The Maya Chronicles Part 22

6. The twelfth ahau: the stone of Otzmal was taken.

The tenth ahau; the stone of Zizal was taken.

The eighth ahau; the stone of Kancaba was taken.

The sixth ahau; the stone of Hunnacthi was taken.

7. The fourth ahau; the stone of Ahtiku was taken; in this katun took place the pestilence, in the fifth year in the fourth ahau katun.

The second ahau; the stone of Chacalna was taken.

The thirteenth ahau; the stone of Euan was taken.

8. The eleventh ahau: in the time of its beginning, the stone of Coloxpeten was taken; in this katun died Ahpula Napotxiu, in the first year of the eleventh ahau; it was also in this katun that the Spaniards first arrived here in this land, in the seventh year of the eleventh ahau katun; also Christianity began in the year fifteen hundred and nineteen, the year of our Lord 1519.

9. The ninth ahau; no stone was taken at this time; in this katun first came the bishop Brother Francisco Toral; he arrived in the sixth year of the ninth ahau katun.

The seventh ahau; no stone was taken: in this katun died Bishop Landa; then also ended the bishop his successor.

The fifth ahau.

The third ahau.

NOTES.

1. The writer begins with the 12th ahau, although nothing is noted until the 6th. Here we have the brief entry _paxciob ahoni_. This might be translated "those of Oni were driven out or scattered." But no such locality is known or mentioned elsewhere. The _Diccionario de Motul, MS._ gives the meaning of _ahoni_ as "pulido, galan, muy bien vestido,"

_ahoni a talel ex_, "you come very well dressed." I suppose, therefore, that it was a term applied to some early tribe who distinguished themselves in comparison with their ruder neighbors by elegance of costume. Later we shall find a similar term, "breechless foreigners,"

applied to another tribe whose condition of nudity suggested their appellation.

The name Kinich Kakmo is mentioned by Cogolludo as that of an idol worshiped at Itzamal. He says:--"They had another temple on another mound in the northern part of the city, and this, from the name of an idol which they worshiped here, they called _Kinich Kakmo_, which means the sun with a face. They say that the rays were of fire and descended at mid-day to consume the sacrifice, as the vacamaya flies through the air (which is a bird something like a parrot, though larger in size, and with finely colored feathers). They resorted to this idol in time of mortality, pestilence or much sickness, both men and women, and brought many offerings. They said that at mid-day a fire descended and consumed the sacrifice in the sight of all. After this the priests replied to their inquiries about the sickness, famine or pestilence, and thus they learned their fate; although it often turned out quite the contrary of what he predicted." (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. VIII.)

The t.i.tle given by Cogolludo to the divinity appears to have also been adopted by the ruling chief, who may also have been the high priest. It is both imperfectly and incorrectly translated by the historian. Its components are _kin_, the sun, day; _ich_, the eye, the face; _kak_, fire; _moo_, the macaw, _Psittacus Macao_, deemed sacred throughout Mexico and Central America, on account of its beautiful plumage. The full translation of the name is "the Eye of Day, the Sacred Bird of Fire," a symbolic name of a solar deity.

The Chan family is mentioned by Sanchez Aguilar (_Informe contra Idolum Cultores_, etc.), as among the princely houses of Yucatan at the date of the Conquest.

_Paxci u cah_, "the town," that is, Chichen Itza. The writer composed his chronicle at that place, so he does not think it necessary to name it specifically. The distance in a straight line from Chichen Itza to Itzamal is 40 geographical miles.

2. _Yala_, the remainder, from _ala_, above, over. A portion of the Itzas remained in Chichen after the attack by Kinich Kakmo; these also now leave it.

3. The place _Xuluc mul_ is unknown in the present geography of the peninsula. It means "the completed mounds," _mul_ being, as I have before remarked, the name given to the artificial pyramids and tumuli of stone so common in the peninsula, probably so called from the joint labor of many in their construction.

The province of Zaclactun-Mayapan is also unknown, although there is a hacienda Zaclactun within the boundaries of the modern district of Itzamal (Berendt, _Nombres geograficos en Lengua Maya_, MS.). The name apparently means "the place where white pottery is made."

4. _Ti chibil uinic_ "for men to be eaten;" _chibil_, the pa.s.sive of _chii_, to eat. The _Diccionario de Motul_ gives _chibil bak_, flesh to be eaten. _Pic_ was the breech cloth or waist cloth, fastened around the waist and falling to the knees, which was the common dress of the women.

The Dictionary just quoted translates the word, "naguas de Indias que se sirven de saya o faldellin ordinario, para cubrir desde la cintura abajo; y son las blancas sin color ni bordado." The phrase _ixma pic ?ul_, foreigners without a breech cloth, intimates that they were nude.

Who were these naked cannibals, who raided the provinces in order to obtain their unnatural food? Those daring navigators, those naked man-eaters, the Caribs, from whose name our word _cannibal_ is derived, at once suggest themselves. Curiously enough, the Abbe Bra.s.seur has argued for the probability of their invasions upon other (though I think insufficient) grounds (see his _Informe acerca de las Ruinas de Mayapan y de Uxmal_). This pa.s.sage of the chronicle renders his theory probable.

5. _Peten tan cah Mayapan_ could also be rendered, "the district Tancah Mayapan."

6. _Chabi Otzmal u tunile_, "the stone of Otzmal was taken." Otzmal was a locality under the rule of the Cocomes. (Cogolludo, _Historia_, Lib.

III, cap. VI.) Other versions read Itzmal and Uxmal. The reference is to the _u he? katun_, the setting up of the Katun-stone as a memorial at the end of each period of twenty years. Incomplete descriptions of this ceremony are given by Landa, _Relacion_, -- IX, and Cogolludo, _Historia_, Lib. IV, cap. IV. I propose a more extended examination of this question in a future volume of this series, devoted to doc.u.ments relating to the calendars and chronology of the Central American nations.

8. The death of Ahpula Napot Xiu is given with minuteness but not in accordance with previous chronicles. In 1519 Cortes touched at the Island of Cozumel, and that might have been a.s.sumed as the date of the commencement of Christianity.

FOOTNOTES:

[167-1] caua.

[167-2] cahiob.

[168-1] Toral.

V. THE CHIEF KATUNS.

_From the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel._

The doc.u.ment which follows is brief, but of peculiar interest. It does not appear to aim at a connected history of events, but in the form of a chant to refer certain incidents to the katuns in which they occurred.

It has more of a mythological character, and the repet.i.tions remind one of the refrain of a song.

It is also found in the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel, and is inserted without explanation or introduction, copied, no doubt, from some ancient writing.

TEXT.

1. Can ahau u kaba katun; uchci u zihilob----[178-1]pauaha en cuh u yahauob.

2. [178-2]Oxhunte ti katun lic u tepalob, lay u kabaob tamuk u tepalob lae.

3. Can ahau u kaba katun; emciob [178-3]noh hemal, [178-4]?eemal, u kabaob lae.

4. Oxlahunte ti katun, lic u tepalob, lic u kabaticob, ti i ualac u cutob. Oxlahun cuthi, u cutob lae.

5. Can ahau u katunil; uchci u caxanticob u chicheen Ytzua; tii utzcinnahi mactzil tiob tumen u yumoobe. Cantzuc lukciob cantzucul cab u kabaob; likul ti likin kin colah peten bini huntzuci; [178-5]kul xaman naco cob [178-6]hok huntzucci; heix hoki huntzucci holtun cuyuua ti chikin; hoki huntzuccie canhek uitz, bolonte uitz u kaba u luumil lae.

6. Can ahau u katunil [178-7]uhci u payalob tu cantzuccilob can tzuccul cab u kabaob, ca emiob tu chicheen Ytzae ahYtza tun u kabaob. Oxlahunte ti katun, lic u tepalob; ca oci u kebanthan.o.bi tumen hunnac ceeli. Ca paxci u calob. Ca biniob tan yol che tan xuluc mul, u kaba. Can ahau u katunil; uchci yauat pixan.o.bi. Oxlahunte ti katun lic u tepalobi y u numyaobi.

7. Uaxac ahau u katunil; uchci yulelob yalaob ahYtza u kabaob. Ca ulob tii ca ualac u tepalob Chakanputun. Oxlahun ahau u katunii u he?ob cah mayapan mayauinic u kabaob. Uaxac ahau paxci u cahobi; ca uacchabi ti peten tulacal. Uac katuni paxiob, ca haui u Maya kabaob. Buluc ahau u kaba u katunil hauci u maya kabaob; Maya uinicob Christiano u kabaob tulacal u cuchcabal tzo ma Sanc Pedro y Rey ahtepale.

TRANSLATION.

1. The fourth ahau was the name of the katun; the births took place;--; the towns were taken possession of by the rulers.