these Indians call the East _Cenial_, and the West,
_Nohnial_, the first of which signifies Small Descent and the second
Large Descent, he says: 'And it is a fact that they relate that from
the East descended upon this land a small race and from the West a
large one; and by that phrase do they understand little and much, East
and West, few from the one, many from the other.' The Reader will judge
which seems to him the better.

"This land of Yucathan, which the natives of it call _Maya_, was
governed for a long time by a Supreme Lord, and the last descendant of
these Lords was Tutul Xiu, he who was Lord of Mani and its neighborhood
when, voluntarily, he came to do homage, making himself a friend of the
Spaniards on the day of San Ildefonso, 1541, as has been told. Thus it
appears that there has ever been in the land a Monarchical government
which, according to the most weighty opinion among Writers, is the best
for the conservation of Realms. This King had for the capital of his
Monarchy a very populous City called Mayapan (from which must have been
derived the name of this land, Maya); this capital, through wars and
discords between the King and his vassals, and because justice lay only
in the greatest power among them (unhappy the times in which the
Supreme Lord has not a power equal to his justice), this government
came to an end; many of the Lords and Caciques rebelled, each
dominating the greatest amount of land he could, and being always
engaged in continuous wars; thus the Spaniards found them (divided into
estates, like Dukes and Counts, albeit without recognizing any
Superior). When Yucathan was left entirely without a Supreme Lord, then
the ambition of private persons who united their forces and banded
together to effect their will, resulted in their ordering the
destruction of the City of Mayapan, Capital of the Kingdom; they
demolished it about the year of Our Lord fourteen hundred and twenty
(according to the computation of the ages [_Ahaus?_] of the Indians)
and about the 260th year of their establishment. By this rebellion he
who was King and Supreme Lord of all Yucathan was left only with the
Lordship of Mani whither he retired upon the destruction of the City of
Mayapan which was where now are to be seen the ruins of buildings, near
the Village of Telchaquillo. They left him with this small power partly
because of the fidelity of those vassals who did not deny him obedience
due, and partly because of th