NOTES.
[Maya]
[English]1. “The fifth division of the 11th Ahau Katun was placed” (i. e. in the wall or in the Katun Stone), (see page [57], where this expression is explained). In other words, the first arrival of the Spaniards at Merida took place at the close of the 11th Ahau Katun. This was July, 1541, and it is in gratifying conformity with Bishop Landa, who also states that that month was the commencement of a 20-year period; but he says that at that date the 11th Katun began, while Pech goes on to say that it was the next in order, the 9th. (See Landa, Relacion, p. 314.)
Noh cah te ti Ho, the great town at Ho. This was the native name of the ancient city which stood on the present site of Merida, and, by the Mayas, is in use to this day. Ho is the numeral 5, and some have supposed that the name was given on account of five large mounds or buildings said to have been conspicuous in the ancient city. That there were precisely five is not positively stated by the old historians, though four are specified. This theory would suppose that the name was given to the city only after these large structures were completed, and that its name during that time had been lost. But this is not improbable.
In fact, the ancient name of Merida was not Ho, but Ichcanzihoo, as appears from a later passage in Pech’s narrative and from numerous others in the Books of Chilan Balam. Ho is only the abbreviation of this long name. It appears to mean “The five (temples) of many serpents.” Can is the generic term for serpent, and ich used as a prefix denotes a place where there is an abundance of what the noun means: thus ichche=a place where the trees are tall and dense; ichxiu, a place where the grass is tall and thick (Diccionario de Motul). The serpents were probably those sculptured in stone or painted on the walls. This theory receives additional probability from an entry in the Diccionario de Motul, MS., which relates that the largest mound in ancient Merida, situated back of the present convent of San Francisco, was called by the natives ahchuncan, and that this was the name of the idol which used to be worshiped there. Its signification would be “the first or primitive serpent,” or “the first speaker,” i. e. oracle, as can means both serpent and speech.
The temples at Ho were not in use when the Spaniards arrived, nor had they been for many generations. Apparently only a few huts of wood and straw made up the village, while these vast ruins were even then covered to the summit with a heavy growth of timber in all respects like the virgin forest around them. This is clearly stated by the Friar Lorenzo de Bienvenida, who came to Merida in 1545. I quote his expressions from a letter to the King in 1548:—
“La ciudad esta la tierra adentro treinta y tres leguas; llamase la ciudad de Merida; pusieronle asi por los edificios superbos que hai en ella, que en todo lo descubierto en Indias no se han hallado tan superbos edificios, de canteria bien labrada, i grandes las piedras; no hai memoria de quien los hizó; parecenos que se hicieron antes de la venida de Christo porque tan grande estaba el monte encima dellos como en lo bajo de la tierra; son altos de cinco estados de piedra seca i encima los edificios, quatro quartos todo de celdas como de Frailes, de veinte pies de luengo i de diez de ancho, i todas las portadas de una piedra, lo alto de la puerta i de boveda, i destos hai en la tierra otros muchos. Esta gente natural no habitaba en ellos, ni hacen casa sino de paja y madera, habiendo mas apareja de cal i piedra que en todo lo descubierto. En estos edificios tomamos sitio los Frailes para casa de San Francisco; lo que habia sido cultura de demonios, justo es que sea templo donde se sirve à Dios, etc.” (Carta de Fr. Lorenzo de Bienvenida, 1548, MS.)
The date, 1511, given as that of the first arrival of the Spaniards, refers to the shipwreck of Aguilar and his companions, who in that year were thrown on the eastern coast.