ne connecting Gumarcaah, the capital of the Quiches, with the modern
city of Guatemala, about twelve leagues from the latter and eight from
the former. Its name, _Iximche_, is that of a kind of tree (_che_=tree)
called by the Spanish inhabitants _ramon_, apparently a species of
_Brosimium_. _Ratzamut_, literally "the beak of the wild pigeon," was
the name given to the small and almost inaccessible plain, surrounded on
all sides by deep ravines, on which Iximche was situated. Doubtless, it
was derived from some fancied resemblance of the outline of the plain to
the beak of this bird.

The capital was also called simply _tinamit_, the city (not _Patinamit_,
as writers usually give it, as _pa_ is not an article but a preposition,
in or at); and by the Aztec allies of the conqueror Alvarado,
_Quauhtemallan_, "place of the wood-pile," for some reason unknown to
us.[22-1] The latter designation was afterwards extended to the
province, and under the corrupt form _Guatemala_ is now the accepted
name of the State and its modern capital.

The famous captain, Pedro de Alvarado was the first European to visit
Iximche. He entered it on April 13th, 1524 (old style). In his letter
describing the occurrence, however, he says little or nothing about the
size or appearance of the buildings.[22-2]

Scarcely more satisfactory are the few words devoted to it by Captain
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who spent a night there the same year. He
observes that "its buildings and residences were fine and rich, as might
be expected of chiefs who ruled all the neighboring provinces."[23-1]

When the revolt of the Cakchiquels took place, soon afterwards, Iximche
was deserted, and was never again fully inhabited. The Spaniards ordered
the natives to settle in other localities, the fortifications of their
capital were demolished, and many of the stones carried away, to
construct churches and houses in other localities.

The next account we have of it dates from the year 1695, when the
historian and antiquary, Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzman, wrote a
detailed description of its ruins from personal inspection. The account
of this enthusiastic author is the only one which supplies any
approximate notion of what the city must have been in its flourishing
period, and I therefore translate it, almost entire, from the recently
published edition of his voluminous work, the _Recordacion
Florida_.[23-2] His chapter will throw light on several otherwise
obs