The nacon was an elective war chief, who held his position for the term of three years (Landa, Relacion, pp. 161, 173). The name is derived from nacal, to rise, go up, and hence as a delegate or elected representative (as is stated by the Dicc. de Motul).
[Maya]
[English]13. The nucteelob were the ancianos, the wise old men of the village; manak, a trace or sign that appears at a distance and then disappears. U manak uinic ti ulah=I saw the trace of a man to-day, but it is no longer visible. Diccionario de Motul, MS.
“The province of Ceh Pech” was that in which Merida was: “u tzucub ahcehpechob, la provincia de los Peches al lado de Motul y Cumkal.” Dicc. de Motul, MS.
[Maya]
[English]14. Kah, pinole, is a drink made by mixing the meal of roasted maize with water. The word tuce (or, it may be, tuze) I do not find in any dictionary, nor does Avila translate it. The passage is an obscure one. Avila renders it “cuando fuimos à la guerra, bebian piñole y tuce, porque estaban enojados con los Cristianos.” Possibly these were two articles of food especially used on warlike raids.
U zahacil in puczical, a cant phrase probably borrowed from the missionaries=“the fear of my heart,”—in my humbleness. Puczikal appears to be a root-word, though of three syllables. It means the heart of men and animals, also the mind or soul, the desires, and the interior of certain growths, as the pith of maize, etc. (Dicc. de Motul.)
The year 1511 was that of the shipwreck of the deacon Geronimo de Aguilar and his companions, who were the first whites known to the natives of Yucatan.
The reference which is made in this section to a deputation of fifty natives to Spain, is not mentioned, so far as I remember, by other historians. As in some respects my translation differs from that of Avila, I give his.
“Cuando llegò ante el monarca Ahmacan Pech, Don Pedro Pech, y sus deudos, sus primeros descendientes, sus capitanes, todos fueron con el para honrar el monarca y vea la cara á sus vasallos indigenas, y escogió cincuenta de los grandes de ellos para llevar tras de el al monarca reinante para servirlos en la mesa alli lejos en España, pero los que vomitaron en el festejo delante del monarca reinante, esos entonces dijò el Rey que pagaron tributos todos y todos sus descendientes, mas nosotros los Peches,” etc.
The phrase mac xenahi tu tzicile Avila translates “who vomited at the feasts;” but I believe xenhi, vomited, is a misreading for xanhi, remained, and tzicil is obedience, as serving-men.
Lae te hantabi, who was eaten; Aguilar himself was not eaten, as he was rescued by Cortes, in 1519, and served him as interpreter. But some of his companions were eaten by the natives, not of Cozumel, but of the coast to the south, and this is what Pech meant to say, unless, indeed—and I am inclined to prefer this view—we read hantezahbi instead of hantabi, which would give the sense “the land was discovered by Aguilar, who was given food (supported, maintained) by Ah Naum,” etc. For particulars about Aguilar see Herrera, Hist. de las Indias, Dec. II, Lib. IV, cap. VIII.