Discussion of the Manuscript.
It will now be our task to endeavor to clear away such doubts as may arise in regard to the chronological interpretation of the Maya Manuscript. These doubts have reference, first, to the choice of the method to be pursued in reckoning the Ahaues either at 24 or at 20 years. Second, as to the manner of filling up certain gaps which the author has left open in the chronological sequence of the Ahau period; and finally, after building again this chronological structure in its logical order, we must adapt the dates expressed in Ahaues to the current language of our Christian chronological era.
In order to avoid troublesome reference to the text of the preceding pages, we shall repeat the English translation, and for better convenience, shall present two or more sections together. To demonstrate Señor Perez’s system and method of counting, we shall give the translation of the Spanish text, as communicated by Dr. Berendt, without undertaking to make any special criticisms of it.
This is the series of Katuns that elapsed from the time of their separation from the land and house of Nonoual, in which were the four Tutul Xiu, lying to the west of Zuina, going out of the country of Tulapan.
With these few words the Maya author states his purpose. He wishes to enumerate the Katuns or periods of time from the beginning of the history of his nation to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. He tells us that his nation lived in a land called Tulapan, which was westerly from another called Zuina, and that from thence, under the lead of four chiefs, the Tutul Xiu, they had immigrated into this new country, Yucatan.
[Map showing the movement of the Mayas as stated in the Manuscript.]
By Tutul Xiu the author evidently means the name of the reigning family, which, at the arrival of the Spaniards, were considered as the ancient rulers and hereditary lords of Chichen-Itza.[[42]] In regard to the countries referred to by the names Tulapan and Zuina, we can only say that in Central American traditions the name Tulapan oftentimes returns under the form of Tulan. Thus, for example, the Quichés and Cakchiqueles, sister nations of the Mayas, make mention of the above countries in their annals.[[43]] Upon a closer examination of the text, contained in the so-called “Popol Vuh,” we were unable to detect any grounds for the assumption that these countries or places lay in a distant orient. They probably will turn out to have been, or by the annalists were thought to have been, situated on the northern boundaries of Mexico, on a route of migration ending with the high plateaus of Guatemala.
§1. Four epochs were spent in travelling before they arrived here with Holon Chantepeuh and his followers. When they began their journey towards this island, it was the 8th Ahau, and the 6th, 4th and 2d were spent in travelling, because in the 1st year of the 13th Ahau they arrived at this island, making together eighty-one years they were travelling between their departure from their country and their arrival at this island of Chacnouitan. These are 81 years.
We learn that four Ahau periods had passed the 8th, 6th, 4th and 2d before the wanderers arrived with their leader, Holon Chantepeuh, at the island of Chacnouitan. In the following 13th Ahau they are said to have been already settled there. It is of the highest importance to note that the Maya author here acknowledges that he reckoned each Ahau period as 20 years, and he remains faithful to this method to the end of the manuscript. By this fact alone, we should be compelled to follow the division of 20 years thus established, even if in contradiction to the statements of other chroniclers, which fortunately is not the case.
As the author treats of the affairs of the Tutul Xiu or the so-called Itza race, and attributes to them the discovery and colonization of Yucatan, it is highly probable that he made use of the annals of the Itzaes, and that they were arranged in periods of just 20 years. If we should be right in this assumption the 20–year period must be regarded as the most ancient ever used in Yucatan.
We cannot fully agree with Señor Perez and his countrymen that the author intended to designate the peninsula of Yucatan when he speaks of the Island of Chacnouitan. This name appears for the first and only time in this manuscript. It is generally acknowledged that the name had never previously been heard of.[[44]] We should state that the words of the text are always nay ti petene Chacnouitan. If in Maya peten meant only a peninsula, we should take no exceptions. But the fundamental meaning of peten is an island, and as the demonstrative pronoun nay means as well “of this place” as “of that place,” the translation could as well stand for “that distant island.” Whether the island was situated in the ocean or in any of the many inland lakes, the probabilities seem to lie with the latter supposition, for they came by land. Had they come by sea, tradition would have dwelt with some characteristic remark upon such an exceptional case. From the following paragraph it will become still more evident that the Chacnouitan discovered by the Itzaes was neither the whole nor the northern part of Yucatan, but a district situated in the southwest of the peninsula.
§2. The 8th Ahau, the 6th Ahau, in the 2d Ahau arrived Ajmekat Tutul Xiu, and ninety-nine years they remained in Chacnouitan—years 99.
§3. In this time also took place the discovery of the Province of Ziyan-caan or Bacalar; the 4th Ahau and the 2d Ahau and the 13th Ahau, or sixty years they had ruled in Ziyan-caan when THEY CAME HERE. During these years of their government of the Province of Bacalar occurred the discovery of the Province of Chichen-Itza. These are years 60.
As the first section closed with the arrival at Chacnouitan, which took place upon the 2d Ahau, it was to be expected that the second section would continue the sequence of Ahaues so as to connect with the necessarily following 13th Ahau. But we see that it begins with the 8th Ahau, follows with the 6th and closes with the 2d Ahau.
Before taking notice of the accounts given in these two paragraphs let us first ascertain what Ahaues were left out between the 2d Ahau, at the end of the first section, and the 8th Ahau, with which the second section begins. According to the rule above given on the alternating Ahaues, the missing ones would be the following: The (13), (11), (9), (7), (5), (3), (1), (12), and (10th) Ahau. Of these nine Ahaues, or 180 years, the author had nothing in mind to tell us. No event of significance appears to have taken place. Perhaps the wanderers had to rest to gather strength before attempting further conquests. Moreover, this time belongs to the most ancient epochs of Maya history, and information regarding it was so dim and so obscure that it appeared to the author as of no account. The chronological sequence thus being established, let us now turn to the contents of the two section, 2 and 3. They begin with the 8th Ahau and close with the 13th Ahau. As to the events happening within the 8th, 6th, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahau, they indeed do not appear in the wished for sequence. But the sequence, as will be shown, can be established without making interpolations. It will be noticed that in section 2 the 4th Ahau is not mentioned. After having quoted the 8th and 6th Ahau, the author passes over this 4th Ahau and mentions the arrival of Ajmekat, belonging to the family of the renowned Tutul Xiu, who seems to have led in the conquests of Bacalar and Chichen-Itza, which are recorded in section 3, as happening in the 4th, 2d and 13th Ahau. That these conquests must be counted into the epoch mentioned with the names 8th, 6th, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahau is clearly expressed by the words, “in this time,” so that no mistake can take place as to the intimate connection with the arrival of Ajmekat. We learn moreover that the time which the conquerors remained in the province of Chacnouitan is said to have been 99 years. These 99 or 100 years cover exactly the time represented by the above five Ahaues, and when reading at the end of the 3d paragraph that they had ruled 60 years in Ziyan-caan Bacalar, it becomes clear that these 60 years are not years that follow the 99 years, but that they were the last years of the 99 mentioned. The two sections supplement each other, and from them the following impression is conveyed, that Chacnouitan was the territory situated southwest of the shores of the great lagoon of Bacalar. The wanderers had been waiting during eleven Ahaues, from the 13th to the 4th Ahau, before they made an attack against the possessors of Bacalar. An attempt to take it appears to have been made during the 8th, 6th and 4th Ahaues, and only accomplished in the 2d Ahau, through the arrival or help of Ajmekat, who led them further on to the discovery or conquest of Chichen-Itza, in the 13th Ahau.
The difficulty of interpreting the two sections is removed as soon as we view them in the light of the reasons given, not as two distinct epochs of which the one follows the other, as Señor Perez does (see commentary), but as belonging to one and the same epoch from the 8th to the 13th Ahau. It must not be so much questioned what the author ought to have done in order to represent his history in a logical way, and on account of his omissions cast a doubt upon the whole record, as how to use what he has left to construct a system from these elements, and to avail ourselves unhesitatingly of the help of the chronological sequence of Ahaues, which is and will remain the only reliable thread to lead us through and out of the labyrinth.
Commentary of Señor Perez.—“The manuscript informs us that at the 8th Ahau a colony of Toltecs under their leader Holon Chantépeuh, marched out from the city of Tulapan, and that in their wanderings they spent 4 Ahaues, 8, 6, 4, 2, till they came to Chacnouitan, which happened in the first year of the 13th Ahau. To doubt this is not possible, for this statement is the beginning and foundation of all later dates. According to my calculation which I will explain hereafter, it was from the year 144 to 217, which is 97 and not 81 years, as the manuscript reports, for if we compute the Ahaues with 24 years, as we have shown, and include the first year of the Ahau following as the time of their arrival, then the account makes 97 years. They stayed in Chacnouitan with Ajmekat Tutul Xiu during the remaining years of the 13th Ahau, until the 2d Ahau.
These Ahaues, as we have explained, should follow in the order 13, 9, 7, 5, and not 13, 6, 8, 2, for this latter list represents earlier Ahaues, and as they represent different epochs they can only be expressed by the same figures after the expiration of 312 years, thereby clearly showing the error.
It is likewise asserted that they remained 99 years in Chacnouitan, which could not have been true, for this would have made 119 actual years, or only 95 years if we reckon only four Ahaues, without the second, for if we regard the succession we miss the 4th Ahau, which the manuscript has left out. But the manuscript does not count four but five Ahaues, as it reckons an Ahau at 20 years, the five Ahaues less one year make the aforesaid 99 years.”
§4. The 11th Ahau, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d and 1st Ahau, or 120 years, they ruled in Chichen-Itza, when it was destroyed, and they emigrated to Champutun where the Itzaes, holy men, had houses.
Years 120.
§5. The 6th Ahau they took possession of the territory of Champutun, the 4th Ahau, 2d, 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th and 8th, Champutun was destroyed or abandoned. The Itzaes reigned two hundred and sixty years in Champutun when they returned in search of their homes, and they lived for several Katuns in the uninhabited mountains.
Years 260.
§6. The 6th Ahau, 4th Ahau, after 40 years they returned to their homes once more and Champutun was lost to them.
Years 40.
The fourth section, in correct sequence, continues the series from the 13th Ahau when Chichen-Itza was founded. It covers the 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, and 1st Ahau, a space of 20 years, in which the wanderers make the new region of Chichen-Itza their metropolis. Enemies, however, whose names are not indicated, destroy the place and oblige them to look elsewhere. They then turn to Champutun (now Champoton, also Potonchan), situated in a southwesterly direction from Chichen-Itza, on the westerly shore of the Peninsula.
The fifth section should begin with the 12th Ahau, but instead it follows the 6th Ahau. Hence the (12th), (10th) and (8th) Ahau are missing. These 60 years may be supposed to be the time required by the exiles to recuperate their strength in order to conquer the new territory of Champoton. In the 6th Ahau then they succeeded in taking Champoton, and they remained there during the 4th, 2d, 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th and 8th Ahaus, a full Ahau-Katun epoch of 260 years. They were obliged to leave Champoton in the 8th Ahau, and seemed willing to return to their old home, but determined to reconquer Champoton. We are told in the sixth section that two Katuns or 40 years, were passed in delays and preparations, correctly figured by the 6th and 4th Ahau; that they then made an attempt to reconquer Champoton, failing in which, they were obliged to look about for a new home.
Commentary of Señor Perez to the 4th, 5th and 6th Sections.—They remained in Chichen-Itza and ruled there until it was destroyed, when they betook themselves to Champoton. Here they built their houses during the 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d and 1st Ahaues (sic). If this succession should be stated correctly it would be the 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahau, or from the year 452 to 576, A. D., when the 13th Ahau expired. The Ahaues represented the years 432, 456, 480, 504, 528 and 552 A. D.
§5. In the 6th Ahau they took Champoton and held sway there during the following twelve Ahaues until it was destroyed. After this they looked again for a home after they had passed several Katunes in the mountainous regions, which were the 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahaues, making a complete epoch of 312 years. Their coming should not have been stated as the 6th, but the 11th Ahau, according to the explanation.
§6. In the 6th and 4th Ahau they again erected houses after they had lost Champoton, that is after a lapse of 48 years, which requires a connection with the 11th and 9th Ahau. This occurred in the years 888 to 936 A. D., for the 11th Ahau began in 888, the 9th in 912, and ended in the year 936 A. D.
§7. In this Katun of the 2d Ahau, Ajcuitok Tutul Xiu established himself in Uxmal; the 2d Ahau, 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th Ahau, equal to 200 years, they governed in Uxmal, with the governors of Chichen-Itza and Mayapan.
The former section closing with the 4th Ahau, this begins with the 2d and is followed in correct succession by the 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th, a space of 200 years. In the 2d Ahau, under their leader Ajcuitok, they settled down in a new region at the town of Uxmal. It appears that Chichen-Itza had been rebuilt, and Mayapan newly founded. Rulers resided at both places at peace with the Tutul Xiu at Uxmal.
Commentary of Señor Perez to Section 7.—In the 2d Ahau Ajcuitok Tutul Xiu made a settlement in Uxmal, and reigned there with the Governors of Chichen-Itza and Mayapan during 2d, 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th Ahau. A correction of these Ahaues gives us the 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th and 2d, and brings them into harmony with the Christian era, to wit: the years 936, 960, 987, 1008, 1032, 1056, 1080, 1104, 1128 and 1152 A. D. The 2d Ahau ended with the foundation and with the completion of 240 years in the year 1176, for the foundation took place in the year 936, when the 7th Ahau just now corrected began.
§8. These are the Katuns, 11th, 9th and 6th Ahau (sic.) In the 8th the Governor of Chichen-Itza was deposed because he murmured disrespectfully against Hunac-eel. This happened to Chacxibchac of Chichen-Itza, governor of the fortress of Mayalpan. Ninety years had elapsed, but the tenth year of the 8th Ahau was the year in which he was overthrown by Ajzinte-yut-chan with Tzunte-cum, Taxcal, Pantemit, Xuch-cuet, Ytzcuat and Kakaltecat. These are the names of the seven Mayalpanes.
§9. In the same Katun of the 8th Ahau, they attacked King Ulmil in consequence of his quarrel with Ulil, King of Yzamal; thirteen divisions of troops he had when he was routed by Hunac-eel; in the 6th Ahau the war was over after 34 years.
As the foregoing section 7 closed with the 10th Ahau, we should expect section 8 to begin with the 8th Ahau. We read, however, 11th, 9th and 6th Ahau. This sequence is evidently incorrect in itself, because the 9th can never be followed by the 6th Ahau. If the period began with the 11th Ahau, the sequence should follow with the 9th and 7th Ahau. The correct reading of the text, however, will result from the examination of that which follows immediately after this introductory sentence. There we read these words: “In the 8th Ahau the governor of Chichen-Itza was deposed,” etc., and this same 8th Ahau is mentioned again in the sentence that follows, beginning with “Ninety years,” etc. So also it reappears for a third time in section 9, at its beginning. Now, as section 8 was expected to commence with the 8th Ahau, it is more than probable that the author has blundered in some way. We presume that instead of 11th, 9th and 6th, he intended to write 10th, 8th and 6th. The 10th would indicate a reference made to the ending of the last section. The 8th and 6th are those in which all the events described in our two sections occur, for the insulted governor Hunac-eel of section 8 is the same who takes revenge in section 9.
This difficulty being removed, another arises, how to interpret the words “ninety years elapsed, but the tenth year of the 8th Ahau was the year in which he was overthrown,” etc. This reads as if these ninety years were predecessors of the 8th Ahau. If this were so, they would fall in the 10th, 12th, 1st, 3d and the first half of the 5th Ahau. Of such Ahaues mention is made in the foregoing section 7. But we notice these Ahaues were passed in peace and not in war, as our passage evidently suggests. We cannot help thinking that another blunder is concealed in this phrase, and that the author meant to write nine years. If we write, Nine years had elapsed, but the tenth year of the 8th Ahau was the year in which he was overthrown, the idea of the author seems stated correctly. These nine years, then, would have fallen in the 10th Ahau, with which we proposed to commence section 8, and nine years added to the twenty years of the 8th Ahau, make twenty-nine years, and five more years of the 6th Ahau give those thirty-four years, which, at the end of section 9 are expressly indicated as passed in war. Such is the sense which we give to these two somewhat perplexing sections.
Commentary of Señor Perez to Sections 8 and 9.—The Ahaues 11th, 9th, 6th and 8th passed away, and in the latter the governor Hunac-eel of Mayapan overthrew Chacxibchac, the governor of Chichen-Itza, because he had spoken ill of him, and in the 10th year of the last Ahau, the seven chiefs of Hunac-eel overcame the governor Chacxibchac. If a correction is to be made it should then stand 13th, 11th, 9th and 7th Ahau, or the years 1176, 1200, 1224 and 1248 to the year 1272 A. D. Hence it was the year 1258, the tenth year of the 7th Ahau that Chacxibchac was overcome.
During the 8th Ahau occurred the destruction of the power of King Ulmil, because he had waged war against Ulil of Izamal, and Hunac-eel at the head of 13 divisions overcame Ulmil in the 6th Ahau. [We are unable to give the correction of Señor Perez, as we do not comprehend his text.]
§10. In the 6th Ahau, 4th Ahau, 2d Ahau, 13th Ahau, 11th Ahau the fortified territory of Mayapan was invaded by the men of Itza under their king Ulmil because they had walls, and governed in common the people of Mayalpan; eighty-three years elapsed after this event, and at the beginning of the 11th Ahau, Mayalpan was destroyed by strangers of the Uitzes or Highlanders, as was also Tancaj of Mayalpan.
Years 83.
§11. In the 8th Ahau, Mayalpan was destroyed; the epochs of the 6th, 4th, 2d elapsed, and at this period the Spaniards, for the first time arrived, and gave the name of Yucatan to this province, sixty years after the destruction of the fortress.
Years 60.
In section 10 the 6th Ahau follows the 8th correctly, and the 4th, 2d, 13th and 11th Ahaues were passed in internal wars between Chichen-Itza and Mayalpan. In the 11th Ahau a highland people, called Uitze (probably Quiché), unite with the rulers of Chichen-Itza, and they then succeed in destroying Mayalpan. In section 11 another destruction of Mayalpan is reported. As this section begins with the 8th Ahau, and the foregoing ended with the 11th, a gap was left which represents the (9th), (7th), (5th), (3d), (1st), (12th) and (10th) Ahau. This gap undoubtedly means a period of great exhaustion to both contending parties, and as a second destruction of Mayalpan is reported in the 8th Ahau, we may fairly assume that this city had recovered, and in making a last effort to regain supremacy, was finally conquered. We understand the two reported destructions of this city as the heroic and victorious effort of the Maya race to exterminate the foreign Nahuatl invader, who, for a long period succeeded in taking a strong foothold in the country. In the succeeding epochs of the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahau, exhaustion from the war and disintegration must have ensued, for such was the condition in which the Spaniards found the Maya people in the following 13th and 11th Ahaues, which were the last they were allowed to count.
Commentary of Señor Perez to Sections 10 and 11.—In the 6th, 4th, 2d and 11th Ahaues the fortified land of Mayapan is attacked by the men of Itza and their king Ulmil, for it had walls, and the people were governed in a community. The place was destroyed by foreigners from the Highlands in the 11th Ahau, and Tancaj of Mayapan was also conquered. The correction of the reckoning gives us the 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th Ahau. We have stated that the 5th Ahau began in the year 1272, and the others were consequently 1296, 1320, 1344, and 1368, and the 8th Ahau ended in the year 1392 A. D.
In the 8th Ahau Mayapan was destroyed, then followed the Katunes of the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahau, in which latter the Spaniards passed by and gave to the province the name of Yucatan. Hence, the Ahaues begin again their regular course, though it is a contradiction to say in the foregoing section that Mayapan had been destroyed in the 11th Ahau (corrected to the 10th Ahau). It would perhaps have been better to say it had been destroyed for the second time, possibly for the purpose of rebuilding it. The 8th Ahau began in the year 1392, the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahaues fell in the years 1416, 1440 and 1464, which last ended in the year 1488 A. D.
§12. The 13th Ahau, 11th Ahau pestilence and small-pox were in the castles. In the 13th Ahau chief Ajpulà died. Six years were wanting to complete the 13th Ahau. This year was counted towards the east of the wheel, and began on the 4th Kan. Ajpulà died on the 18th day of the month Zip, on the 9th Imix; and that it may be known in numbers it was the year 1536, sixty years after the demolition of the fortress.
§13. Before the termination of the 11th Ahau the Spaniards arrived, holy men from the East came with them when they reached the land. The 9th Ahau was the commencement of baptism and Christianity; and in this year was the arrival of Toroba (Toral), the first bishop, 1544.
After the 11th section had closed with the 2d Ahau, the 12th section correctly begins with the 13th Ahau, and the 13th and last section closed the manuscript with the 11th Ahau, when the government of the Mayas was brought to an end by the arrival of the Spaniards. The particular details contained in these two sections will be discussed hereafter.
Commentary of Señor Perez to Sections 12 and 13.—In the 13th and the 11th Ahaues pestilence and small-pox reigned. In the sixth year, before the expiration of the 13th Ahau, Ajpulà died at the time when four Katunes were counted on the east of the wheel. His death happened on the 18th day of the month Zip, on the 9th day Imix. This date is wrong according to my reckoning; for the year 4 Cavac expired at the beginning and not at the end of the epoch, otherwise it would have been the year 4 Muluc. In the first case, the year 4 Cavac was that of 1496, in the other case it would be the year 1506, and never that of 1536, for in that year the 9th Ahau began.[[45]]
We give, besides, a recapitulation which Señor Perez himself added to his commentary, and for which we are indebted to the kindness of the late Dr. C. Hermann Berendt:—
“From what we have stated it will be seen that by only taking into account the number of epochs which are mentioned in the manuscript, and which elapsed between events, and by restoring this nomenclature according to the progressive series of the Ahaues, it appears that all indicated facts occur within the space of 58 epochs of 24 years each, which makes in all 1392 years to the expiration of the 11th Ahau. If we subtract these years from the year 1536, in which the 11th Ahau expired, 1444 A. D. remains as the year when the Toltecs seem to have arrived to colonize the country.
But if we allow the epochs and their enumeration to stand as they are, and in order to integrate the Ahaues in the sequence above indicated, add those which are missing, we should find that 97 epochs, each of 24 years had passed. The sum of 2328 years, represented by this count, is a space of time of too great magnitude to bring into harmony with Mexican history, and would signify that this country was 40 years older than the foundation of Rome, and 17 years older than the introduction of Greek Olympiads, which is very improbable.
Should any hypercritical person fail to believe in the list of epochs because their succession is incorrect, let him remember that the list has much to render it worthy of belief, though it must be subjected to corrections. Still less ought any one to refuse belief in the historical statement of events. The manuscript indicates a traditional origin common to the history of all primitive nations. It is noticeable that no traditions exist to contradict the manuscript, and that it is the only one thus far discovered. The contents of the manuscript might be thus epitomized:—
1. The Toltecs occupied 4 epochs in going from their home to Chacnouitan.
144–217 A. D.
2. They arrived there in the first year of the succeeding epoch, and remained still 4 epochs more with their chieftain, Ajmekat Tutul Xiu.
218–360 A. D.
3. They discovered Ziyan-Caan or Bacalar and ruled therein 3 epochs, till they discovered Chichen-Itza.
360–432 A. D.
4. They remained at Chichen-Itza 6 epochs, till they set out to colonize Champoton.
432–576 A. D.
5. From the discovery of Champoton, which they colonized and ruled until they lost it, 13 epochs elapsed.
576–888 A. D.
6. They remain 2 epochs in the wilderness till they return again to Chichen-Itza.
888–936 A. D.
7. In the following epoch Ajcuitok Tutul Xiu colonized Uxmal, and ruled during 10 epochs in harmony with the governors of Mayapan and Chichen.
936–1176 A. D.
8. Three other epochs pass, and in the 10th year of the following epoch Chacxibchac, ruler of Chichen, was defeated by Hunac-eel, ruler of Mayapan, and his captains.
1176–1258 A. D.
9. In the same epoch of the defeat of the ruler of Chichen they marched against Ulmil, who was king in the same Chichen, because he had waged war against Ulil, king of Izamal, which war Hunac-eel, brought to a close in the following epoch.
1258–1572 A. D.
10. In spite of Ulmil’s defeat this ruler of Chichen planned an invasion of Mayapan. After the lapse of 2 more epochs, and in the third year of that which followed, Mayapan was destroyed in the year 1368 by strangers who came from the mountains.
1272–1392 A. D.
11. Besides the three named epochs, and indeed in the last of them, the Spaniards passed along, who gave to the province the name of Yucatan.
1392–1488 A. D.
12. In the following epoch an epidemic reigned even in the temples and fortified places, and in the 6th year Ajpula died on the 11th of September, 1493.
1488–1512 A. D.
13. In the 11th and last epoch (1536–1576) the conquerors arrived, to wit: in 1527, and in the following the first Bishop came, in the year 1541, and the conquest was completed in 1560 A. D.
Thus much I have been able to bring to light in this matter. But with the help of dates, which I do not possess, and with that of the travels you have made in our country, the information which you have gathered must have enlarged your ideas on this subject, and I wish you would be so kind as to communicate them to your most devoted
F. I. JUAN PIO PEREZ.
Peto, April 2, 1842.
Mr. J. Lloyd Stephens.”