Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/449

Rh from which comes a heated, perfumed air, springing from the borders of rivers which lightly water a narrow fringe of coast, now of treeless lands and languid vegetation clustering in oases round the senote reservoirs formed at intervals by commiserating nature.

Clinging to half-forgotten names that were once applied to the peninsula, tradition itself seems to stamp it as risen from the sea, with an influx of settlers from the orient, and a reflux from the occident, consequent upon the overthrow of some pre-Toltec invasion. With the first inwanderers is associated Zamná, the culture-hero and earliest ruler of the country, the founder of its provinces, its institutions, its hieroglyphics, and the builder of Mayapan. After his time Chichen Itza rises into notice, as the seat of a triumvirate, with which is connected Cukulcan, who is identified with the mysterious Quetzalcoatl, and who leads the western immigration of dispersing Nahuas. His followers, the Cocomes, rule supreme at Mayapan, and under their wing the Tutul Xius enter from the south to found a third state, with capital at Uxmal. During the civil wars which ensue, the latter rise to the first rank, and inaugurate the most glorious period of Maya history. The last century of aboriginal rule presents a confused record of strife, pestilence, and disasters, which leave the country at the arrival of the Spaniards divided into enfeebled and hostile factions, to offer an easier prey to invaders. Yet they are still strong enough in number and spirit to repel both Córdoba and Grijalva, while reports of their meagre possessions serve to speed Cortés onward to the richer Tenochtitlan. And so Yucatan lies neglected, while the ocean paths on either side teem with eager fortune-seekers.

The remnant of a shipwrecked crew are the pioneers of Yucatan. It has already been related that