whom they had had friendly intercourse or war. In those volumes there were complete records of what had taken place in different epochs; of the various wars, inundations, epidemics, plagues, famine, and every important event.
Doctor Aguilar, a Spaniard who succeeded in learning to read some of the Maya writings, said that in a book which he took from one of the "idolators," he read of a plague which had fallen upon the country in remote times; it was called Ocna-kuchil, which, said he, means sudden death. (Ocna is to sink down, kuchil to come to a termination). There was also an account of another plague which made such shocking ravages that the buzzards entered the houses to consume the corpses, the people being no longer able to bury their dead.
The name they gave to inundations and hurricanes was Uunyecil, "flooding or floating of trees."
Among the divinities mentioned in their theological treatise was the goddess of painting (probably of literature, because all their writings were painted in various colors) and "weaving figures into cloth" (tapestry). She was named Ix-che-bel-yax.
