Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/77



HE next entrada was made by two members of the Franciscan Order, which has done so much in many parts of the world to bring unbelievers into the Church. As we shall very shortly see, their coming inaugurated a new period in the conquest of the Itzas.

From lack of any sort of information we must assume that from 1524 to 1614 the Itzas of Tayasal or Peten were unmolested by Spaniards. There are numerous hints of their formidableness during this period, and the event of which we shall soon learn shows that they were not without a certain grim humor.

The Name Canek. Cortes, when he visited Peten, found the governmental power in the hands of a personage bearing the name or title of Canek. Cogolludo and Villagutierre both say that this term was a name arrived at by combining the family names of the ruler's parents. This seems to me difficult to believe. Rather, I think the word Canek to be a title. My reason for so thinking is this: in 1524 the ruler was called Canek, and ninety years later the then ruler was also Canek. It could hardly have been the same individual, and it is equally unlikely that the parents of two rulers should have exactly the same name. It is possible, of course, that the first king of Peten or Tayasal had the name of Canek, derived as the two historians suggest, and that this family name later took on the attributes of a title. The same thing happened in the case of the Pharaohs, the Seleucidae, the Roman emperors (Caesar), and the Incas.

While the northern part of the peninsula was being made a Spanish dominion, the southern woodland remained unconquered, causing much annoyance to the authorities. If we