436 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ally dispel all uncertainty respecting the origin oi 

 these ancient mounds. 



According to the account of the padre Lizana, 

 in the year 1553, at the second chapter held in the 

 province, the padre Fr. Diego de Landa w^as elected 

 guardian of the convent of Izamal, and charged to 

 erect the building, the monks having lived until that 

 time in houses of straws. He selected as the place 

 for the foundation one of the cerros, or mounds, which 

 then existed, " made by hand," and called by the na- 

 tives Phapphol-chac, which, says the padre Liza- 

 na, "signifies the habitation or residence of the priests 

 of the gods ; this place was selected in order that 

 the devil might be driven away by the divine pres- 

 ence of Christ sacrificed, and that the place in which 

 the priests of the idol lived, and which had been the 

 place of abomination and idolatry, might become that 

 of sanctification, where the ministers of the true God 

 should offer sacrifices and adoration due to his Di- 

 vine Majesty." 



This is clear and unmistakeable testimony as to 

 the original use and occupation of the mound on 

 which the church and convent of Izamal now stand; 

 and the same account goes on farther, and says : 

 " At another mound, on which was the idol called 

 Kinick Kakmo, he founded a village or settlement, 

 calling it San Ildefonzo, and to the other cerro, 

 called Humpictok, where falls the village of Izamal, 

 he gave for patron San Antonio de Padua, demol- 

 ishing the temple which was there ; and where was 



