His associate was the custodian and interpreter of the sacred books, their calendars and myths, and decided on lucky and unlucky days, omens and prognostics. In addition to these, there were certain old men, of austere life, who dwelt in the temples, and wore their hair in plaited strands around their heads (_trenzado en circulo_), who were consulted on ordinary occasions as diviners.[47-2] The funeral rites of the Cakchiquels have been related at considerable length by Fuentes, from original documents in the Pokoman[TN-5] dialect.[48-1] The body was laid in state for two days, after which it was placed in a large jar and interred, a mound being erected over the remains. On the mound a statue of the deceased was placed, and the spot was regarded as sacred. Father Coto gives somewhat the same account, adding that these mounds were constructed either of stone or of the adjacent soil, and were called _cakhay_ or _cubucak_.[48-2] He positively asserts that human sacrifices accompanied the interments of chiefs, which is denied by Fuentes, except among the Quiches. These companions for the deceased chief on his journey to the land of souls, were burned on his funeral pyre. A large store of charcoal was buried with the corpse, as that was supposed to be an article of which he would have special use on his way. Sanchez y Leon mentions that the high priest was buried in his house, clothed and seated upon his chair. The funeral ceremonies, in his case, lasted fifteen days.[48-3] _The Cakchiquel Language._ The Cakchiquel tongue was reduced to writing by the Spanish missionaries, and therefore, in this work, as in all the MSS, the following letters are used with their Spanish values,--a, b, c, ch, ç, e, i, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, y. The following are not employed:-- d, f, g, j, s, ñ, z. The following are introduced, but with sounds differing from the Spanish:-- _h._ This is always a decided rough breathing or forcible expiration, like the Spanish j, or the strong English h; except when it follows c or [c], when it is pronounced as in the Spanish, _cha_, _che_, etc. _k._ This has never the sound of c, but is a rough palatal, the mouth being opened, and the tongue placed midway, between the upper and lower walls of the oral cavity, while the sound is forcibly expelled. _v._ This letter, whether as a consonant (_v_) or a vowel (_u_), is pronounced separately, except when it is doubled, as in _vuh_ (_uuh_), book or paper, when the double vowel is very closely akin to the English _w_. _x._ In Cakchiquel and its associated dialects, this letter represents the sound of _sh_ in the English words _she_, _shove_, etc. Besides the above, there are five sounds occurring in the Cakchiquel, Quiche and Tzutuhil, for which five special characters were invented, or rather adopted, by the early missionary Francisco de la Parra, who died in Guatemala, in 1560. They are the following:-- [c,] [c,]h [c] [t] [tz]