Brinton.] ODO [Nov. 4, 



Hun-liun-x^hpu and Vucub-Hun-Alipu ascended to dwell the one in the 

 sun, the other in the moon. 



The portion of the legend which narrates the return of Xbalanque to the 

 upper world, and what befell him there, as referred to in the myth pre- 

 served by Las Casas, is not preserved in the Popol Vuh. 



The faint resemblance which the early missionaries noticed in this re- 

 ligious tradition to that of Christ would not lead any one who has at all 

 closely studied mythology to assume that this is an echo of Christian 

 teachings. Both in America and the Orient the myths of the hero god, 

 born of a virgin, and that of the descent into Hades, are among the most 

 common. Their explanation rests on the universality and prominence of 

 the processes of nature which are typified under these narratives. It is 

 unscientific to attempt to derive one from the other, and it is not less so to 

 endeavor to invest them with the character of history, as has been done in 

 this instance by the Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg), and various other 

 writers. 



The Abte maintained that Xibalba was the name of an ancient State in 

 the valley of the Usumasinta in Tabasco, the capital of which was 

 Palenque.* He inclined to the belief that the original form was tzibalba, 

 which would mean painted mole, in the Tzendal dialect, and might have 

 reference to a custom of painting the face. This far-fetched derivation is 

 wholly unnecessary. The word Xibalba, Cakchiquel Xibalbay, Maya 

 Xibalba, Xabalba or Xubalba (all found in the Diccionario de Motul, MSS.), 

 was the common term throughout the Maya stock of languages to denote 

 the abode of the spirits of the dead, or Hades, which with them was held to 

 be under the surface of the earth, and not, as the Mexicans often supposed, 

 in the far north. Hence the Cakchiquels used as synonymous with it the 

 expression "the centre or heart of the earth." 

 5 cJi'u qux uleu 

 I in its heart the earth. ^^^^^ ^'''- ^- ^- >• 



Coto adds that the ancient meaning of the word was a ghost or vision of 

 a departed spirit — "antiguameute este nombre Xibalbay significaba el de- 

 "monio, vel los diflfuntos 6 visiones que se les aperescian, y asi decian, y 



"aun algunos ay que lo dicen oy, xuqiitzii xibalbay ri etzani cM nu vacJi, 



G 



"se me aperecio el diffunto." 



After the conquest the word was and is in common use in Guatemala 

 dialects to mean 7t6ll, and in Maya for the devil. Cogolludo states that it 

 was the original Maya term for the Evil Spirit, and that it means "He 

 who disappears, or vanishes, "f He evidently derived it from the Maya 

 verb xibil, and I believe this derivation is correct ; but the signification he 



* Dissertation sur les Mijthes de I' Antiquiti Americaine, 'i yiii (Paris, 1861); see 

 also his note to the Popol Vuh, p. 70. 



t " El Demonio se llamaba Xibilha, que quiere decir el que se desparece 6 des- 

 banece." fJis'.oria de Yucalhan, Ub. Iv, cup. vii. Cogolludo had lived in Yuca- 

 tan twenty-one years when he was making the final revision of his History, 

 and was moderately well acquainted with the Maya tongue. 



