There would appear to have been other “cut” letters in the old dialects of Cakchiquel, as in Guzman we find the pp and thth, as in the Maya, but later writers dropped them.
I may dispense with a discussion of the literature of the Cakchiquel language, having treated that subject so lately as last year, in the introduction to the Grammar of the Cakchiquel, which I then translated and edited for the American Philosophical Society. As will be seen by reference to that work, it is quite extensive, and much of it has been preserved. I have examined seven dictionaries of the tongue, all quite comprehensive; manuscript copies of all are in the United States. None of these, however, has been published; and we must look forward to the dictionary now preparing by Dr. Stoll, of Zurich, as probably the first to see the light.
The Maya race, in nearly all its branches, showed its intellectual superiority by the eagerness with which it turned to literary pursuits, as soon as some of its members had learned the alphabet. I have brought forward some striking testimony[52] to this in Yucatan,[52-1] and there is even more in Central America. The old historians frequently refer to the histories of their own nations, written out by members of the Quiche, Cakchiquel, Pokomam and Tzendal tribes. Vasquez, Fuentes and Juarros quote them frequently, and with respect. They were composed in the aboriginal tongues, for the benefit of their fellow townsmen, and as they were never printed, most of them became lost, much to the regret of antiquaries.
Of those preserved, the Popol Vuh or National Book of the Quiches, and the Annals of the Cakchiquels, the latter published for the first time in this volume, are the most important known.
The former, the “Sacred Book” of the Quiches, a document of the highest merits, and which will certainly increase in importance as it is studied, was printed at Paris in 1861, with a translation into French by the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg). He made use only of the types of the Latin alphabet; and both in this respect and in the fidelity of his translation, he has left much to be desired in the presentation of the work.
The recent publication of the Grammar also relieves me from the necessity of saying much about the structure of the Cakchiquel language. Those who wish to acquaint themselves with it, and follow the translation given in this volume by comparing the original text, will need to procure all the information contained in the Grammar. It will be sufficient to say here that the tongue is one built up with admirable regularity on radicals of one or two syllables. The perfection and logical sequence of its verbal forms have excited the[53] wonder and applause of some of the most eminent linguists, and are considered by them to testify to remarkable native powers of mind.[53-1]
The MS. from which I print the Annals of the Cakchiquels, is a folio of 48 leaves, closely written on both sides in a very clear and regular hand, with indigo ink. It is incomplete, the last page closing in the middle of a sentence.
What is known of the history of this manuscript, is told us by Don Juan Gavarrete, who, for many years, was almost the only native of Guatemala interested in the early history of his country. He tells us in his introduction to his translation of it, soon to be mentioned, that in 1844 he was commissioned to arrange the archives of the Convent of San Francisco of Guatemala, by order of the Archbishop Don Francisco Garcia Pelaez. Among the MSS. of the archives he found these sheets, written entirely in Cakchiquel, except a few marginal glosses in Spanish, in a later hand, and in ordinary ink. The document was submitted to several persons acquainted with the Cakchiquel language, who gave[54] a general statement of its contents, but not a literal and complete translation.[54-1]
When, in 1855, the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg) visited Guatemala, Señor Gavarrete showed him this MS., and the Abbé borrowed it for the purpose of making a full version, doubtless availing himself of the partial translations previously furnished. His version completed, he left a copy of it with Señor Gavarrete, and brought the original with him to Europe.[54-2] It remained in his possession until his death at Nice, when, along with the rest of the Abbé’s library, it passed into the hands of M. Alphonse Pinart. This eminent ethnologist learning my desire to include it in the present series of publications, was obliging enough to offer me the opportunity of studying it.