Page:The Annals of the Cakchiquels.djvu/24

18 used a lance, achcayupil, and especially the blow-pipe, pub, a potent weapon in the hands of an expert, the knowledge of which was widely extended over tropical America. Their arrow points were of stone, especially obsidian, bone and metal. Other weapons were the wooden war club, ꜭhaibalche; the sling, icaꜫ; the hand-axe, iꜫah, etc.

For defense, they carried a species of buckler, pocob, and a round shield called çeteçic chee, "the circular wood." Over the body they wore a heavy, quilted cotton doublet, the xakpota, which was an efficient protection.

They may all be said to have been in the "stone age," as the weapons and utensils were mostly of stone. The obsidian, which was easily obtained in that country, offered an admirable resource for the manufacture of knives, arrow heads, awls, and the like. It was called chay abah, and, as we shall see on a later page, was surrounded with sacred associations.

The most esteemed precious stones were the ꜭual, translated "diamond," and the xit, which was the impure jade or green stone, so much the favorite with the nations of Mexico and Central America. It is frequently mentioned in the Annals of Xahila, among the articles of greatest value.

Engraving both on stone and wood, was a prized art. The word to express it was ꜭotoh, and engraved articles are referred to as ꜭotonic.

Although stone and wood were the principal materials on which they depended for their manufactures, they were well