THE POPOL VUH

Salvador, where it is still used by the natives. It is totally different to Nahuatl The language of the Aztec Empire, still spoken in central Mexico today., the language of the peoples of Anahuac A traditional name for the Valley of Mexico, meaning "place by the water." or Mexico, both as regards its origin and structure, and its affinities with other American tongues are even less distinct than those between the Slavonic The Slavic language family, including Russian, Polish, and Czech. and Teutonic The Germanic language family, including English, German, and Dutch. groups. Of this tongue the "Popol Vuh" is >practically the only monument; at all events the only work by a native of the district in which it was used. A cognate dialect, the Cakchiquel Now spelled Kaqchikel; a Mayan language closely related to K'iche'., produced the "Annals" of that people, otherwise known as "The Book of Chilan Balam," The author here mistakenly conflates the Annals of the Kaqchikels (from the Guatemalan highlands) with the Books of Chilam Balam (which are actually Yucatec Maya texts from the Peninsula). a work purely of genealogical interest, which may be consulted in the admirable translation of the late Daniel G. Brinton.

The K'iche' people at the time of their discovery, which was immediately subsequent to the fall of Mexico, had in part lost that culture which was characteristic of the Mayan race, the remnants of which have excited universal wonder in the ruins of the vast desert cities of Central America The author is likely referring to the Classic Maya sites like Tikal or Palenque, which had been abandoned for centuries before the Spanish arrived.. At a period not far distant from the Conquest the once centralised Government of the Mayan peoples had been broken up into petty States and Confederacies, which in their character recall the city-states of mediæval Italy. In all probability the civilisation possessed by these peoples had been brought them by a race from Mexico called the Toltecs An influential archaeological culture in central Mexico that preceded the Aztecs; the K'iche' ruling dynasties claimed descent from Toltec nobility., who taught them the arts of building in stone and