the Nahua nations from Central Mexico, but as a branch of the great Maya monarchy, in all probability located at first at Tulha or Tula, which, it is believed, was situated near Ococingo. At first, we think, the Quichés developed their own institutions, dialects, etc., as one of the allied powers associated with the capital city Nachan, but gradually assumed an individuality which became distinctive, until a rivalry between the capital and its allied neighbor sprang up, which ultimately ended in the overthrow of the former. Sr. Pimentel, on the authority of an ancient author, states that the name Quiché was applied to the first empire of Palenque and signified _many trees_. It was employed by the “innumerable families of different nations which composed it, to symbolize its various branches.”[327] The tradition of their origin states that they came from the far East, across immense tracts of land and water; that in their former home they had multiplied considerably and lived without civilization, and with but few wants; they paid no tribute, spoke a common language, did not bow down to wood and stone, but lifting their eyes toward heaven, observed the will of their Creator, they attended with respect to the rising of the sun, and saluted with their invocations the Morning Star; with loving and obedient hearts they addressed their prayers to Heaven for the gift of offspring. “Hail, Creator and Maker! regard us, attend us. Heart of Heaven, Heart of the Earth, do not forsake us, do not leave us. God of Heaven and Earth, Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth, consider our posterity always. Accord us repose, a glorious repose, peace and prosperity, justice, life and our being. Grant to us, O Hurakan, enlightened and fruitful, Thou who comprehendest all things great and small.”[328] In the _Popol Vuh_, the sacred book of the Quichés, we are enabled to arrive more closely at the cosmogony and worship of that remarkable people.[329] The reader may not be prepared for the irreconcilable contradictions and for the obscure and figurative language in which this work abounds; but with the remembrance that all nations of antiquity delighted in the use of figures, parabolic disguises and personifications under which the truth was couched, we may be able to profit by even the seeming foolishness and confusion of the Quiché record. The strange, wild poetry of the Quichés, can only be fully enjoyed by pursuing the unabridged accounts for which we regret we have not space.[330] In the order of the Quiché creation, the heavens were first formed and their boundaries fixed by the Creator and Former, by whom all move and breathe, by whom all nations enjoy their wisdom and civilization. At first there was no man or animal or bird or fish or green herb—nothing but the firmament existed, the face of the earth was not yet to be seen, only the peaceful sea and the whole expanse of heaven. Silence pervaded all; not even the