Note 385 — Chapter VI

Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 211, in a note has summarized the dates of departure from Hue hue Tlapalan, as given by different authors, with the following result: Date of departure according to Veytia (tom. i, p. 208), 596 A.D.; Clavigero (tom. iv, p. 46), 544 A.D.; but in the 1st tom., p. 126, he gives 596, agreeing with Veytia; Müller (Reisen, tom. iii, p. 94 et seq., 439 A.D.; Brasseur de Bourbourg (Popol Vuh, p. clv), last of the fourth century; Cabrera (Teatro, pp. 90–1), 181 B. C. The commonly accepted date is that of Clavigero—544 A.D. But after comparing these authors and considering the grounds upon which they base their calculations, we are convinced that it is useless to attempt to arrive at the true date, just as it is impossible to determine any date with certainty in all the ancient American chronology. We will not go so far as Mr. Bancroft, who says that “the departure from Hue hue Tlapalan seems to have taken place in the fifth or sixth century.” The claims for the fourth century, we think, are just as good as for the others, if not better.