The Itzas who resided in the Peten district left the region around Chichen Itza some time in the fifteenth century, probably after the fall of Mayapan. They were ruled by an hereditary chieftain, called by the Spaniards "the great king, Canek." Under him the territory was divided into four districts, each with its own chief, with whom the Canek consulted about important undertakings.
Evidently in removing to Peten the Itzas were retracing their steps on the line of their first entrance to the peninsula. They even attempted to go further west, and guided, probably, by ancient memories, a large number set out for Tabasco and the banks of the Usumaciuta,[TN-23] where repose the ruins of Palenque, possibly the home of their ancestors. But they were attacked and driven back by the natives of Tabasco, with the loss of their leader, a brother-in-law of the great Canek. These and other particulars about them are repeated by Villagutierre Sotomayor, _Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza_, folio, Madrid, 1701.
4. The elliptical form of expression here renders the translation difficult. The verb _cutal_ (old form _cultal_), pret. _culhi_ or _cuthi_, fut. _culac_, means to sit down, to remain in a place, to be at home there, to reside, etc. Perhaps the translation both here and in § 2 should be, "for thirteen katuns they ruled, etc."
5. The word _yum_, plural _yumob_, means father and also chief, leader, ruler, etc. In modern Maya it is the translation of Sir, Mister, Señor.
The proper names of the localities whence the four divisions are said to have come, have a mythological cast. I cannot find any of them in the present geography of Yucatan. Kin Colah Peten is mentioned in a "katun wheel" in this same Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel, as the name of one of the towns which furnished a katun stone. Zuiva I have already referred to as appearing in the Quetzalcoatl myth (see page 110).
The mountains of Canhek and the Nine Mountains take us to the Itzas around Lake Peten, in the extreme south of the peninsula, this last mentioned division being, in fact, that from the south.
6. _U payalob_, plural passive of _pay_, to call, to summon.
_Tan yol che_, _ol_ or _yol_ is the heart or centre of the leaf or plant; _tan xuluc mul_, see page 174. _Yauat pixanobi_, they were happy in singing, or, they gained favor by singing. The expression is obscure. The verb _auat_ is applied to the singing of birds, the crowing of cocks, and generally to the natural sound made by any animal, and, in composition, to the sound of musical instruments, as, _auatzah_, to play on the flute, to blow a trumpet.