[Aztlan] Maya Mountains

[D. M. Urquidi]

Dan 
   
  I answered the other before I arrived at your note. It was quite a hike, but only for foot travel. And if those horses were short, squat, war horses and not thoroghbreed steeds, it would actually make little difference.  The width of a horse's chest (underneath his head area) would be much wider than my sandlals. If the horse was Spanish, or even German, the poor beast would have been petrified along any similar path.
   
  Maybe that is why so many Maya porters were needed for travelers who could not "rise to the occassion."   We had a discussion about this last month I believe, and the porters were used through the 18th century. . .  and believe me, I could see why. That path was scarey for a 50 yr old. I wonder if I could walk it now at 74.
   
  Dea

Dan Deneen <drd30 at columbia.edu> wrote:
      Hi Lawrence--
  That's right---I didn't mean to suggest that the route went easterly into Belize, and there's no reason to doubt the various accounts which describe a southeasterly descent from Lago Peten to Honduras-- (I'm assuming that the range is still called "Maya Mts" once it crosses into Guatemala-- maybe not?)  but my question still stands: Cortes and buddies at this point were seasoned veterans of getting around some very rough terrain.  It is the magnitude of the described difficulty which catches my attention:  Horses were, of course, highly prized--- this kind of loss, and the length of time they were hung up in the crossing, is hard to jive with what I can figure out about the fairly tame-looking terrain.  
   
  Dea, that sounds like quite a hike!  The area I'm looking at, however, is up on the Gulf of Honduras side, part of a very different range.  Tacana, just based on elevations and topography on general maps, would look to be much more rugged and difficult than the SE piece of the Maya Mts I'm wondering about.  Also, my impression is that the typical Spanish horse of the period was a pretty sturdy beast-- straight-backed, relatively short-legged, and not speedy thoroughbreds. 
   
    -----Original Message-----
From: Lawrenc846 at aol.com [mailto:Lawrenc846 at aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 5:41 PM
To: deamayaspin at yahoo.com; drd30 at columbia.edu
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Maya Mountains


You are assuming that any path would be a direct route from the Peten to Belize but the mountains, as witness 17th century descriptions, are more difficult if one goes southeast from Peten and crosses into southern Belize.  At least that is what feeling one gets when reading those early descriptions (and I don't mean Cortes but various people in the 17th century).  Anyway, Cortes was  not intending to get to Belize but to Honduras which means a much more southeastern route.

         Lawrence H. Feldman (Lawrenc846 at aol.com)

PS  I don't have on my fingertips but can easily get the references if anyone is interested; until quite recently they were largely unpublished AGCA and AGI sources. I published them in 2000... 


D. M. Urquidi
dmu Ink
P.O. Box 49485
Austin, Texas 78765-49485
                  http://www.mayalords.org                   
               http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientamericas/               
 



 		
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