The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History

CUKULCAN AND THE COCOMES

It is evident enough that Cukulcan was the same as Quetzalcoatl, but to determine with which Quetzalcoatl – the Nahua culture-hero or the Toltec king – is a difficult matter. We have seen what complications in Mexican history arise from the fact that the Spanish writers failed to make any distinction between the two, most of them entirely ignoring the latter. Cogolludo dates the departure of Cukulcan in the middle of the twelfth century; Herrera makes it precede by about five hundred and sixty years the coming of the Spaniards; and Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his history, implies that Cukulcan was Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, thus placing his stay in Yucatan in or after the eleventh century. Yet most of the traditions seem to point to the Itzaob and to Cukulcan as preceding the Tutul Xius. The Itzas seem to have been among the most ancient nations in the country, and their name is best derived from that of Ytzamná. Even Brasseur de Bourbourg, in a later work,⁹⁷² offers the conjectures that the Itzas were Xibalbans who fled from Chiapas after the overthrow of their empire by the Nahuas, and that Cukulcan "was the same as the more or less mythologic personage of whom Sahagun speaks, the leader of the Nahua race to Tamoanchan, who seems identical with the Quetzalcoatl of the Codex Chimalpopoca, and the Gucumatz of the Popol Vuh."

There is no reason for bringing the Itza people from Chiapas, since they appear to have been like the Cocomes, descendants, or followers, of Zamná, whose history from the death of their great ruler down to Cukulcan's coming, is unknown. But it is certainly most consistent to identify Cukulcan with the first Quetzalcoatl and with Gucumatz, to regard his appearance and the rule of the three 'holy princes' at Chichen and Mayapan as the first introduction of the Nahua influence in Yucatan, and to date it within the first two centuries of the Christian era, while the Nahua power was beginning to rival that of the ancient Xibalba in Chiapas, and while the Olmecs and Xicalancas were becoming established in Vera Cruz and Puebla. Malte-Brun and some others deem Cukulcan and Zamná the same without any apparent reason, although the lives and deeds of both these pontiff-rulers are recorded only in the vaguest manner.⁹⁷³

It is probable that Cukulcan abandoned Chichen and its people, among whom he at first attempted to establish his peculiar reforms, because his teachings were not so favorably received or so permanent in their effects as he desired, and because he had reason to expect more favorable results among the Cocomes, whom he now adopted as his chosen people. Both 'listeners' and 'serpents' are given as the signification of the name Cocomes; the first may be referred to the fact that they were the first to 'listen' to Cukulcan's teachings; the second may arise from their relationship to the Votanic race of Chanes, or 'serpents.' Torquemada speaks of the Cocomes as the descendants of Cukulcan, but to regard them rather as disciples would be more consistent with the celibate life and chastity attributed to the great teacher. After the Plumed Serpent's departure the lords of Mayapan, raised to the highest power in the state the chief of the Cocome family, as Landa says, "either because this family was the most ancient or the richest, or because he who was at its head was a very valiant chief." Many of the aboriginal institutions of this country, as described in a preceding volume, are derived from traditions of this period of Cocome rule, one of the most prosperous in Maya history. The family names of rulers are often used as personal names in the annals of these nations, and thus we find the ruler at Mayapan spoken of as Cocom.⁹⁷⁴

MIGRATION OF TUTUL XIUS

Respecting the ensuing period of Cocome rule, we have no record until at a subsequent but undetermined date a new people, the Tutul Xius, appeared from the southern region where they had wandered long and suffered great privations, and settled in the vicinity of Mayapan, being kindly received by the Cocomes. All agree that they came from the south; Herrera brings them from the Lacandon mountains, and speaks of them as having entered Mayapan, where they lived in great peace together with the former inhabitants. Landa judges from linguistic and monumental resemblances that they came from Chiapas. Morelet suggests that they were a band from Palenque.⁹⁷⁵ I have already shown that the Tutul Xius were probably, like the Quichés and Toltecs, among the tribes that migrated from Tulan in Chiapas at some time between the third and fifth centuries.⁹⁷⁶ They were not like the Toltecs a purely Nahua nation, that is, they did not speak the Nahua language; but they were, like the Quichés, a branch of the ancient Maya, or Xibalban, people, which had in Chiapas been subjected to Nahua influences and had adopted to some extent the Nahua institutions. In language they were kindred to the Cocomes, Itzas, and all the aboriginal inhabitants of Yucatan; but like the Cocomes they were also followers of Cukulcan and Quetzalcoatl. Their kind reception is not therefore to be wondered at, and their subsequent prominence in the history of the country accounts for the Nahua analogies observed in Yucatan institutions and monuments.

THE PEREZ RECORD

CHRONOLOGY OF THE RECORD

I now present in full the Perez document which contains nearly all that is known of the Tutul Xiu annals. I quote the version given in Mr. Stephens' work, adding in parentheses the variations and a few explanatory notes from Brasseur's translation.⁹⁷⁷ "This is the series of Katunes, or epochs, that elapsed from the time of their departure from the land and house of Nonoual, in which were the four Tutul Xiu, lying to the west of Zuina (probably the Tulan Zuiva of the Popol Vuh) going out of the land of Tulapan (capital of Tulan). Four epochs were spent in traveling before they arrived here with Tolonchantepeuj (Holon-Chan-Tepeuh, in both the Maya text and in Brasseur's translation) and his followers. When they began their journey towards this island (peten, meaning literally 'island,' is the word used, but Brasseur tells us that it was applied as well to regions almost surrounded by water, and the Mayas knew very well that their country was a peninsula), it was the 8 Ahau, and the 6 Ahau, the 4 Ahau, and the 2 Ahau⁹⁷⁸ were spent in traveling; because in the first year of 13 Ahau they arrived at this island (peninsula), making together eighty-one years they were traveling between their departure from their country and their arrival at this island peninsula of Chacnouitan. In the 8 Ahau arrived Ahmekat Tutul Xiu (an error perhaps, for 13 Ahau as above, or this may refer to a later arrival of another party), and ninety-nine years they remained in Chacnouitan. Then took place the discovery (conquest) of the province of Ziyan-caan, or Bacalar (Bakhalal, Chectemal at the time of the conquest, probably near the site of Bacalar). The 4 Ahau, the 2 Ahau, and the 13 Ahau, or sixty years, they ruled in Ziyan-caan, when (since) they came here. During these years of their government of the province of Bacalar, occurred the discovery (conquest) of Chichen Itza. The 11 Ahau, 9 Ahau, 7 Ahau, 5 Ahau, 3 Ahau, 1 Ahau, or one hundred and twenty years they ruled in Chichen Itza, when it was abandoned and they emigrated to Champoton (Chanputun) where the Itzas, holy men, had houses (had had dwellings). The 6 Ahau they took possession of the territory of Champoton. The 4 Ahau [and so on for twelve epochs to the 8 Ahau] Champoton was destroyed or abandoned (Brasseur has it, "4 Ahau, etc., etc., and in the 8 Ahau Champoton was destroyed"). Two hundred and sixty years reigned (or had reigned at the time when Champoton was destroyed) the Itzas in Champoton, when they returned in search of their homes ("after which they started out anew in search of homes," according to Brasseur), and then they lived for several epochs under the uninhabited mountains ("for several epochs the Itzas wandered, sleeping in the forests, among rocks and wild plants, suffering great privations," as Brasseur has it, noting an omission of a part of the text in Perez' translation). The 6 Ahau, 4 Ahau, after forty years they returned to their homes once more, and Champoton was lost to them. (The French version is entirely different; "6 Ahau, 4 Ahau" – they wandered as above – "after which they – the Itzas – had again fixed homes, after they had lost Champoton"). In this Katun of 2 Ahau, Acuitok Tutul Xiu established himself in Uxmal; the 2 Ahau [and so on in regular order for ten epochs to 10 Ahau] equal to two hundred years, they governed and reigned in Uxmal with the governors (powerful lords) of Chichen Itza, and Mayapan. After the lapse of the Ahau Katunes of 11, 9, 6 Ahau, (Brasseur says 7 instead of 6 Ahau, as indeed it must be in order to preserve the order) in the 8 Ahau the governor (the powerful lords) of Chichen Itza was (were) deposed (ruined) because he murmured disrespectfully against Tunac-eel (Hunac Eel); this happened to Chacxibchac of Chichen Itza, who had spoken against Tunac-eel, governor of the fortress of Mayalpan (Mayapan). Ninety years had elapsed, but the tenth of the 8 Ahau was the year in which he was overthrown by Ajzinte-yutchan (Ah-Tzinteyut-Chan) with Tzuntecum, Taxcal, Pantemit, Xuch-ucuet (Xuchu-Cuet), Ytzcuat, and Kakaltecat; these are the names of the seven Mayalpans (lords of Mayapan). In this same period, or Katun, of the 8 Ahau, they attacked king Ulmil (king of the Ulmil) in consequence of his quarrel (festivities) with Ulil, king of Izamal (Ytzmal); thirteen divisions of troops had he when he was routed by Tunac-eel (Hunac Eel, 'he who gives intelligence'); in the 6 Ahau the war was over, after thirty-four years. In the 6 Ahau, 4 Ahau, 2 Ahau, 13 Ahau, 11 Ahau (Brasseur says in the 8 Ahau), the fortified territory of Mayalpan was invaded by the men of Itza, under their king Ulmil, because they had walls and governed in common the people of Mayalpan. Eighty-three years elapsed after this event and at the beginning of 11 Ahau, Mayalpan was destroyed by strangers of the Uitzes, (perhaps Quichés) or Highlanders, as was also Tancaj (Tancah) of Mayalpan. In the 6 Ahau (8 Ahau according to original text and Brasseur), Mayalpan was destroyed (finally abandoned). The epochs of 6 Ahau, 4 Ahau, and 2 Ahau, elapsed, and at this period the Spaniards, for the first time arrived, and gave the name of Yucatan to this province, sixty years after the destruction of the fortress. The 13 Ahau, 11 Ahau, pestilence and small-pox were in the castles. In the 13 Ahau, Ajpula (Ahpulá) died; six years were wanting to the completion of the 13 Ahau; this year was counted toward the east of the wheel, and began on the 4 Kan (the 4 Kan began the month Pop). Ajpula died on the eighteenth day of the month Zip, in the 9 Ymix (in the third month Zip, and on the ninth day Ymix); and that it may be known in numbers, it was the year 1536, sixty years after the demolition of the fortress. Before the termination of the 11 Ahau, the Spaniards arrived; holy men from the east came with them when they reached this land. The 9 Ahau was the commencement of Christianity; and in this year was the arrival of Toral, the first (new) bishop."

Such is our chief authority on the aboriginal history of Yucatan. It is, as Perez remarks, "rather a list than a circumstantial detail of the events," was doubtless written from memory of the original records after the Spaniards came, and may be inaccurate at some points. Perez claims to interpret its chronology according to his theory that the Ahau Katun was a period of twenty-four years;⁹⁷⁹ while Brasseur, following most of the Spanish writers, reckons an Ahau Katun as only twenty years. I do not propose to enter into any further discussion on this point, but it should be noted that while Perez adduces strong arguments in favor of his general theory of the length of these periods, neither his translation of the document in question nor his comments thereon are at all consistent with his own theory. The document states clearly that Ahpula died in 1536, six years before the end of 13 Ahau, which must have closed in 1541. An accurate calculation, reckoning twenty-four years to an epoch, would make the 8 Ahau in which the Tutul Xius left their ancient home, begin with the year 173, A.D.,⁹⁸⁰ instead of 144 as Perez gives it. If we compute the epochs at twenty years each, we have 401 as the date when the migration began. I have not attempted to fix the date of the migration from Chiapas, of which this forms a part, further than to place it before the fifth and probably after the second century; but the date 401 agrees better than that of 173 with the general tenor of the authorities,

I therefore follow this system in forming the following résumé, although I give in notes the dates of the other system, together with some of Perez' dates.

The Tutul Xius left their ancient home in Chiapas in 401, wandering for eighty-one years before their arrival in 482 at Chacnouitan, or the southern part of the peninsula, under the command of, or together with, Holon Chan Tepeuh.⁹⁸¹ Ahmecat Tutul Xiu arrived with them or at a later period,⁹⁸² and they remained ninety-nine years in Chacnouitan, down to 581.⁹⁸³ Then took place the conquest of Bacalar, where they ruled for sixty years, or from 581 to 641; but at the same time the 4 Ahau, 2 Ahau, 13 Ahau, of this period, correspond to the years 701 to 761, leaving the years 641 to 701 unaccounted for.⁹⁸⁴ During this rule at Bacalar, or at its end, they took possession of Chichen Itza, where they remained for six epochs, or one hundred and twenty years, from 761 to 881.⁹⁸⁵ Then they went to Champoton where the Itzas had been, taking that country in 941,⁹⁸⁶ nothing being said of them during the three epochs from 881 to 941. The Itzas had ruled in Champoton for two hundred and sixty years, from 4 (or better 6) Ahau to 8 Ahau, or from 681, when they were probably driven from Chichen,⁹⁸⁷ to 941 when they were driven out by the Tutul Xius.⁹⁸⁸ The Itzas wandered for two epochs, from 941 to 981, suffering great hardships,

and then again obtained fixed homes. Where they settled the record fails to state.⁹⁸⁹

TUTUL XIU ANNALS

Returning to the annals of the Tutul Xius, in 2 Ahau, 981, Ahcuitok Tutul Xiu settled at Uxmal, where his people ruled conjointly with the kings of Chichen and Mayapan for two hundred years, from 981 to 1181.⁹⁹⁰ In the tenth year of 8 Ahau, or 1191, Chac Xib Chac, and other lords of Chichen, were deposed for some offence against Hunac Eel, the ruler of Mayapan. In the same epoch the Cocome king attacked and defeated the Itza king Ulmil. This war lasted thirty-four years, and was ended before 1221, by the Itzas invading Mayapan.⁹⁹¹

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 1461.⁹⁹² After three epochs more, the Spaniards came for the first time, between 1501 and 1521, sixty years after the destruction of Mayapan.⁹⁹³ Between 1521 and 1561, the small-pox ravaged the country, and among its victims was Ahpulá, who died in 1536.⁹⁹⁴ 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;⁹⁹⁵ 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.⁹⁹⁶ 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.⁹⁹⁷

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.⁹⁹⁸

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.⁹⁹⁹ 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.¹⁰⁰⁰

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.¹⁰⁰¹ 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.¹⁰⁰² 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 1461.¹⁰⁰³

Also between 1441 and 1461, Mayapan was finally ruined in the contentions of the factions, and abandoned at the death of a monarch called by some authors Mochan Xiu; the Tutul Xius then seem to have retired to Mani, which was their capital down to the Conquest.¹⁰⁰⁴ For twenty years after the final destruction of Mayapan the tribes are said to have remained at peace and independent of each other; but the remaining century, down to 1561, was one of almost continual inter-tribal strife, of which there is no detailed record, but which, with hurricanes, famine, deadly pestilence, and constantly recurring omens and predictions of final disaster, so desolated and depopulated the country, that the Spaniards found the Mayas but a mere wreck of what they once had been, fighting bravely, but not unitedly, against the invaders.¹⁰⁰⁵

END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME