Jicara.
To the fountain in the midst of the Plaza men and women came for water. The latter all carried their water-jars on their heads, while the men always slung them on their backs. Convicts were at work on the streets, or carrying stone for the church. They were chained in pairs, having shackles about the waist and ankles. The cabildo was the most important building in the town, as the parish church had so decayed that the walls of the entire nave had had to be removed. The new construction of adobe, with trimmings of stone taken from the ruins, will not last many years. The whole town looks dingy, and even dirty, owing to the universal use of adobe. The roof-tiles are not so well made, nor so carefully kept in place, as in some of the smaller towns; but, on the other hand, some of the streets are paved, there are some side-walks, subterranean street-drains, and street-lamps or candles.
The Quiché Indios of the present day are not so good-looking as the Mayas. The women are badly dressed, and not neat; the men wear slashed trousers, loose jackets, closed in front and put on like a shirt, and in cold weather a narrow blanket, or poncho, with fringed ends. Some of these ponchos are figured, and most of them have a border, more or less elaborate, woven at each end. These Indios are small of stature and light limbed, with scanty but common beards, round faces, and small hands and feet; they are by no means as modest as those of Alta Verapaz, and evidently unused to seeing strange white men. Women carry their babies on the back while washing clothes at the fountains or by the streams. At home hammocks serve well for cradles.
Vegetation is not free from pests here, for we saw black warts on the oaks, and smut (Ustilago serjetum) on the corn. The corn-stalks are of the size and appearance of our field-corn; but the juice is much sweeter, and Frank considered it quite as good as that of the withered sugar-cane brought up here from the coast. Everywhere marigolds (calendula) scent the air, and bunches of them are wilting at every altar in every church.
The fiesta is in commemoration of the Conquest,—so we were told; and it was rather curious to see the degenerate Indios decorating their houses and holding high holiday far from the memory of the horrible tortures inflicted on their ancestors in this same conquest. Red flags hung from every door and window,—fit emblems of the bloody event!
The excellent mozo Ramón Ghisli, who had come with us from Coban, was now ready to return. We would gladly have engaged this capital fellow to go with us all the way, but it was impossible; so I gave him extra pay, and with his carcaste[15] full of onions he started back on his long journey. Our mules were not very good, so we decided to send them back and get others here. Ramón had kept well up with the animals, had helped bravely in crossing the Chixoy, and had yielded implicit obedience to Santiago, who persisted in ordering about a man worth three of himself. Ramón got safely home, and delivered the mules all right.
A little alcalde in green spectacles exerted himself to find animals for us, as we were anxious to get away, since the hotel was full of dirty children and even dirtier dogs, and the food far worse than anything we had hitherto found. We had rain that night and the next day; but our new horses were brought in fair season. When we came to settle the bill we found the wretched landlord had charged seven dollars, given the bill to his wife, and hidden himself. Finding expostulation with the señora of no effect, I despatched Frank to lay the case before the Jefe, while I tried abuse; this had the desired effect of bringing the landlord from his hiding-place. I called him a ladron (robber), and, to the intense amusement of the many bystanders, described the meat he had set before us as mula solamente (nothing but mule). The boys caught the phrase, and we heard it shouted at the poor man until we departed. The Jefe sent the comandante and two soldiers to bring the “robber” to reason, and mine host thereupon told us to pay what we pleased. The comandante suggested three dollars as the proper price; but we gave him four, and soon after nine o’clock we scraped the mud of this town from our feet.
The road led down immense barrancas, where we saw deposits of pumice some eight hundred feet thick. Mingled with this layer were large blocks of lava, seemingly ejected from some crater eruption; but where was the crater? We passed a little hamlet marked San Sebastian de Lemoa on the map; but all the people had gone a fishing on a lake near by, whose borders were swarming with ducks. Four leagues from Quiché we came to Santo Tomas Chichicastenango. This is a neat, attractive little village, hardly as large as its name is long, with clean streets, a fountain and eucalyptus-trees in the Plaza, and an ancient church. Close at hand are the ruins of an older town, which we, to our regret, had no time to visit. At the cabildo we were politely received, and our beasts of burden, both biped and quadruped, unloaded. The Jefe had telegraphed to Santo Tomas for horses and a mozo, and we were assured that after almuerzo these would be ready. In this faith we strolled about the town. The church, as usual, attracted our attention; and here for the first time we saw the Indios burning incense, which seemed to be gum copal, or precisely the same material their ancestors used in idol worship. Marigolds were strewed all over the floor, and the odor was oppressive, even without the incense and innumerable candles. The altar was covered with plates of beaten silver of no very good workmanship. An image of a man on horseback, with a beggar by his side, excited our curiosity, which was not destined to be satisfied, although our mozo declared it was Santiago (Saint James). We pushed our explorations outside the church, and climbed by an external staircase to the organ-loft, which was floored with hewn boards not otherwise smoothed. An ancient organ, hardly larger than an ordinary davenport, stood in the midst, wholly apart from the bellows, which were worked by a suspended lever much as an ordinary forge-bellows. The keys were deeply worn by long use, horny fingers, or both, and they covered two octaves and a half; the stops were simply strips of hard wood projecting from the side of the case, and beyond the reach of the organist.[16] The locks on all the doors were of wood, and most primitive in design. All the worshipping Indios seemed very devout, chanting their prayers in their native tongue to the bare wall or a door-post, and they paid no attention to us as we passed them, although outside they generally bowed respectfully.
In a little shop at a street corner we found our almuerzo (there is no posada); and a very good one it was. Our hostess was a very respectable woman, whose house was well furnished (sewing-machine and rocking-chairs among other comforts), being quite a different person from the one who in our own country would occupy her position,—a rumseller. While we were waiting, two half-tipsy Indios came in, drank a small tumbler of aguardiente, and soon settled themselves quietly on the sidewalk for a drunken sleep, undisturbed by the passer-by.