rest of the ruins, it may be believed that they all date from the first occupation.

We have, of course, no satisfactory data from which to derive an opinion as to the territorial expansion of the kingdom ruled from Old Chichen (if, indeed, it was ruled from there). Spinden (1913, p. 201), however, has found ample reason for believing that Xcalumkin, Xlabpak, Sayil, Kabah, and Tabi were flourishing at this period. Briefly, the presence of a modified form of the "manikin scepter" and of the stela (both characteristic of the ancient cities) convinces him that all these places were erected before the influence of the Old Empire cities had died out.

IV. Transitional Period (700-1000 A.D.). The Maya-Itza stock now reëntered upon their migrations. They moved, about 700, to Chakanputum, where they stayed until about 950. The Chronicles all agree as to the length of time the Itzas were at Chakanputum. Of this site we know little beyond the fact that Cortes, when he visited it in 1519, found a large village there.

Just before the Itzas left Champoton, or perhaps just after, Uxmal was founded by Ahcuitok Tutul Xiu, who, according to the tradition, probably came from the west. The lords of this city were destined to have an important part to play in the history of the Itzas. About the year 1000 the cities of Uxmal, Chichen, and Mayapan formed a confederation which has been called the League of Mayapan. After three or four hundred years of unrest after the disintegration of the Old Empire a New Empire was about to begin its career.

V. Renaissance or League Period (1000-1200 A.D.). In the Golden Age or Old Empire the civilization of the Maya race had centered about Lake Peten, in the extreme south of the peninsula of Yucatan. In the time of the New Empire the old cities in the south were gradually forgotten and new ones, quite as remarkable, sprang up in the northern portion of the peninsula. Three cities probably shared the sovereign power, forming, by their alliance, the celebrated League of Mayapan. These cities were Uxmal, ruled by the Xiu family, Mayapan, possibly ruled by the Cocom^1.5 family, and Chichen Itza. The latter is, of course, our chief concern; but as it has been often described we will only say that it may have had, at one time, as many as one hundred thousand inhabitants and that the culture that throve there was of a high order.

The political features of the League of Mayapan are difficult to describe with accuracy. Each of the three great cities had its ruling family. Below these was an order of personages called batab, each of whom held and ruled a portion of the country. The batab stood in much the same relation to the ruler of the large city as a medieval baron to the king. Doubtless each batab, ruling from his own city, had a hierarchy of officers under him. Probably Labna, Kabah, Chacmultun, Sayil, Hochob, Aké, Tihoo, Acanceh, Tinum, Kewick, and all the other cities in northern Yucatan were once seats of batabs who were more or less intimately connected with the ruler of one of the three great cities. There was ample machinery for the administration of justice, and crimes were fittingly punished. Such positions as the Halach Uinic (Real Man, i.e., king) of Mayapan and the office of batab of some lesser city usually were inherited according to the rules of primogeniture, but this custom could, for sufficient cause, be set aside.^1.6

VI. The Period of the Toltec Mercenaries (1200-1450 A.D.). However much in the dark we may be as to the details of the events which brought about the downfall of the League of Mayapan, we are in no doubt as to the main causes of its disruption. Speaking in very general terms, the situation was as follows. The ruler of Mayapan seems to have been the trouble maker. Becoming ambitious to extend his power over the other Halach Uinicil, he called in a number of mercenaries from Mexico. With the aid of these allies the Halach Uinic of Mayapan made himself master of the whole northern part of Yucatan, but he had to pay a heavy price in the shape of giving Chichen Itza to his allies.

During all these troubles the Xius at Uxmal seem to have preserved a certain amount of independence; certainly as time went on and as the power of Mayapan became more and more tyrannically oppressive, the Xius gradually became the champions of the oppressed. It was but natural that those of the Itza batabs who still remained at Chichen should resent the alien dominion placed over them. If we may believe Chronicle I, they made at least one attempt to get back their old power. The discontent of the Itza element of the population, a discontent always shared in by the Xius at Uxmal, continued to increase during two hundred and fifty years. In that period Chichen Itza, under the influence of its Toltec rulers, witnessed its final period of architectural development. The Ball Court, the Castillo, the Group of the Columns, and other buildings were erected under Toltec influence. It is easy to recognize and identify the structures of this period because they are usually distinguished by such features as serpent columns, tlaxtli or ball courts, Atlantean supports, feathered monsters, and speech scrolls.

About 1450 the inevitable revolution against the tyranny of the Toltecs took place, and with it civilization of the highest type came to an end.

VII. Disintegration (1450-1541 A.D.). Centralized feudalistic government destroyed, Yucatan fell into a sad plight. Where one or two strong states had been before there were now a score of weak ones. In the wars of this period the once great cities of the League were destroyed and abandoned; new and far less advanced cities were founded to take their place. The remnant of the Xiu family retired to Mani; the Cocom became lords of Zotuta. Itzamal seems to have become a sacerdotal state under the dominion of the Chel family. The Itzas, in whom our chief interest lies, probably withdrew far to the south and founded their power in the region about Lake Peten. Brinton (1882, p. 25.) gives this list of the small independent states found by the Spaniards: