Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/108

Rh Ahpo-Zotzil or Ahpo-Xahil, as the case might be. The word ahpo, like the Quichua word apu, which it resembles, means “Great Chief.” There was a marked division into classes among the Cakchiquel and the Quiché. In addition the sacerdotal body was strongly intrenched [sic] in the social system. The Annals of the Cakchiquel (Brinton, 1885) throw some light on the history of these people. These Annals were written by a member of the Xahil family. The mythical accounts go back to the reign of King Gagavitz, who flourished about 1380. Sometime early in the fifteenth century the Cakchiquel came into violent contact with the Quiché, and Quikab, King of the Quiché, made good, for a time, his rule over the Cakchiquel. Later the latter regained their freedom and founded Iximché.

Spanish Conquest. What Cortes was to Mexico and Montejo was to Yucatan, Pedro de Albarado or Alvarado was to Guatemala. He was sent to that country by Cortes, with whom he had been in Mexico. Leaving Mexico on November 13, 1523, he went to Guatemala with about eighty adventurous followers, an abundance of munitions, and some ships. He reduced the whole region of the Cakchiquel-Quiché peoples to a Spanish province. (Cortes, apud MacNutt, 1908, vol. ii, p.178; Fuentes y Guzman, 1882, vol. i, p. 46.) On July 25, 1524, the official title of this city became Santiago de los Cavalleros de Goathemala. In 1533 the King ordered Alvarado, whom he had made Governor of Guatemala, to make to him a full report concerning the country and its people and their customs. In 1541 Alvarado died at Guatemala, having in the meantime been to Peru. From that time down to about 1675 the city and Audiencia of Guatemala enjoyed a fair measure of prosperity under the usual type of Spanish rule. In 1675 some Chol Indians arrived there, asking the Dominican Provincial of Guatemala, Padre Maestro Fray Francisco Gallegos, for missionaries to teach them the Christian faith. (Villagutierre, p. 150 ff.)

Gallegos and Delgado. As a result of this Gallegos himself and Padre Fray Joseph Delgado set off from Guatemala and traveled twenty-three leagues through very rough country. At length they came upon some Choles, whom they formed into