Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/353

and the shouts of war broke forth, the banners were displayed. Then were heard the drums, the trumpets and the conches of the combatants. Truly this descent of the Quiché was terrible. They advanced rapidly in rank, and one might see afar off their bands following one another descending the mountain. They soon reached the bank of the river, the houses by the water. They were followed by the chiefs Tepepul and Iztayul, accompanying the god. Then it was that the battalions met. Truly the encounter was terrible. The cries and the shouts, the noise of the drums, the trumpets and the conches resounded, mingled with the enchantments of the heroes. The Quiché were routed in all directions, not one resisted, they were put to flight and delivered over to death and no one could count their slain. A great number of them were taken prisoner, together with the kings Tepepul and Iztayul, who delivered up their god." The capture of a god was evidently a feat much to be desired, as we have seen when treating of the Mexicans (p. 56), and there are passages in the Popol Vuh which relate the attempts made by other tribes to capture the deities of the Quiché. Both the Quiché and Kakchiquel seem to have been in the habit of executing prisoners by the arrow-sacrifice, and the Yucatec also offered up captives of rank, reducing those of lower status to slavery. Apart from the attempts at capturing the enemy's god, war did not have nearly so close a connection with religion as in Mexico, at least as far as can be ascertained. Most of the wars concerning which traditions have been preserved either were dynastic or resulted from the refusal on the part of a subject tribe to pay tribute.