At some point, some young lads would gather long sticks from the poplar trees and mould these mud deposits on the end of the sticks ( which in some cases were over three metres long ) and deftly whip them towards their enemies.
12.
These tendons are required since the eastern end support is both much lighter than the western counterweight and the soil conditions are radically different at each end, the western end being founded in bedrock shale while the eastern end, with vertical supports driven to bedrock, is mostly contained with softer mud deposits, which respond much more actively to seismic shocks than does the shale.
13.
In addition to the crops planted on the massive now-solidified mud deposit, the highly fertile volcanic soil as is the soil in most parts of Guatemala has since sprouted grass, weeds and verdure, leaving little visual evidence that a mudslide took place, other than the occasional deep gulleys that were gouged out by rain water within weeks of the deluge when the mud was still soft, leaving the appearance now of thousands of years of erosion.
