There are references in Xahila’s Annals to the Quiche deities, Exbalanquen, Cabrakan, Hunahpu, and Tohil, but they do not seem to have occupied any prominent place in Cakchiquel mythology. Several minor gods are named, as Belehe Toh, nine Toh, and Hun Tihax, one Tihax; these appellations are taken from the calendar.

Father Pantaleon de Guzman furnishes the names of various inferior deities, which serve to throw light on the Cakchiquel religion. Four of these appear to be gods of diseases, Ahal puh, Ahal teqob, Ahal xic, and Ahál qanya; at least three of these second words are also the designations of maladies, and ahal is probably a mistake of the copyist for ahau, lord. As the gods of the abode of the dead, he names Tatan bak and Tatan holom, Father Bones and Father Skull.

Another series of appellations which Guzman gives as of Cakchiquel gods, show distinctly the influence of Nahuatl doctrines. There are Mictan ahauh, lord of Mictlan, this being the name of the abode of darkness, in Aztec mythology; Caueztan ahauh, probably Coatlan, lord of the abode of serpents; Tzitzimil, the tzitzimime of the Aztecs; and Colele,[42] probably colotl, the scorpion, or tecolotl, the owl, which latter, under the name tucur, is also mentioned by Xahila.42-1

Father Coto refers to some of their deities of the woods and streams. One of these, the Man of the Woods, is famous throughout Yucatan and most of Central America. The Spaniards call him Salonge, the Mayas Che Vinic, and the Cakchiquels ru vinakil chee; both these latter meaning “the woods man.” What gives this phantom especial interest in this connection is, that Father Coto identifies the woodsman with the Zakicoxol, the white fire maker, encountered by the Cakchiquels in Xahila’s narrative (Sec. 21).42-2 I have narrated the curious folk-lore about the woodsman in another publication, and need not repeat it here.42-3 His second name, the White Fire Maker, perhaps refers to the “light wood” or phosphorescence about damp and decaying trees.

To the water-sprites, the Undines of their native streams, they gave the name xulu, water-flies, or ru vinakil ya, the water people.

As their household gods, they formed little idols of the ashes from the funeral pyres of their great men, kneading them with clay. To these they gave the name vinak, men or beings (Coto).

[43]Representations of these divinities were carved in wood and stone, and the words chee abah, “wood and stone,” usually mean, when they appear together in Xahila’s narrative, “idols or images in wood and stone.”

The Stone God, indeed, is a prominent figure in their mythology, as it was in their daily life. This was the sacred Chay Abah, the Obsidian Stone, which was the oracle of their nation, and which revealed the will of the gods on all important civil and military questions. To this day, their relatives, the Mayas of Yucatan, attach implicit faith to the revelations of the zaztun, the divining stone kept by their sorcerers, and if it decrees the death of any one, they will despatch him with their machetes, without the slightest hesitation.43-1 The belief was cherished by the rulers and priests, as they alone possessed the power to gaze on the polished surface of the sacred block of obsidian, and read thereupon the invisible decrees of divinity. (See above, p. 25).

As the stone came from the earth, it was said to have been derived from the under world, from Xibalbay, literally the unseen or invisible place, the populous realm in Quiche myth, visited and conquered by their culture hero, Xbalanque. Hence in Cakchiquel tale, the Chay Abah represented the principle of life, as well as the source of knowledge.43-2

The Cakchiquel Annals do not pretend to deal with[44] mythology, but from various references and fragments inserted as history, it is plain that they shared the same sacred legends as the Quiches, which were, in all probability, under slightly different forms, the common property of the Maya race. They all indicate loans from the Aztec mythology. In the Cakchiquel Annals, as in the Popol Vuh and the Maya Chronicles, we hear of the city of the sun god, Tulan or Tonatlan, as the place of their origin, of the land Zuiva and of the Nonoalcos, names belonging to the oldest cycles of myths in the religion of the Aztecs. In the first volume of this series I have discussed their appearance in the legends of Central America,44-1 and need not refer to them here more than to say that those who have founded on these names theories of the derivation of the Maya tribes or their ruling families from the Toltecs, a purely imaginary people, have perpetrated the common error of mistaking myth for history. It is this error that renders valueless much that the Abbé Brasseur, M. Charnay and others of the French school, have written on this subject.

Xahila gives an interesting description of some of their ancient rites (Sec. 44). Their sacred days were the 7th and 13th of each week. White resin was burned as incense, and green branches with the bark of evergreen trees were brought to the temple, and burned before the idol, together with a small animal, which he calls a cat, “as the image of night;” but our domestic cat was unknown to them, and what animal was originally meant by the word mez, I do not know.

He mentions that the priests and nobles drew blood with[45] the spines of the gourd tree and maguey, and elsewhere (Sec. 37) refers to the sacrifice of infants at a certain festival. The word for the sacrificial letting of blood was dzohb, which, by some of the missionaries, was claimed as the root of the word cabuil, deity.

Human sacrifice was undoubtedly frequent, although the reverse has been asserted by various historians.45-1 Father Varea gives some curious particulars. The victim was immolated by fire, the proper word being catoh, to burn, and then cut in pieces and eaten. When it was, as usual, a male captive, the genital organs were given to one of the old women who were prophetesses, to be eaten by her, as a reward for her supplications for their future success in battle.45-2 The cutting in pieces of Tolcom, in the narrative of Xahila, has reference to such a festival.

Sanchez y Leon states that the most usual sacrifice was a child. The heart was taken out, and the blood was sprinkled toward the four cardinal points as an act of adoration to the four winds, copal being burned at the same time, as an incense.45-3

A leading feature in their ceremonial worship was the sacred dance, or, as the Spanish writers call it, el baile. The native name for it is xahoh, and it is repeatedly referred to in the Annals. The legendary origin of some of these dances,[46] indeed, constitute a marked feature in its narratives. They are mentioned by the missionaries as the favorite pastime of the Indians; and as it was impossible to do away with them altogether, they contented themselves with suppressing their most objectionable features, drunkenness and debauchery, and changed them, at least in name, from ceremonies in honor of some heathen god, to some saint in the Roman calendar. In some of these, vast numbers of assistants took part, as is mentioned by Xahila (Sec. 32).

Magic and divination held a very important place in Cakchiquel superstition, as the numerous words bearing upon them testify. The form of belief common to them and their neighbors, has received the name Nagualism, from the Maya root na, meaning to use the senses. I have traced its derivation and extension elsewhere,46-1 and in this connection will only observe that the narrative of Xahila, in repeated passages, proves how deeply it was rooted in the Cakchiquel mind. The expression ru puz ru naval, should generally be rendered “his magic power, his sorcery,” though it has a number of allied significations. Naval as a noun means magician, naval chee, naval abah, the spirit of the tree, of the stone, or the divinity embodied in the idols of these substances.

Another root from which a series of such words were derived, was hal, to change. The power of changing or metamorphosing themselves into tigers, serpents, birds, globes of fire, etc., was claimed by the sorcerers, and is several times mentioned in the following texts. Hence the sorcerer was called haleb, the power he possessed to effect such transformations halibal, the change effected halibeh, etc.

[47]Their remarkable subjection to these superstitions is illustrated by the word lab, which means both to divine the future and to make war, because, says Ximenez, “they practiced divination in order to decide whether they should make war or not.”47-1

These auguries were derived frequently from the flight and call of birds (as in the Annals, Secs. 13, 14, etc.), but also from other sources. The diviner who foretold by grains of maize, bore the title malol ixim, the anointer or consecrator of maize (Dicc. Anon).

The priesthood was represented by two high priests, elected for life by the ruler and council. The one who had especial custody of religious affairs wore a flowing robe, a circlet or diadem on his head ornamented with feathers, and carried in his hand a rod, or wand. On solemn occasions he publicly sacrificed blood from his ears, tongue, and genital organ.

His associate was the custodian and interpreter of the sacred books, their calendars and myths, and decided on lucky and unlucky days, omens and prognostics.

In addition to these, there were certain old men, of austere life, who dwelt in the temples, and wore their hair in plaited strands around their heads (trenzado en circulo), who were consulted on ordinary occasions as diviners.47-2

The funeral rites of the Cakchiquels have been related at considerable length by Fuentes, from original documents in[48] the Pokoman dialect.48-1 The body was laid in state for two days, after which it was placed in a large jar and interred, a mound being erected over the remains. On the mound a statue of the deceased was placed, and the spot was regarded as sacred. Father Coto gives somewhat the same account, adding that these mounds were constructed either of stone or of the adjacent soil, and were called cakhay or cubucak.48-2 He positively asserts that human sacrifices accompanied the interments of chiefs, which is denied by Fuentes, except among the Quiches. These companions for the deceased chief on his journey to the land of souls, were burned on his funeral pyre. A large store of charcoal was buried with the corpse, as that was supposed to be an article of which he would have special use on his way. Sanchez y Leon mentions that the high priest was buried in his house, clothed and seated upon his chair. The funeral ceremonies, in his case, lasted fifteen days.48-3

The Cakchiquel Language.

The Cakchiquel tongue was reduced to writing by the Spanish missionaries, and therefore, in this work, as in all the MSS, the following letters are used with their Spanish values,—a, b, c, ch, ç, e, i, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, y.

The following are not employed:—

d, f, g, j, s, ñ, z.

The following are introduced, but with sounds differing from the Spanish:—

h. This is always a decided rough breathing or forcible[49] expiration, like the Spanish j, or the strong English h; except when it follows c or c, when it is pronounced as in the Spanish, cha, che, etc.

k. This has never the sound of c, but is a rough palatal, the mouth being opened, and the tongue placed midway, between the upper and lower walls of the oral cavity, while the sound is forcibly expelled.

v. This letter, whether as a consonant (v) or a vowel (u), is pronounced separately, except when it is doubled, as in vuh (uuh), book or paper, when the double vowel is very closely akin to the English w.

x. In Cakchiquel and its associated dialects, this letter represents the sound of sh in the English words she, shove, etc.

Besides the above, there are five sounds occurring in the Cakchiquel, Quiche and Tzutuhil, for which five special characters were invented, or rather adopted, by the early missionary Francisco de la Parra, who died in Guatemala, in 1560. They are the following:—

dz  dzh  c  q  tz

The origin and phonetic value of these, as given by the grammarian Torresano, are as follows:49-1

q This is called the tresillo, from its shape, it being an old form of the figure three, reversed, thus, reversed 3. It is the only true guttural in the language, being pronounced forcibly from the throat, with a trilling sound (castañeteando).

c From its shape this is called the cuatrillo, Parra having[50] adopted for it an old form of the figure 4. It is a trilled palatal, between a hard c and k.

dz The name applied to this is, the cuatrillo con coma, or the 4 with a comma. It is pronounced somewhat like the c with the cedilla, ç, only more quickly and with greater force—ds or dz.

tz This resembles the “4 with a comma,” but is described as softer, the tongue being brought into contact with the teeth, exactly as tz in German.

dzh A compound sound produced by combining the cuatrillo with a forcible aspirate, is represented by this sign.

Naturally, no description in words can convey a correct notion of these sounds. To learn them, one must hear them spoken by those to the manner-born.

Dr. Otto Stoll, who recently made a careful study of the Cakchiquel when in Guatemala, says of Parra’s characters:—

“The four new signs added to the European alphabet, by some of the old writers on Cakchiquel (Parra, Flores), viz: q, c, dz, ch, are but phonetic modifications of four corresponding signs of the common alphabet. So we get four pairs of sounds, namely:—

c and c;
k and q
ch and ch
tz and dz

forming two series of consonants, the former of which represents the common letters, and the latter their respective “cut letters,” which may be described as being pronounced with a shorter and more explosive sound than the corresponding[51] common letter, and separated by a short pause from the preceding or following vowel.”51-1

The late Dr. Berendt illustrated the phonetic value of such “cut” letters, by the example of two English words where the same letter terminates one word and begins the next, and each is clearly but rapidly pronounced, thus, the q is pronounced like two gutteral ks in “break kettle;” the c like the two cs in “magic candle,” etc.

There would appear to have been other “cut” letters in the old dialects of Cakchiquel, as in Guzman we find the pp and thth, as in the Maya, but later writers dropped them.

I may dispense with a discussion of the literature of the Cakchiquel language, having treated that subject so lately as last year, in the introduction to the Grammar of the Cakchiquel, which I then translated and edited for the American Philosophical Society. As will be seen by reference to that work, it is quite extensive, and much of it has been preserved. I have examined seven dictionaries of the tongue, all quite comprehensive; manuscript copies of all are in the United States. None of these, however, has been published; and we must look forward to the dictionary now preparing by Dr. Stoll, of Zurich, as probably the first to see the light.

The Maya race, in nearly all its branches, showed its intellectual superiority by the eagerness with which it turned to literary pursuits, as soon as some of its members had learned the alphabet. I have brought forward some striking testimony[52] to this in Yucatan,52-1 and there is even more in Central America. The old historians frequently refer to the histories of their own nations, written out by members of the Quiche, Cakchiquel, Pokomam and Tzendal tribes. Vasquez, Fuentes and Juarros quote them frequently, and with respect. They were composed in the aboriginal tongues, for the benefit of their fellow townsmen, and as they were never printed, most of them became lost, much to the regret of antiquaries.

Of those preserved, the Popol Vuh or National Book of the Quiches, and the Annals of the Cakchiquels, the latter published for the first time in this volume, are the most important known.

The former, the “Sacred Book” of the Quiches, a document of the highest merits, and which will certainly increase in importance as it is studied, was printed at Paris in 1861, with a translation into French by the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg). He made use only of the types of the Latin alphabet; and both in this respect and in the fidelity of his translation, he has left much to be desired in the presentation of the work.

The recent publication of the Grammar also relieves me from the necessity of saying much about the structure of the Cakchiquel language. Those who wish to acquaint themselves with it, and follow the translation given in this volume by comparing the original text, will need to procure all the information contained in the Grammar. It will be sufficient to say here that the tongue is one built up with admirable regularity on radicals of one or two syllables. The perfection and logical sequence of its verbal forms have excited the[53] wonder and applause of some of the most eminent linguists, and are considered by them to testify to remarkable native powers of mind.53-1

The Annals of Xahila.

The MS. from which I print the Annals of the Cakchiquels, is a folio of 48 leaves, closely written on both sides in a very clear and regular hand, with indigo ink. It is incomplete, the last page closing in the middle of a sentence.

What is known of the history of this manuscript, is told us by Don Juan Gavarrete, who, for many years, was almost the only native of Guatemala interested in the early history of his country. He tells us in his introduction to his translation of it, soon to be mentioned, that in 1844 he was commissioned to arrange the archives of the Convent of San Francisco of Guatemala, by order of the Archbishop Don Francisco Garcia Pelaez. Among the MSS. of the archives he found these sheets, written entirely in Cakchiquel, except a few marginal glosses in Spanish, in a later hand, and in ordinary ink. The document was submitted to several persons acquainted with the Cakchiquel language, who gave[54] a general statement of its contents, but not a literal and complete translation.54-1

When, in 1855, the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg) visited Guatemala, Señor Gavarrete showed him this MS., and the Abbé borrowed it for the purpose of making a full version, doubtless availing himself of the partial translations previously furnished. His version completed, he left a copy of it with Señor Gavarrete, and brought the original with him to Europe.54-2 It remained in his possession until his death at Nice, when, along with the rest of the Abbé’s library, it passed into the hands of M. Alphonse Pinart. This eminent ethnologist learning my desire to include it in the present series of publications, was obliging enough to offer me the opportunity of studying it.

Previous to its discovery in Guatemala, in 1844, we have no record of it whatsoever, and must turn to the document itself for information.

The title given it by Brasseur, and adopted by Gavarrete, Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan, was purely factitious, and, moreover, is misleading. It was, indeed, written at the town of Tzolola or Atitlan, on the lake of that name, the chief city of[55] the Tzutuhils; but its authors were Cakchiquels; its chief theme is the history of their tribe, and it is only by the accident of their removal to Atitlan, years after the Conquest, that its composition occurred there. I have, therefore, adopted for it, or at least that portion of it which I print, the much more appropriate name, The Annals of the Cakchiquels.

I say “for that portion of it,” because I print but 48 out of the 96 pages of the original. These contain, however, all that is of general interest; all that pertains to the ancient history of the nation. The remainder is made up of an uninteresting record of village and family incidents, and of a catalogue of births, baptisms and marriages. The beginning of the text as printed in this volume, starts abruptly in the MS. after seventeen pages of such trivialities, and has no separate title or heading.

The caption of the first page of the MS. explains the purpose of this miscellaneous collection of family documents. That caption is

Cross

Vae memoria chire chaoh.
THIS IS THE RECORD FOR THE PROCESS.

The word memoria is the Spanish for a record, memoir or brief, and the Cakchiquel chaoh, originally contention, revolt, was, after the Conquest, the technical term for a legal process or lawsuit. These papers, therefore, form part of the record in one of those interminable legal cases in which the[56] Spanish law delighted. The plaintiffs in the case seem to have been the Xahila family, who brought the action to recover some of their ancient possessions or privileges, as one of the two ruling families of the Cakchiquel nation; and in order to establish this point, they filed in their plea the full history of their tribe and genealogy of their family, so far as was known to them by tradition or written record. It belongs to the class of legal instruments, called in Spanish law Titulos, family titles. A number of such, setting forth the descent and rights of the native princes in Central America, are in existence, as the Titulo de Totonicapan, etc.

The date of the present rescript is not accurately fixed. As it includes the years 1619-20, it must have been later than those dates. From the character of the paper and writing, I should place it somewhere between 1620 and 1650.

In his Advertencia to his translation of it, Señor Gavarrete asserts that the document is in the handwriting of one of the native authors. This is not my opinion. It is in the small, regular, perfectly legible hand of a professional scribe, a notarial clerk, no doubt, thoroughly at home in the Cakchiquel language, and trained in the phonetic characters, introduced with such success by Father Parra, as I have already mentioned. The centre lines and catch-words are in large, clear letters, so as to attract the eye of the barrister, as

Vae memoria chire vinak chij.
THIS IS THE STATEMENT OF THE TORTS.

or,

Vae memoria qanavinakil.
THIS IS A RECORD OF THE WITNESSES.

[57]The document is made up of the depositions and statements of a number of members of the Xahila family, but that around which the chief interest centres, and that which alone is printed in this volume, is the history of his nation as written out by one of them who had already reached adult years, at the epoch of the first arrival of the Spaniards, in 1524. Unfortunately, his simple-hearted modesty led him to make few personal allusions, and we can glean little information about his own history. The writer first names himself, in the year 1582, where he speaks of “me, Francisco Ernantez Arana.”57-1 The greater part of the manuscript, however, was composed many years before this. Its author says that his grandfather, the king Hun Yg, and his father, Balam, both died in 1521, and his own marriage took place in 1522. As it was the custom of his nation to marry young, he was probably, at the time, not over 15 years of age.57-2

That Francisco Ernantez was not the author of the first part of the document seems evident. Under the year 1560 occurs the following entry:—

“Twenty days before the Feast of the Nativity my mother died; soon after, my late father was carried off (xchaptah) while they were burying my mother; my father took medicine but once before we buried him. The pest continued to rage for seven days after Easter; my mother, my father, my brother and my sister died this year.[58]

It could not, of course, be the son of Balam, who died in 1521, who wrote this.

Under 1563 the writer mentions:—

“At this time my second son Raphael was born, at the close of the fourth year of the fourth cycle after the revolt.”

The last entry which contains the characteristic words ixnucahol, “you my children,” occurs in the year 1559, and is the last given in my translation. My belief is that the document I give was written by the father of Francisco Ernantez Xahila. The latter continued it from 1560 to 1583, when it was taken up by Francisco Diaz, and later by other members of the Xahila family.

The Abbé Brasseur was of the opinion that these Annals carry the record of the nation back to the beginning of the eleventh century, at least. A close examination of the account shows that this is not the case. Gagavitz, the earliest ruler of the nation, can easily be traced as the ancestor in the eighth remove, of the author. The genealogy is as follows:—

1. Gagavitz, “he who came from Tulan.”

2. His son, Cay Noh, who succeeded him.

3. Citan Qatu, son of Cay Noh, who also ruled.

4. His son, Citan Tihax Cablah, who does not seem to have enjoyed the leadership. It was regained by

5. His son, Vukubatz, by the aid of the Quiche king, Quikab.

6. Oxlahuh Tzii, eldest son of Vukubatz, died A. D., 1509.

7. Succeeded by his eldest son, Hun Yg, who died, together[59] with his eldest son Balam, the father of the author, in the year 1521.

Allowing to these seven who outlived their parents an average survival of twenty years, we are carried back to about the year 1380, as that on which the migration, headed by Gagavitz, began its wanderings, little more, therefore, than the length of two lives as protracted as that of the author himself. This result is that generally obtained by a careful scrutiny of American traditions. They very rarely are so far-reaching as has usually been supposed. Anything spoken of as more than three or four generations distant, may safely be assumed as belonging to myth, and not to history.

It was the expressed intention of the Abbé Brasseur to edit the original text with his translation, but this he did not live to accomplish. He incorporated numerous extracts from it in his Histoire des Nations Civilisées du Mexique et de l’Amerique Centrale, and added a few paragraphs in the original at the end of the first volume of that work; but these did not give much idea of the document as a whole.

When, with the aid of the previous partial translations and the assistance of some intelligent natives, he had completed a version into French, of that portion composed by the first two writers he gave a copy of it to Don Juan Gavarrete. This antiquary translated it into Spanish, and published it serially, in the Boletin de la Sociedad Economica de Guatemala, beginning with No. 29, September, 1873, and continuing to No. 43. Copies of this publication are, however, so scarce that I have been unable to learn of a complete file, even in Guatemala. The dissolution of the Sociedad Economica by order of the late President Barrios, scattered the copies in its own archives.[60]

Synopsis of the Annals of Xahila.

The work opens with a statement that the writer intends to record the ancient traditions of his tribe, as handed down from their early heroes, Gagavitz and Zactecauh. He begins with a brief genealogical table of the four sub-tribes of the Cakchiquels (Secs. 1-3), and then relates their notions of the creation of man at one of the mythical cities of Tulan, in the distant west (4, 5). Having been subjected to onerous burdens in Tulan, they determine to leave it, and are advised to go by their oracles (6-14).

They cross the sea, proceeding toward the east, and arrive at a land inhabited by the Nonoualcats, an Aztec people (15-17). Their first action is formally to choose Gagavitz and Zactecauh as their joint rulers (18-19), and under their leadership they proceed to attack the Nonoualcats. After a severe conflict the Cakchiquels are defeated, and are obliged to seek safety in further wanderings. At length they reach localities in Guatemala (20). At this point an episode is introduced of their encounter with the spirit of the forests, Zakiqoxol (21, 22).

They meet with various nations, some speaking a totally different language; others, as the Mams and Pokomams, dialects of their own. With the last mentioned they have serious conflicts (23-29). During one of their journeys, Zactecauh is killed by falling down a ravine (30). An episode here relates the traditional origin of one of their festivals, that in honor of Gagxanul, “the uncoverer of the fire” (31, 32).

Their first arrival at Lake Atitlan is noted (33), and the war that they waged with the Ikomags (34). Here an episode[61] describes the traditional origin of the festival of Tolgom (35-37). A peaceful division of the lake with the Tzutuhils is effected, and marriages take place between the tribes (38).

The Cakchiquels, Quiches and Akahals now settle permanently in their towns, and develop their civilization (39, 40). They meet with numerous hardships, as well as internal dissensions, the chief Baqahol at one time obtaining the leadership. They succeed in establishing, however, family life and a fixed religious worship, though in almost constant war with their neighbors (41-46).

Gagavitz, “he who came from Tulan,” dies, and is followed by Cay Noh and Cay Batz (47). These acknowledge the supremacy of Tepeuh, the king of the Quiches, and are sent out by him to collect tribute from the various tribes. They are seduced and robbed by the Tzutuhils, and conceal themselves in a cave, out of fear of Tepeuh. He forgives them, however, and they continue in power until their death (49-59).

After this, a period of strife follows, and the names of four successive rulers are mentioned, but none of the occurrences of their reigns (60-66).

The narrative is resumed when Qikab, king of the Quiches, orders the Cakchiquels to settle at the town of Chiavar. He appoints, as their rulers, the warriors Huntoh and Vukubatz. A revolt agains Qikab, headed by his two sons, results in his defeat and death (67-81). During this revolt, a contest between the Cakchiquels takes place, the close of which finds the latter established in their final stronghold, the famous fortress of “Iximche on the Ratzamut” (82-85).

At the death of Huntoh and Vukubatz, they are succeeded[62] by Lahuh Ah and Oxlahuh Tzii, who carry on various wars, and especially defeat the Quiches in a general engagement, which is vividly described (86-93). They also conquer the Akahals, killing their king Ichal, and the Tzutuhils, with their king Caoke (94-98).

During their reign, a sanguinary insurrection occurred in Iximche, of such importance that the author adopts its date as the era from which to reckon all subsequent events (99-104). This date corresponded to the year 1496, A. D.(?)

The following years are marked by a series of unimportant wars, the outbreak of a destructive pestilence, and finally, in 1524, twenty-eight years after the Insurrection, by the arrival of the Spanish forces under Alvarado (105-144).

The later pages are taken up with an account of the struggles between the natives and the whites, until the latter had finally established their supremacy.

Remarks on the Printed Text.

In printing the MS. of Xahila, I have encountered certain difficulties which have been only partially surmounted. As the Cakchiquel, though a written, is not a printed tongue, there has no rule been established as to the separation of verbs and their pronominal subjects, of nouns and their possessive pronouns, of the elements of compound particles, of tense and mode signs, etc. In the MSS. the utmost laxity prevails in these respects, and they seem not to have been settled points in the orthography of the tongue. The frequent elisions and euphonic alterations observable in these compounds, prove that to the native mind they bore the value of a single word, as we are aware they did from a study of the structure of this[63] class of languages. I have, therefore, felt myself free to exercise in the printed page nearly the same freedom which I find in the MS. At first, this will prove somewhat puzzling to the student of the original, but in a little while he will come to recognize the radical from its augment without difficulty.

Another trouble has been the punctuation. In the original this consists principally of dashes and commas, often quite capriciously distributed. Here also, I have been lax in reducing the text to the requirements of modern standards, and have left much latitude to the reader to arrange it for himself.

Capital letters are not often used in the original to distinguish proper names, and as the text has been set up from a close copy of the first text, some irregularities in this respect also must be anticipated.

The paragraphs numbered in the text are distinctly marked in the original, but are not numbered there. The numerals have been added for convenience of reference.