Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/37

14 as well.... The Cupules, who are the people of the territory of the Town of Valladolid, used this practice a great deal.

“In the times of their heathenry, as now, they danced and sang after the manner of the Mexicans, and they used to have, as indeed they still do have, a chief Singer (or Chanter) who intones, and who appoints what they shall sing; and him they venerate and reverence, giving him an honorable seat in Church, and at their assemblies and weddings. They call him Holpop, and in his charge are the kettle-drums or Tuncules and other musical instruments, such as the flutes, little trumpets, tortoise-shells, and others that they used. The Tuncul is of thick wood, and there are some so large that they can be heard at a distance of two leagues to leeward. To the accompaniment of these instruments they sing their fables and old legends; all this will be reformed, or rather, the Religious have already done so in many places, giving the Indians Histories of Saints and some of the Mysteries of the Faith to sing, at least at public dances, Easter celebrations, and festivities, so that the ancient times will be forgotten.

“They have Babblers [Farfante-babbler, boaster; may mean jester, buffoon] who repeat fables and ancient Histories, which I am certain would be well done away with, or at least the costumes in which they are represented, because it appears that they are like those of their Heathen Priests; and when there is no worse harm than the preservation among them of that memory, it appears a very pernicious thing, for it inclines them all the more to the idolatrous practices which they indulge in when wearing the costume; but every one will have his own opinion in this matter, conformable, more or less, to what his observation has taught him. The babblers are apt to be graceful at mottoes and in the witty sayings which they tell to their elders and Judges if they are over-rigourous, ambitious, avaricious, laying before them the events that have taken place and even that which concerns the officer's own duties. They thus speak to the officers' very faces, and sometimes they rebuke them with a single word. But he who would understand them must be a great linguist and must listen well. They are very dangerous, these representations, when they are held at night and in the Indians' own houses. For God knows what goes on there, and at the very least many of them end up in drunkenness. They call these Farfantes Balzam, and they apply the word metaphorically to him who is talkative and scurrilous; and in their representations they mimic birds.

“They held, and still do hold, banquets on the occasion of weddings and betrothals, using up in one day many turkeys that they have been breeding for a whole year. Those who are leaving the office of Alcalde entertain those who are entering it, on the pain of disgrace, and on election nights there is much drunkenness.

“The Indians of this land were and are very dextrous with the bow and arrows, and so they are mighty huntsmen, and they grow dogs so that they may fetch deer, wild boar, badgers, Tigers, some little Lions, rabbits, armadillos, iguanas, and other animals. They shoot with their arrows peacocks [sic], some birds they call faysanes [pheasants], and many others.

“At present they are great imitators of all the different sorts of handiwork that are made, and so they learn all the trades with ease. There are many Indians in their villages, beside those who live in the City and in the Towns, who are great workers as smiths, locksmiths, bridlemakers, shoemakers,