Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/351

Rh monuments, of anything remotely resembling either a spear-thrower or a spear which could be hurled, seems to suggest that their builders were ignorant of missile weapons. Chichen Itza, of which the late buildings are, to anticipate, in Toltec style, was intimately associated with the Tutul Xiu, and we are told that the spear-thrower was their principal weapon. Further, Landa makes the statement that bows and arrows, which were universal in Yucatan at the conquest, were introduced there by the Mexicans, and that the Yucatec before they came into contact with the latter were ignorant of these weapons. It may be conjectured that their introduction was due to the Mexican mercenaries employed by the later rulers of Mayapan. To turn for the moment to the Quiché and Kakchiquel, we find that "arrows" were employed by the former in their wars with the surrounding tribes shortly after the death of the original leaders, but it is possible that these may in reality have been throwing-spears. With regard to the Kakchiquel the case is different; this people are always, in the Annals of Xahila, insisting upon their status as a warrior tribe, and it is stated definitely that the only riches which their fighting-men bore with them from Tulan were their bows, their bucklers and their rounded shields. Now both the Tutul Xiu and the Quiché traced their origin from Tulan also, and if this be taken to indicate some early contact with the Mexican valley, it follows that the Tutul Xiu migration started before the introduction of the bow into the valley by the Chichimec, while that of the Quiché and Kakchiquel occurred subsequently. However, as stated above, the Tulan of the Tutul Xiu tradition is not necessarily that of the Quiché and Kakchiquel legends (see pp. 214-216).

According to Landa the bows of the historical Yucatec were solid and straight, a little less than a man's height, while the arrows, carried in a quiver, had shafts