The Annals of the Cakchiquels Part 21

42. The difficulties experienced in their first endeavors to adopt a sedentary and agricultural life are described.

_chicop [c]uch_, the "zopilote," or carrion vulture. Possibly this refers to a gens so designated.

43. In this paragraph the writer expresses himself with great directness.

_[c]a chimin_, etc. As my translation differs considerably from Bra.s.seur's, I add his: "En se mariant ils firent l'euvre de la chair vraiment trop grande. Etant entres pour se baigner, ils y rompirent leur nature et gaspillerent leur s.e.m.e.nce. Beaucoup y entrerent dit-on, pour completer l'euvre charnelle, on la commit une seconde fois, le jeu s'y etablit absolument, et l'on forniqua par devant et par derriere."

44. This section offers an important description of the ancient methods of wors.h.i.+p.

_[c]axto[c]._ See the Introduction, p. 40.

_mez_, the house cat, but as this animal was not known to the natives before the Conquest, some other animal must be intended.

_holom oc.o.x_, "head fungus." I follow Bra.s.seur in translating this the maguey thorns, without being able to justify it.

_Chay Abah._ See Introduction, p. 43.

46. Whitewas.h.i.+ng the interior of hollow trees with lime from the excrements of birds and tigers, sounds so extraordinary that we may suspect a mythical sense in the paragraph.

_chi [c]ohom_, from _[c]oh_, to dance the sacred dances in their religious rites, "the place of the sacred ceremonies."

Cay Noh, Two Noh, Cay Batz, Two Batz, named after the days of their birth. See Introduction, p. 33.

47. _The same who came from Tulan._ Therefore, from the beginning of the narrative to the present pa.s.sage, merely the adult life of one man has elapsed.

48. On the positions of the _[t]alel_ and _ahuchan_, see Introduction, p. 37.

_ret ri cactecauh_, "the sign of Zactecauh." The precise meaning of this expression escapes me.

_[c]hopiytzel._ See Sec. 30 for the occurrence alluded to.

49. _Tepeuh_ is identified by Bra.s.seur with the king _Itztayul_, of the Quiches (_Hist. Mexique_, II, p. 485). He considers it a Nahuatl word, but I have elsewhere maintained that it is from the Maya-Cakchiquel root _tep_, filled up, abundantly supplied. See _The Names of the G.o.ds in the Kiche Myths_, pp. 11, 12. It is a term often applied to their Supreme Being.

52. _Cakbrakan_, the G.o.d of the earthquake. The myths concerning him are given in the _Popol Vuh_.

_Quite to the far East_, literally, "and even to the sunrise."

_ba[c,]bal_, anything drawn out in threads, gold thread, cotton thread, etc. If the word is to be construed adjectively, _puak ba[c,]pal_ would mean "worked metal."

56. _Ahpop Xahil_, etc.; on the meaning of these t.i.tles, see the Introduction, p. 36-7.

63. _Ya [c]otox ul_; _[c]ot_, to chisel, engrave, originally to cut into; hence, applied to the deep valleys or canons which the rivers cut into the soil.

_Ochal_ or _Qabouil civan_; the latter name means "the G.o.d of the ravine." The location of this city is unknown, except that it was near the Pacific. The general position of the Akahals was to the east of the Cakchiquels. See Bra.s.seur, _Hist. Mexique_, Tom. II, pp. 502, 530.

64. _Me[t]enalah huyu_, a town in the warm district, the _tierra caliente_, near the southern or Pacific coast.

_chuvi vi te_, etc. The translation is doubtful. I follow Bra.s.seur.

66. The names of the four rulers here inserted seem to be of those who held the power after Citan Qatu. Why the author does not relate any incidents of their lives is uncertain. Perhaps they did not belong to his family, and as he was writing rather a family than a national history, he omitted them for this reason. Compare Sec. 75.

67. The Quiche king, Qikab, is frequently mentioned in the _Popol Vuh_.

His full name was _[t]a[t]-[c]i-[t]ab_, The Many Hands of Fire.

79. _They wished that the roads should be free_; _rambey akan_, "la franchise des chemins." I do not find the expression in the dictionaries.

83. _Mixutzin malo_, "the augury is finished." The _malol ixim_ was the augur who divined the future by throwing up grains of corn, and forecasting from the relative positions they a.s.sumed on falling. See Introd., p. 47.

_cunum cachak_, a term of contempt; literally "their genitals, their dung."

The _Ratzamut_. See Introd., p. 21.

84. _Burning many roads_; destroying the houses and crops behind them.

90. _hu chuvy, ca chuvy_; in the numeral system of the Cakchiquels a _chuvy_ is 8000, but the expression is frequently, as here, to be taken figuratively, like our "myriads."

93. _ah-xit_, etc. On these t.i.tles see the Introduction, pp. 18, 19.

94. _Vica[t] nu mam_, "the leaves or branches of my ancestor," referring to the fact that the Cakchiquels were of the same blood as the Akahals.

96. _cakli[c]ahol_, etc. This rendering, which is Bra.s.seur's, I am unable to verify.

_tok relic chic ahauh lahuh noh_; perhaps this should read, "then came the chief Lahuh Noh." So Bra.s.seur translates it.

102. _There were four women_, etc. This curious pa.s.sage is so differently translated by Bra.s.seur, that I add his rendering:--

"Quatre femmes alors s'etant revetues de cottes de mailles, ensanglanterent leurs arcs et prirent part a la bataille; elles s'etaient accompagnes de quatres jeunes gens et leurs fleches allerent frapper au milieu du tapis de Chucuybatzin, lances qu' elles etaient par ces heros.... Le capitaine de bataille exposa ensuite les nudites de ces femmes devant les murailles des Zotziles et des Xahiles d'ou ces femmes etaient sorties."

The future student will decide between these very diverse explanations of the text.

106. _Stopped the messengers of the ruler._ The translation is doubtful.

109. The people of Mixco or Mixcu were Pokomams. (See Sec. 85.)

110. _The Yaquis of Xivico_; the _Yaquis_ were Aztecs. It is the Nahuatl _yaqui_, merchants, as it was in this capacity that they first became known to the tribes of Guatemala.

117. This year, 1511 of our era, appears to have been the first of official relations between the Aztecs and the tribes of Guatemala.

118. The author speaks of himself for the first time. It may be presumed that it was one of his earliest recollections.

120. _The doves_; possibly flights of wild pigeons.

124. _Hu may_; on the reckoning of time see the Introduction, p. 31.

127. _[c]hac_, the pestilence. Bra.s.seur translates this "la maladie syphilitique." The vowel is long, _[c]haac_. It is a word applied to any eruptive disease, to the whole cla.s.s of exanthemata. From the symptoms, I am inclined to believe that it was an epidemic of malignant measles, a disease very fatal to the natives of Central America.

128. _Diego Juan._ Why this Spanish name is given, I cannot explain.

Bra.s.seur gets over the difficulty by translating "le pere de Diego Juan," but this is not the sense of the original. Of course, _tata_ and _mama_ are here used in their vague sense, as expressions of courtesy.

See Introduction, p. 35.