“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 firstwho 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 namedTanupolchicbulwas 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 scatteredabroad, 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 Cuculcàn, 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 Cuculcàn, and also constructed around the wall the houses of the lords among whom Cuculcàn 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 hadcome, remaining in Champoton some time, where, in memory of his journey, he erected a building in the sea, which remains to thisday.”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 astan u pol chicbul, “in front of the head of the jay-bird,” thechicbulbeing what the Spaniards call themingo rey, which I believe is a jay (Beltran,Arte del Idioma Maya, p. 229). The other long name is a compound ofZuhuy kak camal cacal puc. The historian Cogolludo informs us thatZuhuy Kak, literally “virgin fire,” was the daughter of a king, afterwards deified as goddess of female infants (Historia de Yucatan, Lib. IV, cap. VIII).Camalwas and is a common patronymic in Yucatan;cacalpucmeans “mountainland,”121-1and 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 laterhunpel haab, one year,hunpiztun, the first year.
The correct translation ofpetenhas been debated; it is from the rootpet, 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 theDiccionario de Motul:
“Peten; isla,itemprovincia, 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, fromtepeual, to rule. This last word is marked in theDiccionario de Motulas a “vocablo antiquo.” It is of Aztec origin, as in theNahuatl languagetepeuanimeans “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 nameChacnouitanis elsewhere, as we shall see, spelledChacnovitanandChacnabiton. 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 “à 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 adverbuayalways 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 wordchacis 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 compoundChacnabiltanwould mean “toward or in the direction of Chacnabil” (seeItinerarios y Leguarios que proceden de Merida, etc., p. 15, Merida, 1851). The Itzas always remembered thePeten 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.
MayaEnglish3.Hunpel haab minan ti hokal haab, “one year lacking from five score years.”
The name Ahmekat is probably an old form forahmeknahorahmektan, both of which are given in theDiccionario de Motulfor chieftain, leader, captain.
MayaEnglish4.Lai tun, the relativelaiwith the particletun, which is called by Beltran a “particula adornativa.”uchciis the aorist of the defective verbuchul,uchi,uchuc, to happen, to take place, come to pass.Emobis the third plural ofemel, to descend, to disembark, arrive. Pio Perez translates the phraseca 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 wordchuulteI take to be an error of transcription foruchci, as it is so translated by Pio Perez. It is noteworthy that the wordchicpahci, “discovered,” conveys the sense that Chichen Itza was already in existence when the migration here recorded reachednorthenYucatan. It is fromchicul, 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 caanappears 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 Cħeen Itza was that of one of the grandest ancient cities of Yucatan.Cħeenis the name applied to a tract of low-lying fertile land, especially suitable to the production of cacao (Berendt);chiis edge or border. It is therefore a name referring to a locality, “on the border of thecħeenof the Itzas.”Cħeenalso means well or cistern, and another derivation is “at the mouth of the well,” aschican 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.
MayaEnglish5.Paxi, frompaaxal, a neuter form of the active verbpa, 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,” fromKuthe 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 Nahuatlpotonia, to smell badly, andchan, house (in composition). Elsewhere, however, we find it in the form Chakanputun, and this is Maya.Chakanis 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 theDiccionario de Motul, MS.
“Ahchakan: el que es de Mérida, o de los pueblos de aquella comarca, que se llamaChakan.”
The correct form of the name is probablyChakan peten, the savanna region.
MayaEnglish6. The only obscure expression in this section isyalan 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.”Abanorhabanis an obsolete word, only found in compounds, asyoxhaban, huts made of branches. Both it andakwere 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 ɔiic,Tu kin, hubulhub,Tu kin, coɔ yol chelem,Tu kin, eɔeleɔ,Tu kin, ox ɔalab u nak yaxche,Tu kin, ox chuilab xotem,Tu kin, pan tzintzinYetel banhob yalan che yalan haban.
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 ɔiic,Tu kin, hubulhub,Tu kin, coɔ yol chelem,Tu kin, eɔeleɔ,Tu kin, ox ɔalab u nak yaxche,Tu kin, ox chuilab xotem,Tu kin, pan tzintzinYetel 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.
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.
MayaEnglish7.Heɔob, fromheɔ,heɔeloreɔ, to fix firmly, to settle, to found:heɔel ca cah uaye, let us settle here, “poblamos aqui” (Dicc. de San Francisco, MS.).
MayaEnglish8. The founding of Uxmal by Ahcuitok Tutulxiu is recorded in this paragraph;ahcuiis the name of a species of owl,tokis the flint stone. By some old writers Uxmal is spelled Oxmal, which would give the meaning “to pass thrice,”ox, three,mal, to pass. Frommal, preteritemani, 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 thatUxmal 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 muchasquisucedieron al Padre Fray Alonzo Ponce, in theColeccion de Documentos para la Historia de España, vol. LVIII, p. 461.)
The phraseu heɔicab Ahcuitok Tutulxiu Uxmalis translated by Pio Perez “se pobló en Uxmal,”establishedhimself in Uxmal,” conveying the impression that he merely moved to that city. This is, however, not the sense of the original.Heɔicabis an active verb governing Uxmal as its direct object, and means to found firmly or promptly.
The expressionhalach 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.
MayaEnglish9. 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 Señor 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.
MayaEnglish10. This is one of the most obscure sections in the chronicle. The phrasetumenel u uahal uahobis rendered by Pio Perez “because he made war,” while Brasseur translates it “because of his great feasts.” The meaning of the rootuahis maize cakes, or, more generally, bread. TheDiccionario de Motulgives: “UAHIL; banquete, convite ô comida,” which is in favor of Brasseur’s translation.
Oxlahun uuɔ, “thirteen divisions;”uuɔoruuuɔmeans 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 thePopol Vuhthat 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: thusoxlahun 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 phraseu ɔabal u natobis 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 fromula, 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 ôkatundel 8º ahau fueron á destruir al rey Ulmil porque le hacia la guerra al rey de Izamal Ulil. Trece divisiones de combatientes tenia cuando los dispersó Hunac-eel para escarmentarlos: la guerra se concluyó en el 6º ahau á los 34 años.”
Translation of Brasseur.
“C’est dans la même période du Huit Ahau qu’ils allèrent attaquer le roi Ulmil, à cause de ses grands festins avec Ulil, roi d’Ytzmal: ils avaient treize divisions de troupes, lorsqu’ils furent défaits par Hunac-Eel, par celui qui donne l’intelligence. Au Six Ahau, c’en etait fait, après 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,”hunacin composition means much, great, andceel, cold, also the fright and terror which makes one shiver as with cold (“espanto, asombro ô turbacion que causa frió.”Dicc. de Motul,MS).
MayaEnglish11. This important section describes the destruction of the great city of Mayapan, which occurred somewhere betweenA.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 “fué 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 expressionmultepal, frommul, to do an act jointly, or in common, andtepal, 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 ofAhuitzilɔul, foreign mountaineers.Ɔul, 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 understoodahuitzil, “los que tenian sus ciudades en la parte montañosa.” This is probably correct, thoughwe do not know to whom this appellation refers. Yet it may be added that another meaning can be given to the phrase;uitzis 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 calledmuul.132-1In this senseahuitzil ɔulshould be rendered “foreigners who had great pyramids.”
The wordstan 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.
MayaEnglish12. “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.
MayaEnglish13.Mayacimil, “the death of the Mayas,” a term applied to a general and fatal pestilence. Such are referred to by Landa (Relacion, § X.) and Cogolludo (Historia de Yucatan, Lib. IV, cap.VI),TheDiccionario de Motul, MS. has this entry:
“Mayacimil: una mortandad grande que fué 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 expressionu 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.
MayaEnglish14.Kul uincob, “mighty men,” fromkul, strong, powerful, probably akin toku, god, but not with the religious signification whichkuyenhas (see page125).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.
MayaEnglish15. 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.
MayaEnglish16. 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 markedYokha, marked with a cross. This is no doubt the reference in the text.
MayaEnglish17. The Auditor Don Tŏmas 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).
MayaEnglish18. Doctor Don Diego Quijada arrived in Yucatan in 1562, and remained until 1565.
MayaEnglish19. When Landa was provincial, 1562-65, various Indians were hanged on account of the prevalence of suicide.
MayaEnglish20. What Marshall is referred to is uncertain,thulubshould probably bechulub, and so I have translated it. Berendt suggestedca botab chulub, “when they paid for water,” the reference being to a great drought.
MayaEnglish21. An epidemic of measles and smallpox, in 1609, is referred to by Cogolludo (Lib. IX, cap. I).
MayaEnglish22. In 1610 three Indians of Tekax were hanged for having killed their chief Don Pedro Xiu (Cogolludo, Lib. IX, cap. I).
MayaEnglish23. 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.
89-1“No lo pudiendo sufrir los otros Señores, se conjuraron con el Señor de los Tutuxius, i acudiendo en Dia señalado à la Casa del Señor 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 Señor vivir en libertad en sus Pueblos, al cabo de quinientos Años, que se fundò, en la qual havian vivido con mucha Policia; i havria que se despoblò, segun la cuenta de los Indios, hasta que llegaron los Castellanos à Yucatàn, setenta Años. Cada Señor procurò de llevar los mas Libros de sus Ciencias, que pudò, à su Tierra, adonde hicieron Templos; i esta es la principal causa de los muchos Edificios, que hai en Yucatan. Siguiò toda su gente Ahxiui, Señor de los Tutuxius, i poblò en Mani, que quiere decir, ià pasò; como si dixese, hagamos Libro nuevo; i de tal manera poblaron sus Pueblos, que hicieron una gran Provincia, que se llama oi dia, Tutuxiù.” Herrera,Historia de las Indias Occidentales, Dec.IV, Lib.X, caps.II, III.90-1Historia de Yucatan, Lib.III, cap.VI.91-1I quote Dr. Berendt’s words. “Los datos historicós que publicò 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 pretendió ser descendiente del sacerdote de los Mayas que llegó à padrinar esta clase de escritos.”Chilam Balam, Articulos y Fragmentos en Lengua MayaMSS., Advertencia, p. vii.I have also in my collection a manuscript copy of what Yucatecan scholars call theCodice Perez, a mass of materials copied by Señor 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.”92-1The 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.92-2Crescencio 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.)95-1chichcunahthan.96-1uchuc.96-2haban.96-3ximbal.97-1ximbal.99-1chulub.116-1The Spanish word “poblar” does not mean to people an uninhabited country, but to found villages and gather the people into communities.120-1Historia de las Indias Occidentales Dec.IV, Lib. X, cap. II.121-1Cacalis reduplicated fromcab, land, province, town. The change frombtolis also seen incacalluum, “tierra buena para sembrar,”Diccionario de Motul; also in the town names Tixcacal, Xcacal, etc.132-1“En toda la Peninsula existen unos cerros á mano ô monticulos artificiales, que comunmente llaman los naturales en idioma MayaMuulen algunos lugares, y en otrosUitz.” Don Jose T. Cervera in theRevista de Merida, Dec. 3, 1871.
89-1“No lo pudiendo sufrir los otros Señores, se conjuraron con el Señor de los Tutuxius, i acudiendo en Dia señalado à la Casa del Señor 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 Señor vivir en libertad en sus Pueblos, al cabo de quinientos Años, que se fundò, en la qual havian vivido con mucha Policia; i havria que se despoblò, segun la cuenta de los Indios, hasta que llegaron los Castellanos à Yucatàn, setenta Años. Cada Señor procurò de llevar los mas Libros de sus Ciencias, que pudò, à su Tierra, adonde hicieron Templos; i esta es la principal causa de los muchos Edificios, que hai en Yucatan. Siguiò toda su gente Ahxiui, Señor de los Tutuxius, i poblò en Mani, que quiere decir, ià pasò; como si dixese, hagamos Libro nuevo; i de tal manera poblaron sus Pueblos, que hicieron una gran Provincia, que se llama oi dia, Tutuxiù.” Herrera,Historia de las Indias Occidentales, Dec.IV, Lib.X, caps.II, III.
89-1“No lo pudiendo sufrir los otros Señores, se conjuraron con el Señor de los Tutuxius, i acudiendo en Dia señalado à la Casa del Señor 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 Señor vivir en libertad en sus Pueblos, al cabo de quinientos Años, que se fundò, en la qual havian vivido con mucha Policia; i havria que se despoblò, segun la cuenta de los Indios, hasta que llegaron los Castellanos à Yucatàn, setenta Años. Cada Señor procurò de llevar los mas Libros de sus Ciencias, que pudò, à su Tierra, adonde hicieron Templos; i esta es la principal causa de los muchos Edificios, que hai en Yucatan. Siguiò toda su gente Ahxiui, Señor de los Tutuxius, i poblò en Mani, que quiere decir, ià pasò; como si dixese, hagamos Libro nuevo; i de tal manera poblaron sus Pueblos, que hicieron una gran Provincia, que se llama oi dia, Tutuxiù.” Herrera,Historia de las Indias Occidentales, Dec.IV, Lib.X, caps.II, III.
90-1Historia de Yucatan, Lib.III, cap.VI.
90-1Historia de Yucatan, Lib.III, cap.VI.
91-1I quote Dr. Berendt’s words. “Los datos historicós que publicò 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 pretendió ser descendiente del sacerdote de los Mayas que llegó à padrinar esta clase de escritos.”Chilam Balam, Articulos y Fragmentos en Lengua MayaMSS., Advertencia, p. vii.I have also in my collection a manuscript copy of what Yucatecan scholars call theCodice Perez, a mass of materials copied by Señor 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.”
91-1I quote Dr. Berendt’s words. “Los datos historicós que publicò 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 pretendió ser descendiente del sacerdote de los Mayas que llegó à padrinar esta clase de escritos.”Chilam Balam, Articulos y Fragmentos en Lengua MayaMSS., Advertencia, p. vii.
I have also in my collection a manuscript copy of what Yucatecan scholars call theCodice Perez, a mass of materials copied by Señor 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.”
92-1The 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.
92-1The 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.
92-2Crescencio 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.)
92-2Crescencio 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.)
95-1chichcunahthan.
95-1chichcunahthan.
96-1uchuc.
96-1uchuc.
96-2haban.
96-2haban.
96-3ximbal.
96-3ximbal.
97-1ximbal.
97-1ximbal.
99-1chulub.
99-1chulub.
116-1The Spanish word “poblar” does not mean to people an uninhabited country, but to found villages and gather the people into communities.
116-1The Spanish word “poblar” does not mean to people an uninhabited country, but to found villages and gather the people into communities.
120-1Historia de las Indias Occidentales Dec.IV, Lib. X, cap. II.
120-1Historia de las Indias Occidentales Dec.IV, Lib. X, cap. II.
121-1Cacalis reduplicated fromcab, land, province, town. The change frombtolis also seen incacalluum, “tierra buena para sembrar,”Diccionario de Motul; also in the town names Tixcacal, Xcacal, etc.
121-1Cacalis reduplicated fromcab, land, province, town. The change frombtolis also seen incacalluum, “tierra buena para sembrar,”Diccionario de Motul; also in the town names Tixcacal, Xcacal, etc.
132-1“En toda la Peninsula existen unos cerros á mano ô monticulos artificiales, que comunmente llaman los naturales en idioma MayaMuulen algunos lugares, y en otrosUitz.” Don Jose T. Cervera in theRevista de Merida, Dec. 3, 1871.
132-1“En toda la Peninsula existen unos cerros á mano ô monticulos artificiales, que comunmente llaman los naturales en idioma MayaMuulen algunos lugares, y en otrosUitz.” Don Jose T. Cervera in theRevista de Merida, Dec. 3, 1871.
From the Book of Chilan Balam of Tizimin.
Tizimin is a town of some importance, in the district of Valladolid, about a hundred miles east of Merida. The “Book of Chilan Balam” which was found there is one of the most ancient known, and appears to have been written about the close of the sixteenth century. It is now in the possession of the eminent antiquary, the Canon Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona, of Merida, who has described it in his work on Mayaliterature.136-1It contains 26 leaves, without numeration, and on the 17th this chronicle is inserted without title or prefatory remarks. It is evidently a version of that previously given from the Book of Mani, although a few additional particulars are stated, and there seems to have been an attempt to arrange the epochs in more completeness.
This has led to the insertion of a number of katuns which I think it evident do not properly come into the count. To correct the list the katuns 8th, 6th, and 4th, mentioned in §2, should be considered the same as 8th, 6th, and 4th, repeated in §3 and §4. Again, in section 11, the 8th katun, on which the attack on Mayapan occurs, is to be considered the same as the 8th with which §12 begins, and the whole of the 25 katuns which are either stated to have intervened, or must be added in order to make the series correct, are to be omitted. Finally, the 8th katun at the close of §10 should immediately follow the 10th at the close of §8.
TEXT.
1.Uaxac ahau.
Uacahau
Can ahau.
Cabilahau—138-1cakalhab catac humppel hab tu humpiztun ahoxlahunahau.
Notes2.Oxlahun ahau.
Uaxac ahau.
Uac ahau.
Ca ahau; kuchci chacnabiton mekat tutul xiu, humppel hab mati hokal hab.
Notes3.Uaxac ahau; uch cuchi138-2canpahalchicħen Ytza; uch cu chicpahal tzucubte Zian can lae.
Notes4.Can ahau.
Cabil ahau.
Oxlahun ahau; lai tzolci pop.
5.Buluc ahau.
Bolon ahau.
Uuc ahau.
Ho ahau.
Ox ahau.
Hun ahau; lahunkal hab cu tepal chicħen Ytza, ca paxi ca binob t cahtal chakanputun ti yanhi yotochob ahYtzaob kuyan uinicobi.
Notes6.Uac ahau; chuccu lumil chakanputun.
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 chakanputun; oxlahunkal hab cu tepal chacanputun tumen Ytza139-1unincob;ca talob u tzaclob yotochob tucaten; ca u zatahob be chakanputun; lay u katunil139-2biciobahYtzaob yalan che, yalan haban, yalan ak ti numyaob.
7.Vac ahau.
Can ahau; cakal hab ca talob u heɔ yotochob tu caten; ca u zatahob be chankanputun.
Cabil ahau.
Oxlahun ahau.
Buluc ahau.
Bolon ahau.
Vuc ahau.
Ho ahau.
Ox ahau.
Hun ahau.
Lahca ahau.
8.Lahun ahau; u heɔcicab ahzuitok tutulxiu uxmal; lahunkal hab cuchi ca heɔiob lum Uxmal.
9, 10.Buluc ahau.
Bolon ahau.
Uuc ahau.
Ho ahau.
Ox ahau.
Hun ahau.
Lahca ahau.
Lahun ahau.
Uaxac ahau; paxci u halach vinicil chicħen Ytza tu kebanthan hunac ceel, ah zinte yut chan, tzumte cum, taxal, pantemit, xuchvevet, Itzcoat, kakal cat, lai u kaba u uinicilob lae uuctulob tumen u uahal uahob y ytzmal ulil ahau: oxlahun uuɔ u katunilob ca paxob tumen hunac ceel, tumen u ɔabal u natob.
11.Uac ahau.
Can ahau; cakal hab ca chuci u lumil ahau, tumen u kebanthan hunac ceel.
Cabil ahau.
Oxlahun ahau.
Buluc ahau.
Bolon ahau.
Uuc ahau.
Ho ahau.
Ox ahau.
Hun ahau.
Lahca ahau.
Uaxac ahau; uchci puchtun ich paa Mayapan tumen u pach tulum, tu tumen multepal ich cah mayapan.
Uac ahau.
Cabil ahau; oxlahun tun mani ɔulob u yaxil cob u lumil Yucatan tzucubte; cankal hab catac oxlahun pizi.
Buluc ahau.
Bolon ahau.
Uuc ahau.
Ho ahau.
Ox ahau.
Hun ahau.
Lahca ahau.
Lahunahau,
Uaxac ahau.
Uac ahau.
Can ahau.
Cabil ahau.
Oxlahun ahau.
Buluc ahau.
12.Uaxac ahau; paxci cah mayapan tumenel vitzil ɔul; lahunkal hab catac cankal habi.
Notes13.Can ahau; uchi maya cimlal ocnalkuchil ych paa.
Cabil ahau; uchci nohkakil.
Oxlahun ahau;142-1uchcicimil ahpulha, uacppel hab u binel ca ɔococ u xol oxlahun ahau cuchie, ti yan u xocol hab ti lakin cuchie, canil kan, cumlahi pop hool han, tu holhun zip catac oxppeli, bolon imix u kinil cimci ahpulha laitun hab=1536 cuchi.
14.Buluc ahau; ulci ɔulob——kul uincob ti lakin u talob ca ulob uai tac lumile.
Bolon ahau; hopci xptianoil; uchci caputzihil; lai li ichil u katunil ulci yax obispo toral heix hab cu142-2xinbalcuchie—1544.
15.Vuc ahau; cimci obispo Landa ichil u katunil.
16.Ho ahau, ca yum cahi padre mani lai hab cuximbal cuchi la—1550; lai hab cu ximbal ca cahiob yok ha, 1552 cuchi.
17.1559, hab ca uli oydor ca paki spital.
18.1560, u habil ca uli Doctor quixada yax halach uinic uai ti lume.
19.1562, hab ca uchci chuitab.
20.1563, hab ca uli mariscal.
21.1569, hab ca uchi kakil.
22.1619, u habil ca hichi u cal143-1ahkaxob.
23.1611, hab ca ɔibtabi cah tumenel Jues.
TRANSLATION.
1.The eighth ahau.
The sixth ahau.
The fourth ahau.
The second ahau; four score years and one year to the first year of the thirteenth ahau.
Notes2.The thirteenth ahau.
The eighth ahau.
The sixth ahau.
The fourth ahau; Mekat Tutulxiu arrived at Chacnabiton; five score years lacking one year.
Notes3.The eighth ahau; it occurred that Chichen Itza was learned about; the discovery of the province of Zian can took place.
Notes4.The fourth ahau.
The second ahau.
The thirteenth ahau; then Pop was counted in order.
5.The eleventh ahau.
The ninth ahau.
The seventh ahau.
The fifth ahau.
The third ahau.
The first ahau; ten score years they ruled Chichen Itza, then it was destroyed and they went to live at Chakanputun, where were the houses of those of Itza, holy men.
Notes6.The sixth ahau; the land of Chakanputun 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; Chakanputun was abandoned; for thirteen score years Chakanputun was ruled by the men of Itza; then they came in search of their houses a second time; and they lost the road to Chakanputun; in this katun those of Itza were under the trees, under the boughs, under the branches, to their sorrow.
7.The sixth ahau.
The fourth ahau: two score years, and they came and established their houses a second time; when they lost the road to Chakanputun.
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.
8.The tenth ahau; Ahzuitok Tutulxiu founded Uxmal: ten score years had passed when they established the territory of Uxmal.
9, 10.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; the ruler deserted (depopulated) Chichen Itza, on account of theplot of Hunac Ceel; Ahzinteyut Chan, Tzumtecum, Taxal, Pantemit, Xuchueuet, Itzcoat, Kakalcat, these were the names of the seven men; on account of the banquet with Ulil, ruler of Itzmal; there were thirteen divisions of warriors when they were driven out by Hunac Ceel, in order that they might know what was to be given.
11.The sixth ahau.
The fourth ahau: two score years; then the ruler seized the land on account of the plot of Hunac Ceel.
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; fighting took place in the fortress Mayapan, on account of the seizure of the castle, and on account of the joint government in the city of Mayapan.
The sixth ahau.
The second ahau; on the thirteenth foreigners passed, they say for the first time, to this land, the province Yucatan; four score years and thirteen.
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.
The sixth ahau.
The fourth ahau.
The second ahau.
The thirteenth ahau.
The eleventh ahau.
12.The eighth ahau; Mayapan was depopulated by foreigners from the mountains; ten score years and four score years.
Notes13.The fourth ahau; the pestilence, the general death, took place in the fortress.
The second ahau; the smallpox took place.
The thirteenth ahau; the death of Ahpulha took place; it was the sixth year when endedthe count of the thirteenth ahau; the count of the year was from the east, (the month) Pop passed on the fifth kan; on the eighteenth of (the month) Zip, 9 Imix, was the day Ahpulha died; it was the year 1536.
14.The eleventh ahau; foreigners arrived—mighty men 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 Toral; the year which was passing was—1544.
15.The seventh ahau; bishop Landa died in this katun.
16.The fifth ahau; the Fathers settled at Mani; the year that was passing was 1550; in the year 1552 they settled upon the water.
17.1559; this year came the auditor and built the Hospital.
18.1560; this year arrived Doctor Quixada, the first governor here in this land.
19.1562; this year took place the hanging.