Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-10-29

IN I'm Gated in the midst of low range
tSasaNNEaA of hills, which crosses the state of
E@@-T Yucatan from east to west, and is
about 100 miles from Chichen Itza
writes Sylvanus G. Morley in Pan American
Union The derivation of the name Uxmal or
Oxmal, as some of the early historians wrote it,
is rather obscure "Ox" is the Maya word for
three and NAL" in the same language means to
pass;to pass thrice" therefore, would seem to
be the meaning of the word, though why the
Tutul Xiu should have applied this name to their
capital is unknown.
Concerning the foundation of Uxmal the fol-
lowing tradition is related by Diego de Landa
the second bishop Of Yucatan, who wrote in the
first generation after the conquest and who
claims to have gathered his information from ma
tlVes well versed in the former history of their
country After the discovery and occupation of
Chlcheh liza, which seems to have been the first
place of any Importance to be settled in Yucatan
cltleS sprang up everywhere, and there followed
ar era OF great prosperity. How long these diff
ferent cities lived at peace with one another we
are not told, but in time discussions arose. and
quarrels became frequent that the different
lords OF the country found it necessary to take
some concerted action in order to suppress yio-
fence and to restore order and peace 1t was
then decided to build joint capital where ali
those in authority should reside, and from which
each one agreed to administer the affairs of his
own particular domain. Without loss of time
these plans were carried out. A Joint capita1
was built in new and unoccupied region and
was called "Mayapan," meaning ''the standard of
the Mayas. Thither all the lords assembled
and as the final step in the formation of the new
confederacy, an overload, one Cocom was elected
and duly installed in the new capital as the
supreme ruler These cucuts laid the foundation
Tor an era of prosperity which endured for many
years. Later, after interval not specified by
Landa in his history, there entered the country
from the south an alien people under the leader
ship of their chief Tutul Xiu. The newcomers
previous to their arrival had wandered for 40
years in the wilderness without water other than
that which had fallen from the skies. This Co
incidence of a '40years wandering in the wilder
ness is sufficiently striking to arouse the suspi-
cion that the worthy bishop in this part of his
narrative, has been at some pains to force a
pious coincidence with a similar episode in the
Old Testament. Immediately after their arrival
the wanderers began building in the mountains
not 80 miles distant from the capital new home
for themselves, which they called Uxmal Far
from being angered, however, by this appropria-
ton OF his territory at hand. Cocoon, the
ruler of the Mayapan, welcomed Tutul Xiu and
his people, and entered into an alliance with
them. Landa thus describes the event:
THE people of Mayapan formed great friend
ship with the Tutul XIII, rejoicing to see that
they cultivated the land like themselves In
this manner the Tutul Xiu became subject to
the laws of Mayapan and allied themselves with
"
lord was highly esteemed by all"
Judging from its size and magnifcence the Xiu
capital must have played very important role
in the history of Yucatan before the Spanish
quest. Indeed, Landa says as much.
After a time, we are told, the supreme power
held by the Cocoon family seems to have turned
their heads. They became successfully more and
more oppressive each striving to Guido his prede
cessors in acts of tyranny and violence. How
ever there came day at last when the other
chiefs of the confederacy could no longer endure
this despotic rule, and conspiracy was Matched
to overthrow the oppressor. With accord,
the conspirators turned to the then lord of Tx
NAL decendent of the original Tutur Xiu who
had founded the city, the natural leader in this
movement for liberty, in spite of the fact that
he was of foreign descent He is described as
having been true friend of the public veal, as
his ancestors before him, all of whom had held
resolutely aloof from the tyrannies of the Cocoon
family. On an appointed day the conspirators,
led by the lord of Uxmal, met at Mayapan, and
entering the palace of Cocoon slew him and all
his progeny, son only. who happened
to be absent from the city at the time mis-
sion to distant province After this sanguin-
airy reprisal, which avenged at one blow the OPP
pressions of many years. the property of the dead
ruler was seized and divided among his murder
ers, and the capital was destroyed Whereupon
each chief departed into his country once
more and the confederacy dissolved. After
the destruction of Mayapan, the Tutul Xiu aban-
doned Uxnal and founded new capital some 30
miles distant which they called Mani" meaning
III Maya st is passed" emphasizing by this name
that the old order was over. These events oc-
eurred about the middle of the fifteenth century.