The Maya Chronicles Part 27

_Lai yabil_, "in this year," evidently a date is omitted, as the first arrival of the Spaniards at Chichen Itza was either at the close of 1526 or beginning of 1527. One of the Maya MSS. gives the year as _bulucil Muluc_, the 11th Muluc. The Maya year, it will be remembered, began on the 16th of July.

"It was on the memorable thirteenth of August, 1521, the day of St.

Hippolytus, that Cortes led his warlike array for the last time across the black and blasted environs which lay around the Indian capital, etc." Prescott, _Conquest of Mexico_, Book VI, chap. VIII. There is little doubt but that the tidings of the dreadful destruction of the mighty Tenocht.i.tlan was rapidly disseminated among the tribes far down into Yucatan and Central America, and made a profound impression on them.

This section is confused and difficult. Avila translates:--

"Fueron atacados por tercera vez los mismos Espanoles por todos los pueblos aqui en el pueblo de Cupul cuando hallaron a Ah Ceh Pech muriendose en una casa no embarrada y a su companero el otro Rey Cen Pot," etc.

18. The official date of the founding of the city of Merida was Jan. 6, 1542.

The anona or custard-apple does not seem to have been eaten by the natives, and it impressed them as strange and somewhat unnatural to witness the Spaniards suck them.

_Ca u tocahob nao bon Cupul_; this is translated by Senor Avila: "quemaron al capitan Cupul:" they burned the captain Cupul; but I take it to be a misreading for _ca u yotochob nacom Cupul_, and have so translated it. There is no account of a leader of the Cupuls having been burned, and, moreover, this is in accordance with -- 4.

Another important chronological statement is made in this section, to wit, that the year 1542 (I suppose July 16, 1541-July 15, 1542 is meant) was 13 Kan. As Pech has already told us that it was also the first year of the 9th Ahau Katun, we have the date fixed in both methods of reckoning, that is, by the Kin Katun as well as the Ahau Katun, according to the calendar which his family used.

19. The town of Tikom is still in existence, but I have not been able to find Popce on any of the maps. The Chels were a well known princely family in ancient Yucatan. The _Dicc. de Motul_ says their province was that of ?izantun.

26.[TN-30] The Don Juan Caamal whose acts are briefly sketched in this section is the same mentioned in the _auto_ given previously, page 117.

It is still a family name in Yucatan (Berendt, _Nombres Proprios en lengua Maya_, folio. _MS._)[TN-31]

21. The first mission to Yucatan was that of Fr. Jacobo de Testera, with some companions whose names have not been preserved, 1531 to 1534 (see Geronimo de Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, pp. 380, 665; Torquemada. _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. IX, cap. XIII, Lib. XX, cap.

XLVII). They were stationed at Champoton and did not penetrate the country. The next attempt was in 1537. Testera, then Provincial of Mexico, sent five Franciscan friars, who returned after two years of efforts. Their names are unknown (Cogolludo, _Historia de Yucatan_, vol.

I, pp. 175, 182). The third is the one referred to in the text. Its commissary was Fr. Luis de Villalpando, and its members were Fr. Lorenzo de Bienvenida, Fr. Melchor de Benavente, Fr. Juan de Herrera, Fr. Juan de Albalata, and Fr. Angel Maldonado. Five other missionaries came with Juan de la Puerta, in 1548 (Cogolludo).

22. The term _ahetzil_, I do not find, and translate it as _ahe?il_, the practice of conjuring, or sorcery. But it is quite possibly for _ahuitzil_, dwellers in the sierra. The next line is corrupt, and I can only guess at the meaning. The date, Nov. 9, 1546, is correct, and the history here given of the insurrection of the natives at that time is substantially the same as is told at length by Cogolludo (_Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. V, cap. VII).

27. The Auditor Tomas Lopez came from Guatemala (not Spain) to Yucatan in 1551 or 1552, and in the latter year promulgated his "Laws" for the government of the natives, many of which are given in Cogolludo's History.

The pa.s.sing reference to the cruelties of the Spaniards are more than borne out by the testimony of Fr. Lorenzo de Bienvenida. Writing to the King in 1548 he says:--

"En esta villa (Valladolid) se levantaron este ano de quarenta y siete los Indios * * * i este levantamiento por mal tratamiento que hacen a los Indios los Espanoles tomandoles las mugeres y hijos y dandoles de palos i quebrandoles las piernas i brazos i matandolos i desmasiados tributos i desaforados servicios personales, i si V^a Alt^a no provee de remedio con brevedad, no es possible permanecer esta tierra, digo de justicia. * * * *

"(El adelantado) dio la capitania a un sobrino que llaman Manso Pacheco.

Nero no fue mas cruel que este. Este paso adelante y llego a una provincia que llaman _Chatemal_, estando de paz, i sin dar guerra los naturales la robo i les comio los mantenimientos a los naturales, i ellos huyendo a los montes de miedo de los Espanoles porque en tomando alguno luego lo aperreaban, i desto huian los Indios i no sembraban i todos murieron de hambre, digo todos porque habia pueblos de a quinientos casas i de a mil, i el que agora tiene ciento es mucho; provincia rica de cacao. Este capitan por sus proprias manos exercitaba las fuerzas, con un garrote mate muchos i decia, 'este es buen palo para castigar a estos;' i desque lo habia muerto, 'O, quan bien lo de.' Corto muchos pechos a mugeres, i manos a hombres i narices i orejas i estaco, i a las mugeres ataba calabazas a los pies i las echaba en las lagunas ahogar por su pasatiempo, i otras grandes crueldades." _Carta de Fr.

Lorenzo de Bienvanida,[TN-32] 1548. MS._

28. The town Conah Itza, or Con Ahitza, Con of the Itzas, may refer to the seaport, Coni, the eastern coast, where Montejo landed on his first expedition. Bishop Toral did not arrive in Yucatan until 1562, so the mention of him proves that this narrative was written after that date.

29. No such person as Juan de Montejo is known.

30. _Yocol peten_; so it is first spelled in the original ma.n.u.script, and afterwards altered to _Yucalpeten_. This latter occurs as a name applied to the peninsula, or a portion of it, in a number of pa.s.sages of the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel. These have been quoted by the Canon Crescencio Carrillo in a recent work (_Historia Antigua de Yucatan_, pp. 137, 140, Merida, 1882), to support his view that the name Yucatan is an abbreviation of Yucalpeten.

Apart from the difficulty of explaining such an extensive abbreviation, which is not at all in the spirit of the Maya tongue, the words of Pech in this section and -- 33 conclusively prove that the two names are entirely distinct in origin. Carrillo is of opinion that _yucal_ should be divided into _y_, _u_, _cal_, and he translates the name "la perla de la garganta de la tierra continente." This appears far-fetched.

_Yocal_ is probably merely _yoc hail_, upon the water (_il_, determinative ending denoting what water); hence _yocal peten_, the region upon the water, applied to Yucatan or some part of its coast district. The _h_ is nearly mute and frequently elided, as in _ocola_ (_ocol haa_) to baptize.

A prophecy of the priest Pech, which is perhaps the one here referred to, appears in several of the Books of Chilan Balam, and also Spanish translations of it in the Histories of Lizana and Cogolludo, and a French version in Bra.s.seur's report of the _Mission Scientifique au Mexique_, etc.

The text is quite corrupt, but I insert it as I have emended it from a comparison of three copies.

U THAN AHAU PECH AHKIN.

Tu kinil uil u natabal kine, Yume ti yokcab te ahtepal.

Uale can?it u katunil, Uchi uale hahal pul.

Tu kin kue yoklal u kaba, In kubene yume.

Ti a-uich-ex tu bel a uliah, Ahitza, U yum cab ca ulom.

Than tu chun ahau Pech ahkin, Tu kinil uil can ahau katun, Uale tan hi?il u katunil.

THE WORD OF THE LORD PECH, THE PRIEST.

At that time it will be well to know the tidings, Of the Lord, the ruler of the world.

After four katuns, Then will occur the bringing of the truth.

At that time one who is a G.o.d by his name, I deliver to you as a lord.

Be your eyes on the road for your guest, Men of Itza, When the lord of the earth shall come.

The word of the first lord, Pech, the priest, At the time of the fourth katun, At the end of the katun.

The only line in which I have taken much liberty with the text is the fifth, where, after the word _kue_, one MS. reads: _yok taa ba akauba_, and another, _yok lac kauba_, neither of which is intelligible.

If the date a.s.signed in these lines be a correct one, they were delivered by the prophet in 1469. It is not impossible. The words are obscure and the prediction so indistinct that it might quite well have been made by an official augur at that time.

31. Nachi Cocom, head of the ancient and powerful Cocom family, ruled at Zotuta when Montejo made his settlement at Merida, and was a determined enemy of the Spaniards. He was defeated in 1542, in a sanguinary battle, and then accepted terms of peace. I have in my possession the copy of a survey which he made of the lands of the town of Zotuta in 1545, when he was evidently on good terms with the Conquerors.

32. The names Chan, Catzim and Chul belong to well known ancient Yucatecan families, and many who bear them are still found among the natives (Berendt, _Nombres Proprios en Lengua Maya_, MS.)[TN-33]

The words Zacuholpatal Zacmutixtun are rendered by Avila as proper names, and I have followed his example. I have not found a satisfactory explanation of them.

33. The day _One Imix_ was a day of peculiar sanct.i.ty in ancient Yucatan. Landa makes the rather unintelligible a.s.sertion that the count of their days, or their calendar, invariably commenced on that day (_Relacion_, p. 236).

Imix is the 18th day of the month, and it is possibly[TN-34] that it and the two following days were used for intercalary days.

More to the purpose of explaining the prophecy in the text is the statement of Francisco Hernandez, who, as reported by Bishop Las Casas, relates that in the mythology of the Mayas, the G.o.d or G.o.ds Bacab, those who support the four corners of the heaven and who are identified with the "year bearers" or Dominical days of the calendar, died on the day One Imix, and after three days came to life again. (Las Casas, _Historia Apologetica de las Indias Occidentales_, cap. CXXIII.) This has reference apparently to the intercalary days Imix, Ik, and Akbal, which were counted so as to allow the next Kin Katun period to begin on I[TN-35] Kan. I have explained this theory fully in a paper, "Notes on the Codex Troano and Maya Chronology," in the _American Naturalist_, Sept. 1881. Naturally this was supposed by the Spanish missionaries to be a reference to Christian traditions.

_Ca tip u chemob_, when the ships were rocking; _tipil_ represents the slipping and sliding movement of a partially submerged or hidden body; thus the beating of the heart and the pulse is _tipilac_. _Ca yumtah banderas ob_, when the banners waved; _yumtah_ is to swing to and fro as a hamack or a flag. _Piixtahob_, from _pixitah_, to unreel or reel off yarn, etc., from a spindle. I suppose it refers to letting go the anchor.

The derivation of the name Yucatan here given is interesting, for several reasons. In the first place, it makes it evident that Pech did not believe it was an abbreviation of Yucalpeten (see ante, page 255).

Again, although it has very often been stated that the name arose from a misunderstanding of some native words by the Spaniards, there has been no uniformity of opinion as to what these words were. Several of the phrases suggested have been such as have no meaning in the Maya tongue; (see full discussions of the question in Eligio Ancona, _Historia de Yucatan_, Vol. I, pp. 219, 220, and Crescencio Carrillo, _Historia Antigua de Yucatan_, cap. V.) As given by Pech it is perfectly intelligible and good Maya. Without syncope it would be "_Matan ca ubah a than_" shortened to "_Ma c'ubah than_,[TN-36] "We do not understand your speech." Pech is in error, however, in supposing that the name arose on the arrival of Montejo; it was in use immediately after the expedition of Cordova (1517), and if Bernal Diaz was correct in his recollection, was applied to the land by the Indians Cordova brought back to Cuba with him from the Bay of Campeachy. (See Bernal Diaz, _Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva Espana_, cap. VII.)

34. This is no doubt the same occurrence which is described at considerable length by Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. III, cap. VI.

But the details differ very much and the names of the messengers and the chief to whom they were sent are not identical. I believe this discrepancy can be explained, but it would extend this note too far to go into the subject here. The word _yacatunzabin_, which Avila renders "en dicha cueva," seems a compound of _y_, _actun_, _zabin_. The last is the name of the weasel; _actun_ means both a cave and a stone house. By some it is supposed to be a compound of _ac_, tortoise, and _tun_, stone, a cave resembling a hollow tortoise sh.e.l.l.

35. _Yoklal maix u lukul yol nacomob_, "porque no se cansaban los capitanes" (Avila).

36. Pech adds a list of the names of Conquistadores which I have not inserted, as it is less complete than that found in Cogolludo.

39. _Ma u manbal c.u.n.tahbalob u chinal_; Avila translates this "that they shall not destroy"; but the word _c.u.n.tahbal_, from _cun_, _c.u.mtah_, means that which is to be enchanted, and _chinal_ is the throwing of stones. I suppose, therefore, it refers to some act of shamanism the design of which was to injure a neighbor.