It cannot be said that the early Spanish authors upon the affairs of Yucatan either corroborate or discredit the contents of the "Popol Vuh" in any way. To begin with, Landa, Cogolludo, and Las Casas confine themselves more to Yucatan proper than to Guatemala, and their remarks upon native belief, in so far as they illustrate the "Popol Vuh" at all, are really references to Mayan myths. Palacios is meagre in his references to any native beliefs, and the works of all four are so coloured by the phantasies of mediæval theology that, although interesting, they possess little real value. So far, in fact, as they throw light upon the "Popol Vuh" they might be safely ignored, and they are only given as works of reference in the bibliography for the sake of completeness. They are, however, most valuable for the study of Mayan mythology proper, and for complete understanding of the "Popol Vuh" and of Kiché mythology in general, knowledge of Mayan myth is necessary. EVIDENCE OF METRICAL COMPOSITION There is not wanting evidence to show that, like most barbarous compositions which depended for their popularity upon the ease with which they could be memorised, the "Popol Vuh" was originally composed in metre. Passages here and there show a decided metrical tendency, as: "Ama x-u ch'ux ri Vuch Ve, x-cha ri mama. Ta chi xaquinic Quate ta chi gekumarchic Cahmul xaquin ri mama Ca xaquin-Vuch" ca cha vinak vacamic. which is translated: "Is the dawn about to be? Yes, answered the old man. Then he spread apart his legs. Again the darkness appeared. Four times the old man spread his legs. Now the opossum spreads his legs"-- Say the people. [21] The first line almost scans in iambics (English style), and the fifth is perfect, except for the truncation in the fourth foot. The others appear to us to consist of that alternation of sustained feet--musically represented by a semibreve--with pyrrhics, which is characteristic of nearly all savage dance-poetry. Father Coto, a missionary, observes that the natives were fond of telling long stories and of repeating chants, keeping time to them in those dances of which all the American aboriginal peoples appear to have been so fond--and still are, as Baron Nordenskjöld has recently discovered in the Aymara country. These chants were called nugum tzih, or "garlands of words," and although the native compiler of the "Popol Vuh" appears to have been unable to recollect the precise rhythm of the whole, many passages attest its original odic character. Note.--The pronunciation of x in Kiché equals sh. Ch is pronounced hard, as in the Scottish "loch," and c hard, like k. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX