says:
They had for their defense round shields which they made of split reeds woven round and adorned with deer-skins. They had jackets padded with cotton and filled with salt. These were of two thicknesses or layers of padding and extremely strong.
Some of the chiefs and captains had helmets of wood. They went to war with plumage and tiger and jaguar skins on—those that had them. They always had two captains, one hereditary and perpetual, the other selected with much ceremony for a term of three years.
On the roads and passes they erected defenses of twigs and wood and sometimes of stone for their archers.[8] If they captured some distinguished man, they sacrificed him, because they did not want to leave alive anyone who might later harm them.
They had hatchets of certain metal which they fastened into handles of wood and these served them as arms and also as instruments to cut wood. These they sharpened by pounding with a stone to harden them as the metal was virginally soft. They had small, short lances with points of hard flint.
In their earth there was not discovered until now any kind of metal with which they might make implements with which to work on their numerous edifices. However, not having metals, they found in the earth flint with which they made materials for their lances which they used in their wars; and the knives for sacrifice were made from flint which the priests had selected.[9]
They had a certain kind of white brass with admixture of gold from which they made their hatchets for different functions and also hawk-shells and a certain kind of small chisel with which they made their idols. The brass and other plates of metal and hard copper plates they used to barter for things from Tabasco for their idols, trading back and forth.
In the illustration following page 241 may be seen the more elaborate costume of the priests. This illustration of a small section of the back wall of the Temple of the Bas-Reliefs represents a religious ceremony. The whole wall is covered with figures of priests and warriors paying devotion to Ahau Can, the king of serpents.
The Great Serpent looms majestically over and about the high priest, who is decked in gorgeous apparel. Mask and helmet cover his face and head, and from his body intricate scrolls extend in all directions, denoting the words or chant to which he is giving voice. In his hand he holds a shield over the surface of which the body of the protecting serpent undulates. From the mouth of the Great Serpent issue scrolls of red and yellow, which may be words or venom.
Perhaps one may realize from this sculpture how keen was the decorative sense of these ancient people. It was ever seeking an outlet for expression. The undecorated space on wall or ceiling must have seemed to the Maya artist an inartistic space. He crowded his areas with ornamentation, yet with so nice a balance, so true a harmony that he achieved a perfect result without giving an impression of congestion.
Other figures show the use of ear- and nose-ornaments and of labrets made of thin disks of gold and of highly polished jade.