SKLER] MAYA CALENDAR IN HISTORIC CHRONOLOGY 331 



the dates were not actual dates, but were chosen according to a fixed 

 scheme. 



Three events are recorded with some degree of accuracy, to wit, 

 tlie final establishment of the Spaniards and the foundation of 

 Merida, the death of a certain Ahpula. and the first appearance of 

 the Spanish in the peninsula. 



The final establishment of the Spanish was the result of the victory 

 which they won on St. Barnabas's day, June 11 (old style), of the 

 year 1541 over the powerful league of the hostile Yucatec chief- 

 tains in the city of Tchcanzihoo, afterward Merida." The victory 

 was followed, January <j, ITj-f'i, by the foundation of the Spanish city 

 of Merida, which from that time forward was the capital of the prov- 

 ince." The statements of native chroniclers, and in accord with them 

 also the first Spanish chronicle, Bishop Landa's, ascribe this event 

 to the period known as 11 Aliau ; and \Ahen in one of these state- 

 ments, the second list in the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, the year 1519 

 is set down, in apparent contradiction to this, as falling in the period 

 11 Ahau, this seems to be due simply to a confusion of two events, the 

 appearance of the soldiers of Hernando Cortes's fleet upon the penin- 

 sula in the year 1519 and the later final establishment of the Span- 

 ish in 1541. While the accounts as to the period generally agree 

 throughout, statements as to the division of the })eriod in which the 

 event named befell differ very widely. If we are to believe Bishop 

 Landa, the year 1541, the year in which the Spanish definitely estab- 

 lished themselves in Merida, was the first one of the period 11 Ahau.'' 

 A chronicler generally trustworthy, as it seems, Nakuk Pech, the 

 cacique of the village of Chac-Xulub-Chen, the present Chic- 

 xulub, who wrote about 15()5, states that it was the fifth division of 

 the period. "^ The second list of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel. 

 mentioned above, ascribes the event to the seventh division of the 

 period II Ahau.'' Finally, the Chilam Balam of Maui asserts that 

 the establishment of the Spanish at Merida occurred before the expi- 

 ration of, that is to say during, the katun 11 Ahau.'' Of these various 

 statements, that of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel seems to agree 

 tolerably well with my computation, for, according to this, the sev- 

 enth division of 11 Ahau would have ended on July 18, 1541, and the 

 decisive engagement at Merida, as I stated above, took place on June 

 11 of that year. Nakuk Pech's statement differs by two years; lie 

 must have ascribed the beginning of the katun 11 Ahau to the year 

 153() of the Christian era. Bishop Landa's statement is not likely 



" Cogolludo, V. 8, chap. 7. 



" Relac'iones de las cosas de Yucatan, edid. de la Ilada y Deisado. p. 103. 



« Brinton, Maya Oliionicles, p. 198. 



'' Same place, p. 168. 



^ Same place, p. 9S. 



