HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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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.