Cholamaꜫ; "the tribe of the Chols," or "of the corn fields." The Chols were a Maya tribe, who lived around Palenque (see Stoll, Ethnographie der Rep. Guatemala, pp. 89-93), but the reference in the text is not to them, nor yet to the Mams, as Brasseur thought, but to a nation speaking a non-Maya tongue.
Vaya vaya ela opa. I have given several reasons for the opinion that these words are in the Xinca language. See my essay On the Xinca Indians of Guatemala, in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1885.
24. Mem, dumb, silent, incapable of speech. Tin memuh vi, I am dumb, I keep silence; given in the text as the origin of the nomen gentile, Mam. The Mams speak a dialect of the Maya, probably scarcely intelligible to the Cakchiquels. They at present dwell in the northwestern districts of the Republic of Guatemala. See Stoll, Ethnographie der Rep. Guatemala, pp. 164-5.
25. Nacxit. On this passage Brasseur builds his theory of the formation of a great Toltec empire in Central America, about the close of the eleventh century (Hist. des Nations Civilisées du Mexique, Tom. II, pp. 101-5). He explains Nacxit as the last two syllables of Topiltzin Acxitl, a title of Quetzalcoatl. Cinpual Taxuch is undoubtedly from the same tongue. Orbal tzam, Bored Nose, the pendent from the nose being apparently a sign of dignity, as the pierced ears of the Incas.
vapal abah, "the lintel stone," here used in the metaphorical sense of "the corner stone."
26. The description of the dance of the Pokomams, leads us to suppose that the author means it was a war dance. The Pokomams dwell at present in the southeastern part of the Republic of Guatemala.
chicop Çakbim; the savage or barbarian Zakbim. See Introduction, p. 39.
27. Tzaktzuy. Brasseur translates "Château des Citrouilles," mistaking tzak for ꜯak, as he does throughout the passage; tzuy means also cup or gourd, and the name may be rendered either "the ensnaring cup," or "vine." Possibly it refers to a scene of drunkenness.
ri retal; the sign or mark. Brasseur translates it "limit " or "landmark " of the Ahquehays. These were one of the noble families of the Quiche stock.
28. Oronic Cakhay, "the Red House of the Nobles," said by
