[132] Landa, sec. xlii. p. 344.

[133] The good bishop saw the hand of man in a natural phenomenon not understood in his time.

[134] Landa, sec. lii. p. 346.

[135] Landa, “Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan,” sec. viii. p. 47.

[136] Ut supra.

[137] Sahagun, “Hist. de las Cosas de la Nueva España,” lib. II. cap. xxxvii.

[138] Sanchez, “Annales du Musée de Mexico,” tome I. p. 277.

[139] Clavigero, tome I. lib. vii. p. 228.

[140] Sahagun, lib. VIII. cap. xxxvi.

[141] We looked in vain for the triumphal and solitary arch mentioned by Stephens, a unique specimen of this kind of monument in America. It is 20 feet high by 14 feet wide; and we shall see later that it could only have been erected to commemorate a victory of the sovereign of Kabah. The reader will notice that in this monument the corbel vault is more convex, and recalls that of a ruinous palace at Palenque.

[142] Salisbury, “The Mayas,” p. 25. Worcester, 1877.

[143] Eligio Ancona writes: “The king of Mayapan, whom we will call Cocom, distrusting both his great vassals and their allies, sought the support of foreigners against them. He entered into negotiations with the Aztec military authorities of Tabasco and Xicalango” (he probably means Goatzacoalco, for it is certain that the Aztec dominion did not extend beyond that limit), “and it is said that the Mayapan ruler promised to quarter the troops they should send to his capital. Cocom’s proposals were accepted, and a strong Nahua garrison entered the city. The names of the Mexican leaders given in the Maya MS. are Ahzin-Teyut-Chan Tzumtecum, Taxcal, Ponte-Mit Itztecnat and Kakaltecat.” All the traditions are agreed on the arrival of the Mexicans in the peninsula, and the investigations of Don Juan Kanil show that the witnesses he examined swore that his ancestors had come from Mexico by order of Montezuma the Elder.—C. E. Ancona, “Hist. de Yucatan,” Merida, 1878.

[144] Cogolludo, lib. IV. cap. iii.

[145] Herrera, Decade IV. lib. X. cap. iii.

[146] Herrera, Decade IV. lib. X. cap. ii.

[147] Landa, “Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan,” sec. x. p. 59.

[148] Compare the striking resemblance between the Aztec warrior in our Temalacatl drawing, chap. iii. p. 42, and the kneeling figure.

[149] Lizana, chap. ii. This author does not take into consideration the abandonment of the cities by the natives at the Conquest.

[150] Cogolludo, tome I. lib. iv. cap. vi.

[151] Stephens, “Incidents of Travels in Yucatan,” tome I. p. 323.

[152] Stephens, “Incidents of Travels in Yucatan,” tome I. p. 324.

[153] Baron Friedrichsthal, app. to Cogolludo, book iv. Campeche, 1842.

[154] Bernal Diaz, tome I. chap. iii.

[155] Villa Gutierre Soto Mayor, “Hist. of the Conquest of Itza and the Lacandones,” chap. v. p. 30.

[156] Ibid. chap. vi. p. 43.

[157] Cogolludo, tome I. lib. xii. cap. viii.

[158] See note at end.

[159] The Hocco, or Powise (Crox alector), is a bird nearly the size of a turkey, and much prized for its delicate flesh.—Transl.

[160] Stephens, second vol. of “Central America and Yucatan.”

[161] Stephens, “Travels in Central America.”

[162] Villa Gutierre Soto Mayor, “History of the Conquest of Itza,” p. 285.

[163] “Boyle’s Ride,” vol. I. pp. 14-17, quoted by Bancroft.

[164] Sahagun, “Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España.”

[165] Torquemada, “Monarquia Indiana,” lib. X. cap. xxvi.

[166] Clavigero, “Historia Antigua,” tome I. lib. vi. pp. 154, 171.

[167] Landa, “Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan,” sec. XXVIII. p. 162.

[168] Brinton, “American Hero Myths.” Philadelphia.

[169] Vide also Sahagun, “Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España,” lib. II. cap. i.

[170] Bernal Diaz, “Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España.”

[171] Bernal Diaz, vol. II. chap. clxxiii. p. 374.

[172] Villa Gutierre Soto Mayor, “Historia de la Conquista del Itza,” chap. ix.

[173] Gutierre Soto Mayor, vol. I. p. 500. “Their MSS. were written on deer’s skins or the bark of trees prepared into a kind of felt covered over with a white paste. They could be folded like a map and put in a case.”

[174] Remesal, “Historia de la Provincia de Guatemala y Chiapas,” vol. X. chaps. iii., xi., xii.

[175] Cogolludo, vol. II. chap. ix.

[176] Cogolludo, tome II. lib. x. cap. ii.

[177] Villa Gutierre Soto Mayor, “Conquista del Itza,” vol. I.

[178] Maudslay, “Explorations in Guatemala.”

[179] “Incidents of Travels in Central America,” vol. I. p. 153.

[180] Bancroft says that Palacio “had heard of monuments in Yucatan and Tabasco.”

[181] Posole is like cooked hominy; it is mixed in water and forms a cool and nutritious drink.

[182] Orozco y Berra, “Historia de la Conquista de Mejico,” vol. II. p. 377.

[183] Torquemada, “Monarquia Indiana,” lib. III. cap. iii.

[184] Burgoa, “Description Géographique,” chaps. xxviii., xxxix., and liii.

[185] Burgoa, “Description Géographique,” chap. lviii.

[186] Burgoa, “Description Géographique.”

[187] Orozco, “Hist. Antigua de la Conquista de Mejico,” tome II. part II. chap. iv.