IN THE OLDEN TIME. 
231 
Nacxit, 1 who instructed them in the art of government 
and invested them with the feather umbrellas, 2 throne, 
and other symbols whose Indian names both translators 
fail to interpret. 
On their return all their subjects received them with 
joy; but so numerous had the people become that Mount 
Hacavitz could no longer contain them, and now began 
the dispersion of the tribes. 
One branch went westward and founded Izmachi, a 
city some distance westward of Santa Cruz del Quiche. 
No rude Indios these who built Izmachi of stone and 
mortar. 
From this centre grew the Quiche power, until it 
reached from the borders of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, 
and eastward to the Lago de Izabal. Several tribes or 
feudatory monarchies owed allegiance to the ruler of Iz¬ 
machi; and if we may believe the “Popul Vuh,” we must 
recognize a feudal system quite as elaborate as that of 
Europe in the Middle Ages. A line of monarchs, extending 
to fourteen, or even twenty-four, exercised authority; but 
so obscure are the accounts that the line cannot at present 
be followed. Only this seems clear, that there were but 
three great families of the Quiches, and these lived in peace 
for a time in their new lands, perhaps during the fifth and 
sixth centuries of our era. At last the jealousy of the 
tribe of Ilocab, or the ambitious designs of the kings 
Cotuha and Iztayul, kindled the first of a long series of 
wars that in local importance rivalled those between 
Rome and Carthage. In the security of a long peace the 
1 Topiltzin Acxitl, the Tultec king of Copantl. 
2 This recalls the Kahili, or feather standard, the symbol of authority in the 
Hawaiian Islands. 
