31. Nachi Cocom, head of the ancient and powerful Cocom family, ruled at Zotuta when Montejo made his settlement at Merida, and was a determined enemy of the Spaniards. He was defeated in 1542, in a sanguinary battle, and then accepted terms of peace. I have in my possession the copy of a survey which he made of the lands of the town of Zotuta in 1545, when he was evidently on good terms with the Conquerors.
32. The names Chan, Catzim and Chul belong to well known ancient Yucatecan families, and many who bear them are still found among the natives (Berendt, _Nombres Proprios en Lengua Maya_, MS.)[TN-33]
The words Zacuholpatal Zacmutixtun are rendered by Avila as proper names, and I have followed his example. I have not found a satisfactory explanation of them.
33. The day _One Imix_ was a day of peculiar sanctity in ancient Yucatan. Landa makes the rather unintelligible assertion that the count of their days, or their calendar, invariably commenced on that day (_Relacion_, p. 236).
Imix is the 18th day of the month, and it is possibly[TN-34] that it and the two following days were used for intercalary days.
More to the purpose of explaining the prophecy in the text is the statement of Francisco Hernandez, who, as reported by Bishop Las Casas, relates that in the mythology of the Mayas, the god or gods Bacab, those who support the four corners of the heaven and who are identified with the "year bearers" or Dominical days of the calendar, died on the day One Imix, and after three days came to life again. (Las Casas, _Historia Apologetica de las Indias Occidentales_, cap. CXXIII.) This has reference apparently to the intercalary days Imix, Ik, and Akbal, which were counted so as to allow the next Kin Katun period to begin on I[TN-35] Kan. I have explained this theory fully in a paper, "Notes on the Codex Troano and Maya Chronology," in the _American Naturalist_, Sept. 1881. Naturally this was supposed by the Spanish missionaries to be a reference to Christian traditions.
_Ca tip u chemob_, when the ships were rocking; _tipil_ represents the slipping and sliding movement of a partially submerged or hidden body; thus the beating of the heart and the pulse is _tipilac_. _Ca yumtah banderas ob_, when the banners waved; _yumtah_ is to swing to and fro as a hamack or a flag. _Piixtahob_, from _pixitah_, to unreel or reel off yarn, etc., from a spindle. I suppose it refers to letting go the anchor.