The name Chi Cħeen Itza was that of one of the grandest ancient cities of Yucatan. _Cħeen_ is the name applied to a tract of low-lying fertile land, especially suitable to the production of cacao (Berendt); _chi_ is edge or border. It is therefore a name referring to a locality, "on the border of the _cħeen_ of the Itzas." _Cħeen_ also means well or cistern, and another derivation is "at the mouth of the well," as _chi_ can also be rendered "mouth;" either of these is appropriate to the features of the locality, as it is a fertile low-lying tract with two large natural reservoirs near by. 5. _Paxi_, from _paaxal_, a neuter form of the active verb _pa_, to break in pieces; it means "to go to pieces, to fall in ruins, to be depopulated or deserted." Applied to a city it is often translated "to be destroyed," but it does not convey quite so positive a meaning. _Kuyan uincob_, "men of God," from _Ku_ the general name for Divinity. Chichen Itza was one of the chief centres of religious life in Yucatan, and its priests were esteemed among the most learned in the peninsula. The name Chanputun, Champoton, or, reversed, Potonchan, is derived by Gomara from the Nahuatl _potonia_, to smell badly, and _chan_, house (in composition). Elsewhere, however, we find it in the form Chakanputun, and this is Maya. _Chakan_ is the term applied to a grassy plain, a savanna, and it was especially applied to the ancient province in which the city of Ho, now Merida, was situated, as appears from the following entry in the _Diccionario de Motul, MS._ "AHCHAKAN: el que es de Mérida, o de los pueblos de aquella comarca, que se llama _Chakan_." The correct form of the name is probably _Chakan peten_, the savanna region. 6. The only obscure expression in this section is _yalan che, yalan aban, yalan ak_. This often recurs in the ancient Maya manuscripts, and was evidently a well-known formula, probably the refrain of one of their ancient chants. In Mr. Stephens' translation it is rendered "under the uninhabited mountains" (!) which is an attempt to render Pio Perez's words "bajo los montes despoblados," "in the uninhabited forests." _Aban_ or _haban_ is an obsolete word, only found in compounds, as _yoxhaban_, huts made of branches. Both it and _ak_ were the names of various branches or twigs. The phrase is literally "under the trees, under the branches, under the foliage," and meant that those who thus lived were homeless and houseless. It is a striking testimony to the love of solid buildings and walled cities which characterized the Mayas. I will add a verse from a curious prophetic chant in one of the Books of Chilan Balam, where this expression occurs, and which is an interesting example of these strange songs. TZOLAH TI AHKIN CHILAM. (_Recital of the priest Chilam._)