The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras (Illustrations)

The southern and eastern parts of Yucatan, from Tuluum in the north to the Rio Hondo in the south, are occupied to-day by two tribes of Maya Indians, the Santa Cruz and Icaichè or Chichanha. The number of Santa Cruz was estimated by Sapper in 1895 at about 8,000 to 10,000, but at the present day has probably been reduced to about 5,000. The Icaichè, the number of whom he estimated at 500, and is given by the Guia de Yucatan in 1900 as 803, now comprise not more than 200. This decrease is due to the policy of extermination carried out among the Santa Cruz for years by the Mexican Government, and the consequent emigration of many of the Indians to British Honduras, Guatemala, and northern Yucatan. The northern and western parts of British Honduras contain between 5,000 and 6,000 Indians; those in the north are partly indigenous and partly immigrants drawn from Yucatecan tribes who have left their homes after various political disturbances, especially after the occupancy of their towns of Bacalar and Santa Cruz by the Mexican Government. The Indians of the western part of the colony are also partly indigenous, but for the greater part Itzas, who have come in from Peten in Guatemala.