The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras — Key Ideas to Explore

z was estimated by Sapper in 1895 at about 8,000 to 10,000, but at the present day has probably been reduced to about 5,000. The Icaichè, the number of whom he estimated at 500, and is given by the _Guia de Yucatan_ in 1900 as 803, now comprise not more than 200. This decrease is due to the policy of extermination carried out among the Santa Cruz for years by the Mexican Government, and the consequent emigration of many of the Indians to British Honduras, Guatemala, and northern Yucatan. The northern and western parts of British Honduras contain between 5,000 and 6,000 Indians; those in the north are partly indigenous and partly immigrants drawn from Yucatecan tribes who have left their homes after various political disturbances, especially after the occupancy of their towns of Bacalar and Santa Cruz by the Mexican Government. The Indians of the western part of the colony are also partly indigenous, but for the greater part Itzas, who have come in from Peten in Guatemala.

The objects shown in figures 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 31, 35, 36, 47, 51, 52, 55, 56, 57, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 69, 70, 76, and 77, and in plates 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18a, and 19 are in the Liverpool Museum; those shown in figures 15, 40, and 41 and in plate 9 are in the British Museum; those shown in figure 45 and in plates 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 are in the Bristol Museum; and those shown in figures 67 and 68 and in plates 20, 21, and 22 are in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.

The northern-part of British Honduras, between the Rio Hondo and the Rio Nuevo, consists of an almost level plain, having an area of nearly 1,000 square miles. The soil is a vegetal humus; varying from a few inches to several feet in depth, the average depth being about 2 feet; beneath this is a stratum of marly limestone, outcrops of which are found in many places. The southern part of Yucatan, which, unlike the northern part, is comparatively well watered, is also flat, though a few small hills are found along the northern bank of the Rio Hondo, commencing about 50 miles from its mouth (fig. 1). Most of the land along the rivers is swampy, producing only reeds, coarse grasses, and mangrove trees. Beyond the swamp country are found "cuhun ridges," consisting of river valleys or depressions in the surface which have become filled with alluvium brought down by the rivers from the interior, forming an exceedingly rich soil suitable for the cultivation of maize and nearly every tropical product. It is upon these "cuhun ridges" that most of the mounds and other relics of the ancient inhabitants are found and that nearly all the villages of the modern Indians are built. Large tracts of what is known as "pine ridge" are scattered throughout this area; these are level or slightly undulating plains covered with gravel and coarse sand--exceedingly poor soil, producing only wiry grass, yellow pines, and small pimento palms. On these "pine ridges" Indian mounds are hardly ever found, nor do the Indians of to-day build villages upon them except in rare instances and for special local reasons. With the exception of the extreme northern part, nearly the whole of this area is well watered by rivers and streams, while scattered throughout it are numerous lagoons and lakes, the largest of which is the Bacalar Lagoon.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

The manners, customs, religious conceptions, and daily life of all these Indians are very similar, though among the Indians of British Honduras, who come more closely in contact with outside influences, old customs are dying out, and old ideas and methods are being superseded by new. The language of the tribes here considered, with slight local dialectical variations, is the same; all are of the same physical type; in fact, there can be little doubt that they are the direct descendants of those Maya who occupied the peninsula of Yucatan at the time of the conquest. Physically, though short they are robust and well proportioned. The men average 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 3 inches in height, the women about 2 inches less. The skin varies in color from almost white to dark bronze. The hair of both sexes is long, straight, coarse, black, and luxuriant on the head, where it extends very low over the forehead, but is almost entirely absent from other parts of the body. The women usually wear their hair hanging down the back in two plaits. Their faces are round and full, with rather high cheek bones; the skull is highly brachicephalic in type. The following indices were taken from a small number of Santa Cruz Indians, mostly males of middle age:

Maximum length of head cm. 17.52 Maximum breadth of head cm. 15.44 Cephalic index _88.11_

Facial height cm. 11.68 Maximum bi-zygomatic breadth cm. 12.84 Facial index _84.40_

Nasal height cm. 5.13 Nasal breadth cm. 3.55 Nasal index _69.80_