It cannot be said that the early Spanish authors upon the affairs of
Yucatan either corroborate or discredit the contents of the "Popol
Vuh" in any way. To begin with, Landa, Cogolludo, and Las Casas
confine themselves more to Yucatan proper than to Guatemala, and
their remarks upon native belief, in so far as they illustrate the
"Popol Vuh" at all, are really references to Mayan myths. Palacios
is meagre in his references to any native beliefs, and the works of
all four are so coloured by the phantasies of mediæval theology that,
although interesting, they possess little real value. So far, in fact,
as they throw light upon the "Popol Vuh" they might be safely ignored,
and they are only given as works of reference in the bibliography
for the sake of completeness. They are, however, most valuable for
the study of Mayan mythology proper, and for complete understanding
of the "Popol Vuh" and of Kiché mythology in general, knowledge of
Mayan myth is necessary.