Eighty-three years passed, and then in 11 Ahau, between 1281 and 1301, Mayapan was conquered by the Uitzes, or mountaineers; and Mayapan was finally abandoned in 8 Ahau, between 1441 and 1461.[XIII-30] After three epochs more, the Spaniards came for the first time, between 1501 and 1521, sixty years after the destruction of Mayapan.[XIII-31] Between 1521 and 1561, the small-pox ravaged the country, and among its victims was Ahpulá, who died in 1536.[XIII-32] Before 1561 came the Spaniards; and in the next epoch Christianity was introduced, and Bishop Toral arrived.
The first event narrated by the preceding document which seems to have any connection with those taken from other authorities is the establishment of the Tutul Xius at Uxmal, where they ruled during the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries with the monarchs of Mayapan and Chichen Itza. All authorities agree on the prosperity attending the reign of the Cocome monarchs in conjunction with the Tutul Xius at Uxmal. It was perhaps in this period that were built a large proportion of the magnificent structures which as ruins have excited the wonder of the world, and have been fully described in a preceding volume;[XIII-33] although there is no reason to doubt that some of the cities date back to the Xibalban period, to the time of Zamná and his earliest successors. Uxmal and the many cities in its vicinity may be attributed to the Tutul Xius.
The first king of Mayapan after the departure of Cukulcan is generally called Cocom, or Ahcocom, but we know nothing of his successors for some centuries, save Brasseur's conjecture that the four Bacab mentioned by Cogolludo as gods should be reckoned among the number.[XIII-34] At last, probably during the twelfth century, Landa and the other Spanish writers agree that the monarchs at Mayapan began to neglect the interests of their subjects, and to become exceedingly avaricious, oppressing the people by excessive taxation. The first to follow this course of conduct is called by Brasseur Ahtubtun, a name selected from Cogolludo's list of gods for no other apparent reason than that his name signified 'spitter of precious stones,' certainly an indication of extravagance. To his successor this author applies the name Aban and the title Kinehahau. This monarch was even more oppressive than his predecessor, and loud murmurs of discontent began to be heard, but none were strong enough to make any opposition save the Tutul Xius. Either this king or a successor introduced into the country a force of foreign soldiers from Tabasco and southern Vera Cruz, and also established slavery, hitherto unknown in Yucatan.
OVERTHROW OF THE COCOMES.
The Tutul Xius began their opposition to the Cocomes by sheltering their oppressed subjects. The third of the tyrants, probably identical with the Hunac Eel of the Perez record, was even more oppressive than those that preceded him, and brought in more foreign soldiers. In 1191 the monarch of Chichen Itza, Chac Xib Chac, was deposed by the tyrant and the deposition enforced by the aid of his foreign auxiliaries. Less than ten years later Hunac Eel with his allies marched again against Chichen, now ruled by a new monarch, Ulmil, and defeated him after a long campaign. The end of the trouble is briefly if not very clearly expressed by the author of the Maya record in the statement that Ulmil before 1221 invaded Mayapan.[XIII-35]
Landa and Herrera relate that the tyranny of the Cocome monarch at last became insupportable, and his subjects with the aid of the Tutul Xius revolted, captured and sacked Mayapan, and put to death the king with all his family, except one son, who chanced to be absent. The king of Uxmal naturally acquired by this overthrow of the Cocome dynasty the supreme power. Ulmil, the Itza king who led the attack against the Cocomes, seems to have received the second place, while the head of the family of Cheles, before high-priest at Mayapan, was given the third rank as king of Izamal. Nearly all the authorities state that Mayapan was destroyed and abandoned at this time; but the dates they give with the fact that this city is mentioned by the Maya record at a much later period, show that it was still inhabited, though deprived of its ancient power.[XIII-36]
The Tutul Xius on their accession to the supreme power, strengthened their popularity by a liberal policy toward all classes, and by restoring those who had been enslaved or exiled by the Cocomes to their former positions. They also permitted the Xicalanca troops introduced by Hunac Eel and his predecessors to remain in the country, and gave them the province of Canul, or Ahcanul, between Uxmal and Campeche, where they soon became a powerful nation.[XIII-37] The son of the Cocome tyrant, who by his absence from Mayapan at the time of the revolt escaped the fate of his family, on his return was permitted to settle with his friends in the province of Zotuta, where he is said to have built Tibulon, and several other towns. Thus was perpetuated with the ancient Cocome family the mortal hatred which that family continued to feel towards their successful rivals.[XIII-38]
FABLE OF THE DWARF.
The reign of the Tutul Xius at Uxmal was doubtless the most glorious period of Maya history, but in addition to what has been said we have respecting it only a single tradition which seems to refer to the last king and the overthrow of the dynasty.[XIII-39] An old sorceress lived at Kabah, rarely leaving her chimney corner. Her grandson, a dwarf, by making a hole in her water-jar, kept her a long time at the well one day, and by removing the hearth-stone found the treasure she had so carefully guarded, a silver tunkul and zoot, native instruments. The music produced by the dwarf was heard in all the cities, and the king at Uxmal trembled, for an old prophecy declared that when such music should be heard the monarch must give up his throne to the musician. A peculiar duel was agreed upon between the two, each to have four baskets of cocoyoles, or palm-nuts, broken on his head. The Dwarf was victorious and took the dead king's place, having the Casa del Adivino built for his palace, and the Casa de la Vieja for his grandmother.[XIII-40] The old sorceress soon died, and the new king, freed from all restraint, plunged into all manner of wickedness, until his gods, or idols, abandoned him in anger. But after several attempts the Dwarf made a new god of clay which came to life and was worshiped by the people, who by this worship of an evil spirit soon brought upon themselves destruction at the hands of the outraged deities, and Uxmal was abandoned.
For this tradition we have only Brasseur's conjectural, but not improbable, interpretation to the effect that the Tutul Xiu throne at Uxmal, in the earlier part of the thirteenth century perhaps, was usurped by a chief of another family, known in tradition as the Dwarf, or the Sorcerer. It is not unlikely that the usurping king was of the Cocome family and that he succeeded in his attempt by the aid of the priesthood. Whoever may have been at its head, the new dynasty was in its turn overthrown apparently by religious strife, and Uxmal ceased to be a capital or centre of temporal power in Yucatan, although its temples may still have been occupied by the priesthood. From the fact that the Maya record, or Perez document, speaks only of Mayapan after this period, it is not unlikely that the Tutul Xiu power was transferred to that ancient capital, after the downfall of its representative at Uxmal. Near the end of the thirteenth century Mayapan was conquered by a foreign army of Uitzes, or mountaineers, the reference being perhaps to a raid of one of the earlier Quiché emperors from Utatlan. For a century and a half, a period of contention between rival dynasties and tribes, we have, besides a few reported predictions of coming disaster, only one definite event, the flight of a band of Itzas under Canek, and their settlement on the islands in Lake Peten, where they were found, a most flourishing community, by the Spaniards. No definite date is given to their migration—or elopement, for a lady was at the bottom of the affair, as some say—except by Villagutierre, who places it in 8 Ahau, or between 1441 and 1461.[XIII-41]