lace or domestic embroidery, and a simple muslin skirt of varying color, constitute the principal articles in their simple wardrobes. Their hair, always luxuriant and beautiful, is plaited in long braids, fastened at their ends with gay ribbons, and is allowed to fall over the shoulders in front or down the back. A large comb, glittering like a crescent, on the top of the head, and a necklace of pearls or little golden coins, complete the adornments of the dusky daughters of the Lake of Itza. The sound of arms has been but seldom heard in the peaceable district of Peten since the times of Don Martin de Ursua. The political storms which sometimes rage in Guatemala are but feebly echoed here, where no one troubles himself about the form or the personnel of the Government under which he lives, or questions the propriety of its acts. The watchwords, "Humanity and Liberty," do not vibrate here as on the other side of the Atlantic or in Northern America. Spaniards under the viceroys, Mexicans after the enfranchisement of the colonies, then Federalists, and now citizens of an independent republic, the inhabitants always range themselves under the banner of the successful party, content to be left alone under the paternal care of their alcaldes and corregidors, whose offices are sinecures, for crime is unknown!

Of course, in a little community lost in a wilderness, great advancement cannot be looked for in the arts and sciences. Reading, writing, and the first three rules of arithmetic, comprise the extent of instruction to be acquired in Peten. When the last census was taken, in 1839, the total population of the district was 6,300, about one fourth of which was concentrated in Flores, and the rest diffused over an area of 18,000 square miles-giving to each individual, old and young, male and female, a landed endowment of three square miles, nearly equal to a German principality. Although in Flores there is a slight infusion of Spanish blood, yet the population is essentially aboriginal, speaking the language of their an

cestors, which was the Tzendal or Maya, the same that was spoken by the aborigines of Yucatan, from whom they are doubtless descended.

The mystery heretofore attaching to Lake Itza and the secluded district around it may now be regarded as cleared up.

The same may also be said of the scarcely less interesting and hitherto almost equally unknown district of Vera Paz, the ancient Tierra de Guerra, where the Bishop Las Casas first carried the symbol of the Christian faith. In reaching this district from Peten, M. Morelet was obliged to travel on foot for fourteen days, through a dense wilderness, intersected by deep rivers and high mountains. On the table-lands which he traversed in this weary journey, he found vast forests of pines, among which the mists condensed at night with all the chill of a northern November. Elsewhere he worked his ways amongst tropical jungles of broadleaved plants and interlacing vines, in whose dank recesses, hot with the poisonous breath of the malaria, lurk pestilent fevers, and the various forms of death which have hitherto closed the country to adventure and exploration. Midway he came upon a strange and sinister region, bristling with disrupted rocks, and yawning with irregular fissures, half-filled with water-a desert without beast or bird, or other form of life to relieve its dreary solitude. It is strewn with shells, and the rocks bear evidences that it is frequently overflowed. Our traveller's guides hurried him rapidly over this ominous region, which they called the "Valley of Death." During the dry season it blanches under a blazing sun, but when the rains come round, the waters well up from the cloven rocks, and spread far and wide over the surrounding country, which is converted into a vast lake, without an outlet, which gradually swelters away under the torrid heats. During this season the few Indians who venture between Peten and Vera Paz have to make long detours to avoid the Lake of Death, or else construct rafts and wearily work themselves across its stagnant waters.

The region of Vera Paz, or rather that part of it which is inhabited, is an elevated, irregular table-land, from which the rivers of the country fall off in every direction. As a consequence, it is generally cool and salubrious. Its population, like that of Peten, is almost exclusively aboriginal, and only modified from its primitive condition by the influences of the early Dominicans, to whose spiritual control it was exclusively confided. It will be remembered that at the time of the conquest this region secured the designation of the Land of War. The arms of the Spanish governors were impotent against its warlike people, who repelled the attacks on their independence with every circumstance of savage cruelty and barbarism. The Spanish secular chiefs, chagrined and vindictive, applied to the crown for such large aid as should enable them utterly to overwhelm their warlike foes, to whom they attributed every crime and debasing practice known to humanity. Pending the result of their application, Las Casas made his appearance in Guatemala. "Providence," said he to the baffled men of war, "only wishes to operate on misguided souls through the teachings of the gospel; it has a horror of unjust wars undertaken in its name; it wishes neither captives nor slaves to bow before its altars. Persuasion and gentle treatment can win the hearts of the most obdurate to the shrine of God." To his exhortations the grim companions of Alvarado only responded with the monosyllable, "Try." And he did try; and soon after, with "no other arms," say the old historians, "than the double-edged sword of the Divine Word," he ventured boldly into the Land of War. He only stipulated as a condition of his mediation, that none of his countrymen should be permitted to enter the country for four years; and that in the event of his success in converting the Indians, the country should never be enfeoffed.

We do not attempt to follow the pious adventurer in his pacific crusade, in company with the Fray Pedro

de Angulo, who, in 1560, became the first bishop of the province. It is sufficient to say that the tribes who had so successfully resisted the arms of the invaders, subdued by the meekness, the patience, and the evangelical virtues of the two apostles, little by little exchanged their native barbarism for the more gentle manners and industrious habits which they preserve to this day. At the expiration of a few years the name of Tierra de Guerra, "Land of War," was exchanged for Vera Paz, "True Peace," which it still retains; the new designation having been confirmed by the Emperor Charles V., to perpetuate the remembrance of a triumph, the better assured because it was not founded on violence. He decreed also the arms of the Province. At the top of its shield, the rainbow glowed in a field of azure. Lower down, the dove, bearing an olive-branch, hovered over a globe, and the motto was, "I do set my bow in the cloud."

The character of the Indians of Vera Paz was greatly modified by these circumstances of their history-so different from those of most of the aboriginal families. which fell under the Spanish dominion. They gathered together in large towns, and adopted a routine of life, in which labor and devotion were singularly blended. Perhaps no part of the world, not even Rome itself, ever witnessed a more general conformation to the rites of religion, than did Vera Paz under the Dominicans. Churches were multiplied in the towns and villages, and little oratories rose at every corner, at the crossing of roads, the fords of streams, and among the passes of the mountains. Every man in his turn devoted himself to the service of the church, the priest, or such matters as affected the general welfare, and contributed a fixed proportion of the products of his industry to the same purpose. These practices, although somewhat modified, still exist; but in other respects the habits introduced by the early fathers are passing away. Religion has degenerated into an empty form; and the people are rapidly relapsing under

the control of their savage instincts; and if we may credit M. Morelet, they are in a condition of feverish discontent, which may any day be exchanged for open and savage independence.

The total population of Vera Paz is estimated at not far from 80,000, concentrated, generally, in towns of varying size. Some of them, like Coban, Cahabon, Rabinal, etc., contain from 3,000 to 8,000 inhabitants. They have little commerce, and their manufactures are limited to their own wants. They differ from the dwellers in the basin of Peten, in that they are less simple in character, and perhaps more sinister in their purposes-for it is not to be disguised that notions of reestablishing their ancient independence float mistily in the minds of most of the Indian families of Guatemala. In Yucatan they have already taken form, in the bloody and implacable war of castes, which is desolating that fair peninsula, and which seems likely to result, before long, in absolute Indian supremacy.

Let us turn now to the vast unexplored region, lying interiorly to the districts which we have described, between Vera Paz and Peten on the east, and Quesaltenago and Chiapa on the west, the stronghold of the unconquered Lacandones, and of the fragments of tribes from all the surrounding provinces, who fled hither to escape detested contact with the conquerors. Among these were the Manches, formerly established in Vera Paz, a large body of the Itzaes of Peten, and the Choles of Tabasco. The country which they occupy, as already stated, comprises the great mountain-bound basin, in which the Rio Usumasinta collects its tributaries, and has an area of not far from ten thousand square miles. The first mention which is made of the Lacandones is by Cortez, in his account of his expedition, in 1524, from Mexico to Honduras. He passed through the districts of Acala and Itza, lying to the north and east of their territory, where he found towns strongly fortified, as a precaution against the Lacandones, who were represented to be a warlike people

of whom the inhabitants of the towns professed themselves in greatest dread. Cortez afterward came upon the ruins of other towns, which he was told had been destroyed by them. This circumstance gives an indication of the character of the Lacandones, which every subsequent event connected with them seems to confirm. In his enumeration of the various nations having their seats between Guatemala and Yucatan, Pinelo speaks of them as "fiercest and most cruel." For a century after the arrival of the Spaniards and the foundation of Guatemala, they kept up a system of incursions on the surrounding provinces, directing their fury generally against the christianized Indians. In 1552 they boldly penetrated to within fifteen leagues of the city of Ciudad Real, the capital of Chiapa, destroying many towns and villages, and killing or capturing their inhabitants. Some of these they sacrificed on the altars of the churches and the feet of the crosses, demanding, ironically, of their victions to call on their God to save them. These outrages led to the organization of a number of expeditions into their territory, for the purpose of chastising and subduing them. Like the Itzaes, they had their capitol or principal stronghold on an island in a lake, from whence, says Pinelo, "they made sudden incursions, coming and going with the greatest celerity." This island was captured by the Licenciado Quinones, at the head of a considerable force, in 1558. In the accounts that have been preserved of his expedition, it is described as a high rock, surrounded by several smaller ones, on which the town was built, and so bare of earth that there was not soil enough for the burial of the dead, who were, in consequence, thrown into the lake. The town, according to the same authority, was quite imposing; the houses large and wellbuilt, and the whole protected by walls of defence. No idols were found in the temples, for, unlike the other tribes whom the Spaniards had met, they confined their adoration to the sun, and made their sacrifices before it, in its

actual presence-as Quinoñes himself had an opportunity of witnessing, in the case of some of his own men whom they had taken captive.

Quinones destroyed the town, and started back to Guatemala, taking with him a large number of prisoners, all of whom, however, contrived to escape; and although his expedition was victorious at every step, it was fruitless in any decisive result. "The spoils of the war," says the old chronicler with bitterness, "amounted to nothing. Many of the gentlemen who engaged in it were rewarded with crosses and honors, but the greater part of them had spent so much money in finery and ornaments, bright arms and accoutrements, that they contracted considerable debts, and left their houses and estates involved for many years; and it is doubtful if they are yet free."

The chastisement inflicted by Quinoñes nevertheless had the effect of keeping the Lacundones quiet for a long period, but before the close of the century they became as daring and troublesome as ever. New expeditions were undertaken against them, and the Crown itself made wide concessions of rights and titles to whoever should reduce them to subjection. But nothing of moment was effected until about the time of the overthrow of the Itzaes of Peten, near the close of the seventeenth century. In 1695 Barrios Leal, President of Guatemala, penetrated into the heart of their country, after a weary march of a month. He, however, found only deserts without inhabitants, where, a century and a half before, the Indians had disputed the passage with Quinoñes. He reached the lake and their ancient stronghold, but found it deserted. But after much search, he discovered a considerable town, from which the inhabitants had fled. According to the MS. of Captain Valenzuela, who was an officer under Leal, the town was called "Lacandon, and consisted of one hundred and three well-built houses, of which three, in the centre of the town, were of large size, and designed for common use. One served as a temple,

another for meetings of the women, and the third for meetings of the men. All were enclosed with stakes of wood, whi tened, and varnished, so that it was impossible to distinguish the joints by the touch. In the middle of the temple was a place closed by a door, in which none except the priests could enter. In it was a pedestal or altar of clay, and on it braziers, painted in various colors, in which birds were sacrificed. There were dresses of cotton cloth of gay colors, with cords and tassels depending from their corners, also flutes, and other musical. instruments. In the halls for meetings there were more than two hundred seats whereon to sit. The private houses had their gardens, in which were pineapples, potatoes, plantains, and a great variety of fruits and vegetables; also pens containing fowls of the country and of Europe. In the adjacent country were wide fields of maize, beans, and Mexican peppers. Among their working utensils were chisels and hatchets of stone, and instruments for weaving and fashioning their pots and pans. Fire was made from the friction of bark, fixed in a machine for that purpose. And altogether," continues Valenzuela," it appeared to me that the people, although infidels, were quite as wise and more industrious than the Indians we have converted."

Detachments of Leal's forces penetrated the entire country in many directions, and discovered other towns, the inhabitants of which were gradually collected and taken nearer the frontiers of Guatemala, where, after various removals, they were finally concentrated in one town, the Ixtlavican of Scherzer and other modern travellers. These proceedings, and the complete overthrow of the sympathizing if not affiliated Itzaes in Peten, seem to have effectually checked the aggressive spirit of the Lacandones. They abandoned their predatory habits, and contented themselves with rigidly preserving their isolation and independence. Their country, however, except where it was skirted by M. Morelet, is now no better known than it was in the time of Qui

noñes and Barrios Leal. From the circumstance that the portions which he traversed were found to be without inhabitants, we must infer that their numbers have greatly diminished since 1637, when they were estimated by Pinelo at upwards of one hundred thousand. It is possible, however, that they have withdrawn from the frontiers, and concentrated themselves in the heart of the country, which offers a field for exploration and adventure infinitely more attractive than that to which Livingstone has drawn so much attention in Africa.

We are not, however, without some knowledge of the modern Lacandones. A few stern and silent representatives of the race occasionally make their appearance in the frontier towns of Chiapa and Tabasco, bringing down tobacco, copal, or sarsaparilla, to exchange for instruments and utensils of metal, and when the exchange is effected suddenly disappear by obscure and unknown paths. Waldeck saw some of them near Palenque, and he describes them as possessing all the savage en ergy and independence of their fathers. Their dress, according to the same authority, coincides with the garbs represented on the monuments of Palenque and in Yucatan, M. Morelet ascended the Usumasinta, until he encountered some individuals of this family, from whom, however, he gleaned nothing, except the admonition to turn the head of his canoe down the stream-a suggestion which, as they were well armed, he thought it prudent to follow.

As already said, various fragments of tribes or nations, driven out of the adjacent provinces, have united themselves with the Lacandones. Among these are the Manches of Vera Paz, who seem to have their seats nearest Guatemala, with the frontier towns of which they have some relations. In 1837 the Government of that state sought to extend its jurisdiction over them, and succeeded in getting together a number of their chiefs, with whom a treaty was concluded, by which the Manches agreed to be regarded as under the

protection of the Government of the Republic, but not subject to its laws until the expiration of seven years, and that even then there should be no interference with their religion or with their practise of polygamy. It does not appear, however, that the treaty ever went into effect.

It was in the region of the Lacandones that the cura of Quiché affirmed to Mr. Stephens he had seen, from the heights of Quesaltenango, the white walls of great cities, glistening like silver in the sun. The notion of such living cities, rivalling Palenque and Mayapan, in the district referred to, is not peculiar to one part of the country, but prevails also in Chiapa and Yucatan. On the 3d of August, 1849, the secretary-of-state of Chiapa addressed an official letter to the prefect of the department of Chillon, bordering on the district of Lacandon, stating that he had been informed that in the vicinity of San Carlos Narcalan, beyond the Sierra de la Pimienta, a great city had been discovered, in the distance, with large edifices, and many cattle in its pastures; and that although there appeared no road to it, yet it was supposed that it could not be more than two days distant. He therefore ordered the prefect to make all possible efforts to reach the city, and to report the result to his office in San Cristobal. But as nothing further was ever heard of the discovery, it is to be presumed that the city could not be found by the prefect.

Nor, in fact, is there any good reason for supposing that such cities do exist. For although the Lacandones and the Itzaes spoke the same language with the Mayas of Yucatan, and probably the same with the builders of Palenque and Copan, yet every thing connected with their history and character proves them to have been considerably below the other families of the same stock in the degree of their civilization. Whether the Tzendals, the Mayas, Quichés, Zutugils, and Kachiquels were families of the same origin, who had reached a higher stage of development; or the Itzaes, Lacandones, Manches, and others,