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HARVARD COLLEGE 
LIBRARY 




FROM THE FUND OF 

FREDERICK ATHEARN LANE 

OF NEW YORK 

Clan of 1849 




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FROM THE FUND OF 

FREDERICK ATHEARN LANE 

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The Popol Vuh 

The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of 
the Kiche's of Central America 



By 

Lewis Spence 



Published by David Nutt, at the 

Sign of the Phoenix, Long Acre, London 

1908 



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PREFACE 

The "Popol Vuh" is the New World's richest 
mythological mine. No translation of it has as 
yet appeared in English, and no adequate transla- 
tion in any European language. It has been 
neglected to a certain extent because of the un- 
thinking strictures passed upon its authenticity. 
That other manuscripts exist in Guatemala than 
the one discovered by Ximenes and transcribed by 
Scherzer and Brasseur de Bourbourg is probable. 
So thought Brinton, and the present writer shares 
his belief. And ere it is too late it would be well 
that these — the only records of the faith of the 
builders of the mystic ruined and deserted cities of 
Central America — ^should be recovered. This is 
not a matter that should be left to the enterprise 
of individuals, but one which should engage the 
consideration of interested governments ; for what 
is myth to-day is often history to-morrow. 



LEWIS SPENOE. 



July 1908. 



■--;^ 



i o 



THE POPOL VUH 

[The numbers in the text refer to notes at the end 
of the siudi/l 

There is no document of greater importance to 
the study of the pre-Columbian mythology of 
America than the " Popol Vuh." It is the chief 
source of our knowledge of the mythology of the 
Kich6 people of Central America, and it is further 
of considerable comparative value when studied in 
conjunction with the mythology of the Nahuatlacd, 
or Mexican peoples. This interesting text, the 
recovery of which forms one of the most romantic 
episodes in the history of American bibliography, 
w<as written by a Christianised native of Guate- 
mala some time in the seventeenth century, and 
was copied in the Kich6 language, in which it was 
originally written, by a monk of the Order of 
Predicadores, one Francisco Ximoncs, who also 
added a Spanish translation and scholia. 

The Abb6 Brasseur de Bourbourg, a profound 
student of American archaeology and languages 
(whose euhemeristic interpretations of the Mexican 

213 



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THE POPOL VUII 

myths aro (\a worthless iih tho pricolo^ matorialK ho 
unoarthod aro vahiahlo) doplorod, in a lottor to tho 
Due do Vahny,* tlto «iipposod Ioks of tho " Pcpol 
Vuh/' which lio Wiis awaro had boon inado uso of 
early in tho ninotoonth century by a certain Don 
Felix C.ibrera. ])r. 0. Schor/.or, an AuHtrian 
scholar, thus made awaro of its value, paid a visit 
to the Republic of Guatemahx in 1804 or 1855, 
and was successful in tracing tho mis$ing manu- 
script in the library of the University of San 
Carlos in the city of Guatemala. It was after^ 
wards ascertained that its scholiast, Ximenes, had 
deposited it in the library of his convent nt 
Chichicastenango, whence it passed to tho San 
Carlos library in ]8J)0. 

Scherzer at once made a copy of the Spanish 
translation of the manuscript, which he published 
at Vienna in 1850 under the title of " Las Ilistorias 
del origon do Ioh ludio^ do Guatemala, par el U. P, 
F. Francisco Xinionos.** Tho Abbo iirasHOur also 
took a copy of tho original, which iio published at 
Paris in 1801, with tho title **Vuh Popol: Lo 
Livre Sacro do Quiches, et Ics Mythes do I'Anti- 
quito Amcric{\ino." In .this work tho Kicho 
original and tho Abbe's French translalion nro tot 
forth side by side. Unfortunately both tho 
SpaniNh and tho French Iranslationn loavo much 
to bo doMirod ho far as their aocuraey in ooncornod, 

* Moxloo, Ool.lfi, lHf,0. 
214 



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THE POPOL VUIl . 7 

and thoy aro rondorcd of Httlo uso by rcaeou of the 
misloading notos whioh accompany thorn. 

Tho niuao ** Popol Vuh " signifiofl " llocord of 
the Uonimunity/' and itH literal trannlatiou in 
" ]Jook of tho Mat," from tho Kioh<3 wordH " pop" 
or " popol," a Miut or rug of woven ru8ho8 or bark 
on which tho ontiro family sat, and '* vuh " or 
" uuh," paper or book, from " uoch " to write. 
The " Popol Vuh " is an example of a world-wide 
genre — a typo of annals of which the first portion 
is pure mythology, which gradually shades off into 
pure history, evolving from the hero-myths of saga 
to tho recital of the deeds of authentic poi*sonages. 
It may, in fact, bo classed with tho lleimskringla of 
Snorre, the Danish History of Saxo-Grammaticus, 
the Chinese History in the Five Books, the' 
Japanese ** Nihongi," and, so far as its fourth book 
is roncerned, it somewhat resembles the Pictish 
Ciironiclo. 

Tiio language in which tho ** Popol Vuh " wiiH ' 1 

written, wan, A8 has been naid, tho Kioh6, a dialect I 

of tho groat Maya-Kichu tonguu .spoken at tho , [ 

timo of the Conquest from tho borders of Mexico j 

on the north to those of tho present State of | 

Nicaragua on tho south ; but whereas the Mayan | 

was spoken in Yucatan proper, and the State of 
Chiapas, tho Kk\\6 was tlio tongue of tho pooplos 
of that part of Central Amorloa now ocoupiod by 
tho Hiaioiii . of Ouatomala, HonduraM and Han 



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H TiiH ruroii VUll 

Halvador, whoro it iu Htill usod by tlio iiutivoH. 
It Ih loUlIy diOovoni io iho N«i1iUivil, tho lauK^i'v^o 
or iho pooi^U^rt of Anivhimo ov Moxloo, both m 
rogardn iU oi'I^^Iii and tilnioturo, and iU alllnli!o8 
\viUi othoi* Amorioan tonguort arc oven loHMdintinct 
than thoHO botwoon tho Hlavonio and Toutonio 
gwHipH, Of thintonguo tho ** Popol Vid» " in 
pmctically tho only nioninuont ; at all ovontn tho 
only work by a nativo of tho district in which it 
wa8 HHod. A oognato dialoot, tho Oakohiquol, 
produced tho " Annaln " of thivt pooplo, othorwiKO 
known as '* Tlio l^ook of Ohilan Balaui/' a work 
purely of gonoalogical interest, which may bo 
consulted in the admirable translation of the late 
Daniel G. Brinton. 

The Kichc people at the time of their discovery, 
which was immediaitely subsequent to the fall of 
Mexico^ had in part lost that culture which was 
characteristic of the Mayan race, the remnants of 
which have excited universal wonder in the ruins 
of the vast desert cities of Central America (1 ). At 
a penod not far distant from the Conquest the once 
centralised Government of the Mayan peoples had 
been broken up into petty States and Confederacies, 
which in their character recall the city*states of 
mediseval Italy. In all probability the civilisation 
possessed by these peoples had been brought them 
by a race from Mexico called the Toltecs (2), who 
taught them the arts of building in stone and 
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Tiiw roroL vuir ft 

writing in hioroglyphicH, and who pi'obivbly 
inlluoncotl ihoir jnythology niOMt in'ofountlly, Tlio 
ToltooH wore nob, 1wnvmv(ji', In ivny way ooynato 
with tho Mayans, and wuro In all Hkullhooil )*ai>lvlly 
abHovbod by ihoin. Tho Mayaiin woro notiibly au 
agricultural pooplo, and it is not imposHiblo that in 
thoir country tho «uil/.c-plant wan llrHt cultivated 
with tho objoot of obtaining a regular ooroal 
Bupply(8). 

Kuoh, then, woro tho pooplo whaso mythology 
produced tho body of tradition and jnythi-hiatory 
known as tho " Popol Vuh " ; and ero wo pjiss to a 
consideration of their beliefs, their god«, and their 
religious aifinities, it will be well to summarise the 
three books of it which treat of these things, as 
fully as space will permit, using for that purpose 
both the French translation of Brasseur and the 
Spanish one of Ximenes. 

Tub First Book 

Over a universe wrapped in the gloom of a dense 
and primeval night passed the god Hurakan, the 
mighty wind. He called out ** earth," and the 
solid land appeared. The chief gods took counsel ; 
they were Hurakan, Gucumatz, the serpent covered 
with green feathers, and Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, 
the mother and father gods. As the result of their 
deliberations animals were created. But as yet 
217 



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THE POPOL VUH 



mau was not. To supply the deficiency the divine 
beings resolved to create mannikins carved out of y 
wood. But these soon incurred the displeasure of 
the gods, who, irritated by their lack of reverence, 
resolved to destroy them. Then by the will of • 
Hurakan, the Heart of Heaven, the waters were 
swollen, and a great flood came upon the mannikins 
of wood. They were drowned and a thick resin 
fell from heaven. The bird Xecotcovach tore out 
their eyes ; the bird Camulatz cut off their heads ; 
the bird Cotzbalam devoured their flesh ; the bird 
Tecumbalam broke their bones and sinews and 
ground them into powder. Because they had not 
thought on Hurakan, therefore the face of the 
earth grew dark, and a pouring rain commenced, 
raining by day and by night. Then all sorts of 
beings, great and small, gathered together to abuse 
the men to their faces. The very household utensils 
and animals jeered at them, their mill-stones, their 
plates, their cups, their dogs, their hens. Said the 
dogs and hens, " Very badly have you treated us, 
and you have bitten us. Now we bite you in 
turn." Said tlie mill-stones (metates*), "Very 
much were we tormented by you, and daily, daily, 
night and day, it was squeaky screechf screecliff for 

* Large hollowed stones used by the women for 
braising maize. 

t Tlio Kiche words are onomatopoetio — **hoii, holi, 
huql, huqi." 

218 



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THE POPOL VUH 11 

your sake. Now you shall feel our strength, and 
we will grind your flesh and make meal of your 
bodies." And the dogs upbraided the mannikins 
because they had not been fed, and tore the un- 
happy images with their teeth. And the cups and 
dishes said, " Paiin and misery you gave us, smok- 
ing our tops and sides, cooking us over the fire, 
burning and hurting us as if we had no feeling. 
Now it is your turn, and you shall bum." Then 
i*an the mannikins hither and thither in despair. 
They climbed to the roofs of the houses, but the 
houses crumbled under their feet; they tried to | 

mount to the tops of the trees, but the trees hurled ; 

them from them ; they sought refuge in the j 

caverns, but the caverns closed before them. Thus i 

was accomplished the ruin of this race, destined to '. 

be overthrown. And it is said that their posterity 
are the little monkeys who live in the woods. ' 

The Mytu op Vukub-Oakix i, 

After this catastrophe, ere yet the earth was quite 
recovered from the wrath of the gods, there existed 
a man '<full of pride," whose name was Yukub- 
Cakix. The name signifies ** Seven -times-the- 
colour-of-fire," or " Very brilliant," and was justi- 
fied by the fact that its owner's eyes were of 
silver, his teeth of emerald, and other parts of his 
anatomy of precious metals. In his own opinion i 

219 1 



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12 THE POPOL VUH 

Yukub-Gakix's existence rendered unnecessary that 
of the sun and the moon, and this egoism so dis- 
!. gusted the gods that they resolved upon his over- 

: throw. His two sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan 

I (earth-heaper * (t) and earthquake), were daily 

^ employed, the one in heaping up mountains, and 

[ ; the other in demolishing them, and these aUo 

i < incurred the wrath of the immortals. Shortly 

^ . after the decision of the deities the twin hero-gods 

f , Hnn-Ahpu and Xbalanque came to earth with the 

V intention of chastising the arrogance of Vukub- 

Cakix and his progeny. 

Now Yukub-Gakix had a great tree of the variety 
known in Central America as " nanze ^' or *' tapal," 
bearing a fruit round, yellow, and aromatic, and 
upon this fruit he depended for his daily susten- 
ance. One day on going to partake of it for his 
morning meal he mounted to its summit in order 
to espy the choicest fruits, when to his great indig- 
nation he discovered that Hun-Ahpu and Xba- 
lanque had been before him, and had almost 
denuded the tree of its produce. The hero-gods,^ 
who lay concealed within the foliage, now added 
I ''^^injury to theft by hurling at Yukub-Cakix a dart 

■ from a blow-pipe, which had the effect of precipi- 

], tating him from the summit of the tree to the 

( * Zipac signiiles " Cockspur," and I take the name to 

signify also *' Thro wer-up of earih." The connection is 
obvious. 

220 






1 



THE POPOL VUH 18 

earth. He arose ia great wrath, bleeding pro« 

fusely from a severe wound in the jaw. Hun- 

Ahpu then threw himself upon Yukub-Cakix, who 

in terrible anger seized the god by the arm and 

wrenched it from the body. He then proceeded 

to his dwelling, where he was met and anxiously 

interrogated by his spouse Chimalmat. Tortured t 

by the pain in his teeth and jaw he, in an access [: 

of spite, hung Hun-Ahpu's arm over a blazing fire, { 

and then threw himself down to bemoan his 

injuries, consoling himself, however, with the 

idea that he had adequately avenged himself 

upon the interlopers who had dared to disturb his 

peace. 

But Hun- Ahpu and Xbalanquewere in no mind 
that he should escape so easily, and the recovery 
of Hun-Ahpu's arm must be made at all hazards. 
With this end in view they consulted two venerable ' 

beings in whom we readily recognise the father- 
mother divinities, Xpiyacoc and Xmucane (4), dis- • 
guised for the nonce as sorcerers. These personages 
accompanied Hun- Ahpu and Xbalanque to the 
abod(9 of Yukub-Cakix, whom they found in a state 
of intense agony. The ancients persuaded him to 
be operated upon in order to relieve his sufferings, 
and for his glittering teeth they substituted grains 
of maize. Next they removed his eyes of emerald, 
upon which his death speedily followed, as did that 
of his wife Ohimalmat. Hun-Ahpu's arm was [ 

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recovered, re-affixed to his shoulder, and all ended 
satisfactorily for the hero-gods. 

But their mission \^as not yet complete. The sons 
of Yukub-Oakix, Zipacna and Cabrakan, remained 
to be accounted for. Zipacna consented, at the 
entreaty of four hundred youths, incited by the 
hero-gods, to assist them in transporting a huge 
tree which was deistined for the roof-tree of a house 
they were building. Whilst assisting them ho was 
beguiled by them into entering a great ditch which 
they had dug for the purpose of destroying him, 
and when once he descended was overwhelmed 
by tree-trunks by his treacherous acquaintances, 
who imagined him to be slain. But he took refuge 
in a side-tunnel of the excavation, cut off his hair 
and nails for the ants to carry up to his enemies 
as a sign of his death, waited until the youths had 
become intoxicated with pulque because of joy at 
his supposed demise, and then, emerging from the 
pit, shook the house that the youths had built 
over his body about their heads, so that all were 
destroyed in its ruins. 

But Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque were grieved 
that the four hundred had perished, and laid 
a more efficacious trap for Zipacna. The moun- 
tain-bearer, carrying the mountains by night, 
sought his sustenance by day by the shore of the 
river, where he lived upon fish and crabs. The 
hero-gods constructed an artificial crab which 

222 



THE POPOL VUII 35 

they placed in a cavern at the bottom of a deep 
ravine. The hungry titan descended to the cave, 
which he entered on all-fours. But a neighbour* 
ing mountain had been undermined by the divine 
brothers, and its bulk was cast upon him. Thus 
at the foot of Mount Meavan perished the proud 
"Mountain Maker," whose corpse was turned 
into stone by the catastrophe. I 

Of the family of boasters only Gabrakan re- 
mained. Discovered by the hero-gods at his favour- 
ite pastime of overturning the hills, they enticed 
him in an easterly direction, challenging him to 
overthrow a particularly high mountain. On the 
way they shot a bird with their blow-pipes, and 
poisoned it with earth. This they gave to Gabra- 
kan to eat. After partaking of the poisoned fare 
his strength deserted him, and failing to move 
the mountain he was bound and buried by the 
victorious hero-gods. 

The Second Book 

Mystery veils the commencement of the Second 
Book of the " Popol Vuh." The theme is the birth 
and family of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, and the 
scribe intimates that only half is to be told con- 
corning the history of their father. Xpiyacocand 
Xmucane, the father and mother deities, had two 
sons, Hunhun-Ahpu and Yukub-Hunahpu, the 
223 



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10 THE POrOL VUII 

firat being, so far as can bo gathered, a bi-sexual 
personage. He had by a wife, Xbakiyalo, two sons, 
Ilunbatz and Ilunchouon, men full of wisdom and 
artistic genius. All of them were addicted to the 
recreation of dicing and playing at ball, and a 
spectator of their pastimes was Yoc, the mes- 
senger of Hurakan. Xbakiyalo having died, Hun- 
hun*Ahpu and Yukub-Hunahpu, leaving the 
former's sons behind, played a game of ball which in 
its progress took them into the vicinity of the realm 
of Xibalba (the underworld). This reached the 
ears of the mouarchs of that place, Hun-Came and 
Yukub-Camo, who, after consulting their counsel- 
lors, challenged the strangers to a game of ball^ with 
the object of defeating and disgracing them. 

For this purpose they dispatched four messen- 
gers in the shape of owls. The brothers accepted 
the challenge, after a touching farewell with their 
mother Xmucane, and their sons and nephews, and 
followed the feathered heralds down the steep 
incline to Xibalba from the playground at Ninzor 
Carchah.* After an ominous crossing over a river 
of blood they came to the residence of the kings of 
Xibalba, where they underwent the mortification 
of mistaking two wooden figures for the monarchs. 
Invited to sit on the seat of honour, they dis- 
covered it to be a red*hot stone, and the contor- 
tions which resulted from their successful trick 
♦ Near Vera Pa». 
224 



THE POPOL VUII 



17 



caused unbounded merriment among the Xibal- 
bans. Then they were thrust into the House of 
Qloom, where they were sacrificed and buried. 
The head of Hunhun-Ahpu was, however, sus- 
pended from a tree, which speedily became covered 
with gourds, from which it was almost impossible 
to distinguish the bloody trophy. All in'Xibalba 
were forbidden the fruit of that tree. 

But one person in Xibalba had resolved to dis- 
obey the mandate. This was the virgin princess 
Xquiq (Blood), the daughter of Ouchumaquiq, who 
went unattended to the spot. Standing under the 
branches gazing at the fruit, the maiden stretched 
out her hand, and the head of Hunhun-Ahpu spat 
into the palm. The spittle caused her to conceive, 
and she returned home, being assured by the head 
of the hero-god that no harm should result to her. 
This thing was done by order of Hurakan, the 
Heart of Heaven. In six months' time her father 
became aware of her condition, and despite her 
protestations the royal messengers of Xibalba, the 
owls, received orders to kill her and return with her 
heart in a vase. She, however, escaped by bribing 
the owls with splendid promises for the future to 
spare her and substitute for her heart the coagu* 
lated sap of the blood- waiii. 

In her extremity Xquiq went for protection to 
the home of Xmucane, who now looked after the 
young Hunbatz and HunchoueA. Xmucane would 
225 D 



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not at first beliAvo her tale. But Xquiq appealed 
to the gods, and performed a miracle by gathering 
a basket of maize where no maize grew, and thus 
gained her confidence. 

Shortly afterwards Xquiq became the mother of 
twin boys, the heroes of the First Book, Hun-\. 
Ahpu, and Xbalanque. These did not find favour 
in the eyes ox Xmucane, their grandmother. 
Their infantile cries aroused the wrath of this 
venerable person, and she vented it upon them by 
turning them out of doors. They speedily took to 
an outdoor life, however, and became mighty 
hunters, and expert in the use of their blowpipes, 
with which they shot birds and other small game. 
The ill-treatment which they received from 
Hunbatz and Hunchoucn caused them at last to . 
retaliate^ and those who had made their lives 
miserable were punished by being transformed by 
the divine children into apes. The veneittble 
Xmucane, filled with grief at the metamorphosis 
and fiight of her ill-starred grandsons, who had 
made her home joyous with their singing and 
flute-playing, was told that she would be permitted 
to behold their faces once more if she could do so 
without losing her gravity, but their antics and 
grimaces caused her such merriment that on three 
separate occasions she was unable to restrain her 
laughter and the men-monkeys appeared no more. 
Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque now became expert 
226 






THE POPOL VUH 19 



musicians, and one of their favourite airs was that i 



of " H'un-Ahpu qoy/' the " monkey of Hun-Ahpu," 
The divine twins were now old enough to under- 
take labour in the field, and their first task was 
the clearing of a milpa or maize-plantation. They 
were possessed of magic tools, which had the merit 
of working themselves in the absence of the young 
hunters at the chase, and those they found a 
f capital substitute for their own directing presence I ' 

upon the first day. Eoturning at night from jj 

hunting, they smeared their faces and hands with j \ 

dirt so that ,Xmucane might be deceived into I j 

imagining that they had been hard at work in the 1 1 

maize-field. But during the night the wild beasts 
met and replaced all the roots and shrubs which ) 

the brothers — or rather their magic tools — had i 

. removed. The twins resolved to watch for them 

'\- ' on the ensuing night, but despite all their efibrts • i 

' the animals succeeded in making good their 

escape, save one, the rat, which was caught in a 
handkerchief. The rabbit and deer lost their tails 
in getting away. The rat, in gratitude that they 
had spared its life, told them of the glorious deeds 
of their great fathers and uncles, their games at 
ball, and of the existence of a set of implements 
necessary to play the game which they had left in 
the house. They discovered these, and went to 
play in the ball-ground of their fathers. 

It was not long, however, until Hun-Came and 
1 227 



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Vukub-Came, the princes of Xibalba, heai'd them 
at pky, and decided to lure them to the Under- 
world as they had lured their fathers. Messengers 
were despatched to the house of Xmucane, who, 
£lled with alarm, despatched a louse to carry the 
message to her grandsons. The lous e^, wishing to 
ensure greater speed to reach the brothers, con- 
sented to be swallowed by a toad, the toad by a 
serpent, and the serpent by the great bird Voc. 
The other animals duly liberated one another ; but 
despite his utmost efforts, the toad could not get 
rid of the louse, who had played him a trick by 
lodging in his gums, and had not been swallowed 
at all. The message, however, was duly delivered, 
and the players returned home to take leave of 
their grandmother and mother. Before their de- 
parture they each planted a cane in the middle of 
the house, which was to acquaint those they left 
behind with their welfare, since it would wither if 
any fatal circumstance befel them. 

Pursuing the route their fathers had followed, 
they passed the river of blood and the river 
Papuhya. But they sent an animal called Xan as 
avant courier with orders to prick all the Xibalbans 
with a hair from Hun-Ahpu's leg, thus discovering 
those of tho dwellers in the Underworld who were 
made of wood — ^those whom their fathers had un- 
wittingly bowed to as men — and also learning the 
names of the others by their inquiries and explana- 
32S 



THE POPOL VUH 21 

tions when pricked. Thus they did not salute the 
mannikins on their arrival at the Xibalban court, 
nor did they sit upon the red-hot stone. They 
even passed scatheless through the fii*st ordeal of 
the House of Gloom. The Xibalbans were furious, 
and their wrath was by no means allayed when 
they found themselves be&ten at the game of ball 
to which they had challenged the brothers. Then 
Hun-Came and Yukub-Came oinlered the twins to 
bring them four bouquets of flowers, asking the 
guards of the royal gardens to watch most care- 
fully, and committed Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque to 
the ''House of Lances" — the second ordeal — 
where the lancera were directed to kill them. 
The brothers, however, had at their beck and call 
a swarm of ants, which entered the royal gardens 
on the first errand, and they succeeded in bribing 
the lancers. The Xibalbans, white with fury, 
ordered that the owls, the guardians of the gardens, 
should have their lips split, and otherwise showed 
their anger at their third defeat. 

Then came the third ordeal in the ''House of 
Cold." Here the heroes escaped death by freezing 
by being warmed with burning pine-cones. In 
the fourth and fifth ordeals they were equally 
lucky, for they passed a night each in the " House 
of Tigers" and the "House of Fire" without 
injury. But at the sixth ordeal misfortune over- 
took them in the " House of Bats." Hun-Ahpu's 
229 



I 

S 



../ 



:r^ 



'li 



22 



THE POPOL VXTH 



S. 




1^ 



head being cut off by Oamozotz, '< Euler of Bate," 
who suddenly appeared from above. 
V The beheading of Hun-Ahpu does not, however, 
;appear to have terminated fatally, but owing to 
N^the unintelligible nature of the text at this junc-. 
y^ture, it is impossible to ascertain in what manner 
/^ I he was curedjof such a lethal wound. This episode 
is followed by an assemblage of all the animals, 
and another contest at ball-playing, after which 
the brothers emerged uninjured from all the 
ordeals of the Xibalbans. 

But in order to further astound their *' hosts," 
Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque confided to two 
sorcerers named Xulu and PacaVrv ^^^^^ ^^^ 
Xibalbans had failed because the animals were / 
not on their side, and directing them what to 
do with their bones, they stretched themselves 
upon a funeral pile and died together. Their 
bones were beaten to powder and thrown into the 
river, where they sank, and were transformed into 
young men. On the fifth day they reappeared like 
men-fishes, and on the sixth in the form of ragged 
old men, dancing, burning and restoring houses, 
killing and restoring each other to life, with other 
wonders. The princes of Xibalba, hearing of their 
skill, requested them to exhibit their magical 
powers, which they did by burning the royal i 
palace and restoring it, killing and resuscitating ' 
the king's dog, and cutting a man in pieces, and 
230 



THE POPOL VUH 23 

bringing him to life again. The monarchs of 
Xibalba, anxious to experience the novel sensation 
of a temporary death, requested to be slain and 
resuscitated. They were speedily killed, but the 
brothers refrained from resuscitating their arch- 
enemies. 

Announcing their real names, the brothers pro- 
ceeded to punish the princes of Xibalba. The 
g.ame of ball was forbidden them, they were to 
perform menial tasks, and only the beasts of the 
forest were they to hold in vassalage. They appear 
after this to achieve a species of doubtful distinction 
as plutonic deities or demons. They are described 
as warlike, ugly as owls, inspiring evil and discord. 
Their faces were painted black and white to show 
their faithless nature. 

Xmucane, waiting at home for the brothers, was 
alternately filled with joy and grief as the canes 
grew green and withered^ according to the varying 
fortunes of her grandsons. These young men 
were busied at Xibalba with paying fitting funeral 
honours to their father and uncle, who now mounted 
to heaven and became the sun and moon, whilst 
the four hundred youths slain by Zipacna became 
the stars. Thus concludes the second book. 

The Third Book 

The beginning of the third book finds the gods 
once more in council. In the darkness they 
231 






I 



24 THR POPOL VUH 

\ \ communo concerning tho creation of man. The 

" , I Creator and Former made four perfect men. These 

; beings were wholly created from yellow and white. 

\ \ i maize. Their names were Balam-Quitz6 (Tiger 

i. ! . with the Sweet Smile), Balam-Agab (Tiger of the 

Night), Mahucutah (The Distinguished Name), 

and Iqi-Balam (Tiger of the Moon). They had 

neither father nor mother, neither were they made 

by the oi'dinory agents in the work of creation. 

Their creation was a miracle of the Former.* 

But Hurakan was not altogether satisfied with 
his handiwork. These men were too perfect 
They knew overmuch. Therefore the gods took 
V, counsel as to how to proceed with man. They 
\>^ must not become as gods (note here the Christian 
influence). Let us now contract their sight so that 
they may only be able to see a portion of the earth 
and be content, said the gods. Then Hurakan 
breathed a cloud over their eyes, which became 
partially veiled. Then the four men slept, and 
four women were made, Caha-Paluma (Falling 
Water), Choimha (Beautiful Water), Tzununiha 
(House of the Water), and Cakixa (Water of Aras 
or Parrots), who became the wives of the men in 
their respective order as mentioned above. 

These were the ancestors of the Kichcs only. 
Then were created the ancestors of other peoples. 
They were ignorant of the methods of worship, 
* Hurakan. 
j 232 






' I 



^^ 



THE POPOL VUH 



25 



and lifting ihoir eyes to heavon piuyed to tlie 
Creator, the Former, for peaceable lives and the 
return of the sun. But no sun came, and they 
grew uneasy. So they set our^or Tulan-Zuiva, or 
the Seven Caves, and there gods were given unto 
them, each man, as head of a group of the race, a 
god. Balam-Quitz6 received the god Tohil. Balam- 
Agab received the god Avilix, and Mahucutah the 
god Hacavitz. Iqi-Balam received a gpd, but as 
he had no family his god is not taken into account 
in the native mythology. . ^ ^'r^k ^{t^k 

The Kichds now began to feel the want of ^firg^.^ 
and the god Tohil, the creator of 6re, supplied them 
with this element. But soon afterwards a mighty 
rain extinguished all the fires in the land. Tohil, 
however, always renewed the supply. And fire in 
y those days was the chief necessity, for as yet there 
/^ was no sun. 

Tulan was a place of misfortune to man, for not 

>^ only did he suffer from cold and famine, but here 

his speech was so confounded that the first four 

men were no longer able to comprehend each 

• other. They determined to leave Tulan, and under the 

leadership of the god Tohil set out to search for a new 

abode. On they wandered through innumerable 

hardships. Many mountains had they to climb, 

and a long passage to make through the sea which 

was miraculously divided for their journey from 

shore to shore. At length they came to a mountain 

23^ 



7 



^ 



TO 



\ 



26 



THE POPOL VUH 



which they called Hacaviiz, after one of their gods, 
and here thoy rested, for here they had been 
instructed that they should sed the sun. And the 
sun appeared. Animals and men were transported 
with delight. All the celestial bodies were now. 
established. But the sun was not as it is to-day. 
He was not strong, but as reflected in a mirror. 

As he arose the three tribal gods were turned 
into stone, as were the gods — probably totems — 
connected with the wild animals. Then arose the ' 
first Kich6 city. C - 

As time progressed the first men grew old, and, 
impelled by visions, they began to ofiTer human 
sacrifices. For this purpose they raided the villages 
of the neighbouring peoples, who retaliated. But 
by the miraculous aid of a horde of wasps and 
hornets the Kichcs utterly routed their enemies. 
And the aliens became tributory to them. 

Now it came nigh the death-time of the fii*st 
men, and they called their descendants together to 
hearken unto their last counsels. In the anguish 
of their hearts they sang the Kamucu, the song 
<^ We see,'' that they had sung when it first became 
light. Then they took leave of their wives and 
sons, one by one. And suddenly they were not. 
But in their place was a huge bundle, which was 
never unfolded. And it was called the " Majesty 
Enveloped." And so died the first men of the 
Kiches. 

234 



THE POPOL VUH 27 



b 



'3JnE FouBTu Book/. 

The Fourth Book briDgs us down to what is 
/^ presumably hUtory. We say "presumably," bo- 
cause we have only the bai*e testimony of the 
" Popol Yuh " to go upon. We can note therein 
the evolution of the Kich^ people from a compara- 
tively simple and pastoral state of society to a 
political condition of considerable complexity. 
This account of the later periods is extremely 
confused, and as the names of many of the Kich^ 
monarchs are the same as those of the gods, it is 
.^ often difficult to discriminate between saga and 

history. J ^nterminabl^c onjiidt^ are the subject of 
most of bhis book, and by the time the transcriber 
reached the twelfth chapter he seems to have tired 
of his labours and to have made up his mind to 
conclude with a genealogical list of the Eich6 
kings. Ho here traces the genealogies of the 
three royal houses of Cavek, Nihaib, and Ahau- 
Kich^. The state of transition and turmoil in 
which the country was for many years after the 
conquest must have tended to the disappearance 
of native i-ecords of any kind, and our author does 
not appear to have been as well versed in the 
history of his country which immediately preceded 
his own time as he was in her mythology and 
legends. According to a tradition recited by 
Don Domingo Juarros in his '* History of the 
23S 



^ 



\J 



^ 



1 

.! i 



I 

t 

i:! 



28 



THE POPOL YUH 



Kingdom of Guatemala/' the Toltecs emigrated 
from the neighbourhood of Tula in Mexico by 
direction of an oracle, in consequence of the great 
increase of population in the reign of Nimaquiche, 
fifth King of the Toltecs. ^* In performing this 
journey they expended many years and suffered 
exti^aordinary hardships." Nimaquich^ was suc- 
ceeded by his son Aexopil, from whom was 
descended Kicab Tanub, the contemporaiy of 
Montezuma II. This does not at all agree with 
the " Popol Vuh " account. 









236 



.(rm- 



COSMOGONY OF THE " POPOL VUH " 

The cosmogony of the "Popol Vuh" exhibits 
many signs of Christian influence, but it would be 
quite erroneous to infer that such influence was of 
a direct nature ; that is, that the native compiler 
deliberately infused into the original narrative 
those outstanding features of the Christian cosmo- 
gony, which were undoubtedly quite familiar to 
him. The resemblance which is apparent between 
the first few chapters of the " Popol Vuh " and the 
creation-myth in Genesis is no more the result of 
design than was the metamorphosis of King 
Arthur's Brythonic warriors into Norman knights 
by the jongleurs. The inclusion of obviously [/ 
Christian elements was undoubtedly unconscious. 
A native Guatemalan, nurtured in the Christian 
faith, could, in fact, quite be expected to produce 
an incongruous blending of Christian and pagan 
cosmogony such as is here dealt with. 

But another and more important question arises 

in connection with the initial chapters of the 

"Popol Vuh" — those which give an account of 

the Kicbe creation-myth. Under the veneer of 

a37 



r.^^ 



30 



THE POPOL VUH 






Biblical cosmogony the original myth would appear 
to bo the sum of more than one native creation- 
story. We have here a number of beings, each of 
whom appear in some manner to exercise the func- 
tion of a creator, and it might be gathered from 
this that the account now before us was produced 
by the fusion and reconciliation of more than one 
legend connected with the creation — a reconcilia- 
tion of early rival faiths. We have to guide us in 
this the proved facts of a composite Peruvian 
cosmogony. . The ruling Inca caste skilfully welded 
together no less than four early creation-myths, 
reserving for their own divine ancestors the head- 
ship of the heavens. And it is not unreasonable 
to believe that the diverse ethnological elements of 
which the Maya-Kich6 people were undoubtedly 
composed possessed divergent cosmogonies, which ■ 
were reconciled to one another in the later tradi- 
tional versions of the " Popol Vuh." 

This would lead to the further supposition that 
the " Popol Vub " is a monument of very consider- 
able antiquity. The fusion of religious beliefs is, 
even with savages, a work of many generations. 
It would be rash to attempt to discover any 
approximate date for the original conception of 
the " Popol Vuh." The only version which we 
possess is that now under review, and as the lack 
of an earlier version makes comparison impossible, 
we are thus without the guidance with which the 

238 



THE POPOL VUH 81 

criteria of philology would undoubtedly furnish us. 
That the Mayan civilisation was of very consider- 
able antiquity is possible, although no adequate 
proof exists for the assumption. This much is 
certain: that at the period of the Conquest 
written language was still in a state of transition 
from the pictographic to the phonetic-ideographic 
stage, and that therefore no version of the ** Popol *^ 
Vuh " which had been fixed by its receiving literary ^ 
form could have long existed. It is much more 
probable that it existed for many generations by 
being handed down from mouth to mouth — a 
manner of literary preservation exceedingly common 
with the American peoples. The memories of the 
natives of America were and still are matter for 
astonishment for all who come into contact with 
them. The Conquistadores were astounded at the 
ease with which the Mexicans could recite poems 
and orations of stupendous lengthy and numerous 
instances of Indian feats of mnemonics are on 
record. 

It is worthy of notice that the Kich6 myth 
embodies the general aboriginal idea of creation 
which prevailed in the New World. In many of 
them the central idea of creation is supplied by 
the brooding of a great bird over the dark primeval ^ 
waste of waters. Thus the Athapascans thought 
that a mighty raven, with eyes of fire and wings 
whose clapping was as the thunder, descended to 
239 






J 



32 



THE POPOL VUH 



the ocean and raised the earth to its surface.* The 
Muscokis believed that a couple of pigeons, skim- 
ming the surface of the deep, espied a blade of 
grass upon its surface, which slowly evolved into 
the dry land.t The Zunis imagined that Awonar 
wilona, the AlUfather, so impregnated the waters 
that a scum appeared upon their surface which 
became the earth and sky,t The Iroquois said 
that their female ancestor, expelled from heaven 
by her angry spouse, landed upon the sea, from 
which mud at once arose. The Mixtecs imagined 
that two winds — those of the Kine Serpents and 
the Nine Caverns — under the guise of a bird and 
a winged serpent respectively, caused the waters 
to subside and the land to appear. The Costa 
Bican Guaymis related, according to Melendez, that 
Noncomala waded into the water and met the 
water-nymph Eutbe, who bore him twins, the sun 
and moon. In all these accounts, from widely 
divergent nations, it is surprising to note such 
unanimity of belief; and when the tenacity of 
legend is borne in mind, it is perhaps not too rash 
to state a belief in an original American creation- 
myth, which seems none the less possible when the 
fact of the ethnological unity among the American 
tribes is remembered. 

* ** History of the Fur Trade," Mackenzie, p. 83. 
t Schoolcraftp "Indian Tribes,*' i. p. 266. 
I CuAhing, "Zujii Creation Mjtbs." 
240 



9 



THE POPOL VUH 



33 



It is by no means difficult to satisfactorily prove 
the genuine American character of the '<Popol 
Vuh." In its case reading is believing. Mac- 
pherson, in his preface to the first edition of the 
poems of Ossian, says of an^' ingenious gentleman " 
that ere he had read the poems he thought and 
remarked that a man diffident of his abilities might 
well ascribe these compositions to a person living in 
a remote antiquity; but when he had perused 
them his sentiments were changed. He found 
they abounded too much with those ideas that 
only belong to an early state of society to be the 
work of a modern poet. However this may 
apply to the reputed compositions of the Goidelio 
hardy there can be no doubt that it can be used 
with justice as regards the ''Popol Vuh." To 
any one who has given it a careful examination 
it must be abundantly evident that it is a com*"^ 
position that has passed through several stages of 
development ; that it is unquestionably of abori- 
ginal origin ; and that it has only been infiuencod 
by European thought in a secondary and unessen- 
tial manner. The very fact that it was composed 
in the Elich^ tongue is almost sufficient proof of its 
genuine American character. The scholarship of 
the nineteenth century was unequal to the adequate 
translation of the *' Popol Yuh " ; the twentieth 
century has as yet shown no signs of being able tc 
accomplish the task. It is» therefore, not difficult 
241 



.^ 



11 



U THE POPOL VUH 

to credit that if modern scholarship is unable to 
properly translate the work, that of the eighteenth 
century was unable to create it; no European 
i ' of that epoch was suj£ciently versed in Kiche 

i theology and history to compose in faultless 

Kich6 such a work as the " Popol Vuh," breathing 
as it does in every line an intimate and natural 
acquaintance with the antiquities of Guatemala. 

The "Popol Vuh" is not the only mythi-his- 
torical work composed by an aboriginal American. 
In Mexico Iztlilxochit], and in Peru Garcilasso de 
la Vega, wrote exhaustive treatises upon the his- 
tory and customs of .their native countrymen 
i shortly after the conquests of Mexico and Peru, and 

! hieroglyphic records, such as the *' Wallam Glum/' 

* are not unknown among the North American 
1 Indians. In fact, the intelligence which fails to 
i regard the ** Popol Yuh " as a genuine aboriginal 

• > production must be more sceptical than critical. 



KiCH]^ AND Mexican Mythology 



I 

I . The connection of Kich6 and Mayan mythology 

j with that of Mexico is obvious, but not altogether 

j proven. It is possible that the main lines of the 

I three systems wore similar; that certain great 

I deities like Gucumatz were common to all, but 

t that the inclusion of local gods lent a voiy dif- 

j > ferent complexion to the three mythologies. It 

I : 243 



THE POPOL VUH 



35 



also seems not unreasonable to suppose that the 
Kich6 people must have been more liable to in- 
fluence from the south, that is, from the north of 
South America. The inclusion of an Antillean 
deity (Hurakan) in their pantheon practicaUy 
proves that they were, and their relative proximity 
to the Caribs — ^the great maritime race of America 
— leads to the assumption that they may have been 
influenced by those roving merchants and sailors 
more or less profoundly. This, however, can only 
be matter for surmise, and, however strong the 
probabilities seem in favour of such a theory, proof 
is wanting to strengthen it. 



243 



:.^ 



! i 



THE PANTHEON OF THE "POPOL VUH" 

It must be remembered that we are dealing with 

Kich6 and not with Mayan mythology. Although 

the two had much in common , it would be most 

unsafe in the present state of knowledge to attempt 

to identify Kich6 with Mayan deities; such an 

attempt would, indeed, assume the bulk .of a for' 

midable treatise. Scholarship at the present time 

hesitates to designate the representations of Mayan 

gods on the walls of " buried " cities otherwise than 

by a letter of the alphabet, and it is therefore wise 

to thoroughly ignore the question of Mayan afiini- 

ties in dealing with myths purely Kich6. This 

\ does not apply to the Kicho-Mexican aflinities. 

Mexican and Kich6 deities are mostly known 

i \ , quantities, but this cannot be paid of their Mayan 

j congenors. The reason for this is that until 

, '•' Mayan myth is reconciled with the evidence of 

the Mayan monuments no cei*titude can be ai'rived 

at. This cannot well be achieved until the Mayan 

hieroglyphs give up their secret, a contingency of 

which there is no immediate likelihood. Bearing 

this in mind, we may proceed to a brief considera- 

244 



THE POPOL VUH 



87 



tion of the Kich^ pantheon and its probable 
Mexican affinities. 

Almost at the beginning we encounter a pair of 
masculine-feminine beings of a type nearly herma- 
phroditic, named Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, who are 
credited with a considerable share of the creation 
of organic life in the Kich6 cosmogomy. Those, 
we will remember, appeared in the myth of V ukub- 
Cakix and elsewhere. The first appears to apply 
to the paternal function, whilst the name Xmucane 
is derived from words signifying '^ feminine vigour." 
The Mexican equivalents of these gods were prob- 
ably Cipactonatl and Oxomoco, the ** father and 
mother gods." ♦ 

Deities who eai'ly arrest our attention are Tepeu, 
Gucumatz and Hurakan. The name of the first 
signifies ''king." According to Brinton this in 
.Kich6 applies to rulership chiefly, inasmuch as 
the conjugal prowess often ascribed to monarchs 
by savage people is concerned. A creative faculty 
is obviously indicated in the name, but Brinton 
assumes that this Kich6 generic name for king 
can also be rendered '' syphilitic," especially as the 
name of the Mexican sun-god Nanahuatl has a 
similar significance. 

That Tepeu was a generative force, a creative 

deity, there can be no doubt, but strangely enough 

in certain passages of the '* Popol Yuh " we find 

* See note at end. 

245 



J 



a8 THE roPOL vuii 

Iiim pmying to anil vondoring homagotollurakan, 

tlio ** Uoarb of lloavoii." Wo alno iiud tho lattor 

along with Xpiyacoe, Xnnioano and To^k)u jointly 

ami Hovorally roHponniblo for tho croaiion of tho 

mannikhiHy if not for tho wholo coHmologlcal Hohomo. 

; ThiH| of oourao, boarH out tho aAftuniplIon of a 

I OompoKlto oi'lghk of tho ermtlon-niyih in ilio 

"Popnl Vnh," but it iw novortholow htiango to 

iind JfuraUan, whom wo muHt rookon an ali6n 

deity, at tho lioad of thoso Olympio oounoIlH. 

; Ououmatss in ono and tho eamo with tho Nahua- 

it tlncan — or, more properly speaking, Toltooan 

Qnet7«aIcohuat1. Tho namo iH oompounded from 

i two Kioh6 wor<lM 8lgi»ifying " Foathorod Horpont," 

and itii moaning in tho Nahtiatl is proolHoly tho 

Bamo, Ooncorning tho nature of tluH doity, there ^ 

is probably more differenco of opinion than in tho I 

1 caseof any other known to comparative mythology. «J 

j ' , Strangely enough, although unquontionably an 

t alien in tho mythology of tho Azteoan branch of 

, tho Nahuatlacfl, ho bulks more largely in the myths 

of that people than in the legends of the Kichi^s. 

; I To tho A'/.too/l ho Hooms to havo appeared as a 

half-friondly Baal, to wor8hip or revile according 

• to the opportunism of national fortune. If be 

j . were here to be dealt with as his importance 

i demands tho limits of this monograph would 

\ speedily be surpassed. Although unquestionably 

I the same god to both Mexicans and Kich^, he had 

246 



v. 



TtrK popoL vtni 



»o 



i\c(|Uiri)d A Nlgnifioanoo In Axiocau oycH quito out 
of all proportion to hm Kioh^ or Mayan im- 
portiuujo. To tho Axtomn mind ho wan a oulturo- 
1101*0, unaltorably aM4ooiatOil with tho Mnn,anil with 
tho orlginH of thoir olviliHatlon. To tho ToHooh ho 
wiiH tho ''Man of tho Hinip** tho travotloi'i who, 
with Hti\irin Imnd, HyinbollHod tho (Iiiily Journey of 
tho Bim-Kod. In all llkolihooil QiuitMiloohuatl wim 
ovolvoil uiK)n Moxioan mil hy tho Toltooii, povhapM 
adoptod from Homo oldor cultuH by thorn. J£o wa8 
at loast worahippod soduloualy by aboriginal or 
pro-A%tcoan tribes in Anahuac. Mr. Pay no 
writofl : * ** Tho faot that tho wornhip of Quotxnl- 
oohuatl undor tho namo of Ououlcan or Guc^umat/. 
wan oxtonHlvoly pi*ovalont in Yucatan and (Jontral 
Amorica, whilo no traoo is found of tho worship of 
Tozcatlipoca, strongly suggests that the founders of 
tho Oontral American puoblos (tho Toltocs) woro, 
in faot, dovotoos of Quotzaloohuatl, who preferred 
exile and adventure in strange lands to acoeptinga 
religious innovation which was intolerable to 
them." 

That Quotzaloohuatl was not an aboriginal Maya- 
Kich6 deity is proved by the relative importance 
granted him by a people — the AztecH— to whom he 
was alien; and that they regarded him as the 
aboriginal god of Anahuac par excelknoe is indi£- 
putable. 

• "History of the New World." 
247 



™...^.../: 




THE POPOL VUII 

JIurakan, the winged creative power, is the 
wind of the tempest.** In the ^ Popol Yuh '' he is 
designated ''The Heart of Heaven/' He is 
parallel with if not identical to the Aztecan deity 
Tezcatlipoca, who in his variant of Yoalli-ehecatl 
(the Wind of Night) was supplicated by the Azteca 
as the life-breath.t Elsewhere we have hinted that 
Tezcatlipoca may have been an ice-god. j: Mr. Payne 
sees in him an elaboration of the vision of death 
in a polished " scrying "-stone, which seems possible 
but scarcely probable. Hurakan was in all likeli- 
hood derived from an original deity of the Antilles. § 
The term *' hurricane " is said to have originated 
from the name of this god, and although the direct 
evidence for this is scanty, other circumstances 
place the connection beyond reasonable doubt. 
Hurakan is also alluded to in the ''Popol Yuh," as 
" The Strong Serpent," and " He who hurls 
below," referring to his presence in the lightning. 
Brinton is of opinion that the name Hurakan 
signifies "giant," but the sequence of proof is not 
altogether convincing. Hurakan had the assistance 
of three demiurges, named respectively Cakulha- 
Hurakan (lightning), Ohipi-Cakulha (lightning- 
flash), and Raza-Oakulha (track*of-the-lightning). 

' * Oviedo, <'Hi8toria del I'Indie/' Ub. vi. cap. Ui. 

t SahaguD, lib. ii. ch. ii. 

j « Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Pern "(" Re- 
ligions Ancient and Modern " series). 

§ Ofiedo, Brassenr de Boarbonrg. 
248 



V 



THE POPOL VUH 



41 



Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, who appear in the 
firat myth pro|)er — that of the destruction of 
Vukub-Oakix, are certainly "of the gods" but 
seem to be only demi'gods. They are constantly 
alluded to as " young men." Brasseur de Bour- 
bourg, who saw in the Vukub-Cakix myth the 
struggle between the Toltecs and the invading 
Nahuatlacd, believed these hero-gods to be equiva- 
lents of Tezcatlipoca and Nanahuatl, but the 
resemblance appears to exist merely in the martial 
character of the deities, and is hardly noticeable in 
other details. Hun-Ahpu would appear to signify 
" The Master," but Brinton translates the name as 
'' Magician." It may have a reconciliatory trans- 
lation as '* Adept." A variant is the name of his 
father Hun-Hun-Ahpu, "Each-one-a-Magician," 
and some confusion is apparent in the Vukub-Cakix 
myth between the two names ; but as the Abb6 
Brasseur de Bourbourg so justly observes, "these 
names are so symbolic in character that their 
absolute elucidation is impossible." Xbalanque 
signifies " Little Tiger." 

. " The gods of the Kich6s were legion," but the 
foregoing list embraces practically all the deities 
proper with whom we have to deal in the " Popol 
Vuh." 

The Vukub-Oakix Myth 
The outstanding point of interest in the myth 
of Vukub-Oakix and his two sons is its terrestrial 
249 



./■ 



42 



THE POPOL VUH 



\ i 



I 



significance. That they were of the earth as truly 
as were the Jotuns of Scandinavian mythology 
there can be no doubt. Like the Jotuns or the 
Titans, Yukub-Gakiz and his progeny are made 
from the earth, and the parent giant is a living 

^representation of its surface. Xpiyacoc and 
^ Xmucane remove his emerald teeth, and replace 
them with maisse grains — surely a mythical inter- 
pretation or allegory of the removal of the green 
virgin turf of the earth, and its replacement by the 
maize seed. It is further worthy of notice that 

- the maize is placed in Yukub-Oakix's mouth by 
divine beings. In the third book of the ^'Popol 
Vuh " it is stated that the gods gave maize to man. 
It was, indeed, brought to earth from heaven by 
the sacred animals. 



I * 



Book II. coumented upon 

The Second Book of the " Popol Vuh " is the 
most interesting of the four from a mythological 
point of view. That it treats of the dealings of 
the Kichds with the aboriginal people of the dis- 
trict they afterwards inhabited is not unlikely. 
Although the opinion of Brasseur that Xibalba 
was a prehistonc state which had Palenque for its 
capital is an exaggeration of whatsover kernel of 
fact may be contained in the myth, yet it is not 
unlikely that the Abbe, who so often astonishes 
without illuminating, has in this instance come 
250 



^ 



— r* 



. THE POPOL VUH 



43 



near the truth. The cUff-dvellings of Mexico nnd 
Colorado have of late years aroused speculation as 
to the aboriginal or directly prehistoric peoples of 
these regions. The "Popol Yuh" definitely de- 
scribes Xibalba as the metropolis of an " Under- 
world " ; and with such examples as that of the 
Cliff Palace Caiion in Colorado before us, it is difii- 
cult to think that allusion is not made to some 
such semi-underground abode. There the living 
rock has been excavated to a considerable distance, 
advantage being taken of a huge natural recess to 
secure greater depth than could possibly have been 
attained by human agency, and in this immense 
alcove the ruins of a veritable city may still be 
seen, almost ^as well preserved as in the days of its 
evacuation, its towers, battlements and houses 
being as well marked and as plainly discernible 
as are the ruins of PhilsB. It is then not un- 
rea«onnb1o to suppose that in a more northerly 
home the Kich^s may have warred with a race 
which dwelt in some such subterranean locality. 
A people's idea of an "otherworld" is often 
coloured by the configuration of their own country. 
One thing is certain: a hell, an abode of bad 
spirits as distinguished from beneficent gods, Xibal ba . 
was not. The American Indian was innocent of 
the idea of maleficent deities pitted in everlasting 
warfare against good and life-giving gods until 
contact with the whites coloured his mythology 
25^ 



y 



I r 



I I 



r ,1 






44 



THE POPOL VUH 



with their idea of the dual nature of supernatural 
beings.* The transcriber of the "Popol Vuh*' 
makes this clear so far as Kichd belief went. Dimly 
conscious that the " Popol Vuh " was coloured by 
his agency with the opinions of a lately adopted 
Christianity, he says of the Lords of Xibalba, Hun- 
Came and Yukub-Came : ** In the old times they 
did not have much power. They were but annoyers 
and opposers of men, and, in truth, tkei/ were not 
regarded as gods" If not regarded as gods, then, 
what were they ? 

" The devil," says CogoUudo of the Mayas, " is 
called by them Xibilba, which means he who 
disappears or vanishes." The derivation of Xibalba 
is from a root meaning ''to fear," from which 
comes the name for a ghost or phantom. Xibalba 
was, then, the Place of Phantoms. But it was 
not the Place of Torment, the abode of a devil 
who presided over punishment. The idea of sin is 
weak in the savage mind ; and the idea of punish- 
ment for sin in a future state is unknown in pre- 
Christian American mythology. 

** Under the influence of Christian catechising," 
says Brinton, 'Hhe Quiche legends portray this 
really as a place [of torment, and its rulers as 
malignant and powerful; but as I have before 
pointed out they do so protesting that such was not 
the ancient belief, and they let fall no word that 
* See Brinton, «< Myths of the New World/' chap. ii. 



THE POPOL VUH 



45 



shows that it was regarded as the destination of 
the morally bad. The original meaning of the 
name given by Gogol] udo points unmistakably to the 
simple fact of disappearance from among men, and 
corresponds in harmlessness to the true sense of 
those words of fear, Scheol, Hades, Hell, all 
signifying hidden from sight, and only endowed 
with more grim associations by the imaginations of 
later generations." 

The idea of consigning elder peoples, who have 
been displaced in the land to an underworld, 
is not uncommon in mythology. The Xibalbans, 
or aborigines, were perhaps cave- or earth-dwellers 
like the Picts of Scottish folk-lore, gnomeish, and 
full of elvish tricks, as such folk usually are. 
Vanished people are, too, often classed with the 
dead, or as lords of the dead. It is well known, 
also, that legend speedily crystallises around 
the name of a dispossessed race, to whom 
is attributed every description of magic art. 
This is sometimes accounted for by the fact that 
the displaced people possessed a higher culture 
' than their invaders, and sometimes, probably, by 
the dread which all barbarian peoples have of a reli- 
gion in any way differing from their own. Thus 
the Norwegians credited the Finns — their prede- 
cessors in Norway — with tremendous magical 
powers, and similar instances of respectful timidity 
shown by invading races towards the original 
253 



/ 



J; 



ir 



I 

I 
I 46 THE POPOL VUH 

[• 

I / inhabitants of the country they had conquered 

I / could readily be multiplied. To be tricked the 

j. barbarian regards as a mortal indignity, as witness 

the wrath of Thor in Jotunheim, comparable with 
{ the sensitiveness of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque 

I lest they should be outwitted by the Xibalbans. 

t 

\' TuE Harrtinq of Xibalba 

K The doings of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, in 

\ Xibalba, may be regarded either as theSache^ 

account of the adventures of two veritable heroes /^ 
in a new land, or as the visitation of divine beings I 
' to Hades for the express purpose of conquering J 

; death. But by the period of the formation of the^ 

! myth it is probable that Xibalba had become con- 

{ founded with the Place of the Dead, and was 

'I regarded as a fit theatre for the prodigies of craft 

; Y and valour of the young hero-gods. The Kich6 

I Hades had, in fact, evolved from the old northern 

home, exactly as had the Mexican Mictlan, which, 
although a subtermnean locality, was also, and 
separately, a northern country. A complete Place 
of the Dead had been established, and the gods, to 
show their contempt of death, must descend thereto 
and emerge triumphant. The idea of metempsy- 
chosis was known to the American aboriginal mind. 
'* We Indians shall not for ever die ; even the grains 
; f of corn we put under the earth grow up and 

254 



r ' 



THE POPOL VUH 



47 



become living tbingn/' is the noble and touching 
reply of a chi^f to the interrogation of a Mora- 
vian Brother, regarding the native belief in 
immortality/ Man must have the example of the 
godsy if he wishes to live in peace and quiet assur- 
ance of immortality. And just as we believe that 
our God descended into Hell and vanquished Sin 
and Death, so did these simple people gain 
strength to face Eternity from the thought that 
they had been preceded in the dark journey by the 
Immortals. 

It is evident that the divine brothers feared 
ridicule, and profiting from the disasters of their 
father and uncle made sure of knowing the names 
of the chief Xibalbans ere they set out. In like 
manner they avoided making an obeisance to the 
dummy figures to which their predecessors had 
bowed so profoundly. The American savage, grave 
and reserved, cannot abide ridicule. He shrinks 
from it in a manner which a less self-regarding or 
a more self-assured people cannot comprehend. 
The other tests— the '* House of Tigers," and the 
** House of Cold," and the various torments men- 
tioned in the Second Book are much what might 
be expected from a barbarian idea of death — no 
more horrible, perhaps, than the European idea of 
■ Hell in the Middle Ages, certainly not more fenr- 
compelling than the picture of Dante. 

* Loskiel, " Oes. der Miss, dcr evang. Bnider." 



r 






48 



THE POPOL VUH 



f • 



if 



ii 



\ ' 



The American peoples are at one in their belief 
in a Paradise, a Place of Joy, if not of Eeward. 
Their Hades appears to have been reserved almost 
entirely for the unillustrious. Paradise in some 
American mythologies, notably in that of Mexico, 
and perhaps in that of Peru, is nothing more than 
a preserve of the great ; the poor might npt enter 
therein, no more than might the coward pass 
the gates of the Norse Valhalla. It was to 
Mictlan or Supay, then, that the popular mind 
turned. How did the American peoples regard this 
drear abode ? To enter it one must cross a deep 
and swift river by means of a bridge formed of a 
slender tree, said the Hurons and Iroquois to the 
first missionaries. On this frail passage the soul 
must defend itself from the attacks of a savage dog.*^ 
The Ghepewayan Athapascans told of a great water^ 
which the soul must cross in a stone canoe ; the 
Chilians, of a western sea, where toll must be given 
to an evil hag, who plucked out an eye if payment 
were not forthcoming ; the Algonquins, of a stream 
bridged by an enormous snake. The Aztecs called 
this river Chicunoapa, the Nine Rivers, where the 
departed must pay toll to a dog and a dragon. It 
will be recollected that the brothers in the '* Popol 
"^ Vuh," cross a river of blood. This almost certainly 
/ alludes to the ocean under the red beams of the set- 
ting suo, towards which all these voyages are made. 
* " Bel. de la Noav. France," 1636. 
356 






U 



THE K)POL VUH 



49 



\ 



The hero-gods in the myth voluntarily suc- 
cumb to the power of the Lords of Death, and 
after being burned their bones are ground in a 
mill and thrown into the waters. The belief was \ 
almost universal in Ajnerica that the soul resided >^ 
in the bones. The bones were the basis of the 
man. Flesh would readily perish, but would 
return to clothe this more lasting foundation. 
So in many tribes the bones of the dead were 
carefully preserved. In all Central American 
countries the bones of distinguished persons were 
pi^eierved in temples or council-houses in the small 
chests made of cane mentioned by the chroniclers 
of De Soto's expedition. This, too, may possibly 
have been the origin of mummification in Peru. 
In Egypt all the members and intestines must be 
preserved, in Peru only the bones. The state of 
comparative desiccation in which most Peruvian 
mummies are discovered proves that the preserva- 
tion of the flesh or organs was not regarded as a 
necessity. 

The game of ball figures very largely throughout 
the Third Book. The father and uncle of the young 
hero-gods were worsted in their favourite sport by 
tbA Xibalbans, but Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque in v. 
their turn vanquish the Lords of the Underworld./^ 
This may have resembled the Mexican game of 
tlachtli, which was played in an enclosed court 
with a rubber ball between two opposite sides, 
257 D 



I 



50 



THE POPOL VUH 



each of two or three players. It was, in fact, not 
unlike hookey. This game of ball between the 
Powers of Jjight and the Powers of Darkness is 
somewhat reminiscent of that between Ormuzd 
and Ahriman in Pornian myth. The game of 
tlachtli had a nymbolio voforonco to Htollur 
motions/ 



\ » 



Wo arc lioro engaged with tho problom whioli 
the origin of man prosontod to tho Kich^ mind, 
and wo shall find that its solution boars a remark- 
able likeness to that of similar American myths. 
We seldom hear of one fii*st -createdj>eing. In the 
creation-myths of the New World four brothers are 
usually the progenitors of the human race. Man 
in these myths is nearly always earth-bom. He 
and his fellows emerge from some cavern or sub- 
terranean place, fully grown and fully armed. Thus 
the Blackfoot Indians emerged from Nina-stahu, 
a peak in the Hockies. In the centre of Nunne 
Ohaha, the High Hill, was a cavern, the house of 
the Master of Breath, whence came the Ohoctaws. 
The Peruvians came from Pacari Tambu, the 
House of the Dawn, near Cuzco, and an ancient 
legend of the AztecH states that they came from 

* J. W. Fewkes Sn Jonr. Amcr. Folk-lote, 1892, p. 33 ; 
F. H. Cufthing ia **Amer. Anthropologist,** 1892, p. 303 

358 



\i 



THE POPOL VUH 



51 



Chicomoztoo, the Soven OavernSi to the north of 
Mexico, 

We find the first Mayan men Rpeodily engaged 
in migmtion. Such must always bo the life of the 
unsottloil and unngtioultuml Mwngo. Ho mul- 
tiplioH. (IoiIh are givou to eacli tnl)0. Thoao ho 
bcMU'M t() a now country. In fact wo Imvo a 
<Mmiiijot(ijni<autioii-JUiythJn Jiho ThhJ lUntk of 
tho *U\>|tol Vuh," attil thoro ai*o not wanting 
Hi'gnM to nhow that thm nn*gn\tion took placo fi*om 
tiiu cohl north to tho warm south. Tlio princi^ial 
item of proof in favour of such a theory is, of 
course, tha statement tliat the sun was **not at 
first bom/' and that at a later stage of the journey, 
when his beams appeared upon the horizon, it was 
as a weaker and dimmer luminary that he seemed 
to the wanderers than in after years. The allusion 
to " shining sand," by the aid of which they crossed 
rivers, may mean that they forded them when 
covered with ice. The whole myth is so strikingly 
akin to the A>«tec4n migration-myth given in the 
Mexican MS. in the Boturini Collection (No. 14, 
sec. viii.) that we cannot refrain from appending a 
short passage from the latter : 

''This is the beginning of the record of the 
coming of the Mexicans from the place called 
Aztlan. It is by means of the water that they 
came this way, being four tribes, and in coming 
they rowed in boats. They built their huts on 
259 



^^.^.^'^i 



52 THE POPOL VUH 

piles at the place called the Grotto of Quinevayan. 
It is there from which the eight tribes issued. 
The first tribe is that of the Huexotzincos, the 
second tribe the Chalcas, the third the Xochi- 
milcas, the fourth the Ouitlavacas, the fifth the 
Mallinalcas, the sixth the OhicimocaS| the sovonth 
the Topanociis, the eighth the !Matlatzincas. It is 
there where they were founded in Oolhuacan. 
They were the colonists of it since they landed 
there, coming from Aztlan. . , . It is there that 
they soon afterwards went away from, carrying 
before thorn the god ♦ Vitzillopochtli, which they 
had adopted for tlioir god. . . • They camo out of 
four placoH, wlion t)ioy wont forward travollittg thtH 
way. . • • Thoi*o the eight tribos opened up our 
road by waUi\" 

Wo find a similar myth in the Wallam Olum, or 
painted records of the Lenape Indians. ''After 
the flood/' says this record, *' tlio Lonapo with tho 
manly turtle boingH dwelt close together at tho 
cave house and dwelling of Talli. • . . Tiioy saw 
that tho snake land was bright and wealthy. 
Having all agreed, they wont over the water of the 
frozen sea to possess the land. It was wonderful 
when they all wont over the smooth deep water of 

* In the Mexican text the Spanish word ** diablo '* has 
been interpolated hy the Mexican scribes, as no Mexican 
word for ** devil" exists. The scribe was, of course, 
under priestly influence ; hence the "diablo.'* 
260 



vl 



THE POPOL VUH 



53 



the frozen sea at the gap of snake sea in the great 
ocean "(5). 

We thus see that the Third Book of the '< Popol 
Vuh '' is a migration saga of a type not uncommon 
in America. Asiatic tribes may have come down 
. from tho Ohi-Pixab of the " Popol Vuh " to liritish 
Columbia, and thence by easy stages to Central 
America. And the Third Book of tho <' Popol 
Vuh " may be the distant echo of a mighty wave of 
colonisation, whoso sound swept the entire surface 
of the New World. 



Eauly Spanish AuTiions and thk <' Vovou Vuii ** 

It cannot bo sivid that tho oarly Hpaninli authorM 
upon tho adiurs of Yucatan oithor oorrobomto or 
discredit tho contents of the ** Popol Vuh " in nny 
way. To begin with, Landn, Cogolludo, and Las 
Casos confine themselves more to YucaUm proper 
than iu Quatonialai and tlioir remarks upon native 
boh'of, in ko far as thoy ilhiBtmto the '^ Popol 
Vuh " at all, are really roforonccH to Mayan myths. 
I*alivcios is ntongre in his roforcnccs to any native 
beliefs, and the works of all four are so coloured 
by the phantasies of medieval theology that, 
although interesting, they possess little real value. 
So far, in fact, as they throw light upon the 
" Popol Vuh " they might be safely ignored, and 
they are only given as works of reference in the 
bibliography for the sake of completeness. They 
261 



f 



54 THE POPOL VUH 

are, however, most valuable for the study of 
* Mayan mythology proper, and for complete under- 

standing of the " Popol Vuh " and of Kich^ 
mythology in general, knowledge of Mayan mytl'i 
is necessaiy. 

Evidence of Metrical Composition 

y There is not wanting evidence to show that, 

; like mos6 barbarous compositions which depended 

i for their popularity upon the ease with which they 

could be memorised, the " Popol Vuh " was origin- 
j : ; ally composed in metre. Passages here and there 

show a decided metrical tendency, as : 



" Ama x-u ch'ux ri Vuch 
Ve, x-cha ri mama. 
j ; Ta chi xaqQinic 

' ' • Qaate ta chi gekumnrchic 

• . ! . Cahmnl xaquin ri mama 

,' ' Ca xaquin-Vach '* ca clia vinak vacamic. 

f which is translated : 

^ i , ! "Is the dawn about to be 7 

! - Yes, answered the old man. 

' \ ', ^ Then he spread apart his legs. 

i I ;) Again the darkness appeared. 

Four times the old man spread his legs. 
Novir the opossum spreads his legs " — 
Say the people.* 



\.l 



* This passage obviously applies to a descriptive dance 
emblematic of sunrise. 

262 



THE POPOL VUH 55 

The first line almost scans in iambics (English 
style), and the fifth is perfect, except for the trun- 
cation in the fourth foot. The others appear to us 
to consist of that alternation of sustained feet 
— musically represented by a semibreve — with 
pyrrhics, which is chai^cterisiic of nearly all 
savage dance-poetry. Father Goto, a missionary, 
observes that the natives were fond of telling long 
stories and of repeating chants, keeping time to 
them in those dances of which all the American 
aboriginal peoples appear to have been so fond— 
and still are, as Baron Nordens^kjold has recently 
discovered in the Aymara country. These chants 
were called nugum tzih, or "garlands of words," 
and although the native compiler of the " Popol { 

Yuh " appears to have been unable to recollect the 1 

precise rhythm of the whole, many passages attest 
its original odic character. 



NoTK.— The pronaDoialion of to in Kicbe equals sft. 
CU is pronounced bard, as in the Scottish *' loch," and o 
hard, like k. 



263 



i ' 



rS]. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 



Y 



The various worlu which contain notices of the *' Popol 
Vuh" and the kindred questions of Mayan and Kichu 
mythology are so difficult of access to the majority of 
readers that it has been thought best to divide them into 
two classes : (1) those which can be more or less readily 
purchased, and which are, naturally, of more recent 
origin ; and (2) those which are not easy to come by, and 
which, generally speaking, are the work of Siunish priests 
and colonists of thesixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth 
centuries. 

I 

The work on the subject which is most easily obtained, 
and indeed the only work which gives the original Kicho 
text, is that of the Abbe Bras^eur de Bourbourg, '* Vuh 
Popol : Le livre sacr^ de Qaiobes et les mythes do 
Tantiquite Amuricaine." The Kiche text was translated 
by the assistance of natives into French, and the transla- 
tion is more or less inaccurate. The notes and introduction 
must be read by the student with the greatest caution. 
It was published at Paris in 1861. 

Ximenes' translation into Spanish of the <* Popol Vuh " 
and that of Gavarrete are about of equal value, rather in- 
accurate, and accompanied by scanty notes. The title of 
the first is " Las Historias del Origin de los Indies de 
Guatemala, par el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes (Vienna, 
1856), and of the second, ** El Popol Vuh," (San Salvador 
265 



58 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 



t : 



i : 

1 = 



- \ 



I" 



! ' 



]905). This exhausts the list of works written exclusive!/ 
oonoerning the '*PopolVuh/' The other works of 
Brasseur and those of Brinton contain more or less 
numerous allusions to it, but references to it in standard 
works of mythology are exceedingly rare. The only other 
works which have a bearing upon the subject are those 
upon Mayan and Kiche mythology, or which, among other 
matter, historical or political, refer to it in any way. Ihe 
most important of these are : 

Db. Otto Stoll— ^'Eihnographie der Republik Guate- 
mala." 
*< Ethnologie der Indianer Stilmme von Guatemala.*' 
ScHEii2.ER~*' Dip Indianer von Santa Calalina Istla- 
vacan." 

MOller — "Gcschichte der Amerikanischen Ur- 
religlon " (1855). 

E. Forstemann— '* Commentary on the Maya Manu- 
script/' in the Koyal Public Library of Dresden. 
Translation from the German by S. Wesselhoeft and 
A. M. Farker (Harvard University, 1906). 
E. Skler — " Uber den Ursprung der Mittelamerikan 
Kulturen"(1902). 
*<Ein Wintersemester in Mexico nnd Yucatan" 

(1903). 
** Codex Fejerviiry-Mayer*' (Berlin, 1901). 
P. SCHELLHAS — <* Representation of Deities of the 
M&ya Manuscripts," translated by S. Wesselhoeft and 
A. M. Parker (Cambridge, Mass., 1904). 
Cyrus Thomas— "The Maya Year," Washington, 1894. 

"Notes on Maya and Mexican Manuscripts." 
W. FEWKES-."The God *D' in the Codex Corte- 
sianus," (Washington, 1895). 

AU these works relato more or less entirely to Mayan 
266 



u 



BIBLIOGRAPHIOAL APPENDIX 50 

mythology, and are chiolly valuable as illustratiog the 
connection between the Kich6 and Mayan mythologies. 
It must be understood that this is not a list of works 
relating to Mayan antiquities, but only a list of such 
works as refer at the fame time to Mayan and Kicbo 
mythology. 

The brief es»iy of the late Professor Max Miiller upon 
the **Popol Vuh** is of little or no value except as a 
statement in favour of its authenticity. It gives little or 
no information concerning the work, and i*, indeed, 
chiefly concerned with the authenticity and nature of 
North American picture-drawings. 



II 

The principal works of the older Spanish authors,which 
in any way relate to the myths of Maya-Kiche peoples, 
are : 

Las Cabas—** Uistoria de los Indias" (1552). 

CoaoLLVDO— " Historia de Yucathan *' (1688). 

DiBuo D£ Landa— " Relacion de los Cosas de Yuca- 
tan'* (translated into French, and edited by Brasseur). 

XiMENES— " Escolias k los Ilistorias del origin de los 
Indies "(<?*>«'. 1725). 

Palaoios— "Description de la Provincia de Guate- 
. mala*' (in the collection of Ternaux-Compans). 

JuAimos— "Historia de Guatimala/' 



267 



I i 



M: 



NOTES 



Note 1. (Pago 8) 
Much that is absurd has been written concerning the 
antiquity of the ruined cities of Central America, and 
some authors have not hesitated to place their founda- 
tion in an antiquity beside which the pre-djnastic build- 
ings of Egypt would appear quite recent. But that 
they were abandoned not long before the Columbian era 
is now generally admitted, ike Winsor's " Narrative and 
Critical History of America," chap, lii., and the works of 
Charnay, Maler, Maudslay, and Gordon, for modern 
opinion upon the subject ; also the various monographs 
contained in the more recent volumes of the U.S. Bureau 
of Ethnology's annual report. That a very respectable 
antiquity belongs to several sites is, however, certain ; 
and competent authorities have not hesitated to ascribe 
to some of the ruins an age of not leHs than two thousand 
years. 

N0TS2. (Page 8) 

Payne has made it abundantly clear to our mind that 
the original seat of the Nahuatlacil (which included both 
Toltecs and Aztecs) was in British Columbia (ne his 
*" History of America,** vol. ii. p. ZlZct »eq,). He thinks 
they there occupied a position southerly to that of the 
Athapascan stock, and were probably the first northern 
people to come into contact with tribes possessed of the 
269 



G2 



NOTES 



i\ 



{ ' 



maizo plant. The knowledge of this staple, he infers, spread 
rapidly among the northern peoples, and induced them to 
hasten their routhern colonisation, bat it does not appear 
to us probable that this would be an inducement to a 
Favage flesh-eating people averse to a life of agricultural 
labour. The whole question of pre-historic American 
migration, and of the gradual civilisation by maize of the 
peoples who came within its Kone, is most admirably dis- 
cussed in vol. xix. of '* The History of North America," by 
W. J. Magee and Cyrus Thomas (Philadelphia, George 
Barrie and Sons), published March 1908. The knowledge 
contained in this work is the outcome of a lifetime's 
labour in the (J.S. Bureau of Ethnology, and its learned 
authors have undoubtedly produced a monumental treatise 
which it will take many a generation of research to 
supersede, if, indeed, that is possible. 



Note 3. (Page l>) 

The authorities for tte settlement of the Toltecs in 
Yucatan are the Tezcucan chronicler Ixtiilxochitl, and 
Torquemada, who both allege that the immigrants went 
to Campeachy and the south. 

Note 4. (Page 13) 

There appear to be grounds for believing that the 
parent deities Xpiyacoo and Xmucane are but derivations 
from Gucumatz, and represent the male and female 
attributes of that god. In the *' Popol Vuh " they are 
spoken of as being ** covered with green feathers/' the 
usual description of Gucumatz ; but it is, of course, 
possible that they may have received some of his attri- 
butes in the general jumble of myths which, we have 
attempted to show, exists in the first book. Gucumatz, it 
will be remembered, Is Quetzalcohuatl in another form, and 
270 



d 



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371 






NOTES C3 

the latter it often represented in the i>ap7ri as having a 
woman sitting opposite to him. She does not, however, 
appear to be at all analogous to Messrs. Forstemann and 
Schellhas's ** Goddess I," whom I take to represent the 
Mayan equivalent of Xmncane, and who wears on her 
head the knotted serpent, a reptile oharacteristio of 
Qaetzaloohuatl. 

KOTB 5. (Page 53) 
Tlie Wallam-Olum (painted records) of the Leni Lenape 
Indians have often been called into question as regards 
their antheuticity, but the evidence of Lederer, Hum- 
boldt, Heckewelder, Tanner, Loskiel, Beatty, and Rafin- 
csque, all of whom professed to have seen them, rather 
discounts such unbelief in their existence. They con- 
sisted of picture-writings, or hieroglyphs, each of which 
applied to a whole verso, or many words. The ideas were, 
in fact, amalgamated in a compound system, and bear 
exactly the same relation to written language as the 
American tongues did to spoken language ; that is, they 
were of an agglutinative type, a linguistio form where I 

Beveral words are welded into one. There are several ^ 

scries, one of which records the doings of the tribes i 

immediately subsequent to the Creation. Another series | 

relates to their doings in America, and consists of seven f 

songs, four of sixteen verses of four words each, and | 

' three of twenty verges of three words each "It begins | 

at the arrival in America," says Bafinesque ("The | 

American Nations "), '* and is continued without hardly 
any interruption till the arrival of the European colonists 
towards 1600.*' But this second series is a mere meagre 
catalogue of kings. 

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