Their leader was Holon Chantepeuh, and their first settlement was at Chacnouitan, and subsequently, under Ahmekat Tutul-Xiu, at Balcalar. Whilst there, they heard of Chichen Itza, and later removed to this site, about the year 496. The fact that they are stated to have heard of Chichen Itza while they were at Balcalar seems to prove that some settlement already existed at the former place, and one version of the tradition represents them as setting out in search of it. For over a century they resided at Chichen Itza, and then removed to Champoton, probably owing to difficulties with their neighbours, since it is stated that Chichen was "destroyed." Their stay at Champoton is estimated at about two centuries and a half, at the end of which period they wandered back to Chichen Itza and again established themselves there. Not long afterwards Uxmal was "founded" by one of the Xiu family, Ahzuitok Tutul-Xiu, about 989, and the famous "league" of Mayapan was formed. For some time, about two hundred years, a central government was maintained at Mayapan, the city associated so closely with Kukulkan, and no doubt the paramount chieftains were satisfied with little more than the bare recognition of suzerainty. But the centrifugal action so noticeable in the political history of the American peoples began to assert itself, the league split up and Mayapan fell. The exact circumstances which led to the downfall of the paramount city are obscure. The family of the Cocomes were the rulers of Mayapan at the time, and it would appear that | they had begun to exercise a closer control over their vassals. To support the harsher methods which they introduced they commenced to employ the services of mercenaries, "Mexicans," recruited in Tabasco and Xicalanco, and by their aid levied tribute upon the other members of the league to an extent which the latter were not prepared to suffer. The accounts of the Books of Chilan Balam are obscure, but they agree in
