Then, after a lapse of years, “a large number of tribes, with their lords, came to Yucatan from the south.” Bishop Landa conjectures that, although his informants did not know this for certain, “these tribes must have come from Chiapas, many words and the conjugation of some verbs being the same in Yucatan as in Chiapas where there existed great signs showing that ancient capitals had been devastated and abandoned,” possibly by earthquakes, famine, disease or warfare. It has been surmised that the venerable Bishop alluded, in this sentence, to the ruins of Palenque in Chiapas. Although not mentioned by Cogolludo or Lizana it is accepted that the new-comers were the Tutul-xius. According to an ancient Maya chronicle, “at a date corresponding to 401 A.D., the four Tutul-xius had fled from the house of Nonoual, to the west of Zuiva and came from the land of Tulapan. Four eras passed before they reached the peninsula of Yucatan named Chac-noui-tan under their chieftain, Holon-Chan-Tepeuh,” a name which is equally intelligible in Maya, Tzendal and Nahuatl and means Head-Serpent and “lord of the mountain,” according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, who states that the latter was a sovereign title amongst the Quichés. Landa relates that, after wandering about Yucatan for forty years (possibly in search of the stable centre) these tribes settled near Mayapan, subjected themselves to its laws and lived in peaceful friendship with the Cocomes. The new-comers brought with them the atlatl or spear-thrower which is minutely described but is evidently regarded as a weapon of the chase.(57) The chronicle goes on to narrate that the Cocom governor, having become ambitious for riches, entered into a treaty with Mexican warriors who were garrisoned at Tabasco and Xicalango by the Mexican ruler and induced them to come to Mayapan and to aid him in oppressing the native lords. The latter and the Tutul-xius rebelled against this action and, having observed the Mexicans and become experts in the art of using their bow and arrow, lance, hatchet, shield and other defensive armor, they “ceased to admire and fear the Mexicans and began to make little of them, and in this condition they remained for some years.” A lapse of years passed and another Cocom chief formed a fresh league with the Tabasco people. More Mexican warriors came to Mayapan and supported him in tyrannizing and making slaves of the lower class. Then the Tutulxiu lords assembled and decided to murder the Cocom ruler. Having done so they also killed all his sons with the exception of one who was absent; burnt their houses and seized their plantations of cocoa and other fruits, saying that these compensated for what had been stolen from them. The differences which subsequently arose between the Cocome and the Xius people resulted in the final destruction and abandonment of Mayapan after an occupation of more than five hundred years, both tribes returning to their countries.