THE LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ONLINE

GUATEMALA VILLAGES OF THE 16TH CENTURY

Dan Stanislawski

Products of dramatic commercial value have been studied by many authors and information regarding them made available; but the ordinary things of living have not received the same attention. That gap can be partially filled for mid-sixteenth century Central America by the tribute lists made under the so-called Cerrato reforms. The record that throws light on the general condition of such affairs is found in the bundle of papers listed in the Archive of the Indies as legajo #128. It is a fairly thorough account of the things that the natives produced and, because it had become evident by the mid-sixteenth century that most Spaniards were not going to profit greatly from the "precious" things in Central America, but could be compensated by payments of the products of agriculture and native handicrafts, these things make up the bulk of the items on the lists.

Throughout central America several items had been considered as fundamental tributes to be paid by Indians to the native overlords. These were mostly taken over in the same form by the Spanish conquerors, both to support their ménages and, if possible, to yield cash, e.g. cacao, mantas, or another marketable product (Jose Miranda, 1952, pp. 35, 93; Chamberlain 1947, p. 642 ). The most important items were maize, beans, cotton (although in some areas the product was not mentioned, only the textiles made from it), mantas of woven cotton, chickens, honey, beeswax, and services. Also, but not as comprehensively paid for obvious reasons, were salt, fish, reed or rush mats (petates ), chili peppers, and pottery. In some provinces eggs, sandals, plum wine, and vinegar were part of the list.

Native Tributes, Pre-Hispanic

Orellana refers to the fact that the Quichés, in the earliest period of their residence in Guatemala, continued to pay tribute to their ancestral lords of Tula, in Mexico ('84, p. 63).

Later documents indicate that Indians paid their native lords common services such as planting the fields, and personal services in their lords' dwellings. Also they made material contributions such as cotton textiles, cacao, and honey (op. cit. pp. 64-66; and see Carmack, '79, pp. 30, 81-82).

But there were differences. Charles Gibson pointed out that the precious stones and precious metals, with which both Cortés and Bernal Díaz began their lists, received less attention in later reports. Cervantes de Salazar, about 1550, observed that Motolinía's list no longer applied with respect to the objects of gold, silver, feathers, and precious stones (Gibson, p.353).

The fact may be indicated by the difference in tributes paid to the "Aztec" empire by Soconusco (Xoconochco) at the time of the Spanish conquest and those paid in 1549 by its neighboring area (in Guatemala). At the time of the conquest Soconusco paid its native conquerors a considerable list of luxury items including ocelot skins, elaborated drinking cups made of gourds, gold and amber, highly valued jadeite beads (Chalchihuitles), 8,000 bunches of feathers including quetzal, green, blue, red, and yellow ones, bird skins as well as cacao (Borah and Cook, 1963, pp. 142-43). Whereas, in 1549 the neighboring area paid Guatemala's most important encomendero , Francisco de la Cueva, tribute of various standard food items, mantas , and a relatively modest amount of cacao. The only extraordinary items were thirty two bedspreads, and twenty eight decorative cloths (paramentos).

A half dozen years after the date of the "Cerrato" tribute list, one of the judges (oidores) of the high administrative court (the Audiencia ), Alonso de Zorita, suggested that a fair tribute would be six reales for a married man and three for widows and single men. (p. 252). Cook and Borah (1971, p. 330) write that by the mid 1570s tributes (in Nueva Galicia) had been standardized so that virtually all tributaries paid six reales in silver, plus one hundred pounds of maize, and one chicken per year. Such standardization was certainly not the case in the tribute reports regarding the isthmian provinces of Central America in the mid-sixteenth century.

Another practice—for which Spaniards later were criticized—was that of sending people from one climatic zone to another to work for their masters; but it, too, was part of native custom (op. cit. p. 78). Lovell ('85, pp. 52-53) refers to the tribute demanded by the Quiché from other native peoples after military conquests. Fowler ('89, pp. 191, 269) relates that the evidence for the tributary base of the Cuzcatlan state (i.e. the Pipil state: essentially present El Salvador, west of the Lempa River) is clear.

To make sure that the tributes were forthcoming, the native lords appointed official collectors. The Spaniards found it convenient to continue that practice with themselves as beneficiaries of most of the same tributes that had been paid previously (Orellana, '84, pp. 138, 167, 223-24). But there was a difference: tributes paid by natives to other natives in pre-Columbian society had been adjusted through the generations so that a balance had been recognized between the needs of the tributaries and the surplus that they could pay to their overlords. Spanish conquerors in many cases superimposed their demands upon those that had been previously made. Often the result was an unconscionable burden on the natives.

A report by the Indian leaders of the town of Atitlan in 1571 stated:

"We submitted to Pedro de Alvarado.............This pueblo gave men and women—400 to 500--to work as servants or in mines. Also they paid mantas, cacao, honey, chickens, salt, chili, copper, pita, and many other things...............Many were badly treated-------many died.............until came Licenciado Zarrato (Cerrato) who moderated the tributes...............he cancelled slavery". (Report on Atitlan. RAH Munoz coll. sol. 42, f 115-118).

Regional variation in Tributes

Differences in the matter of payments among the provinces were an outcome not only of variances in the native schedule of tributes which were taken over by the Spanish, but because of differences among the Spanish conquerors. Pedrarias and his men in Nicaragua, for example, created a desolation greater than that in any other province except perhaps Honduras. Because of that, there was a comparative paucity of tributes paid.

A quite different attitude from that of the Pedrarians was shown by the Montejos and the Franciscans in Yucatan. Payments there were simple, and perhaps in the context, reasonable.

The organization of San Salvador was an inheritance from the Mexican traders and settlers who, through many centuries, had brought an efficient organization to that part of Central America.

Differences between San Salvador and San Miguel—the area east of the Lempa River—were largely a result of physical differences in geology and soils, but especially in climate: east of the Lempa unpredictable droughts occur. For that reason agricultural production is at hazard. The region was not considered desirable by the Mexican immigrants (the so-called Pipiles) and remained under the control of the less sophisticated Lenca. The fact that the Lenca used poisoned spears and arrows may have contributed to their ability to cling to the territory.

Santiago province was a tangled product of the disparities of choice and control by the various Mayoid groups who inhabited the highlands and extended their influence into the lowlands. The fact of the "untimely" death of Pedro de Alvarado undoubtedly reduced the potential exploitation of those natives. That sanguine and sanguinary man might well have established a greatly different—and more extortionate—tribute list from the one put into effect by the Crown and the Church.

Of the nine provinces included in the tribute list, little need be said regarding Tabasco. Of its ten towns, five were under the Crown and two were under Francisco de Montejo, who received half of the tribute of another. Of this latter town, two encomenderos shared the half not paid to Montejo. Two other encomenderos held one town each. For two of the largest towns, Champoton and Xicalango, the number of tributaries is not shown. For the other eight towns a total of 1020 tributaries are listed. Aside from those of the Crown and Montejo, 325 tributaries were held by four encomenderos, who had plots of maize planted for them, received some Indian service, fowl (European or indigenous), chili, beans, a little pottery, and, most important, 180 xiquipiles of cacao.

In the matter of payments, the two other provinces of Yucatan, Merida and Campeche, were obviously similar to each other in organization and quite different from the other seven provinces of the tribute list. Beeswax was paid to encomenderos in greater quantities and chickens in greater numbers than anywhere else except for San Salvador; but aside from these two items, tributes were modest and the list is short.

The two provinces of Nicaragua, Leon and Granada can also be considered together because the tributes are generally comparable, and they differ considerably from the others. Leon encomenderos were paid at the highest rates in maize and beans planted, and those of Granada at a rate only somewhat less. The crops of those plantings produced a surplus which could be shipped out to the impoverished Caribbean lands. Salt was paid at the highest rate. Servants were supplied at as high a number in comparison with the tributary population as was the case in any other province.

The tributes paid in Comayagua, the only part of Honduras listed in the document, suggest a forlorn place. The history of abuse in Honduras by slavery for mining gangs and for shipment to the West Indies would make it surprising if it were otherwise ( See Chamberlain, 1953, pps. 36, 53, 60, 64, 120; also Sherman. 1979, pp. 29, 42, 43). A small compensation was made to its encomenderos for the meagreness of resources by the number of servants allotted. Herders were supplied in sufficient numbers to suggest that livestock may have become a compensation for deficient agriculture.

San Miguel, the part of present El Salvador east of the Lempa River, was, in the light of the tribute payments, a poor relation of San Salvador (as it certainly is today). Without distinction in anything, it trailed behind its more prosperous neighbor.

San Salvador stood out as a peak of efficiency in exploitation of its resources: soils and Indians. While maize and beans were not planted in the averages per tributary that they were in Nicaragua, the amounts were high in comparison with all other provinces, and in the length of the list of payments received by its encomenderos it was salient. Cotton harvests must have offered a large surplus for sale as nearly 26,000 lbs. of seed were planted. At a yield of twelve and one half lbs. of lint per pound of seed, the harvest would have been 325,000 lbs.; but as toldillos required about three and a half lbs. each, the total of 15,139 paid to encomenderos would have required about 53,000 lbs., leaving more than three times that amount for sale. This was true despite the fact that payment of woven materials (calculating the toldillo as being two thirds the value of a manta) was the highest of the provinces. The payments of chickens was as high as that of any other province and higher than most; and the payment of a long list of items: honey, herders, fish, chili, eggs, alpargatas, cutaras , wheat, wine, vinegar, was the highest of the provinces. Perhaps the Spanish authorities allowed such consideration to the San Salvadorans partly because Los Izalcos , then a cacao area (now in the southwest of El Salvador) had been assigned to the encomenderos of Santiago.

In amounts of payments payments received by its encomenderos, Santiago was either at the bottom of the list of provinces or near it, except for three items: cacao, salt, and servants. Only one quarter of the Santiago towns paid "unusual tributes" whereas two thirds of the towns of San Salvador did.

was a form of cash so attractive to the Santiago men that they not only demanded it as tribute (paid to five sixths of them) but also exchanged their servants for additional cacao or other forms of cash (silver or gold coin, or mantas).

In Santiago Province all encomenderos received cash in some form (coin, mantas or cacao), mostly by exchanging servants. Over three quarters of those making exchanges received coin (silver tostones or gold pesos ). Others were paid in other forms of cash: ten received mantas , nine received cacao. Four exchanged grain to be planted for some form of cash (Goncalo Najara, Ovalle, Paez, and Paredes). Five exchanged one form of cash for another (Arias, Cristobal Lobo, Lope Lobo, Lopez de Villanueva, and Mendez de Sotomayor).

Five encomenderos exchanged servants for grain to be planted (Aragon, Diaz de la Reguera, Francisco Lopez, Morales, and Cristobal Salvatierra). Lopez de Villanueva exchanged two servants for 200 feathers.

Encomendero Exchanges

Huatli (Amaranthus particulatus var. leucocarpus Saff.), a grain, was of almost equal importance to Chia and maize in tribute payments to the empire of the Mexican plateau (Borah and Cook, 1963). It was a productive starch and oil producer that either had not been known in Central America or was discouraged by the Church because of its importance in the native religious ceremonies. It was virtually eliminated by the Spanish for that reason.

Gourds (from the tree Crescentia cujete that originated in the Old World but whose gourds apparently were carried by ocean currents to the New World before the continents were discovered by Europeans). Shells of the mature fruits were—and are—used for multiple household purposes in Mexico, but none are listed for the provinces of legajo #128.

Jadeite from the middle Motagua River valley was of high value in pre-conquest times and was traded widely (Morley et al '83, p. 213, Rands, 1965, pp. 561-80) yet it is not mentioned in the tribute list.

Squash are not mentioned, yet at least some of the numbers of varieties mentioned by Fuentes y Guzman (Vol. V, Bk IX, Cap. 2, p. 228) must have been present in northern Central America. The same is true of the varieties of maize and beans. Nor are ropes, nets, baskets (except for Chicovites ), or vegetable dyes derived from various plants.

The Items of Tribute

Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

This source of protein fundamental to Middle America was paid to a large proportion of the encomenderos in eight provinces of legajo #128. But only about one fifth of the towns paid, and less than half of the encomenderos received payment.

The plant has considerable environmental tolerance and range but production is not satisfactory under conditions of too much moisture because of leaf diseases, weeds, and insect pests (Hernandez Bravo, 1973, p. 145). The best conditions are those of relative dryness on well-drained slopes. MacBryde, referring to Guatemala, reported that the best elevation zone was that lying between 1500 and 2000 meters (appr. 5,000 to 6500 feet); and trade from that zone to others is common (p. 75 ).

Interplanting

The almost universal interplanting of maize, beans and squash in Mexico is not duplicated in Central America. Although in San Miguel, as in the provinces of Nicaragua (see DS '83, pp. 28-9), the normal procedure was to plant maize and beans in the same field. Also in those provinces more than sixty percent of the towns planted twice in one year. In the province of Santiago most entries of maize and beans are separated in a fashion that suggests separated plantings. In a few cases (towns #147, 185, 194, 195) it is stated that they were to be planted together; and in a few other cases, although somewhat ambiguous, the entries may suggest the same thing. That situation is also true of Comayagua province.

For San Salvador, the phrasing and placement on the tribute list seems to indicate that they were planted separately.

Two crops in one year was a rarity except for Nicaragua and San Miguel: no town in Santiago did so; none in Yucatan; only two in San Salvador and Five in Comayagua.

The following statistics indicate the disparity of payments among the nine provinces:

Nicaragua (Leon and Granada), San Miguel and Comayagua all received large payments and virtually all encomenderos were paid. As in the case of other tributes, the payments from Yucatan were relatively low and virtually all encomenderos were paid. Santiago's payments were even lower than those of Yucatan and less than half of the encomenderos received payment. Expectably, payments of San Salvador were many times those of Santiago.

Nowhere in the tribute list is a distinction made as to the particular bean to be planted, yet Phaseolus vulgaris has produced many varieties, for many situations and tastes. (See Stanislawski, '83 pp. 28-9).

CACAO

(Theobroma cacao is the most important species; another species, Theobroma bicolor, commonly called Patashti—from Nahua—or Patlaxti produces an inferior product: Dillon, p. 116). In 1579, Estrada y Niebla (p. 77), referring to the areas of Zapotitlan and Suchitepéquez in the province of Santiago, said that "patastle, with a fruit resembling cacao (is not) traded outside this province and has less than half the value of cacao".

According to Oviedo (Vol. 2, p.245), the King's chronicler of the Indies, cacao was the most valuable of all trees, an opinion that was generally shared; but with one strident dissonance, from Benzoni,who was in Guatemala in 1553. He wrote that chocolate was more fit for pigs than for men (p. 121). He wrote with some reason because the native drink was a bitter beverage made with water, ground cacao beans, corn meal and chili pepper. Only later, after omitting the corn meal and chili and adding cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar, was it made acceptable to Europeans (Bergman, 1957, p. 43). Continuing Oviedo: "The owners of such trees are seen as being very rich, i. e. as 'nobles'............the natives hold them in value as do Christians, gold and cash. From the seeds the senores or principales make a drink that is highly regarded. Only they can do so, because ordinary people could not afford to use their money as a beverage.........Not only do the principales own cacao trees but they receive seeds in tribute. They smear the paste made from the seeds on their faces and think it makes a gallant appearance. Thus they go to market and other ublic places.......every once in a while taking off a bit to eat. The trees are planted in land judged to be fertile and near water for irrigation. The plantations are laid  out regularly and properly spaced - ten to twelve feet apart - to get the best results from the soil. They plant other trees—evergreens—(commonly of the genus Gliricidia: Stone, 1966, p. 218) from which the lower branches are trimmed so that they grow straight and form a canopy that completely shades the ground. Christians call them "black mothers" (Oviedo, Nicaragua, ed. , 1944, Vol. II, Book 8, Ch. XXX, pp. 245-49 ). Ponce used the more common phrase, "cacao-mothers" (madres de cacao : Vol I, pp. 295-99).

The tree thrives only in oppressively warm, moist air, and can not tolerate more than a slight breeze. Most of them grow within ten degrees of the equator. Pineda wrote "The trees are very delicate. Put in the sun they burn and don't give fruit, if there is too much shade the pods rot, if they are in the wind the pods are lost before they are ripe" (p. 463).

For successful production no month should have less than fifty nine degrees average temperature; and with an absolute minimum above fifty degrees (Bergman, '57, pp. 43-44). Many of the coastal regions of Central America fall within those limits. On the Caribbean side, where there is no protracted dry season, and with rainfall averaging 100 to 140 inches, they thrive. On the Pacific side, with almost a half year of drought, irrigation is usually necessary. Best growth is on rich, well-drained soil, preferably of alluvial or volcanic origin. It is the soil, not the tree that must be shaded, and kept constantly moist, as the humidity of the earth is more important than the amount of annual rainfall. They do best in areas of extremely high humidity - 90% or more.(Dillon. 1975, p. 117), and with an upper limit of 650 meters (2133 feet) elevation (Orellana, '84, p. 70). For many humans it is an unpleasant climate; but in spite of its discomforts and threats to health it was, because of the high value of cacao, the region that constituted the wealthiest part of Guatemala in the sixteenth century (Thompson '48, p. 7); but Santiago de Guatemala then included the region known as Los Izalcos that is now in El Salvador.

Of the various forms of cash, gold pesos and silver tostones may have been preferred, but the native currency, cacao, was of high value. Other things and native services were exchanged for it; but cacao was kept, not exchanged for anything else except as cash was used. Although mantas were a form of currency, they were, in some cases exchanged for cacao; but never the other way round.

Its value lay not only in gustatory delights and value as cash, but also because "Cacao was, and still is, of ceremonial importance to many Maya and Mexican groups in Middle America" (Thompson, '56, pp. 102-06; García de Palacio, pp. 32-33). Also many Indian groups credited it as being a remedy for various ailments (op. cit. p. 106); and Oviedo attested to its curative qualities stating that it was known as valuable for many indispositions, pains, and wounds. He added that he knew that to be a fact because of his own experience: while taking a horseback trip along the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, he had had an accident that opened a long and deep gash on his foot which was cured only after weeks of application of a preparation of cacao oil (Book 8, chap. 30, pp. 73-74 - Nic. ed.)

Ponce ( Vol. 1, pp. 295-96) described cacao in some detail: the seeds are like almonds without shells, but less pointed and thicker..........with a color between red and black...........The trees are like those of oranges, but with a larger leaf. Because it is delicate, the tree can not be exposed fully to the sun, nor can it lack water. The pods holding the seeds grow on the trunk as well as on the branches. Removed from the pod, the seeds are put in the sun to "cure". . In Yucatan trees are planted in pits where the soil is moist and they are shaded; but that is on small scale and yields small amounts of fruit (Thompson '56, p. 102). A good yield in cacao areas would be more than 100 pods per tree, each with twenty eight or more seeds. These cacao seeds serve as small change in all of New Spain, as does copper in Castille (Ponce 1,293-96, Pineda,1908, pp. 463-64).

The value of a carga, (fifty lbs.) that contains 24,000 seeds, in Guatemala, is thirty reales . Carried to New Spain, Puebla, Tlaxcalla and Mexico City, it would be sold for at least 50 reales. Some Indians who have held back their crop and sold it at a propitious time, became rich. Many Spanish traders are very prosperous because of sending cacao that they buy in the Indian pueblos by packtrain or ship to Mexico City. In return, they bring clothes and other necessities to the Indians.

Besides being used as money, cacao is toasted and eaten, and used to make many delicious beverages, some drunk cold and others hot. One product is called chocolate, made of pulverized cacao with honey and hot water added. As well as this mixture, there are many others: medicinal and healthy (Ponce, Vol. I, pp. 295-96).

The seeds are gathered in two harvests: one, in the period February to April from the limbs; and the other, November to January, from the trunk (MacBryde, p.34 )

Early History of Cacao

The tree's origin was probably in the western Amazon valley, near the Colombia-Ecuador boundary (Bergman, 1957, p. 43), but there is no evidence that it was cultivated in South America before the time of the Spanish conquest (Bergman, '69, pp. 87-88). From there, it was taken north and into Central America along the Caribbean coast, as were other products and attitudes from South America. It was there, probably, that it was taken into domestication.

Its introduction to the seasonally dry Pacific side could not have been made before irrigation had been used in its propagation; but that was possible by the early Christian period of time, as shown at Edsna, a site about forty kilometers southeast of Campeche City, on the west of the Yucatan peninsula, where there had been a complex system of canals and reservoirs. (Coe, '87, The Maya, p. 118). Even earlier, according to the same author - by 500-450 b.c - the Zapotecs of Oaxaca had irrigation on artificially terraced hillsides.( but, he adds, the evidence for irrigation at Teotihuacan is not strong '86, p. 81).

By the period a.d. 400-600 introduction had been made on the Pacific side, at Cotzumalhuapa, as indicated by cacao pods being shown in art (Parsons, 1969: p. 160). Coe suggests that that culture was probably Pipil ('87, pp. 84-88). At roughly the same period of time cacao pods appear in the art of Kaminaljuyu in a religious context (Hammond '82, p. 133., clearly suggesting a long association. The Pipiles may have been at Kaminaljuyú around a.d. 400 (Weaver, 1972, p. 149). Sheets (1984, p. l10) suggests that the Pipiles may have come from the Gulf coast about a.d. 600. Coe also believes that they may have come from the Gulf coast of Vera Cruz (Coe, '87, pp. 84-88).

It must have been before that time that the Chorotega moved from Mexico into Nicaragua, as at the time of the Spanish conquest, they were not involved in the cultivation of the tree. Oviedo reported that in Nicaragua the Nicarao monopolized its cultivation (Chap. IV, p. 362). That being the case, the Chorotega must have migrated from Mexico prior to the dates of Cotzumalhuapa; and the Nicarao, presumably, afterward.

Cacao producing regions of Central America in 1548-51

Bergman's maps—based largely on the 1548-51 tribute payments— show the various centers of production for Santiago de Guatemala and San Salvador. Two material changes were made in the pattern within a generation after 1548-49: Soconusco, that had been the greatest producer on the Pacific side prior to the conquest, declined so badly that the governor wrote (January 19, 1574) that "many Indians had died, and in all of the province there were not more than 1200" (he does somewhat contradict himself later). He wanted to import labor. (Fuentes y Guzman, Vol. I, pp. 423 ff). The other change took place in the area of the so-called Nonualcos (an area southeast of Lake Ilopango, including Zacatecoluca) which in 1548 paid no cacao in tribute, but was producing by 1576 a great abundance ("cacao abundantissimamente": Garcia de Palacio, p.33).

Far eastern Guatemala was not, in general, an area suitable for the crop, chiefly because of low rainfall; and because of wind exposure. In the drainage of the Motagua River, cacao was not shown to have been paid by either entry of Çacaguastlan, nor that of Çacapa (Zacapa) on a right bank tributary of the Motagua, in an open valley not far from the main stream. But upstream on that tributary, the town of Chiquimula paid 360 xiquipiles (a xiquipil amounts to 8,000 beans with a weight of about seventeen lbs.) to two encomenderos. Chiquimula lies in a lowland with ample water for irrigation, and with highlands close enough to protect the trees against winds that could tear the pods from the trees. In the early seventeenth century, Vazquez de Espinosa reported it as being one of the chief producers of cacao (¶642, ¶668).

Of the nine provinces detailed in legajo #128, Santiago de Guatemala was overwhelmingly the greatest producer; and its totals were raised considerably by the appropriation of Los Izalcos of the southwest of present El Salvador. Eighty three town entries (out of 169) of the province showed payments to sixty three encomenderos (out of eighty two) of 14,355 xiquipiles directly and 282 more in exchanges: a total of 14,637.

In the province of San Salvador, thirteen town entries (out of eighty six) showed payments of 735 xiquipiles (including twenty five by exchanges) to eleven encomenderos (out of forty four). More than one half of the total was paid to one encomendero, Antonio Docampo. (who received 350 directly and exchanged 300 lbs. of wheat to be planted and four servants for twenty five additional xiquipiles). In addition, labor was to be supplied to work his cacao grove.

Thirteen of the other encomenderos to compensate themselves for the loss of the province of Los Izalcos appropriated by the Santiago men, were planting their own groves with labor supplied by the natives (the normal requirement was three days service four times per year. During which time they were to be supplied bread, meat and chili in water (chilate).

On the record of San Miguel province, twelve entries (out of seventy two) showed payments to seven encomenderos (out of thirty three) of 720 xiquipiles (also 100 xiquipiles were paid to the Crown). Two of the men took the lion's share: Gaspar Aviles de Sotomayor was paid 320 xiquipiles and Juan de Mendoça was paid 250 xiquipiles as well as labor in his cacao grove. Two other men: Gregorio Delgado and Gonçalo Herrera, were paid labor in their cacao groves although they received no cacao in tribute.

In Tabasco, the only province of Yucatan showing cacao in legajo 128, nine (out of ten) towns paid; five (all) encomenderos received 360 xiquipiles, of which the conqueror Montejo received half; the Crown received 210: a total of 570 xiquipiles from the province.

For neither Mérida nor Campeche were any tribute payments recorded.

Nicaragua payments of cacao were negligible: in the province of Leon, four encomenderos received less than fifteen xiquipiles (given, on the list, as two and one half fanegas ); in Granada province, nine encomenderos received about forty xiquipiles (less than seven fanegas).

Comayagua, Honduras, paid none.

The great preponderance of producing areas were at elevations between 200 meters (656 feet) and 400 meters (1312 feet). Most towns higher than 400 meters that paid cacao either controlled lower territories or traded other products for it.

The difficulties caused by trade was told by Garces in 1570 (in Carmack, '73, p. 380): (To get cacao, the men of) "the mountain pueblos have to go to lands where they become ill and some die, and others develop attachments (amancebados) in the cacao pueblos and even marry a second time even though the first wife is still living."

Cacaostocrats

A small group of predatory men made enormous profits by their control of cacao plantations that they had acquired either by reason of being original conquerors, or—as in most cases—because of their connections with the political administration. In 1549, twenty encomenderos were paid more than 200 xiquipiles per year. More than half of them held their properties because of the Maldonado administration; a minority had been rewarded for services in the conquest. (For the Maldonadoans, see MacLeod, p. 117).

The list below shows the major beneficiaries of cacao profits, the grantor; also included is the number of mantas paid, which also represented cash:

9,067 xiquipiles out of a total of 14,355, (nearly two thirds of the total) were paid to these men.

* The two men who received the largest payments—from Yçalco—were Francisco Giron and Juan de Guzman. Also, each was paid the services of fifty men, three times each year of two days each time, to cultivate his personal cacao plantations.

** Salazar also received the services of "Indians to clean and cultivate the cacao plantation". No number of Indians nor other details were given.

Two other encomenderos of Santiago, each of whom was paid sixty xiquipiles in tribute, received Indian labor in personal cacao groves: Garcia Lopez and the minor sons of Bartolome de Molina.

CHICKENS: 9 provinces                                                      

Chickens were paid in tribute in all nine provinces: to all encomenderos in Mérida, Campeche, Tabasco, and San Salvador, to virtually all in San Miguel and Comayagua; to a high proportion in Santiago, Leon, and Granada. For some encomenderos, especially those of San Salvador — there was a marketable surplus (See Stanislawski, '83, pp. 33-34, for discussion.)

The tribute list specified European fowl ("de Castilla") for the first six provinces (the negligible exceptions appear to be oversights).

The three provinces of Yucatan specified that either European or local fowl could be paid ("de Castilla o de la tierra"), except for two towns in Tabasco that required European chickens.

In the other two provinces of Yucatan, Mérida, and Campeche, it seems that the authorities intended that tributaries would pay an average of about three quarters chicken per tributary. The variation from that amount was slight in all cases.

The averages per tributary paid in Santiago varied according to the size of the encomienda: those with less than 100 tributaries were paid at a rate a little higher than one per tributary. Encomiendas with 300 or more tributaries were paid at a rate about one quarter of that.

San Salvador, ever consistent, insisted upon its due: payments showed but little difference, whether from small or large encomiendas . It appears that the intent of the authorities with regard to chickens was about the same as that in Mérida and Campeche.

San Miguel figures show no relation to size of encomienda . (It may be noted that Aviles was highly paid).

Comayagua figures are roughly comparable to those of San Miguel.

CHILIS

(Chili peppers, aji, pimiento - Capsicum ssp. the most common being Capsicum annuum)

With certain beans, and squash, chilis were among the first plants cultivated in the New World.(Barbara Pickersgill, pp. 443-449 in Ucko and Dimbleby, The Domestication and exploitation of plants and animals, Chicago - Aldine - 1969).

In Mexico, this product was part of the dietary of pre-agricultural Indians by about nine thousand years ago; and by 3400 b.c., at the latest, it was among the cultivated plants (Mangelsdorf, MacNeish, Willey. pp. 487-515 in Struever, 1971, p.514); According to Cobo (1653, - B. Cobo, Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Reprinted in 1956 in Biblioteca de Autories Españoles, 91 .Madrid.) "pepper holds first place, after maize, as the plant most common and of greatest esteem amongst the Indians". (Pickersgill, p.448)

It is a widely used condiment, a hot weather vegetable, that can be grown anywhere in the tropics or sub-tropics at any time of year except in high mountain regions and, because of certain viruses and bacteria, it has difficulties in lower, damp regions (Martin, Santiago, and Cook, 1979, pp 1, 2, 6, 10).

Entries in the tribute list, for Santiago are nearly all for towns at relatively high, and dry localities. Only four towns, out of thirty four were at low elevations, and their payments were small; small enough, in fact, for the product to have been acquired easily by trade. In total, payments of 25,450 lbs. were made to more than one third of the encomenderos and to the Crown.

In San Salvador, the eager acquisitiveness of the encomenderos established payments of 13,500 lbs. paid by thirty four towns to thirty encomenderos. The two towns called Purulapa in the tribute list (present Perulapan and Perulapilla) and the nearby town of Cuxutepeque (Cojutepeque) paid relatively large amounts.

In the province of San Miguel, the total payment was 1050 lbs., made by seven towns to five encomenderos.

In the province of Comayagua, six towns paid 500 lbs. to six encomenderos, and one town, with no encomendero paid another 100 lbs.

In Tabasco province, five towns paid 750 lbs.

Curiously, none of this condiment, was specified to be paid in the provinces of Leon, Granada, Merida, and Campeche. Yet Oviedo remarked that both "sweet and hot" peppers received great care in Pacific Nicaragua and Panama (cited by Stone '66, p. 219 ).

COTTON

(Gossypium hirsutum)

For the Indians it had been used both for making clothes and (as woven quadrangles of cloth) as a medium of exchange.

In Yucatan (Mérida, Campeche, and Tabasco) cotton planting was not specified on the tribute list, although mantas were a fundamental payment; and in Santiago there was probably not sufficient planted to produce the lint necessary for the mantas to be paid. In the provinces of San Miguel, and Comayagua, local planting was probably sufficient to meet the respective requirements.

A very different situation obtained in San Salvador, where cotton planting was stipulated by all but one of the encomenderos; and in Nicaragua, by virtually all encomenderos in the two provinces. From the amounts specified in San Salvador and Nicaragua, encomenderos had a surplus: an additional source of revenue from cotton lint to be exported.

EGGS

From the evidence of the tribute list, the taste for eggs was Mexican; and apparently not Mayan. The great bulk of payments was made in San Salvador; and almost all of the seventeen towns under Santiago that paid them bore names with the Nahua syllables tan, tlan, peque, apa, or tenango, almost certainly towns under Mexican influence, although they were, mostly, in the interior of the country. Aside from payments in San Salvador and Santiago, only one other town in the nine provinces—in Comayagua—paid them.

Evidence of the Mexican taste is made clear in Leon-Portilla (pp. 33, 39 and others).

They were paid by 42 out of 86 towns of the province of San Salvador to 32 out of 44 encomenderos. The total payment to encomenderos of 4203 dozens per year is an average payment of about one half dozen per tributary per year.

No payment was made to the Crown. Perhaps eggs did not constitute a good market item that could be converted into cash for payment to the Crown; but they certainly were a good item for local exchange: note the payment to Docampo whose menage could hardly have consumed 520 dozen.

Seven encomenderos each received one dozen per week . Twenty four received from one and one half to six dozen; and one (Docampo) received ten dozen. Extremes of payment to encomenderos

As a tribute fish were of minor importance in the province, although twenty four encomenderos (and perhaps one more, from a town— Malacatepeque—for which no encomendero was shown) received 3,312 lbs. from twenty six towns. If the twenty four encomenderos consumed their fish, they would have had two and one half pounds per week for themselves and their families; but nothing extra for Lent; and fifty eight encomenderos'  families would have had none.

The largest payment—650 lbs.—was made to the conqueror, Antonio de Salamanca. Another large payment—of 500 lbs.—was made to Hernan Perez Peñate. Seventeen of the encomenderos received less than 100 lbs. per year.

Expectably, one of the large payments—416 lbs—was made to Martin de Guzman. The payment was made by the town of Atiquipaque which was divided between Guzman, credited with one half, and Juan López who held the other half; but Guzman's half paid him 416 lbs. and that of López paid him 56 lbs. However, balance may have have been established: López also received a payment of 160 xiquipiles of cacao while that of Guzman was 110.

All identified towns paying fish were lowland: presumably fish taken from the sea; and all encomenderos receiving large payments of fish also were paid either cacao or salt (most of them were paid both). But there was also stream fishing. Michel Bertrand (in Carmack, Early and Lutz, '82, p. 174) determined that "one of the dietary staples of the people of the Chixoy valley had been river fish" (before their transfer from the valley to Rabinal.

Pineda, after mid-fifteenth century, referring to Lake Atitlan, wrote that the natives took fish from it (p. 438); but in the tribute list neither the towns of Lake Atitlan nor Lake Amatitlan are listed as paying fish.

This example of an unmentioned item that was obviously important to life in the province, is one of many. Of course they could be obtained in the markets; but one wonders if the encomenderos grasp did not reach beyond the limits set by the Crown.

Fish from San Salvador Towns

Not unexpectably, this province was distinguished by the amounts paid. (Two towns: Citala, #83, and Tecoyluca, #1, paid more in total than did all of the towns of Santiago province).

Some encomenderos required fresh fish each week. The basic measure was the arrelde of four lbs; and payments were in multiples of fifty two. Other encomenderos required dry fish: figures for payments to them end in 0 or 5 (calculated by arrobas of twenty five lbs., or by cargas of fifty lbs. (One exception is the encomienda of Pedro Ceron: his share of the town of Xalocinagua, #7, paid him 1-1/2 arreldes per week, i.e. 312 lbs. per year ; and Metapa, #46 paid him 1 arrelde per week, i.e. 208 lbs. per year. The total of fresh fish came to 520. Another unusual figure was the payment by Tequepa, #35, to Castellon: 1 arrelde per week was paid, as well as an additional payment of forty eight lbs. of fresh fish during Lent).

Two towns in northern Chalatenango province, specified panes: Texutla, town #65, defined the pan as being twenty five lbs.; the other town, Citala, #83, defined it as thirty seven and a half lbs).

Eleven towns paid both fresh and dried fish.

The most common payment in the province was of one arrelde (four pounds) per week. There is no apparent relation to the number of tributaries.

Town #24, Gualçapa, was to furnish two fishers each Friday, and during Lent. The specification of fishers rather than an amount of fish was the only one outside of the Nicaraguan provinces where it was standard.

The discrete use of the terms is shown in the tributes specified for Nonualco, town #25: payments were to be made of four cargas (200 lbs.) of dried fish per year, and one arrelde (four pounds) per week of fresh fish.

Olomina (Fundulus guatemalensis, Order of Cyprinodontformes, which includes guppies and carp ) is a small lake fish that was particularly prized -- as it still is in Salvadoran markets. In 1548, eight encomenderos of San Salvador were paid 3636 pounds by ten towns, all near Lake Ilopango (Fowler, '89, p. 122), of which 2600 pounds were dried. The most important encomendero of the province, Antonio Docampo received 450 pounds of dried and 624 pounds of fresh, twenty nine percent of the grand total.

This fish was mentioned only once for another province in the legajo: from the town of Cingualtique in San Miguel province, under the prehensile encomendero, Gaspar Aviles de Sotomayor.

Although no reference is made to olomina in the province of Santiago, Pineda, shortly after the mid-sixteenth century recorded that the Indians living near Lake Atitlan caught it (but no payment of it is recorded on the tribute list).

In the province of San Salvador, forty (out of forty-four, i.e. 91%) of the encomenderos were paid 18,618 lbs of fish. If they and their families consumed the total, they would have had nearly nine pounds per week for the households; but with no allowance for Lent. 1,900 lbs. were paid to the Crown.

San Miguel

Twenty eight towns paid a total of 10,491 lbs. to twenty three encomenderos and the Crown. Ten encomenderos (out of thirty three) were paid none; six were paid less than 200 lbs. each. At the other extreme was the grasping Gaspar Aviles de Sotomayor, who received 2,000 lbs. from one of his six towns, #62, Taminalco; and 300 lbs. of the highly valued olomina from Cingualtique, #70, the only such payment in the province. Most of his other tributes were large. Las Casas called him "a very powerful robber" (quoted by Sherman, p. 169). Another, a seemingly less "powerful robber", Pedro Serrano, received 1458 lbs. from his one town, #61, Mercotiquen (unidentified now).

About half of the towns paying fish were inland and, it can be assumed, that their tributaries were stream fishers. The other half were probably near enough to the ocean for sea fishing, especially Taminalco (which Browning identifies with modern Intipucá, near the south coast), and Mercotiquen. The fishermen there probably used the newly introduced Spanish nets (Foster, George M., Culture and Conquest, 1960, p. 77)

Two towns (#11, and #12) each furnished the services of two fishermen on Fridays (días de pescado), a form of tribute apparently learned from the Nicaraguans.

If the families of the encomenderos consumed all of their fish, they would have had eight and one half lbs. per week each from the listed tributes, with nothing extra for Lent.

Comayagua

The tributaries of this interior Honduran province paid 6,592 lbs. in total: 5,976 lbs. to ten of the twenty four encomenderos. In addition, 416 lbs. were paid by towns whose encomenderos were not listed; and 200 lbs. went to the Crown. One man, Alonso de Caceres, received 1776 lbs; another, Juan de Cabrera, received 872 lbs., eight others received 416 lbs. each. These fish may have been taken from streams; but some, and especially those paid to Caceres and to Cabrera could indicate that Indians were sent to the coast: they may indicate seine-fishing.

As examples of payments, the tributaries of town #19, Agalteca, under Caceres, were instructed to pay four lbs. each Friday and each Saturday and each day of Lent ("...........los viernes y sabados y dias de Cuaresma cada dla un arrelde de pescado......."). Calculating Lent as being approximately six weeks long, there would be forty six other weeks of payment. Town #22, Gualala, under Cabrera, was given the same instructions, but for one half the amount. Towns #4 and #37 were to pay four lbs. Fridays and Saturday of each week, but there was no reference to Lent.

If the families of the twenty two encomenderos consumed their fish, it would have been more than nine pounds per week for each family. None allowed for Lent.

Yucatan

Mérida: Eighteen towns paid fourteen encomenderos 2,075 lbs., of which 750 lbs. were paid to Francisco de Montejo, the conqueror. None was paid to the Crown. All towns were instructed to pay in arrobas (twenty five lbs. each).

Campeche: Five towns paid four encomenderos 415 lbs. Two towns paid the Crown 4,500 lbs.

For all towns arrobas were specified; one, #2, Campeche, under the Crown described it as "dried".

As in both provinces the amounts were given in arrobas and one specifically states "dried", perhaps all tributes were of dried fish.

Tabasco:

No fish were included.

Of the nine provinces the payments may have been sufficient (except for Lent) in San Salvador, San Miguel, Comayagua, Granada, and Leon; but the deficiencies of Santiago, Mérida, Tabasco, and Campeche were large.

In the lack of organization of those days, not long after the conquest, when the demands of the encomenderos perhaps had more importance than the strictures of the Church, the meatless days may not have been observed; on the other hand, in those days of relatively few cattle, most days may have been meatless.

Nicaragua

With one exception (Encomendero Cepeda, in San Salvador province who was supplied two on Fridays and during Lent) the provinces of Leon and Granada were the only ones to give services of fishermen instead of stated amounts of fish. Thirty seven fishermen filled the needs of the Granada encomenderos, and fifty those of Leon (Stanislawski. '83, Tables 2 and 4).

GOLD

In the thirteen cases in which the exchange of servants for gold was made, none states whether it was "fine gold" or "base gold" (tipuzque ) which would have had a value of one third less.

HENEQUEN/MAGUEY

In the province of Santiago it had little importance: three towns— probably all in the dry western highlands—paid 900 lbs. to two encomenderos and the King.

In the province of San Salvador, one town, #19, Guemoco, paid its encomendero , Antonio de Figueroa, 250 lbs. (For its importance as cordage in Nicaragua, see Stanislawski, '83, pp. 39-41).

It is not mentioned for other provinces.

HERDERS

If numbers of herders are indicative, European domestic animals were only beginning to have importance in Central America by the mid-sixteenth century. Caretakers for both ganado (which could mean cattle: ganado mayor but in most cases probably meant sheep: ganado menor. Pigs were mentioned in regard to six of the provinces: most in San Salvador, fewer in Santiago, San Miguel, and Comayagua; and in small numbers in the two Nicaraguan provinces. In Yucatan, Spaniards just having completed the conquest, may not have had the opportunity to introduce them: at least, they are not recorded.

The fact that shepherds are not specifically mentioned for any of the provinces makes one wonder about unrecorded operations. The famous Mesta (the Spanish politically important sheep-owners guild) was introduced into the New World in 1529 and given the same broad privileges that it had been given in Spain (Vicens Vives. 1959, p. 393). Certainly sheep were in Santiago province, and in greater numbers than might be suggested by the tribute list. In 1546, Alonso Garcia wrote to the King claiming that the president of the Audiencia, Alonso de Maldonado, had joined with one Juan de Leon, a prosperous man who had been a sheep owner for ten or twelve years. Maldonado sent 2,000 to 3,000 sheep to join those of Leon in the municipalities of Totonicapan and Quezaltenango in the province of Santiago. To exploit their flocks they formed a company; and, according to Alonso Garcia, Maldonado and Leon charged the expense of herding to the royal treasury (Garcia, pp. 375-76). Garcia's description of Juan de Leon as a man of wealth does not fit with the judgement that one might make on the basis of his encomienda which listed only one small town with perhaps 15 tributaries, that paid him twenty-five xiquipiles of cacao and nothing more: no herders were listed although his prosperity came, apparently, from sheep.

Santiago

Eighty seven herders were stipulated to be supplied to twenty four encomenderos; but unlike house servants which were mostly exchanged for cash, almost all of the herders were retained. Only one encomendero (Perez Peñate), who was allotted three, exchanged them all. Two other encomenderos (Cristobal Lobo, and Santos de Figueroa) exchanged three that were allotted them, but in each case kept others.

Of the towns that supplied herders, fourteen were in the upland interior of the country, ranging from about 4,000 feet elevation, to about 8,000 feet; nine were at lower elevations in the dry southeast. Only three were on the Pacific slope: one, the estancia of Amatitán (#20) probably referred to an upslope extension of the encomienda . The same is probably true of two others: #54, Ciquinala (present Siquinalá), and #107, Ystalavaca and Çamavaque (present San Pablo Jocopilas and Samayac).

Francisco de la Cueva, who, with the largest encomienda in Santiago province, held an enormous territory in the southwest of the country. One might expect that that nobleman from the west of Spain might have introduced sheep, or perhaps cattle onto his property, but although he received the services of fourteen herders, they were specified to be pig guards.

More than half of the herders were specified to be for ganado; and almost as many were to guard pigs, presumably the lively, slender-legged, pigs that can now be seen in southwest Spain and in the Alentejo of southern Portugal. One encomendero specified a goatherd, but that one was exchanged for cash. In a few cases it was stated that the herders were to be boys.

San Salvador

In this matter, as in so many other aspects of economic life, the Salvadoran encomenderos neglected no opportunity. More the eighty percent of them (thirty six) were supplied with 132 herders; but it is possible that more—perhaps all—used such services: for four towns the specification was made that house servants could be used as herders. As all towns supplied servants, all towns may have contributed herding services.

The service was for ganado; for only three towns were pigs mentioned. Six towns listed boys as herders.

A visitor in 1576 wrote "in all this coast, there is much grazing land..........in some of which are cattle ranches.............(but) much more could be had here" ( cited by Browning, p. 46).

San Miguel

Fourteen towns out of seventy two furnished thirty-one herders to thirteen encomenderos (out of thirty-three). About half were specified as ganado guards, and half as pig guards.

The situation may have changed before 1586 when Ponce went through the region. He reported that "after passing the Lempa River...........there was abundant cacao, cotton, and along the Pacific coast region many estancias of cattle (ganado mayor). (Ponce, Vol. 1, pp. 329-30).

Comayagua

Fourteen towns out of thirty entries furnished twenty-one ganado herders to eleven encomenderos (out of twenty-three); no pigs were mentioned.

Leon

One encomendero required two boys to herd ganado and work in the house. It is the only suggestion of herding.

Granada

One encomendero required four herders for ganado.

In the above two provinces of present Nicaragua, the large amount of grazing land, later so important, was then—at least on the record—little used. Yucatan (Merida, Campeche, and Tabasco)

Herders are not mentioned.

HONEY, WAX, AND BEES

From the accounts of bees and beekeeping it is clear that there were genera and species of the Meliponidae family that thrived in the lowlands and others in the  highlands. Although trade may confuse origins, the number of towns in both upland and lowland that paid tribute of honey suggests a wide distribution of the product.

Landa, shortly after the conquest of Yucatan, wrote that there were two types of bees—both small and stingless—producing small "blisters" like nuts of wax, all close together and filled with honey. Abundant, they appeared mostly in the concavities of trees (p. 235). The area of Chetumal, on the east coast of the peninsula of Yucatan, in pre-conquest times, had thousands of hives of the native stingless bees, and Cozumel was a noted center of apiculture (Hammond, 1982, p. 230).

Las Casas, referring to Nicaragua, wrote that the Spaniards sent the Indians to the mountains to procure wax and honey (Breve Relacion, p. 66).

Vazquez de Espinosa (1942, par. 706) in the early seventeenth century, wrote that in the area of Tegucigalpa, Honduras,"in the woods they collect much wax and honey from the bee-trees".

Olaverreta, alcalde mayor of Huehuetenango (1902 meters—6239 feet elevation) in 1740, referred to the fact that several upland Guatemala Indian towns kept beehives (1935, pp. 16-24).

Nordenskiöld cites evidence regarding Indians of San Salvador that kept two species of bees, one as large as a house fly and the other the size of a mosquito. Both were domesticated and housed in hives consisting of small gourd shells, hung up on the walls of the huts (1930, p. 202).

Wagner describes the beekeeping of the Nicoya lowland s (Wagner, 1958, p. 232; presently Nicoya is part of Coasta Rica, but in the colonial period, it was an appendage of Nicaragua). According to Wagner "one of the most characteristic features of the rural household.............is the bee log which hangs under the eaves of the dwelling. The native stingless bees that are kept around houses belong to several genera of the Meliponinae" (sic). Eight kinds are distinguished in Nicoya". each produces a distinct honey.

He describes the acquisition of the swarms: "Wild honey is gathered in the woods in April and May. At the same time, swarms are captured simply by cutting the logs and branches in which the bees are found. The log is left lying on the ground in the woods for three days to accustom the hive to a horizontal position, then is carried to the house in the cool of the evening to avoid exposure to great heat or excessive light. It is hung with lianas or leather thongs under the roof where it will be shaded.......Almost every house in the country hamlets and many of the dwellings in the towns have such bee logs" (Wagner, 1958, p. 232).

In the matter of honey, the tribute list of Santiago is at least consistent in being disordered. Payments were specified by cantaros in some cases, in others, by arrobas , in still others, by jarros or jarrillos, or botijas . However the weights were given in a sufficient number of cases so that the totals can be calculated. For three towns it was stated that a cantaro of honey was to contain one half arroba , five towns specified that a cantaro was to contain two açumbres . Five other towns specified jarros of two açumbres each. From such specifications one can assume that cantaro and jarro indicated the same weight, i.e. twelve and one half pounds, as didjarrillos, and botijas . Frequently the statement is made "of the kind usually given".

In both the provinces of San Salvador and San Miguel, the requirements were stated in terms similar to those of Santiago, but more clearly. Honey was specified in cantaros or arrobas, and beeswax in arrobas.

In Comayagua, the specifications were for arrobas, cantaros, or botijas, all equal in weight, which meant that the latter two, specified to be of one arroba each, were twice the weight of cantaros or botijas in the other provinces mentioned.

Payments in the provinces of Granada and Leon in Nicaragua were specified in cantaros for honey and arrobas for wax; but the weight of the cantaro was never given. Honey and wax were paid by about half of the towns in Granada; only ten percent of the towns in Leon paid either product.

Virtually all towns in the provinces of Mérida, Campeche, San Salvador, San Miguel, and Comayagua paid honey; one half or less of the towns of Granada and Santiago paid it. Only about ten percent of the towns of Leon did and only one town of Tabasco.

A summation of payments of honey to encomenderos and the Crown in the nine provinces (ranked by amounts paid) follows:

BEESWAX

The product was apparently not useful to the natives in pre-Columbian time. Benzoni, in the mid-sixteenth century wrote "that although the Indians have much wax they don't use it for anything. They make light with pine branches" (1965, p. 122). Nordenskiold reported that in the various parts of the Americas that he had seen, they took no interest in it except as an article to trade to whites (1930, pp. 198-99). But after the advent of the Church in the New World it became important.

Mérida

The Yucatan peninsula was a region of sophisticated apiculture. Taking control of the production and trade in honey and wax, the Spanish encomenderos (all but two) were paid at the average rate of 1.2 lbs. per tributary (all but three towns made payment). A few encomenderos received somewhat less than one pound per tributary; but they were more than counterbalanced by such encomenderos as the Adelantado Montejo who received an average payment of 1.41 lbs. from his 4,490 tributaries.

Campeche

All encomenderos there received payment of wax. The rate paid was somewhat less than that of Mérida: one pound per tributary was intended and most payments were either that or nearly so. Glaring exceptions were those of Juan de Rutia (Urrutia? See Roys, pp. 109-10). who received 1,400 lbs. from 960 tributaries (a rate of 1.46 lbs. per tributary); and those of Marcos de Ayala, who received 1100 lbs. from 730 tributaries: that rate of payment was 1.51 lbs. per tributary.

Santiago

This product was obviously of little interest to the encomenderos of the province: ten towns, some in the northwest highlands, and some in the dry, southeast paid 787.5 lbs. to ten encomenderos and the Crown.

San Salvador

True to form, no opportunities were overlooked in this province: only one encomendero failed to receive wax (80% of the towns paid). The average payment was .74 lbs. per tributary, but eighteen towns paid at a rate of more than one pound per tributary.

San Miguel

Forty percent of the towns of this province paid wax to one third of the encomenderos. The average payment was about one third pound per tributary. No town paid as much as one pound per tributary; and some, much less.

Leon

Only six encomenderos were paid a total of 250 lbs. However, the town of Nicoya—presently in Costa Rica—was listed under the city of Leon. Its 600 tributaries paid 900 lbs. to the Crown (Stanislawski, '83 - table 1; and Andagoya - p.406 - referred to the very many stingless bees near the Gulf of Nicoya).

Granada

The encomenderos of Nicaragua's other province, Granada, received high payments of wax. Two thirds of the encomenderos receiving wax, were paid at a rate of more than one pound per tributary. The average payment from the towns paying wax was 1.22 lbs. per tributary. Presumably the Granadans met their own needs and those of the province of Leon.

Comayagua

One town (with no n