ing all these together, they
form but a very small fraction of the language, not more than we can
readily understand they would necessarily have borrowed from a nation
with whom, as was the case with the Aztecs, they were in constant
commercial communication for centuries.[12-1] The Pipils, their
immediate neighbors to the South, cultivating the hot and fertile slope
which descends from the central plateau to the Pacific Ocean, were an
Aztec race of pure blood, speaking a dialect of Nahuatl, very little
different from that heard in the schools of classic Tezcuco.[12-2] But
the grammatical structure and stem-words of the Cakchiquel remained
absolutely uninfluenced by this association.

Later, when the Spanish occupation had brought with it thousands of
Nahuatl speaking followers, who supplied the interpreters for the
conquerers, Nahuatl names became much more abundant, and were adopted by
the natives in addressing the Spaniards. Thus the four nations, whom I
have mentioned as the original possessors of the land, are, in the
documents of the time, generally spoken of by such foreign titles. The
Cakchiquels were referred to as _Tecpan Quauhtemallan_, the Quiches as
_Tecpan Utlatlan_, the Tzutuhils as _Tecpan Atitlan_, and the Akahals as
_Tecpan Tezolotlan_. In these names, all of them pure Nahuatl, the word
_Tecpan_ means the royal residence or capital; _Quauhtemallan_
(Guatemala), "the place of the wood-pile;" _Utlatlan_, "the place of the
giant cane;" _Atitlan_, "the place by the water;" _Tezolotlan_, "the
place of the narrow stone," or "narrowed by stones."[13-1]

These fanciful names, derived from some trivial local characteristic,
were not at all translations of the native tribal names. For in their
own dialects, Quiche, [c]iche, means "many trees;" Tuztuhil, [c,]utuhil,
"the flowery spot;" Akahal, "the honey-comb;" and Cakchiquel, a species
of tree.

_Culture of the Cakchiquels._

These four nations were on the same plane of culture, and this by no
means a low one. They were agriculturists, cultivating for food beans,
peppers, and especially maize. To the latter, indeed, they are charged
with being fanatically devoted. "If one looks closely at these
Indians," complains an old author, "he will find that everything they do
and say has something to do with maize. A little more, and they would
make a god of it. There is so much conjuring and fussing about their
corn fields, that for them they will forget wives and