172 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ited by people of different nations. According to 

 the manuscript of Don Juan Torres, the grandson of 

 the last king of the Quiches, which was in the pos- 

 session of the lieutenant-general appointed by Pedro 

 de Alvarado, and which Fuentes says he obtained 

 by means of Father Francis Vasques, the historian 

 of the order of San Francis, the Toltecas themselves 

 descended from the house of Israel, who were released 

 by Moses from the tyranny of Pharaoh, and after cross- 

 ing the Red Sea, fell into idolatry. To avoid the re- 

 proofs of Moses, or from fear of his inflicting upon them 

 some chastisement, they separated from him and his 

 brethren, and under the guidance of Tanub, their chief, 

 passed from one continent to the other, to a place which 

 they called the seven caverns, a part of the kingdom of 

 Mexico, where they founded the celebrated city of Tula. 

 From Tanub sprang the families of the kings of Tula 

 and Quiche, and the first monarch of the Toltecas. Ni- 

 maquiche, the fifth king of that line, and more beloved 

 than any of his predecessors, was directed by an oracle 

 to leave Tula, with his people, who had by this time 

 multiplied greatly, and conduct them from the kingdom 

 of Mexico to that of Guatimala. In performing this 

 journey they consumed many years, suffered extraordi- 

 nary hardships, and wandered over an immense tract of 

 country, until they discovered the Lake of Atitan, and 

 resolved to settle near it in a country which they called 

 Quiche. 



Nimaquiche was accompanied by his three brothers, 

 and it was agreed to divide the new country between 

 them. Nimaquiche died ; his son Axcopil became chief 

 of the Quiches, Kachiquels, and Zutugiles, and was at 

 the head of his nation when they settled in Quiche, and 

 the first monarch who reigned in Utatlan. Under him 



