We are no longer respected by them. They no longer have consideration, or fear of our rank, and they even fight above our heads," said all the lords of Xibalba.
All of them held a council. Those called Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé were the supreme judges. All the lords had been assigned their duties. Each one was given his own authority by Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé.
They were, then, Xiquiripat and Cuchumaquic[89] lords of these names. They were the two who caused the shedding of blood of the men.
Others were called Ahalpuh and Ahalganá,[90] also lords. And their work was to make men swell and make pus gush forth from their legs[91] and stain their faces yellow, what is called Chuganal.[92] Such was the work of Ahalpuh and Ahalganá.
Others were Lord Chamiabac and Lord Chamiaholom,[93] constables of Xibalba whose staffs were of bone. Their work was to make men waste away until they were nothing but skin and bone and they died, and they carried them With their stomach and bones stretched out. This was the work of Chamiabac and Chamiaholom, as they were called.
Others were called Lord Ahalmez and Lord Ahaltocob;[94] their work was to bring disaster upon men, as they were going home, or in front of it, and they would be found wounded, stretched out, face up, on the ground, dead. This was the work of Ahalmez and Ahaltocob, as they were called.
Immediately after them were other lords named Xic and Patán[95] whose work it was to cause men to die on the road, which is called sudden death, making blood to rush to their mouths until they died vomiting blood. The work of each one of these lords was to seize upon them, squeeze their throats and chests, so that the men died on the road, making the blood rush to their throats when they were walking. This was the work of Xic and Patán.
And having gathered in council, they discussed how to torment and wound Hun-Hunahpú and Vucub-Hunahpú. What the Lords of Xibalba coveted were the playing implements of Hun-
[89] Xiquiripat, "flying pannier," according to Ximénez. Cuchumaquic, "gathered blood," according to the same translator.
[90] Ahalpuh, "he who makes pus." Name of a disease among the Cakchiquel. Ahalganá, "he who causes dropsy," according to Ximénez.
[91] Chi pe puh chiri r'acan.
[92] Literally, "in the yellow color of his body" (Ximénez); a kind of ictericia.
[93] Chamiabac, he who carries a staff of bone. Chamiaholom, he who carries a staff with a skull. Both are symbols of emaciation and death. Ahchamí, the man of the staff, symbol of authority, or of the big stick which the guardians of public order were accustomed to carry.
[94] Ahalmez, "he who makes filth" (Ximénez); "he who works in filth" (Brasseur de Bourbourg). Ahaltocob, "he who causes misery" (Ximénez); "he who works or produces misery" (Brasseur de Bourbourg). it might be he who causes wounds, the assassin. The verb toc means "to punch or stab," to wound, to behead. Tocopé has the same meaning.
[95] Xic, hawk; Patán, leather band which the Indians wear around their foreheads and from which the load they carry on their backs hangs. It is known today by the Mexican name mecapal. Many of these names are found in the Vocabulario de las lenguas Quiché y Kakchiquel which classifies them as "names of demons," explaining that they are derived from Ahau, "lord"; Ahalpuh, Calel Ahau, Ahal Tocol, Ahal Xic, Ahal Canyá. The last is evidently the Ahalganá of the Popol Vuh. Father Pantaleón de Guzmán says that, among other deities, the Cakchiquel worshiped Ahal Puh, Ahal Tecob, Ahal Xic and Ahal Canyá—all of these in reality are also names of diseases; and in addition they worshiped Tatan bak and Tatan holom, father of bones and father of skulls, gods of death. These last names, as will be seen later, are not very different from Chamiabac and Chamiaholom. Ahal Puh seems to be the same god of death as that of the Maya of Yucatán, who knew him under the name of Ah Puch or Hunhau, and who had his kingdom in Mitnal or the Maya inferno.
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