Page:The Annals of the Cakchiquels.djvu/54

48 the Pokoman dialect. The body was laid in state for two days, after which it was placed in a large jar and interred, a mound being erected over the remains. On the mound a statue of the deceased was placed, and the spot was regarded as sacred. Father Coto gives somewhat the same account, adding that these mounds were constructed either of stone or of the adjacent soil, and were called cakhay or cubucak. He positively asserts that human sacrifices accompanied the interments of chiefs, which is denied by Fuentes, except among the Quiches. These companions for the deceased chief on his journey to the land of souls, were burned on his funeral pyre. A large store of charcoal was buried with the corpse, as that was supposed to be an article of which he would have special use on his way. Sanchez y Leon mentions that the high priest was buried in his house, clothed and seated upon his chair. The funeral ceremonies, in his case, lasted fifteen days.

The Cakchiquel tongue was reduced to writing by the Spanish missionaries, and therefore, in this work, as in all the MSS, the following letters are used with their Spanish values, — a, b, c, ch, ç, e, i, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, y.

The following are not employed: —

d, f, g, j, s, ñ, z.

The following are introduced, but with sounds differing from the Spanish: —

h. This is always a decided rough breathing or forcible