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

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СКАЧАТЬ The pulp is rinsed in water to extract the poisonous juice, and when it is sufficiently whitened by this means, the water is carefully pressed out, and the substance set to dry in the sun. The sifted flour is made into large round thin cakes, which, after being exposed to the sun for a while, are slowly baked over the fire. The Poyas make large rolls, which are wrapped in leaves and baked in the ashes. These soon become sour, and are then eaten with a relish. Others grind cassava or maize on the metate, and bake tortillas. A gruel is also made of the flour, and eaten with salt and chile, or syrup. One of their dainties is bisbire, the name given to plantains kept in leaves till putrid, and eaten boiled. Scalding hot cacao mixed with chile is the favorite stimulant, of which large quantities are imbibed, until the perspiration starts from every pore. Cacao-fruit is also eaten roasted. Notwithstanding the richness of the soil and the variety of its productions, the natives are accused of resorting to insects for food, and of eating their own vermin. The coast people have the greater selection, but trust mostly to fishing, while the interior tribes after natural products depend upon the chase. The Cookras subsist chiefly on the cabbage-palm. Sambo girls have a peculiar fancy for eating charcoal and sand, believing that their charms are improved thereby. No regularity is observed in eating, but food is taken at any hour, and with voracity; nor will they take the trouble to procure more, until the whole stock is consumed, and hunger drives them from their hammocks. The Poyas and Guajiqueros seem to be the only tribes who have any idea of providing for the future; the latter laying up a common reserve.984

      Frequent bathing is the rule, yet the Sambos, who have a better opportunity for this, perhaps, than other tribes, are described as dirty in their surroundings, and, when warmed by motion, emit a disagreeable odor, arising from the use of ointments and powders. The Poyas, Xicaques, Secos, and especially the Caribs are, on the contrary, very cleanly in their habits.985

      MOSQUITO WEAPONS AND WAR.

      The bow and arrow figures as the chief weapon of the Mosquitos, the former being usually of iron-wood, spanned with twisted mahoe-bark, and often six feet in length; the latter of reed or wood, hardened in fire, and pointed with hard wood, flint, fish-bones, or teeth. They not only handle the bow well, but some are expert in the art of defense. To attain this dexterity, children are taught to turn aside, with a stick, the blunt darts thrown at them, and in time they become sufficiently expert to ward off arrows in the same manner. They also fight with cane lances about nine feet long, with oblong diamond points, javelins, clubs, and heavy sharp-pointed swords made of a poisonous wood, a splinter from which causes first madness and then death. The milky juice of the manzanilla-tree is used to poison arrows and darts. Blowpipes, whose light arrows surely and silently bring down birds at a hundred feet and over, are in great favor with the youth. Armor is made of plaited reeds covered with tiger-skins, and ornamented with feathers; besides which, the northern Mosquitos employ a breastplate of twisted cotton, like that of the Mexicans. Mosquito women are said to be as good archers as the men.986

      Aboriginal wars were continually waged in Honduras without any other object than to avenge the death of an ancestor, or to retaliate on those who had carried away friends into slavery. Neighboring tribes, however, agreed to a truce at certain times, to allow the interchange of goods. Previous to starting on an expedition, turkeys, dogs, and even human beings were sacrificed to influence the gods; blood was drawn from tongue and ears, and dreams carefully noted, and their import determined. Ambassadors were sent to challenge the enemy to a pitched battle, and, if they were not responded to, the country was ravaged. When prisoners were taken they were usually held as slaves, after having the nose cut off. Forty thousand men sometimes composed an expedition, operating without chief or order, devising ambushes and stratagems as it suited them, and accompanied by women to act as porters. Mosquito warriors blacken the face, and place themselves under the temporary command of the bravest and most experienced. The coast people are bold and unyielding, and usually kill their prisoners. When the Sambos confederate with their neighbors, they expect their allies to pay for friends lost in battle.987

      Domestic utensils in the homes of the Mosquitos consist of stones for grinding grain and roots, clay pots and plates for cooking purposes, and gourds, calabashes, and nets for holding food and liquids. The stone hatchet, which is fast becoming a relic, is ten inches long, four broad, and three thick, sharp at both ends, with a groove to hold the handle which is firmly twisted round its centre. Besides the implements already referred to under fishing and weapons, may be mentioned the lasso, in the use of which they are very expert, and the patapee, a pretty water-tight basket that the Caribs plait of reeds. The men usually sleep in hammocks, or on mats spread on the ground near the fire, with a stick for a pillow, while the women prefer a platform of cane raised a few feet from the ground, and covered with a mat or a skin.988

      Fibres of mahoe and ule bark, pisang-leaves and silk-grass furnish material for ropes, nets, mats, and coarse fabrics. Most of the Mosquitos grow a little cotton, which the women spin on a rude wheel, like that of the Guatemalans, and weave on a frame loom into strong and neat cloths. The favorite blue color for dyeing is obtained from the jiquilite plant; the yellow from the achiolt tree. Pottery is a very ancient art among them, as may be seen from the fine specimens discovered in the graves and ruins of Honduras. Their red cooking-pots are very light but strong, and the water-jars, which are only slightly burnt to permit percolation, show considerable taste in design.989

      BOATS AND FISHERIES.

      Nowhere do we find more daring and expert boatmen than the Mosquitos, who will venture out upon the roughest sea in a boat barely large enough to hold a man and a boy. If the boat capsize it is at once righted, bailed out, and the voyage resumed, and seldom is any part of the cargo lost. The dory, or ordinary sea-boat is a hollowed-out tree, often twenty-five to fifty feet long, four to six wide, and four to five deep, round-bottomed, buoyant, and with good handling safe. The best are made by the up-river tribes, especially the Towkas, who prepare them roughly with axe and fire, and sell them to the coast people to be finished according to fancy. After the dug-out has been trimmed, it is often soaked in water for a time, so that the sides may be stretched and secured with knees. The pitpan, which is used on rivers and lagoons, differs from the dory in being flat-bottomed, with broad and gradually rounded ends, and of less depth and width. Cedar is chiefly used for pitpans on account of its lightness, and the stronger mahogany for dories; but the latter are, however, soon injured by worms if kept in the water. Small boats are propelled by a single broad-bladed paddle; sails also are employed with the crean or keeled canoe.990

      Harpoon and canoe are the basis of the Mosquito's wealth, for with them he obtains his food and the tortoise-shell, the principal article of traffic. The season for catching hawk-bill turtles is from April to August, when fleets of canoes, each manned by about twelve men, proceed to different parts of the coast, as far south as Chiriquí, and bring home ten thousand pounds of shell on an average. Green turtles, which are caught near reefs, also find a good market in Blewfields and elsewhere. All keep hogs, the Caribs more than others; many possess cattle and horses, which are allowed to run wild over the prairies, the horses being lassoed whenever required for riding. Their manner of breaking them is unique. One man leads the horse with the lasso into water, to a depth of three or four feet, when another jumps upon his back, and responds to buckings and skittishness with blows on the head, until in about half an hour the exhausted animal surrenders. A line of bark-fibre serves for reins, and a few plaited palm-leaves for saddle. Preservation of wealth is little thought of, for cattle are most recklessly slaughtered at feasts and for offences, and fruit-trees, as well as other property are, as a rule, destroyed on the death of the owner. Quite a trade is carried on in these parts, the inland tribes bringing rough canoes, calabashes, skins, cloth, honey, and cacao to the coast people, and receiving therefor turtles, salt, English fancy and useful articles; while many of the latter undertake lengthy coast trips to dispose of the bartered produce, as well as their own. The Wankees deal heavily in bisbire, or decomposed plantains, while sarsaparilla and honey are the staple articles of the Secos and Poyas. A mixture of shrewdness and simplicity characterizes their dealings. A party wishing to dispose of hides, for instance, first produces the worst ones, which are thrown aside by the buyer until those of the standard quality СКАЧАТЬ