The Native Races (Complete 5 Part Edition). Hubert Howe Bancroft

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СКАЧАТЬ Zoques make from the ixtle and pita thread and superior hammocks, in which they have quite a trade. In the neighborhood of Santa María they grow excellent oranges, and sell them throughout all the neighboring towns. The Zapotecs have, many of them, a considerable commerce in fruits, vegetables, and seeds. In the city of Tehuantepec the business of buying and selling is conducted exclusively by women in the market-place. The Ahualulcos are chiefly employed in cutting planks and beams, with which they supply many places on this isthmus; they also trade to some extent in seeds and cotton cloths. Different kinds of earthenware vessels for domestic purposes are made by the natives of Chiapas, and by them exchanged for salt, hatchets, and glass ornaments. The Mayas have an extensive business in logwood, which, besides maize and poultry, they transport to several places along the coast. Mr. Stephens describes a small community of the Maya nation, numbering about a hundred men with their families, living at a place called Schawill, who hold and work their lands in common. The products of the soil are shared equally by all, and the food for the whole settlement is prepared at one hut. Each family contributes its quota of provisions, which, when cooked, are carried off smoking hot to their several dwellings. Many of the natives of Tabasco earn a livelihood by keeping bee-hives; the bees are captured wild in the woods, and domesticated. The Huaves breed cattle and tan hides; cheese and tasajo, or jerked meat, are prepared and exported by them and other tribes on the isthmus of Tehuantepec. At the present day cochineal is cultivated to a considerable extent, and forms an important article of commerce among the inhabitants. A rather remarkable propensity to the possession of large numbers of mules is peculiar to the Mijes; such property in no way benefits them, as they make no use of them as beasts of burden; indeed, their owners seem to prefer carrying the loads on their own backs.947

      ZAPOTEC GOVERNMENT.

      Formerly the Zapotecs were governed by a king, under whom were caciques or governors who ruled over certain districts. Their rank and power descended by inheritance, but they were obliged to pay tribute to the king, from whom they held their authority in fief. At the time of the conquest the most powerful among them was the Lord of Cuicatlan; for the service of his household, ten servants were furnished daily, and he was treated with the greatest respect and homage. In later years a cacique was elected annually by the people, and under him officers were appointed for the different villages. Once a week these sub-officers assembled to consult with and receive instructions from the cacique on matters relating to the laws and regulations of their districts. In the towns of the Miztecs a municipal form of government was established. Certain officials, elected annually, appointed the work which was to be done by the people, and every morning at sunrise the town-criers from the tops of the highest houses called the inhabitants to their allotted tasks. It was also the duty of the town-criers to inflict the punishment imposed on all who from laziness or other neglect failed to perform their share of work. A somewhat similar system appears to have prevailed in Chiapas, where the people lived under a species of republican government.948 The Mayas were at one time governed by a king who reigned supreme over the whole of Yucatan. Internal dissensions and wars, however, caused their country to be divided up into several provinces, which were ruled over by lords or petty kings, who held complete sway, each in his own territory, owing allegiance to none, and recognizing no authority outside of their own jurisdiction. These lords appointed captains of towns, who had to perform their duties subject to their lord's approval. Disputes arising, the captains named umpires to determine differences, whose decisions were final. These people had also a code of criminal laws, and when capital punishment was ordered, public executioners carried the sentence into effect. The crime of adultery in the man was punishable by death, but the injured party could claim the right to have the adulterer delivered to him, and he could kill or pardon him at pleasure; disgrace was the punishment of the woman. The rape of a virgin was punished by stoning the man to death.949

      SLAVERY AND MARRIAGE.

      Slavery existed among the tribes of Goazacoalco and Tabasco. Doña Marina was one of twenty female slaves who were presented to Cortés by the cacique of the latter place; and when her mother, who lived in the province of Goazacoalco, gave her away to some traveling merchants, she, to conceal the act, pretended that the corpse of one of her slaves who died at that time was that of her own daughter.950

      WEDDINGS AND FATHERS-IN-LAW.

      Among the Zapotecs and other nations who inhabit the isthmus of Tehuantepec, marriages are contracted at a very early age; it happens not unfrequently that a youth of fourteen marries a girl of eleven or twelve. Polygamy is not permissible, and gentleness, affection, and frugality characterize the marital relations. Certain superstitious ceremonies formerly attended the birth of children, which, to a modified extent, exist at the present day. When a woman was about to be confined, the relatives assembled in the hut, and commenced to draw on the floor figures of different animals, rubbing each one out as soon as it was completed. This operation continued till the moment of birth, and the figure that then remained sketched upon the ground was called the child's tona or second self. When the child grew old enough, he procured the animal that represented him and took care of it, as it was believed that health and existence were bound up with that of the animals, in fact, that the death of both would occur simultaneously. Soon after the child was born, the parents, accompanied by friends and relatives, carried it to the nearest water, where it was immersed, while at the same time they invoked the inhabitants of the water to extend their protection to the child; in like manner they afterwards prayed for the favor of the animals of the land. It is a noticeable trait, much to the credit of the parents, that their children render to them as well as to all aged people the greatest respect and obedience. That the women are strictly moral cannot be asserted. Voluptuous, with minds untrained, and their number being greatly in excess of the men, it is not surprising that travelers have noted an absence of chastity among these women; yet few cases of conjugal infidelity occur, and chastity is highly esteemed. Illegitimate children are not common, partly the result, perhaps, of early marriages.951 Among the Quelenes, when a contract of marriage was made, the friends and relatives collected at the assembly-house common to every village. The bride and bridegroom were then introduced by the parents, and in the presence of the cacique and priest confessed all the sins of which they were guilty. The bridegroom was obliged to state whether he had had connection with the bride or with other women, and she, on her part, made a full confession of all her shortcomings; this ended, the parents produced the presents, which consisted of wearing-apparel and jewelry, in which they proceeded to array them; they were then lifted up and placed upon the shoulders of two old men and women, who carried them to their future home, where they laid them on a bed, locked them in, and there left them securely married.952 Among the Mayas early marriage was a duty imposed by the Spanish Fathers, and if a boy or girl at the age of twelve or fourteen had not chosen a mate, the priest selected one of equal rank or fortune and obliged them to marry. The usual presents were dresses; and a banquet was prepared, of which all present partook. During the feast the parents of the parties addressed them in speeches applicable to the occasion, and afterwards the house was perfumed by the priest, who then blessed the company and the ceremony ended. Previous to the wedding-day the parents fasted during three days. The young man built a house in front of that of his father-in-law, in which he lived with his wife during the first years of his servitude, for he was obliged to work for his father-in-law four or five years. If he failed to perform faithful service, his father-in-law dismissed him, and gave his daughter to another. Widowers were exempt from this servitude, and could choose whom they pleased for a wife without the interference of relatives. It was forbidden a man to marry a woman of the same name as his father. They married but one wife, though the lords were permitted to make concubines of their slaves. Mr. Stephens, in his description of the inhabitants of the village of Schawill, says: "Every member must marry within the rancho, and no such thing as a marriage out of it had ever occurred. They said it was impossible; it could not happen. They were in the habit of going to the villages to attend the festivals; and when we suggested a supposable case of a young man or woman falling in love with some village Indian, they said it might happen; there was no law against it; but none could marry out of the rancho. This was a thing so little apprehended, that the punishment for it was not defined in their penal code; but being questioned, after some consultations, they said that the offender, whether man or woman would be expelled. We remarked СКАЧАТЬ