PERSONAL AND FAMILY NAMES, 32
TRIBAL SUBDIVISIONS, 33
TERMS OF AFFINITY AND SALUTATION, 34
TITLES AND SOCIAL CASTES, 35
RELIGIOUS NOTIONS, 39
THE CAKCHIQUEL LANGUAGE, 48
THE ANNALS OF XAHILA, 53
SYNOPSIS OF THE ANNALS, 60
REMARKS ON THE PRINTED TEXT, 62

THE ANNALS OF THE CAKCHIQUELS, by a Member of the Xahila
Family, 66-194

NOTES, 195-200
VOCABULARY, 209
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES, 229

THE ANNALS
OF
THE CAKCHIQUELS.

INTRODUCTION.

_Ethnologic Position of the Cakchiquels._

The Cakchiquels, whose traditions and early history are given in the
present work from the pen of one of their own authors, were a nation of
somewhat advanced culture, who occupied a portion of the area of the
present State of Guatemala. Their territory is a table land about six
thousand feet above the sea, seamed with numerous deep ravines, and
supporting lofty mountains and active volcanoes. Though but fifteen
degrees from the equator, its elevation assures it a temperate climate,
while its soil is usually fertile and well watered.

They were one of a group of four closely related nations, adjacent in
territory and speaking dialects so nearly alike as to be mutually
intelligible. The remaining three were the Quiches, the Tzutuhils and
the Akahals, who dwelt respectively to the west, the south and the east
of the Cakchiquels.

These dialects are well marked members of the Maya linguistic stock, and
differ from that language, as it is spoken in its purity in Yucatan,
more in phonetic modifications than in grammatical structure or lexical
roots. Such, however, is the fixedness of this linguistic family in its
peculiarities, that a most competent student of the Cakchiquel has named
the period of two thousand years as the shortest required to explain the
difference between this tongue and the Maya.[10-1]

About the same length of time