IV

(THE BUILDING OF THE MOUNDS)

In the year 1541. 9

181 ¢uul. at. 5 Dik: 92 nhele 10

The history which I have written of how the mounds came to be constructed by the heathen. 11 During three score and fifteen katuns they were constructed. 12 The great men made them. Then the remainder of the men went

p. 80

to Cartabona, 1 as the land where they were is called today. There they were when San Bernabé 2 came to teach them. Then they were killed by the men; the men were called heathen. 1<5>56 is the total count today <after> fifteen years. 3 On this day I have written how the great mounds /

p. 16 C

came to be built by the lineages and all the things which the rulers did. They were the ones who built the mounds. <It took> thirteen katuns and six years for them to construct them. The following was the beginning of the mounds they built. Fifteen four-hundreds were the scores of their mounds, and fifty <more> 4 <made> the total count of the mounds they constructed all over the land. From the sea to the base of the land 5 they created names for them as well as for the wells. Then a miracle was performed for them by God. Then they were burned by fire among the people of Israel. <This is> the record of the katuns and years since Chac-unezcab of the lineage of the Tutul Xius departed from Viroa. 6

Footnotes

79:9 The year of the Spanish settlement at Merida.

79:10 Probably a confused imitation of the chapter-heading in some Spanish history.

79:11 Written heregesob (literally heretics) in the text. Cf. p. 115, note  4.

79:12 This is evidently an attempt to fix the period of building activity in northern Yucatan, just as on page 83 we find four baktuns and fifteen katuns given as what was probably the period of Maya civilization. Some Maya writers put the end of the native regime at the time of the settlement of Merida in 1541 and others fix the date at 1519 when p. 80 Cortez landed at Cosumel and even confuse the latter date with that of the settlement at Merida (Cf. pp. 81, 84). Possibly we have here a reference to the Long Count. If so the end of the native regime (whether we place it in 1519 or 1541) was believed to be fifteen katuns after an even number of baktuns, or scores of katuns as stated here. As to what the three baktuns were, two alternatives seem the most probable. We could consider them to be Baktuns 9, 10 and 11, which would make the Spanish conquest fall in the katun following 12. 15. 0. 0. 0.  1 Ahau 13 Uo. The other most likely alternative would be to consider these three baktuns to be Baktuns, 8, 9 and 10. This would fix the Spanish Conquest in the katun immediately following 11. 15. 0. 0. 0.  2 Ahau 8 Zac. It is generally agreed that Cortez landed in Cozumel during the first part of the katun immediately following Katun 2 Ahau, while on the other hand no dated monuments earlier than Baktun 9 have been found in northern Yucatan. It is possible, of course, that the inhabitants of northern Yucatan had been constructing the mounds mentioned here for some centuries before they set up the first dated monument.

80:1 Cartabona is certainly a European name, but it is not identified.

80:2 Possibly a reference to the battle on the day of San Bernabé at Merida.

80:3 Although one of the figures is omitted, the year 1556 seems to be intended, as it was fifteen years after the occupation of Merida in 1541.

80:4 When we find round numbers given in terms of fifty, one hundred or one thousand, we may suspect the influence of European methods of counting on the mind of the Maya writer.

80:5 Maya: tu chun cab. Campeche was called "the base of the land." Chumayel, p. 86.

80:6 Viroa appears to be a corruption of some Spanish or Latin word as the letter r does not occur in Maya. The name, Chacunezcab is unfamiliar, and a possible alternative translation would be: since the lineage of the Tutul Xius departed there at Viroa, Chacunezcab.