Volume 5 — CHAPTER XI. THE QUICHÉ-CAKCHIQUEL EMPIRE IN GUATEMALA.

No Chronology in the South—Outline View—Authorities—Xbalanque at Utatlan—The Migration from Tulan—Balam-Quitzé and his Companions—Sacrifices to Tohil—the Quichés on Mt Hacavitz—The Tamub and Ilocab—First Victories—Qocavib Founds the Monarchy at Izmachi—the Toltec Theory—Imaginary Empire of the East—Different Versions of Primitive History—The Cakchiquel Migration—Juarros and Fuentes—Lists of Kings—Cakchiquels under Hacavitz—Reigns of Balam-Conache, Cotuha, and Iztayul, at Izmachi—War against the Ilocab—The Stolen Tribute—Gucumatz, Quiché Emperor at Utatlan—Changes in the Government—Reigns of Cotuha II., Tepepul, and Iztayul II.—Cakchiquel History—Conquests of Quicab I.—Revolt of the Achihab—Dismemberment of the Empire—Cakchiquel Conquests—Reigns of the last Guatemalan Kings—Appearance of the Spaniards under Alvarado in 1524.

PRELIMINARY VIEW.

In the south we have no connected history except for two centuries immediately preceding the conquest, and no attempt at precise chronology even for that short period. The Quiché-Cakchiquel empire in Guatemala was, at the coming of the Spaniards, the most powerful and famous in North America, except that of the Aztecs in Anáhuac, with which it never came into direct conflict, although the fame of each was well known to the other, and commercial intercourse was carried on almost constantly. The southern empire, so far as may be learned from the slight evidence bearing on the subject, was about three centuries old in the sixteenth century, and the nearest approach to chronology in its annals is the regular succession of monarchs who occupied the throne, the achievements of each king given in what may be considered to be their chronologic order, and an apparent connection in a few cases with occurrences whose date is known from the Aztec records.

In a preceding volume of this work I have presented all that the authorities have preserved respecting the manners and customs of the Guatemalan peoples, and their condition at the coming of the Spaniards, including their system of government and the order of royal succession. In a chapter devoted to a general preliminary view of these nations,[XI-1] I have already presented a brief outline of their history as follows: Guatemala and northern Honduras were found in possession of the Mames in the north-west, the Pokomams in the south-east, the Quichés in the interior, and the Cakchiquels in the south.[XI-2] The two latter were the most powerful, and ruled the country from their capitals of Utatlan and Tecpan Guatemala, where they resisted the Spaniards almost to the point of annihilation, retiring for the most part after defeat to live by the chase in the distant mountain gorges. Guatemalan history from the time of the Votanic empire down to an indefinite date not many centuries before the conquest, is a blank. It re-commences with the first traditions of the nations just mentioned. These traditions, as in the case of every American people, begin with the immigration of foreign tribes into the country, as the first in the series of events leading to the establishment of the Quiché-Cakchiquel empire. Assuming the Toltec dispersion from Anáhuac in the eleventh century as a well-authenticated fact, most writers have identified the Guatemalan nations, except perhaps the Mames, by some considered the descendants of the original inhabitants, with the migrating Toltecs who fled southward to found a new empire. I have already made known my scepticism respecting national American migrations in general, and the Toltec migration southward in particular, and there is nothing in the annals of Guatemala to modify the views previously expressed. The Quiché traditions are vague and without chronologic order, much less definite than those relating to the mythical Aztec wanderings. The sum and substance of the Quiché and Toltec identity is the traditional statement that the former people entered Guatemala at an unknown period in the past, while the latter left Anáhuac in the eleventh century. That the Toltecs should have migrated en masse southward, taken possession of Guatemala, established a mighty empire, and yet have abandoned their language for dialects of the original Maya tongue, is in the highest degree improbable. It is safer to suppose that the mass of the Quichés, and other nations of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Honduras, were descended directly from the Maya builders of Palenque, and from contemporary peoples,—that is, as has been shown in the chapter on pre-Toltec history in this volume, from the Maya peoples after they had been conquered by a new power and had become to a certain extent, so far as their institutions were concerned, Nahua nations.—Yet the differences between the Quiché-Cakchiquel structures and the older architectural remains of the Maya empire, indicate a new era of Maya culture, originated not improbably by the introduction of foreign elements. Moreover the apparent identity in name and teachings between the early civilizers of the Quiché tradition and the Nahua followers of Quetzalcoatl, together with reported resemblances between actual Quiché and Aztec institutions as observed by Europeans, indicate farther that the new element was engrafted on Maya civilization by contact with the Nahuas, a contact of which the presence of the exiled Toltec nobility may have been a prominent feature. After the overthrow of the original empire, we may suppose the people to have been subdivided during the course of centuries by civil wars and sectarian struggles into petty states, the glory of their former greatness vanished and partially forgotten, the spirit of progress dormant, to be roused again by the presence of the Nahua chiefs. These gathered and infused new life into the scattered remnants; they introduced some new institutions, and thus aided the ancient peoples to rebuild their empire on the old foundations, retaining the dialects of the original language. The preceding paragraphs, however, gave an exaggerated idea of the Toltec element in forming Quiché institutions, as has been shown by the investigations of the present volume, since, while the Nahua element in these institutions was very strong, yet the Nahua influence was exerted chiefly in pre-Toltec times while the two peoples were yet living together in Central America, rather than by the exiled Toltec nobles and priests.

AUTHORITIES ON GUATEMALAN HISTORY.

The authorities for Quiché history are not numerous. They include the work of Juarros, which is chiefly founded on the manuscripts of Fuentes; the published Spanish and French translations of the Popol Vuh, or National Book, of which much has already been said; and a number of documents similar to the latter, written in Spanish letters, but in the various Quiché-Cakchiquel dialects, by native authors who wrote after the Conquest, of course, but relied upon the aboriginal records and traditions, never published and only known to the world through the writings of Brasseur de Bourbourg, who, in Maya as in many parts of Nahua history, is the chief and almost the only authority.

In the earliest annals of Central America, while the Xibalban empire was yet in the height of its power, we find what is, perhaps, the first mention of the territory known later as Guatemala, in the mention by the Popol Vuh[XI-3] of Carchah, or Nimxob Carchah, a locality in Vera Paz, as the place whence Hunhunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, the first Nahua chiefs who conspired against the Xibalban monarchs, directed their first expedition toward the region of Palenque. Las Casas also names this as one of the entrances to the road which lead to the infernal regions, the sense probably given to Xibalba in the traditions of the country.[XI-4] And from Utatlan, in the same region, in later centuries the Quiché capital, started Xbalanque and Hunahpu, the descendants of the two chieftains already named, to avenge the defeat of their ancestors, and to overthrow the proud kings of Xibalba. The young princes left behind them their mother and grand-mother, planting in their cabin two canes which were to indicate to those left at home their own fortune, to flourish with their prosperity, to wither at each misfortune, and to die should they meet the fate of their predecessors; hence perhaps the Quiché name of Utatlan, Gumarcaah, 'house of withered canes.'[XI-5] The mention of Guatemalan localities in this connection is not sufficient to prove that the opposition to Xibalba had its beginning or centre in Guatemala, but simply indicates that the Nahua power in those primitive times extended over that region, as did also the Maya power, not improbably. In other words, the long struggle between the two rival powers was no local contest at and about Palenque, but was felt in a greater or less degree throughout the whole country, from Anáhuac to Guatemala, and perhaps still farther south.

EXPEDITION OF XBALANQUE.

Xbalanque's expedition and some subsequent occurrences are related by Torquemada, as follows: "After the people of the earth had multiplied and increased, it was made known that a god had been born in the province of Otlatla (Utatlan), now known as Vera Paz, thirty leagues from the capital called Quauhtemallan (Guatemala), which god they named Exbalanquen. Of him it is related, among other lies and fables, that he went to wage war against Hell, and fought against all the people of that region and conquered them, and captured the king of Hell with many of his army. On his return to the earth after his victory, bearing with him his spoils, the king of the Shades begged that he might not be carried away. They were then in three or four grades of light, but Exbalanquen gave the infernal monarch a kick, saying 'go back, and thine be in future all that is rotten, and refuse, and stinking, in these infernal regions.' Exbalanquen then returned to Vera Paz whence he had set out, but he was not received there with the festivities and songs of triumph which he thought he had deserved, and therefore he went away to another kingdom, where he was kindly received. This conqueror of Hell is said to have introduced the custom of sacrificing human beings.""[XI-6] Brasseur adds on this subject: "Copan, the name of which ('on the vase') alludes mysteriously to the religious symbols of the mixed, or Mestizo, Nahua race, was it then chosen by this prince, whose mother (Xquiq) personified the fundamental idea of this sanguinary worship? However this may have been, it seems certain that the latter city owed its origin to a fierce warrior named Balam, who had entered the country by the way of Peten Itza about fifteen centuries before the Spanish conquest. During the last period of native rule the province of which Copan was the capital was called Payaqui ('in the Yaqui, or Nahuas') or the kingdom of Chiquimula."[XI-7] But all this may be regarded as purely conjectural.

From the time when Xbalanque and Hunahpu marched to the conquest of Xibalba, and succeeded in subordinating the ancient Maya to the Nahua power, for several centuries down to the subsequent scattering of both Nahua and Maya tribes, which preceded the appearance of the Toltec branches in Anáhuac, the history of Guatemala is a blank. That civilized peoples occupied the country at that remote time; that they had been more or less the subjects of the ancient empire; and that they had been brought within the new influences of the Nahua institutions, there can be little doubt; but they have left no record of their deeds, probably not even of their names. The annals recommence with the traditional migration from Tulan, by which the Toltecs established themselves on the central plateaux of Mexico, while the tribes afterwards known as Quichés wandered southward to the highlands of Vera Paz; but five or six centuries were yet to pass before we find any record that may be properly termed history. I return to the traditions of the Popol Vuh, it being necessary to take up the thread of the story at a period even preceding the arrival at Tulan, and thus to repeat in a measure certain portions already referred to in a preceding chapter.

RECORD OF THE POPOL VUH.

After the creation of the first men, Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, wives were given them, and these were the parents of the Quiché nation. Among the nations then in the East, that received their names from those that were begotten, were those of Tepeuh, Oloman, Cohah, Quenech, and Ahau; also those of Tamub and Ilocab who came together from the eastern land.[XI-8] Balam-Quitzé was the ancestor of the nine grand families of Cawek; Balam-Agab of the nine of Nihaïb; Mahucutah of the four of Ahau-Quiché. There came also the thirteen of Tecpan, and those of Rabinal, the Cakchiquels, those of Tziquinaha, Zacaha, and others. All seem to have spoken one language, and to have lived in great peace, black men and white together. Here they awaited the rising of the sun and prayed to the Heart of Heaven. The tribes were already very numerous, including that of the Yaqui (Nahuas). At the advice of Balam-Quitzé and his companions, they departed in search of gods to worship, and came to Tulan-Zuiva, the Seven Caves, where gods were given them, Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, and Nicahtagah. Tohil was also the god of Tamub and Ilocab, and the three tribes, or families, kept together, for their god was the same.[XI-9] Here arrived all the tribes, the Rabinals, the Cakchiquels, the Tziquinaha, and the Yaqui; and here their language was confounded, they could no longer understand each other, and they separated, some going to the east and many coming hither (to Guatemala). They dressed in skins and were poor, but they were wonderful men, and when they reached Tulan-Zuiva, long had been their journey, as the ancient histories tell us.

Now there was no fire; Tohil was the first to create it, but it is not known exactly how he did it, since it was already burning when it was discovered by Balam-Quitzé and Balam-Agab. The fire was put out by a sudden shower and by a storm of hail, but the fire of the Quichés was rekindled by Tohil. Then the other tribes came shivering with chattering teeth to ask for fire from Balam-Quitzé, which was at first denied them; and a messenger from Xibalba appeared, a Zotzil, or bat, as it is said, and advised the high-priests to refuse the petition of the tribes until they should have learned from Tohil the price to be paid for the fire. The condition finally named by the god was, that they consent to "unite themselves to me under their armpit and under their girdle, and that they embrace me, Tohil," a condition not very clearly expressed, but which, as is shown by what follows, was an agreement to worship the Quiché god, and sacrifice to him their blood, and, if required, their children. They accepted the condition and received the fire. But one family stole the fire, the family of Zotzil, of the Cakchiquels, whose god was Chamalcan, and whose symbol was the bat; and they did not submit to the conditions of Tohil. Here they began to fast and to watch for the sun. It was not here that they received their power and sovereignty, but there where they subdued the great and the little tribes, when they sacrificed them before the face of Tohil, offering him the blood, the life, the breast, and the armpit of all men. Thus at Tulan came to them their majesty, that great wisdom which was in them in the obscurity and in the night. They came then and tore themselves away from there and abandoned the regions of the rising sun. "This is not our home; let us go and see where we shall establish it," said Tohil. Truly he spoke to Balam-Quitzé—and the others. "Make first your thanksgiving, prepare the holes in your ears, pierce your elbows, and offer sacrifice; this will be your act of gratitude before god." "It is well," they replied, piercing their ears; and these things are in the song of their coming from Tulan; and their hearts groaned when they started, after they had torn themselves away from Tulan. "Alas! we shall no longer behold here the dawn at the moment when the sun comes up to illumine the face of the earth," said they as they set out. But some were left on the road; for some remained asleep, each of the tribes arising so as to see the morning star. It was the sign of the morning that was in their thoughts when they came from the land of the rising sun, and their hope was the same in leaving this place which is at a great distance, as they tell us to-day.

THE QUICHÉS AT MT HACAVITZ.

They arrived and assembled on the mountain now called Chipixab, the Quichés, Tamub, Ilocab, Cakchiquels, Rabinals, and Tziquinaha. They took counsel one with another, and were very sad, and hungry too. Then, at their own request, were the gods concealed in different ravines and forests,[XI-10] except Hacavitz, who was placed on a pyramid on Mt Hacavitz, and there all the tribes waited in great trouble for the coming of the dawn. "Now behold lords were made, and our old men and our fathers had their beginning; behold we will relate the dawn and the appearance of the sun, moon, and stars." The account of the dawn and its attendant ceremonies, which follows in the Popol Vuh, would seem, in connection with the preceding quotations, to refer vaguely to the election of rulers, the establishment of temporal and spiritual government, the birth of Quiché institutions. Here they sang the song of lamentation for their separation from their kindred in Tulan, already referred to.[XI-11]

Under Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, they lived together on the mountain, and the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab lived near by in the forests of Dan, under the same god Tohil, the god of the people of Rabinal being the same under the name of Huntoh, while the god of the Cakchiquels was different, Tzotziha Chamalcan, as was also their language. Their hearts were heavy because Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz were still hidden in the grass and moss, although it has been stated before that the latter was on the pyramid of Hacavitz. They went to thank Tohil for the sunrise, and to make offerings of resins and plants; and he spoke and made known a rule of conduct for the sacrificers; and they called upon him to aid them and said, "here shall be our mountains and our valleys;" and the gods predicted their future greatness. They still suffered from hunger, and the places where the wives abode were not clearly known.

And now many towns had been founded, apparently by other than the Quiché tribes, but as to Balam-Quitzé and his three companions they were not clearly seen, but cried like wild beasts in the mountains and on the roads, coming each day before Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, offering them the blood of beasts, and blood drawn from their own bodies. Afterwards began the slaughter of the surrounding people who were overtaken on the roads, either one by one or in small groups, and slain, as was supposed, by wild beasts. After many had perished, suspicions were aroused of the four sacrificers and of their gods, but it was hard to track the pretended animals on the fog-enveloped summits of the Guatemalan heights. Now the gods Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz assumed the appearance of three young men, and were wont to bathe in a certain river, vanishing at will whenever they were seen by the people; and a council was held to devise means for effecting their death, and to escape the destruction caused by these Quichés of Cawek. They deemed themselves a great people and those of Cawek only a handful; yet if the power of the three gods was really so great that it could not be overcome, then would they call upon Tohil also to be their god. It was decided to send to meet the three young men at the bath two of the most beautiful of their virgins, that the passions of the former might be excited. These virgins, in obedience to the commands of their elders, went to the river to wash linen, and both removed all their clothing as soon as the three bathers appeared, and began to talk with them, saying that their parents had sent them to speak to the young men and to bring some token of having had an interview with them. But the young men did not, as was expected, so far descend from their godlike dignity as to take liberties with the fair Xtah and Xpuch, but after consultation with Balam-Quitzé and his brother sacrificers, gave the girls their painted mantles as tokens to carry to those that had sent them. One of the mantles was covered with painted wasps and bees which came to life and stung the lord who put it on, and thus was Tohil victorious over the princes, by the aid of Balam-Quitzé and his companions. Then an assault was determined upon by the numerous tribes against the small forces of the Quiché sacrificers on Mount Hacavitz, but Tohil knew of all their plans, as did Balam-Quitzé. The invaders were to make the attack by night, but they fell asleep on the route, and their eyebrows and beard were shaven and all their ornaments stolen by the valiant Quichés as they slept. The Quiché leaders fortified their position with palisades and fallen trees, and stationed on them manikins of wood armed like soldiers and decorated with the gold and silver stolen from the sleeping foe. The sacrificers were sore afraid, but Tohil re-assured them. They filled the shells of gourds with hornets and wasps and placed them about the defences of their town. Spies came from the enemy and looked upon the wooden soldiers and rejoiced that they were few in number, and at the victory their countless armies were soon to win.

THE THREE TEMPTERS.

The hostile forces, armed with bows and arrows, and bearing shields, ascended the mountain and surrounded the Quiché retreat, shouting and striving with fearful clamor to strike terror into the hearts of their foes, who meanwhile looked calmly on. At the fitting moment the winged allies of the Quichés were released from the gourds and in countless hordes attacked the invaders right valiantly, fastening themselves on the eyes and noses of the foe, who threw down their arms in their agony, threw themselves on the ground, and were slaughtered by the followers of Tohil, both men and women joining in the bloody work. Barely half of the invading army escaped to their homes. The tribes were thus humiliated before the face of the sacrificers, begged for mercy, and were made subjects; the victors were filled with exultation, and multiplied, begetting sons and daughters on Mount Hacavitz.

The sons of the sacrificers were as follows; Balam-Quitzé begat Qocaib and Qocavib, ancestor of the Cawek, or first Quiché royal family. Balam-Agab begat Qoacul and Qoacutec, from whom sprang the family of Nihaïb. Mahucutah had but one son Qoahau; and Iqi-Balam had none.[XI-12] The four sacrificers, the first leaders and fathers of the Quiché people, were now old and ready to die, and after many words of counsel to their sons they disappeared suddenly, leaving to their people what is called the 'enveloped majesty' as a most precious relic, the form of which was not known for the envelope was not removed; and thenceforth the Quichés from their home on the mountain ruled all the surrounding tribes now thoroughly subjected.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY.

The three elder sons, Qocaib, Qoacutec, and Qoahau, were married long after the death of their fathers, and they determined to go as their fathers had ordered to the East on the shore of the sea, whence their fathers had come, 'to receive the royalty,' bidding adieu to their brothers and friends, and promising to return. "Doubtless they passed over the sea when they went to the East to receive the royalty. Now this is the name of the lord, of the monarch of the people of the East where they went. And when they arrived before the lord Nacxit,[XI-13] the name of the great lord, of the only judge, whose power was without limit, behold he granted them the sign of royalty and all that represents it; hence came the sign of the rank of Ahpop and of that of Ahpop Camha, and Nacxit finally gave them the insignia of royalty, ... all the things in fact which they brought on their return, and which they went to receive from the other side of the sea, the art of painting from Tulan, a system of writing, they said, for the things recorded in the histories."

The three princes returned to Mount Hacavitz, assembled all the tribes, including the people of Ilocab and Tamub, the Cakchiquels, Tziquinaha, and the tribe of Rabinal, assuming the authority over them to the great joy of all. Then the wives of the original sacrificers died, and many of the people left Mount Hacavitz and founded innumerable other towns on the neighboring hills,[XI-14] where their numbers were greatly multiplied. The three princes who went to the East to receive the royalty, had grown old and died, but before their death they had established themselves in their great city of Izmachi.[XI-15]

The narrative of the Popol Vuh condenses in the preceding paragraphs, the history of the Quichés during the whole time that elapsed between the scattering of the Nahuas from Tulan before the fifth century, and the final establishment of the Quiché empire, an event whose exact date is unknown—for we have nothing but approximate dates in the aboriginal history of Guatemala—but which, judging by the number of kings that are represented as having occupied the throne afterwards down to the coming of the Spaniards, is thought not to have been earlier than the thirteenth century. The record implies, in fact, that the Quichés lived long in their new home before they acquired power among the surrounding tribes. All this time they were directed by their trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, acting through their four chief sacrificers, or high-priests, Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, the same who had led them in their migration from the region of Xibalba, and even in their migration to that region from the east. Of course many generations of priests bearing these names or these titles must have succeeded each other in the direction of Quiché affairs during this period; but the record admits the succession of sons to the ecclesiastical and temporal power only after the nation had risen to power. It has been noted, however, that another document mentions several generations between Balam-Quitzé and Qocavib. The surrounding peoples are continually referred to in the Popol Vuh, but for the most part simply as 'the tribes,' although the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab, of Rabinals, of the Cakchiquels, and several others are frequently named, sometimes in a manner that would lead the reader to suppose that these were 'the tribes' subdued, but oftener as if these were from the first connected with the Quichés. From the records of other Guatemalan nations which have never been published, the Abbé Brasseur attempts to throw some light on the history of the tribes among which the Quichés lived so long in a subordinate position, and on the period over which the Popol Vuh passes so rapidly.

MIGRATION FROM TULAN.

The many tribes that left the central region of Tulan did not probably do so simultaneously, but migrated at irregular intervals, so that the final destruction of Tulan may not have occurred before the sixth or seventh century. Juarros even gives a list of four kings, Tanub, Capichoch, Calel-Ahus, and Ahpop, who ruled in that city, although his account taken from that of Fuentes is not worthy of great confidence. According to the records followed by Brasseur, the first tribes to migrate southward towards Guatemala, were those of Tamub and Ilocab together with the thirteen clans of Tecpan, the ancestors of the Pokomams. We have seen, however, that Guatemala was already more or less in possession of the Nahuas before the overthrow of Xibalba, and the vague references to the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab—the oldest Nahua tribes in the country according to all authorities—are insufficient to show clearly whether they were already in Guatemala in the time of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, or like the Quichés proper migrated thither after the fall of Xibalba. The chiefs of Tamub held the highest rank in a kind of confederacy that seems to have been established at this early time. Their capital was Amag-Dan, a few leagues north of Utatlan. The family of Ilocab, the second in the confederacy, had its capital, Uquincat, at a short distance north-west of Utatlan, and was divided into two branches called Gale-Ziha and Tzununi-ha. The third chief of the alliance has escaped the abbé's researches. The thirteen tribes of Tecpan, under the names of Uxab and Pokomam, occupied Vera Paz and the region south of the Motagua, their capital, Nimpokom, being near where the modern town of Rabinal now stands. The western country towards Chiapas was held by the Mames, one of the ancient peoples of Guatemala who were probably found in the country by the first tribes from Tulan. This nation was divided into many bands, whose names and towns are given, the latter including those afterwards known as Quezaltenango and Huehuetenango. One document mentions a succession of nine sovereigns in the Tamub dynasty before the Quiché power began.

The Quichés entered the country at about the same time as the tribes of Ilocab, Tamub, and the Pokomams, but as we have seen in their own record, they had no influence for many centuries among the nations that preceded them. During this period, with the Cakchiquels, the band of Rabinal, and the Ah-Tziquinaha, they constituted a group of small tribes, dwelling on the barren heights of Vera Paz, or the Lacandon country. It is not probable that they were yet known as Quichés, or 'men of the woods,' and all that is known of them is the names of their gods, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; of their chief priests, whose names, or titles, were Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam; and of leaders mentioned by the MS. Cakchiquel, and named Xurcah and Totomay. According to our only authority on early events, excepting the Popol Vuh, the time which was occupied by the Quichés under Balam-Quitzé and his companions in their long struggles as animals against the other tribes, is not that which elapsed between their arrival from Tulan at Mt Hacavitz in the sixth or seventh century, and the establishment of their monarchy in the thirteenth, but rather that between their first coming prominently into notice in the mountains of Vera Paz in the twelfth century, and the founding of their empire. According to this version, the annals of the whole preceding period are included by the author of the Popol Vuh in those of the migration to Mt Hacavitz; Balam-Quitzé and the other sacrificers were not their leaders when they left Tulan, but were given to them much later by their god Tohil to guide the unfortunate people out of their difficulties; in fact, these sacrificers, so called, were Toltec chieftains who fled from Anáhuac at the fall of their empire, joined the partisans who accompanied their flight to the forces of the Quichés, gathered the scattered tribes on the heights of Vera Paz, and were enabled after a century of contest—during which the Quichés were regarded as a nation of brigands, much like the Aztecs at the same time, or a little later, about the Mexican lakes—to subdue the surrounding nations, and thus become masters of Guatemala. There are probably no sufficient reasons to deny that the empire was founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century;—although it should be noted that this gives to the following kings down to the Conquest, as will be seen later, an average reign of only twelve or fifteen years;—the Quichés are known to have claimed relationship with the Toltec sovereigns; and it is quite likely the exiled chiefs and priests of Tollan had an influence on the Quiché institutions; but that the Quiché empire was thus founded by the Toltec exiles, there is, as I have repeatedly shown, every reason to deny.

EMBASSY TO ANÁHUAC.

The first tribes conquered by the followers of Tohil were five of the thirteen Pokomam bands, which were forced to pay tribute. Ahcan was now the high-priest and leader of the bands who were gathered about Mt Hacavitz, and he was the great-grandson of Balam-Quitzé, and the father of Qocaib and Qocavib, mentioned by the Popol Vuh as the founders of the monarchy, and represented by that record as the sons of Balam-Quitzé. It was at his command, expressed just before his death, that the three princes undertook a journey to the East, to obtain from the great monarch of that region, the authority and insignia which should render legitimate the power they were about to assume. Other documents differ from the Popol Vuh in stating that while one of the brothers, Qocaib, thus visited the East, the other brother, Qocavib, directed his course northward to Anáhuac to seek the royal investiture at the hands of the Toltec princes who had remained at Culhuacan. He reached the valley, but such was the state of anarchy he found prevailing there, that he was forced to return without having attained his object, and reached his home long before the return of his brother. He even took advantage of Qocaib's absence to dishonor his wife, who bore him a son. Qocaib, when he came back from his successful mission and was congratulated by the assembled chieftains, saw the child in its mother's arms, and was not a little surprised at its existence, but he seemed perfectly satisfied with the assurance of his wife that the child was of his own blood, and taking it in his arms, he named it Balam Conache, who was the founder of the house of Conache and of Iztayul, and the first to bear the title of Ahpop Camha, or heir apparent to the throne. It is not explained why the younger brother, unsuccessful in his mission, was allowed to become the head of the government instead of the older and more successful Qocaib. A second journey to the East by the two princes is also recorded before their right to the throne was definitely established.

This subject of an eastern monarchy ruled by Nacxit is shrouded in impenetrable mystery. Brasseur claims confidently that the kingdom cited was in Honduras with its capital probably at Copan, and ruled by Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, the last of the Toltec kings, or by his son; the sea alluded to as having been crossed in the journey, must then have been the gulf of Amatique or that of Dulce. The only authority that I know of for this assumption is the vague report by Ixtlilxochitl that Acxitl went southward and established a great empire in Tlapallan, where he died in the twelfth century; and the slight resemblance in the names Acxitl and Nacxit. I need not say that the authority is altogether insufficient, and that it is much safer to give the tale of the mission to the East some mythologic meaning, or to admit that its meaning like that of many of the traditions of this early period in Guatemalan history is wholly unknown.

REIGN OF QOCAVIB.

The monarchy as thus first established seems to have included, besides the Quichés proper of the house of Cawek, the Cakchiquels, Rabinals, and Ah-Tziquinaha, as the principal Quiché branches or allies. During the reign of Qocavib, the territory of the kingdom was considerably extended by the conquest of large portions of Vera Paz, which were taken from the Pokomams in the south. At the assault of Qoxbaholam, the stronghold of a powerful people called the Agaab, the prince of that nation is reported to have been captured, and to have made his nation tributary to the Quiché king and worshipers of the Quiché trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz. This and succeeding events, down to the foundation of Izmachi, already alluded to in the account from the Popol Vuh, I quote from the only writer who has had access to the other Guatemalan records.[XI-16]

"Already masters of Pachalum, and on the point of entering Zquina, the Quichés found themselves checked by strong forces, when an unexpected ally was offered them; this was Cotuha, prince of Cakulgi, hereditary guardian of the sacred stone of Tzutuha in the temple of Cahbaha, whom they had just made a prisoner. Like a skillful politician, Qocavib took advantage of this occurrence so providential for him. The annals reveal that in the midst of their conquests the Quichés were divided by family rivalries; and it seems probable that Qocavib, whose name takes the place of that of his older brother, had as enemies all the princes of the house of Ahcan, sprung from Qocaib. Placing little reliance on the support of his relatives, he sought to strengthen himself by making allies among the conquered chiefs; and thus Cotuha having become his captive, he offered him in the order of the Ahqib and Ahqahb the fourth rank, vacant at the time by the death of the incumbent who had no offspring; so that this prince was assured of eventually rising to the command of the whole nation. Cotuha, proclaimed by the nobility, soon proved his worthiness of that high honor. After having powerfully aided the Quichés in the conquest of Zquina, Bayal, Chamilah, Ginom, Tocoy, and Patzima, returning to the Rio Chixoy with his new allies and subjects, he guided them by passes known only to himself to the centre of the great city of Cawinal on the bank of the river, an event soon followed by the submission of the whole Agaab nation, to which it belonged. The Quiché kings finding themselves pressed for room on Mount Hacavitz, left this city for that of Cawinal, where they established the seat of government. This was not, however, the permanent capital. At the death of Qocavib, Balam Conache, his successor, crossed the river southward, probably even before his coronation, and fixed his residence at Izmachi; and there he had himself proclaimed Ahau Ahpop and consecrated with all the Toltec ceremonial, conferring the title of Ahpop Camha on his son Iztayul."

MIGRATION FROM THE NORTH.

Here should be given such scattered items of information respecting this primitive period of Guatemalan history, given by the same author in an earlier work,[XI-17] as are additional to or differ from those already presented. The famous mythical queen Atit is said by Fuentes to have lived four centuries, and from her sprang all the royal and noble families of Guatemala. The oldest nation, or tribe, in the country was that of Tamub, whose son Copichoch had come from the east with Cochochlam, Mahquinalo, and Ahcanail, brought the black stone afterwards venerated at Utatlan, and reigned for a time at Tulan. The tribe of Ilocab ruled after that of Tamub, or perhaps at the same time, over the adjoining provinces. Brasseur seems here to favor the idea that the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab were the Nahuas who occupied Guatemala before the overthrow of Xibalba in the time of Xbalanque and Hunahpu, who refused to receive the former at his return from the conquest, yet among whom he introduced human sacrifice. A Zutugil document makes the Seven Caves an earlier station on the Quiché migration than Tulan, and speaks of wars that drove the people from the latter place into the mountains of Vera Paz. The worthy abbé finds room in his capacious imagination for a theory that the Pokomams, Quichés, Cakchiquels, and other kindred peoples, originated in the regions north of Mexico, stayed a while with the Toltecs at Tollan, but not long enough to be influenced to any great extent by them, and then migrated to the Guatemalan highlands. It does not seem to occur to this author that there are no arguments in favor of such a theory, that there is no necessity for such a conjecture, and that it disagrees radically with nearly all that he ever wrote before or afterwards. The same writer notes that the Pokomams were bitter foes of Acxitl, the last Toltec king, while the other Quiché tribes were friendly to him, and he infers from Nuñez de la Vega and other authorities that the kingdom of Xibalba was still existing, though with greatly diminished power, at the time when the Quiché tribes came into notice in Guatemala and Acxitl established his southern empire. The Cakchiquels on their way are even said to have been employed to defend the Xibalban frontiers, and their chieftains, the Tukuches, took their name of Zotziles, or bats, from that of Tzinacantla, their residence at the time, which has the meaning of 'city of bats.' In fact the tribes are here represented as having gathered in the Xibalban region before they mounted to their later homes in the highlands.[XI-18]

The accounts of this gathering are chiefly from the Cakchiquel record. The locality is called Deozacuancu, apparently in the tierra caliente of Tabasco; but war was declared against some neighboring power, and the tribes went to Oloman—perhaps the Tepeu and Oliman, mentioned in a preceding chapter.[XI-19] The cities against which this expedition was directed were Nonualcat and Xulpiti, the former suggesting the Nonohualcas, whose home was in the Tabascan region. The leaders were the Cakchiquel, or Zotzil-Tukuche, chiefs Hacavitz (Gagawitz) and Zactecauh; the enemies were defeated in a battle fought chiefly on the water; their cities were taken and their people massacred. But even while engaged in the massacre, their foes rallied, attacked them in the rear, and in their turn routed the Quiché tribes with great slaughter, not without the aid of magic arts, as we are informed by the record. The remnants of the vanquished were re-united on Mt Oloman, but the influence of Hacavitz and Zactecauh was destroyed, the tribes could be no longer kept together, and they resolved to separate and each for itself to seek the regions of the interior. No particulars are preserved of their wanderings, but Brasseur believes that the Quichés proper were the first to reach the heights of Vera Paz, after a generation at least had passed since they left the Xibalban region of Tabasco, and the sufferings from cold and the giving of fire by Tohil, are by him applied to the period immediately following their arrival. Then the other tribes arrived one by one and applied for fire, as has already been stated, their languages having become different one from another during that interval. The envoy from Xibalba also appeared among them, a circumstance that indicates to Brasseur that the Xibalban empire still existed in the eleventh or twelfth century; but which may, I think, be taken much more reasonably as a proof that these events took place at a date as early as the fifth or sixth century. The Cakchiquels were the last to arrive, and they stole the fire of Tohil without submitting to the required conditions, coming, as it is said, like bats, another derivation of their name of Zotziles.

MAMES AND POKOMAMS.

The Cakchiquels are said to have applied, on their arrival, the name Mem, or as the Spaniards afterwards called it, Mames, or 'stutterers,' to the Maya-speaking aboriginal tribes whom they found in possession of the country, on account of their peculiar pronunciation, although the Cakchiquel was also a Maya dialect. The Mames in later times occupied the north-western part of the country towards the Chiapan frontiers, where they were never entirely conquered by the Quiché nations down to the time of the Conquest, their capital being Zakuléu, near Huehuetenango.[XI-20] Besides the Mames, probably the most ancient of the Guatemalan nations, the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab also occupied the country before the later Quiché tribes. According to Fuentes the capital of the Tamub was Utatlan, or Gumarcaah, and it is stated that the Ilocab were bitter enemies of the Quichés, and were only conquered when nearly annihilated. The Pokomams and Pokonchis, kindred tribes or divisions of the same tribe, are here estimated by Brasseur to have arrived something more than a half century before the other Quiché tribes, and are said to have conquered or allied themselves with the Uxab, elsewhere[XI-21] spoken of as a division of that tribe. Nothing is known of Pokomam history, but some remains of their language and of their towns may yet be studied. These people, together with the Tamub and Ilocab, were perhaps the chief foes of the Quichés in the earlier days of their power.

In their wars against the Pokomams the Quiché tribes made use of the ancient chieftains who had been subjected by that people, among whom are mentioned Zakbim and Huntzuy on the Chiquimula frontier. The first battle and the first Quiché victory was in the valley of Rabinal and brought into the possession of the Cakchiquels—for these events are taken from the Cakchiquel record—the stronghold of Mount Zactzuy, and also made allies of Loch and Xet, chieftains of the Ahquehayi, who afterwards became almost identical with the Cakchiquels. The next point against which Hacavitz proceeded was Mount Cakhay; but the allied Quiché forces were repulsed with great loss, and so weakened that it was long before they were able again to attack the warlike Pokomams. Then they retired from a hopeless contest, and took refuge in the inaccessible mountain fastnesses about Utatlan, now Santa Cruz del Quiché in the department of Totonicapan. The mountain where they established themselves is called in the Cakchiquel record Tohohil, 'clashing of arms,' but in the Popol Vuh is known as we have seen as Mount Hacavitz. All that is known of their stay at Mount Hacavitz, of their oppression by the neighboring tribes, their gradually increasing power, their final victory over those tribes, and the establishment of the Quiché monarchy with its capital at Izmachi, related by Brasseur in the work from which the preceding notes have been extracted, is taken by him from the Popol Vuh, and is substantially the same that I have already given on the same authority.

VERSION OF JUARROS.

To conclude this primitive period of Guatemalan history, it only remains to present a few notes given on the subject by the Spanish writers, chiefly by Juarros, who follows the manuscript writings of Fuentes y Guzman, founded as is claimed on native documents, but full of inconsistencies, and doubtless also of errors. Juarros, or the authority followed by him, was fully imbued with the belief that the Quichés were the Toltecs who left Anáhuac after the fall of their empire, and his efforts to reconcile the native records to this theory perhaps account for many of his inconsistencies. I translate from this author that part of his work which relates to this primitive period. "The Toltecs referred to were of the house of Israel, and the great prophet Moses freed them from the captivity in which they were held by Pharaoh; but, having passed the Red Sea, they gave themselves up to idolatry, and persisting in it notwithstanding the warnings of Moses, either to escape the chidings of this law-giver or for fear of punishment, they left him and their kindred and crossed the sea to a place called the Seven Caves on the shores of the Mar Bermejo (Gulf of California) now a part of the Mexican kingdom,[XI-22] where they founded the celebrated city of Tula. The first chief who ruled and conducted this great band from one continent to the other, was Tamub, ancestor of the royal families of Tula and of Quiché, and first king of the Toltecs. The second was Capichoch; the third Calel Ahus; the fourth Ahpop; the fifth Nimaquiché,[XI-23] who, being the best beloved and most distinguished of all, at the order of his oracle, led these people away from Tulan, where they had greatly increased in numbers, and guided them from the Mexican kingdom to this of Guatemala. In this migration they spent many years, suffered unspeakable hardships, and journeyed in their wanderings for many leagues over an immense tract of country, until, beholding a lake (that of Atitan), they determined to fix their habitation at a certain place not far from the lake, which they named Quiché, in memory of the king Nimaquiché (or, the 'great' Quiché), who had died during their long wanderings. There came with Nimaquiché three of his brothers, and by an agreement between the four they divided the region; one founding the province, or seigniory, of the Quelenes and Chiapanecs; another the department of Tezulutan (Tezulutlan), or Vera Paz; the third became the ruler of the Mames and Pokomams; while Nimaquiché was the father of the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Zutugils. The latter having died on the journey, Acxopil, a son of Nimaquiché, entered Quiché at the head of his nation, and was the first to reign at Utatlan. This prince, seeing the great increase of his monarchy in numbers and influence, appointed three captains, or governors, with whom he shared the burden of the administration of affairs. It is also added in the manuscripts referred to, that Acxopil, at a very advanced age, determined to divide his empire into three kingdoms, that of the Quichés, that of the Cakchiquels, and that of the Zutugils. Retaining for himself the first, he gave the second to his oldest son, Jiutemal, and the third to his second son, Acxiquat; and this division was made on a day when three suns were seen, which has caused some to think that it took place on the day of the birth of our Redeemer, a day on which it is commonly believed that such a meteor was observed."[XI-24]

PRIMITIVE QUICHÉ PERIOD.

Torquemada[XI-25] briefly mentions a few of the points in early Quiché history, agreeing with Juarros. Orozco y Berra's reasoning from a linguistic point of view respecting the primitive inhabitants of this region, is not very clear, or at least it is difficult to determine what are his conclusions on the subject. In one place he says that Utatlan was founded at the time of the Toltec migration southward; and elsewhere, that the Toltecs could not have been the ancestors of the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Zutugils.[XI-26] Gallatin accepts the popular theory that the Quichés were a Toltec colony, but does not explain the linguistic difficulties in the way of such a supposition.[XI-27] Waldeck rejects the Toltec theory on account of differences in language and physique; but states that the Guatemalan tribes came originally from Yucatan[XI-28].

I have now given all the information accessible respecting Quiché history preceding the establishment of the empire, which began in the twelfth or thirteenth century and endured with some modifications down to the coming of the Spaniards. It has been presented in the form of fragments, for the reader will readily perceive that to form from the authorities a connected narrative would have been an utter impossibility. I have in a preceding chapter presented the evidence of the existence during a few centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era, of a great aboriginal empire in Central America, narrating all that may be known of its decline and fall resulting from the contentions of the great Maya and Nahua powers. In the sixteenth century the Spaniards found two powerful empires, the Aztec in the north, the Quiché in the south, both of which doubtless were offshoots of the great primitive monarchy. The annals of the northern branch have been traced more or less clearly back to the parent trunk, with only a blank of one or two centuries at most, during which the Nahua power was transferred northward; but in the annals of the southern branch, whose connection with the primitive empire was of precisely the same nature, the blank is lengthened to some eight centuries at least. From the Xibalban times and the tribal separation at Tulan down to the establishment of the Quiché empire we have only the fragments of the preceding pages. These fragments represent the history of many peoples for many centuries; they are not necessarily contradictory, for in the absence of all chronology we have no means of knowing to what epoch each refers. The apparent contradictions and inconsistencies result for the most part from the efforts of authors through whose writings the traditions are handed down to us to reconcile them with the Toltec theory; to apply to one people the traditions of many, to a modern people the traditions of a remote antiquity; to compress the events of eight or nine centuries into one. We shall still find the Quiché annals fragmentary and far from satisfactory, but from the foundation of Izmachi I shall attempt to carry along the tale as told by the different authorities together. By far the most complete of these are the Quiché records as given in the Popol Vuh and that of the Cakchiquels contained in Brasseur's works.

EARLY CAKCHIQUEL HISTORY.

I begin with the adventures of the Cakchiquels after the defeat of Hacavitz and Zactecauh by the Pokomams, already mentioned.[XI-29] They seem not to have continued in the company with the Quichés at Izmachi, but to have retired to other localities in the country of the Mames somewhat further west, among the Mames of Cholamag, as the record states it. They found the people very friendly, but only remained long enough among them to learn their language, which they found most difficult. Leaving this place they approached the Valley of Panchoy, in the region of the volcanos, and twice they penetrated the mountain of fire, Hunahpu, where a most wonderful and unintelligible interview with Zakiqoxol, the phantom or guardian of the fiery abysses is related, all being possibly the account of a volcanic eruption. Having reached the shores of Lake Atitlan the Cakchiquels wished to settle there permanently although the chief, Hacavitz, seems to have opposed the settlement. Tolqom, a powerful chieftain and a most wonderful magician, lived on Mount Qakbatzulu, which extended like a promontory into the lake; but the bold Hacavitz took him prisoner and became master of his domain. The Cakchiquels, or the Cakchiquel nobility, seem to have been divided in four families, the Zotzil-Tukuches, the Cibakihay, the Baqahol, and the Gekaquchi. All united in giving to Hacavitz and Zactecauh, of the house of Zotzil-Tukuche, after the victory over Tolqom, the supreme power, the former having the first rank. The conquered chieftain, Tolqom, was sacrificed at the coronation of Hacavitz, in the midst of great festivities, and a part of his body was thrown from the summit of Qakbatzulu, his former home, into the waters of the lake. Many of the Cakchiquels decided to remain here and chose a site which they named Chitulul; others built houses on a point called Abah, afterwards the site of the city of Atitlan. But Hacavitz was not pleased, and a violent wind arose and an extraordinary white cloud hung over the surface of the lake; the new dwellings were destroyed and great damage was done. The Cakchiquels accepted this as a warning to obey the will of the gods, except the Ah-Tziquinihayi who decided to remain with the Zutugils.

The other tribes retired under their leaders into the mountains, and became much scattered. In passing a deep ravine Zactecauh missed his footing and was dashed to death on the rocks below, the record hinting that his colleague and superior was not wholly free from the suspicion of having caused his death. This suspicion destroyed much of the prestige of Hacavitz, but he regained it all and more by extinguishing the fire of a volcano which by its lava and flames had hemmed in and threatened with total destruction all his followers. Zakitzunun aided him and was given the second place in the government. They then seem to have returned to the lake shores, conquering and making allies of several aboriginal tribes, including the people of Ikomag, with a lady of which people Hacavitz seems to have married. In the meantime the Gekaquchi, the Cibakihay, and the Baqahol, three of the four principal Cakchiquel families, had settled on the mountains in the region of Iximché, or Tecpan Guatemala, and the ambitious chief of the latter family had succeeded in obtaining the allegiance of his companions, who crowned him as supreme king of the three bands.

Hacavitz was filled with wrath, but being unable to overthrow his rival, Baqahol, was obliged to be content with establishing himself and his own band of Zotziles on the shores of the lake, where their dwellings were erected and the Cakchiquel god, Chimalcan, had his altars. A little later Hacavitz is reported to have aided Baqahol in overcoming certain foes that had attacked him, and as having received, at the end of the campaign, the voluntary allegiance of that chief, thus regaining the supreme power over the Cakchiquel tribes, whom he ruled from his residence at a place known as Chigohom, where he seems to have settled after his new accession to power, somewhat away from the shores of the lake. Here he died at a ripe old age, not long after his wife gave birth to Caynoh and Caybatz, his successors in later years.

REIGN OF COTUHA AND IZTAYUL.

Returning to the Quiché record as given in the Popol Vuh,[XI-30] we find nothing recorded of the reign of Balam Conache,[XI-31] son of Qocavib, in his new capital of Izmachi. He was succeeded early in the thirteenth century, as it seems, by Cotuha, with Iztayul as Ahpop Camha, and under this monarch many improvements were made in the city, including many houses of stone and mortar and three royal palaces, one for the house of Cawek, one for the house of Nihaïb, and a third for the house of Ahau Quiché. "Now all were of one heart in Izmachi; there were no enmities; there were no difficulties; the monarchy was in a state of repose, without disputes or troubles; peace and felicity were in all hearts." But their power was yet confined to narrow limits; they had as yet achieved no great success. The Rabinals, the Cakchiquels, and the mingled Zutugils and Ah-Tziquinihayi of Atitlan are spoken of as being at this time allies and friends of the Quichés; but the descendants of the ancient Ilocab were yet powerful, and became hostile, although hitherto represented as joined to the house of Cawek; their capital was but a short distance from Izmachi. When Ilocab—the tribal name being used, as is often the case, for that of the ruling monarch—perceived the prosperity of the Quichés, "war was kindled by Ilocab, who wished to kill this king Cotuha, his people being unwilling that there should be any king but their own. And as to the king Iztayul, they desired to punish him also, to put him to death, in the cause of Ilocab. But their jealousy was not successful against the king Cotuha, who marched against them. Such was the origin of the revolt and of the war. At first they entered the city (Izmachi) by assault, spreading death in their way, for what they desired was the ruin of the Quiché name, that they alone might rule. But they came only to die; they were taken captives, and but few escaped. Then their sacrifices began; the people of Ilocab were immolated before the god, and that was the penalty of their crime, which was inflicted by the order of Cotuha. Many also were reduced to slavery, now that they had brought ruin upon themselves by kindling the flames of war against the king and against the city. What they had desired was that the name of the Quichés should be ruined and disgraced, but nothing could be done. Thus originated the usage of human sacrifices before the god at the declaration of war; and this was the origin of the fortifications which they began to erect in Izmachi."

Another document[XI-32] is said to give some additional information respecting the immediate cause of the war, which is reported to have been connected in some way with Cotuha's marriage. He married Hamai-Uleü, 'rose of the earth,' a daughter of one of the friendly Zutugil princes whose territory was on Lake Atitlan, annexing that prince's domain to his own, and giving his father-in-law, Malah by name, high rank at the Quiché court. The favor thus shown to Malah, with other acts of like nature, seem to have excited the jealousy of other Zutugil lords, who at last marched against Cotuha and were utterly defeated. It was while Cotuha had this war on his hands that the Ilocab engaged in the desperate effort above recorded to check the Quiché monarchs in their rapid progress to supreme power, and were enabled, perhaps during the absence of Cotuha, to penetrate his capital. After their final defeat, Uquincat, the Ilocab capital, was taken and destroyed, and many other towns fell into Cotuha's possession.

TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL TO UTATLAN.

The Quiché record narrates no further historical events down to the time when Izmachi was abandoned. It dwells, however, on the greatness of the kingdom after the overthrow of the Ilocab, and mentions the power and number of the surrounding princes yet unsubdued as the strongest proof of Quiché valor, since the new people even in the face of such environment had been able to establish and extend their monarchy. After the immolation which followed the Ilocab's defeat, the practice of human sacrifice was carried to such an extent that the surrounding tribes were filled with terror at the number of captives slain by order of Cotuha and Iztayul. At this period the system of government was perfected by measures, the exact nature of which is not clearly given, and magnificent festivities with complicated ceremonial rites were instituted. "Long they remained in Izmachi, until they had found and had seen another city, and had abandoned in its turn that of Izmachi. After that they departed and came to the capital called Gumarcaah (Utatlan), which was so named by the Quichés, when the kings Cotuha and Gucumatz came together with all the princes. They were then in the fifth generation (of kings) from the commencement of civilization and from the origin of their national existence."

The same document already referred to[XI-33] disagrees with the Quiché record respecting the peace and harmony that followed Cotuha's victory, while the people were yet at Izmachi. According to this authority dissensions arose between the heads of the government. Certain parties interested in fomenting the dissatisfaction, constantly reminded ambitious nobles that Cotuha was a foreigner,[XI-34] and Iztayul the son of a bastard, both occupying the places that belonged to more legitimate princes. Then going to the Ahpop, Cotuha, they said, "the Ahpop Camha looks with scorn upon thee; he says thou art a miserable wretch, feeding only on the foam of the chiquivin and other vile food unworthy of a great king." Then to the Ahpop Camha, Iztayul, they said, "the king Cotuha is filled with disdain for thee; to him thou art but a useless man, who livest upon dung and the eggs of flies and other insects, while his own table is always loaded with excellent fresh fish and other viands fit for a great prince." The perfidy of these counselors was afterwards brought to light and they were driven in disgrace from the court after an attempt to assassinate Cotuha by suffocation in a steam bath. Yet the king afterwards, according to the same authority, fell a victim to another conspiracy. Iztayul succeeded to the throne, with Gucumatz as Ahpop Camha, and continued the conquests of his predecessor, but no details of his reign are given in the Quiché record.

In the Cakchiquel annals,[XI-35] however, Brasseur relates certain events which would seem to belong to the period of Iztayul's reign, although he is always called in the record of this nation, Tepeuh, 'the dominator, or conqueror.' We left Caynoh and Caybatz, infant sons of the deceased Hacavitz, under the guardianship of Baqahol and Gekaquch, who became practically monarchs of the whole nation, having their capitals on the mountain plateaux of Pantzic and Paraxone.[XI-36] The Zotzil-Tukuche branch of the nation were naturally unwilling that the sons of the great Hacavitz, the former head of their family, should occupy a secondary rank, and they were not slow to urge Caynoh and Caybatz as soon as they reached a proper age to declare their independence and resume their legitimate place at the head of the nation; but the aged chieftain Baqahol, who, it will be remembered, had been for a time supreme monarch, even before the death of Hacavitz, haughtily refused to surrender his scepter; and the young princes must perforce await a more favorable opportunity to assume their due position. The Cakchiquels seem at this time to have been tributaries to the Quiché throne, now occupied by Iztayul, or Tepeuh, of whom it is said, "he was the first to reign with majesty; he dwelt in the castle of Chixnal; his mysterious power spread abroad terror; he caused to tremble the place where he had his dwelling, and all people payed tribute before the face of Tepeuh."

THE STOLEN TRIBUTE.

The two sons of Hacavitz were sent to present the Cakchiquel tribute and homage at the Quiché court, where Iztayul received them with great kindness, giving them high rank and titles, and making them the royal tribute-gatherers of his empire. In this capacity they made a long tour through the Quiché possessions, even penetrating the mysterious region of the East, where the ancestors of the king had received the investiture of their royalty. At last they came to Lake Atitlan, where the united Zutugils and Ah-Tziquinihayi were still living. These vassals paid their tributes to the envoys, but contrived a cunning plan to recover the treasure. Two beautiful princesses, Bubatzo and Icxiuh, daughters of the ruling lords, were appointed to wait upon the royal tax-collectors. Caynoh and Caybatz were not proof against their charms, and the maidens, following the parental commands, allowed themselves to be easily won; but they managed in the night to escape from the couches of their royal lovers and to steal back all the gold and silver which had been paid as tribute. The princes complained bitterly when they discovered their loss, but as a compensation they received Bubatzo and Icxiuh for wives, with the promise of an honorable position at Atitlan, in case of Iztayul's displeasure. On their way back to Izmachi with their wives, however, the prospective anger of Tepeuh so overcome them that they hid themselves in a cave for a long time; but at last the Quiché king not only pardoned them for the affair of the lost tribute and for their marriage, but enabled them to overcome and put to death Baqahol and Gekaquch, and reseated them on the Cakchiquel throne as tributary monarchs on favorable terms to the imperial crown of Izmachi. Caynoh was made Ahpop Xahil, and Caybatz Ahpop Qamahay, corresponding exactly with the Quiché royal titles of Ahpop and Ahpop Camha.

Gucumatz mounted the throne at Izmachi on the death of Iztayul, and Cotuha II. became Ahpop Camha. This king began to reign probably towards the middle of the thirteenth century.[XI-37] Internal dissensions between the rival families of the Quiché nobility are vaguely alluded to in the records, but not with sufficient details to enable us to determine how they influenced Gucumatz to abandon Izmachi in favor of a new capital. He selected for this purpose the ancient Utatlan, situated on a plateau not far distant, which had probably long been in ruins.[XI-38]

DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE.

It is now time to return to Juarros' version of Quiché history during the reigns of the first kings, although there is little hope of connecting it at any point with the versions already presented. Nima Quiché, who directed the people in their migration to these Guatemalan regions, ceded to his brother the command of the Mames and Pokomams, and at his death left his son Acxopal, or Acxopil, king of the Quiché tribes. This monarch, either by the increase of his people or by his conquests among the aboriginal tribes soon found himself master of the provinces now called Sololá, Chimaltenango, and Sacatepeques, with a part of Quezaltenango and Totonicapan. In his old age his empire seemed to him too vast and the duties of government too burdensome for his failing strength. He consequently divided his empire into three domains, keeping for himself that of the Quichés, giving that of the Cakchiquels to his oldest son Xiuhtemal, or Jiutemal, and that of the Zutugils to his second son Acxoquauh, or Acxiquat; the brother who ruled over the Mames and Pokomams is not named here. The bounds given by Juarros to the three kingdoms of the empire are substantially the same as those of the peoples speaking the same languages at the time of the Conquest, and were doubtless ascertained from the condition of affairs in the sixteenth century rather than from ancient records or traditions.

After the division it was not long before ambition began to produce what Juarros terms its usual results. Acxoquauh, king of the Zutugils, found his domain too small and wished to extend its limits to the detriment of his brother, Xiuhtemal. With this intent he marched at the head of a large army to the Cakchiquel frontiers, but was forced to retire to his fortified stronghold on Lake Atitlan, where the contest raged for many days until a truce was brought about by the aged Acxopal. Xiuhtemal took advantage of the peace to fortify his capital at Tecpan Guatemala, but during the extreme old age of his father he was called to direct affairs at the Quiché capital, and succeeded to the imperial throne at his father's death, putting his own eldest son on the Cakchiquel throne. Still fearful of his brother, his first care was to fortify the Quiché capital,—which Juarros represents as having been Utatlan from the first—building, among other extensive works, the castle of Resguardo.[XI-39] His precautions seem not to have been unnecessary, for Acxoquauh soon recommenced the war, fighting particularly for the possession of the whole territory about the lake, which seems to have been in some way divided between the three monarchs. The war continued, with but brief intervals, throughout the reign of Xiuhtemal and during a part of that of Hunahpu, his son, who succeeded him. Nothing further is recorded of Hunahpu's reign, save that he distinguished himself by introducing the cultivation of cacao and cotton.[XI-40]

Except in the general statement that the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Zutugil kingdoms formed a kind of alliance at this early period, a conclusion to which the other records have also led us, the version given by Juarros, from Fuentes, has apparently nothing in common with the others; and I shall not attempt to conjecture what may have been the source whence the names of kings given by these authors were derived. There is no room for hesitation in deciding which records are the more reliable. Brasseur in one place, after narrating the foundation of Izmachi, suddenly declares that with Qocavib and Nima Quiché the symbolic recitals cease and history begins, and then goes on for a few pages with an account of Acxopal and his division of the empire between his two sons, apparently accepting the version of Juarros, except in the name of the capital at the foundation of the empire. But shortly after, he abandons this for the other version, as follows: "The first king of Toltec race who appears after Acxopal is Xiuhtemal, who in his turn seems to have placed his son on the throne of Quauhtemalan, (Tecpan Guatemala, the Cakchiquel capital). According to more authentic documents, it is Balam II. of the house of Cawek, who succeeds Qocavib. Except the struggles mentioned by Fuentes, we find nothing about this prince or his predecessor, after the foundation of Izmachi," etc. Thus he implies that Qocavib was identical with Acxopal, and Balam Conache with Xiuhtemal. We hear no more of the names given by Juarros until we have the statement by the same author respecting Hunahpu that "everything favors the opinion that he is the same who reigned under the glorious name of Gucumatz," without any attempt to account for the intermediate kings of the Quichés, Cotuha and Iztayul. Consequently as I am inclined to suspect, "everything favors the opinion" that the worthy abbé has introduced the names Acxopal, Xiuhtemal, and Acxoquauh, from Fuentes solely because they are apparently Nahua names and therefore may add some force to his Toltec theory, and has then got rid of them as expeditiously as possible.[XI-41]

GUCUMATZ AT UTATLAN.

The first care of Gucumatz was to restore the ancient buildings of Utatlan and to add to the city's old-time splendor by the erection of new and magnificent temples in honor of the gods. "There they built their houses in great numbers, and there also they built the house of the god in the centre of the city at the most elevated point, where they placed it when they came to establish themselves in that place. Then their empire was much enlarged, and when their numbers were already considerable, their great families took counsel together, and were subdivided." When the quarrels which had formerly threatened their empire were at last terminated "they carried into effect what had been resolved upon, and the royalty was divided among twenty-four grand houses or families." "There they increased in greatness, having thus gloriously united their thrones and their principalities; the titles of all their honors having been distributed among the princes, there were formed nine families with the nine princes of Cawek, nine with the princes of Nihaïb, four with the princes of Ahau Quiché, and two with the lords of Zakik. They became very numerous, and numerous were those that followed each of the princes; they were the first at the head of their vassals, and many families belonged to each of the princes. We shall now tell the titles of these princes and of each of the great houses." Then follows a list of titles, substantially the same that I have given in a preceding volume, when treating of the Quiché governmental system.[XI-42]

"Thus were completed the twenty-four princes and the twenty-four great houses; then was multiplied the power and majesty in Quiché; then was strengthened and extended its grandeur, when the city and its ravines were built up with stone and mortar and covered with cement. Both great and little nations came under the power of the king, contributing to the Quiché glory; power and majesty sprang up, and the house of the god was built as well as the houses of the princes. But it was not they who built them; they did no work, neither constructing the temple of their god, nor their own buildings, for all was done by their vassals, whose numbers were multiplied. It was not by stratagem nor by force that these vassals were brought in; for truly each one belonged to some one of the princes, and great was the number of their brothers and relatives who gathered to hear what the princes commanded. Truly were they loved and esteemed, and great was the glory of the princes. Veneration kept pace with their renown, and with the lords were multiplied the dwellers in the ravines round about the city. Thus nearly all the nations surrendered themselves, not through war and force directed against them in their ravines and cities, but by reason of the marvels wrought by their kings, Gucumatz and Cotuha.

REIGN OF GUCUMATZ.

Verily, this Gucumatz became a most marvelous king. In seven days he mounted to the skies—ascended the mountain heights—and in seven days he descended to the region of Xibalba.[XI-43] In seven days he took upon himself the nature and form of a serpent, and again of an eagle, and of a tiger; and in seven days he changed himself into coagulated blood. Truly the existence of this wonderful prince filled with terror all the lords that came before him. The knowledge thereof was spread abroad; all the nations heard of this prodigious king. And this was the origin of the Quiché grandeur, when the king Gucumatz wrought these signs of his power. The remembrance of his grandsons and sons was not lost—or, as Ximenez renders it, he did not lack descendants, both sons and grandsons. He had not done these things merely that there might be a royal worker of miracles, but as a means of ruling all nations, and of showing himself to be the only chief of the peoples. This prodigious king Gucumatz was of the fourth[XI-44] generation of kings, Ahpop and Ahpop Camha. He left descendants who also reigned with majesty and begat children who did many things. Thus were begotten Tepepul and Iztayul, whose reign made the fifth generation. They were kings, and each generation of these princes begat sons."[XI-45]

It is seen by the preceding account of Gucumatz' reign that this king fully accomplished his object in transferring the capital to Utatlan. By removing his court to this ancient city he aroused the pride of all the tribes of Quiché race, and revived their traditional recollections of a glorious past; by restoring the ancient temples and by erecting new ones he enlisted the religious enthusiasm of the whole country in his favor. The universal interest in the new enterprise caused the former dissensions between rival nobles to be for a time forgotten. All these circumstances combined to create for Gucumatz a higher degree of popularity than he had ever before enjoyed; and when he felt sufficiently strong with the people, he still further fortified his position by a partial reconstruction of his empire. By the establishment of twenty-four houses of nobility he not only made partisans of those who were the recipients of new honors, but effectually checked the ambition of the leading nobles, whose quarrels had at one time threatened his sovereignty. Two of the new dignities were given to the family of Zakik, to which belonged the priest of the ancient temple of Cahbaha at Utatlan; and he gave the titles Ahau-Ah-Tohil and Ahau-Ah-Gucumatz, or high-priests of Tohil and Quetzalcoatl, to members of his own family, thus firmly attaching the priesthood to his own interests. Each of the newly created princes was required to have a palace in the capital and to reside there during a certain part of each year; in fact the policy pursued by Gucumatz resembles in many points that which we have seen pursued by the Chichimec emperor Techotl in Anáhuac as noted in a preceding chapter. There are no data from which to determine the extent of Gucumatz' domain; the descent to Xibalba may indicate that the Palenque region was subjected to his power, or simply that he was wont to spend in the tierra caliente a portion of each year. Brasseur believes that from this period the Ahpop Camha of the Quichés spent his time chiefly in the Zutugil capital at Atitlan.[XI-46]

CAKCHIQUEL HISTORY.

After the death of Gucumatz, Cotuha II., already holding the second rank of Ahpop Camha, mounted the throne. He was in his turn succeeded by Tepepul, and he by Iztayul II. with Quicab, or Kicab, as Ahpop Camha. Respecting the reigns of these three monarchs, the Popol Vuh gives no details whatever; and but very little can be learned from other records. The three reigns may, however, be supposed to have extended to about the end of the fourteenth century, a century which is thus almost a blank in the annals of the empire. One document[XI-47] informs us that the first of the three kings, Cotuha II., was treacherously put to death by the lords of Qohaïl and Ulahaïl, who drew him into an ambush, but his sons Quicab and Cavizimah, afterwards kings, avenged his murder by seizing and putting to death thirteen of the supposed guilty parties.

The Cakchiquel record[XI-48] mentions the third of the Quiché monarchs, Iztayul II., under the name of Xitayul-Hax. Caynoh, whom we left on the Cakchiquel throne,[XI-49] had been succeeded by his son Citan-Qatu, a valiant and wise ruler who, under the sovereignty of the Quiché emperor at Utatlan, had considerably extended the power of his people. At his death he was followed by his son Qotbalcan, 'the coiled serpent,' and under his rule the subordinate chieftains took advantage of his good nature or want of ability, to reclaim their independence. The descendants of the princes Baqahol and Gekaquch, who had caused Hacavitz so much trouble in former years, were the first to inaugurate this revolt, which the other tribes were not slow to join, and thus the nation was again split up practically into scattered tribes, the king having little, if any, more authority than the other chieftains. The same condition of affairs continued during the reign of this king's son and grandson, Alinam and Xttamer-Zaquentol; the tribe under the royal command, after wandering for a long time, having finally settled near the kindred tribe of the Akahales, at the towns of Zakiqahol and Nimcakahpec. The great grandson of Qotbalcan, Chiyoc Queh, succeeded in again uniting under his rule most of the Cakchiquel tribes, and having founded the capital of Chiawar, somewhat further west than the old capital Tecpan Guatemala, and given the second rank of Ahpop Qamahay to his brother Ttattah-Akbal, he was laboring most strenuously to raise his nation to her old position at the time when the record mentions the death of Iztayul II., or Xitayul-Hax, and the accession of Quicab.

WAR BETWEEN QUICHÉS AND ZUTUGILS.

I must now return to the version presented by Fuentes and Juarros, for this version agrees with the others respecting the name of the next king, Quicab, and hence it may be inferred that the period between the reigns of Hunahpu and Kicab, is identical with that between Gucumatz and Quicab. The kings that Juarros puts on the throne during this period were Balam Kiché, Balam Acam, Maucotah, and Iquibalam, names which are evidently identical with the four high-priests or sacrificers of a much earlier period. It seems probable that the authors cited found these names in the aboriginal records, and could make no better place for them than in the list of kings. The events referred to in these reigns are as follows:—Balam Kiché did nothing worthy of record. Balam Acam, his successor, was a most kind-hearted prince, and had great confidence in his cousin, the king of the Zutugils at Atitlan. But the latter abused this confidence by stealing the king's daughter from the royal palace in Utatlan; and Ilocab, a near relative of the Zutugil monarch—called Zutugilebpop by Juarros, evidently a title rather than a name—at about the same time abducted a niece of Balam Acam. These abductions caused a war which, as we are told, lasted with little intermission down to the coming of the Spaniards. The Quiché army under the king and Maucotah his chief general, marched on Atitlan, taking several strong towns on the way, and "the most terrible battle these countries had ever known" was fought against the Zutugil and Ah-Tziquinihayi forces under Ilocab. In this battle Ilocab was slain and the Quichés victorious. The campaign was continued, the Zutugils being aided by many allies, including the Pipiles of Salvador, while the Quichés were reinforced by the Cakchiquels and forces from Vera Paz. In a later battle the loss on both sides amounted to fourteen thousand, and among the slain was Balam Acam, who is blamed by Juarros for plunging the country in war for so slight a cause, since the purpose of the abduction was honorable marriage. Long wars between the Cakchiquels and Pipiles,[XI-50] as well as between the Quichés and Mames, resulted from Balam's attempt at vengeance.

Maucotah was named as the successor of Balam Acam, while yet in the field. Zutugilebpop, flushed with victory, besieged Xelahuh, one of the Quiché strongholds, but the fortune of war seems to have changed with the change of rulers, for the Zutugils were defeated both before Xelahuh and in their own territory about the lake, and their king died of grief and disappointment soon after, leaving his throne to Rumal-Ahaus, a young man of nineteen years. This young king continued the war, but was unable to retrieve the ill-fortunes of his people. In a battle fought soon after his accession, he had a personal combat with Maucotah, in which he was wounded, and forced to retreat, the Quiché king remaining in possession of the towns that his predecessor had conquered. Maucotah died soon after his victory, and was succeeded by Iquibalam, who marched with two hundred thousand men into the Zutugil states, determined to put an end to the resistance of the valiant Rumal-Ahaus, who had recovered from the effects of his wound. He captured many towns, particularly in the territory of the Pipiles and about Zapotitlan, but he also met with severe losses, and seems not to have gained any permanent advantage over the Zutugils. He died during the campaign, and was succeeded by Kicab, or Quicab, and Rumal-Ahaus was succeeded on the throne of Atitlan at about the same time by Chichiahtulú.[XI-51]

The reign of Quicab is briefly disposed of by Juarros as follows: "He ascended the throne at a mature age, and with much experience in military and political affairs. Chichiahtulú, who, with the rank of Lieutenant General, had gained great advantages over the Quichés in the memorable campaign of Pinar (the one last referred to), having grasped the Zutugil sceptre, besieged the famous stronghold of Totonicapan. King Kicab not only opposed the movements of Chichiahtulú with a formidable army, but enlisting sixty thousand soldiers, he attacked with them many cities and towns of the Pipiles and Zutugils, among them Patulul; and although the governors of these places made great efforts to defend them, they were unable to resist the superior numbers of the Quichés. Chichiahtulú, seeing that his best possessions were being lost, hastened by forced marches to defend them, abandoning the siege of Totonicapan; but being taken grievously ill on account of his haste in that march, he died within a few days, greatly to the sorrow of his people. Still his army did not suspend their march, being commanded by the Lieutenant General Manilahuh, until they arrived within sight of the Quiché camp. The fury with which the attack was made on both sides is unspeakable; but the column of King Kicab on account of being close and double, being harder to break than the feeble and extended lines of Manilahuh, the latter were broken and scattered in less than an hour, the commander and many Atitlan chiefs being left on the field of battle, while the Quichés, chanting victory, returned to Utatlan. We do not know in detail the events under the seven monarchs of Quiché who succeeded Kicab I.; but it is certain that these two kingdoms were never for a long time at peace."[XI-52]

REIGN OF QUICAB I.

Now comes the version of Quicab's reign given by the Popol Vuh, which document carries the Quiché history no farther, save a mere list of monarchs already mentioned. "Behold now the names of the sixth royal generation,[XI-53] of the two great kings Quicab, the name of the first king, and Cavizimah, name of the second (Ahpop Camha). And behold the great deed that Quicab and Cavizimah did, and how Quiché was made famous by reason of their really marvelous condition. Behold the conquest and destruction of the ravines and cities of the nations great and small, all very near, including the city of the Cakchiquels, that now called Chuvila (Chichicastenango), as also those in the mountains of the Rabinals, that of Pamaca (Zacualpa), in the mountains of Caokeb, that of Zacabaha (San Andres), Zakuleu, Chuvi-Mugina, Xelahuh, Chuva-Tzak (Momostenango), and Tzolohche (Chiquimula). These abhorred Quicab, but truly he made war upon them and conquered and ruined the ravines and the cities of the Rabinals, of the Cakchiquels, and of the people of Zakuleu. He conquered all the tribes and carried his arms afar. One or two nations not having brought their tribute he entered their towns that they might bring their tribute before Quicab and Cavizimah. They were reduced to servitude; they were tortured and their people tied to trees and pierced with arrows; there was for them no more glory nor honor. Such was the ruin of these towns, destroyed from the face of the earth; like the lightning which strikes and breaks the stone, thus by terror he blotted out the nations."

"Before Colche, as a signal of its conquest, there stands to-day a monument of rock, as if he had formed it with his axe; this is on the coast called Petatayub, where it is still visible, so that everybody looks upon it as a sign of Quicab's valor. He could not be killed or conquered; verily he was a hero, and all nations brought to him their tribute. Then, all the princes having taken counsel, they went away to fortify the ravines and the towns, having taken possession of the towns of all nations. Then sentinels (spies) were dispatched to observe the enemy, and new tribes (or colonies) were formed to dwell in the conquered countries." Then follows with frequent repetitions an account of these colonies, their departure for their posts, their victories, and a list of cities occupied by them, including most of the names already mentioned. "Everywhere they waged war, taking continually new captives; they became in their turn heroes, they who had been guards of frontier posts; they became strong in their language as in their thoughts before the kings when they brought in their prisoners and captives."

"Then assembled the council at the order of the kings, of the Ahpop and the Ahpop Camha, of the Galel, and of the Ahtzic Winak; and it was decided that, whatever might happen, they should remain at the head, for their dignities were there to represent their family. 'I am the Ahpop, I am the Ahpop Camha, Ahpop to hold my rank like thine, O Ahau Galel.' As to the Galels, their nobility shall be, replied all the lords forming a decision. Likewise did those of Tamub and Ilocab; equal was the condition of the three races of Quiché, when the chiefs of the people set themselves up against the kings and assumed nobility. Such was the result of this assembly, but it was not there in Quiché that the power was seized. The name of the place exists where the vassal chiefs took possession of the power, for although they had been sent each to a different place, all afterwards assembled together.

REVOLT OF THE PLEBEIANS.

Xebalax and Xecamac are the names of the place where they took possession of the power, at the time when they assembled their rank, and that took place at Chulimal. Behold the nomination, the installation, and the recognition of the twenty Galels, and the twenty Ahpops who were installed by the Ahpop and the Ahpop Camha, by the Galel and the Ahtzic Winak. All the Galel-Ahpops entered into their rank, eleven Nim-Chocoh, Galel-Ahpop, Galel-Zakik, Galel-Achih, Rahpop-Ahih, Rahtzalam-Achih, Utzam-Achih, titles of the warriors which they obtained when they were nominated and titled on their thrones and on their principalities, they who were the chiefs of the vassals of the Quiché nation, its sentinels and spies, its chiefs of the lances and chiefs of the slings, the ramparts, the walls, and the towers which defended Quiché. Thus also did the people of Tamub and Ilocab, the chiefs of the people in each locality having seized the power and caused themselves to be titled. Such was the origin of the Galel-Ahpops and of the titles that now exist in each of these places; such was their source, when they sprang up at the hands of the Ahpop and the Ahpop Camha, as also of the Galel and of the Ahtzic Winak, from whom they derived their existence."[XI-54]

From the preceding narrative we learn that Quicab by his skill in war and the valor of his armies extended the imperial Quiché power far beyond its former limits, subjecting to the monarch of Utatlan nearly the whole of Guatemala; and also that later in his reign he was forced by a combination of his vassal chieftains, to whom military power had been entrusted during his conquests, to reorganize his government, and to bestow on these chieftains of the people nobility, and practically the control of the empire. With this political revolution the record as presented by the Popol Vuh ceases, the remainder of the document being devoted to a description of Quiché institutions already given in another volume of this work. Whether a portion of the original work has been lost, or the Quiché history was deemed by the author to have ceased with the humiliation of the ancient nobility by their forced association with plebeian chiefs, it is impossible to determine. Ximenez in his account of the Quiché kings devotes five lines to Quicab and Cavizimah, whom, however, he unites in one person.[XI-55] For additional details of Quicab's reign and the political changes which marked it, as well as for all subsequent Guatemalan history, we have only the Cakchiquel record,[XI-56] with slight information from other documents, as presented in the history of Brasseur de Bourbourg, together with the work of Juarros, whose version of Quicab's reign has already been presented.

TYRANNY OF QUICAB I.

We left Chiyoc Queh, the Cakchiquel monarch, endeavoring to restore the former glory of his nation by re-uniting its scattered tribes under one head. The Zotzil-Tukuches were the only tribe that refused to recognize his royal authority, and at last the Cakchiquel monarch applied to the Quiché king for aid. Quicab and Cavizimah had just succeeded to the throne of Utatlan, probably early in the fifteenth century. They sent an army and routed the Zotziles, plundering and burning their towns and putting the inhabitants to death without mercy. They did not stop here, however, but forced Xiquitzal and Rahamun, who succeeded Chiyoc Queh on the Cakchiquel throne, to give up their sovereign rights and submit to become vassal lords, such of the people as resisted being massacred, sacrificed, or sold as slaves. The Mames met with the same treatment, their strongest towns including Zakuleu and Xelahuh (Huehuetenango and Quezaltenango) being forced to yield to the armies of Utatlan. Then the Rabinals and Pokomams were conquered, and no power was left that could make any resistance. Quicab claimed to be absolute monarch of the whole Guatemalan country; he admitted no allied kings paying homage and a nominal tribute as they had done under the reign of his predecessors, but reduced all rulers to the condition of royal governors entirely subject to his command. Few kings would submit to such conditions and most were consequently removed to make room for governors appointed by the Quiché emperor. In his efforts to subordinate all rank and power to his own personal sovereignty, he naturally arrayed the nobility of even the Quiché royal families against himself, and the means adopted to humble the ancient aristocracy were the appointment to high positions in the army of plebeian officers distinguished for their valor, and the humiliation of the noble officers on every possible occasion. The new chieftains were called Achihab, and so numerous did they become and so highly were they favored and stimulated against the nobles, that they soon possessed, and fully realized their possession of, the controlling power in the empire. In his efforts to humiliate one class, Quicab had created another which he could not control by force and which he had zealously educated to disregard all authority based on noble birth.

The Achihab, no longer content with military rank, aspired to the higher dignities of the court; the people were naturally enthusiastic in favor of their chiefs and were by them encouraged to question the authority of their king over them. Soon a deputation was sent to the court to demand certain reforms in favor of the people, including an abolition of personal service and labor on the highways. Quicab scornfully refused the petition of the popular chiefs, and his court was soon abandoned by the Achihab as it had long been by most of the nobles. Two of his sons, Tatayac and Ahytza, joined the Achihab in the revolt, promising them all the property and titles of the nobility in case of success, and being promised in turn the inheritance of the throne with the palaces, slaves, and wealth pertaining thereto. Quicab, in his extremity, applied for aid to the very nobility he had so oppressed, and seems to have received their zealous support, for notwithstanding the treatment they had suffered at the hands of the monarch, they saw plainly that with the success of the rebels all their prestige would be entirely destroyed. By the advice of the assembled nobles the leaders of the Achihab, including those who had composed the deputation demanding reforms, were seized and put to death. This caused an immediate rising of the people, who, incited by their chiefs, and by the descendants of the Tamub and Ilocab, invaded Utatlan, pillaged the royal palaces, and almost annihilated by massacre the ancient nobility. The king happened to be in a neighboring town at the time, and his life was spared at the intercession of his sons; but he was kept a prisoner while the rebel chieftains assembled in council as already narrated in the Popol Vuh, to reconstruct the monarchy and to choose from their own number the many lords that have been mentioned. At the close of their deliberations the king and the surviving nobles of the royal families were obliged to ratify the appointments at Chuliman, where the new lords were installed with great ceremony. The Ahpop and Ahpop Camha, seem, however, to have been left nominally in possession of their royal rank, although the power was practically taken from them.