q 
» 
= 
A 
* 
; 
* 
aes age i eat es tie 
1898-99. | DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA, 171 
with the principality of Zaachilla-Yoho, under the sovereignty of the 
pontiff king.” 
“ The first royal name that is met with in our documents in a definite 
form is that of Ozomatli, who reigned, it is said, at Mictlan, at the time 
of the great defeat of the Mixtecs by the warriors of Teohuacan in 1351. 
Whether this prince was the pontiff of Yopaa or the king of Zapoteca- 
pan, we cannot tell. Zaachilla is the first Zapotec monarch who 
afterwards figures with some brilliancy in the vague fragments of their 
annals that have survived ; there is every reason to believe that it was 
he, or one of his predecessors of the same name, who built the city of 
Zaachilla-Yoho, the capital of that country, The author whom we 
follow in his narrative attributes to him the conquest of Nexapa, and 
the reduction of the Chontals.” 
Passing over two other Zaachillas, the ally of Oxlahuh-Tzy comes 
into view. “ The Zapotecs, irritated by the numberless barbarities of 
the Mexican king Ahuitzotl, had resumed the offensive. Cocyoéza had 
just mounted the throne of Teotzapotlan, left vacant by the death of 
Zaachilla III]. A warrior not less skilful than his predecessor, he had 
formerly distinguished himself at the taking of Tehuantepec, and had 
acquired, in spite of his youth, the reputation of a chief as prudent as he 
was brave. More moderate than his father, he sought, from the first day 
of his accession, to conciliate his neighbours : he renewed the old alliance, 
broken by the ambition of Zaachilla, and laboured in concert with them 
to increase the honour of the nations he commanded. His most ardent 
desire was to deliver his country from the yoke of the stranger and to 
drive the Mexicans from the fortress which they held in the heart of his 
dominions. They did not delay to give him the opportunity for so 
doing. Since the expedition of Ahuitzotl, Tehuantepec had remained 
in their hands: they had made a strong place of it, occupied by a large 
garrison, intended to hold the Zapotecs in check, and to protect the 
passage of subjects of the empire who traded on the borders of 
Soconusco and Xachiltepec. An unfortunate campaign against these 
regions, undertaken anew by the Mexican generals, by weakening their 
forces and diminishing their prestige, taught the people that they were 
not invincible ; some unhappy efforts made to repair former defeats had 
the result of exhausting their garrison and of discrediting them in the 
eyes of their enemies. 
“These enemies were quite ready to profit by the circumstances. 
Cocyoéza was on the watch, looking for the moment to thrust himself 
upon their prey and tear it from them. The uprising of. the people 
