Page:The Katunes of Maya History.djvu/49

41 as Señor Perez does (see commentary), but as belonging to one and the same epoch from the 8th to the 13th Ahau. It must not be so much questioned what the author ought to have done in order to represent his history in a logical way, and on account of his omissions cast a doubt upon the whole record, as how to use what he has left to construct a system from these elements, and to avail ourselves unhesitatingly of the help of the chronological sequence of Ahaues, which is and will remain the only reliable thread to lead us through and out of the labyrinth.

—"The manuscript informs us that at the 8th Ahau a colony of Toltecs under their leader Holon Chautépeuh, marched out from the city of Tulapan, and that in their wanderings they spent 4 Ahaues, 8, 6, 4, 2, till they came to Chacnouitan, which happened in the first year of the 13th Ahau. To doubt this is not possible, for this statement is the beginning and foundation of all later dates. According to my calculation which I will explain hereafter, it was from the year 144 to 217, which is 97 and not 81 years, as the manuscript reports, for if we compute the Ahaues with 24 years, as we have shown, and include the first year of the Ahau following as the time of their arrival, then the account makes 97 years. They stayed in Chacnouitan with Ajmekat Tutul Xiu during the remaining years of the 13th Ahau, until the 2d Ahau.

These Ahaues, as we have explained, should follow in the order 13, 9, 7, 5, and not 13, 6, 8, 2, for this latter list represents earlier Ahaues, and as they represent different epochs they can only be expressed by the same figures after the expiration of 312 years, thereby clearly showing the error.

It is likewise asserted that they remained 99 years in Chacnouitan, which could not have been true, for this would have made 119 actual years, or only 95 years if v^^e reckon only four Ahaues, without the second, for if we regard the succession we miss the 4th Ahau, which the manuscript has left out. But the manuscript does not count four but five Ahaues, as it reckons an Ahau at 20 years, the five Ahaues less one year make the aforesaid 99 years."

§4. The 11th Ahau, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d and 1st Ahau, or 120 years, they ruled in Chichen-Itza, when it was destroyed, and they emigrated to Champutun where the Itzaes, holy men, had houses.

§5. The 6th Ahau they took possession of the territory of Champutun, the 4th Ahau, 2d, 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d,