The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft
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 are brought out; a sum is then offered for the whole, which is often unhesitatingly accepted by the native who is too dazzled by the apparently high price to consider the amount of produce given for it. Very little value is placed upon labor, for canoes, which have taken a considerable time to prepare, are often bartered for a mere trifle. The people of Honduras have always a stock of cloth and honey to pay taxes with, and set a high value on colored feathers obtained from Yucatec coast traders, who take cacao for return cargoes.991
MOSQUITO CALENDAR AND ART.
Although versatile enough in handicrafts, their mental faculties are exceedingly crude. With the aid of fingers and toes the Sambo is able to count to twenty, but anything beyond that confuses him. Time is reckoned by kates, or moons, thirteen of which make a mani, or year. When asked to fix the date of an event, he will say that it occurred so many sleeps or moons ago; but when the time exceeds a year or two, the answer is given in the rather indefinite term of "many, many years;" consequently he is unable to tell his age. His ideas of cosmology are equally vague; thus, stars are held to be glowing stones. The people of Honduras call the year iolar, and divide it in the same manner as the Mexicans, by whom the system has, no doubt, been introduced. They reckon time by so many nights or twilights, not by days, and determine the hour by the height of the sun. The song-language of the Mosquitos differs greatly from that employed in conversation, a quaint old-time style being apparently preserved in their lyrics.992
The art of extracting and melting gold has long been known to them, but, although they wear a few ornaments of this metal, they do not seem to prize it very highly. At the time of Cockburn's visit to Honduras, dams were used in mining, and instruments of cane to sift the gold. The mode employed by the Poyas to separate gold from sand is the one known in California as panning, and is thus described by Squier: "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 … after the process was complete, the Poyer showed me a little deposit of gold, in grains, at the bottom of the calabash." The gold dust passes into the hands of the white trader.993
GOVERNMENT, SLAVERY, POLYGAMY.
The Mosquitos proper are ruled by a hereditary king, who claims sovereignty over the interior tribes of the Mosquito Coast, which, in many