Chapter XV.
For a day and a half we continued to ascend, now skirting dizzy precipices, and next stealing along cautiously beneath beetling rocks, which hung heavily on the brow of the mountain. The features of the great valley which we had left were no longer distinguishable. What we had regarded as mountains there, now shrunk into simple undulations, like folds in some silken robe, thrown loosely on the ground. There was no longer a foothold for the pines, and their places were supplied by low bushes, thrusting their roots deep in the clefts, and clinging like vines to the faces of the rocks.
Finally, to my great joy, we reached the crest of the mountain. Upon the north, however, it fellaway in a series of broad steps or terraces, lower and lower, until, in the dim distance, it subsided in the vast alluvial plains bordering on the Bay of Honduras, the waters of which could be distinguished, like a silver rim, on the edge of the horizon.
The air, on these high plateaus, was chill, and only the hardy mountain-grasses and the various forms of cactus found root in their thin and sterile soil. The latter were numerous and singular. Some appeared above the earth, simple, fluted globes, radiating with spines, and having in their centre a little tuft of crimson flowers. Others were mere articulated prisms, tangled in clumps, and also bristling with prickles. But the variety, known in Mexico as thenopal, was most abundant, and grew of tree-like proportions.
Few as were these forms of vegetable life, animals and birds were fewer still. An occasional deer contemplated us at a distance, and a little animal, similar to the prairie-dog of the West, tumbled hurriedly into his hole as we approached his solitary covert. In places, the disintegrated quartz rock appeared above the surface for wide distances, reflecting back the rays of the sun, which seemed to pour down with unwonted and blinding brilliancy, from a cloudless sky. I could scarcely comprehend the sudden change from the region of the lagoons, where the overladen earth sweltered beneath forests teeming with life, and the air was oppressed with the cloying odors of myriads of flowers,and this stern region, ribbed with rock, where Nature herself seemed paralyzed, and silence held an eternal reign.
It was a singular spectacle, that little troop of ours, as it hurried rapidly across these mountain wastes, or huddled closely together, when night came on, around a scanty fire, made of wood which the Poyer boy, with wise prevision, had deposited there, on his return to the Tirolas. As we descended from terrace to terrace, we came again into the region of pines and oaks, which, in their turn, gave place to forests of other varieties of trees, interrupted by strips of open or savannah lands. We early struck a little stream, which, I observed, we followed constantly. It proved to be the branch of the great river Patuca, upon which the Poyer village is situated, and bore the musical name of Guallambre. At night, when we encamped, the Poyer boy took a calabash, and, motioning to me to follow, led the way down the stream to a little sand-bar. Scooping up some of the sand in his bowl, and then filling it with water, he whirled it rapidly, so that a feathery stream of mingled sand and water flew constantly over its edge. He continued this operation until the sand was nearly exhausted, and then filled the bowl again. After repeating this process several times, he grew more careful, balancing the bowl skillfully, and stopping occasionally to pick out the pebbles, which, owing to their weight, had not been carried over by the water.
I understood at once that this was the primitivemode of washing gold, and was, therefore, not greatly surprised when, after the process was complete, the Poyer showed me a little deposit of gold, in grains, at the bottom of the calabash, equal to about a fourth of an ounce in weight. He then told me that all the streams, flowing down the mountains toward the north, carried gold in their sands, and that the latter were frequently washed by his people, to obtain the means of purchasing such articles of civilized manufacture as they might need from the Spaniards of Olancho, and the traders who visited the coast.[4]
On the eighth day from our encampment on the Tirolas, after a laborious march among heavily-wooded hills, following, for most of the distance, the bed of the Guallambre, now swollen to a considerable stream, we reached the Poyer village. I say village, for such it was, in fact, although composed of but a single house! This was a substantial structure, forty paces in length, and ten broad, supported on stout posts, and heavily thatched with palm-leaves. The front and ends were open, butalong the back extended a series of little apartments, separated from each other by partitions of the outer shells of the cabbage-palm, which, when split and pressed flat, make good substitutes for boards. These were the dormitories, or private apartments of the mated or married occupants, and of the girls. The places for the boys were on elevated platforms, beneath the roof. A row of stones, set firmly in the ground, defined the outline of the building. Within them the earth was elevated a foot or more, to preserve it dry and unaffected by the rains. The position was admirably chosen, on a kind of step or shelf of a considerable hill, which rose behind, clothed with dense verdure, while in front it subsided rapidly to the stream, here tumbling noisily among the rocks, and yonder circling, bubble-sprinkled, in dark pools, beneath the trees. The ground around was beaten smooth and hard, and numbers of tamed curassows stalked to and fro, gravely elevating and depressing their crests; while within the building, and on its roof, numerous parrots and macaws waddled after each other, or exercised their voices in loud and discordant cries. There were also a few pigs and ducks, all appearing to be as much at home beneath the roof, as were the naked Indian babies, with whom they mingled on terms of perfect equality.
POYER VILLAGE ON THE GUALLAMBRE.
POYER VILLAGE ON THE GUALLAMBRE.
POYER VILLAGE ON THE GUALLAMBRE.
My boy had gone ahead, and had returned to meet us in company with two old men, who were the lawgivers of the establishment, and who reverentially touched my knee with their foreheads, byway of salutation. They said but a single word, which I suppose was one of welcome, and then led the way silently to the house. At one end a space had been recently fenced off, containing two new crickeries, within which my various articles were deposited, and which were at once indicated to me as my special apartment.
All the proceedings had been conducted so rapidly, that I was fairly installed in my novel quarters before I was aware of it. Our arrival had evidently been anticipated, for almost immediately the women brought us hot rolls of a species of bread made of ground cassava, baked in the ashes, with the addition of some stewed flesh of thewaree, so tender and savory that it would have commended itself to a far more fastidious appetite than mine. I made a prodigious meal, to the palpable satisfaction of my faithful Poyer, who kept every calabash heaped up with food.
As I have said, the Indians of Central America differ widely from their fiercer brethren of our country, not less in their modes of life than in all their social and civil relations. This Poyer community afforded an example of a purely patriarchal organization, in which the authority of paternity and of age was recognized in the fullest degree. Every evening the old men, each taking a lighted brand, gathered within a small circle of stones, at one corner of the house, and there deliberated upon the affairs of the community, and settled its proceedings for the following day. In these conferences neitherthe women nor young men were permitted to take part. All the labor of the community was performed in common, and all shared equally in the results. In one or two of the recesses which I have described, were some ancient and helpless crones, who were treated with all the care and tenderness of children. The whole establishment, according to the best of my count, consisted of about one hundred and forty persons, young and old, of whom thirty-five were full-grown men.
In figure the Poyers or Payas are identical with the Towkas and Woolwas, except more muscular—the consequence, probably, of their cooler climate and severer labor. The women were less shy, perhaps from their more social mode of living. In common with those of the coast, they go naked to the waist, whence depends a skirt of striped cotton cloth, reaching to the knees. Their hair is invariably parted in front, and held in place by a cotton band, bound tightly around the forehead. They were always occupied. Some, squatting on the ground, spun the native cotton, of which all the Indians raise small quantities, while others wove it into cloth. Both processes were rude but ingenious. The spindle consists of a small ball of heavy wood, through which passes a thin shaft, the whole resembling an overgrown top, the lower end resting in a calabash, to prevent it from toppling over. Some of the cotton is attached to this spindle, which is twirled between the thumb and forefinger. While it is in motion the thread is carefullydrawn out from a pile of cotton in the lap of the spinner. When it stops the thread is wound on the spindle, and the same process repeated. The process of weaving was certainly a simple one, but after several unsatisfactory attempts to describe it, I am obliged to confess my inability to do so, in an intelligible manner.
But a principal occupation of the women was the grinding of maize for tortillas, and of preparing the cassava. For these purposes there were a number of flat stones elevated on blocks, which were called by the Mexican name ofmetlatl. These were somewhat concave on the upper surface, in which fitted a stone roller, worked by hand. With this the maize was speedily ground to a fine consistence; the paste was then made into small cakes, which were baked rapidly on broad earthen platters, supported over brisk fires. The cakes require to be eaten when crisp and hot, in order to be relished; for when cold they become heavy and tasteless. Upon these stones they also crushed the stalks of the indigenous sugar-cane to extract the juice, which, mixed with powdered wild-cacao, is allowed to ferment, constituting an agreeable and exhilarating beverage, calledulung.
Every morning all the girls went down to the stream to bathe, which they did without any overstrained affectation of modesty; but the mothers and old women always sought a spot secluded from the general gaze. It was only when thus engaged that the girls were at all playful. They dashed thewater in each others’ faces, and sought to drag each other under the surface, in the deep pools, where they swam about as mermaids are supposed to do, and as if the water was their native element. At all other times they were as distant and demure as the daintiest damsels in all New England.
The Poyers are certainly a provident people. Although there were no signs of plantations in the vicinity of their establishments, yet, at various points in the neighborhood, where there occurred patches of rich interval land, were small fields of sugar-cane, plantains, squashes, maize, yucas, and cassava, all protected by fences, and attended with the utmost care. From every beam of the house depended bunches of plantains and bananas, huge yams, and dried flesh of various kinds, but chiefly that of thewaree, while closely packed, on platforms under the roof, were a few bales of sarsaparilla, which I found they were accustomed to carry down to the coast for purposes of barter.
The Poyers or Payas, as I have intimated, are eminently agriculturists, and although they sometimes follow the chase, it is not as a principal means of support. Nor is it followed from any fantastic notion of excitement or adventure, but in a direct and downright manner, which is the very reverse of what is called “sport.” I had an example of this in their mode of fishing, which quite astonished all my previous notions on that subject, and which evinced to me furthermore, that fishes, although cold-blooded, are not exempt from havingtheir heads turned, provided they are approached in a proper manner.
My Poyer boy, who was unwearying in his devices to entertain and interest me, one day conceived a brilliant idea, which he hastened to communicate to the old men, who held a sobermonexico, or council upon it, and resolved that there should be made a grand demonstration upon the fish, for the double purpose of amusing the stranger, and of replenishing the supplies. The resolution, taken at night, was carried into execution in the morning. While a portion of the men proceeded down the stream to construct a temporary wier of boughs, others collected a large quantity of a species of vine calledbequipe, which is common in the woods, has a rank growth, is full of juice, and emits a pungent odor. These vines were cut in sections, crushed between stones, and placed in large earthen pots, left to steep, over a slow fire.
I watched all the operations with curious interest. About the middle of the afternoon they were completed; the pots containing the decoctions were duly shouldered, and we all started up the stream. At the distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile, we met a number of men wading down the channel, and beating the water with long poles, by way of concentrating the fish in the direction of the wiers. Here the pots were simultaneously emptied in the stream, which the contents tinged of a brownish hue. Up to this moment, the various preparations had greatly puzzled me, but now I discovered thatthe purpose of the decoction was to poison, or rather to intoxicate the fish, which it did effectively; for, as we proceeded down the stream, numbers rose struggling to the surface, vainly endeavoring to stem the current, which swept them toward the wiers.
At every step they became more numerous, until the whole stream was thronged with them. Some were quite stupefied, and drifted along helplessly, while others made spasmodic efforts to resist the potent influence of thebequipe. But, sooner or later, they too drifted down, with a faint wagging of their tails, which seemed to express that they fairly “gave it up.”
The wier had been built at the foot of a considerable pool, which was literally covered with the stupefied fishes. There were many varieties of them, and the Indians stationed at that point were already engaged in picking out the largest and best, tossing the others over the wier, to recover their senses at their leisure, in the clear water below. As soon as the fish were thrown ashore, they were taken charge of by the women, who cleaned them on the spot, and with wonderful dexterity. They were afterward taken to the house, rubbed with salt, and smoke-dried over fires, after the manner which I have already described, as practiced by the Sambos at Pearl Cay Lagoon.
It would naturally be supposed that a decoction so powerful as to affect the water of a large stream, would also damage the fish, and unfit them for food. But such is not the case. The effect seemsto be precisely that of temporary intoxication, and the fish, if left in the water, would soon recover from its influence.
Time passed pleasantly among the hospitable Poyers, and I was treated with such ceremonious deference and respect, that I began to think that a far worse fortune might befall me, than that of becoming a member of this peaceful and prosperous community, on the banks of the Guallambre. In fact, I finally detected myself speculating upon the possibility of promoting one of the dark Naiads, whom I every morning watched sporting in the river, to the occupancy of the vacant crickery in my apartment. And then the fact that there were two crickeries—was not that intended as a delicate suggestion on the part of the Poyers, whose ideas of hospitality might be less circumscribed than my own? The thought that they might imagine me dull of apprehension, and slow to improve upon a hint, grew upon me with every new and nearer contemplation of the Naiads, and I began seriously to think of submitting a formal proposition on the subject, to themonexico. But men’s fates often hinge upon trifling circumstances, and had I not detected a deepening shadow of anxiety on the face of Antonio, I might have become a patriarch in Poyerdom! Who knows?
Early after our arrival at the Foyer village, I was surprised to observe Antonio in close consultation with the old men, in the nightlymonexico. They seemed to be deeply interested in his communications,and I imagined that they became daily more thoughtful. But now, whatever purpose Antonio might have had in view, it appeared to have been accomplished.
So, one evening, I called him aside, and announced that I was ready to depart. He grasped my hand, pressed it to his heart, and said, in a tone of emotion—“The voice of the tiger is loud in the mountain, and the sons of the Holy Men are waiting by the lake of the Itzaes!”
I comprehended the latent meaning of these poetical words, for I had already seen enough of Antonio to discover that his absence from Yucatan was in some way connected with a concerted movement of the aborigines, and that now some crisis was approaching which drew him irresistibly toward his native land. Resolved not to be instrumental in delaying him for an hour unnecessarily, and half repenting that I had detained him so long—for his attachment and gratitude were too real to permit him to abandon me in the wilderness—I at once communicated my intention of leaving to the old men. They took it under serious deliberation, which resulted in their dispatching some men before daybreak, on the following morning, to prepare a canoe for our descent of the Patuca. The canoes, I found, were not kept on the Guallambre, for two reasons: first, that its course is circuitous, and second, and principally, because it runs through the settlements of the Spaniards of Olancho, with whom the Indians avoid all relationswhich are not absolutely necessary. Their boats were therefore kept half a day’s journey distant, beyond a chain of high hills, on a large tributary of the Patuca, called Amacwass.
I verily believe I would have been a welcome guest among my Poyer friends, so long as I might have chosen to remain; yet they did not urge me to stay, but hastened to help me off, as if my intimations were to be regarded as commands.
During the day a large quantity of provisions were dispatched to the boat, and at night themonexicoselected two men, and my old companion the Poyer boy, to accompany us to the coast. We took our departure early in the morning, while it was yet dark, without creating the slightest disturbance in the establishment. Only the old men, who had come out to meet us two weeks before, now went ahead with large brands of fire, to light the way; but, when the day broke, they again touched their foreheads to my knee, and returned, leaving us to prosecute our journey alone.
We reached the Amacwass in the afternoon, and found a boat, twice as large as the canoe in which we had navigated the lagoons, all prepared for instant departure. A space near the middle was covered with a thatch of palm branches, to protect me from the sun, and altogether it promised a degree of comfort and convenience to which I had been a stranger, in my previous voyagings.
We embarked at once, and dropped rapidly down with the current, the Indians only using their paddlesto direct the boat, and keep it clear of the rocks which obstructed the channel. The water was wonderfully clear, every where revealing the bottom with the greatest distinctness. The banks were covered with a heavy forest, in which the eye was often arrested by the stately forms of the mahogany-tree, with its massive foliage, rising high above the general level; or by the still taller and more graceful plumes of the palmetto-royal. Vegetation seemed to have a more vigorous, but less redundant life, than on the Mosquito Shore; that is to say, it assumed more compact and more decided forms, occasioned, probably, by the comparative absence of jungle, not less than by peculiarities of soil.
There was something exhilarating in our rapid course; and the voice of the waters, here murmuring over a pebbly bottom, and yonder breaking hoarsely over the obstructing rocks, reminded me of my distant New England home, and recalled the happy hours which I had spent in the sole companionship of its merry mountain streams. It was, after all, by the standard of my youthful experiences, that I measured my present enjoyments; and it was rare indeed, even in my most cheerful moods, that the comparison was favorable to the latter. The senses blunted by years, and the memory crowded with events, fails to appreciate so keenly or record so deeply, the experiences of middle life, and pure happiness, after all, dwells chiefly in the remembrance of the distant past.
As soon as the shadows of evening began to settleover the narrow valley of the Amacwass, we halted, and made our camp, maintaining throughout the night a great fire, not less for its cheerful influences than for protection against the fierce black tigers, or pumas, which abound on this flank of the mountains. We heard their screams, now near, now distant, to which the monkeys responded with alarmed and anxious cries, so like those of human beings in distress, as more than once to startle me from my slumbers. These caricatures on humanity seemed to be more numerous here than further down the coast, and we often saw large troops of them in the overhanging trees, where they gravely contemplated us as we drifted by. Occasionally one, more adventurous than the rest, would slide down a dependent limb or vine, scold at us vehemently for a moment, and then scramble back again hurriedly, as if alarmed at his own audacity.
On the second day the current of the Amacwass became more gentle, and just before night we shot out of its waters into the large and comparatively majestic Patuca. Our course down this stream was not so rapid. In places the current was so slight that it became necessary to use our paddles; while elsewhere the greatest caution was requisite to guide our boat safely over the numerouschiflonesor rapids by which it was interrupted. But these, though difficult, and in some instances dangerous, sunk into insignificance when compared with what is calledEl Portal del Infierno, or the “Gateway of Hell.” My Poyer boy had several times alluded to it, asinfinitely more to be dreaded than any of the passes which we had yet encountered, and as one which would be likely to excite my alarm.
We reached it on the day after we had entered the Patuca. As we advanced, the hills began to approach each other, and high rocks shut in the river upon both sides. Huge detached masses also rose in the middle of the stream, around which the water whirled and eddied in deep, dark gulfs, sucking down the frayed and shattered trunks of trees, from which the branches had long before been torn by rude contact with the rocks, only to reject them again from their depths, far below. The velocity of our boat increased, and I became apprehensive in view of the rushing current and rocky shores; nor was the feeling diminished, when the men commenced to lash the various articles contained in the boat by thongs to its sides, since that precaution implied a possibility of our being overset. Antonio urged me to strip, which I did, in preparation for the worst contingency. Meanwhile the stream narrowed more and more, and the rocks towered higher and higher above our heads. The water no longer dashed and chafed against the shores, but, dark and glassy, shot through the narrow gorge with a low hissing sound, more fearful than its previous turbulence. I involuntarily held my breath, grasping firmly the sides of the boat, and watching anxiously the dark forms of the Indians, as, silently, and with impassible features, they guided the frail slab upon which our lives depended. On, on we swept, betweencliffs so lofty and beetling as to shut out the sun, and involve us in twilight obscurity. I looked up, and, at a dizzy height, could only trace a narrow strip of sky, like the cleft in the roof of some deep cavern. A shudder ran through every limb, and I could well understand why this terrible pass had been named the “Mouth of Hell!” He must have been a bold man who ventured first within its horrid jaws!
I drew a long breath of relief when the chasm began to widen, and the current to diminish in violence. But it was probably then that we were in the greatest danger, for the bed of the stream was full of angular rocks which had been swept out from thecañon, to be heaped up here in wild disorder. A misdirected stroke of a single paddle would have thrown our frail boat upon them, and dashed it into a thousand pieces.
“GATEWAY OF HELL.”
“GATEWAY OF HELL.”
“GATEWAY OF HELL.”
Before night, however, we had entirely passedthe rapids, and were drifting quietly over the smooth, deep reaches of the river—the bubbles on its surface, and the flecks of white foam clinging to its banks, alone indicating the commotion which raged above.
There are many legends connected with the “Portal del Infierno.” Within it the Indians imagine there dwells a powerful spirit, who is sometimes seen darting through its gloomiest recess, in the form of a large bird. That night, each of the Poyers poured a portion of his allowance ofchichain the stream, as a thank-offering to the spirit of the river. This, and the offerings made to fire, were the only religious rites which I witnessed while in their country; but it is not thence to be inferred that they are without religious forms, for it is precisely these that they are most careful to conceal from the observation of the stranger.
As we proceeded down the river, and entered the alluvions of the coast, both the stream and its banks underwent an entire change. The latter became comparatively low, and frequently, for long distances, were wholly covered with feathery palms, unrelieved by any other varieties of trees. Snags and stranded logs obstructed the channel, and sand-bars appeared here and there, upon which the hideous alligators stretched themselves in the sun, in conscious security. Occasionally, we observed swells or ridges of savannah land, like those on the Mosquito Shore, supporting pines and acacias. But the general character of the country was thatof a broad alluvion, in places so low as to be overflowed during floods—rich in soil, and adapted to the cultivation of all the tropical staples.
On the seventh day from the Poyer village, we reached a point where the river divides, forming a delta, the principal channel leading off to the sea direct, and the other conducting to a large lagoon, calledBrusby the Spaniards, where the Caribs of the coast have their establishments. We took the latter, and the Indians plied their paddles with increased energy, as if anxious to bring our tedious voyage to a close.