Chapter I: The Series of the Katuns

_From the Book of Chilan Balam of Mani._

The first chronicle which I present is the only one which has been heretofore published. On account of its comparative fullness it deserves especial attention. It is taken from the Book of Chilan Balam of the town of Mani.

This town, according to a tradition preserved by Herrera, was founded after the destruction of Mayapan, and, therefore, not more than seventy years before the arrival of the Spaniards. Mayapan was destroyed in consequence of a violent feud between the two powerful families who jointly ruled there, the Cocoms and the Xius or Tutul Xius. The latter, having slain all members of the Cocom family to be found in the city, deserted its site and removed south about fifteen miles, and there established as their capital a city to which they gave the name Mani, "which means 'it is past,' as if to say 'let us start anew.'"[89-1]

At the time of the Conquest the reigning chief of the Tutulxius was friendly to the Spaniards, and voluntarily submitted to their rule, as we are informed with much minuteness of detail by the historian Cogolludo.[90-1] We may reasonably suppose, therefore, that this chronicle was brought from Mayapan in the "Books of Science," which Herrera refers to as esteemed their greatest treasure by the chiefs who broke up their ancient confederation when Mayapan was deserted. Hence the records ran a better chance of being preserved in this province than in those which were desolated by war. As I have already said (page 65) a large number were destroyed precisely at Mani by Bishop Landa, in 1562.

I find among the memoranda of Dr. Berendt reference to four "Books of Chilan Balam," of Mani. These dated from 1689, 1697, 1755 and 1761, respectively, but I have not learned from which of these Pio Perez extracted the chronicles he gave Mr. John L. Stephens. Dr. Berendt adds that it was from one which was in possession of a native schoolmaster of Mani, who, having the surname Balam, claimed to be descended from the original Chilan Balam![91-1]

The first publication of the document was in the Appendix to the second volume of Mr. Stephens' _Incidents of Travel in Yucatan_ (New York, 1843). It included the original Maya text, with a not very accurate translation into English of Pio Perez's rendering of the Maya. From Mr. Stephen's volume, the document has been copied into various publications in Mexico, Yucatan and Europe.

The other attempt at an independent translation was that of the Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg), published at Paris in 1864, in the same volume with Landa's _Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_. The text he took from Stephens' book, errors and omissions included, and his translation is entirely based on the English one, as he evidently did not have access to the original Spanish of Pio Perez.

The most important recent study of the subject has been made by Dr. Valentini, who published the notes of Pio Perez on his translation, and gave a general re-examination of ancient Maya history, with a great deal of sagacity and a large acquaintance with the related Spanish literature.[92-1] He is, however, in error in stating that he was the first to publish the notes of Perez, as they had previously been printed in a work by Canon Carrillo.[92-2]

Much use of this chronicle has been made by the recent historians of Yucatan, Don Eligio Ancona and the Canon Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona; but I am surprised to find that they have depended entirely on the previous labors of Pio Perez, Stephens and Brasseur, and have made no attempt to verify or extend them.

Dr. Berendt, although earnestly devoted to collecting and copying these records did not, as Dr. Valentini observes, ever attempt a translation of any of them.

No hint is given as to the author of the document, nor do we know from what sources he derived his information. It has been plausibly suggested that it was an epitome of the history of their nations, which was learned by heart and handed down from master to disciple, and which served as a verbal key to the interpretation of the painted and sculptured records, and to the "katun stones" which were erected at the expiration of each cycle and inscribed with the principal events which had transpired in it.

The Abbe Brasseur placed at the head of his edition of this chronicle the title, in Maya:--

"LELO LAI U TZOLAN KATUNIL TI MAYAB,"

which he translates--

"SERIES DES EPOQUES DE L'HISTOIRE MAYA."

This is an invention of the learned antiquary. There is no such nor any other title to the original. It is simply called in the first line _u tzolan katun_, the arrangement or order of the katuns. The word _tzolan_ is a verbal noun, the past participle of the passive voice of _tzol_, which means to put in order, to arrange, and is in the genitive of the thing possessed, as indicated by the pronoun _u_. Literally, the phrase reads, "their arrangement (the) katuns."

TEXT.

1. Lai u tzolan katun lukci ti cab ti yotoch Nonoual cante anilo Tutulxiu ti chikin Zuiua u luumil u talelob Tulapan [95-1]chiconahthan.

2. Cante bin ti katun lic u ximbalob ca uliob uaye yetel Holon Chantepeuh yetel u cuchulob. Ca hokiob ti petene uaxac ahau bin yan cuchi uac ahau, can ahau, cabil ahau, cankal haab catac hunppel haab, tumen hun piztun oxlahun ahau cuchie, ca uliob uay ti petene, cankal haab catac hunppel haab, tu pakteil, yetel cu ximbalob lukci tu luumilob ca talob uay ti petene Chacnouitan lae; u anoil lae 81 ---- ---- ---- 81.

3. Uaxac ahau, uac ahau; cabil ahau kuchci chacnouitan Ahmekat Tutulxiu; hunppel haab minan ti hokal haab cuchi yanob chacnouitan lae; lai u habil lae ---- ---- ---- 99 anos.

4. Laitun uchci u chicpahal tzucubte Ziyan caan lae Bakhalal; can ahau, cabil ahau, oxlahun ahau, oxkal haab cu tepalob Ziyan caan ca emob uay lae; lai u habil cu tepalob Bakhalal [96-1]chuulte laitun chicpahci Chic[=h]en Itza lae ---- ---- 60 anos.

5. Buluc ahau, bolon ahau, uuc ahau, ho ahau, ox ahau, hun ahau, uackal haab, cu tepalob Chichen Itzaa, ca paxi Chic[=h]en Itza, ca binob cahtal Chanputun, ti yanhi u yotochob ah Itzaob kuyan uincob lae; lay u habil lae ---- ---- 120.

6. Uac ahau chucuc u luumil Chanputun. Can ahau, cabil ahau, oxlahun ahau, buluc ahau, bolon ahau, uuc ahau, ho ahau, ox ahau, hun ahau, lahca ahau, lahun ahau, uaxac ahau paxci Chanputun; oxlahunkal haab cu tepalob Chanputun tumenel Ytza uinicob ca talob u tzac le u yotochob tu caten; laixtun u katunil binciob ah Itzaob yalan che, yalan [96-2]aban, yalan ak ti numyaob lae; lai u habil cu [96-3]xinbal lae ---- ---- ---- 260.

7. Uac ahau, can ahau, cakal haab, ca talob u he[c]ob yotoch tu caten ca tu zatahob chakanputun; lay u habil lae ---- ---- ---- 40.

8. Lai u katunil cabil ahau u he[c]cicab Ahcuitok Tutulxiu Uxmal; cabil ahau, oxlahun ahau, buluc ahau, bolon ahau, uuc ahau, ho ahau, ox ahau, hun ahau, lahca ahau, lahun ahau; lahun kal haab cu tepalob yetel u halach uinicil chic[=h]en Itza yetel Mayalpan; lai u habil lae ---- ---- 200.

9. Lai u katunil buluc ahau bolon ahau uuc ahau, uaxac ahau, paxci u halach uinicil Chic[=h]en Itzaa tumenel u kebanthan Hunac eel; ca uch ti Chacxibchac Chichen Itzaa tu kebanthan Hunac eel u halach uinicil Mayalpan ich paae. Cankal haab catac lahunpiz haab, tu lahun tun, uaxac ahau cuchie lai u habil paxci tumenel Ahzinteyut chan yetel Tzuntecum, yetel Taxcal, yetel Pantemit, Xuchueuet yetel Ytzcuat, yetel Kakaltecat; lai u kaba uiniclob lae uuctulob ah Mayelpanob lae ---- ---- ---- ---- 90.

10. Laili u katunil uaxac ahau lai ca binob u paa ah Ulmil ahau tumenel u uahal uahoob yetel ah Itzmal ulil ahau lae oxlahun uu[c] u katunilob ca paxob tumen Hunac eel; tumenel u [c]abal u natob; uac ahau ca [c]oci hunkal haab catac canlahun pizi; lai u habil cu [97-1]xinbal ---- 34.

11. Uac ahau, can ahau, cabil ahau, oxlahun ahau, buluc ahau chucuc u luumil ich paa Mayapan, tumenel u pach tulum, tumenel multepal ich cah Mayalpan, tumenel Ytza uinicob yetel Ulmil ahau lae, cankal haab catac oxppel haab; yocol buluc ahau cuchi paxci Mayalpan tumenel ahuitzil [c]ul tan cah Mayapan ---- ---- 83.

12. Uaxac ahau lai paxci Mayapan; lay u katunil uac ahau, can ahau, cabil ahau, lai haab, cu ximbal ca yax mani espanoles u yax ulci caa luumi Yucatan tzucubte lae oxkal haab paxac ichpaa cuchie ---- ---- ---- ---- 60.

13. Oxlahun ahau, buluc ahau uchci mayacimil ich paa yetel nohkakil; oxlahun ahau cimci Ahpula; uacppel haab u binel ma [c]ococ u xocol oxlahun ahau cuchie; ti yanil u xocol haab ti lakin cuchie, canil kan cumlahi pop, tu holhun zip catac oxppeli, bolon imix u kinil lai cimci Ahpula; laytun ano cu ximbal cuchi lae ca oheltab lai u xoc _numeroil anos_ lae 1536 anos cuchie, oxkal haab paxac ichpa cuchi lae.

14. Laili ma [c]ococ u xocol buluc ahau lae lai ulci _espanoles_ kul uincob ti lakin, u talob ca uliob uay tac luumil lae; bolon ahau hoppci _cristianoil_; uchci caputzihil; laili ichil u katunil lae ulci yax _obispo_ Toroba u kaba; heix ano cu ximbal uchie 1544.

15. Yan cuchi uuc ahau cimci yax obispo de landa; ychil u katunil ho ahau ca yan cahi padre manii lai ano lae ---- ---- ---- 1550.

16. Lai ano cu ximbal ca cahi padre yok haa 1552.

17. Lai ano cu ximbal ca uli Oidor la ca paki Espital ---- ---- ---- ---- 1559.

18. Lai ano cu ximbal ca kuchi Doctor Quijada yax gob^or uaye ---- ---- ---- 1560.

19. Lai ano cu ximbal ca uchci c[=h]uitab lae 1562.

20. Lai ano cu ximbal ca uli Mariscal gob^or ca betab [99-1]thulub ---- ---- ---- 1563.

21. Lai ano cu ximbal ca uchci nohkakil lae 1609.

22. Lai ano cu ximbal ca hichiucal kaxob 1610.

23. Lai ano cu ximbal ca [c]ibtah cah tumenel Juez Diego Pareja 1611.

TRANSLATION.

1. This is the arrangement of the katuns since the departure was made from the land, from the house Nonoual, where were the four Tutulxiu, from Zuiva at the west; they came from the land Tulapan, having formed a league.

2. Four katuns had passed in which they journeyed when they arrived here with Holon Chantepeuh and his followers. When they set out for this country it was the eighth ahau. The sixth ahau, the fourth ahau, the second ahau (passed), four score years and one year, for it was the first year of the thirteenth ahau when they arrived here in this country; four score years and one year in all had passed since they departed from the land and came here, to the province Chacnouitan. These were years 81.

3. The eighth ahau, the sixth ahau; in the second ahau Ahmekat Tutulxiu arrived at Chacnouitan; they were in Chacnouitan five score years lacking one year; these were years 99.

4. Then took place the discovery of the province Ziyan caan or Bakhalal; the fourth ahau, the second ahau, the thirteenth ahau, three score years they ruled Ziyan caan when they descended here: in these years that they ruled Bakhalal it occurred then that Chichen Itza was discovered. 60 years.

5. The eleventh ahau, the ninth ahau, the seventh ahau, the fifth ahau, the third ahau, the first ahau, six score years, they ruled at Chichen Itza; then they abandoned Chichen Itza and went to live at Chanputun; there those of Itza, holy men, had their houses; these were years 120.

6. In the sixth ahau the land of Chanputun was seized. The fourth ahau, the second ahau, the thirteenth ahau, the eleventh ahau, the ninth ahau, the seventh ahau, the fifth ahau, the third ahau, the first ahau, the twelfth ahau, the tenth ahau; the eighth ahau Chanputun was abandoned; thirteen score years Chanputun was ruled by the Itza men when they came in search of their houses a second time; in this katun those of Itza were under the trees, under the boughs, under the branches, to their sorrow; the years that passed were 260.

7. The sixth ahau, the fourth ahau, two score years, (had passed) when they came and established their houses a second time, and they lost Chakanputun; these were years 40.

8. In the katun the second ahau Ahcuitok Tutulxiu founded (the city of) Uxmal; the second ahau, the thirteenth ahau, the eleventh ahau, the ninth ahau, the seventh ahau, the fifth ahau, the third ahau, the first ahau, the twelfth ahau, the tenth ahau; ten score years they ruled with the governor of Chichen Ytza and Mayapan; these were years 200.

9. Then were the katuns eleventh ahau, ninth ahau, sixth ahau; in the eighth ahau the governor of Chichen Itza was driven out on account of his plotting against Hunac Eel; and this happened to Chac Xib Chac of Chichen Itza on account of his plotting against Hunac Eel the governor of Mayapan, the fortress. Four score years and ten years, and it was the tenth year of the eighth ahau that it was depopulated by Ah Zinteyut Chan, with Tzuntecum, and Taxcal, and Pantemit, Xuchueuet and Ytzcuat and Kakaltecat: these were the names of the seven men of Mayapan 90.

10. In this eighth ahau they went to the fortress of the ruler of Ulmil on account of his banquet to Ulil ruler of Itzmal; they were thirteen divisions of warriors when they were dispersed by Hunac Eel, in order that they might know what was to be given; in the sixth ahau it ended, one score years and fourteen; the years that passed were 34.

11. The sixth ahau, the fourth ahau, the second ahau, the thirteenth ahau, the eleventh ahau; then was invaded the land of the fortress of Mayapan by the men of Itza and their ruler Ulmil on account of the seizure of the castle by the joint government in the city of Mayapan; four score years and three years; the eleventh ahau had entered when Mayapan was depopulated by foreigners from the mountains in the midst of the city of Mayapan 83.

12. In the eighth ahau Mayapan was depopulated; then were the sixth ahau, the fourth ahau, the second ahau; during this year the Spaniards first passed and first came to this land the province of Yucatan, sixty years after the fortress was depopulated. ---- ---- ---- ---- 60.

13. The thirteenth ahau; the eleventh ahau took place the pestilence in the fortresses and the smallpox; in the thirteenth ahau Ahpula died; for six years the count of the thirteenth ahau will not be ended; the count of the year was toward the East, the month Pop began with (the day) fourth Kan; the eighteenth day of the month Zip (that is), 9 Imix, was the day on which Ahpula died; and that the count may be known in numbers and years it was the year 1536, sixty years after the fortress was destroyed.

14. The count of the eleventh ahau was not ended when the Spaniards, mighty men, arrived from the east; they came, they arrived here in this land; the ninth ahau Christianity began; baptism took place; also in this katun came the first bishop Toroba by name; this was the year 1544.

15. In the seventh ahau died the first bishop de Landa; in the fifth katun the Fathers first settled at Mani, in the year 1550.

16. As this year was passing the fathers settled upon the water ---- ---- ---- 1552

17. As this year was passing the auditor came and the hospital was built ---- ---- 1559

18. As this year was passing the first governor Dr. Quijada, arrived here ---- ---- 1560

19. As this year was passing the hanging took place ---- ---- ---- ---- 1562

20. As this year was passing the Governor Marshall came and built the reservoirs ---- 1563

21. As this year was passing the smallpox occurred ---- ---- ---- ---- 1609

22. As this year was passing those of Tekax were hanged ---- ---- ---- 1610

23. As this year was passing the towns were written down by Judge Diego Pareja ---- 1611

NOTES.

1. The introductory paragraph is not less obscure in construction than it is important in its historical statements, and I shall give it, therefore, a particularly careful analysis.

I have already explained the term _u tzolan katun_; _lukci_ is the aorist of _lukul_, which forms regularly _luki_, but the mutation to _ci_ is used when the meaning _since_ or _after that_ is to be conveyed; as Beltran says, "cuando el verbo trae estos romances, _despues que o desde que_, como este romance; despues que murio mi padre, estoy triste: _cimci in yume, okomuol_" (_Arte del Idioma Maya_, p. 61). _cab_ means country or place, in the sense of residence, whereas _luum_, used in the same paragraph, is land or earth, in the general sense. The _Dicc. de Motul_ says: "_cab_, pueblo o region; _in cab_, mi pueblo, donde yo soy natural." _yotoch_ is a compound of the possessive pronoun _u_, his or their, and _otoch_, the word for house when it is indicated whose house it is; otherwise _na_ is used; _otoch_ is probably allied to _och_ a verbal root signifying to give food to, the house being looked upon as specifically the place where meals are prepared.

The word _cante_ is translated by Perez and Brasseur as _four_, and applied to the Tutulxiu, while the intervening word _anilo_ is not translated by either: _cante_ is no doubt the numeral _four_ with the numeral particle _te_ suffixed. But here a serious difficulty arises. According to all the grammars and dictionaries the particle _te_ is never used for counting persons, but only "years, months, days (periods of time), leagues, cacao, eggs and gourds." Moreover, what is _anilo_? We have, indeed, the form _tenilo_, I am that one, from the particle _i_ (Buenaventura, _Arte de la Lengua Maya_, fol. 27, verso); and we might have _yanilo_, they are those. But this necessitates a change in the text, and if that has to be done I should prefer to suppose that _anilo_ was a mistake of the copyist, and that we should read _katun_ or _katunile_. This would reconcile the numeral particle and would do away with the _four_ Tutulxius, of whom we hear nothing afterwards.

_chikin_, the West, literally, that which bites or eats the sun, from _chi_, the mouth, and, as a verb, to bite. An eclipse is called in Maya _chibal kin_, the sun bitten; _ti chikin_, toward the West.

_talelob_, plural form of _tal_ or _talel_, to come to, to go from.

_chiconahthan_ is not translated by either Pio Perez or Brasseur, nor in that precise form has it any meaning. I take it, however, to be a faulty orthography for _chichcunahthan_ which means to support that which another says, hence, to agree with, to act in concert with; "_chichcunah u thanil_, having renewed the agreement" (_Diccionario de Ticul_). It refers to an agreement entered into by the different leaders who were about to undertake the migration into unknown lands. Possibly, however, this is not a Maya word, but another echo of Aztec legend. _Chiconauhtlan_, "the place of the Nine," was a village and mountain north of the lake of Tezcuco and close to the sacred spot Teotiuacan, where, in Aztec myth, the gods assembled to create the sun and moon (Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva Espana_, Lib VII, cap. II). _Tulapan Chiconauhtlan_ would thus become a compound local name.

It will be seen from the above that the translation which I have given of this paragraph does not satisfy me as certainly correct. I shall now give the original with an interlinear translation, and also those of Pio Perez and Brasseur, adding a free rendering which I am inclined to prefer, although it modifies the text somewhat.

_Interlinear Translation._

Lai u tzolan katun lukci
This (is) their order the katuns since they departed

ti cab, ti yotoch Nonoual cante
from the land from their house Nonoual the four

anilo, Tutulxiu ti chikin Zuiua,
those the (?) Tutulxiu to the West (of) Zuiua

u luumil u talelob Tulapan chiconah than.
their land (which) they came (from) was Tulapan acting in concert.

_Translation of Pio Perez._

Esta es la serie de Katunes corridos desde que se quitaron de la tierra y casa de Nonoual en que estaban los cuatro Tutulxiu al poniente de Zuina; el pais de donde vinieron fue Tulapan.

_Translation of Brasseur._

C' est ici la serie des epoques ecoulees depuis que s' enfuirent les quatre Tutul Xiu de la maison de Nonoual etant a l'ouest de Zuina, et vinrent de la terre de Tulapan.

_Free translation suggested._

This is the order of the Katuns since the four Katuns during which the Tutulxiu left their home and country Nonoual to the west of Zuiua, and went from the land and city of Tula, having agreed together to this effect.

I have said nothing of the proper names in this paragraph. They are remarkable for the fact that three out of the four are unquestionably Nahuatl or Aztec, and hence they have given occasion for considerable theorizing in favor of the "Toltec" origin of the Maya civilization, and also of the Nahuatl descent of the princely family of the Tutulxiu.

Their name is the only one in the paragraph with a distinctively Maya physiognomy. It is a compound of _xiu_, the generic term for herb or plant, and _tutul_, a reduplicated form of _tul_, an abundance, an excess, as in the verb _tutulancil_, to overflow, etc. (_Diccionario de Ticul_, MS.). It would appear therefore to be a local name, and to signify a place where there was an abundance of herbage. The surname is Xiu only, and as such is still in use in Yucatan.

But it may also be claimed that even this is a Nahuatl name; for also in that tongue _xiuitl_ means a plant, as well as a turquoise, a comet, a year, and in composition a greenish or bluish color; while _tototl_ is a bird or fowl. The Maya _xiu_ and the Nahuatl _xiuitl_ (in which _itl_ is a termination lost in composition) are undoubtedly the same word. Which nation borrowed it from the other? It is certainly a loan-word, for these two languages have no common origin, while, as we might expect from neighbors, each does have a number of loan-words from the other.

I answer that the Maya _xiu_ is unquestionably a loan from the Nahuatl, and my reason for the opinion is that while in Maya the root _xiu_ is sterile and has no relations to other words (unless perhaps to _xiitil_, to open like a flower, to brood as a bird, to augment, to grow), in Nahuatl it is a very fertile root, and nearly thirty compounds of it can be found in the dictionaries (See Molina, _Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana_, fol. 159, verso). But the composition of the name follows the Maya and not the Nahuatl analogy.

That in either language the name Tutulxiu can be translated "Bird-tree" (Vogelbaum), as is argued by Dr. Carl Schultz-Sellack (_Archiv fuer Ethnologie_, Band XI, 1879), and on which translation he bases a long argument, is very doubtful. It certainly could not in Maya; and in Nahuatl, _tototl_ in composition would drop both its terminal consonants.

The remaining names, Nonoual, Zuiua, Tula-pan, clearly indicate their Nahuatl origin. Zuiua, which was erroneously printed in Pio Perez's version as Zuina is Zuiva; Nonoual is Nonohual; Tulapan, literally "the standard of Tula," refers to the famous city of the Toltecs, presided over by Quetzalcoatl. All these names are borrowed directly from the myth of this hero-god.

_Zuiven_ was the name of the uppermost heaven, the abode of the Creator Hometeuctli, the father of Quetzalcoatl, and the place of his first birth as a divinity. In later days, when the Quetzalcoatl myth had extended to the Kiches and Cakchiquels, members of the Maya family in Guatemala, "Tulan Zuiva" was identified with the Aztec Chicomoztoc, the famous "Seven Caves," "Seven Ravines," or "Seven Cities," from which so many tribes of Mexico, wholly diverse in language and lineage, claimed that their ancestors emerged in some remote past (compare the _Codex Vaticanus_, Lam. I; _Codex Zumarraga_, chap. I, with the _Popol Vuh_, pp. 214, 227). To this spot the ancestors of the Guatemalan tribes were reported to have gone to receive their gods; from it issued the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli; in it still were supposed to dwell his mother and other mighty divinities; and Quetzalcoatl was again the youngest born of Iztac Mixcohuatl, the mighty lord of the Seven Caves (Motolinia, _Historia de los Indios de Nueva Espana_ p[TN-12] 10, etc.).

_Tula_, properly _Tollan_, a syncopated form of _Tonatlan_, which means "the place of the Sun," was a name applied to a number of towns in Mexico, all named after that magnificent city inhabited by the Tolteca ("dwellers in the place of the Sun"), servants and messengers of the Light-God their ruler, the benign, the virgin-born Quetzalcoatl. The common tradition ran that it was destroyed by the wiles of Tezcatlipoca, the brother, yet the eternal enemy, of Quetzalcoatl, and that at its destruction the Toltecs disappeared, no one knew whither, while Quetzalcoatl, after reigning a score of years in Cholula, journeyed far eastward to the home of the Sun, where he enjoyed everlasting life.

_Nonohual_ also had a place in this myth. It was a mountain over against Tulan. There it was that the eldest sister of Quetzalcoatl resided. When he was made drunken by the insidious beverage handed him as a healing draught by Tezcatlipoca, he sent for this sister, held to her lips the intoxicating cup, and with her passed a night of debauch, the memory of which filled him with such shame that nevermore dared he face his subjects. Such is the story recited at length in the Aztec chronicle called the _Codex Chimalpopoca_.

_Nonoalco_ was also the name of a small village near the city of Mexico which still appears on the maps. Sahagun tells us that some extreme eastern tribes in Mexico called themselves _Nonoalca_ (_Historia de la Nueva Espana_, Lib. X, cap,[TN-13] XXIX, p[TN-14] 12); and the licenciate Diego Garcia de Palacio mentions "quatro lugares de Indios que llaman los Nunualcos" as dwelling, in his time (1576), in the eastern part of the province of San Salvador, of Aztec descent, and who had recently come there. (_Carta al Rey de Espana_, p. 60, New York, 1860). It should be mentioned in reference to these names and all others of similar vocalization, that both in Maya and Nahuatl the Spanish constantly confound the short [)o] and [)u]. As the Bachelor Don Antonio Vasquez Gastelu observes: "usan de la _o_ algunos tan obscuramente, que tira algo a la pronunciacion de la _u_ vocal" (_Arte de lengua Mexicana_, fol. 1, verso, La Puebla de los Angeles, 1726).

Senor Alfredo Chavero, in his Appendix to Duran's _Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana_ (p. 45, Mexico, 1880), claims that _Nonoalca_ was the name given to the Maya-Kiche tribes, or rather adopted by them, when, at an extremely remote epoch, they penetrated to the central table land of Mexico. He thinks that subsequently they became united with the Toltecs, and were dispersed with that people at the destruction of the city of Tula. The grounds for this theory he claims to find in certain unpublished manuscripts, which unfortunately he does not give in extracts, but only in general statements. Like much that this writer presents, these assertions lack support. All the names he quotes as of Nonoalca, that is, Maya origin, are distinctly not of the latter tongue, but are Nahuatl. And the introduction of the mystical city of Tula is of itself enough to invest the story with the garb of unreality.

It is, in fact, nowhere in terrestrial geography that we need look for the site of the Tula of Quetzalcoatl, nor at any time in human history did the Tolteca ply their skillful hands, nor Tezcatlipoca spread his snares to destroy them. All this is but a mythical conception of the daily struggle of light and darkness, and those writers who seek in the Toltecs the ancestors or instructors of any nation whatsoever, make the once common error of mistaking myth for history, fancy for fact. Therefore, any notion that Yucatan was civilized by the Toltecs after their dispersion, or owes anything to them, as so many, and I might say almost all recent writers have maintained, is to me an absurdity.

This reference to the Quetzalcoatl myth at the commencement of the Maya chronicle needs not surprise us. We encounter it also in the Kiche _Popol Vuh_ and the Cakchiquel _Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan_. These members of the Maya family also grafted that myth upon their own traditions. As history, it is valueless; but as indicative of a long and early intercourse between the Maya and Nahuatl speaking tribes, it is of great interest. As this question will also recur in reference to various later passages in the Maya chronicles, I will discuss it here.

One of the earliest historians of Yucatan, the Doctor Don Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar, states that six hundred years before the Spanish conquest the Mayas were vassals of the Aztecs, and that they were taught or forced by these to construct the extraordinary edifices in their country, such as are found at Uxmal and Chichen Itza. His words are: "Fueron tan politicos y justiciosos en Yucatan como los Mexicanos, cuyos vasallos habian sido seis cientos anos antes de la llegada de los Espanoles. De lo cual tan solamente hay tradicion y memoria entre ellos por los famosos, grandes y espantosos edificios de cal y canto y silleria y figuras y estatuas de piedra labrada que dejaron en Oxumual [Uxmal] y en Chicheniza que hoy se veen y se pudieran habitar." _Informe contra Idolum Cultores del Obispado de Yucatan_, fol. 87 (Madrid, 1639).

The vague tradition here referred to was made part of the testimony in a lawsuit at Valladolid, Yucatan, in 1618. These old documents were brought to light by the late eminent Yucatecan historian Doctor Justo Sierra, and Dr. Berendt took a copy in manuscript of the most important points. I think it worth while to insert and translate this testimony.

VILLA DE VALLADOLID--ANO DE 1618.

"DOCUMENTO 1º. A la primera pregunta dijo este testigo que conoce al dicho Don Juan Kahuil y a la dicha Dona Maria Quen su legitima muger y que todos los contenidos en la pregunta, tuvo noticia muy larga de su padre de este testigo, porque fue en su antiguedad _ahkin_, sacerdote entre los naturales antiguos, antes que recibiesen agua de bautismo, como los susodichos contenidos en la pregunta vinieron del reino de Mexico y poblaron estas provincias, y que era gente bellicosa y valerosa y Senores, y asi poblaron a Chichenica los unos, y otros se fueron hacia el Sur que poblaron a Bacalar, y hacia el Norte que poblaron la costa; porque eran tres o cuatro Senores y uno que se llamo _Tumispolchicbul_ era deudo de Moctezuma, rey que fue de los reinos de Mexico, y que _Cuhuikakcamalcacalpuc_ era deudo muy cercano de dicho Don Juan Kahuil por parte de sus padres, y que dicha _Ixnahaucupul_ hija de _Kukumcupul_ fue muger de su abuelo de dicho D. Juan Kahuil, todos los cuales fueron los que vinieron de Mexico a poblar estas Provincias, gente principal y Senores, pues poblaron y se senorearon de esta tierra, porque como dicho tiene, le oyo decir al dicho su padre que eran tenidos, obedecidos y respetados como a Senores de esta tierra, y de uno de ellos procede el dicho D. Juan Kahuil, y de estos hay mucha noticia y dicho su padre le dijo muchas veces, que habia constancia entre ellos de lo sucedido por estos Senores.

"2º. A la segunda pregunta dice este testigo, que como dicho tiene, oyo decir a su padre y otros Indios principales que los susodichos contenidos en la primera pregunta vinieron de los reynos de Mejico a poblar estas provincias, los unos se quedaron en Chichinica que fueron los que edificaron los edificios sontuosos que hay en el dicho asiento, y otros se fueron a poblar a Bacalar, y otros fueron a poblar la costa hacia el norte, y este que fue a poblar la costa, se llamaba _Cacalpuc_, de donde procede el dicho D. Juan Kahuil, y estos que asi se repartieron, fueron a poblar las provincias susodichas, y las tuvieron sugetas y en govierno, y que le cupo a un Cocom, el poblar en Chichinica, y le obedecian todos por Senor, y los de la isla de cuzumel le eran sugetos; y de alli (de Chicinica) se pasaron a la provincia de Sotuta, donde estaban, cuando los conquistadores vinieron, y siempre fueron tenidos, obedecidos y respetados como Senores.

"3º. A la primera pregunta dijo este testigo que conoce al dicho D. Juan Kahuil, y a la dicha Da Maria Quen, su muger, y que de todos los contenidos en la pregunta, tuvo muy larga noticia de ellos, porque D. Juan Camal, cacique e gobernador que fue del pueblo de Sisal, de los primeros que lo gobernaron por comision e titulo que le dio el Oidor Tomas Lopez, oiendo como era de los antiguos caciques del dicho pueblo en estas provincias, lo trataba en conversacion a sus principales y este testigo, que siempre estaba en su casa, y fue alguacil mayor ordinario en ella, como los contenidos habian venido de Mejico a poblar esta tierra de Yucatan, y que los unos poblaron a Chichinica y hicieron los edificios que estan en dicho asiento muy suntuosos, y que habiendo sido los que vinieron de Mejico, cuatro deudos o parientes con sus allegados y gente que trajaron; el uno poblo como dicho tiene a Chichinica, y el otro fue a poblar a Bacalar, y el otro hacia el Norte y poblo en la costa, y el otro fue hacia Cozumel; e poblaron con gente, y fueron Senores de estas provincias, y las gobernaron y senorearon muchos anos; y que oyo decir que uno de ellos llamado _Tanupolchicbul_ era pariente de Moctezuma, rey de Mejico."

(_Translation._)

CORPORATION OF VALLADOLID--YEAR 1618.

"DOCUMENT NO. 1. To the first question the witness answered that he knows the said Don Juan Kahuil and the said Dona Maria Quen his lawful wife, and all those referred to in the question; that this witness had full information from his father, who formerly was _ahkin_ or priest among the natives, before they had received the water of baptism, how the parties above mentioned in the question came from the kingdom of Mexico, and established towns[116-1] in these provinces, and that they were a warlike and valiant people and lords, and thus some of them established themselves at Chichen Itza, and others went to the south and established towns at Bacalar, and toward the north and established towns on the coast; because they were three or four lords, and one, who was named _Tumispolchicbul_, was a kinsman of Montezuma, king of the kingdom of Mexico, and that _Cuhuikakcamalcacalpuc_ was a very near kinsman of the said Don Juan Kahuil on his father's side, and that the said _Ixnahaucupul_, daughter of _Kukumcupul_ was wife of the grandfather of the said Don Juan Kahuil, all of whom were those who came from Mexico to found towns in these provinces, prominent people and lords; then they founded towns and ruled this land, because as he said, he heard his said father say that they were regarded, obeyed and respected as lords of this land, and that from one of them proceeded the said Don Juan Kahuil; and of these there is abundant information, and his said father often said to him that there was unanimity among them as to what took place by these lords.

"2ND. To the second question this witness answered that as he has said, he heard his father and other leading Indians say that the parties above mentioned in the first question came from the Kingdom of Mexico to found towns in these provinces; some remained in Chichen Itza, who were those who built the sumptuous edifices which are in the said locality; others went to found towns at Bacalar, and others to found towns on the coast to the north; and he who went to found towns on the coast was named Cacalpuc, from whom proceeds the said Don Juan Kahuil and those who thus made division went to found towns in the above mentioned provinces, and held them under subjection and government; and he chose a certain Cocom to rule in Chichen Itza, and they all obeyed him as lord, and those of the island of Cozumel were subject to him; and from there (from Chichen Itza) they passed to the province of Zotuta, where they were when the conquerors came, and they were always regarded, obeyed and respected as lords.

"3RD. To the first question this witness answered that he knew all the parties mentioned in the question and had abundant information about them, because Don Juan Carnal who was chief and governor of Sisal, one of the first who governed it by commission and brief given him by the Auditor Tomas Lopez, being one of the ancient chiefs of the said town in these provinces, spoke of the subject in conversation with his leading men and with this witness, who was constantly in his house and was chief clerk in ordinary in it, saying the parties mentioned had come from Mexico to found towns in this land of Yucatan, and that some settled at Chichen Itza, and erected the very stately edifices which are in the said locality, and that those who came from Mexico were four kinsmen or relatives with their friends and the people they brought with them; one settled as heretofore said at Chichen Itza, one went to settle at Bacalar, one went toward the north and settled on the coast, and the other went toward Cozumel; and they founded towns with their people, and were lords of these provinces, and governed them and ruled them many years; and that he had heard it said that one of them named _Tanupolchicbul_ was a kinsman of Moctezuma, King of Mexico."

This legend is also related, with some variation, by Herrera, and as I shall have occasion more than once to refer to his account, I shall translate it.

"At Chichen Itza, ten leagues from Itzamal, the ancients say there reigned three lords, brothers, who came from the west, and gathered together many people, and reigned some years in peace and justice; and they constructed large and very beautiful edifices. It is said that they lived unmarried and very chastely; and it is added that in time one of them was missing, and that his absence worked such bad results that the other two began to be unchaste and partial; and thus the people came to hate them, and slew them, and scattered abroad, and deserted the edifices, especially the most stately one, which is ten leagues from the sea.

"Those who established themselves at Chichen Itza call themselves Itzas; among these there is a tradition that there ruled a great lord called Cuculcan, and all agree that he came from the west; and the only difference among them is as to whether he came before or after or with the Itzas; but the name of the building at Chichen Itza, and what happened after the death of the lords above mentioned, show that Cuculcan ruled the country jointly with them. He was a man of good disposition, was said not to have had either wife or children, and not to have known woman; he was devoted to the interests of the people, and for this reason was regarded as a god. In order to pacify the land he agreed to found another city, where all business could be transacted. He selected for this purpose a site eight leagues further inland from where now stands the city of Merida, and fifteen leagues from the sea. There they erected a circular wall of dry stone, about a half quarter of a league in diameter, leaving in it only two gateways. They erected temples, giving to the largest the name Cuculcan, and also constructed around the wall the houses of the lords among whom Cuculcan had divided the land, giving and assigning towns to each. To the city he gave the name Mayapan, which means "the Standard of the Maya," as Maya is the name of their language.

"By this means the country was quieted and they lived in peace for some years under Cuculcan, who governed with justice, until, having arranged for his departure, and recommending them to continue the wise rule he had established, he left them and returned to Mexico by the same route he had come, remaining in Champoton some time, where, in memory of his journey, he erected a building in the sea, which remains to this day."[120-1]

Bishop Landa and some other early writers also give versions of this tradition, but do not add any facts to those in the above quotations. Evidently it was a widespread legend of the origin of the great buildings of Chichen Itza. Is it a tradition of fact or is it a myth?

I confess that to me it has a suspiciously mythical aspect. It is too similar to what I may call the standard hero-myth of the American Aborigines. Everywhere, both in North and South America, we find the myth of the four brothers who divided the land between them, one of whom is superior to the others and becomes the ruler and instructor of the ancestors of the nation. He does not die, but disappears, or goes to heaven, and is often expected to return. Just so in one of the Maya myths, Cuculcan did not return to Mexico, but rose to heaven, whence once every year he descended to his temple at Mayapan and received the gifts which from far and wide pious pilgrims had brought to his shrine (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 302). All these myths relate to the worship of the four cardinal points and to the Light-God, as I have shown in a previous work (_The Myths of the New World_, chap. III. New York, 1876).

The proper names in the legend have nothing of a Nahuatl appearance. They are all pure Maya. The "kinsman of Moctezuma," the second reading of whose name is the correct one, is given as _tan u pol chicbul_, "in front of the head of the jay-bird," the _chicbul_ being what the Spaniards call the _mingo rey_, which I believe is a jay (Beltran, _Arte del Idioma Maya_, p. 229). The other long name is a compound of _Zuhuy kak camal cacal puc_. The historian Cogolludo informs us that _Zuhuy Kak_, literally "virgin fire," was the daughter of a king, afterwards deified as goddess of female infants (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. VIII). _Camal_ was and is a common patronymic in Yucatan; _cacalpuc_ means "mountain land,"[121-1] and thus the whole name is easily identified as Maya. Possibly the member of the family Camal who bore the name was a priest of the goddess.

It will be noticed that neither the legend nor the legal testimony speaks of these foreigners as of a different language or lineage, but leaves us to infer the contrary. Had they been of Aztec race it would certainly have been noticed, for the Mayas had frequent mercantile relations with these powerful neighbors, they borrowed many words from the Nahuatl tongue, and single chiefs in Yucatan formed alliances with the Aztec rulers, and introduced Aztec warriors even into Mayapan, as is shown by the Chronicles I publish in this work, and also by the fact that a small colony of Aztecs, descendants of these mercenaries, was living in the province of Canul, west of Merida, when the Spaniards conquered the country (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 54). Therefore the Aztecs were no strangers to the Mayas, and doubtless the learned members of the priesthood and nobles in the fifteenth century were quite well aware of the existence of the powerful empire of Anahuac.

But regarding the legend I have quoted as, in part at least, based on actual history, we may accept the fact that there was an important emigration from Mexico, and yet not one of either Aztecs or "Toltecs." It must be remembered that the Huastecas, an important branch of the Maya family, occupied from time immemorial the coast of the Mexican Gulf north of Vera Cruz, and west to the mountains of Meztitlan, a province inhabited by a Nahuatl speaking race, but not subject to the dynasty of the Montezumas.

I have already referred briefly to their history, and it is possible that after their serious reverses, about 1450, they sent migratory bodies to their relatives in Yucatan. At any rate, there seems a consensus of testimony that the general trend of migration of the Maya race, was from north to south, and in Central America, from west to east.

We have in this paragraph examples of the use of three of the "numeral particles." _Cante bin ti katun_, literally, "it (_i. e._ time) went on for four katuns," and a few lines later _hunpel haab_, one year, _hunpiztun_, the first year.

The correct translation of _peten_ has been debated; it is from the root _pet_, anything round, a circle, and usually means "island." By a later use it signifies any locality with definite boundaries, hence a province, or kingdom. The following is the entry in the _Diccionario de Motul_:

"PETEN; isla, _item_ provincia, region, comarca--_uay tu petenil Yucatan_, aqui en la provincia de Yucatan."

The name of the first leader, Holon Chan Tepeuh, does not recur in the Annals. Its signification is: _holon_, a generic name for large bees and flies; _chan_, sufficient, powerful, still in use in Yucatan as a surname; _tepeuh_, ruler, from _tepeual_, to rule. This last word is marked in the _Diccionario de Motul_ as a "vocablo antiquo." It is of Aztec origin, as in the Nahuatl language _tepeuani_ means "conqueror." The name we are considering should probably be rendered "Holon Chan, the ruler." The province ruled by the Chan family at the time of the conquest was on the eastern coast, south of that of the Cupuls.

The name _Chacnouitan_ is elsewhere, as we shall see, spelled _Chacnovitan_ and _Chacnabiton_. I am inclined to believe the last mentioned is nearest the correct form. By Pio Perez it was supposed to be an ancient name of Yucatan, and he translates the phrase, _uay ti petene Chacnouitan_, by "a esta isla de Chacnavitan (Yucatan)." Dr. Valentini says: "the translation could as well stand for 'that distant island,'" and that "Chacnouitan was neither the whole nor the northern part of Yucatan, but a district situated in the southwest of the peninsula," (_loc. cit._ p. 38).

With this I cannot agree, as the adverb _uay_ always refers to the place (in no matter how wide an accepation) where the speaker is. Therefore I translate it "here, (_i. e._ to this general country of Yucatan, and at first) to the province Chacnouitan." The province referred to was, I doubt not, somewhere around Lake Peten. The word _chac_ is often used in local names in Yucatan, and usually means either "water" or "red," as it is a homonym with several significations.

Several names similar to it are found in the Peten district. On Lake Yaxta, are the ruins of the very ancient city Napeten, and that lake may have once been called "Chac-napeten," "the water of Napeten." Again, on the road from Peten to Bacalar is the town Chacnabil, and the compound _Chacnabiltan_ would mean "toward or in the direction of Chacnabil" (see _Itinerarios y Leguarios que proceden de Merida, etc._, p. 15, Merida, 1851). The Itzas always remembered the Peten district, and when they met with reverses in northern Yucatan, they returned to it and established an important State there, which was not destroyed until the last decade of the seventeenth century.

3. _Hunpel haab minan ti hokal haab_, "one year lacking from five score years."

The name Ahmekat is probably an old form for _ahmeknah_ or _ahmektan_, both of which are given in the _Diccionario de Motul_ for chieftain, leader, captain.

4. _Lai tun_, the relative _lai_ with the particle _tun_, which is called by Beltran a "particula adornativa." _uchci_ is the aorist of the defective verb _uchul_, _uchi_, _uchuc_, to happen, to take place, come to pass. _Emob_ is the third plural of _emel_, to descend, to disembark, arrive. Pio Perez translates the phrase _ca emob uay lae_, "luego bajaron aqui." As this was written in the province of Mani, the "here" now refers in a narrower sense to the vicinity of the writer. The word _chuulte_ I take to be an error of transcription for _uchci_, as it is so translated by Pio Perez. It is noteworthy that the word _chicpahci_, "discovered," conveys the sense that Chichen Itza was already in existence when the migration here recorded reached northen[TN-15] Yucatan. It is from _chicul_, a sign or mark by which something is recognized.

Of the proper names in this section Bakhalal, "the canebrakes" (_halal_, the cane, _bak_, a roll or enclosure), is the modern province of Bacalar, on the east coast of the peninsula. _Ziyan caan_ appears to be used as a synonym of it, or else refers to a part of it. Its meaning is a picturesque reference to the view from the sea shore, where the horizon is clearly defined, and the sky seems to rise from the water, "the birth of the sky;" _Ziyan_, birth, _caan_, sky.

The name Chi C[=h]een Itza was that of one of the grandest ancient cities of Yucatan. _C[=h]een_ is the name applied to a tract of low-lying fertile land, especially suitable to the production of cacao (Berendt); _chi_ is edge or border. It is therefore a name referring to a locality, "on the border of the _c[=h]een_ of the Itzas." _C[=h]een_ also means well or cistern, and another derivation is "at the mouth of the well," as _chi_ can also be rendered "mouth;" either of these is appropriate to the features of the locality, as it is a fertile low-lying tract with two large natural reservoirs near by.

5. _Paxi_, from _paaxal_, a neuter form of the active verb _pa_, to break in pieces; it means "to go to pieces, to fall in ruins, to be depopulated or deserted." Applied to a city it is often translated "to be destroyed," but it does not convey quite so positive a meaning. _Kuyan uincob_, "men of God," from _Ku_ the general name for Divinity. Chichen Itza was one of the chief centres of religious life in Yucatan, and its priests were esteemed among the most learned in the peninsula.

The name Chanputun, Champoton, or, reversed, Potonchan, is derived by Gomara from the Nahuatl _potonia_, to smell badly, and _chan_, house (in composition). Elsewhere, however, we find it in the form Chakanputun, and this is Maya. _Chakan_ is the term applied to a grassy plain, a savanna, and it was especially applied to the ancient province in which the city of Ho, now Merida, was situated, as appears from the following entry in the _Diccionario de Motul, MS._

"AHCHAKAN: el que es de Merida, o de los pueblos de aquella comarca, que se llama _Chakan_."

The correct form of the name is probably _Chakan peten_, the savanna region.

6. The only obscure expression in this section is _yalan che, yalan aban, yalan ak_. This often recurs in the ancient Maya manuscripts, and was evidently a well-known formula, probably the refrain of one of their ancient chants. In Mr. Stephens' translation it is rendered "under the uninhabited mountains" (!) which is an attempt to render Pio Perez's words "bajo los montes despoblados," "in the uninhabited forests." _Aban_ or _haban_ is an obsolete word, only found in compounds, as _yoxhaban_, huts made of branches. Both it and _ak_ were the names of various branches or twigs. The phrase is literally "under the trees, under the branches, under the foliage," and meant that those who thus lived were homeless and houseless. It is a striking testimony to the love of solid buildings and walled cities which characterized the Mayas.

I will add a verse from a curious prophetic chant in one of the Books of Chilan Balam, where this expression occurs, and which is an interesting example of these strange songs.

TZOLAH TI AHKIN CHILAM.

(_Recital of the priest Chilam._)

Uien, uien, a man uah;
Uken, uken, a man haa;
Tu kin, puz lum pach,
Tu kin, tzuch lum ich,
Tu kin, naclah muyal,
Tu kin, naclah uitz,
Tu kin, chuc lum [c]iic,
Tu kin, hubulhub,
Tu kin, co[c] yol chelem,
Tu kin, e[c]ele[c],
Tu kin, ox [c]alab u nak yaxche,
Tu kin, ox chuilab xotem,
Tu kin, pan tzintzin
Yetel banhob yalan che yalan haban.

_Translation._

Eat, eat, thou hast bread;
Drink, drink, thou hast water;
On that day, dust possesses the earth,
On that day, a blight is on the face of the earth,
On that day, a cloud rises,
On that day, a mountain rises,
On that day, a strong man seizes the land,
On that day, things fall to ruin,
On that day, the tender leaf is destroyed,
On that day, the dying eyes are closed,
On that day, three signs are on the tree,
On that day, three generations hang there,
On that day, the battle flag is raised,
And they are scattered afar in the forests.

7. _He[c]ob_, from _he[c]_, _he[c]el_ or _e[c]_, to fix firmly, to settle, to found: _he[c]el ca cah uaye_, let us settle here, "poblamos aqui" (_Dicc. de San Francisco_, MS.).

8. The founding of Uxmal by Ahcuitok Tutulxiu is recorded in this paragraph; _ahcui_ is the name of a species of owl, _tok_ is the flint stone. By some old writers Uxmal is spelled Oxmal, which would give the meaning "to pass thrice," _ox_, three, _mal_, to pass. From _mal_, preterite _mani_, also was derived the name of the chief city of the Tutulxiu, with a peculiar signification explained in a note on a previous page.

Mr. Stephens has taken considerable pains to prove that Uxmal with its astonishing edifices was inhabited at and after the conquest (_Incidents of Travel in Yucatan_, Vol. II, p. 259); there may, indeed, have been an Indian village there, but the first European traveler who has left us a description of it, and who visited it in 1586, when many natives, born before the conquest, were still living, describes the massive buildings as even then in ruins, and very large trees growing upon them. An old Indian told him that according to their traditions, these structures had at that time been built nine hundred years, and that their builders had left the country nearly that long ago. (_Relacion Breve y Verdadera de algunas cosas de las muchas qui[TN-16] sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonzo Ponce_, in the _Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Espana_, vol. LVIII, p. 461.)

The phrase _u he[c]icab Ahcuitok Tutulxiu Uxmal_ is translated by Pio Perez "se poblo en Uxmal," [TN-17]established himself in Uxmal," conveying the impression that he merely moved to that city. This is, however, not the sense of the original. _He[c]icab_ is an active verb governing Uxmal as its direct object, and means to found firmly or promptly.

The expression _halach uinicil_, the real man, the true man, is a common idiom for governor or ruler, he being the only "real man" in an autocratic community (ante p. 26).

The name of Mayapan is given in the form Mayalpan, which I think is dialectic. It is spoken of as an established city under the joint rule of several chiefs at the date of the founding of Uxmal.

9. This paragraph describes how the ruler of the Itzas lost his share in the government of Mayapan. _Kebanthan_, literally a plot, or to plot to do some injury--"concertar de hacer algun mal, y el tal concierto," _Diccionario de Motul_, MS. I have followed Pio Perez in translating "against Hunac Eel," although "by Hunac Eel" seems more correct. Elsewhere the name is Hunac Ceel. Ancona argues that he was a member of the Cocom family (_Hist. de Yucatan_, I. p. 157.)

Several of the names of the seven "men of Mayapan" have a Nahuatl appearance. Kakaltecat=Cacaltecatl, He of the Crow; Ytzcuat=Itzcoatl, Smirch-faced snake; Xuchueuet=Xochitl, the rose or flower; Pantemit=Pantenamitl, the Conqueror of the city wall. These would seem to bear out what Landa and Herrera say, to the effect that at one period the rulers of Mayapan invited Aztec warriors from the province of Tabasco to come and dwell in the city and aid them in controlling the inhabitants.

Both Dr. Valentini and Senor Pio Perez are of opinion the Katuns at the commencement of this paragraph should read the 10th, 8th and 6th, instead of the 11th, 9th and 6th, as it is necessary in order to establish consistency with what follows.

10. This is one of the most obscure sections in the chronicle. The phrase _tumenel u uahal uahob_ is rendered by Pio Perez "because he made war," while Brasseur translates it "because of his great feasts." The meaning of the root _uah_ is maize cakes, or, more generally, bread. The _Diccionario de Motul_ gives: "UAHIL; banquete, convite o comida," which is in favor of Brasseur's translation.

_Oxlahun uu[c]_, "thirteen divisions;" _uu[c]_ or _uuu[c]_ means literally a fold or double, and hence appears to have been applied to ranks of men in double rows. I do not find, however, any such meaning given in the dictionaries. As a numeral particle it is used to count whatever occurs in folds or doubles.

The number thirteen had a sacredness attached to it, from its frequent use in the calendar. It appears from a passage in the _Popol Vuh_ that the Cakchiquels, Pokomams and Pokomchis also divided their tribes into thirteen sections (_Popol Vuh_, p. 206). In the Maya language, 13 is also used to signify a great but indefinite number: thus _oxlahun cacab_, thirteen generations, is equivalent to "forever"; _oxlahun pixan_, thirteen times happy, is to be happy in the supreme degree; more remote from customary analogies is the phrase for "full moon," _oxlhaun caan u_, literally "the thirteen-sky moon," the moon which fills with its light the whole sky (_Diccionario de Motul_, MS.).

The phrase _u [c]abal u natob_ is not translated at all in the English rendering in Stephens' _Travels_, nor in that of Valentini. Brasseur paraphrases it "by him who gives intelligence."

The proper names Ulmil and Ulil seem both to be derived from _ula_, host, the master of the feast.

Here, again, I shall give the originals of the two previous translators.

_Translation of Pio Perez._

"En este mismo periodo o _katun_ del 8º ahau fueron a destruir al rey Ulmil porque le hacia la guerra al rey de Izamal Ulil. Trece divisiones de combatientes tenia cuando los disperso Hunac-eel para escarmentarlos: la guerra se concluyo en el 6º ahau a los 34 anos."

_Translation of Brasseur._

"C'est dans la meme periode du Huit Ahau qu'ils allerent attaquer le roi Ulmil, a cause de ses grands festins avec Ulil, roi d'Ytzmal: ils avaient treize divisions de troupes, lorsqu'ils furent defaits par Hunac-Eel, par celui qui donne l'intelligence. Au Six Ahau, c'en etait fait, apres trente quatre ans."

The name Hunac Eel should be Hunac Ceel, as it is given in the other chronicles. It means "he who causes great fear," _hunac_ in composition means much, great, and _ceel_, cold, also the fright and terror which makes one shiver as with cold ("espanto, asombro o turbacion que causa frio." _Dicc. de Motul_, MS).[TN-18]

11. This important section describes the destruction of the great city of Mayapan, which occurred somewhere between A.D. 1420-1450. The reasons given for the act are not clear.

_Tumenel u pack tulum, tumenel multepal ich cah Mayalpan_, appears to me to have the precise meaning I have given in the text; but Pio Perez translates the passage thus "fue invadido por los hombres de Itza y su rey Ulmil, el territorio fortificado de Mayalpan, porque tenia murallas, y porque gobernaba en comun el pueblo de aquella ciudad."

The expression _multepal_, from _mul_, to do an act jointly, or in common, and _tepal_, to govern, is interesting as showing that the government of the country in its golden days of prosperity was not one of an autocratic monarch, but a league or confederation of the principal chiefs of the peninsula. This is also borne out by the descriptions of the ancient government to be found in the pages of Landa and Herrera.

The Itzas seized the territory in and around Mayapan, but they were not the ones who destroyed the city. This was the work of _Ahuitzil[c]ul_, foreign mountaineers. _[C]ul_, is the common term for a foreigner in Maya, and is now-a-days applied especially to the whites. _Uitz_, mountain, is used with reference to the high sierra which runs through central Yucatan, and so Pio Perez understood _ahuitzil_, "los que tenian sus ciudades en la parte montanosa." This is probably correct, though we do not know to whom this appellation refers. Yet it may be added that another meaning can be given to the phrase; _uitz_ is the term applied by the natives in some parts of the peninsula to the artificial mounds or pyramids on which their temples were situated, which are usually called _muul_.[132-1] In this sense _ahuitzil [c]ul_ should be rendered "foreigners who had great pyramids."

The words _tan cah Mayapan_ (not Mayalpan as before) are rendered by Pio Perez and Brasseur as the name of a province or district; but as they simply mean "in the middle of the city of Mayapan," it appears to be their signification here.

12. "After the fortress was depopulated" or destroyed. This no doubt refers to the fortress of Mayapan, spoken of in the previous section. Aguilar and his companions were wrecked on the coast of Yucatan, in 1511, and this is probably the earliest date of any actual landing of Europeans, although in 1506, Pinzon had sighted the eastern shores.

13. _Mayacimil_, "the death of the Mayas," a term applied to a general and fatal pestilence. Such are referred to by Landa (_Relacion_, Sec. X.) and Cogolludo (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. VI),[TN-19] The _Diccionario de Motul_, MS. has this entry:

"MAYACIMIL: una mortandad grande que fue en Yucatan. Y tomase por qualquier mortandad y pestilencia que lleva mucha gente."

_Noh kakil_, _noh_, great, _kak_, fire, is the usual word for the smallpox.

The reference to the death of Ahpula, who, as we learn from another chronicle, was a member of the royal Xiu family, is especially valuable as assigning a definite date in both the Maya and European calendars. It is specified with great minuteness, and yet Pio Perez made the serious error in his computations regarding the Maya calendar of reading "the sixth year of the 13th ahau" instead of "six years from the close of the 13th ahau," as, in fact, he himself elsewhere translated it.

The expression _u xocol haab ti lakin cuchie_, "the reckoning of the year was toward the East," refers to the circle or wheel marked with the four cardinal points by which the years were arranged with reference to the four "year-bearers" Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac.

The last words of this section, "sixty years after the fortress was destroyed," are an obvious error, as in the preceding section this date is said to be that of the first arrival of the Spaniards.

14. _Kul uincob_, "mighty men," from _kul_, strong, powerful, probably akin to _ku_, god, but not with the religious signification which _kuyen_ has (see page 125). _Caputzihil_, literally "to be born a second time." Bishop Landa assures us positively that a rite of baptism was known to the Mayas before the arrival of the whites, and that this name was applied to it (_Relacion_, p. 144). As will be seen on a later page, Maya writers usually employed another term to express Christian baptism.

The year in which Bishop Francisco Toral first came to Yucatan was 1562 (Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. VI, cap. VI). He died in Mexico in 1571.

The remainder of this chronicle has never been translated or published. It refers to facts after the Conquest, but I think it of interest to give it completely, as its manner of dealing with known dates will throw light on its general accuracy.

15. Bishop Diego de Landa, second bishop of the diocese of Merida, died at that city in 1579, aged fifty-four years. The first missionaries that came to Mani were Fathers Villalpando and Benavente, in 1547 (Cogolludo, _Hist._, Lib. V, cap. VII). The convent there was established in 1549.

16. No town of the name Yokhaa is now known. But I find on the ancient native map of Mani, dating from 1557, given by Stephens (_Travels in Yucatan_, Vol. II, p. 264), a locality marked _Yokha_, marked with a cross. This is no doubt the reference in the text.

17. The Auditor Don T[)o]mas Lopez came to Yucatan from Guatemala. He was in Yucatan as early as 1552, and published laws in that year (Cogolludo, Lib. V, cap. XIX, Lib. VII, cap. XI). A hospital was founded very early in Mani, according to Cogolludo, but he does not give the exact date (_ibid._, Lib. IV, cap. XX).

18. Doctor Don Diego Quijada arrived in Yucatan in 1562, and remained until 1565.

19. When Landa was provincial, 1562-65, various Indians were hanged on account of the prevalence of suicide.

20. What Marshall is referred to is uncertain, _thulub_ should probably be _chulub_, and so I have translated it. Berendt suggested _ca botab chulub_, "when they paid for water," the reference being to a great drought.

21. An epidemic of measles and smallpox, in 1609, is referred to by Cogolludo (Lib. IX, cap. I).

22. In 1610 three Indians of Tekax were hanged for having killed their chief Don Pedro Xiu (Cogolludo, Lib. IX, cap. I).

23. The reference is to a census or assessment of the town. None is mentioned in this year by Cogolludo, nor does he speak of the Judge Diego Pareja.

FOOTNOTES:

[89-1] "No lo pudiendo sufrir los otros Senores, se conjuraron con el Senor de los Tutuxius, i acudiendo en Dia senalado a la Casa del Senor Cocom, le mataron con sus Hijos, salvo uno, que estaba ausente, i le saquearon la Casa, i le tomaron sus Heredades, i desamparon la Ciudad [de Mayapan], deseando cada Senor vivir en libertad en sus Pueblos, al cabo de quinientos Anos, que se fundo, en la qual havian vivido con mucha Policia; i havria que se despoblo, segun la cuenta de los Indios, hasta que llegaron los Castellanos a Yucatan, setenta Anos. Cada Senor procuro de llevar los mas Libros de sus Ciencias, que pudo, a su Tierra, adonde hicieron Templos; i esta es la principal causa de los muchos Edificios, que hai en Yucatan. Siguio toda su gente Ahxiui, Senor de los Tutuxius, i poblo en Mani, que quiere decir, ia paso; como si dixese, hagamos Libro nuevo; i de tal manera poblaron sus Pueblos, que hicieron una gran Provincia, que se llama oi dia, Tutuxiu." Herrera, _Historia de las Indias Occidentales_, Dec. IV, Lib. X, caps. II, III.

[90-1] _Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. III, cap. VI.

[91-1] I quote Dr. Berendt's words. "Los datos historicos que publico Stephens en el Apendice de su obra fueron extractados de tal libro de Chilam Balam en poder de un Indio de Mani, maestro de escuela, que por tener el mismo apelido Balam pretendio ser descendiente del sacerdote de los Mayas que llego a padrinar esta clase de escritos." _Chilam Balam, Articulos y Fragmentos en Lengua Maya_ MSS., Advertencia, p. vii.

I have also in my collection a manuscript copy of what Yucatecan scholars call the _Codice Perez_, a mass of materials copied by Senor Pio Perez, among them this chronicle. The following is his own note at its close:--

"Hasta aqui termina el libro titulado Chilambalam que se conserva en el Pueblo de Mani en poder del maestro de Capilla."

[92-1] _The Katunes of Maya History_, A Chapter in the Early Chronology of Central America, with special reference to the Pio Perez Manuscripts. By Philip J. J. Valentini, Ph. D. _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, 1879. (Worcester, Mass. Press of Charles Hamilton, 1880). The reprint is 60 pages, octavo.

[92-2] Crescencio Carrillo, _Manual de Historia y Geografia de la Peninsula de Yucatan_, pp. 16-27. (12mo: Merida de Yucatan; imprenta de J. D. Espinosa e Hijos.)

[95-1] chichcunahthan.

[96-1] uchuc.

[96-2] haban.

[96-3] ximbal.

[97-1] ximbal.

[99-1] chulub.

[116-1] The Spanish word "poblar" does not mean to people an uninhabited country, but to found villages and gather the people into communities.

[120-1] _Historia de las Indias Occidentales Dec._ IV, Lib. X, cap. II.

[121-1] _Cacal_ is reduplicated from _cab_, land, province, town. The change from _b_ to _l_ is also seen in _cacalluum_, "tierra buena para sembrar," _Diccionario de Motul_; also in the town names Tixcacal, Xcacal, etc.

[132-1] "En toda la Peninsula existen unos cerros a mano o monticulos artificiales, que comunmente llaman los naturales en idioma Maya _Muul_ en algunos lugares, y en otros _Uitz_." Don Jose T. Cervera in the _Revista de Merida_, Dec. 3, 1871.