{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_31610/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_31610","id":"gutenberg_31610","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31610","summary":null,"tags":["Books of Chilam Balam","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Manuscripts, Maya","Maya calendar","Mayas -- Antiquities"],"text":"Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nA number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version of\nthis book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a\ndescription in the complete list found at the end of the text.\n\nThe following codes are used for characters not available in the\ncharacter set used for this book:\n\n  +   dagger\n  ++  double dagger\n\n\n\n\n  THE BOOKS OF CHILAN BALAM,\n\n  The Prophetic and Historic Records\n  of the Mayas of Yucatan.\n\n  By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M. D.\n\n\n  VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF\n  PHILADELPHIA; MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL\n  SOCIETY; THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY;\n  DELEGUE OF THE INSTITUTION\n  ETHNOGRAPHIQUE,\n  ETC., ETC.\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  EDWARD STERN & CO.,\n  PHILADELPHIA.\n\n\n\n\nPREFATORY NOTE.\n\n\nThe substance of the present pamphlet was presented as an address to the\nNumismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, at its meeting in\nJanuary, 1882, and was printed in the _Penn Monthly_, March, 1882. As\nthe subject is one quite new in the field of American archaeology and\nlinguistics, it is believed that a republication in the present form\nwill be welcomed by students of these branches.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOKS OF CHILAN BALAM.[5-*]\n\n\nCivilization in ancient America rose to its highest level among the\nMayas of Yucatan. Not to speak of the architectural monuments which\nstill remain to attest this, we have the evidence of the earliest\nmissionaries to the fact that they alone, of all the natives of the New\nWorld, possessed a literature written in \"letters and characters,\"\npreserved in volumes neatly bound, the paper manufactured from the bark\nof a tree and sized with a durable white varnish.[5-+]\n\nA few of these books still remain, preserved to us by accident in the\ngreat European libraries; but most of them were destroyed by the monks.\nTheir contents were found to relate chiefly to the pagan ritual, to\ntraditions of the heathen times, to astrological superstitions, and the\nlike. Hence, they were considered deleterious, and were burned wherever\ndiscovered.\n\nThis annihilation of their sacred books affected the natives most\nkeenly, as we are pointedly informed by Bishop Landa, himself one of the\nmost ruthless of Vandals in this respect.[5-++] But already some of the\nmore intelligent had learned the Spanish alphabet, and the missionaries\nhad added a sufficient number of signs to it to express with tolerable\naccuracy the phonetics of the Maya tongue. Relying on their memories,\nand, no doubt, aided by some manuscripts secretly preserved, many\nnatives set to work to write out in this new alphabet the contents of\ntheir ancient records. Much was added which had been brought in by the\nEuropeans, and much omitted which had become unintelligible or obsolete\nsince the Conquest; while, of course, the different writers, varying in\nskill and knowledge, produced works of very various merit.\n\nNevertheless, each of these books bore the same name. In whatever\nvillage it was written, or by whatever hand, it always was, and to-day\nstill is, called \"The Book of Chilan Balam.\" To distinguish them apart,\nthe name of the village where a copy was found or written, is added.\nProbably, in the last century, almost every village had one, which was\ntreasured with superstitious veneration. But the opposition of the\n_padres_ to this kind of literature, the decay of ancient sympathies,\nand especially the long war of races, which since 1847 has desolated so\nmuch of the peninsula, have destroyed most of them. There remain,\nhowever, either portions or descriptions of not less than sixteen of\nthese curious records. They are known from the names of the villages\nrespectively as the Book of Chilan Balam of Nabula, of Chumayel, of\nKaua, of Mani, of Oxkutzcab, of Ixil, of Tihosuco, of Tixcocob, etc.,\nthese being the names of various native towns in the peninsula.\n\nWhen I add that not a single one of these has ever been printed, or even\nentirely translated into any European tongue, it will be evident to\nevery archaeologist and linguist what a rich and unexplored mine of\ninformation about this interesting people they may present. It is my\nintention in this article merely to touch upon a few salient points to\nillustrate this, leaving a thorough discussion of their origin and\ncontents to the future editor who will bring them to the knowledge of\nthe learned world.\n\nTurning first to the meaning of the name \"_Chilan Balam_,\" it is not\ndifficult to find its derivation. \"_Chilan_,\" says Bishop Landa, the\nsecond bishop of Yucatan, whose description of the native customs is an\ninvaluable source to us, \"was the name of their priests, whose duty it\nwas to teach the sciences, to appoint holy days, to treat the sick, to\noffer sacrifices, and especially to utter the oracles of the gods. They\nwere so highly honored by the people that usually they were carried on\nlitters on the shoulders of the devotees.\"[7-*] Strictly speaking, in\nMaya \"_chilan_\" means \"interpreter,\" \"mouth-piece,\" from \"_chij_,\" \"the\nmouth,\" and in this ordinary sense frequently occurs in other writings.\nThe word, \"_balam_\"--literally, \"tiger,\"--was also applied to a class of\npriests, and is still in use among the natives of Yucatan as the\ndesignation of the protective spirits of fields and towns, as I have\nshown at length in a recent study of the word as it occurs in the the\nnative myths of Guatemala.[7-+] \"_Chilan Balam_,\" therefore, is not a\nproper name, but a title, and in ancient times designated the priest who\nannounced the will of the gods and explained the sacred oracles. This\naccounts for the universality of the name and the sacredness of its\nassociations.\n\nThe dates of the books which have come down to us are various. One of\nthem, \"The Book of Chilan Balam of Mani,\" was undoubtedly composed not\nlater than 1595, as is proved by internal evidence. Various passages in\nthe works of Landa, Lizana, Sanchez Aguilar and Cogolludo--all early\nhistorians of Yucatan,--prove that many of these native manuscripts\nexisted in the sixteenth century. Several rescripts date from the\nseventeenth century,--most from the latter half of the eighteenth.\n\nThe names of the writers are generally not given, probably because the\nbooks, as we have them, are all copies of older manuscripts, with merely\nthe occasional addition of current items of note by the copyist; as, for\ninstance, a malignant epidemic which prevailed in the peninsula in 1673\nis mentioned as a present occurrence by the copyist of \"The Book of\nChilan Balam of Nabula.\"\n\nI come now to the contents of these curious works. What they contain may\nconveniently be classified under four headings:\n\nAstrological and prophetic matters;\n\nAncient chronology and history;\n\nMedical recipes and directions;\n\nLater history and Christian teachings.\n\nThe last-mentioned consist of translations of the \"_Doctrina_,\" Bible\nstories, narratives of events after the Conquest, etc., which I shall\ndismiss as of least interest.\n\nThe astrology appears partly to be reminiscences of that of their\nancient heathendom, partly that borrowed from the European almanacs of\nthe century 1550-1650. These, as is well known, were crammed with\npredictions and divinations. A careful analysis, based on a comparison\nwith the Spanish almanacs of that time would doubtless reveal how much\nwas taken from them, and it would be fair to presume that the remainder\nwas a survival of ancient native theories.\n\nBut there are not wanting actual prophecies of a much more striking\ncharacter. These were attributed to the ancient priests and to a date\nlong preceding the advent of Christianity. Some of them have been\nprinted in translations in the \"_Historias_\" of Lizana and Cogolludo,\nand of some the originals were published by the late Abbe Brasseur de\nBourbourg, in the second volume of the reports of the \"_Mission\nScientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique Centrale_.\" Their\nauthenticity has been met with considerable skepticism by Waitz and\nothers, particularly as they seem to predict the arrival of the\nChristians from the East and the introduction of the worship of the\ncross.\n\nIt appears to me that this incredulity is uncalled for. It is known that\nat the close of each of their larger divisions of time (the so-called\n\"_katuns_,\") a \"_chilan_,\" or inspired diviner, uttered a prediction of\nthe character of the year or epoch which was about to begin. Like other\nwould-be prophets, he had doubtless learned that it is wiser to predict\nevil than good, inasmuch as the probabilities of evil in this worried\nworld of ours outweigh those of good; and when the evil comes his words\nare remembered to his credit, while, if, perchance, his gloomy forecasts\nare not realized, no one will bear him a grudge that he has been at\nfault. The temper of this people was, moreover, gloomy, and it suited\nthem to hear of threatened danger and destruction by foreign foes. But,\nalas! for them. The worst that the boding words of the oracle foretold\nwas as nothing to the dire event which overtook them,--the destruction\nof their nation, their temples and their freedom, 'neath the iron heel\nof the Spanish conqueror. As the wise Goethe says:\n\n    \"_Seltsam ist Prophetenlied,\n    Doch mehr seltsam was geschieht._\"\n\nAs to the supposed reference to the cross and its worship, it may be\nremarked that the native word translated \"cross,\" by the missionaries,\nsimply means \"a piece of wood set upright,\" and may well have had a\ndifferent and special signification in the old days.\n\nBy way of a specimen of these prophecies, I quote one from \"The Book of\nChilan Balam of Chumayel,\" saying at once that for the translation I\nhave depended upon a comparison of the Spanish version of Lizana, who\nwas blindly prejudiced, and that in French of the Abbe Brasseur de\nBourbourg, who knew next to nothing about Maya, with the original. It\nwill be easily understood, therefore, that it is rather a paraphrase\nthan a literal rendering. The original is in short, aphoristic\nsentences, and was, no doubt, chanted with a rude rhythm:\n\n    \"What time the sun shall brightest shine,\n    Tearful will be the eyes of the king.\n    Four ages yet shall be inscribed,\n    Then shall come the holy priest, the holy god.\n    With grief I speak what now I see.\n    Watch well the road, ye dwellers in Itza.\n    The master of the earth shall come to us.\n    Thus prophesies Nahau Pech, the seer,\n    In the days of the fourth age,\n    At the time of its beginning.\"\n\nSuch are the obscure and ominous words of the ancient oracle. If the\ndate is authentic, it would be about 1480--the \"fourth age\" in the Maya\nsystem of computing time being a period of either twenty or twenty-four\nyears at the close of the fifteenth century.\n\nIt is, however, of little importance whether these are accurate copies\nof the ancient prophecies; they remain, at least, faithful imitations of\nthem, composed in the same spirit and form which the native priests were\nwont to employ. A number are given much longer than the above, and\ncontaining various curious references to ancient usages.\n\nAnother value they have in common with all the rest of the text of these\nbooks, and it is one which will be properly appreciated by any student\nof languages. They are, by common consent of all competent authorities,\nthe genuine productions of native minds, cast in the idiomatic forms of\nthe native tongue by those born to its use. No matter how fluent a\nforeigner becomes in a language not his own, he can never use it as does\none who has been familiar with it from childhood. This general maxim is\nten-fold true when we apply it to a European learning an American\nlanguage. The flow of thought, as exhibited in these two linguistic\nfamilies, is in such different directions that no amount of practice can\nrender one equally accurate in both. Hence the importance of studying a\ntongue as it is employed by natives; and hence the very high estimate I\nplace on these \"Books of Chilan Balam\" as linguistic material,--an\nestimate much increased by the great rarity of independent compositions\nin their own tongues by members of the native races of this continent.\n\nI now approach what I consider the peculiar value of these records,\napart from the linguistic mould in which they are cast; and that is the\nlight they throw upon the chronological system and ancient history of\nthe Mayas. To a limited extent, this has already been brought before the\npublic. The late Don Pio Perez gave to Mr. Stephens, when in Yucatan, an\nessay on the method of computing time among the ancient Mayas, and also\na brief synopsis of Maya history, apparently going back to the third or\nfourth century of the Christian era. Both were published by Mr. Stephens\nin the appendix to his \"Travels in Yucatan,\" and have appeared\nrepeatedly since in English, Spanish and French.[10-*] They have, up to\nthe present, constituted almost our sole sources of information on these\ninteresting points. Don Pio Perez was rather vague as to whence he\nderived his knowledge. He refers to \"ancient manuscripts,\" \"old\nauthorities,\" and the like; but, as the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg\njustly complains, he rarely quotes their words, and gives no\ndescriptions as to what they were or how he gained access to them.[11-*]\nIn fact, the whole of Senor Perez's information was derived from these\n\"Books of Chilan Balam;\" and, without wishing at all to detract from his\nreputation as an antiquary and a Maya scholar, I am obliged to say that\nhe has dealt with them as scholars so often do with their authorities;\nthat is, having framed his theories, he quoted what he found in their\nfavor and neglected to refer to what he observed was against them.\n\nThus, it is a cardinal question in Yucatecan archaeology as to whether\nthe epoch or age by which the great cycle (the _ahau katun_,) was\nreckoned, embraced twenty or twenty-four years. Contrary to all the\nSpanish authorities, Perez declared for twenty-four years, supporting\nhimself by \"the manuscripts.\" It is true there are three of the \"Books\nof Chilan Balam\"--those of Mani, Kaua and Oxkutzcab,--which are\ndistinctly in favor of twenty-four years; but, on the other hand, there\nare four or five others which are clearly for the period of twenty\nyears, and of these Don Perez said nothing, although copies of more than\none of them were in his library. So of the epochs, or _katuns_, of Maya\nhistory; there are three or more copies in these books which he does not\nseem to have compared with the one he furnished Stephens. His labor will\nhave to be repeated according to the methods of modern criticism, and\nwith the additional material obtained since he wrote.\n\nAnother valuable feature in these records is the hints they furnish of\nthe hieroglyphic system of the Mayas. Almost our only authority\nheretofore has been the essay of Landa. It has suffered somewhat in\ncredit because we had no means of verifying his statements and comparing\nthe characters he gives. Dr. Valentini has even gone so far as to attack\nsome of his assertions as \"fabrications.\" This is an amount of\nskepticism which exceeds both justice and probability.\n\n[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE MONTHS, FROM THE BOOK OF CHILAN BALAM OF\nCHUMAYEL.]\n\nThe chronological portions of the \"Books of Chilan Balam\" re[TN-1]\npartly written with the ancient signs of the days, months and epochs,\nand they furnish us, also, delineations of the \"wheels\" which the\nnatives used for computing time. The former are so important to the\nstudent of Maya hieroglyphics, that I have added photographic\nreproductions of them to this paper, giving also representations of\nthose of Landa for comparison. It will be observed that the signs of the\ndays are distinctly similar in the majority of cases, but that those of\nthe months are hardly alike.\n\n[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE MONTHS, AS GIVEN BY BISHOP LANDA.]\n\nThe hieroglyphs of the days taken from the \"_Codex Troano_,\" an ancient\nMaya book written before the Conquest, probably about 1400, are also\nadded to illustrate the variations which occurred in the hands of\ndifferent scribes. Those from the \"Books of Chilan Balam\" are copied\nfrom a manuscript known to Maya scholars as the \"_Codice Perez_,\" of\nundoubted authenticity and antiquity.[14-*]\n\nThe result of the comparison I thus institute is a triumphant refutation\nof the doubts and slurs which have been cast on Bishop Landa's work and\nvindicate for it a very high degree of accuracy.\n\nThe hieroglyphics for the months are quite complicated, and in the\n\"Books of Chilan Balam\" are rudely drawn; but, for all that, two or\nthree of them are evidently identical with those in the calendar\npreserved by Landa. Some years ago, Professor de Rosny expressed himself\nin great doubt as to the fidelity in the tracing of these\nhierogylphs[TN-2] of the months, principally because he could not find\nthem in the two codices at his command.[14-+] As he observes, they are\n_composite_ signs, and this goes to explain the discrepancy; for it may\nbe regarded as established that the Maya script permitted the use of\nseveral signs for the same sound, and the sculptor or scribe was not\nobliged to represent the same word always by the same figure.\n\nIn close relation to chronology is the system of numeration and the\narithmetical signs. These are discussed with considerable fulness,\nespecially in the \"Book of Chilan Balam of Kaua.\" The numerals are\nrepresented by exactly the same figures as we find in the Maya\nmanuscripts of the libraries of Dresden, Pesth, Paris and Madrid; that\nis, by points or dots up to five, and the fives by single straight\nlines, which may be indiscriminately drawn vertically or horizontally.\nThe same book contains a table of multiplication in Spanish and Maya\nwhich settles some disputed points in the use of the vigesimal system by\nthe Mayas.\n\nA curious chapter in several of the books, especially those of Kaua and\nMani, is that on the thirteen _ahau katuns_, or epochs of the greater\ncycle of the Mayas. This cycle embraced thirteen periods, which, as I\nhave before remarked, are computed by some at twenty years each, by\nothers at twenty-four years each. Each of these _katuns_ was presided\nover by a chief or king, that being the meaning of the word _ahau_. The\nbooks above-mentioned give both the name and the portrait, drawn and\ncolored by the rude hand of the native artist, of each of these kings,\nand they suggest several interesting analogies.\n\nThey are, in the first place, identical, with one exception, with those\non an ancient native painting, an engraving of which is given by Father\nCogolludo in his \"History of Yucatan,\" and explained by him as the\nrepresentation of an occurrence which took place after the Spaniards\narrived in the peninsula. Evidently, the native in whose hands the\nworthy father found it, fearing that he partook of the fanaticism which\nhad led the missionaries to the destruction of so many records of the\nnation, deceived him as to its purport, and gave him an explanation\nwhich imported to the scroll the character of a harmless history.\n\nThe one exception is the last or thirteenth chief. Cogolludo appends to\nthis the name of an Indian who probably did fall a victim to his\nfriendship to the Spaniards. This name, as a sort of guarantee for the\nrest of his story, the native scribe inserted in place of the genuine\none. The peculiarity of the figure is that it has an arrow or dagger\ndriven into its eye. Not only is this mentioned by Cogolludo's\ninformant, but it is represented in the paintings in both the \"Books of\nChilan Balam\" above noted, and also, by a fortunate coincidence, in one\nof the calendar-pages of the \"_Codex Troano_,\" plate xxiii., in a\nremarkable cartouche, which, from a wholly independent course of\nreasoning, was some time since identified by my esteemed correspondent,\nProfessor Cyrus Thomas, of Illinois, as a cartouche of one of the _ahau\nkatuns_, and probably of the last of them. It gives me much pleasure to\nadd such conclusive proof of the sagacity of his supposition.[15-*]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE DAYS.\n\nThe first column on the right is from Landa. The second is from the\n\"_Codex Troano_.\" The remaining four are from the Book of Chilan Balam\nof Kaua.]\n\nThere is other evidence to show that the engraving in Cogolludo is a\nrelic of the purest ancient Maya symbolism,--one of the most interesting\nwhich have been preserved to us; but to enter upon its explanation in\nthis connection would be too far from my present topic.\n\nA favorite theme with the writers of the \"Books of Chilan Balam\" was the\ncure of diseases. Bishop Landa explains the \"_chilanes_\" as \"sorcerers\nand doctors,\" and adds that one of their prominent duties was to\ndiagnose diseases and point out their appropriate remedies.[18-*] As we\nmight expect, therefore, considerable prominence is given to the\ndescription of symptoms and suggestions for their alleviation. Bleeding\nand the administration of preparations of native plants are the usual\nprescriptions; but there are others which have probably been borrowed\nfrom some domestic medicine-book of European origin.\n\nThe late Don Pio Perez gave a great deal of attention to collecting\nthese native recipes, and his manuscripts were carefully examined by Dr.\nBerendt, who combined all the necessary knowledge, botanical, linguistic\nand medical, and who has left a large manuscript, entitled \"_Recetarios\nde Indios_,\" which presents the subject fully. He considers the\nscientific value of these remedies to be next to nothing, and the\nlanguage in which they are recorded to be distinctly inferior to that of\nthe remainder of the \"Books of Chilan Balam.\" Hence, he believes that\nthis portion of the ancient records was supplanted some time in the last\ncentury by medical notions introduced from European sources. Such, in\nfact, is the statement of the copyists of the books themselves, as these\nrecipes, etc., are sometimes found in a separate volume, entitled \"The\nBook of the Jew,\"--\"_El Libro del Judio_.\" Who this alleged Jewish\nphysician was, who left so wide-spread and durable a renown among the\nYucatecan natives, none of the archaeologists has been able to find\nout.[18-+]\n\nThe language and style of most of these books are aphoristic,\nelliptical and obscure. The Maya language has naturally undergone\nconsiderable alteration since they were written; therefore, even to\ncompetent readers of ordinary Maya, they are not readily understood.\nFortunately, however, there are in existence excellent dictionaries of\nthe Maya of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which, were they\npublished, would be sufficient for this purpose.\n\nA few persons in Yucatan have appreciated the desirability of collecting\nand preserving these works. Don Pio Perez was the first to do so, and of\nliving Yucatecan scholars particular mention should be made of the Rev.\nCanon Don Crescencio Carrillo y An cona,[TN-3] who has written a good,\nand I believe the only, description of them which has yet appeared in\nprint.[19-*] They attracted the earnest attention of that eminent\nnaturalist and ethnologist, the late Dr. C. Hermann Berendt, and at a\ngreat expenditure of time and labor he visited various parts of Yucatan,\nand with remarkable skill made _fac-simile_ copies of the most important\nand complete specimens which he could anywhere find. This invaluable and\nunique collection has come into my hands since his death, and it is this\nwhich has prompted me to make known their character and contents to\nthose interested in such subjects.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[5-*] Read before the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of\nPhiladelphia, at its twenty-fourth annual meeting, January 5th, 1882.\n\n[5-+] Of the numerous authorities which could be quoted on this point, I\nshall give the words of but one, Father Alonso Ponce, the Pope's\nCommissary-General, who travelled through Yucatan in 1586, when many\nnatives were still living who had been born before the Conquest (1541).\nFather Ponce had travelled through Mexico, and, of course, had learned\nabout the Aztec picture-writing, which he distinctly contrasts with the\nwriting of the Mayas. Of the latter, he says: \"_Son alabados de tres\ncosas entre todos los demas de la Nueva Espana, la una de que en su\nantiguedad tenian caracteres y letras, con que escribian sus historias y\nlas ceremonias y orden de los sacrificios de sus idolos y su calendario,\nen libros hechos de corteza de cierto arbol, los cuales eran unas tiras\nmuy largas de quarta o tercia en ancho, que se doblaban y recogian, y\nvenia a queder a manera de un libro encuardenada en cuartilla, poco mas\no menos. Estas letras y caracteres no las entendian, sino los sacerdotes\nde los idolos, (que en aquella lengua se llaman 'ahkines,') y algun\nindio principal. Despues las entendieron y supieron leer algunos frailos\nnuestros y aun las escribien._\"--(\"_Relacion Breve y Verdadera de\nAlgunas Cosas de las Muchas que Sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonso Ponce,\nComisario-General en las Provincias de la Nueva Espana_,\" page 392). I\nknow no other author who makes the interesting statement that these\ncharacters were actually used by the missionaries to impart instruction\nto the natives; but I learn through Mr. Gatschet, of the Bureau of\nEthnology, Washington, that a manuscript written in this manner by one\nof the early _padres_ has recently been discovered.\n\n[5-++] \"_Se les quemamos todos_,\" he writes, \"_lo qual a maravilla\nsentian y les dava pena._\"--\"_Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_,\" page\n316.\n\n[7-*] \"_Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_,\" page 160.\n\n[7-+] \"The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths of Central America.\"\nProceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. XIX., 1881. The\nterminal letter in both these words--\"_chilan_,\" \"_balam_,\"--may be\neither \"_n_\" or \"_m_,\" the change being one of dialect and local\npronunciation. I have followed the older authorities in writing \"_Chilan\nBalam_,\" the modern preferring \"_Chilam Balam_.\" Senor Eligio Ancona, in\nhis recently published \"_Historia de Yucatan_,\" (Vol. I., page 240,\nnote, Merida, 1878,) offers the absurd suggestion that the name\n\"_balam_\" was given to the native soothsayers by the early missionaries\nin ridicule, deriving it from the well-known personage in the Old\nTestament. It is surprising that Senor Ancona, writing in Merida, had\nnever acquainted himself with the Perez manuscripts, nor with those in\nthe possession of Canon Carrillo. Indeed, the most of his treatment of\nthe ancient history of his country is disappointingly superficial.\n\n[10-*] For example, in the \"_Registro Yucateco_,\" _Tome III._;\n\"_Diccionario Universal de Historia y Geografia_,\" _Tome VIII._ (Mexico,\n1855); \"_Diccionario Historico de Yucatan_,\" _Tome I._ (Merida, 1866);\nin the appendix to Landa's \"_Cosas de Yucatan_\" (Paris, 1864), etc. The\nepochs, or _katuns_, of Maya history have been recently again analyzed\nby Dr. Felipe Valentini, in an essay in the German and English\nlanguages, the latter in the \"Proceedings of the American Antiquarian\nSociety, 1880.\"\n\n[11-*] The Abbe's criticism occurs in the note to page 406 of his\nedition of Landa's \"_Cosas de Yucatan_.\"\n\n[14-*] It is described at length by Don Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona, in\nhis \"_Disertacion sobre la Historia de la Lengua Maya_\" (Merida, 1870).\n\n[14-+] \"_Je dois declarer que l'examen dans tous leurs details du 'Codex\nTroano' et du 'Codex Peresianus' m'invite de la facon la plus serieuse a\nn'accepter ces signes, tout au moins au point de vue de l'exactitude de\nleur trace, qu'avec une certaine reserve._\"--Leon de Rosny's \"_Essai sur\nle Dechiffrement de l'Ecriture Hieratique de l'Amerique Centrale_,\" page\n21 (Paris, 1876). By the \"_Codex Peresianus_,\" he does not mean the\n\"_Codice Perez_,\" but the Maya manuscript in the Bibliotheque[TN-4]\nNationale. The identity of the names is confusing and unfortunate.\n\n[15-*] \"The Manuscript Troano,\" published in _The American Naturalist_,\nAugust, 1881, page 640. This manuscript or codex was published in\nchromo-lithograph, Paris, 1879, by the French Government.\n\n[18-*] \"_Declarar las necesidades y sus remedios._\"--\"_Relation de las\nCosas de Yucatan_,\" page 160. Like much of Landa's Spanish, this use of\nthe word \"_necesidad_\" is colloquial, and not classical.\n\n[18-+] A \"_Medicina Domestica_,\" under the name of \"Don Ricardo Ossado,\n(alias, _el Judio_,)\" was published at Merida in 1834; but this appears\nto have been merely a bookseller's device to aid the sale of the book by\nattributing it to the \"great unknown.\"\n\n[19-*] In his \"_Disertacion sobre la Historia de la Lengua Maya o\nYucateca_\" (Merida, 1870).\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\n\nThe following misspellings and typographical errors were maintained.\n\n        Page  Error\n  TN-1   11   re should read are\n  TN-2   13   hierogylphs should read hieroglyphs\n  TN-3   19   An cona should read Ancona\n  TN-4   fn. 14-+   Bibliotheque should read Bibliotheque","title":"The Books of Chilan Balam: The Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":4776}