[Maya]
[English]6. The only obscure expression in this section is yalan che, yalan aban, yalan ak. This often recurs in the ancient Maya manuscripts, and was evidently a well-known formula, probably the refrain of one of their ancient chants. In Mr. Stephens’ translation it is rendered “under the uninhabited mountains” (!) which is an attempt to render Pio Perez’s words “bajo los montes despoblados,” “in the uninhabited forests.” Aban or haban is an obsolete word, only found in compounds, as yoxhaban, huts made of branches. Both it and ak were the names of various branches or twigs. The phrase is literally “under the trees, under the branches, under the foliage,” and meant that those who thus lived were homeless and houseless. It is a striking testimony to the love of solid buildings and walled cities which characterized the Mayas.
I will add a verse from a curious prophetic chant in one of the Books of Chilan Balam, where this expression occurs, and which is an interesting example of these strange songs.
Tzolah ti ahkin Chilam.
(Recital of the priest Chilam.)
Uien, uien, a man uah;
Uken, uken, a man haa;
Tu kin, puz lum pach,
Tu kin, tzuch lum ich,
Tu kin, naclah muyal,
Tu kin, naclah uitz,
Tu kin, chuc lum ɔiic,
Tu kin, hubulhub,
Tu kin, coɔ yol chelem,
Tu kin, eɔeleɔ,
Tu kin, ox ɔalab u nak yaxche,
Tu kin, ox chuilab xotem,
Tu kin, pan tzintzin
Yetel banhob yalan che yalan haban.
Translation.
Eat, eat, thou hast bread;
Drink, drink, thou hast water;
On that day, dust possesses the earth,
On that day, a blight is on the face of the earth,
On that day, a cloud rises,
On that day, a mountain rises,
On that day, a strong man seizes the land,
On that day, things fall to ruin,
On that day, the tender leaf is destroyed,
On that day, the dying eyes are closed,
On that day, three signs are on the tree,
On that day, three generations hang there,
On that day, the battle flag is raised,
And they are scattered afar in the forests.
[Maya]
[English]7. Heɔob, from heɔ, heɔel or eɔ, to fix firmly, to settle, to found: heɔel ca cah uaye, let us settle here, “poblamos aqui” (Dicc. de San Francisco, MS.).
[Maya]
[English]8. The founding of Uxmal by Ahcuitok Tutulxiu is recorded in this paragraph; ahcui is the name of a species of owl, tok is the flint stone. By some old writers Uxmal is spelled Oxmal, which would give the meaning “to pass thrice,” ox, three, mal, to pass. From mal, preterite mani, also was derived the name of the chief city of the Tutulxiu, with a peculiar signification explained in a note on a previous page.
Mr. Stephens has taken considerable pains to prove that Uxmal with its astonishing edifices was inhabited at and after the conquest (Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. II, p. 259); there may, indeed, have been an Indian village there, but the first European traveler who has left us a description of it, and who visited it in 1586, when many natives, born before the conquest, were still living, describes the massive buildings as even then in ruins, and very large trees growing upon them. An old Indian told him that according to their traditions, these structures had at that time been built nine hundred years, and that their builders had left the country nearly that long ago. (Relacion Breve y Verdadera de algunas cosas de las muchas qui sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonzo Ponce, in the Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de España, vol. LVIII, p. 461.)