Page:The Annals of the Cakchiquels.djvu/44

38 attendance on the king, and, apparently, was the official mouth-piece of the royal will. Still a third, known as the lol-may, which apparently means "silence-breaker," was, according to the dictionaries, "an envoy dispatched by the rulers to transact business or to collect tributes."

Very nearly or quite the same organization prevailed in the courts of Quiche and Atitlan. The chiefs of the latter province forwarded, in 1571, a petition to Philip II, in which they gave some interesting particulars of their former government. They say: "The supreme ruler was called Atziquinihai, and the chiefs who shared the authority with him, Amac Tzutuhil. These latter were sovereigns, and acknowledged no superiors. . . . . The sovereign, or king, did not recognize any authority above himself. The persons or officers who attended at his court were called Lolmay, Atziquinac, Galel, Ah-uchan. They were factors, auditors and treasurers. Our titles correspond to yours."

The name here applied to the ruler of the Tzutuhils, Atziquinahay, recurs in Xahila's Annals. It was his family name, and in its proper form, Ah Ꜯiquin-i-hay, means "he who is a member of the bird family;" the bird being the totemic symbol of the ruling house.