232 
GUATEMALA. 
guards of Cotuha were surprised by well-armed visitors 
from Ilocab; but so complete was the military system of 
the Quiches that immediately the hosts were collected, 
battled with the rebels, and after utterly routing them, 
reduced some to slavery, and sacrificed others on the 
bloody altar of Tohil. 
The successors of Cotuha and Iztayul were Gucumatz 
and Cotuha II., during whose reigns the capital was re¬ 
moved to the site called Utatlan or Gumarcah. On this 
platform, so admirably adapted for fortification, palaces 
and altars, as well as fortifications, were built of cut 
stone. Watch-towers rose high in air, and answered to 
those in the surrounding mountain regions. The Plaza 
was paved with a smooth white cement superior to the 
stucco of Pompeii, and the ruins so distinct forty years 
ago tell a plain story of an advanced civilization. It may 
be of interest to read what this most remarkable people 
say of themselves, that we may more clearly see them 
before us. Their greatness passed away, as did all the 
learning, art, and refinement of Athens and Rome, to be 
succeeded by ignorance, slavery, and degradation; and 
alas! this nation of the New World has left but few 
monuments to tell the story of what it once was. 
So slight are the glimpses we have of that past, that 
the picture must be a shadowy outline at best; but it is 
worth while to trace even the outline, for the portrait 
will apply to the other inhabitants of Guatemala as well 
as to the Quiches. The wisdom of the kings was magic 
even to the Spanish annalists, and these tell of the “ Rey 
portentoso ” Gucumatz that, like the prophet Mohammed, 
he ascended into heaven, where he abode seven days; 
and that he descended into hell, where he tarried other 
