# History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas/Chapter 1

CHAPTER I The Pre-columbian History of the Mayas and of the Itzas, 1445

### THE PRE-COLUMBIAN HISTORY OF THE MAYAS AND OF THE ITZAS, 1445

IN general it may be said that the Maya culture occupied the peninsula of Yucatan, portions of the states of Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico, Guatemala, and the northern part of Honduras. That branch of the Mayas who called themselves the Itzas and who form the chief subject of this work occupied the southern portion of Yucatan and the greater part, of what is now the Department of Peten in Guatemala.
A few decades ago it was the fashion to credit the aboriginal peoples of America with a civilization of enormous antiquity. But the whole trend of modern scientific investigation tends to prove that the American continent was one of the last parts of the world to be settled and that, at the time of the Spanish conquest, the aboriginal cultures were certainly not more than three thousand or so years old. Even this estimate should be understood to include centuries of migratory shifting; and centuries of development along lines which eventually led to the erection of the earlier types of high culture in Middle and South America. Roughly speaking, the time of Christ coincides with the period at which the earliest high cultures in this hemisphere began to flourish.
For the sake of convenience we shall follow the chronology suggested by Mr. Morley (1915) and divide the pre-Columbian history of the Maya race into eight periods. The first seven of these periods we shall discuss briefly in this opening ​chapter; the eighth will furnish the subject matter for the remainder of the book. The dates given should be regarded as merely approximate.
| | | APPROXIMATE DATES |
| PERIODS | | A. D. |
| I | Migratory period | ?-200 |
| II | Golden Age or Old Empire | 200-600 |
| III | Colonization period | 450-700 |
| IV | Transitional period | 700-1000 |
| V | Renaissance or League period | 1000-1200 |
| VI | The period of the Toltec mercenaries | 1200-1450 |
| VII | Disintegration | 1450-1541 |
| VIII | Period of wars with Spain | 1519-1697 |
Before taking up our review of the first seven periods we must remind ourselves that the prehistoric cultures of Middle America have a certain unity, showing beyond doubt that they were all of a common origin. It is impossible to tell at what epoch the Maya became separate and distinct from the other highly cultured peoples scattered over Mexico and Central America. Fortunately, however, owing to the investigations in the Valley of Mexico, we have abundant material for the reconstruction of the sequence of cultures. Three successive strata of occupation have been found in the Valley of Mexico. The earliest of these, the Archaic, is also found in many other places throughout Mexico and Central America. There is some reason to suppose that this culture was at one time fairly uniform throughout the greater part of Middle America. The local developments seen in the Maya, the Zapotec, and the early Mexican cultures may have been the result of modifications of the Archaic culture. Above this Archaic stratum in the Valley of Mexico is found the Toltec or Teotihuacan culture. This is synchronous with late Maya of the sixth period on our table. Manifestations of its art are found in the latest buildings at Chichen Itza.
I. Migratory Period (?-200 A.D.). The two earliest dated Maya inscriptions that we have are those on the Tuxtla statuette and on the Leyden plate. (Morley, 1915, p. 194 ff.; Holmes, 1916.) The former is dated, in the Maya system of chronology, 8.6.2.4.17. (about 100 B.C.); the date on the latter ​is 8.14.3.1.12. (about 50 A.D.). Although, as Mr. Morley points out, these are the earliest dates we know of from the Maya area, it is to be noted that they do not differ essentially from the more recent inscriptions. They ought, therefore, to be regarded as introductory to the historic period, and it may be assumed that they were themselves preceded by many decades of development during which the first attempts at writing were gradually elaborated until the extremely complex Maya hieroglyphics were evolved in the form in which we know them.
II. The Golden Age or Old Empire of the Maya (200-600 A.D.). This period extended, roughly, from 9.2.10.0.0. (210) to 10.2.0.0.0. In this time many cities rose, flourished, and fell. Of these Palenque, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Tikal, Seibal, Quirigua, Copan, and Nakum are some of the more important. Like Seibal on the east and Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan on the west, Tikal and Nakum were not far from the Peten region to which our attention will be chiefly directed. Indeed, Lake Peten lies in what is almost the geographical center of the area formerly occupied by the ​Old Empire. It is significant, therefore, that Mr. Morley has found at the modern town of Flores (in Lake Peten) two stelae dated approximately 10.l.0.0.0. and 10.2.0.0.0. (580 and 600).
The various elaborate architectural features of the Old Empire cities have been fully examined by many writers, and it is, therefore, needless for us to speak of them except in the most general terms. One predominating feature of all the ruins is the excessive use of ornamentation. Because the country was devoid of any great natural elevations which would give an effective setting for their buildings, the people often used substructures of varying heights and superstructures of several sorts. If one may judge from the sculptures left by the inhabitants of the early cities, their life was mainly taken up with an extremely involved ritualistic religion which, in the hands of a priestly body, was at once the means by which they were ruled and the outlet for the artistic gifts which they undeniably had. Very probably the over-elaborate religion was responsible for the tremendous mass of detail to be seen in so many of the ruined cities. So great was the eagerness for space upon which to crowd ornamentation that an architectural feature which served no purpose other than that of affording more ample space for decoration was evolved. The roof-comb is found in a high degree of development at Yaxchilan and elsewhere. (Spinden, 1913, p. 112, fig. l48.) Sometimes, as at Tikal, this cumbersome construction was carried to such lengths that the area covered by walls was out of all natural proportion to that covered by rooms.
III. The Colonization Period (450-700 A.D.). This period is chiefly notable for us because it marks the beginning of documentary history and because the Itzas are first specifically mentioned in connection with it.
About 450 Ziyan Caan or Bakhalal was built, to be occupied only some sixty years. (Spinden, 1913, Table 2; Brinton, 1882, Chr. I.) According to Chronicle V the use of the name Itza dates from the founding of Chichen Itza, an event which took place about 510. At this time there also occurred important changes in the calendar system, an event symbolized in the Chronicles by the phrase “Pop was set in order.”
There is, then, in this period of colonization, a well-defined migration northward. The ancient cities in the south did not die out at once, and we may suppose that the sixth century of our era was a time of great cultural activity. It is interesting to know that the old Maya culture and the Tiahuanaco culture (the two greatest American civilizations) were probably in part at least contemporaries. (Cf. Means, 1917.)
The Chronicles are vague and divergent on the question of how long the first occupation of Chichen ltza lasted. Chronicle I says 120 years; Chronicle II says 200; Chronicle III says 240. As two of the three important Chronicles place the length of occupation at 200 years or more, we may assume that it lasted from about 500 to 700 of our era.
To this period we may confidently attribute some of the structures at Chichen. It has been shown that the Casa de Monjas at Chichen underwent several periods of construction. It is what Mr. Thompson has called “Old Chichen,” however, that is most surely associated with the period we are now ​discussing. In that portion of the ruins Mr. Thompson found a lintel dated 10.2.9.1.9. (about 610). As the building in which the lintel was found is one of a group that is quite distinct from the rest of the ruins, it may be believed that they all date from the first occupation.
We have, of course, no satisfactory data from which to derive an opinion as to the territorial expansion of the kingdom ruled from Old Chichen (if, indeed, it was ruled from there). Spinden (1913, p. 201), however, has found ample reason for believing that Xcalumkin, Xlabpak, Sayil, Kabah, and Tabi were flourishing at this period. Briefly, the presence of a modified form of the “manikin scepter” and of the stela (both characteristic of the ancient cities) convinces him that all these places were erected before the influence of the Old Empire cities had died out.
IV. Transitional Period (700-1000 A.D.). The Maya-Itza stock now reëntered upon their migrations. They moved, about 700, to Chakanputum, where they stayed until about 950. The Chronicles all agree as to the length of time the Itzas were at Chakanputum. Of this site we know little beyond the fact that Cortes, when he visited it in 1519, found a large village there.
Just before the Itzas left Champoton, or perhaps just after, Uxmal was founded by Ahcuitok Tutul Xiu, who, according to the tradition, probably came from the west. The lords of this city were destined to have an important part to play in the history of the Itzas. About the year 1000 the cities of Uxmal, Chichen, and Mayapan formed a confederation which has been called the League of Mayapan. After three or four hundred years of unrest after the disintegration of the Old Empire a New Empire was about to begin its career.
V. Renaissance or League Period (1000-1200 A.D.). In the Golden Age or Old Empire the civilization of the Maya race had centered about Lake Peten, in the extreme south of the peninsula of Yucatan. In the time of the New Empire the old cities in the south were gradually forgotten and new ones, quite as remarkable, sprang up in the northern portion of the peninsula. Three cities probably shared the sovereign power, ​forming, by their alliance, the celebrated League of Mayapan. These cities were Uxmal, ruled by the Xiu family, Mayapan, possibly ruled by the Cocom family, and Chichen Itza. The latter is, of course, our chief concern; but as it has been often described we will only say that it may have had, at one time, as many as one hundred thousand inhabitants and that the culture that throve there was of a high order. ​The political features of the League of Mayapan are difficult to describe with accuracy. Each of the three great cities had its ruling family. Below these was an order of personages called batab, each of whom held and ruled a portion of the country. The batab stood in much the same relation to the ruler of the large city as a medieval baron to the king. Doubtless each batab, ruling from his own city, had a hierarchy of officers under him. Probably Labna, Kabah, Chacmultun, Sayil, Hochob, Aké, Tihoo, Acanceh, Tinum, Kewick, and all the other cities in northern Yucatan were once seats of batabs who were more or less intimately connected with the ruler of one of the three great cities. There was ample machinery for the administration of justice, and crimes were fittingly punished. Such positions as the Halach Uinic (Real Man, i.e., king) of Mayapan and the office of batab of some lesser city usually were inherited according to the rules of primogeniture, but this custom could, for sufficient cause, be set aside.
VI. The Period of the Toltec Mercenaries (1200-1450 A.D.). However much in the dark we may be as to the details of the ​events which brought about the downfall of the League of Mayapan, we are in no doubt as to the main causes of its disruption. Speaking in very general terms, the situation was as follows. The ruler of Mayapan seems to have been the trouble maker. Becoming ambitious to extend his power over the other Halach Uinicil, he called in a number of mercenaries from Mexico. With the aid of these allies the Halach Uinic of Mayapan made himself master of the whole northern part of Yucatan, but he had to pay a heavy price in the shape of giving Chichen Itza to his allies.
During all these troubles the Xius at Uxmal seem to have preserved a certain amount of independence; certainly as time went on and as the power of Mayapan became more and more tyrannically oppressive, the Xius gradually became the champions of the oppressed. It was but natural that those of the Itza batabs who still remained at Chichen should resent the alien dominion placed over them. If we may believe Chronicle I, they made at least one attempt to get back their old power. The discontent of the Itza element of the population, a discontent always shared in by the Xius at Uxmal, continued to increase during two hundred and fifty years. In that period Chichen Itza, under the influence of its Toltec rulers, witnessed its final period of architectural development. The Ball Court, the Castillo, the Group of the Columns, and other buildings were erected under Toltec influence. It is easy to recognize and identify the structures of this period because they are usually distinguished by such features as serpent columns, tlaxtli or ball courts, Atlantean supports, feathered monsters, and speech scrolls.
About 1450 the inevitable revolution against the tyranny of the Toltecs took place, and with it civilization of the highest type came to an end.
VII. Disintegration (1450-1541 A.D.). Centralized feudalistic government destroyed, Yucatan fell into a sad plight. Where one or two strong states had been before there were now a score of weak ones. In the wars of this period the once great cities of the League were destroyed and abandoned; new and far less advanced cities were founded to take their place. The ​remnant of the Xiu family retired to Mani; the Comom became lords of Zotuta. Itzamal seems to have become a sacerdotal state under the dominion of the Chel family. The Itzas, in whom our chief interest lies, probably withdrew far to the south and founded their power in the region about Lake Peten. Brinton (1882, p. 25) gives this list of the small independent states found by the Spaniards:
* Acalan (Bahia de Terminos)
* Tixchel (Telchac)
* Kin Pech (Campeche)
* Chakanputun (Champoton)
* Canul
* Hocabajhumun
* Cehpech (Merida region)
* Zipatan (northwest coast)
* Choaca (northeast coast)
* Ekab (opposite Cozumel)
* Conil (north coast, west of Choaca)
* Chetemal (southem end of east coast)
* Taitza (Itza, Peten district)
* Ah Kin Chel (Itzamal region)
* Zotuta (Cocom state, between Merida and Valladolid)
* Mani (Xiu state, southwest of Zotuta)
In number 14 we recognize the Itzas of Peten. The close of this period of Disintegration (period VII) ushers in the eighth period, which will take up the remainder of our attention.
Note
It is well to present the account of the pre-Columbian history of the Mayas as given by Cogolludo. It will be seen to differ greatly from the more scientific view just given, but it presents points of interest. It will be found in lib. iv, cap. 3.
“Neither from the peoples who populated this Kingdom of Yucatan nor from their ancient Histories have I been able to find more than I shall say here. In some writings which those who first learned how to write left behind them, and which are in the native idiom (which is still used among the Indians), it says that some of the people came from the East and some from the West. With those who were from the Occident was one who, as it were, was a Priest of theirs, called Zamna; and they say that he it was who gave the names by ​which they are called in that tongue to all the Ports of the Sea, points of land, estuaries, coasts, and all the regions, sites, mountains (forests), and all the places of this entire land; and certain it is that it is a thing worthy of admiration if it was so, for such a division did he make of everything in order that each spot might be known by its own name that there is scarcely a palm of land which has not a name in their tongue. The opinion that the settlers came to this land from the Occident (although they do not know who they were nor how they came) is in accord with what Padre Torquemada says in his Monarquia Indiana. (Lib. iii, cap. 13.) This is, That the Teochichimecas, after that terrible battle with the Huexotzincas, remained lords of the territory of Tlaxcalan, and made peace with the other nations on account of the fame of that victory of theirs. These Teochichimecas must needs found their towns and distribute their lands in such a manner that they were constantly increasing their power and gradually occupying the country in such a way that in a little more than 300 years they had spread through the greater part of New Spain from one coast on the North to the other on the South, a territory which includes all the inland regions which are to the East, and especially those of this province of Yucathan as far as the province of Hibueras or Honduras. From this it seems that the Yucatecs are descended from Chichimec and Aculhua families which, coming from the West by way of the stopping-places told of by Father Torquemada in his first books, settled New Spain.
“If from the Orient came other peoples who settled in this land, there is among the people now there neither tradition nor writing, telling with certainty from whence they came nor what people they were, although, however, it is said (by some) that they came from the Island of Cuba. Difficulty arises now, for some came from some regions and others from very different ones, yet all speak a very ancient tongue, nor has there been any information saying that any other has existed in the land. But this might have been occasioned by some tribes being more numerous than others, or by reason of war, or by trade and communication which, by strengthening the relations of the one race with the other, may have caused the idiom, usages, and customs of those who were of the greatest number to prevail over and obliterate those of the less numerous people. From the very differences which exist between the Yucatec tongue and the Mexican, it seems that the Settlers of this land must have been they who came from the East; and they may even have been the most ancient people since the Indian Zamna who came with them was he who first gave names to the places and lands, as has been told already, for if the others had been the first, they would have done so. Padre Lizana says the opposite because, first calling attention to the fact that these Indians call the East Cenial, and the West, Nohnial, the first of which signifies Small Descent and the second Large Descent, he says: 'And it is a fact that they relate that from the East descended upon this land a small race and from the West a large one; and by that phrase do they understand little and much. East and West, few from the one, many from the other.' The Reader will judge which seems to him the better.
“This land of Yucathan, which the natives of it call Maya, was governed for a long time by a Supreme Lord, and the last descendant of these Lords was Tutul Xiu, he who was Lord of Mani and its neighborhood when, voluntarily, he came to do homage, making himself a friend of the Spaniards on the day of San Ildefonso, 1541, as has been told. Thus it appears that there has ever ​been in the land a Monarchical government which, according to the most weighty opinion among Writers, is the best for the conservation of Realms. This King had for the capital of his Monarchy a very populous City called Mayapan (from which must have been derived the name of this land, Maya); this capital, through wars and discords between the King and his vassals, and because justice lay only in the greatest power among them (unhappy the times in which the Supreme Lord has not a power equal to his justice), this government came to an end; many of the Lords and Caciques rebelled, each dominating the greatest amount of land he could, and being always engaged in continuous wars; thus the Spaniards found them (divided into estates, like Dukes and Counts, albeit without recognizing any Superior). When Yucathan was left entirely without a Supreme Lord, then the ambition of private persons who united their forces and banded together to effect their will, resulted in their ordering the destruction of the City of Mayapan, Capital of the Kingdom; they demolished it about the year of Our Lord fourteen hundred and twenty (according to the computation of the ages [Ahaus?] of the Indians) and about the 260th year of their establishment. By this rebellion he who was King and Supreme Lord of all Yucathan was left only with the Lordship of Mani whither he retired upon the destruction of the City of Mayapan which was where now are to be seen the ruins of buildings, near the Village of Telchaquillo. They left him with this small power partly because of the fidelity of those vassals who did not deny him obedience due, and partly because of the permission given by the rebels who knew that he had not now more strength than any of themselves....
“When the Lords of the City of Mayapan were ruling all the land was tributary to them. The tribute was in small cotton mantles, native fowl, some cacao in those places where it was got, and a resin which served as incense in the Temples, and all told it was very small in quantity. All the citizens and dwellers who lived within the City of Mayapan were free from tribute; and in the city all the nobles of the land had houses; and by the year 1582 (in which was written the relation from which all this is drawn) it is said that all those who were held to be Lords and nobles of Yucathan still remembered, in that place, their old lots. Now with the change of government and because of the slight estimation in which they are held... the descendants of Tutul Xiu, who was King and by right natural Lord, if they do not work with their hands at labor, have nothing to eat, and toil does not now seem to them unworthy of consideration. In ancient times, the nobles of Mayapan were wont to serve in the Temples of the Idols in the ceremonies and feasts which were by right assigned to them, assisting by day and by night; and though many themselves had vassals they recognized the Supreme Lord, and served him in his wars.
“They who dwelt without the City and in the rest of the Province were vassals and tributaries, not being of those who had houses there in the capacity of land-holders; but they were greatly favored by their Lords because they themselves served them as Advocates looking out for their welfare with great solicitude whenever anyone asked that it be so. They (the vassals and tributaries) were not obliged to live in assigned Villages since they had license to live and to marry with whomsoever they wished; the object of this was to ensure multiplication, for they said that if the people were hampered, there could not fail to result a diminution. Lands were held in common, and so between the Villages there were no boundaries or landmarks to divide them; ​although it is true that between one Province and another because of wars, save some fields for sowing fruit-bearing trees and land which had been bought for some purpose of improvement [incomplete sentence in the Spanish]. Also the salt-works which are on the Shores of the Sea were held in common, and those who dwelt nearest to them were wont to pay tribute to the Lords of Mayapan with salt which they had got....
“The Lords were absolute in power and caused their orders to be executed with severity. There were Caciques placed in the Villages, or some other leading person to hear suits and public demands. This officer received the litigants or disputants, heard the cause of their coming, and, if the matter were a grave one, talked it over with the Lord. In order to try the case, other Ministers were appointed who were like Advocates and Constables and who always attended in the presence of the judges.... They were not in the habit of writing down the lawsuits, although they had characters (of which many are to be seen in ruins of their buildings). All was set forth in words by means of the Ministers before referred to, and what was then and there determined remained valid and permanent without either of the parties venturing to work against it. But if the affair which was to be tried concerned many, they had a great meeting of all the interested together; then the gist was communicated, upon which followed the decision of the matter.
“In sales and contracts they had neither writings to oblige them to keep their word nor promissory notes with which to give satisfaction, but still the contract remained valid provided only that the parties drank together publicly before witnesses. This was particularly the usage in sales of slaves or of cacao-lands, and even today (it is said) they use it still among themselves in the sale of horses and cattle. The debtor never denied the debt even though he could not pay at once; but all was made certain by the debtor's confessing his debt, for the wife, children and relatives of the debtor would pay the debt after his death....
“in the wars which because of their ambition they made upon one another, some were taken prisoners, those of the conquered who were taken remaining slaves. In this situation they were very rigorous, treating the enslaved with asperity, and making use of them in all sorts of bodily labor.
“In food-supplies there were no bargains, because they were always fixed at one price, save Maize, which was wont to go up when crops were poor, but it never passed what it is now worth, a real or so, the load (which is half a Castillian fanega).
“The money that they used was little bells and jingles of copper, which had value according to their size, and some red shells, which were brought from far away from this land, which they strung, after the manner of rosaries. Also they used as money grains of cacao, and of those they made the most use in commerce, and certain precious stones and discs of copper brought from New Spain which they exchanged for other things, as happens elsewhere....”
Cogolludo (lib. iv, cap. 5) continues with the following account of the customs:
“For display and on gala occasions, they used to scarify themselves with certain small points of stone on the breasts, arms and thighs; they even went so far as to draw blood, and in the wounds they rubbed a black earth or powdered carbon. When they scarified with these knives the scars remained, shaped like Eagles, serpents, birds and animals, and they perforated the nose ​as well.... The Cupules, who are the people of the territory of the Town of Valladolid, used this practice a great deal.
“In the times of their heathenry, as now, they danced and sang after the manner of the Mexicans, and they used to have, as indeed they still do have, a chief Singer (or Chanter) who intones, and who appoints what they shall sing; and him they venerate and reverence, giving him an honorable seat in Church, and at their assemblies and weddings. They call him Holpop, and in his charge are the kettle-drums or Tuncules and other musical instruments, such as the flutes, little trumpets, tortoise-shells, and others that they used. The Tuncul is of thick wood, and there are some so large that they can be heard at a distance of two leagues to leeward. To the accompaniment of these instruments they sing their fables and old legends; all this will be reformed, or rather, the Religious have already done so in many places, giving the Indians Histories of Saints and some of the Mysteries of the Faith to sing, at least at public dances, Easter celebrations, and festivities, so that the ancient times will be forgotten.
“They have Babblers [Farfante-babbler, boaster; may mean jester, buffoon] who repeat fables and ancient Histories, which I am certain would be well done away with, or at least the costumes in which they are represented, because it appears that they are like those of their Heathen Priests; and when there is no worse harm than the preservation among them of that memory, it appears a very pernicious thing, for it inclines them all the more to the idolatrous practices which they indulge in when wearing the costume; but every one will have his own opinion in this matter, conformable, more or less, to what his observation has taught him. The babblers are apt to be graceful at mottoes and in the witty sayings which they tell to their elders and Judges if they are over-rigourous, ambitious, avaricious, laying before them the events that have taken place and even that which concerns the officer's own duties. They thus speak to the officers' very faces, and sometimes they rebuke them with a single word. But he who would understand them must be a great linguist and must listen well. They are very dangerous, these representations, when they are held at night and in the Indians' own houses. For God knows what goes on there, and at the very least many of them end up in drunkenness. They call these Farfantes Balzam, and they apply the word metaphorically to him who is talkative and scurrilous; and in their representations they mimic birds.
“They held, and still do hold, banquets on the occasion of weddings and betrothals, using up in one day many turkeys that they have been breeding for a whole year. Those who are leaving the office of Alcalde entertain those who are entering it, on the pain of disgrace, and on election nights there is much drunkenness.
“The Indians of this land were and are very dextrous with the bow and arrows, and so they are mighty huntsmen, and they grow dogs so that they may fetch deer, wild boar, badgers, Tigers, some little Lions, rabbits, armadillos, iguanas, and other animals. They shoot with their arrows peacocks [sic], some birds they call faysanes [pheasants], and many others.
“At present they are great imitators of all the different sorts of handiwork that are made, and so they learn all the trades with ease. There are many Indians in their villages, beside those who live in the City and in the Towns, who are great workers as smiths, locksmiths, bridlemakers, shoemakers, ​carpenters, wood-carvers, sculptors, saddlers, tradesmen who make many curious things out of shell, bricklayers, stonecutters, tailors, painters, and so on. What causes wonder is that there are many Indians who work at four or six trades where a Spaniard would have but one... but with that almost innate coolness for work they supply their wants and turn out good work, which they sell more cheaply than the Spaniards do, so that those tradesmen who go to Yucathan fare badly at their trades; so there are but few of them, and they seek other means of earning a livelihood.
“They wear clothes of very white cotton, of which they make shirts, breeches, and certain mantles a vara and a half square which they call tilmas or hayantes. These can be made to serve as capes by drawing the two corners up on the shoulder and making a knot; indeed, very many people use ones made out of somewhat coarse woven wool, and even many of stuffs brought from Spain, such as damasks and other silks. Some use jackets, and many wear shoes and hempe sandals. The usual custom, however, is to go barefoot, especially in their own houses and fields, but the opposite is true of some Caciques and leading men, and of women. Most of the men wear hats of straw or palm-leaves, and nowadays many buy felt hats. The women use Uaipiles, which is a garment that falls from the throat to the middle of the leg, with an opening at the top, where the head goes, and two others at the top of the sides for the arms, which are covered halfway down. Because this garment is not tied in at the waist, it also serves as a shirt. From the waist to the feet is another garment called Pic, and it is like petticoats and goes under the outer garment. Most of these are worked with blue and red thread, which makes them sightly. If a Spanish woman is seen in this dress it looks, on her, most improper. Little Indian girls who are growing up with Spanish women become great embroiderers, seamstresses, and patchers, and they make things that are sold at large prices and much esteemed.
“For Sundays and Feast-days when they go to Mass, and when they are to be confessed, both men and women have cleaner and neater clothes, which they keep for this. Other customs and things of theirs will be learned through the laws that have been given to remedy them, which will be related in the Fifth Book.
“There were Indians in the past days of their ancestors who had larger bodies than those now common, bodies which were found in the sepulchres of this land and which had gigantic stature. In 1647 in the village of Vecal, on the royal road of Campeche, Padre Fray Juan de Carrión (now Provincial Commissioner for the next General Chapter) ordered his Indians to make an arbor for a reception he was to hold. They had just set up the sticks with which it was to be made when the tools hit upon a very large sepulchre made of flag-stones placed one over another without any peculiarities of carving whatever. The Indians ran away from it and went to call the Padre, who, on arriving, ordered them to take out whatever was in the sepulchre. The Indians did not want to do this, saying that it was prohibited for them to touch anything of that sort. So the Padre, with the aid of a small boy, got out the bones of a man of formidable size. There were in the sepulchre three bowls of very fine pottery having three hollow balls in place of feet, and there was a small black box of what appeared to be jasper. The Padre burned the bones, threw them away, and filled up the hole, rebuking the Indians for not wishing to touch it, on the plea that it was forbidden to them to do so....”
* ↑ Mr. Bowditch (1901, p. 137) says that the earliest date at Quirigua is that on Stela C: 9.1.0.0.0. and that the latest is that on Stela K: 9.18.15.0.0. According to his reckoning there dates correspond approximately to 75 B.C. and 275 A.D. respectively. Mr. Bowditch informs us that other cities in the south show similar dates, and at the same time he points out that it is possible that these cities were occupied beyond the latest dates shown on the stelae. We see, then, that the difference berween Mr. Bowditch's computation and that of Mr. Morley rests solely in this: according to Mr. Bowditch the Golden Age or Old Empire had its beginnings as far back as 75 B.C.; Mr. Morley, on the other hand, believes that up to 200 A.D. there was a wholly indefinite Migratory period which led up to the Golden Age and to the Colonization period (that is, to 700 A.D.). From 7oo onward the two systems are the same. Whatever divergence exists between Mr. Bowditch and Mr. Morley on the subject of chronology concerns only the Golden Age or Old Empire cities.
* ↑ Nakum was first studied scientifically by Count Maurice de Perigny (1908). Its importance is exceeded, however, by that of Tikal, which, in addition to being very near Lake Peten, is now well known. Descriptions of this elaborate group of ruins are to be found in Charnay (1887), Maudslay (1883), and in other earlier writers. The most satisfactory work on Tikal is that of Maler and Tozzeer (1911). In both Nakum and Tikal the buildings are excellent examples of Old Empire construction, having massive substructures, towering superstructures, and a mass of intricate ornamentation. The dates at Tikal range from 9.2.13,0.0. to 9.15.13.0.0. (about 210-480 A.D.).
* ↑ This documentary history is based on the Books of Chilan Balam. Daniel G. Brinton's translations as given in his Maya Chronicles have been used. For bibliographical purposes the reader is referred to Tozzer, 1917.
* ↑ Although the terms Maya and Itza are used more or less interchangeably, it is to be noted that there is authority for believing them to mean two separate races. Ancona (1878, vol. i, p. 31 ff.) says that the Itzas were the earlier inhabitants of Yucatan. He adds that they worshiped Itzamna and founded Itzamal, Tihoo, and Chichen Itza. The Maya, on the other hand, worshiped Kukulkan, were enemies of the Itzas, and were the founders of Mayapan, Uxmal, and other cities. This distinction, though a fine one and hard to prove correct, deserves to be noted.
* ↑ This name, Cocom, will be brought to our attention later on, and it will be advisable for us to compare now the exceedingly confusing accounts of what the Cocom family was. Brinton (1882, p. 165), in his introduction to the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel, says: “We have no longer to do with the reckoning of the subjects of the Xiu family who ruled at Mani, but with one which emanates from the priests of the Cocomes, who were hereditary masters of Chichen Itza.” According to the Chronicle of Chac Xulub Chac, by Nahau Pech, there was a king named Ixcuat Cocom of Aké, who led the people of Chichen Itza from that place very late in their history, about eight years before the Spaniards touched at Campeche in 1516. (Brinton, 1882, p. 218.) The Katunes of Maya History (Valentini, 1880, pp. 54, 86) say that “In the 8th Ahau the Governor of Chichen Itza was deposed because he murmured disrespectfully of Hunac-eel.” The 8th Ahau would be about 1422-1444. Brasseur de Bourbourg (1858, vol. ii, p. 35) says that the Cocomes were the kings of Mayapan and that as they became more and more tyrannical so did the Tutul Xiu of Uxmal become more and more the champions of the people. He suggests that Hunac-eel was a Cocom, and he also speaks of the Lord of Chichen as being quite distinct from the Cocomes. Brasseur (cf. Lizana, 1893, p. 3) continues his account by saying that Chac Xib Chac, who was then reigning in Chichen, likewise became indignant at the cruelty of Hunac-eel (or Cocom). As a result of this seven Nahua chiefs were sent by Hunac-eel against Chac Xib Chac, whom they vanquished. With his power thus seemingly assured, Hunac-eel set about oppressing his Mexican allies, who appealed for help to the Tutul Xiu of Uxmal, with the result that the dynasty of Cocom was ruined (about 1440). One child of the last King of Mayapan, however, was absent at Xicalanco, and he lived to set up a new Cocom kingdom at Tibulon or Sotuta. Molina Solis says (1896, p. li): “After the time of Hunac-eel, the Cocomes, descendants of an ancient and rich house of the Itzaes, one of whose members had made himself known as a man of valor in the last war, began to rule as lords of Mayapan. The Cocomes continued the policy of their predecessor....” According to this writer it was the Cocomes who called in the people from Mexico, in spite of whom they were overthrown. The only survivors of the massacre of the family were a young son of the last king (as has been said) and a distant relative named Cocom Cat, who escaped to the town of Tiab. Molina's authority for this statement is the Relación of Juan Bote, which he quotes (p. liii). After these events the Mexican mercenaries seized the province of Canul or Ahcanul. (Landa. 1864, p. 55.) The Cheles founded a religious state at Izamal; the Cocomes withdrew to Sotuta and the Xius to Mani. All this is accepted in the main by modern writers. (Tozzer, 1907, p. 9; Faliès, 1915, vol. i, p. 247 ff.) To summarize, we may say that the Cocomes were the lords of either Mayapan of Chichen Itza, though it is more likely they were identified with the former. They became too ambitious and powerful to please the Tutul Xiu of Uxmal and the ruler of Chichen; they called in Mexican mercenaries about 1200, and from then until about 1440 they became increasingly more arrogant until, in the latter year, the Xiu and other people who had been wronged completely destroyed the city of Mayapan, so that only two or three members of the ruling family escaped destruction. We have now reached the crux of this whole discussion. The three possible surviving Cocomes were: (1) the son of the last lord of Mayapan; (2) the Cocom Cat, who, according to Molina (quoting an old Relación), fled southward to Tiab at about that period; and (3) King Ixcuat Cocom of Aké, who, according to Nahau Pech, also went southward, about 1508 more or less. There is a distinct possibility that Cocom Cat may eventually have got to Tayasal. It is likewise entirely possible to believe that from him descended that Cocom who, with Ahchatappol and Ahauppuc, came out from Tayasal to meet Padres Fuensalida and Orbita in 1618. (Villagutierre, p. 116.) Sapper (1904, p. 625) tells that a Juan Pablo Cocom became the leader of an insurrection at Bacalar in May, 1848.
* ↑ Seler (1908, p. 157 ff.) says that the Casa de las Monjas, the Akat tz'ib, and the Casa Colorada all belong to this period and that they are to be associated with the various buildings at Uxmal, Kabah, Labna, and elsewhere. Rain-god masks are a striking characteristic of the architecture of this period.