Guatemala

by William Tufts Brigham

Stone Ring for Ball Game.

We know but little of the games and amusements of the Indios in ancient times; but Torquemada has described[42] for us one national game, which seems to have required more skill and agility than the game of court-tennis (I do not speak of the effeminate lawn-tennis). The court consisted of two parallel walls very thick, and about one hundred feet apart. These walls were thirty feet high, and in each, at a height of from twenty to twenty-four feet, was a stone ring usually sculptured in some careful manner. At the open ends of the court were two little temples. A ball of rubber, large and very hard, was used by the players, who received the coming ball, not on a bat or racket, but on the padded buttock, from which the player endeavored to throw it through the ring, but without touching it with his hands. As the hole was only about eighteen inches in diameter, this was a most difficult feat, requiring great flexibility of the pelvic and thigh muscles. The victor was allowed to take the clothes of any of the spectators; so it may be supposed these went to the game in scant garb. Remains of these ball-grounds are found in many cities, and the stone ring of the illustration is at Chichen Itza; it is four feet in diameter, and decorated with the symbols of Quetzalcoatl.

A nation of warriors, it would be supposed their arts would provide arms both offensive and defensive; but there seems to have been nothing of peculiar originality. Arrows and darts, often poisoned, hatchets and wooden swords, in which were inserted obsidian teeth, were their weapons of offence, and those of defence were coats of quilted cotton, which the Spaniards were not slow to adopt, and shields of skins lined with cotton. While the generals and other officers were clothed in skins of pumas, jaguars, eagles, and other animals, it does not appear that the rank and file had any especial uniform.[43] All joined battle with yells and the lugubrious blasts of the tun or teponaztles,—a sort of trumpet sounding even worse than an Alpine lure.

Let us return to Utatlan, and follow for a while the fortunes of the Quichés. Under brave kings their bounds had extended, and towns, tribes, and nations were compelled to acknowledge the kings of Utatlan as their lieges. In all this external prosperity, internal dissensions arose; and the plebs, incited by demagogues, demanded privileges which the king, Quicab, was compelled to grant after the palaces of the nobles had been sacked by the mob. Another more serious trouble arose from this mob-rule. It was the custom for the rulers of the conquered tribes to reside at court at least a part of the year; and the two kings of the Cakchiquels, Huntoh and Vucubatz, were visiting Quicab, when a street-riot, of no importance in itself, turned the mob against the Cakchiquels, and they loudly called upon Quicab to surrender the Cakchiquel kings to their fury. The wise old king warned these of their danger, and advised them to retire to Iximché, or Tecpan Quauhtemalan. They did so, and this city became their capital. Now the fortunes of the Cakchiquels wax, while those of the Quichés wane. The new capital is fortified, and its inhabitants prepare for the strife evidently impending.

The first attack is made by the Quichés, who are beaten, and for a few years remain quiet. Their king Quicab dies, and Tepepul II., the ninth king, reigns with Iztayul III. The kings of the Cakchiquels were now Oxlahuhtzi and Cablahu-Tihax, under whose reign a famine, caused by unusual cold, troubles the capital. The Quichés saw a chance again to subdue their rebellious vassals, and an army was gathered, which with great pomp set out from Utatlan, carrying the god Tohil with it. A deserter from the Quiché army warned the kings of Iximché of their peril, and they bravely prepared for the contest. In the Cakchiquel Chronicle we have this description of the battle:—

“As soon as the dawn began to brighten the mountain-tops the war-cries were heard, standards were unfurled, drums and conchs resounded, and in the midst of this clamor the rapidly moving files of the Quichés were seen descending the mountains in every direction.

“Arrived at the banks of the stream that runs by the suburbs of the city, they occupied some houses and formed in battle under the command of the kings Tepepul and Iztayul.

“The encounter was awful and fear-inspiring. The war-cries and the clangor of the martial instruments stupefied the combatants, and the heroes of both armies made use of all their enchantments. Notwithstanding, after a little the Quichés were broken, and confusion entered their ranks. The most of their army fled without fighting, and the losses were so great that they could not be calculated. Among the captives were the kings Tepepul and Iztayul, who surrendered, together with their god Tohil, the Galel-achi and the Ahpop-achi, grandfather and son of the keeper of the royal jewels, the die-cutter, the treasurer, the secretary, and plebeians without number; and all were put to the sword. Our old men tell us, my children, that it was impossible to count the Quichés who perished that day at the hands of the Cakchiquels. Such were the heroic deeds with which the kings Oxlahuhtzi and Cablahu-Tihax, also Roimox and Rokelbatzin, made the mountain of Iximché forever famous.”