The Maya Chronicles Part 26

This introductory paragraph was entirely miscontrued[TN-27] by Avila, and nearly as much so by Bra.s.seur. I add their translations to ill.u.s.trate this.

_Translation of Avila._

"A la quinta vez que sento el noveno Rey en la guerra cuando llegaron los Espanoles que se poblaron en la ciudad de Merida, el princ.i.p.al Rey de esa ciudad era siempre cacique y el ano en que llegaron los Senores Espanoles aqui en esta suelo fue el de 1511."

_Translation of Bra.s.seur._

"C'est a la cinquieme division cimentee (dans le mur) de ce onzieme Ahau-Katun qu'arriverent les Espagnols et qu'ils s'etablirent a Ti-Uoh de ce pays de Ti-Ho, et c'est a la neuvieme de cet Ahau que s'etablit le Christianisme, cette annee meme que vinrent nos seigneurs les Espagnols en cette contree, c'est a dire, en l'annee 1511."

It will be seen that the former completely travesties the pa.s.sage, while the latter mistakes the proper names and destroys the chronological value of the dates given.

2. _Hidalgos conquistadoren_, Spanish t.i.tles which we are surprised to find a native claiming; but later on (-- 9) he informs us that he was authorized to employ them by the Spanish officials.

Chichinica was a pueblo near Chicxulub, which is now no longer in existence.

3. _Ti ma ococ haa tin pol cuchi_, "formerly, when the water will not entered to my head" _i. e._, before I was baptized. This complicated construction of the negative (_ma_), a future (_ococ_ from _ocol_) and the sign of the past tense (_cuchi_), also occurs on an earlier page (98), where we have the sentence _uacppel haab u binel ma ?ococ u xocol oxlahun ahau cuchi_, six years before the end of the 13th ahau.

_Ocol haa_, syncopated to _ocola_, and even _oca_, was the usual term for Christian baptism.

Xulk.u.mcheel was a pueblo which does not seem to have survived.

_Ah Naum Pech, likul tu cah Mutul._ Ah Naum Pech from, or native of, the town Mutul. The latter is the modern Motul, about 22 miles easterly from Chicxulub. The name is also spelled Mutul by Cogolludo (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. VI, cap. VII).

_Halach uinic_, previously explained, was the ancient native t.i.tle of chief of a village. It is the same word which Oviedo, in his report of Grijalva's expedition deforms into _calachini_ (_Historia de las Indias_, Lib. XVII).

The date, 1519, like various others in the narrative, appears to have been erroneously entered or copied. It should probably be 1539.

_Maxtunil_ does not at present exist. _?ilam_ is a town north of Itzamal, near the sea coast. It is by some identified as the spot where Francisco de Montejo embarked after his retreat from Chichen Itza, in 1528.

4. The _Kupuls_ were the family who reigned in the eastern province, where Valladolid was founded. They long retained their hostility to the Spaniards. _Ekab_ was situated on the coast opposite the island of Cozumel. _?ekom_ should probably read Tekom. _Tixcuumcuuc_ no longer exists. _Tinuum_ is a town 4 leagues north of Valladolid, on the road to Itzamal. _?i ?antun_ is a town north of Itzamal, said by Sanchez Aguilar to have been the ancient capital of the princely house of the Chels.

_Ake_ is probably the modern ?onatake. _Catzim_ is now the name of a hacienda in the Department of Itzamal, some distance from the coast.

_?elebna_ is unknown.

The expression _tumen naob Bon cupul_, translated by Avila "porque esa casa es de Bon Cupul," I think is an error of the copyist for _tumen nacon Cupul_. See also -- 18.

5. _Hokzah uba_, they betook themselves. The termination _uba_ is that of the third person of reflexive verbs.

Nachi May, already mentioned, was a member of an ancient princely house mentioned by Landa and Sanchez Aguilar. One of them, Ahkin May, was apparently the hereditary high priest. The effort has been made to derive from their name the word _Maya_, and Bra.s.seur would carry us to Haiti in order to discover its meaning (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 42, note), but this is unnecessary. _May_ in the Maya tongue means "a hoof," as of a deer, and is a proper name still in use. There is no reason to suppose it in any way connected with _Maya_.

_Matanok_ I take to be an error for _matanon_, from _mat_ (pret.

_matnahi_).

6. _?ibikal_ may be, as suggested by Dr. Berendt, Tipikal, a town in the district of Merida. There is another of the name in the Sierra Alta (_Estadistica de Yucatan_, 1814).

Francisco de Bracamonte is mentioned by Cogolludo as among the first settlers of Merida.

7. Cogolludo mentions Rodrigo Alvarez as "Escribano del juzgado," who came with Montejo (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. III, cap. VI, and elsewhere).

8. _U toxol cahob_, the distribution of the towns, literally "the pouring out;" Avila translates it by "cuando se repartian los pueblos."

The Spanish system of "repartimientos" and "encomiendas" was adopted in Yucatan,[TN-28]

9. The licentiate Alvares de Caravajal was alcalde mayor from 1554 to 1558. (Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. V. cap. XV.)

10. This was apparently written by Don Pablo Pech, the son of the writer of the remainder of the history, and inserted in order to corroborate the statement just made by his father, that the latter had transferred the magistracy to him.

11. The _holpop_, literally "head of the mat," perhaps because when the company sat around or on the mat his place was at its head, was the official who had charge of the _tunkul_ or wooden drum, with which public meetings, dances, summons to war, etc. were proclaimed, and with which the priests accompanied their voices in reciting the ancient chants (Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. V). He was called _ahholpop_, and had charge of the public hall of the village, the _popolna_, "casa de comunidad," in which public business was transacted (_Diccionario de Motul_, MS.)[TN-29]

The _ahkulel_ was the official second in command in a town or district.

He acted in place of the _batab_ or the _ahcuchcab_. The verb _kulel_ means to transact business for another, to act as deputy.

_Ahkin_ was the ordinary word for priest in the old language; kin, sun, day, time; _ahkin_, he who was familiar with the days and times, with the calendar, and also with the past and the future.

12. _U chun u than.o.b_; the _chunthan_ or _ahchunthan_, literally, he who has the first word, was the member of the village who took the leading part in matters of business. The office and name are still in existence in the native village communities of Yucatan. (See Garcia y Garcia, _Historia de la Guerra de Castas en Yucatan_, Introd., p. xli.)

The _ahkul_ was an envoy or messenger, who carried the orders of the prince to his people and to foreign princes. The t.i.tle was usually prefixed to the name of the person.

The _holcan_, "head caller," was a military official in each village, whose duty it was when war was announced to summon the men in his district capable of bearing arms (see Landa, _Relacion_, p. 174). The Spanish writers translate it by _alferez_.

The _nacon_ was an elective war chief, who held his position for the term of three years (Landa, _Relacion_, pp. 161, 173). The name is derived from _nacal_, to rise, go up, and hence as a delegate or elected representative (as is stated by the _Dicc. de Motul_).

13. The _nucteelob_ were the _ancianos_, the wise old men of the village; _manak_, a trace or sign that appears at a distance and then disappears. _U manak uinic ti ulah_=I saw the trace of a man to-day, but it is no longer visible. _Diccionario de Motul, MS._

"The province of Ceh Pech" was that in which Merida was: "_u tzucub ahcehpechob_, la provincia de los Peches al lado de Motul y c.u.mkal."

_Dicc. de Motul, MS._

14. _Kah_, _pinole_, is a drink made by mixing the meal of roasted maize with water. The word _tuce_ (or, it may be, _tuze_) I do not find in any dictionary, nor does Avila translate it. The pa.s.sage is an obscure one.

Avila renders it "cuando fuimos a la guerra, bebian pinole y _tuce_, porque estaban enojados con los Cristianos." Possibly these were two articles of food especially used on warlike raids.

_U zahacil in puczical_, a cant phrase probably borrowed from the missionaries="the fear of my heart,"--in my humbleness. _Puczikal_ appears to be a root-word, though of three syllables. It means the heart of men and animals, also the mind or soul, the desires, and the interior of certain growths, as the pith of maize, etc. (_Dicc. de Motul._)

The year 1511 was that of the s.h.i.+pwreck of the deacon Geronimo de Aguilar and his companions, who were the first whites known to the natives of Yucatan.

The reference which is made in this section to a deputation of fifty natives to Spain, is not mentioned, so far as I remember, by other historians. As in some respects my translation differs from that of Avila, I give his.

"Cuando lleg ante el monarca Ahmacan Pech, D^on Pedro Pech, y sus deudos, sus primeros descendientes, sus capitanes, todos fueron con el para honrar el monarca y vea la cara a sus vasallos indigenas, y escogio cincuenta de los grandes de ellos para llevar tras de el al monarca reinante para servirlos en la mesa alli lejos en Espana, pero los que vomitaron en el festejo delante del monarca reinante, esos entonces dij el Rey que pagaron tributos todos y todos sus descendientes, mas nosotros los Peches," etc.

The phrase _mac xenahi tu tzicile_ Avila translates "who vomited at the feasts;" but I believe _xenhi_, vomited, is a misreading for _xanhi_, remained, and _tzicil_ is obedience, as serving-men.

_Lae te hantabi_, who was eaten; Aguilar himself was not eaten, as he was rescued by Cortes, in 1519, and served him as interpreter. But some of his companions were eaten by the natives, not of Cozumel, but of the coast to the south, and this is what Pech meant to say, unless, indeed--and I am inclined to prefer this view--we read _hantezahbi_ instead of _hantabi_, which would give the sense "the land was discovered by Aguilar, who was given food (supported, maintained) by Ah Naum," etc. For particulars about Aguilar see Herrera, _Hist. de las Indias_, Dec. II, Lib. IV, cap. VIII.

_Lai yabil hauic_, etc. This is an important sentence, as fixing a date in the ancient chronology. _U tunil balcah_ is an ancient term, not explained in the dictionaries. _Balcah_ (or _baalcah_) means "a town and the people who compose it" (Pio Perez, _Diccionario_), hence people, the world, as the French use _monde_. From many references in the Maya ma.n.u.scripts I derive the impression that the last stone in the katun pillar was placed in turn by the towns, each giving its name to the stone and the cycle (see ante, p. 171).

a.s.suming the correctness of the figures 1517--and there is no reason to doubt it--then Pech counted the katuns as of 24 years each, as Pio Perez maintained was correct; because he has already informed us in his introductory paragraph that the year 1541 was the close of the 11th Ahau, and 1541-1517=24.

16. The two previous visits referred to were probably those of Cordova, 1517, and Grijalva, 1518. "Those who knew to speak the true words,"

refers to the Catholic priests. All the historians of Cortes' expedition dwell on the effect produced on the natives of Cozumel by the religious services he held there.

The date, Feb. 28, 1519, seems correct, although it is not mentioned by any other writer I have at hand. Cortes left Havana, Feb. 19.