The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-12-24
GUATEMALAN INDIANS
PRACTICALLY SLAVES
e, -
Eighteen Tribes Of Them Working for Twelve Cent, !,
; Day and Loaded With Debt-The Girls and Their
: 'ostnmcs-Portcrs and Their Enormou, Loads
Queer Religious Customs
y "PNfish', 1872, hy Frank g. car
Dentcr.)

VI 4 ~. iIiiale ON me
"f The foothills Of the Volcano ae
Aqua, in the heart OF the Guatemalan
ltpuoilc. ! have come here from
Guatemala City on muleback. and
am on my way to Antigua, the ruined
capital, which was founded Nv Al
VtradO and was a great city when
Boston was still little more than COW
paths.
Mix"o is altogether Indian. 1t has,
IefhapS. a thousand inhabitants. who
i've IN low one-Storied BUILDINGS made
81 br1ck and stone. covered with stuc-
60 and painted in all the cOlorS Of
the rainbow. The main houses are
around q plaza, on which the stores
'ac" where there is u bio church.
= city a and a fountain which is
painted bright blue. on the porch
OF the city hall are piles Of Indian
packs, which the porters have left
there for the night, and on the stones
81 the plaza scores Of Indians have
s'luatted around little fires and are
:ooKlng their SupperS Each man
has It pot or a resting over the
Goals, and when he has finished his
cooking he viii JOIN one Of the par
ties OF his fellows who are eating
hrre out IN the open. The men cook
tielr own meals ana all eat to cther.
ON the other side OF the plaza I can
see women cooking in the same way.
They Will eat by themselves, although
some, | am told. are the wives Of the
men opposite.
These people belong to the class Of
Indian porterS which is to be found
everywhere in Guatemala, and of
whom | met hundreds on my way up
IL AiixcO.
The Red Men of Guatemala.
But first let me tell You something
OF the Indians Of this party of Cen
tral America. The bulk Of the red
men have always lived south OF our
boundaries. The most of the inhabit-
ants OF Mexico are made up of them,
and they there number millions.
There are now at least 1900. 900 pure
Indians in Guatemala, and this is five
or six times as many as we have in
our country. Some authorities say
that the territory covered by the
900, 900 aborigines, While parts OF
these south lands were more thickly
populated than any part of Europe
at the time Of the discovery Of Amer
lea.
The Indians of Guatemala have al
ways been many. The climate is tine,
the soil is fertile and 1t is far easier
10 get a living here thar In the colder
parts of the Union. | have already
written Of the ruins of Quirisua, which
are now being uncovered by ouf
American Psychologists. There are
"tner ruined cities in other parts OF
Guatemala, and the evidences are
that We once had a great Civilization
here made up of the ancient Toltecs
or NayanS. who We're the great race
Of Mexico about q thousand years a1tel
Christ, bat who were driven south by
She AzctcS into Guatemala and the
r~cruhlics nearer the sthnus 81
Panama.
These people nave never been fight
crs like our ndian They have beer
rather farmers than hunters. ana TO-
day they are engaged in tilins the
soil and in laboring for the whites.
J an told there are eighteen diner.
cnt tribes Of them in this country, ant
there are at least six tribes to be
found among the inhabitants Of thi:
town of MiXco. These are the ltZas
Mopans, POkomans, Chois, Pokohch
and the Lacandons. These tribes al
come from Maya stock, and they ar
the descendants Of those who ilNet
in Mexico long before COrteZ came
short and Ancn1ic.
The Guatemalan Indians seem c
u. smaller and weaker than the cop
p~er-colored population or the tHite'
states. The average helght OF IN
men is under five feet and there ar
many women here who could walk un
der my arm. They look anemlc, an'
am old that some OF them are cia,
eaters. They have a kin or yeiio'
earth mixed with sulphur Wh1cn me
consider a dainty, and when tney :
npon pilgrimages they tind image
made of this earth at the shrines an
eat Them, thinking that they thereh
ward off disease.
The faces of the Indians are a 'ttl
lighter in color than those OF the SioU
or t-hO,tawS, and some of the me
have thin, struggling boards. J dout
whether any one ever ShaVeS. BoI
men and women are very straigh
and The wOnlen even more 50 than N
men. This probably comes from the
carrying burdens on Their ht:tu'
They will put fifty or a hundfe
pounds there and so off on a II"
The women do not bend back q
they walk, and the movement IS :
mos, ;t}to.ether from the hips IoUI
ward, although most OF them SWIM
the arms as they go.
Queer Costumes.
yhese Indians have never dlesst
IL. oars, and TO-DAY tlt-N va? cloth
y.{ler thar EfaEhtt~. i.ta- 4tittf ~