Note XXV-5 — Chapter XXV · THE CAKCHIQUELS AND ZUTUGILS MADE SUBJECTS OF SPAIN. April-May, 1524.

Patinamit, or Iximché, called by Alvarado the city of Guatemala. Juarros is in doubt as to the site of the ancient Cakchiquel capital. Remesal makes no mention of it, though he speaks of the founding of the Villa de Guatemala. Fuentes argues that it was not Patinamit, but a city on the slope of the Volcan de Agua, occupying the same position that San Miguel Tzacualpa occupied when he wrote. His reasons are, first, the preservation of the Indian name Guatemala, indicating that the Spaniards did not found a new town, but occupied the existing city; the custom of the Spaniards being to give Spanish names to cities founded by them, as Trujillo, Granada, Cartago, and others, while those cities which were already founded retained their native names, as Mexico, Cuzco, Tlascala, and the like. Again, as observed elsewhere, the word Guatemala is derived from Coctecmalan, which means Palo de leche, milk-tree, commonly called Yerba mala. This is found only at Antigua Guatemala, and within a league around, in which space, therefore, the capital must have stood. But it was not situated where Antigua Guatemala stands, because that place was always called Panchoy, or Great Lagoon; nor where the Pueblo of Ciudad Vieja stands, which locality was called Atmulunca, meaning Gushing Water. Therefore it must have been on the spot where stood the city of the Spaniards, which was destroyed in 1541, and where now exists the little village of Tzacualpa, which name in itself is an additional argument in favor of this supposition, inasmuch as its meaning is Old Town. The third argument of Fuentes is based on the improbability that the Spaniards would found a city in an unpopulated district when the court and capital of the Cakchiquels were at their command. Consequently the court of King Sinacam was situated where the Spaniards first established themselves, that is where Tzacualpa stands. See also Juarros, Guat., ii. 255-9. Vazquez maintains that this capital was the city Patinamit, antonomastically so called, meaning the 'metropolis' or 'the city' par excellence. The locality on which it was built was called 'Iximché,' and in his own time Ohertinamit, which means Old Town. The Mexicans who came with the Spaniards called it Quauhtemali, meaning rotten tree, from an old worm-eaten Iximché tree. To distinguish it from the Ciudad de Santiago founded by the Spaniards, it was afterward named Tecpan Guatemala, that is, Palace or Royal House of Guatemala, a meaning different from that given by Fuentes, who says that Tecpan means 'above,' encima, as Tecpan Atitlan, a town situated on a more elevated site than Atitlan. The city Tecpan Guatemala still exists about half a league distant from the old site. Vazquez, moreover, supports his opinion on the extent and magnificence of the palace and public buildings indicated by the ruins, which he visited in person; and also on the fortified position of the place. Chronica de Gvat., 7, 10, 68, 73; Juarros, Guat., ii. 243, 256-7. That the arguments of Fuentes are fallacious, and that Vazquez is right, Alvarado's own despatches prove almost to a certainty. In his report to Cortés, dated 11th April, at Utatlan, he says, 'Embiè à la Ciudad de Guatemala, que està diez Leguas de esta,' and afterward informs Cortés that on that day he will leave for the city of Guatemala, 'Yo me parto para la Ciudad de Guatemala Lunes once de Abril.' At the commencement of the next despatch he writes, 'Yo, Señor, partì de la Ciudad de Uclatan, í vine en dos Dias à esta Ciudad de Guatemala.' Now this 'city of Guatemala' was the capital of the king of the Cakchiquels, and where Alvarado was entertained by him, as will be told in the text, and it was ten leagues from Utatlan, a distance which would occupy the army two days, as stated by Alvarado; for it was difficult ground to march over, being intersected by numerous ravines. Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 7. The site proposed by Fuentes is nearly twice the distance from Utatlan, and could not have been reached by the Spaniards in the short period of two days, except by very exhausting and forced marches, to which it is most improbable that Alvarado subjected his men when on a visit to a friendly power. Again, Alvarado reports that when on his expedition against Atitlan he left the city of Guatemala and by a forced march entered that territory the same day—'I anduve tanto, que aquel Dia lleguè a su Tierra'—a distance that could be accomplished from the existing ruins of Patinamit, but apparently not from the Volcan de Agua.