be a trick. Now that it was known that the coming of those
Indians had no better end than this, in the reign of this Governor a
great reduction of this province was carried on, for many of the people
of this Province were fugitives in the Woodlands of Zahcabchen. By
these, says the Bachiller Valencia in his relation, were founded the
Villages of San Antonio de Zahcabchen, San Lorenzo de Vlumal, Tzuctok,
Cauich, by a commission headed by Captain Francisco de Villalobos, his
[Valencia's] grandfather, who intended the reduction of these
people...."]

[Footnote 5.3: This was the Juan de Coronel who was the author of an
"Arte en lengua de Maya" published by Diego Garrido, Mexico, 1620. See
Wilkinson Sale Catalog, 1914, number 193.]

[Footnote 5.4: A curious misuse of this word. The Caribs of the West
Indies were so ferocious that their name became proverbial as a synonym
for savagery; our own word "cannibal" is derived from it. Ancona says
that the Caribs actually made invasions into Yucatan (1878, vol. i, p.
29). The present Lacandones are usually called Caribes by the Spanish
population.]

[Footnote 5.5: _Vecino_ = citizen, i.e., freeholder. The
non-freeholders were not citizens in Spanish America.]

[Footnote 5.6: The prophecies spoken of by Avendano (pp. 22, 23)
are interesting. They are those of Patzin Yaxun, of Nahau Pec, of
Ahkukil-Chel, of Ahnupuc-Tun, and of Chilan-Balam, High-priest of
Tixcacayoc Cabich in Mani. The text of all of them is given by
Villagutierre and by Cogolludo; translations appear in Fancourt and
many other places.

We may believe that no matter when the events took place which gave
rise to the present versions of the prophecies, the versions themselves
probably grew up among the Itzas between 1524 and 1618, for, as we have
seen, the Canek of Cortes's day displayed no aversion to the proposed
introduction of Christianity among his subjects.

It is not denied that a foundation in fact may have existed for the
belief that the seers of northern Yucatan foretold some calamity; the
present contention is merely that the prophecies which the Itzas had in
mind when they told Padre Fuensalida that the time for their conversion
had not yet come were of comparatively recent origin among them. The
Catholic character of the phraseology is too obvious to dwell upon.

Cf. Villagutierre, p. 35 ff.; Cogolludo, p. 96 ff.; Fancourt, 1854, p.
57 ff.; Lizana, 1633, pt. ii, chap. i; Brasseur de Bourbourg, 1858,