Chapter XI (3)

Cay Hunahpu, disappointed in the movements of his allies, attacked Iximché with the Tukuches under his command, but his partisans were routed, most of them being killed and the remainder fleeing to distant provinces; while the leader was also among the slain. Thus Oxlahuh-Tzy was still victorious, but was in no condition to attempt the reduction of the rebel provinces; for new internal troubles soon broke out. Cinahitoh, one of his bravest commanders in the last war, but apparently of plebeian birth, demanded the rank of Ahtzih Winak made vacant by the death of Cay-Hunahpu, but his claim was rejected, the office given to Ahmoxnag, and the brave Cinahitoh was put to death. The successful candidate was also executed for treason within a year. Oxlahuh-Tzy continued in his policy of opposition to the nobles, and even succeeded in regaining a few of the weaker tribes that had thrown off their allegiance to his throne. In a war with the Akahales it is recorded that a band of Yaqui, or Mexicans, probably traders, took part against the Cakchiquels.

[Sidenote: PROPHECY OF DISASTER.]

About 1501 a defeat of the Zutugils and the capture of their stronghold of Zakcab by the Cakchiquel king is recorded; and about the same time the Ah-Tziquinihayi under Wookaok were besieged in Atitlan, but succeeded in defeating the invaders. Respecting the last epoch of Cakchiquel history, Juarros says: "The Cakchiquel king, Nimahuinac, also enjoyed for a long time the promised tranquility, having made peace and a perpetual alliance with the Pipiles; but this king having made his near relative Acpocaquil treasurer of his tributes, this traitor seized upon the city of Patinamit, now Tecpan Guatemala (Iximché) and all the country subject to that Cakchiquel stronghold; and the Zutugil king having declared himself an ally of the rebel Acpocaquil, an obstinate war was waged between these two lords, which lasted down to the arrival of the Spaniards. And it even seems that this was the reason why Sinacam, who had succeeded to the throne of the Cakchiquels, summoned and received peacefully the Spaniards, in order to regain by their aid the great possessions of which Acpocaquil, aided by the king of Atitlan, had despoiled him."[XI-61] The Guatemalans were not left altogether without warnings of the Spaniards' coming, for as early as the reign of Quicab II.--which, however, was after the Spaniards were actually on the American coasts--Ximenez relates that the son of the Cakchiquel king, a great sorcerer, was wont to visit the Quiché cities by night, insulting the king with opprobrious epithets, and disturbing his rest. Great rewards were offered for his capture, and at last he was taken and brought bound into Quicab's presence, where preparations were made for his sacrifice, when, addressing the assembly the captive spoke as follows: "Wait a little and hear what I wish to say to you; know that a time is to come in which you will be in despair by reason of the calamities that are to come upon you; and this _mama-caixon_, 'miserable old man,' (the king) must die; and know that certain men, not naked like you, but armed from head to foot, will come, and these will be terrible and cruel men, sons of Teja; perhaps this will be to-morrow, or day after to-morrow, and they will destroy all these edifices, which will become the habitations of owls and wildcats, and then will come to an end all the grandeur of this court." Thus having spoken, he was sacrificed to the gods.[XI-62]

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, three rival and hostile monarchies ruled Guatemala, that of the Quichés at Utatlan, under Vucub-Noh and Cavatepech, probably the Kicab Tanub of Fuentes; that of the Cakchiquels at Iximché, under Oxlahuh-Tzy and Cablahuh-Tihax; and that of the Zutugils at Atitlan, under Wookaok. The condition of the Cakchiquel and Zutugil powers has already been portrayed so far as there is any information extant on the subject. The Quiché monarchy had recovered in a certain sense a large part of its former power. The Achihab had shrewdly kept the descendants of the ancient kings on the throne, and thus secured something of the friendship and respect of the scattered lords. True, these lords maintained their independence of the king of Utatlan, but so long as their privileges were not interfered with they were still Quiché allies against the hated Cakchiquels and all other foreign powers. So with all the independent tribes in the country, who, although admitting no control on the part of either monarch, were at heart allies of one of them against the others. Thus the ancient empire had been practically divided into three, each with its allied kingdoms or seigniories, of which three that of the Zutugils and Ah-Tziquinihayi at Atitlan, was much less powerful and extensive than the others.

There is no doubt that during this final period of Guatemalan history the Mexican traders, who constantly visited the cities of the coast in large caravans for commercial purposes, and who became, as we have seen, practically the masters of Soconusco, exerted an influence also in the politics of the interior. We have seen the prominent part this class played in the conquest of provinces north of the isthmus, and there is much evidence that they were already making their observations and laying plans, by mixing themselves in the quarrels of the Quichés and Cakchiquels, which might have brought the whole country under the Aztec rulers, had it not been for the coming of the Spaniards, which broke up so many cunningly devised plans in America. I have already noticed the expulsion of ambassadors seeking ostensibly an alliance with the southern powers, recorded by Juarros, and also the Mexican aid said to have been furnished the Akahales against the Cakchiquels.

Oxlahuh-Tzy died about 1510, and his colleague two years later, leaving the Cakchiquel throne to Hunyg and Lahuh-Noh. Early in the reign of these kings there came from Mexico the embassy already spoken of in a preceding chapter[XI-63] as having been sent by Montezuma II. probably to obtain information respecting the strangers on the eastern coast, and to consult with the southern monarchs about the best method of treating the new-comers. It is possible also, that the political designs alluded to above had something to do with the embassy, and Brasseur believes that the Mexicans and Cakchiquels formed at this time an alliance offensive and defensive against all foes. War broke out immediately afterwards between the Cakchiquels and Quichés, and lasted almost uninterruptedly for seven years, with no decisive results in favor of either party, although the Cakchiquels, who acted for the most part on the offensive, seem to have had the best of the struggle.

[Sidenote: RAVAGES OF THE SMALL-POX.]

In 1514, while the war still continued, immense numbers of locusts caused a famine in the Cakchiquel dominions, and in the same year the city of Iximché was almost entirely destroyed by fire. In 1519 the war was suspended, perhaps on receipt of the news brought by the envoy already mentioned, that the Spaniards had landed at Vera Cruz. Omens of sinister import appeared here as at the north, one of the most notable being the appearance of a ball of fire which appeared every evening for many days in the east, and followed the course of the sun until it set in the west. The famous black stone in the temple of Cahbaha was found, when the priests went to consult it in this emergency, broken in two pieces. In 1520 there came upon the Cakchiquels an epidemic cholera morbus, accompanied by a fatal affection of the blood which carried off large numbers, but which were as nothing in their ravages compared with the small-pox which raged in 1521, contracted as is supposed, from the Nahua tribes of the coast region. One half of the whole Cakchiquel population are estimated to have fallen victims to this pestilence, including the two monarchs, who were succeeded by Belehe Qat and Cahi Imox. Whether the pestilence also raged among the Quichés is not known; but the monarchs of Utatlan renewed their hostilities at this time, and the Cakchiquels, weakened by disease and famine, harassed by rebellious vassals, and now attacked again by a powerful foe, adopted the desperate resort of sending an embassy to Mexico to demand the aid of the Spaniards, advised to this course doubtless by their Mexican allies. The reply was the promise that relief would soon be sent. In the meantime two Cakchiquel campaigns are recorded, one most successful in aid of the rulers of Atitlan against insurgents, and the other, less favorable in its results, in aid of the Ah-Tziquinihayi of Pacawal.

The news of the Cakchiquel alliance with the Spaniards caused the most bitter indignation, not only at Utatlan, where Oxib-Quieh and Beleheb Tzy had succeeded to the throne, but among all the tribes of the country, which seem to have formed a combination against the monarchs of Iximché, and to have already begun hostilities when, in February 1524, the approach of Pedro de Alvarado was announced. The details of Alvarado's conquest belong to another history; but in general terms, after having marched--not without opposition--through Soconusco, he defeated the native forces that attempted to check his progress on the banks of the Rio Tilapa, the Guatemalan frontier line, and advanced against the allied forces that had assembled from all directions in the region of Xelahuh, or Quezaltenango, under the command of Tecum, the Nim Chocoh Cawek of the Quiché monarchy. The two battles which decided the fate of the Quichés were fought near Xelahuh and Totonicapan, so that at Utatlan Alvarado met no open resistance, but was invited to enter the city, the plan being to burn the city and the Spaniards with it. The plot was discovered and the Ahpop and Ahpop Camha burned alive in punishment for their intentions, the city then being burned by the invaders. After the fall of Utatlan, Alvarado marched to Iximché, where he was kindly received by the Cakchiquel kings, and where he established his headquarters for the conquest of other nations, beginning with the Zutugils.[XI-64]

FOOTNOTES:

[XI-1] See vol. ii., p. 121, et seq.

[XI-2] See map in vol. ii.

[XI-3] _Popol Vuh_, p. 79; this volume, p. 175.

[XI-4] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., tom. iii., cap. cxxiv., cxxv.

[XI-5] This vol., pp. 178-80; _Popol Vuh_, p. 141.

[XI-6] _Torquemada_, tom. ii., pp. 53-4; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., tom. iii., cap. cxxiv.

[XI-7] _Brasseur_, in _Popol Vuh_, p. cclvi. The only authority referred to on this matter of Copan is the _Isagoge Historico_, a manuscript cited in _García Pelaez_, _Mem. para la Historia del antiguo Reino de Guatemala_, tom. i., p. 45 et seq.

[XI-8] The other names are Lamak, Cumatz, Tuhalha, Uchabaha, Chumilaha, Quibaha, Batenab, Acul-Vinak, Balamiha, Canchahel, and Balam-Colob, most of which Brasseur connects more or less satisfactorily with the scattered ruins in the Guatemala highlands, where these tribes afterwards settled. It is stated by the tradition that only the principal names are given.

[XI-9] The fourth god, Nicahtagah, is rarely named in the following pages; Tohil is often used for the trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and Balam-Quitzé for the band of the first four men or high-priests.

[XI-10] The names of the localities named as the hiding-places of the gods are said to be still attached to places in Vera Paz.

[XI-11] See p. 182, of this volume.

[XI-12] Another document consulted by Brasseur, _Popol Vuh_, p. 286, places four generations between Balam-Quitzé and Qocaib and Qocavib mentioned above as his sons.

[XI-13] Brasseur insists that this was Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, the last Toltec king, who had founded a great kingdom in Honduras, with the capital at Copan. _Popol Vuh_, p. 294.

[XI-14] Brasseur, in _Popol Vuh_, p. 297, gives a list from another document of many of these new settlements, many of which as he claims can be identified with modern localities. The chief of the new towns was Chiquix, 'in the thorns,' possibly the name from which Quiché was derived. This city occupied four hills, or was divided into four districts, the Chiquix, Chichac, Humetaha, and Culba-Cavinal.

[XI-15] _Popol Vuh_, pp. 205-99; _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 83-118.

[XI-16] _Brasseur_, in _Popol Vuh_, pp. ccliii-cclxxi. The manuscripts referred to by this writer for this and the preceding information, are:--_Título Territorial de los Señores de Totonicapan_; _Título Territorial de los Señores de Sacapulas_; _MS. Cakchiquel_; _Título Real de la Casa de Itzcuin-Nehaib_; and _Título de los Señores de Quezaltenango y de Momostenango_.

[XI-17] _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 73-150. The authorities referred to besides those already named are the following: _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recopilacion Florida de la Hist. de Guat._, MS.; _Ximenez_, _Hist. de los Reyes del Quiché_, MS.; _Chrónica de la Prov. de Goattemala_, MS. The chief authority, however, is the _MS. Cakchiquel_, or _Mémorial de Tecpan-Atitlan_.

[XI-18] The tribes named as having gathered here, are the Quichés, Rabinals, Cakchiquels, Zutugils, Ah-Tziquinaha, Tuhalaha, Uchabaha, Chumilaha, Tucurú, Zacaha, Quibaha, Batenab, Balaniha, Canchahel, Balam Colob, Acul, Cumatz, Akahales, and Lamagi.

[XI-19] See p. 182, of this volume.

[XI-20] See vol. iv., pp. 128-30, for notice of ruins.

[XI-21] See p. 555 of this volume.

[XI-22] This is evidently taken by Juarros, from the Spanish version of the Mexican traditions.

[XI-23] The reader is already aware that no such kings ever reigned over the Toltecs in Anáhuac. It is evident that the author has confounded the Tulan of the Guatemalan annals with Tollan, the Toltec capital in Anáhuac, and the Nahua migration from the Xibalban region in the fourth or fifth century, with that of the Toltecs in the eleventh.

[XI-24] _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, (Guat., 1857) pp. 7-9. The extract that I have made extends a little beyond the point at which I have left the other records. I give here also a list of the Quiché kings, who were according to Juarros: 1, Acxopil; 2, Jiuhtemal; 3, Hunahpu; 4, Balam Kiché (Balam-Quitzé); 5, Balam Acam (Balam-Agab); 6, Maucotah (Mahucutah); 7, Iquibalam (Iqi-Balam); 8, Kicab I.; 9, Cacubraxechein; 10, Kicab II.; 11, Iximché; 12, Kicab III.; 13, Kicab IV.; 14, Kicab Tamub; 15, Tecum Umam; 16, Chignaviucelut; 17, Sequechul or Sequechil.

The list of the Quiché princes of the royal house of Cawek, according to the order of the generations, is given in the _Popol Vuh_, pp. 339-40, _Ximenez_, pp. 133-4, as follows--the list apparently includes not only the Ahpop, or king, but the Ahpop Camha, heir apparent to the throne. And, as is indicated by the course of the history, and as Brasseur believes, each Ahpop Camha succeeded the Ahpop on the throne, so that the whole number of the Quiché kings, down to the coming of the Spaniards, counting from Qocavib, was twenty-two instead of eleven, as the list might seem to imply and as Ximenez evidently understands it:--1, Balam-Quitzé; 2, Qocavib, (although we have seen that, by other documents several generations are placed between the first and second of this list); 3, Balam Conache (the first to take the title Ahpop); 4, Cotuha and Iztayub; 5, Gucumatz and Cotuha; 6, Tepepul and Iztayul; 7, Quicab and Cavizimah; 8, Tepepul and Xtayub; 9, Tecum and Tepepul; 10, Vahxaki-Caam and Quicab; 11, Vukub Noh and Cavatepech; 12, Oxib-Quieh and Beleheb Tzi (reigning when Alvarado came, and hung by the Spaniards); 13, Tecum and Tepepul; 14, Don Juan de Rojas and Don Juan Cortés.

The princes of the house of Nihaïb given by the same authority, p. 343, _Ximenez_, pp. 135, were as follows:--1, Balam-Agab; 2, Qoacul and Qoacutec; 3, Qochahuh and Qotzibaha; 4, Beleheb-Gih; 5, Cotuha; 6, Batza; 7, Ztayul; 8, Cotuha; 9, Beleheb-Gih; 10, Quema; 11, Cotuha; 12, Don Christóval; 13, Don Pedro de Robles.

List of the princes of the Royal House of Ahau Quiché, _Popol Vuh_, p. 345, _Ximenez_, pp. 136-7; 1, Mahucutah; 2, Qoahau; 3, Caklacan; 4, Qocozom; 5, Comahcan; 6, Vukub-Ah; 7, Qocamel; 8, Coyabacoh, Vinak-Bam. These lists, however, do not seem to correspond altogether with the Quiché annals as given by the same authority, as the reader will see in the succeeding pages.

[XI-25] _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 38, tom. ii., pp. 338-40. See also _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. iii., pp. 246-9.

[XI-26] _Geografía_, pp. 97-9, 128, et seq.

[XI-27] _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 8.

[XI-28] _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 41, 646.

[XI-29] _Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan_, in _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 155-75.

[XI-30] Pp. 299-307; _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 475-99; _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 119-21.

[XI-31] In his _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 478, Brasseur seems to regard Balam II. and Conache as two kings, one succeeding the other, but in his notes to _Popol Vuh_, p. cclxxiii., he unites them in one.

[XI-32] _Título de los Señores de Totonicapan._

[XI-33] _Título de los Señores de Totonicapan_, in the introduction to _Popol Vuh_, pp. cclxxv-vi.

[XI-34] See p. 529, of this volume.

[XI-35] _Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan_, in _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 483-9.

[XI-36] See p. 570-1, of this volume.

[XI-37] Brasseur places his reign somewhere between 1225 and 1275.

[XI-38] The _Popol Vuh_ represents Utatlan, as we have seen, p. 573, to have been first occupied by Cotuha and Gucumatz; meaning, as is shown by the table of kings in the same document--see p. 566, of this volume--by Gucumatz as king and Cotuha II. as second in rank. Brasseur states that the name Gumarcaah was then given to the city, but it is much more likely that this was the ancient name, and Utatlan of later origin.

[XI-39] For description of the ruins of Utatlan, see vol. iv., pp. 124-8.

[XI-40] _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, pp. 9-16.

[XI-41] _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 150-2, 475-7, 499. The opinion that Hunahpu and Gucumatz were identical, however, is said to receive some support from the _Isagoge Historico_, of Pelaez' work, quoted by _Id._, in _Popol Vuh_, p. 316.

[XI-42] See vol. ii., pp. 637-44.

[XI-43] Or, as Ximenez renders it, to Hell.

[XI-44] He is named as being of the fifth generation in the tables at the end of the document.

[XI-45] _Popol Vuh_, pp. 307-17; _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 121-5; _Id._, _Escolios_, in _Id._, pp. 165-8. This last work is perhaps the same as that quoted by Brasseur as _Ximenez_, _Hist. de los Reyes del Quiché_, MS., but it is merely a list of kings with some of their deeds, adding nothing whatever, in a historical point of view, to the translation of the Quiché record.

[XI-46] _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 493-9; _Id._, in _Popol Vuh_, p. cclxxvi.

[XI-47] _Título de los Señores de Totonicapan_, in _Popol Vuh_, pp. cclxxvi-vii.

[XI-48] _Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan_, in _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 501-3.

[XI-49] See p. 576, of this vol.

[XI-50] Cakchiquels and Pipiles almost constantly at war; _Squier's Cent. Amer._, p. 323; _Id._, in _Nouvelles Annales_, tom. cliii., p. 180.

[XI-51] _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, pp. 16-23. Fuentes used a history written by a son and grandson of the last king of Guatemala, _Müller_, _Amer. Urrel._, p. 454. Waldeck, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 46, declares the Guatemalan manuscripts not reliable, and states that the Macario manuscript used by Fuentes was badly translated.

[XI-52] _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, pp. 23-4.

[XI-53] The seventh according to the tables.

[XI-54] _Popol Vuh_, pp. 317-27; _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 125-9. There are some differences and omissions in the Spanish translation.

[XI-55] _Escolios_, in _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 168-9.

[XI-56] _Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan_, in _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 503-45.

[XI-57] _Escolios_, in _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 169-71.

[XI-58] _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, pp. 24-6.

[XI-59] _Id._, pp. 9-11, 35-9.

[XI-60] _Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan_, in _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., pp. 529-45.

[XI-61] _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, p. 26. It is impossible to connect this account in any way with the others.

[XI-62] _Ximenez_, _Escolios_, in _Hist. Ind. Guat._, pp. 172-3.

[XI-63] See p. 470 of this volume; _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. ii., p. 624.

[XI-64] _Brasseur_, _Hist._, tom. iv., pp. 619-51, with reference to _MS. Cakchiquel_, and other documents.