The Maya Chronicles Part 20

6. VI. The sixth ahau.

IV. The fourth ahau: the pestilence took place, the general death took place in the fortress.

II. The second ahau; the smallpox broke out.

7. XIII. The thirteenth ahau; Ahpula died the sixth year; the count of the years was toward the east: (the month) Pop began on 4 Kan to the east * * * * * 9 Imix was the day on which Ahpula NapotXiu died in the year of the Lord 158.

8. XI. The eleventh ahau: the mighty men came from the East, they brought the sickness; they arrived for the first time in this country we Maya men say in the year 1513.

IX. The ninth ahau: Christianity began; baptism took place; also in this katun arrived bishop Toral here; also the hanging ceased in the year 1546.

VII. The seventh ahau; bishop Landa died.

V. The fifth ahau.

III. The third ahau.

NOTES.

The writer states, in a brief introduction, the nature and purpose of his composition.

_U kahlay_, the record, or the memoir, from _kahal_, to remember. The concrete meaning of the root is "to know by sight, to recognize."

_?iban_, past participle, pa.s.sive voice, of _?ib_ to write: the original signification of the word is "to paint." _Yoheltabal_, pa.s.sive form of _ohel_, to know, which is always conjugated with the p.r.o.nominal prefixes, _u_, _a_, _y_. _Yolah_, syncopated form of _u uolah_, he wills, wishes, _uol=volo_, _uolah=voluntas_.

It will be noticed that this chronicle is not called an "arrangement" of the katuns, _tzolan katun_, but a count or reckoning of them, _xocan_ or _xocol_, from _xoc_, to count.

1. The count begins with the discovery of Chichen Itza, mentions that Pop was "counted in order" at the beginning of the next following Ahau Katun, and having stated the desertion of Chichen Itza and the migration to Chakanputun, the chronicler draws a line, as if to separate broadly these occurrences from those which followed.

5. The distinction between _paa_ and _tulum_ appears to be that _tulum_ is an enclosure surrounded by a defensive wall, and this wall itself; while _paa_ is a castle, or, in Maya land, a mound or pyramid with buildings on it erected for purposes of defence.

6. _Kakil nohkakil_, the fire, the great fire, but here in the sense of a contagious febrile disease, probably the smallpox.

7. The text in this section is corrupt, and I leave a line untranslated.

The writer informs us, what was omitted in the previous chronicles, that the Ahpula whose death is so carefully mentioned by all, was a member of the Xiu family which reigned over the province of Mani. They were almost the first of the powerful Maya n.o.bles to make friends with the Spaniards. The date 158 is apparently intended for 1538, or perhaps 1508, which is more consistent with the following section, but less so with the previous chronicles.

_Kul uinicob_, as remarked on page 133, means "the mighty men," not the "holy men," as generally translated. The term was applied to the Spaniards. The _Dicc. de Motul_ MS. says:--"KULVINIC: muy hombre, hombre de respeto y de hecho, y llaman asi los Indios a los Espanoles." _U yah talzah_, they bring the sickness, probably the smallpox. _c.o.o.n_ or _con_, 1st pers. pl. pres. indic. of the irregular verb _cen_ (_cihi_, _ciac_), to say, to tell.

FOOTNOTES:

[156-1] Canil.

[157-1] uay.

[157-2] chuytabe.

IV. THE MAYA KATUNS.

_From the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel,_

The following chronicle is stated by its writer to be distinctively called the "Maya Katuns," and to be written for (or by) the Itzas. We have, therefore, 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. It is evidently of different origin, although many of the same facts are referred to in it.

TEXT.

U kahlay katun.o.b utial ahYtzaob mayakatun u kaba lae.

1. Lahca ahau.

Lahun ahau.

Uaxac ahau.

Uac ahau; paxciob ahoni.

Can ahau.

Cabil ahau.

Oxlahun ahau.

Buluc ahau.

Bolon ahau.

Uuc ahau.

Hoo ahau; paxci u cah yahau ahYtzmal kinich kakmo _y_ pop hol chan tumenel hun nac ceel.

Ox ahau.

2. Hun ahau: paxci yala ahYtza tu chicheen, tu yoxpiztun ychil hun ahau paxci u chicheen.

Lahca ahau.

Lahun ahau.

3. Uaxac ahau: u katunil he?ci cah yala ahYtza likul yan che yalan haban tan xuluc mul u kaba ti likulob ca u he?ahob luum Zaclactun Mayapan u kaba tu uucpiztun uaxac ahau u katunil; laix u katunil cimci Chakanputun tumen kak u pa cal yetel tec uilue.

4. Uac ahau.

Can ahau.