Page:The Annals of the Cakchiquels.djvu/213

Rh 120. The doves; possibly flights of wild pigeons.

124. Hu may; on the reckoning of time see the Introduction, p. 31.

127. Ꜭhac, the pestilence. Brasseur translates this "la maladie syphilitique." The vowel is long, ꜭhaac. It is a word applied to any eruptive disease, to the whole class of exanthemata. From the symptoms, I am inclined to believe that it was an epidemic of malignant measles, a disease very fatal to the natives of Central America.

128. Diego Juan. Why this Spanish name is given, I cannot explain. Brasseur gets over the difficulty by translating "le père de Diego Juan," but this is not the sense of the original. Of course, tata and mama are here used in their vague sense, as expressions of courtesy. See Introduction, p. 35.

144. Pedro de Alvarado, called the Adelantado, a Spanish title formerly given to a governor of a province, and by his Mexican allies, Tonatiuh, the Sun or Sun-God, reached the city of Gumarcaah, or Utlatlan in the early spring of 1524.

147. Were burned alive. "As I knew their evil intentions, and to keep the people quiet, I burned them, and ordered their city razed to its foundation," writes Alvarado to Cortes. Relacion, etc.

400 men. Alvarado writes cuatro mil hombres, "four thousand men."

148. The palace of Tzupam. Perhaps the palace described by Fuentes. See Introduction, p. 24. Alvarado speaks of the friendly reception he met with: "I could not have been more warmly welcomed to the house of my father." Otra Relacion, etc. His first visit was for eight days, April 11-19, 1524.

Pa hul, etc. This obscure passage is translated by Brasseur in his MS. as follows: "Vous avez vu la-bas leur tombeau qui est au milieu des autres;" whereas, in his ''Hist. du Mexique,'' Tom. IV, p. 651, he translates the whole of this reply of the Cakchiquel king by these words: "Eh quoi! aurais-je envoyé mes guerriers et mes braves mourir pour vous et chercher un tombeau à Gumarcaah, si j'avais eu des intentions si perfides!"

This comparison will illustrate how differently he construed the passage, and also what excessive license he took with his authorities.

171. The order assigning the Oidor Alonso de Maldonado to take charge of Guatemala, is dated Oct. 27, 1535, and he arrived there in the following May.