This part of the Maya area must either have been occupied during a very considerable period or at one time must have supported a dense population, as wherever it is possible to cultivate the soil, especially to raise maize, mounds are to be found in great abundance; moreover, the surface everywhere bears such indestructible rubbish as potsherds, flint chips, and fragments of obsidian knives. It would probably be impossible to find anywhere in this area an acre of moderately good land on which dozens of such objects could not be discovered. This indicates that what is now dense tropical bush, with a few small Indian villages scattered through it at considerable intervals, was at one time a highly cultivated and thickly populated country. Referring to Yucatan before the conquest, Landa uses the words, "toda la tierra parescia un pueblo;"[6] while 200 years after the conquest Villagutierre[7] mentions by name 10 tribes with whom the Itzas were at war, who lived to the east of the lagoon, nine days' journey away--in a region corresponding to the territory of coastal tribes of British Honduras and Quintana Roo. ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF THE REGION From the contents of the mounds we are able to deduce many valuable facts relating to the physical appearance, social life, religion, and art of the former inhabitants of this area. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE A very accurate idea of the physical appearance of these people may be derived from the figurines, paintings, stucco moldings, and skeletons found in the mounds. It would appear that they very closely resembled the modern Maya Indians.[8] They were broad of face, with small features and rather high cheek bones; without beard or mustache, but with straight, black, coarse hair, which was allowed by both men and women to grow long. The skull was naturally brachicephalic, and as this characteristic was (and is now by the Maya) admired, it seems to have been almost invariably accentuated artificially by pressure applied over the occipital and frontal regions during early infancy.[9] The average cephalic index of eight skulls removed from the mounds was found to be 110. The following list gives the average lengths of a number of bones of adults taken from the mounds, though in no case were all the bones of one individual found in a sufficiently perfect condition to permit of their accurate measurement: Humerus, 29.21 cm. Ulna, 25.38 cm. First phalanx (little finger), 3.04 cm. Femur, 36.83 cm. Tibia, 33.27 cm. Metatarsal bone of great toe, 5.33 cm. The bones are small, the ridges for muscular attachment not well marked, and the phalanges, metacarpal, and metatarsal bones small and delicate, indicating a body with rounded contours, poor muscular development, and small extremities. The front teeth in some cases were filed, in others filled with round plugs of obsidian, iron pyrites, or jadeite, for ornamental purposes. DRESS