When we come to consider the Mixtec and Zapotec, we find inhumation the rule, indeed the Zapotec abhorred cremation, considering it destructive of the soul. Nor was the method always simple inhumation, but secondary burial. The body was placed in the ground with feet to the east, and the bones were collected subsequently and placed in a vase which was deposited in a stone vault in a mound, the doorway being closed with a sculptured slab (Fig. 15). Both peoples also employed caves to some extent as receptacles of the dead. Simple inhumation in caves seems to have been more common among the Mixtec than the Zapotec, and Burgoa writes of cave burials at Chalcatongo, supposed to be the gate of paradise, where the dead were laid out dressed in rich garments, numbers of small idols in gold, stone and wood being placed in niches in the cave-walls. The same author tells of the Zapotec kings being deposited at Mitla, in a chamber in one of the temples, clad in gorgeous ornaments and holding shield and spear. It is possible that primary burial was reserved for those of high rank. [Illustration: FIG. 16.--Carved stone slab from Placeres del Oro, Guerrero.] An extremely interesting burial has been found at a place called Placeres del Oro, in the valley of the Rio del Oro, a southern tributary of the Rio de las Balsas. The chief interest of the remains here found lies in the very peculiar art of the sculptured slabs between which the bones were deposited (Fig. 16). The walls of the grave, which was situated at the foot of a mound, were of clay hardened by fire, and of the bones themselves it is said “there is good reason to suspect that at least partial cremation of the body took place at the time this burial was made.” This is a most important point, and ought to be definitely settled by careful inspection of the bones. The site is on the debatable land between Nahua, Tarascan and Zapotec, and there are reasons, which will be given later, why I think it most probable, failing definite evidence to the contrary, that the body had not been burnt. The fine stone coffer from the Huaxtec country shown on Pl. X, 2; p. 108, is almost certainly a coffin; and in the Totonac country both cist-burial in mounds and, occasionally, well-burial are found. Traces of cremation appear to be exceptional, and confined to hill-sites inland, where they are perhaps indicative of Nahua influence. [Illustration: _PLATE X_ HUAXTEC 1. STONE FIGURE; PANUCO RIVER 2. „ CHEST; „ „] [Illustration: MAYA 3. POTTERY CENSER; BRITISH HONDURAS (Scale: 1, ⅒th; 2, ⅛th; 3, ⅕th)]