first fathers were received, and the names of the first conquerors I
shall set forth according to the register, because this is composed in
order that it may be known how the conquest occurred, and in what manner
they labored here, under the trees, under the branches[TN-26] under the
bushes, in those years and months; and what the people and their sons
found to eat; for from two to three years they labored in the
distribution of the towns, by our rulers the Spaniards; they also
labored in the measuring of the towns, and the measuring of the forests
of the towns by the Auditor Tomas Lopez, holding in his hand the Cedula
of our great lord the king, that forests should be cut by whoever
settled. When there were no towns we were natives here of official
houses, Naum Pech being governor of all, nor at that time had the
Spaniards come here to establish Christianity in this land; but when the
day came that their arrival took place, when the Spaniards came to this
land Yucatan, we received them with a friendly heart, and Christianity
was introduced into this land, and we were appointed to guard the
villages, when as yet there was no church; and now they have ceased
building official houses or villages.
37. Thus I began to relate how the conquest took place and how many
sufferings we underwent with our lords, the Spaniards, from the natives
who were not willing to deliver themselves to God; thus I recount what I
heard concerning the town Maxtunil.
38. We did not settle there, but descended to the town Chac Xulub Chen,
and when the Holy Church was finished in Cumtal, we measured its sides
and took possession so that our children should remain there from the
beginning until the end of the world, so that the natives should not
obstruct us, nor enchant by the throwing of stones anything which had
been given us by God and our lord through the fear of our hearts; for
this our great lord the ruling king gave us the authority; and when the
church was prepared in which to worship our lord and God, and the public
house to the east of the church and the temple of our great king and the
residence.
39. I also built my house of stone to the north of the church. And that
the natives may not in the future say that it belongs to them, for this
I show forth the occurrences as I did them with my father, I, Don Pablo
Pech, Ah Macan Pech, and my father Don Martin Pech, Ah Com Pech, my lord
Senor Don Ambrosio Pech, his native name being Op Pech, and Ixil Yzam
Pech, and Don Esteban Pech, Ah Culub Pech.
40. We received the royal commissions to measure the forests. The
license was given by our great monarch the ruling king through our lord
the first auditor, Tomas Lopez, that he should give us years ago his
order that the uncultivated fields should be measured wherever they are,
here back of the town, that we may know where the boundaries of our
lands pass in order that parents and children may maintain them and give
food to the Encomenderos. Therefore I swear before the people that this
information is true, that they may have it in sight so that no
uncultivated field shall entrench upon another uncultivated field; for
this reason I set forth the truth.
41. The first Encomendero here in Chac Xulub Chen was Don Julian Doncel,
who ordered the chiefs that they should go to place the marks of the
limits of their forest lands here back of the towns they governed, and
thus they were led to measure the boundaries of their lands and the
forests toward the East, the South and the West, for the benefit of all
who dwell therein; because already Christianity was established in this
land of Chac Xulub Chen with our holy lord Santiago the patron who
guards the town of Don Pablo Pech.
NOTES.
1. "The fifth division of the 11th Ahau Katun was placed" (_i. e._ in
the wall or in the Katun Stone), (see page 57, where this expression is
explained). In other words, the first arrival of the Spaniards at Merida
took place at the close of the 11th Ahau Katun. This was July, 1541, and
it is in gratifying conformity with Bishop Landa, who also states that
that month was the commencement of a 20-year period; but he says that at
that date the 11th Katun began, while Pech goes on to say that it was
the next in order, the 9th. (See Landa, _Relacion_, p. 314.)
_Noh cah te ti Ho_, the great town at Ho. This was the native name of
the ancient city which stood on the present site of Merida, and, by the
Mayas, is in use to this day. _Ho_ is the numeral 5, and some have
supposed that the name was given on account of five large mounds or
buildings said to have been conspicuous in the ancient city. That there
were precisely five is not positively stated by the old historians,
though four are specified. This theory would suppose that the name was
given to the city only after these large structures were completed, and
that its name during that time had been lost. But this is not
improbable.
In fact, the ancient name of Merida was not Ho, but _Ichcanzihoo_, as
appears from a later passage in Pech's narrative and from numerous
others in the Books of Chilan Balam. _Ho_ is only the abbreviation of
this long name. It appears to mean "The five (temples) of many
serpents." _Can_ is the generic term for serpent, and _ich_ used as a
prefix denotes a place where there is an abundance of what the noun
means: thus _ichche_=a place where the trees are tall and dense;
_ichxiu_, a place where the grass is tall and thick (_Diccionario de
Motul_). The serpents were probably those sculptured in stone or painted
on the walls. This theory receives additional probability from an entry
in the _Diccionario de Motul_, MS., which relates that the largest mound
in ancient Merida, situated back of the present convent of San
Francisco, was called by the natives _ahchuncan_, and that this was the
name of the idol which used to be worshiped there. Its signification
would be "the first or primitive serpent," or "the first speaker,"
_i. e._ oracle, as _can_ means both serpent and speech.
The temples at Ho were not in use when the Spaniards arrived, nor had
they been for many generations. Apparently only a few huts of wood and
straw made up the village, while these vast ruins were even then covered
to the summit with a heavy growth of timber in all respects like the
virgin forest around them. This is clearly stated by the Friar Lorenzo
de Bienvenida, who came to Merida in 1545. I quote his expressions from
a letter to the King in 1548:--
"La ciudad esta la tierra adentro treinta y tres leguas; llamase la
_ciudad de Merida_; pusieronle asi por los edificios superbos que hai en
ella, que en todo lo descubierto en Indias no se han hallado tan
superbos edificios, de canteria bien labrada, i grandes las piedras; no
hai memoria de quien los hizo; parecenos que se hicieron antes de la
venida de Christo porque tan grande estaba el monte encima dellos como
en lo bajo de la tierra; son altos de cinco estados de piedra seca i
encima los edificios, quatro quartos todo de celdas como de Frailes, de
veinte pies de luengo i de diez de ancho, i todas las portadas de una
piedra, lo alto de la puerta i de boveda, i destos hai en la tierra
otros muchos. Esta gente natural no habitaba en ellos, ni hacen casa
sino de paja y madera, habiendo mas apareja de cal i piedra que en todo
lo descubierto. En estos edificios tomamos sitio los Frailes para casa
de San Francisco; lo que habia sido cultura de demonios, justo es que
sea templo donde se sirve a Dios, etc." (_Carta de Fr. Lorenzo de
Bienvenida, 1548, MS._)
The date, 1511, given as that of the first arrival of the Spaniards,
refers to the shipwreck of Aguilar and his companions, who in that year
were thrown on the eastern coast.
This introductory paragraph was entirely miscontrued[TN-27] by Avila, and
nearly as much so by Brasseur. I add their translations to illustrate
this.
_Translation of Avila._
"A la quinta vez que sento el noveno Rey en la guerra cuando llegaron
los Espanoles que se poblaron en la ciudad de Merida, el principal Rey
de esa ciudad era siempre cacique y el ano en que llegaron los Senores
Espanoles aqui en esta suelo fue el de 1511."
_Translation of Brasseur._
"C'est a la cinquieme division cimentee (dans le mur) de ce onzieme
Ahau-Katun qu'arriverent les Espagnols et qu'ils s'etablirent a Ti-Uoh
de ce pays de Ti-Ho, et c'est a la neuvieme de cet Ahau que s'etablit le
Christianisme, cette annee meme que vinrent nos seigneurs les Espagnols
en cette contree, c'est a dire, en l'annee 1511."
It will be seen that the former completely travesties the passage, while
the latter mistakes the proper names and destroys the chronological
value of the dates given.
2. _Hidalgos conquistadoren_, Spanish titles which we are surprised to
find a native claiming; but later on (Sec. 9) he informs us that he was
authorized to employ them by the Spanish officials.
Chichinica was a pueblo near Chicxulub, which is now no longer in
existence.
3. _Ti ma ococ haa tin pol cuchi_, "formerly, when the water will not
entered to my head" _i. e._, before I was baptized. This complicated
construction of the negative (_ma_), a future (_ococ_ from _ocol_) and
the sign of the past tense (_cuchi_), also occurs on an earlier page
(98), where we have the sentence _uacppel haab u binel ma [c]ococ u
xocol oxlahun ahau cuchi_, six years before the end of the 13th ahau.
_Ocol haa_, syncopated to _ocola_, and even _oca_, was the usual term
for Christian baptism.
Xulkumcheel was a pueblo which does not seem to have survived.
_Ah Naum Pech, likul tu cah Mutul._ Ah Naum Pech from, or native of, the
town Mutul. The latter is the modern Motul, about 22 miles easterly from
Chicxulub. The name is also spelled Mutul by Cogolludo (_Historia de
Yucatan_, Lib. VI, cap. VII).
_Halach uinic_, previously explained, was the ancient native title of
chief of a village. It is the same word which Oviedo, in his report of
Grijalva's expedition deforms into _calachini_ (_Historia de las
Indias_, Lib. XVII).
The date, 1519, like various others in the narrative, appears to have
been erroneously entered or copied. It should probably be 1539.
_Maxtunil_ does not at present exist. _[C]ilam_ is a town north of
Itzamal, near the sea coast. It is by some identified as the spot where
Francisco de Montejo embarked after his retreat from Chichen Itza, in
1528.
4. The _Kupuls_ were the family who reigned in the eastern province,
where Valladolid was founded. They long retained their hostility to the
Spaniards. _Ekab_ was situated on the coast opposite the island of
Cozumel. _[C]ekom_ should probably read Tekom. _Tixcuumcuuc_ no longer
exists. _Tinuum_ is a town 4 leagues north of Valladolid, on the road to
Itzamal. _[C]i [C]antun_ is a town north of Itzamal, said by Sanchez
Aguilar to have been the ancient capital of the princely house of the
Chels. _Ake_ is probably the modern [C]onatake. _Catzim_ is now the name
of a hacienda in the Department of Itzamal, some distance from the
coast. _[C]elebna_ is unknown.
The expression _tumen naob Bon cupul_, translated by Avila "porque esa
casa es de Bon Cupul," I think is an error of the copyist for _tumen
nacon Cupul_. See also Sec. 18.
5. _Hokzah uba_, they betook themselves. The termination _uba_ is that
of the third person of reflexive verbs.
Nachi May, already mentioned, was a member of an ancient princely house
mentioned by Landa and Sanchez Aguilar. One of them, Ahkin May, was
apparently the hereditary high priest. The effort has been made to
derive from their name the word _Maya_, and Brasseur would carry us to
Haiti in order to discover its meaning (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 42, note),
but this is unnecessary. _May_ in the Maya tongue means "a hoof," as of
a deer, and is a proper name still in use. There is no reason to suppose
it in any way connected with _Maya_.
_Matanok_ I take to be an error for _matanon_, from _mat_ (pret.
_matnahi_).
6. _[C]ibikal_ may be, as suggested by Dr. Berendt, Tipikal, a town in
the district of Merida. There is another of the name in the Sierra Alta
(_Estadistica de Yucatan_, 1814).
Francisco de Bracamonte is mentioned by Cogolludo as among the first
settlers of Merida.
7. Cogolludo mentions Rodrigo Alvarez as "Escribano del juzgado," who
came with Montejo (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. III, cap. VI, and
elsewhere).
8. _U toxol cahob_, the distribution of the towns, literally "the
pouring out;" Avila translates it by "cuando se repartian los pueblos."
The Spanish system of "repartimientos" and "encomiendas" was adopted in
Yucatan,[TN-28]
9. The licentiate Alvares de Caravajal was alcalde mayor from 1554 to
1558. (Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. V. cap. XV.)
10. This was apparently written by Don Pablo Pech, the son of the writer
of the remainder of the history, and inserted in order to corroborate
the statement just made by his father, that the latter had transferred
the magistracy to him.
11. The _holpop_, literally "head of the mat," perhaps because when the
company sat around or on the mat his place was at its head, was the
official who had charge of the _tunkul_ or wooden drum, with which
public meetings, dances, summons to war, etc. were proclaimed, and with
which the priests accompanied their voices in reciting the ancient
chants (Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. V). He was called
_ahholpop_, and had charge of the public hall of the village, the
_popolna_, "casa de comunidad," in which public business was transacted
(_Diccionario de Motul_, MS.)[TN-29]
The _ahkulel_ was the official second in command in a town or district.
He acted in place of the _batab_ or the _ahcuchcab_. The verb _kulel_
means to transact business for another, to act as deputy.
_Ahkin_ was the ordinary word for priest in the old language; kin, sun,
day, time; _ahkin_, he who was familiar with the days and times, with
the calendar, and also with the past and the future.
12. _U chun u thanob_; the _chunthan_ or _ahchunthan_, literally, he who
has the first word, was the member of the village who took the leading
part in matters of business. The office and name are still in existence
in the native village communities of Yucatan. (See Garcia y Garcia,
_Historia de la Guerra de Castas en Yucatan_, Introd., p. xli.)
The _ahkul_ was an envoy or messenger, who carried the orders of the
prince to his people and to foreign princes. The title was usually
prefixed to the name of the person.
The _holcan_, "head caller," was a military official in each village,
whose duty it was when war was announced to summon the men in his
district capable of bearing arms (see Landa, _Relacion_, p. 174). The
Spanish writers translate it by _alferez_.
The _nacon_ was an elective war chief, who held his position for the
term of three years (Landa, _Relacion_, pp. 161, 173). The name is
derived from _nacal_, to rise, go up, and hence as a delegate or elected
representative (as is stated by the _Dicc. de Motul_).
13. The _nucteelob_ were the _ancianos_, the wise old men of the
village; _manak_, a trace or sign that appears at a distance and then
disappears. _U manak uinic ti ulah_=I saw the trace of a man to-day, but
it is no longer visible. _Diccionario de Motul, MS._
"The province of Ceh Pech" was that in which Merida was: "_u tzucub
ahcehpechob_, la provincia de los Peches al lado de Motul y Cumkal."
_Dicc. de Motul, MS._
14. _Kah_, _pinole_, is a drink made by mixing the meal of roasted maize
with water. The word _tuce_ (or, it may be, _tuze_) I do not find in any
dictionary, nor does Avila translate it. The passage is an obscure one.
Avila renders it "cuando fuimos a la guerra, bebian pinole y _tuce_,
porque estaban enojados con los Cristianos." Possibly these were two
articles of food especially used on warlike raids.
_U zahacil in puczical_, a cant phrase probably borrowed from the
missionaries="the fear of my heart,"--in my humbleness. _Puczikal_
appears to be a root-word, though of three syllables. It means the heart
of men and animals, also the mind or soul, the desires, and the interior
of certain growths, as the pith of maize, etc. (_Dicc. de Motul._)
The year 1511 was that of the shipwreck of the deacon Geronimo de
Aguilar and his companions, who were the first whites known to the
natives of Yucatan.
The reference which is made in this section to a deputation of fifty
natives to Spain, is not mentioned, so far as I remember, by other
historians. As in some respects my translation differs from that of
Avila, I give his.
"Cuando llego ante el monarca Ahmacan Pech, D^on Pedro Pech, y sus
deudos, sus primeros descendientes, sus capitanes, todos fueron con el
para honrar el monarca y vea la cara a sus vasallos indigenas, y escogio
cincuenta de los grandes de ellos para llevar tras de el al monarca
reinante para servirlos en la mesa alli lejos en Espana, pero los que
vomitaron en el festejo delante del monarca reinante, esos entonces dijo
el Rey que pagaron tributos todos y todos sus descendientes, mas
nosotros los Peches," etc.
The phrase _mac xenahi tu tzicile_ Avila translates "who vomited at the
feasts;" but I believe _xenhi_, vomited, is a misreading for _xanhi_,
remained, and _tzicil_ is obedience, as serving-men.
_Lae te hantabi_, who was eaten; Aguilar himself was not eaten, as he
was rescued by Cortes, in 1519, and served him as interpreter. But some
of his companions were eaten by the natives, not of Cozumel, but of the
coast to the south, and this is what Pech meant to say, unless,
indeed--and I am inclined to prefer this view--we read _hantezahbi_
instead of _hantabi_, which would give the sense "the land was
discovered by Aguilar, who was given food (supported, maintained) by Ah
Naum," etc. For particulars about Aguilar see Herrera, _Hist. de las
Indias_, Dec. II, Lib. IV, cap. VIII.
_Lai yabil hauic_, etc. This is an important sentence, as fixing a date
in the ancient chronology. _U tunil balcah_ is an ancient term, not
explained in the dictionaries. _Balcah_ (or _baalcah_) means "a town and
the people who compose it" (Pio Perez, _Diccionario_), hence people, the
world, as the French use _monde_. From many references in the Maya
manuscripts I derive the impression that the last stone in the katun
pillar was placed in turn by the towns, each giving its name to the
stone and the cycle (see ante, p. 171).
Assuming the correctness of the figures 1517--and there is no reason to
doubt it--then Pech counted the katuns as of 24 years each, as Pio Perez
maintained was correct; because he has already informed us in his
introductory paragraph that the year 1541 was the close of the 11th
Ahau, and 1541-1517=24.
16. The two previous visits referred to were probably those of Cordova,
1517, and Grijalva, 1518. "Those who knew to speak the true words,"
refers to the Catholic priests. All the historians of Cortes' expedition
dwell on the effect produced on the natives of Cozumel by the religious
services he held there.
The date, Feb. 28, 1519, seems correct, although it is not mentioned by
any other writer I have at hand. Cortes left Havana, Feb. 19.
_Lai yabil_, "in this year," evidently a date is omitted, as the first
arrival of the Spaniards at Chichen Itza was either at the close of 1526
or beginning of 1527. One of the Maya MSS. gives the year as _bulucil
Muluc_, the 11th Muluc. The Maya year, it will be remembered, began on
the 16th of July.
"It was on the memorable thirteenth of August, 1521, the day of St.
Hippolytus, that Cortes led his warlike array for the last time across
the black and blasted environs which lay around the Indian capital,
etc." Prescott, _Conquest of Mexico_, Book VI, chap. VIII. There is
little doubt but that the tidings of the dreadful destruction of the
mighty Tenochtitlan was rapidly disseminated among the tribes far down
into Yucatan and Central America, and made a profound impression on
them.
This section is confused and difficult. Avila translates:--
"Fueron atacados por tercera vez los mismos Espanoles por todos los
pueblos aqui en el pueblo de Cupul cuando hallaron a Ah Ceh Pech
muriendose en una casa no embarrada y a su companero el otro Rey Cen
Pot," etc.
18. The official date of the founding of the city of Merida was Jan. 6,
1542.
The anona or custard-apple does not seem to have been eaten by the
natives, and it impressed them as strange and somewhat unnatural to
witness the Spaniards suck them.
_Ca u tocahob nao bon Cupul_; this is translated by Senor Avila:
"quemaron al capitan Cupul:" they burned the captain Cupul; but I take
it to be a misreading for _ca u yotochob nacom Cupul_, and have so
translated it. There is no account of a leader of the Cupuls having been
burned, and, moreover, this is in accordance with Sec. 4.
Another important chronological statement is made in this section, to
wit, that the year 1542 (I suppose July 16, 1541-July 15, 1542 is meant)
was 13 Kan. As Pech has already told us that it was also the first year
of the 9th Ahau Katun, we have the date fixed in both methods of
reckoning, that is, by the Kin Katun as well as the Ahau Katun,
according to the calendar which his family used.
19. The town of Tikom is still in existence, but I have not been able to
find Popce on any of the maps. The Chels were a well known princely
family in ancient Yucatan. The _Dicc. de Motul_ says their province was
that of [C]izantun.
26.[TN-30] The Don Juan Caamal whose acts are briefly sketched in this
section is the same mentioned in the _auto_ given previously, page 117.
It is still a family name in Yucatan (Berendt, _Nombres Proprios en
lengua Maya_, folio. _MS._)[TN-31]
21. The first mission to Yucatan was that of Fr. Jacobo de Testera, with
some companions whose names have not been preserved, 1531 to 1534 (see
Geronimo de Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, pp. 380, 665;
Torquemada. _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. IX, cap. XIII, Lib. XX, cap.
XLVII). They were stationed at Champoton and did not penetrate the
country. The next attempt was in 1537. Testera, then Provincial of
Mexico, sent five Franciscan friars, who returned after two years of
efforts. Their names are unknown (Cogolludo, _Historia de Yucatan_, vol.
I, pp. 175, 182). The third is the one referred to in the text. Its
commissary was Fr. Luis de Villalpando, and its members were Fr. Lorenzo
de Bienvenida, Fr. Melchor de Benavente, Fr. Juan de Herrera, Fr. Juan
de Albalata, and Fr. Angel Maldonado. Five other missionaries came with
Juan de la Puerta, in 1548 (Cogolludo).
22. The term _ahetzil_, I do not find, and translate it as _ahe[c]il_,
the practice of conjuring, or sorcery. But it is quite possibly for
_ahuitzil_, dwellers in the sierra. The next line is corrupt, and I can
only guess at the meaning. The date, Nov. 9, 1546, is correct, and the
history here given of the insurrection of the natives at that time is
substantially the same as is told at length by Cogolludo (_Hist. de
Yucatan_, Lib. V, cap. VII).
27. The Auditor Tomas Lopez came from Guatemala (not Spain) to Yucatan
in 1551 or 1552, and in the latter year promulgated his "Laws" for the
government of the natives, many of which are given in Cogolludo's
History.
The passing reference to the cruelties of the Spaniards are more than
borne out by the testimony of Fr. Lorenzo de Bienvenida. Writing to the
King in 1548 he says:--
"En esta villa (Valladolid) se levantaron este ano de quarenta y siete
los Indios * * * i este levantamiento por mal tratamiento que hacen a
los Indios los Espanoles tomandoles las mugeres y hijos y dandoles de
palos i quebrandoles las piernas i brazos i matandolos i desmasiados
tributos i desaforados servicios personales, i si V^a Alt^a no provee de
remedio con brevedad, no es possible permanecer esta tierra, digo de
justicia. * * * *
"(El adelantado) dio la capitania a un sobrino que llaman Manso Pacheco.
Nero no fue mas cruel que este. Este paso adelante y llego a una
provincia que llaman _Chatemal_, estando de paz, i sin dar guerra los
naturales la robo i les comio los mantenimientos a los naturales, i
ellos huyendo a los montes de miedo de los Espanoles porque en tomando
alguno luego lo aperreaban, i desto huian los Indios i no sembraban i
todos murieron de hambre, digo todos porque habia pueblos de a
quinientos casas i de a mil, i el que agora tiene ciento es mucho;
provincia rica de cacao. Este capitan por sus proprias manos exercitaba
las fuerzas, con un garrote mate muchos i decia, 'este es buen palo para
castigar a estos;' i desque lo habia muerto, 'O, quan bien lo de.' Corto
muchos pechos a mugeres, i manos a hombres i narices i orejas i estaco,
i a las mugeres ataba calabazas a los pies i las echaba en las lagunas
ahogar por su pasatiempo, i otras grandes crueldades." _Carta de Fr.
Lorenzo de Bienvanida,[TN-32] 1548. MS._
28. The town Conah Itza, or Con Ahitza, Con of the Itzas, may refer to
the seaport, Coni, the eastern coast, where Montejo landed on his first
expedition. Bishop Toral did not arrive in Yucatan until 1562, so the
mention of him proves that this narrative was written after that date.
29. No such person as Juan de Montejo is known.