IN THE OLDEN TIME. 
229 
In most ancient times Votan 1 came to the coast now 
known as Tabasco, found savages inhabiting the country, 
whom by patient labor he civilized, thus founding the Em¬ 
pire of Xibalbay 2 and the dynasty of the Yotanides. He 
or his immediate descendants built Naclran or Culhuacan, 
whose ruins at Palenque in Yucatan have astonished all 
travellers and students since their discovery. 3 Similar 
ruins, inscribed with the same hieroglyphic characters, are 
found at Copan in Honduras, Quirigua, Tikal, and other 
places; and the arts of architecture and sculpture show in 
these remains a development not attained by any succeed¬ 
ing inhabitants of this continent until the present century. 
While Xibalbay was still extending its empire over por¬ 
tions of Mexico and Central America, another leader 
brought with him from the North a people called Nalioas, 
who founded a city not far from Palenque, towards the 
southwest, naming it Tula (whence this people are often 
called Tultecas). The chief bore a symbolic name, as is 
even now usual with the Indian tribes of North America, 
and Quetzalcoatl (serpent with the plumes of the quetzal), 
or Gucumatz, — as he is known in the Guatemaltecan 
legends, — by his superior ability (called magic by the 
people), brought his power to such a height as wholly 
to overshadow the flourishing Xibalbay, whose conquered 
inhabitants were scattered in various directions. Some 
went northward to Mexico and founded a monarchy 
(according to Clavigero, in the seventh century of our 
era), which after four hundred years of prosperity was 
destroyed by famine; and the survivors, led by their 
1 Le mitbe de Votan. H. de Cbarencey, Alengon, 1871. 
2 Pronounced Sbibalbay. 
3 Discovered by Spaniards in 1750, but no illustrations were published 
until 1834. 
