According to Hunter and Ferguson, the Totonicapan record (of Guatemalan Indians) refers to the division into Seven Tribes: "The Xahila family, one of the royal lines of the Quiches of the highlands of Guatemala, left an account in the Maya tongue entitled Annals of Xahila. It is stated therein: "We were brought forth, coming we were begotten by our mothers and our father, as they say . . . They say that the seven tribes arrived first at Tullan." It is observed that the Xahila record likewise indicates a departure from an Old World Tulan (Bountiful) and the settlement of seven tribes in a principal homeland, Tullan (Bountiful), in the New World. [Milton R. Hunter and Thomas S. Ferguson, Ancient America and the Book of Mormon, p. 87]
Jacob 1:13 They were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites [7 lineages] ([Illustration]): Monument 21 from Bilbao, Guatemala: The highlighted portions illustrate seven tribes or lineages. The word for flint (a glyph designated "a" on the stela) in Hebrew is Zoram. [Bruce Warren in The Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest (Fall 1991, p. 8) edited by Joseph L. Allen]
They Were Called Nephites Jacobites Josephites Zoramites 4 Fathers
Joy Osborn notes that in the Popol Vuh, the Quiche Mayas say: "There were many priests and sacrificers; there were not only four, but those four were the Forefathers of us, the people of the Quiche." According to Ximenez, the god of the Mayan people of Yucatan was worshipped under the name of "Ek-Balam or Equebalam, black jaguar." He also identified the names of the four ancestors or Forefathers of the Quiche with the jaguar. He stated that Balam-Quitze meant "jaguar of sweet laughter, or much laughter, or fatal laughter, like poison." Balam-Acab meant "jaguar of the night." Mahucutah meant, "not brushed," and lqui-Balam was "jaguar of moon or of chile, black jaguar."
Did Nephi, a descendant of Joseph in the Book of Mormon, become Balam-Quitze, the great Forefather of the Quitze Mayans, and Mango Ccapac, the great Forefather, or ancestor, of the Incas of Peru? Was Nephi's brother, Jacob, the Balam-Acab, of these same forefathers? There is sufficient evidence to make the necessary connections.
According to the Popol Vuh, these four great Forefathers, and their "truly beautiful" and "distinguished" wives, "conceived the men, of the small tribes and of the large tribes, and were the origin of us, the people of Quiche." . . . "There were many priests and sacrificers: there were not only four, but those four were the Forefathers of us, the people of the Quiche. The names of each one were different when they multiplied there in the East."
With a little effort we can trace those called "priests and sacrificers" in the Popol Vuh, to the Nephites priesthood and those who lived the law of Moses and offered up sacrifices, as did ancient Israel, in anticipation of the sacrificial Lamb of God who was to come. In the Popol Vuh, the name Balam meant "sorcerer", and it can be traced further to meaning magician and magic - in a religious sense. The final and accurate identity is "prophet." In this way, it is possible to trace the name of Balam Quitze to that of "the prophet Nephi. [Joy M. Osborn, The Book of Mormon -- The Stick of Joseph, p. 196] [See the commentary on 4 Nephi 1:37]