[140] The natives of Española are said to have received an oracle shortly before Columbus’ arrival, announcing the coming of bearded men, with sharp, bright swords. _Villagvtierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza._, 33. The Yucatec records abound in predictions to the same effect, more or less clear. The most widely quoted is that of Chilam Balam, high-priest of Mani, and reputed a great prophet, who foretold that, ere many years, there would come from the direction of the rising sun a bearded white people, bearing aloft the cross which he displayed to his listeners. Their gods would flee before the new-comers, and leave them to rule the land; but no harm would fall on the peaceful who admitted the only true God. The priest had a cotton mantle woven, to be deposited in the temple at Mani, as a specimen of the tribute required by the new rulers, and he it was who erected the stone crosses found by the Spaniards, declaring them to be the true tree of the world. Cogolludo, _Hist. Yucathan_, 99-101, gives the prophecy at length, which is not quite so clear as the version which he afterward quotes from Herrera. The latter calls the priest Chilam Cambal, and says: ‘Esta fue la causa que preguntauan a Francisco Hernandez de Cordoua, y a los suyos, si yuan de donde nacia el Sol.’ Dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. Alaman enters into a profound argument on the above, and interprets Chilam Cambal to be the Chinese for Saint Thomas. In seeking to give a date he mistakes the meaning of a Yucatec age and places the prophecy back at the beginning of the Christian era. The opening lines of the prophecy read, ‘at the end of the thirteenth age,’ which should be interpreted ‘at the end of two hundred and sixty years.’ The name is also given as Chilam Balan and Chilan Balam, the latter part savoring of the Canaanite divinity. _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 245-6; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, i. 203-4. A priest of Itzalan, named Patzin Yaxun Chan, is recorded as having urged his people to worship the true god, whose word would soon come to them; and the high-priest of the same place, Na Hau Pech, prophesied that within four ages—a Yucatec age equals twenty of our years—news would be brought of the supreme God, by men who must be received as guests and masters. Ah Ku Kil Chel, also a priest, spoke with sorrow of ills to come upon the people from the north and from the east. In the age following the date of his prediction no priest would be found to explain the will of their idols. Another temple guardian announced that in the last age idolatry would cease, and the world would be purified by fire. Happy he who repented! _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 97-101. Several prophecies therein quoted literally are reproduced in _Villagvtierre_, _Hist.