Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/328

328 in that island, told me that Indian tradition related that these stones, which in Porto Rico are oval, and shaped exactly like horse-collars, were the private property of persons of rank, and were made by them during life to be buried with them at death, being placed over the head and upon the breast of the corpse.

One other object claims my attention here, as I speak of that famed island in the West Indian group, where Columbus first found Indians approaching in their mode of life to civilization, and this is the celebrated perro mudo, or dumb dog. There is, or was, a statue of him, and I think he was the animal of all others most worthy this honor, for he could neither bark nor bite. Now this animal, the alco, or wild dog, the Spaniards found in Mexico, Peru, and the West India Islands. It was a cherished object of affection with the Indians of Haiti especially, who carried it in their arms wherever they went, and equally esteemed was it by the Aztecs and other Mexicans, though as an article of food. It was called by them Techichi, and by the Spaniards el perro mudo, or the silent dog. After the conquest, the Spaniards, having neither cattle nor sheep, provided their markets with this animal, and soon, though once numerous, it became extinct; but it is said to exist among the Apaches to-day. The Aztecs held the belief that the Techichi acted as a guide through the dark regions after death. As none of these dogs have been