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1980

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THE NATIVE RACES

or TBI

PAOinO STATES.

- • . J. I ^ U

-'w.''.^

THE

NATIVE RACES

THE PACIFIC STATES

NO:iTH AMERICA.

HUBEBT HOWE BANCBOFT.

VOLUME m.
MYTHS AND LANGUAGES.

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

1875.

^ S2
/•3

fi378S

EntaMd aocordiiig to Aot of OongteM, In fh« ytsr one thonMud eight handled end

seventjr Ave, by

HUBERT H. BANCROFT.

In the Office of the LlbrerUn of Oongrew, et Weehlngton.

CONTENTS OF THIS YOLUMK

MYTHOLOGY.

CHAPTER I.

SPEECH AND 8PE0ULATIOM.

PAGE.
Difference between Man and Brutes — ^Mind-Language and Soul-Lan-
guage — Origin of Language: A Gift of the Creator, a Human In-
vention, or an Evolution — Nature and Value of Myth — Origin of
Myth: The Divine Idea, a Fiction of Sorcery, the Creation of a
Designing Priesthood — Origin of Worship, of Prayer, of Sacrifice
— Fetichism and the Origin of Animal- Worship — ^Religion and My-
thology. 1

CHAPTER n.

OBIOIM AND END OF THINOS.

Quiche Creation-Myth — Aztec Origin-Myths — The PApagos— Montero*
nia and the Coyote — ^The Moquis — The Great Spider's Web of the
Pimas — Navajo and Pueblo Creations — Origin of Clear Lake and
Lake Tahoe— Chareya of the Cahrocs — Mount Shasta, the Wig<
wam of the Great Spirit — Idaho Springs and Water Falls — How
Differences in Language Occurred — Yehl, the Creator of the Thlin-
keets — The Raven and the Dog 42

CHAPTER in.

PHYBIOAL MYTHS.

Sun, Moon, and Stars — Eclipses — The Moon Personified in the Land
of the Crescent — Fire — How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Cahrocs
—How the Frog Lost His Tail— How the Coyote Stole Fire for
the NavajoB— Wind and Thunder— The Four Winds and the Cross
— Water, the First of Elemental Things — Its Sacred and Cleansing
Power — Earth and Sky — Earthquakes and Volcanoes — Mountains
— How the Hawk and Crow Built the Coast Range — The Moun-
tains of Yosemite 106

iv CONTENTa

PAUE.

CHAPTER IV.

ANIMAL HTTHOLOOT.

R6Ies Assin^ed to Animals — Auguries from their Movements — The Ill-
omened Owl — Tutelary Aninmls — Metamorphosed Men — The
Ogress-Squirrel of Vancouver Island — Monkeys and Beavers —
Fallen Men — The Sacred Animals — Prominence of the Bird — An
Emblem of the Wind — The Serpent, an Emblem of the Lightning
— Not Specially connected with Evil — The Serpent of the Pueblos
— ^The Water-Snake — Ophiolatry — Prominence of the Dog, or the
CJoyote— Generally though not alr/ays a liciicvolcnt Power— How
the Coyote let Salmon up the Klamath — Danse ^facabre and Sad
Death of the Coyote ; 127

CHAPTER V.

QODB, 8UPEBNATCRAL BEINQS, AND W0B8HIP.

Eskimo Witchcraft — The Tinneh and the Koniagas — Kugnns of the
Aleuts — The Thlinkeets, the Haidahs, and the Nootkas — Paradise
Lost of the Okanagans — The Salish, the Clallams, the Chinooks,
the Cayuses, the Walla Wallas, and the Nez Percys — Shoshone
Ghouls— Northern California — The Sun at Monterey — Ouiot and
Chinigchinich — Antagonistic Gods of Lower California — Coman-
ches. Apaches, and Navajos — Montezuma of the Pueblos — Moquis
and Mojaves — Primeval Race of Northern California 140

CHAPTER VI.

GODS, SCPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Gods and Religious Rites of Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, and Si-
naloa— The Mexican Religion, received with different degrees of
credulity by diifercnt classes of the people — Opinions of diiferent
Writers as to its Nature — Monotheism of Nezahualcoyotl — Present
condition of the Study of Mexican Mythology — Tezcatlipoca —
Prayers to Him in the time of Pestilence, of War, for those in Au-
thority — Prayer used by an Absolving Priest — Genuineness of the
foregoing Prayers — Character and Works of Sahagun 178

CHAPTER VII.

OODS, SDPKRNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Image of Tezcatlipoca — His Seats at the Street-comers — Various
Legends about his Life on Earth— Quetzalcoatl — His Dexterity in
the Mechanical Arts — His Religious Observances- The Wealth
and Nimbleness of his Adherents — Expulsion from Tula of Quet-
zalcoatl by Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli — The Magic Draught

CONTENTS. ▼

PAGK.
— Huemac, or Vemac, King of the Toltecs, and the Misfortunes
brought upon him and his people by Tezcstlipoca in varioua dis-
guises — Quetzalcoatl in (^holula— Differing Accounts of the Birth
and Life of Quetzalcoatl — His Gentle Character — He drew up the
Mexican Calender — Incidents of his Exile and of his Journey to
Tlapalla, as related and commented upon by various writers — Bras-
seur'u ideas about the Quetzalcoatl Myths — Quetzalcoatl considered
a Sun-Gotl by Tylor, and as a Dawn-Hero by Brinton — Helps —
Domenech — The Codices — Long Discussion of the Quetzalcoatl
Myths by J. G. MttUer 237

CHAPTER Vni.

GODS, SUPERNATtfBAL BEINGS, AMD WORSHIP.

Various vjcounts of the Birth, Origin, and Derivation of the name of
the Mexican War God, Huitzilopochtll, of his Temple, Image,
Ceremonial, Festivals, and his deputy, or page, Paynal — Clavigero
— Boturini — Acosta — Solis — Sahagun — Herrera — Torqueniada— J.
G. Miiller's Summary of the Huitzilopochtll Myths, their Origin,
Relation, and Signification — Tylor — Codex Vaticanus — Tlaloc,
God of Water, especially of Rain, and of Mountains — Clavigero,
Gama, and Ixtlilxochitl — Prayer in time of Drought — Camargo,
Motolinia, Mendieta, and the Vatican Codex on the Sacrifices to
Tlaloc — The Decorations of his Victims aud the places of their
Execution — Gathering Rushes for the Service of the Water God —
Highway Robberies by the Priests at this time — Decorations and
Implements of the Priests — Punishments for Ceremonial Offences
— The Whirlpool of Pantitlan — Images of the Mountains in honor
of the Tlaloc Festival — of the coming Rain and Mutilation of the
Images of the Mountains — General Prominence in the cult of Tla-
loc, of the Number Four, the Cross, and the Snake 288

CHAPTER IX.

GODS, BCPEBNATTTRAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

The Mother or all-nourishing Goddess under various names and in
various aspects— Her Feast in the Eleventh Aztec month Och-
paniztli — Festivals of the Eighth month, HueyteenilhuitI, and of the
Fourth, Hueytozoztli — The deification of women that died in
child-birth — The Goddess of Water under various names and in
various aspects — Ceremonies of the Baptism or lustration of chil-
dren — The Goddess of Love, her various names and aspects — Rites
of confession and absolution — The God of fire and his various
names — His festivals in the tendi month Xocotlveti and in the
eighteenth month Yzcali; also his quadriennial festival in tlie
latter month— The great festival of every fifty-two years; lighting
the new fire— The God of Hades, and Teoyaomique, collector uf the

CONTENTS.

PAOB.
souls of the fallen brave — ^Deification of dead rulers and heroes —
Mixcoatl, God of hunting, and his feast in the fourteenth month,
Quecholli — Various other Mexican deities — Festival in the second
month, Tlacaxipehualiztli, with notice of the gladiatorial sacrifices
— Complete Synopsis of the festivals of the Mexican Calendar, fixed
and movable — ^Temples and Priests. 349

CHAPTER X.

OODS, BUPEBMATCBAI. BEINGS, AND WOBSHTP.

Revenues of the Mexican Temples — Vast number of the Priests — Mexi-
can Sacerdotal System — Priestesses — ^The Orders of Tlamaxcaca-
yotl and Telpochtiliztli — Religious Devotees — Baptism — Circum-
cision — Communion — Fasts and Penance — Blood-drawing — Human
Sacrifices— The Gods of the Tarascos — Priests and Temple Ser-
vice of Michoacan — Worship in Jalisco — Oajaca — Votan and Quet-
zalcoatl — Travels of Votan — The Apostle Wixepecocha — Cave
near Xustlahuaca — ^The Princess Pinopiaa — ^Worship of Costahun-
tox— Tree Worship 430

CHAPTER XI.

OODS, 8T7PEBNATCBAI. BEINOB, AND WOASHIP.

Maya Pantheon — Zamn& — Cuknlcan — ^The Gods of Yucatan — ^The
Symbol of the Cross in America — Human Sacrifices in Yucatan —
Priests of Yucatan — Guatemalan Pantheon — Tepeuand Hurakan —
Avilix and Hacavitz — The Heroes of the Sacred Book — Quiche
Gods — Worship of the Choles, Manches, Itzaes, Lacandones, and
others — ^Tradition of Comizahual — Fasts — Priests of Guatemala—
Gods, Worship, and Priests of Nicaragua — Worship on the Mos-
quito Coast — Gods and Worship of the Isthmians — Phallic Wor-
ship in America 461

CHAPTER Xn.

FCTUBE STATE.

Aboriginal Ideas of Future — General Gonceptioi of Souls — Future >
State of the Aleuts, Chepewyans, Natives at Milbank Sound, and
Okanagans — Happy Land of the Salish and Chinooks — Conceptions
of Heaven and Hell of the Nez Percys, Flatheads, and Haidahs —
The Realms of Quawteaht and Ghayher— Beliefs of the Songhies,
Clallams, and Pend d'Oreilles — ^The Future State of the Califor-

, nian and Nevada Tribes, Comanches, Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches,
Moquis, Maricopas, Yumas, and others — The Sun House of the
Mexicans— Tlalocau and Mictlan — Condition of the Dead — Jour-
ney of the Dead — Future of the Tlaacalteos and other Nations .... 610

Natii

\
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Distin
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of
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of

Vo
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CONTENTS.

irii

LANGUAGES.

CHAPTER I.

IMTBODCOnON TO LANOCAQES.

PAGE.
Native Languages in Advance of Social Customs — Characteristic Indi-
viduality of American Tongues — Frequent Occurrence of Long
Words — Reduplications, Frequentatives, and Duals— Intertribal
Languages — Gesture-Language — Slav6 and Chinook Jargons —
Pacific States Languages — The Tinneh, Aztec, and Maya Tongues
The Larger Families Inland — Language as a Test of Origin — Simi-
larities in Unrelated Languages — Plan of this Investigation. 651

CHAPTER n.

HTPEBBOBEAN LANGUAGES.

Distinction between Eskimo and American — Eskimo Pronunciatin.t
and Declension — Dialects of the Koniagas and Aleuts — Language
of the Thlinkeets- Hypothetical Affinities — The Tinneh FamUy
and its Diale<.i;j 'ustcm. Western, Central, ar4 Southern Divi-
sions — Chepewyan Declension- Oratorical Disjilay in the Speech
of the itchins— Dialects of the Atnahs and Ugalenzcs Compared
— Specimen of the Koltshane Tongue — TacuUy Gutturals — Hoopah
Vocabulary — Apache Dialects — Lipan Lord's Prayer — Navajo
Words — Comparative Vocabulary of the Tinneh Family 674

CHAPTER m.

COLUMBIAN LANGUAGES.

The Haidah, its Construction and Conjugation — The Naas Language
and its Dialects — Bellacoola and Chimsyan Comparisons — The
Nootka Languages of Vancouver Island — Nanaimo Ten Command-
ments and Lord's Prayer — Aztec Analogies— Fraser and Thompson
River Languages — The Neetlakapamuck Grammar and Lord's
Prayer — Sound Languages — The Salish Family — Flathead Gram-
mar and Lord's Prayer — Tlie Kootenai — The Sahaptin Family —
Nez Perc^ Grammar — Yakima Lord's Prayer — Sahaptin State and
Slave Languages — The Chinook Family — Grammar of the Chinook
Language — ^Aztoc Affinities — The Chinook Jargon 604

CHAPTER IV.

OALITOBNIAN LANGUAGES.

Multiplicity of Tongues— Yakon, Klamath, and Palaik Comparisons-
Pitt River and Wintoon Vocabularies — Weeyot, Wishosk, Weitspek,

Tiii , CONTENTS.

PAGE.

and Ehnek Comparisons — Languages of Humboldt Bay — Potter
Valley, Itussian auil Eel Uivcr Languages — Pomo Lan<;uagc8 —
Gallinomcro Grammar — Trans-Pacific Conipari8ons - -Cliocuyeni
Lord's Prayer— Languages of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Napa,
and Sonoma Valleys — The Olhone and other Languages of San
Francisco Bay — Runsien and Eslene of Moiitercy — Santa Clara
Lord's Prayer — Mutsun Grammar — Languages of the Missions Santa
Cruz, San Antonio dc Padua, Soledad, and San Miguel — Tatch^
Grammar — The Dialects of Santa Cruz and other Islands 035

CHAPTER V.

SHOSHONE LANOUAOES.

Aztec-Sonora Connections with the Shoshone Family— The Utah, Co-
manche, Moqui, Kizh, Netcla, Kechi, Cahuillo, and Ciicinchucvi —
Eastern and Western Shoshone, or Wihinasht — The Bannack and
Digger, or Shoshokee — The Utah and its Dialects— The Goshute,
Washoe, Paiuleo, Piute, Sanipitche, and Mono — Popular Belief as
to the Aztec Element in tlio North —(jrimni's Law -Shoshone, Co-
manche, and Moqui Comparative Talilc -Nctcia Stanza — Kizh
Grammar — The Lord's Prayer in two Dialects of the Kizh — Chemc-
huevi and Cahuillo Grammar — Comparative Vocabulary 0(50

CHAPTER VI.

THE PUEBLO, COLORADO RlVEIl, AND LOWER CALIFORNIA LANGUAGES.

Trat^es of the Aztec not found among the Pueblos of New Mexico and
Arizona — The Five Languages of the Pueblos, the Queres, the
Tcgua, the Picoris, Jemez, and Zufli— Pueblo Comparative Vocabu-
lary — The Vuniu and its Dialects, tiie Maricopa, Cuchan, Mojave,
Dioguofto, Yampais, and Yavipais — The Cochimi and Poricti, witii
their Dialects of Lower California — Guaicuri Grannnar — Pater
Nostor in Throe Cochimi Dialects -The Languages of Lower Cali-
fornia wholly Isolated 080

CHAPTER VII.

THE PIMA, OPATA, AND CERI LANOUAGEa.

Pima Alto and Bajo— PApago— Pima Grammar— Fomuition of Plurals
—Personal Pronoun — Conjugation— Classification of Verbs — Ad-
verbs— Propositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections — Syntax of
the Pima— Prayers in ditroront dialects- -The Opata and Eudovo—
Etulove (.Jramnuir — Conjugutitm of Active and Passive Verbs-
Lord's Prayer — ^pata Grammar Declension — Possessive Pronoun
— Conjugation — Cori Language with its Dialects, Guaymi and Te-
poca— Ceri Vocabulary 004

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER Vni.

PAGE.

NEW MEXICAN LANGUAGES.
The Cahita and its Dialecta— Gahita Grammar— Dialectic Differences
of the Mayo, Yaqui, and Tehueco — Comparative Vocabulary —
Cahita Lord's Prayer — The Tarahumara and its Dialects— The
Tarahuniara Grammar— Tarahumara Lord's Prayer in two Dialects
—The Concho, the Toboso, the Julime, the Piro, the Sunia, the
Chinarru, the Tubar, the Irritila — Tejano— Tejano Grammar —
Specimen of the Tejano — The Tepehuana — Tepehuana Grammar
and Lord's Prayer — Acax^e and its Dialects, the Topia, Sabaibo
and Xiximc — The Zacatec, Cazcane, Mazapilc, Huitcole, Guachi-
chile, Colotlan, Tlaxomultec, Tecuexe, and Tcpccano — The Cora
and its Dialects, the Muutzicat, Tcacuacitzca, and Atcacari— Cora
Grammar 70G

CHAPTER IX.

THE AZTEC AND OTOHI LANGUAGES.
Nahua or Aztec, Chichimec, and Toltcc languages identical — Andhuac
the aboriginal scat of the Aztec Tongue — The Aztec the oldest
language in Andhuac — Beauty and Uichness of the Aztec— Testi-
mony of the Missionaries and early writers in its favor— Specimen
from Parcdes' Manual— Grammar of the Aztec language— Aztec
Lord's Prayer — The Otomi a Monosyllabic Language of Andhuac
- Relationship claimed with the Chinese and Cherokee — Otonii
Grammar— Otomi Lord's Prayer in Different Dialects 723

CHAPTER X.

LANOUAOKS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MEXICO.
The Fame and its Dialects- The Meco of Guanajuato and the Sierra
Gordo — Tlie Turasco of Michoacan and its Grammar- The Matlal-
tzincaand its Cirammar— The Ocuiltoc— The Miztccand its Dialects
— Miztcc Gramnuir — The Aniusgo, Chocho, Mazatec, Cuicatcc, Ciia-
tino, Tlapanec, Ciiinantcc, and Po{)oluca — The Zupotec and its
Grammar— The Mljo— Mijo Grammar and Lord's Prayer— The
Huavo of the Isthnms of Tehuuhtepcc— Huavo Numerals 742

CHAPTER XI.

THE M\YA-QUICHb' LANGUAGES.
The Maya-QuichiS, the Languugc!* of the Civilized Nations of Central
America— Enumeration of thii Monilwrs of this l<'uiuily -Hypotiiet-
ical Analogies with Languages of the Old World l^ord's Prayers
in the Chaflabal, Chia|)auo4j, Choi, Tzondal, Zo4iue, and Zotzil—
Pokonchi (iranmiar -The Mamo or Zaklopahkap—Quich(( Gram-
mar Ciikihiiiue! Lord's Prayer — Maya (Srammar—Totonac Gram-
mar- Tutuuao Uiuloota— UuMtec Grammar 759

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII.

PAOB.

LANGCAOES OF HONDVIIAS, NIOABAODA, COSTA BICA, AMD THE ISTHUUS

or DABIEN.

The Carib an Imported Language— The Mosquito Language— The Poya,
Towka, Seco, Valiente, Kama, Cookra, Woolwa, and other Lan-
guages in ^fonduras— The Chontal— Mosquito Grammar— Love
Song in the Mosquito Language— Comparative Vocabulary of
Honduras Tongues— The Coribici, Chorotega, Chontal, and Orotiila
in Nicaragua— Grammar of theOrotifiaor Nagrandun— Comparison'
between the Orotifia and Chorotega— The Chiriqui, Uuatuso, Tiri-
bi, and others in Costa Rica— Talamanca Vocabulary— Diversity
of Speech on the Isthmus of Darien — Enumeration of Languages
— Comparative Vocabulary 782

THE NATIVE RACES

or TBB

PACIFIC STATES.

MYTHOLOGY, LAI^GUAGES.

CHAPTER I.

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

DiFFBRBNCE BETWEEN M&N AND DrDTKB— MiND LaNOUAOR AND SoCL-LaN-

ouAOE — Orioin of Lanodaqe: a Oift of the Creator, a Human
Invention, on an Evolution— Nature and Value of Mtth— Origin of
Mtth: The Divine Idea, A Fiction of Sorcert, The Creation of a
Debignino Priesthood— Origin of Worship, of Prater, of Sacrifice —
Fetichism and the ORiaiN OF Animal •Worbuip—Rklioion and Mt-

THOLOOT.

Hitherto wc have beheld Man only in his material
organism; as a wild though intellectual animal. We
have watched the intercourse of uncultured mind with
its environment. We have seen how, to clothe himself,
the savage robs the beast; how, like animals, primitive
man constructs his habitation, provides food, rears a
family, exercises authority, holds proi)erty, wages war,
indulges in amusements, gratifies social instincts; and
that in all this, the savage is but one remove from the
brute. Ascending the scale, we have examined the first
stages of human progress and analyzed an incipient civ-
ilization. We will now pass the frontier which separates
mankind from animal-kind, and enter the domain of the
immaterial and su{)ernatural ; phenomena which philos-
ophy purely positive cannot explain.

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

ii!

The primary indication of an absolute superiority in
man over other animals is the faculty of speech; not
those mute or vocal symbols, expressive of passion and
emotion, displayed alike in brutes and men; but the
power to separate ideas, to generate in the mind and
embody in words, sequences of thought. True, upon the
threshold of this inquiry, as in whatever relates to
primitive man, we find the hrxiie creation hotly pursuing,
and disputing for a share in this progressional power.
In common with man, animals possess all the organs of
sensation. They see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. They
have even the organs of speech; but they have not
speech. The source of this wonderful faculty lies further
back, obscured by the mists which ever settle round the
immaterial. Whether brutes have souls, according to
the Aristotelean theory of soul, or whether brute-soul is
immortal, or of quality and destiny unliwe and inferior
to that of man-soul, we see in them unmistakable evi-
dence of mental faculties. The higher order of animals
possess the lower order of intellectual perceptions. Thus
pride is manifested by the caparisoned horse, shame by
the beaten dog, will by the stubborn mule, lirutes
have memory; they manifest love and hate, joy and
sorrow, gratitude and revenge. They are courageous or
cowardly, subtle or simple, not merely up to the meas-
ure of what we commonly term instinct, but with evi-
dent exercise of judgment; and, to a certain ^wint, we
might even claim for them foresight, as in laying in a
store of food for winter. But with all this there seems
to be a lack of true or connected thought, and of the fiic-
ulty of abstraction, whereby conceptions are analyzed
and impressions defined.

They have also a language, such as it is; indeed, all
the varieties of language common to man. What ges-
ture-language can Ije more expressive than that employed
by the horse with its ears and by the dog with its tail,
wherein are manifestations of every shade of joy, sor-
row, courjj^e, fear, shame, and anger? In their brutish
physiognomy, also, one may read the language of the

THOUGHT AND EXPBESSION.

emotions, which, if not so delicately pictured as in the
face of man, is none the less distinctive. Nor are they
without their vocal language. Every fowl and ever}'
quadruped possesses the power of communicating intelli-
gence by means of the voice. They have their noise of
gladness, their signal cry of danger, their notes of
anser and of woe. Thus we see in brutes not onlv in-
telligence but the power of communicating intelligence.
But intelligence is not thought, neither is expression
speech. The 1 inguage of brutes, like themselves, is soul-
less.

The next indication of man's superiority over brutes, is
the faculty of worship. The wild beast, to escape the
storm, flies howling to its den ; the savage, awe-stricken,
turns and prays. The lowest man perceives a hand be-
hind the lightning, hears a voice abroad upon the storm,
for which the highest brute has neither eye nor ear. Phis
essential of humanity we see primordially displayed in
mythic phenomena ; in the first struggle of spiritual man-
hood to find expression. Language is symbol significant
of thought, mythology is symbol significant of soul. The
one is the first distinctive sound that separates the ideal
from the material, the other the first respiration of the
soul which distinguishes the immortal from the animal.
Language is thought incarnate; mythology, soul incar-
nate. The one is the instrument of thought, as the other
is the essence of thought. Neither is thought ; both are
closely akin to thought; separated from either, in some
form, perfect intellectual manhood cannot develop. I
do not mean to say with some, that thought without
siKjech cannot exist ; unless by s|)eech is meant any form
of expression symlx)lical, emotional, or vocal, or imless
by thought is meant something more than mere self-
consciousnoi HLout sequence and without abstriu'tion.
There can b^ ».»i doubt that speech is the living breatii
of thought, and that the exercise of speech reiu'ts H\yon
the mental and emotional faculties. In brutes [y found
neither speech nor mytii; in the deaf and dumb, thought
and belief are shadowy and undefined; in infants,

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

thought is but as a fleeting cloud passing over the brain.
Yet for all this, deaf mutes and children who have no
adequate form of expression cannot be placed in the cate-
gory of brutes. The invention of the finger-alphabet
opened a way to the understanding of the deaf and dumb ;
but long before this is learned, in every instance, these
unfortunates invent a gesture-language of their own, in
which they think as well as speak. And could we but see
the strangely contorted imagery which takes possession
of a gesture-thinker's brain, we should better appreciate
the value of words. So, into the mouth of children
words are put, round which thoughts coalesce ; but evi-
dences of ideas are discovered some time before they can
be fully expressed by signs or sounds. Kant held the
opinion that the mind of a deaf mute is incapable of
development, but the wonderful success of our modern
institutions has dissipated forever that idea.

The soul of man is a half-conscious inspiration from
which perception and expression are inseparable. Na-
ture speaks to it in that subtle sympathy by which the
immaterial within holds converse with the immaterial
without, in the soft whisperings of the breeze, in the
fearful bellowings of the tempest. Between the soul
and body there is the closest sympathy, an interaction in
every relation. Therefore these voices of nature speak-
ing to nature's offspring, are answered back in various
ways according to the various organisms addressed. The
animal, the intellectual, the spiritual, whatsoever the
entity consists of, responds, and responding expands and
unfolds. Once give an animal the power to speak and
mental development ensues; for speech cannot continue
without ideas, and ideas cannot spring up without intel-
lectual evolution. A dim, half-conscious, brutish thought
there may be ; but the faculty of abstraction, sequences
of thought, without words either spoken or unspoken,
cannot exist.

It is not at all probable that a system of gesture-lan-
gunge was ever employed by any primitive people, prior
or in preference to vocal language. To communicate by

ORIGIN OF LANGUAOE.

signs requires no little skill and implies a degree of arti-
fice and forethought far beyond that required in vocal
or emotional language. Long before a child arrives at
the point of intelligence necessary for conveying thought
by signs, it is well advanced in a vocal language of its
own.

In m3^hology, language assumes personality and inde-
pendence. Oicen the significance of the word becomes
the essential idea. Zeus, from meaning simply sky, be-
comes god of the sky ; Eos, originally the dawn, is made
the goddess of the opening day. Not the idea but the
expression of the idea becomes the deity. And so, by
these creations of fancy, the imagination expands; in
the embodiment of the idea, the mind enlarges with its
own creation. Then yet bolder metaphors are thrown
off like soap-bubbles, which no sooner take form in
words than they are also deified. Thus soul and thought
and speech act and react on one another, all the evolu-
tions of conception seeking vent in sound or speculation ;
and thus language, the expression of mind, and mythol-
ogy, the expression of soul, become the exponents of
divine humanity.

But what then is Language, what is Myth, and whence
are they? Broadly, the term language may be ap-
plied to whatever social beings employ to communi-
cate passion or sentiment, or to influence one another ;
whatever is made a vehicle of intelligence, ideographic
or phonetic, is language. In this category may be placed,
as we have seen, gestures, both instinctive and artificial ;
emotional expression, displayed in form or feature ; vocal
sounds, such as the cries of birds, the howling of beasts.
Indeed, language is everywhere, in everything. While
listening to the rippling brook, the roaring sea, the mur-
muring forest, as well as to the still small voice within,
we are but reading from the vocabulary of nature.

Thus construed, the principle assumes a variety
of shapes, and may be followed through successive
stages of development. In fact, neither form nor feature
can be set in motion, or even left in a state of repose,

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

laii

without conveying intelligence to the observer. The
countenance of man, whether it will or not, perpetually
speaks, and speaks in most exquisite shades of signifi-
cance, and with expression far more delicate than that
employed by tongue or pen. The face is the reflex of
the soul ; a transparency which glows with light, divine
or devilish, thrown upon it from within. It is a por-
trait of individual intelligence, a photograph of the inner
being, a measure of innate intelligence. And in all
pertaining to the actions and passions of mankind, what
can be more expressive than the language of the emo-
tions? There are the soft, silent wooings of love, the
frantic fury of hate, the dancing delirium of joy, the
hungry cravings of desire, the settled melancholy of dead
hopes. But more definitely, language is articulate
human speech or symbolic expression of ideas.

How man first leariiad to speak, and whence the power
of speech was originally derived, are questions concern-
ing which tradition is uncommunicative. Even mythol-
ogy, which attempts the solution of supernatural mys-
teries, the explanation of all phenomena not otherwise
accounted for, has little to say as to the genesis of this
most potential of all human powers.

Many tlieories have been advanced concerning the
origin of language. Some of them are exploded ; others
in various stages of modification remain, no two phi-
lologists thinking exactly alike. The main hypotheses
are three; the subordinate ones are legion. Obvious-
ly, speech must be either a direct, completed gift of the
Creator, with one or more independent beginnings ; or a
human invention; or an evolution from a natural germ.

Schleicher conceives primordial language to be a sim-
ple organism of vocal gestures; Gould Brown believes
language to be partly natural and partly artificial ; Adam
Smith and Dugald Stewart give to man the creation and
development of speech by his own artificial invention.
According to Heroditus, the Phrygians and the Egyptians
disputed over the question of the antiquity of their lan-
guages. Psammetichus thereupon confided two babes to

SCIENCE OF FHILOLOOT.

the care of goats, apart from every human sound. At
the end of two years they were heard to pronounce the
word heko8, the Phrygian for bread. The Phrygians
therefore claimed for their language the seniority.

In ancient times it was thought that there was some
one primeval tongue, a central language from which all
the languages of the earth radiated. The Sythic,
Ethiopic, Chinese, Greek, Latin, and other languages
advanced claims for this seniority. Plato believed lan-
guage to be an invention of the gods, and by them given
to man. Orthodox religionists did not hesitate to affirm
that Hebrew, the language of Paradise, was not only
given in a perfected state to man, but was miraculously
preserved in a state of purity for the chosen Israel.
After the dispersion from Babel, such nations as relapsed
into barbarism became barbaric in speech. And in the
roots of every dialect of both the old world and the
new, the Fathers were able to discern Hebrew analogies
sufficient to confirm them in their dogma. Indeed other
belief was heresy.

There were others who held that, when gesture-lan-
guage and the language of the emotions were found
insufficient for the growing necessities of man, by com-
mon consent, it was agreed that certain objects should be
represented by certain sounds, and that so, when a word
had been invented for every object, language was made.

Another doctrine, called by Mr. Wedgwood, its enthu-
siastic advocate, 'onomatopoeia,' and by Professor Max
Miiller the 'bow-wow' theory, explains the origin of
language in the effort of man to imitate the cries of
nature. Thus, for dog the primitive languageless man
would say bow-wow ; to the rivulet, the wind, the birds
and beasts, names were applied which as far as possible
were but reproductions of the sounds made by these ele-
ments or animals.

Thus philology up to a comparatively late period was
a speculation rather than a science. Philosophers sought
to know whence language came rather than what lan-
guage is. But when the great discovery concerning the

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

Arian and Semitic families was made, comparative
philologists went to work after the manner of practical
investigators in other branches of study, by collecting,
classifying and comparing vocabularies, and there-
from striking out a path backward to original trunks.
Catalogues of languages were published, one in 1800 by
Hervas, a Spanish Jesuit, containing three hundred dia-
lects, followed by Adelung and Yater's Mithridates, from
1806-17. But not until Sanscrit was made a subject of
European study did it become apparent that affinities of
tongues are subject to the laws that govern affinities
of blood. Then it was that a similarity was discovered,
not only between the Sanscrit and the Greek and Latin
tongues, but between these languages and the Teutonic,
Celtic, Iranic, and Indie, all of which became united in
the great Arian family. At the same time, the ancient
language of the Jews, the Arabic, and the Aramaic —
which constitute the Semitic family — were found to be
totally different from the Arian in their radical struc-
ture. From these investigations, philologists were no
less convinced that the Indo-European languages were
all of the same stock, than that the Semitic idioms did
not belong to it. The doctrine of the Fathers therefore
would not stand; for it was found that all languages
were not derivations from the Hebrew, nor from any
other known central tongue.

Then too, the subordination of tongues to the laws of
evolution became apparent. It was discovered that lan-
guage was in a state of constant change ; that, with all
its variations, human speech could be grouped into fami-
lies, and degrees of relationship ascertained ; and that, by
the comparison of vocabularies, a classification at once
morphological and genealogical could be made. Varieties
of tongues, as numberless as the phases of humanity,
could be traced back towards their beginnings and resolved
into earlier forms. It was discovered that in the first
order of linguistic development, words are monosyllabic.
In this rudimentary stage, to which the Chinese, Tibetan,
and perhaps the Japanese belong, roots, or sounds ex-

VABUTIONS OF LANOUAOE. 9

presE&ve only of the material or substantial parts of
things, are used. In the second stage, called the poly-
synthetic, a^regative, or agglutinate, a modifying ter-
mination, significant of the relations of ideas or things
to each other, is affixed or glued to the root. To the
agglutinate languages belong the American and Tura-
nian families. In the third, called the inflectional
stage, which comprises only the Arian and Semitic fami-
lies, the two elements are more perfectly developed, and
it is only in this stage that language can attain the
highest degree of richness and refinement.

While these stages or conditions are recognized by all,
it is claimed on one side that although settled languages
retain their grammatical character, every agglutinate*
language must once have been monosyllabic, or radical, ;
and every inflectional language once agglutinate ; and on
the other side it is averred that the assertion is incapable
of proof, for no historical evidence exists of any one
type ever having |)assed from one of these stages to
another. Now if speech is a perfected gift of the Crea- .
tor, how happens it that we find language in every stage
of development or relapse, from the duckings of Thlin-
keets to the classic lines of Homer and of Shakspeare?
In his physiological structure, so far as is known, Man is
neither more nor less perfect ? >w than in the days of
Adam. How then if language is an organism, is it, un-
like other organisms, subject to extreme and sudden
change? In animated nature there are two principles;
one fixed and finished as an organism, subject to per-
petual birth and decay, but incapable of advancing or
retrograding; the other, elemental life, the germ or cen-
tre of a future development. The one grows, the other
unfolds. We have no evidence that instincts and
organic functions were more or less perfect in the be-
ginning than now. If therefore language is an instinct
or an organism, a perfect gift of the Creator, how can it
exist otherwise than in a concrete and perfect state like
other instincts and organisms?

The absurdity that human speech is the invention of

BPEEOH AMD SPEGULATIOM.

primitive man — that upon some grassy knoll a company
of half-clad barbarians met, and without words invented
words, without significant sounds produced sounds sig-
nificant of every object, therein by mutual consent
originating a language — ^may be set aside. Of all con-
jectures concerning the origin of language, the hypothesis
that words are an artificial invention is the least tenable.
And what is most surprising to us, at the present day,
is that such men as Locke and Adam Smith and Dugald
Stewart could for a moment have entertained the idea.
Obviously, without language there could be no culture,
and without culture, words never could have been in-
vented. Words are the symbols of objects and ideas.
Certain words may be arbitrarily selected, and, by the
tacit agreement or general concurrence of society, may
be made to signify certain things. And in this sense
words may originate conventionally. But though words
may have been conventionally selected, they were never
selected by conventions. We then have the discoveries
of modern philologists, not only to positively deny the
infallibility of the common-origin theory, but to bring
forward a number of other claimants for the greatest
antiquity, as well entitled to a hearing as the Hebrew.

Diversity in the origin of speech does not of necessity
imply diversity in the origin of race. Thus with a
unity of race, circumstances may be conceived in
which independent tongues may have arisen in different
localities; whereas with a diversity of race; but one lan-
guage hypothetically may have been given to all. A
common origin is probable, a diversity of origin is pos-
sible ; neither can be proved or disproved. The radical
diflferences in the structure of the three great types, the
monosyllabic, the agglutinate, and the inflectional; and
the inherent heterogeneities of the several families of the
same type, as of the Chinese nd Siamese, of the American
and Turanian, or even of t^ Arian and Semitic, would
seem to present insurmount \e obstacles to the theory
of a common origin ; while oi. *^^he other hand the won-
derful mutations of types and "unks, the known trans-

UNIYEBSALITY OF SPEECH.

formations of language, and the identifications by some
philologists, of the same stock- in each of the three pro-
gressional stages, render the theory of a unity of ori-
gin in language equally probable. Therefore the ques-
tion of unity or diversity of tongues, as we speak of
unity or diversity of race, can be of but little moment
to us. Language shows the connection between nations
widely separated, leads us back beyond tradition into
the obscure past, follows the sinuosities of migrations,
indicates epochs in human development, points towards
the origin of peoples, serves as a guide in following the
radiation of races from common centres. Yet a simi-
larity in the sound, or even in the construction of two
words, does not necessarily imply relationship. Two
totally distinct languages may have borrowed the same
word from a third bnguage; which fact would never
establish relationship between the borrowers. When
like forms are found in difierent languages, in order
to establish a relationship, historical evidence must be
applied as a test, and the words followed up to their
roots.

Stripped of technicalities, the question before us is
reduced to a few simple propositions. All men speak;
there never yet was found a nation without articulate
language. Aside from individual and abnormal excep-
tions, no primitive tiibe has ever been discovered, where
part of the people spoke, and part were speechless. Lan-
guage is as much a part of man, as any physical con-
stituent; yet unlike physical organs, as the eye, the ear,
the hand, language is not born with the individual. It
is not in the blood. The Caucasian infant stolen by
Apaches, cannot converse with its own mother when
restored to her a few years after.

Therefore speech is not an independent, perfected gift
of the Creator, but an incidental acquirement. Further-
more language is an attribute of society. It belongs to
the people and not to the individual. The child before
mentioned, if dropped by the Apaches among the bears
and by them nurtured and reared, is doomed to mutism

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

or bear-language. Man was made a social being; speech
was made as a means of communicating intelligence be-
tween social beings; one individual alone never could
originate, or even preserve a language.

But how then happens it, if man did not make it, and
God did not give it him, that human speech is universal?
With the oi^anism of man the Creator implants the
organs of speech. With the elemental and progressional
life of man the Creator implants the germ of speech.
In common with the element of progress and civilization,
iiinate from the beginning, speech has developed by slow
degrees through thousands of cycles and by various stages,
marching steadily forward with the forward march of
the intellect. Comparative philology, in common with
all other sciences, accords to man a remote antiquity.
Bunsen estimates that at least twenty thousand years are
required for a language to pass from one rudimentary
stage to another.

The mind receives impressions and the soul intuitions,
and to throw them off in some form is an absolute neces-
sity. Painful impressions tend to produce bodily contor-
tions and dolorous sounds ; pleasant impressions to illu-
mine the features and to make musical the voice. And
not only is this compressed emotion destined to find ex-
pression, but to impress itself upon others. Emotion is
essentially sympathetic. Why certain objects are repre-
sented by certain sounds we can never know. Some
think that between every word and the object or idea
which it represents, there was in the first instance an
intimate relationship. By degrees certain natural ar-
ticulations became associated with certain ideas; then
new names were suggested by some fancied analogy to
objects already named. Everything else being (Hjual,
similar conditions and causations produce similar im-
pressions and are expressed by similar sounds. Hence a
certain uniformity between all human tongues ; and a ten-
dency in man to imitate the sounds in nature, the cries
of animals, the melodies of winds and waters, accounts
for the origin of many words.

MYTHOLOOT.

From giving expression in some outward form to our
inward emotion there is no escape. Let us now apply
to the expression of feeling and emotion the same law
of evolution which governs all social and intellectual
phenomena, and from a language of exclamations, we
have first the monosyllabic noun and verb, then auxil-
liaries, — adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and pro-
nouns, — and finally inflections of parts of speech by
which the finer shades of meaning may be expressed.

The spontaneous outbursts of feeling, or the meta-
phorical expressions of emotion, arising instinctively
and acting almost simultaneously with the conception
or impression made upon the mind, develop with time
into settled forms of speech. Man speaks as birds
fly or fishes swim, ''^he Creator supplies the organs
and implants the instinct. Speech, though intuitive,
is more than intuition; for, as we have seen, speech
is a social rather than an individual attribute. Dar-
win perceives in language not only a spontaneous gen-
eration, but a natural selection of grammatical forms;
the best words, the clearest and shortest expressions,
continually displacing the weaker. So words are made
to fit occasions, and dropped as soon as better ones can
be found.

Languages are not inherited, yet language is an in-
heritance. Language is not artificially invented, yet
languages are but conventional agreements. Languages
are not a concrete perfected gift of the Creator, yet the
germ of language is ineradiciibly implanted in man, and
was thei-e implanted by none but man's Creator. This
then is Language: it is an acquit^ition, but an acquisi-
tion from necessity; it is a gift, but, when given, an
undeveloped germ; it is an artifice, in so fnr as it is
developed by the application of individual agencies.

Here, for a while, we will leave Language and turn
to Mythology, the mytfios 'fable' and logos 'speech' of
the Grecians.

Under analysis mythology is open to broad yet sig-

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

nificant interpretations. As made up of legendary ac-
counts of places and personages, it is history ; as relating
to the genesis of the gods, the nature and adventures
of divinities, it is religion; placed in the category of
science, it is the science of fable; of philosophy, the
philosophy of intuitive beliefs. A mass of fragmentary
truth and fiction not open to rationalistic criticism; a
system of tradition, genealogical and political, confound-
ing the subjective with the objective ; a partition wall of
allegories, built of dead facts cemented with wild fan-
cies, — it looms ever between the immeasurable and the
measurable past.

Thick black clouds, portentous of evil, hang threaten-
ingly over the savage during his entire life. Genii
murmur in the flowing river, in the rustling branches
are felt the breathings of the gods, goblins dance in
vapory twilight, and demons howl in tlie darkness.

In the myths of wild, untutored man, is displayed
that inherent desire to account for the origin of things,
which, even at the present time, commands the pro-
foundest attention of philosophy; and, as we look back
upon the absurd conceptions of our savage ancestry with
feelings akin to pity and disgust, so may the speculations
of our own times appear to those who shall come after us.
Those weird tales which to us are puerility or poetry, ac-
cording as we please to regard them, were to their believ-
ers history, science, and religion. Yet this eftbrt, which
continues from the beginning to the end, is not valueless;
in it is embodied the soul of human progress. Without
mythology, the only d(X)r at once to the ideal and inner
life of primitive peoples and to their heroic and historic
past would be forever closed to us. Nothing so reflects
their heart-secrets, exposes to our view their springs of
action, shadows forth the sources of their hopes and
fears, exhibits the models after which they moulded
their lives.

Within crude poetic imagery are enrolled their re-
ligious l)eliefs, are laid the foundations of their systems
of worship, are portrayed their thoughts concerning

ALL MYTHS FOUNDED ON PACT.

causations and the destinies of mankind. Under sym-
bolic veils is shrouded their ancient national spirit, all
that can be known of their early history and popular
ideas. Thua are explained the fundamental laws of na-
ture ; thus we are told how earth sprang from chaos, how
men and beasts and plants were made, how heaven was
peopled, and earth, and what were the relative powers
and successive dynasties of the gods. Heroes are made
gods ; gods are materialized and lirought down to men.

Of the value of mythology it is unnecessary here to
speak. Never was there a time in the history of phi-
loaophy when the character, customs, and Ijeliefs of
aboriginal man, and everything appertaining to him, were
held in such high esteem by scholars as at present. As
the ultimate of human knowledge is approached, the in-
quirer is thrown back upon the past ; and more and more
the fact becomes apparent, that what is, \s but a re-
production of what has been; that in the earlier stages
of human development may be found the counterpart of
every phase of modern social life. Higher and more
heterogeneous as are our present systems of politics and
philosophy, every principle, when tracked to its begin-
ning, proves to have been evolved, not originated.

As there never yet was found a people without a lan-
guage, so every nation has its mythology, some popular
and attractive form for preserving historical tradition
and presenting ethical maxims; and as by the range
of their vocabularies we may follow men through all
the stages of their progress in government, domestic
affairs and mechanical arts, so, by beliefs expressed, we
may determine at any given eixxih in the history of a
race their ideal and intellectual condition. Without the
substance there can be no shadow, without tlie object
there can he no name for it ; therefore when we find a
language without a word to denote property or chastity,
we may Ix) sure that the wealth and women of the tribe
are held in common ; and when in a system of my tliology
certain important metaphysical or testhetic ideas and at-
tributes are wanting, it is evident that the intellect of

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

lPl|li:|

its composers has not yet reached beyond a certain low
point of conception.

Moreover, as in things evil may be found a spirit
of good, so in fable we find an element of truth.
It is now a recognized principle of philosophy, that no
religious belief, however crude, nor any historical tra-
dition, however absurd, can be held by the majority of a
people for any considerable time as true, without having
in the beginning some foundation in fact. More espe-
cially is the truth of this principle apparent when we
consider that in all the multitudinous beliefs of all ages,
held by peoples savage and civilized, there exist a con-
currence of ideas and a coincidence of opinion. Human
conceptions of supernatural affairs spring from like intui-
tions. As human nature is essentially the same through-
out the world and throughout time, so the religious
instincts which form a part of that universal humanity
generate and develop ^in like manner under like con-
ditions. The desire to penetrate hidden surroundings
and the method of attempting it are to a certain extent
common to all. All wonder at the mysterious; all
attempt the solution of mysteries; all primarily possess
equal facilities for arriving at correct conclusions. The
genesis of belief is uniform, and the results under like
conditions analogous.

We may conclude that the purposes for which these
fictitious narratives were so carefully preserved and
handed down to posterity were two-fold, — to keep alive
certain facts and to inculcate certain doctrines.

Something there must have been in every legend, in
every tradition, in every belief, which has ever been en-
tertained by the mtyority of a i)eople, to recommend it
to the minds of men in the first instance. Error abso-
lute cannot exin- ; false doctrine without an amalgam of
verity speedily crumbles, and the more monstrous the
falsity the more rapid its decomposition. Myths were
the oracles of our savage ancestors; their creed, the rule
of their life, prized by them as men now prize their
faith I and, by whatever savage philosophy these strange

VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY.

conceits were eliminated, their effect upon the popular
mind was vital. Anaxagoras, Socrates, Protagoras, and
Epicurus well Icnew and boldly proclaimed that the
gods of the Grecians were disreputable characters, not
the kind of deities to make or govern worlds; yet so
deep rooted in the hearts of the people were the maxims
of the past, that for these expressions one heretic was
cast into prison, another expelled from Athens, and
another forced to drink the hemlock. And the less
a fable presents the appearance of probability, the more
grotesque and extravagant it is, the less the likelihood
of its having originated in pure invention ; for no ex-
travagantly absurd invention without a particle of truth
could by any possibility have been palmed off upon a
l)eople, and by them accepted, revered, recited, preserved
as veritable incident or solution of mystery, and handed
down to those most dear to them, to be in like manner
held as sacred.

Therefore we may be sure that there never was a
myth without a meaning ; that mythology is not a bun-
dle of ridiculous fancies invented for vulgar amusement;
that there is not one of these stories, no matter how
silly or absurd, which was not founded in fact, which did
not once hold a significance. "And though I have well
weighed and considered all this," concluded Lord Bacon,
nearly three hundred years ago, ''and thoroughly seen
into the levity which the mind indulges for allegories
and illusions, yet I cannot but retain a high value for
the ancient mythology." Indeed, to ancient myths has
been attributed the preservation of shattered fragments
of lost sciences, even as some have alleged that we are
indebted to the writings of Democritus and Aristotle for
modern geographical discoveries.

That these ductile narratives have suffered in their
transmission to us, that through the magnifying and
refracting influences of time, and the ignorance and
fanaticism of those to whom they were first recited, we
receive them mutilated and distorted, there can be no
doubt. Not one in a thousand of those aboriginal

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

beliefs which were held by the people of the Pacific
Coast at the time of its first occupation by foreigners, has
been preserved. And for the originality and purity of
such as we have, in many instances, no one can vouch.
Infatuated ecclesiastics who saw in tie native fable in-
disputable evidence of the presence of an apostle, or the
interposition of a tutelary saint in the affairs of benighted
heathendom, could but render the narrative in accord-
ance with their prepossessions. The desire of some to
prove a certain origin for the Indians, and the contempt
of others for native character, also led to imperfect or
colored narrations. But happily, enough has been pre-
served in authentic picture-writings, and by narrators
whose integrity and intelligence are above suspicion, to
give us a fair insight into the native psychological struc-
ture and belief; and if the knowledge we have is but in-
finitesimal in comparison with what has been lost, we
may thereby learn to prize more highly such as we have.
Again we come to the ever -recurring question —
Whence is it? Whence arise belief, worship, supers^'
tion? Whence the striking likeness in all supernatural
conceptions between nations and ages the most diverse?
Why is it that so many peoples, during the successive
stages of their progress, have their creation myth, their
origin myth, their flood myth, their animal, and plant,
and planet myths? This coincidence of evolution can
scarcely be the result of accident. Mythologies, then,
being like languages common to mankind, unifjrm in
substance yet varying in detail, what follows with re-
gard to the essential system of their supernatural con-
ceptions? Is it a perfected gift of the Creator, the
invention of a designing priesthood, or a spontaneous
generation and natural development? So brond a ques-
tion, involving as it does the weightiest matters con-
nected with man, may scarcely expect exactly the same
answer from any two persons. Origin of life, origin of
mind, origin of belief, are as much problems to the
profoundest philosopher of to-day, as they were to the
first wondering, bewildered savage who wandered
through primeval forests.

OBIOIN OF BELIEF.

Life is defined by Herbert Spencer as "the coordina-
tion of actions, or their continuous adjustment;" by
Lewes as "a series of definite and successive changes,
both of structure and composition, which take place
within an individual without destroying its identity;"
by Schelling as "the tendency to individuation;" by
llicheraud as "a collection of phenomena which succeed
each other during a limited time in an organized body;"
and by De Blainville as "the two-fold internal movement
of composition and decomposition, at once general and
continuous.' According to Hume, Mind is but a bundle
of ideas and impressions which are the sum of all knowl-
edge, and consequently, " the only things known to exist."
In the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte, intel-
lectual development is divided into three phases ; namely,
the Supernatural, in which the mind seeks for super-
natural causes; the Metaphysical, wherein abstract
forces are set up in place of supernatural agencies; and
the Positive, which inquires into the laws which engender
phenomena. Martineau, commenting upon intuition and
the mind's place in nature, charges the current doctrine of
evolution with excluding the element of life from devel-
oping organisms. Until the origin of mind, and the rela-
tion of mind to its environment is determined, the origin
of the supernatural must remain unaccounted for. Yet we
may follow the principle of worship back to very near
its source, if we are unable entirely to account for it.

We have seen how the inability of brutes to form in
the mind long sequences of thought, prevents speech;
so, in primitive societies, when successions of .unrecorded
events are forgotten before any conception of general
laws can be formed therefrom, polytheism in its grossest
form is sure to prevail. Not until the earlier stages of
progress are passed, and, from a multitude of correlative
and oft-repeated experiences, general deductions made,
can there be any higher religious conceptions than that
of an independent cause for every consequence.

By some it is alleged that the religious sentiment is a
divine idea perfected by the Creator and implanted in

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

man as part of his nature, before his divergence from
a primitive centre. Singularly enough, the Fathers of
the Church referred the origin of fable as well as the
origin of fact to the Hebrew Scriptures. Supported by
the soundest sophistry, they saw in every myth, Grecian
or barbarian, a biblical character. Thus the Greek
Hercules was none other than the Hebrew Sampson;
Arion was Jonah, and Deucalion Noah. Other mytho-
logical characters were supposed by them to have been
incarnated fiends, who disappeared after working for a
time their evil upon men.

There h^ve been those who held myths to be the
fictions of sorcery, as there are now those who believe
that forms of worship were invented by a designing
priesthood, or that mythology is but a collection of tales,
physical, ethical and historical, invented by the sages
and ancient wise men of the nation, for the purpose of
overawing the wicked and encouraging the good. Some
declare that religion is a factitious or accidental social
phenomenon ; others that it is an aggregation of organ-
ized human experiences ; others that it is a bundle of
sentiments which were originally projected by the im-
agination, and ultimately adopted as entities; others
that it is a feeling or emotion, the genesis of which is
due to surrounding circumstances.

Many believe all mythological personages to have been
once real human heroes, the foundations of whose his-
tories were laid in truth, while the structure was reared
by fancy. The Egyptians informed Herodotus that their
deities — the last of whom was Orus son of Osiris, the
Apollo of the Grecians — were originally their kings.
Others affirm that myths are but symbolic ideas deified ;
that they are but the embodiment of a maxim in the
form of an allegory, and that under these allegorical
forms were taught history, religion, law and morality.

Intermingled with all these hypotheses are elements
of truth, and yet none of them appear to be satisfying
explanations. All imply that religion, in some form, is
an essential constituent of humanity, and that whatever

RISE OF THE PBIMITIYE PBIESTHOOD.

its origin and functions, it has exercised from the earliest
ages and does jet exercise the most powerful influence
upon man ; working like leaven in the lump, keeping
the world in a ferment, stirring up men to action, band-
ing and disrupting nations, uniting and dividing com-
munities, and forming the nucleus of numberless socie-
ties and institutions.

In every society, small and great, there are undoubt-
edly certain intellects of quicker than ordinary percep-
tion, which seize upon occasions, and by a skillful use
of means obtain a mastery over inferior minds. It is
thus that political and social, as well as ecclesiastical
power arises. Not that the leader creates a want — he
is but the mouth-piece or agent of pent-up human in-
stincts. One of these instincts is dependence. That
we are created subordinate, not absolute nor unre-
strained, is a fact from which none can escape. Thral-
dom, constant and insurmountable, we feel we have
inherited. Most naturally, therefore, the masses of
mankind seek from among their fellows some embodi-
ment of power, and ranging themselves under the ban-
ner of leaders, follow blindly whithersoever they are
led. Perceiving the power thus placed in their hands,
these born leaders of men are not slow to invent means
for retaining and increasing it. To the inquiry of the
child or unsophisticated savage, who, startled by a peal
of distant thunder, cries, "What is that?" the explana-
tion is given: "That is the storm-god speaking." "I
am afraid, protect me!" implores the supplicant. "I
will, only obey," is the reply. The answer is sufficient,
curiosity is satisfied, and terror allayed ; the barbarian
teacher gains a devotee. In this manner, the super-
structure of creeds, witchcrafts, priestcrafts, may have
arisen ; some gods may thus have been made, forms of
worship invented, and intercourse opened with beings
supernal and infernal. Then devotion advances and
becomes an art; professors by practice become e :perts.
Meanwhile, craft is economized ; the wary Shamdn rain-
doctor — like the worthy clergyman of civilized ortho-

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

■ill iiiii

doxy, who refused to pray for rain "while the wind
was in that quarter" — watches well the gathering ripe-
ness of the cloud before he attempts to burst it with an
arrow. And in the end, a more than ordinary skill in
the exercise of this power, deifies or demonisKcs the
possessor.

But whence arises the necessity for craft and whence
the craft? The faculty of invention implies skill. Skill
successfully to play upon the instincts of humanity can
only be acquired through the medium of like instincts,
and although the skill be empirical, the play must be
natural. Craft alone will not suffice to satisfy the de-
sire ; the hook must be baited with some small element
of truth before the most credulous will seize it. If
religious beliefs are the fruits of invention, how shall
we account for the strange coincidences of thought
and worship which prevail throughout all mj ths and
cults? Why is it that all men of every age, in
conditions diverse, and in countries widely sundered,
are found searching out the same essential facts? All
worship; nearly all have their creation-myth, their
flood-myth, their theory of origin, of distribution from
primitive centres, and of a future state. In this regard
as in many another, civilization is but an evolution of
savagism; for almost every principle of modem phi-
losophy there may be found in primitive times its
parallel.

The nature and order of supernatural conceptions are
essentially as follows: The first and rudest foi'm of be-
lief is Fetichism, which invests every phenomenon wHh
an independent personality. In the sunshine, fire, and
water, in the wind and rock and stream, in every
animal, bird, and plant, there is a separate deity; for
«very eifect there is a cause. Even Kepler, whose in-
tellect could track the planets in their orbits, must needs
assume a guiding spirit for every world. It is impos-
sible for the mind to conceive of self-creative or self-
existent forces.

In time the personalities of the fetich-worshiper be-

THEORIES CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF WORSHIP. 23

come to some extent generalized. Hom(^eneous appear-
ances are grouped into classes, and each class referred
to a separate deity, and hence Polytheism. Pantheism
then comes in and makes all created substance one with
the creator ; nature and the universe are God. From the
impersonating of the forces of nature to the creation of
imaginary deities there is but a step. Every virtue and
vice, every good and evil becomes a personality, under
the direct governance of which lie certain passions and
events; and thus in place of one god for many individ-
uals, each individual may have a multitude of his own
personal gods. The theogony of Hesiod was but a sys-
tem of materialized love and hate ; while, on the other
hand, the gods of Homer, although personating human
passions, were likewise endowed with moral perceptions.
In them the blind forces of nature are lighted up into a
human-divine intelligence.

In Monotheism the distinct personalities, which to the
savage underlie every appearance, become wholly gen-
eralized, and the origin of all phenomena is referred to
one First Cause. The subtle and philosophic Greeks
well knew that God to be God must be omnipotent, and
omnipotency is indivisible. That the Aztecs could be-
lieve and practice the absurdities they did is less an ob-
ject of wonder, than that the intellectual philosophers of
Athens could have tolerated the gods of Homer. In-
deed, the religion of the more cultivated Greeks appears
to us monstrous, in proportion as they were superior to
other men in poetry, art, and philosophy.

Comparative mythologists explain the origin of wor-
ship by two apparently oppugnant theories. The first is
that whatever is seen in nature strange and wonder-
ful, is deemed by primitive man an object worthy of
worship. The other is, that upon certain noted indi-
viduals are fastened metaphorical names, symbolic of
some quality alike in them and in the natural object
after which they are called ; that this name, which at
the first was but the surname of an individual, after its
possessor is dead and forgotten, lives, reverts to the

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

■11

! I

plant or animal whence it came, becomes impersonal,
and is worshiped by a conservative posterity. In other
words, one theory fastens upon natural phenomena,
human attributes, and worships nature under covering
of those attributes, while the other worships in the
natural object only the memory of a dead and forgotten
man. I have no doubt that \n.both of these hypotheses
are elements of truth.

In the earlier acts of worship the tendency is to
assimilate the object worshiped and the character of the
worshiper, and also to assign habitations to deities,
behind man's immediate environment. Every people
has its heaven and hell ; the former most generally lo-
cated beyond the blue sky, and the latter in the dark
interior caves of the earth. Man in nature reproduces
himself; invests appearances with attributes analogous
to his own. This likeness of the supernatural to the
natural, of gods to man, is the first advance from fetich-
ism, but as the intellect advances anthropomorphism
declines. As one by one the nearest mysteries are
solved by science, the emptiness of superstition becomes
apparent, and the wonderless wonder is referred by the
waking mind to general laws of causation ; but still cling-
ing to its first conceptions it places them on objects more
remote. Man fixes his eyes upon the planets, discovers
their movements, and fancies their controlling spirit also
controls his destiny ; and when released by reason from
star- worship, as formerly from feticLism, again an ad-
vance is made, always nearing the doctr ne of universal
law.

In one tersely comprehensive sentenc*^ Clarke gives
the old view of what were called natural religions:
"They considered them, in their soui'e, the work of
fraud; in their essence, corrupt f;u^»er'^r,ition8; in their
doctrines, wholly false; in their moril tendency, abso-
lutely injurious; and in their result^ degenerating more
and more into greater evil."

And this view seems to him alike uncharitable and
unreasonable: "To assume that they are wholly evil is

FBIESTCSAFT AND PBOPITIATION.

disrespectful to human nature. It supposes man to be
the easy and universal dupe of fraud. But these reli-
gions do not rest on such a sandy foundation, but on the
feeling of dependence, the sense of accountability, the
recognition of spiritual realities very near to this world
of matter, and the need of looking up and worshiping
some unseen power higher and better than ourselves.
We shall find them always feeling after God, often find-
ing him. We shall see that in their origin they are not
the work of priestcraft, but of human nature ; in their
essence not superstitions, but religions; in their doc-
trines true more frequently than false ; in their moral
tendency good rather than evil. And instead of degen-
erating toward something worse, they come to prepare
the way for something better."

The nearest case to deliberate invention of deities,
was, perhaps, the promulgation as objects of worship by
the Roman pontifl's, of such abstractions as Hope (Spes);
Fear (Pallor), Concord (Concoidia), Courage (Virtus),
etc. How far these gods were gods, however, in even
the ordinary heathen sense of the word, is doubtful. In
any case, they were but the extension of an old and ex-
istent principle — the personification of divine aspects or
qualities; they added no more to what went before than
a new Saint or Virgin of Loretto does to the Catholic
Church.

"It was a favorite opinion with the Christian apolo-
gists, Eusebius and others," says Gladstone, "that the
pagan deities represented deified men. Others consider
them to signify the powers of external nature personi-
fied. For others they are, in many cases, imjxjrsona-
tions of human passions and propensities, reflected back
from the mind of man. A fourth mode of interpreta-
tion would treat them as copies, distorted and depraved,
of a primitive system of religion given by God to man.
The Apostle St. Paul speaks of them as devils ; by which
he may perhaps intend to convey that, under the names
and in connection with the worship of those deities, the
worst influences of ♦he Evil One were at work. This

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

"I: J

would rather be a subjective than an objective descrip-
tion ; and would rather convey an account of the prac-
tical working of a corrupted religion, than an explanation
of its origi.i or its early course. As between the other
four, it seems probable that they all, in various degrees
and manners, entered into the composition of the later
paganism, and also of the Homeric or Olympian system.
That system, however, was profoundly adverse to mere
Nature- worship; while the care of departments or prov-
inces of external nature were assigned to its leading
personages. Such worship of natural objects or ele-
mental powers, as prevailed in connection with it, was
in general local or secondary. And the deification of
heroes in the age of Homer was rare and merely titular.
We do not find that any cult or system of devotion was
attached to it."

So humanly divine, so impotently great are the gods
of Homer : so thoroughly invested with the passions of
men, clothed in distinctive shades of human character ;
such mingled virtue and vice, love and hate, courage and
cowardice; animal passions uniting with noble senti-
ments; base and vulgar thoughts with lofty and sub-
lime ideas; and all so wrought up by his inimitable
fancy into divine and supernatural l)eing8, as to work
most powerfully upon the nature of the jx^ople.

These concrete conceptions of his deities have ever
been a source of consolation to the savage; for, by tbus
bringiiig down the gods to a nearer level with himself,
they could Ijc more materially propitiated, and their pro-
tection purchased with gifts and sacrifices. Thus the
Greeks could obtain advice through oracles, the Hindoo
could pass at on"? into eternal joys by throwing himself
under the car of Juggernaut, while the latter-day offender
calls in the assistance of the departed, buys forgiveness
with charities, and compounds crime by building
churches.

The difficulty is, that in attempting to establish any
theory concerning the origin of things, the soundest
logic is little else than wild speculation. Mankind pro-

UNEECORDED FACTS SOON BECOME MYTHOLOGICAL. 27

gress unconsciously. We know not what problems we
ourselves are working out for those who come after us;
we know not by what process we arrive at many of our
conclusions ; much of that which is clear to ourselves is
never understood by our neighbor, and never will be
even known by our posterity. Events the most material
are soon forgotten, or else are made spiritual and pre-
served as myths. Blot out the process by which science
arrived at results, and in every achievement of science,
in the steam engine, the electric telegraph, we should soon
have a heaven-descended agency, a god for every ma-
chine. Where mythology ceases and history begins, is
in the annals of every nation a matter of dispute.
What at first appears to be wholly fabulous may contain
some truth, whereas much of what is held to be true is
mere fable, and herein excessive skepticism is as un-
wise as excessive credulity.

Historical facts, if unrecorded, are soon lost. Thus
when Juan de Ofiate penetrated New Mexico in 1596,
Fray Marco de Niza, and the expedition of Coronado in
1540, api)enr to have been entirely forgotten by the
Cibolans. Fathers Crespi and Junipero Berra, in their
overland explorations of 1709, preparatory to the estab-
lislunent of a line of Missions along the Californian
scalK)ard, could find no traces, in the minds of the natives,
of Oabrillo's voyage in 1642, or of the landing of Sir
Francis Drake in 1579 ; although, so impressed were the
savages in the latter inwiance, that, according to the worthy
chaplain of the expedition, they desired "with submis-
sion and fear to worship us as go<l8." Nor can we think
civilized memories — which ascrilw the plays of Shake-
speare to Hiu^on, and parcel out tho Iliad of Homer
among numlK'rless unrecorded verse makers — more te-
niu'.ious. Frederick Augustus WoU* fioiiies that a Homer
ever existed; or, if he did, that ho ever wrote his ixx3m,
as writing was at that time not generally known ; but he
claims that snatches of history, descentling orally from one
generation to another, in the end coalesced into the
matchless Iliad and Odyssey. The event which so

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

.jli

lir-i:

strongly impressed the father, becomes vague in the
mind of the son, and in the third generation is either
lost or becomes legendary. Incidents of recent occur-
rence, contemporary perhaps with the narration, are
sometimes so misinterpreted by ignorance jr distorted
by prejudice, as to place the fact strangely at vari mce
with the recital. Yet no incident nor action falls pur-
poseless to the ground. Unrecorded it may be, unwit-
nessed, unheard by beings material; a thought-wave
even, lost in space invisible, acting, for aught we know,
only upon the author ; yet so acting, it casts an influence,
stamps on fleeting time its record, thereby fulfilling its
destiny. Thus linger vapory conceits long after the
action which created them has sunk into oblivion ; unde-
fined shadows of substance departed ; none the less im-
pressive because mingled with immortal imagery.

Turn now from outward events to inner life ; from
events grown shadowy with time, to life ever dim and
mysterious alike to savage and sage. Everywhere man
beholds much that is incomprehensible; within, around,,
the past, the future. Invisible forces are at work, in-
visible agencies play upon IiIl* destiny. And in the
creations of fancy, which of necessity grow out of the
influence of nature upon the imagination, it is not
strange that mysteries darken, facts and fancies blend ;
the past and the future uniting in a supernatural
present.

We are never content with positive knowledge. From
the earliest workings of the mind, creations of fancy
play as important a part in ethical economy as jjositive
perceptions. Nor does culture in any wise lessen these
fanciful creations of the intellect. In the jwlitical arena
of civilized nations, wars and revolutions for the en-
forcement of opinion concerning matters beyond the
reiujh of positive knowledge, have equaled if they have
not exceeded wars for empire or ascendancy. In the
s(x;ial and individual aflairs of life we are governed
more by the ideal than by the real. On reaching the
limits of positive knowledge, reason pauses, but fancy

BELIGIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC ULTIMATES.

overleaps the boundary, and wa»- .lers forward in an end-
less waste of speculation.

The tendency of intellectual progress, accftrding to
the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, is from the concrete
to the abstract, from the homogeneous to the heteroge-
neous, from the knowable to the unknowable. Primor-
dially nothing was known; as superstitions and priest-
craft grew rank, everything became known; there was
not a problem in the natural or in the supernatural
world unsolvable by religion. Now, when some ele-
ments of absolute knowledge are beginning to appear,
we discover, not only that little is positively known, but
that much of what has been hitherto deemed past con-
troverting, is, under the present regime of thought,
absolutely unknowable. Formerly ultimate religious
kiHuvlodge was attained by the very novices of religion,
iinCi ■ iv'mjte scientific knowledge was explained through
tli iv ! itical conceptions. Not only were all the mys-
ieiioH cf the material universe easily solved by the
Fathers, but heaven was measured and the phenomena
of hell minutely described. Now we are just begin-
ning to comprehend that ultimate facts will probably
ever remain unknowable facts, for when the present
ultimate is attained, an eternity of undiscovered truth
will still lay stretched out before the searcher. Until
the finite becomes infinite, and time lapses into eternity,
the realm of thought will remain unfilled. At present,
and until the scope of the intellect is materially en-
larged, such tin ;>ri98 as the origin of the universe —
held by atheist; tc Ik self-existent, by pantheists to have
been self-crofrlid, ftr«i by theifts to have been originated
by an cxter'nt' , j^jmicj — must remain, as they are now
admitted to hv, <,»n;iSt^c;n8 beyond even the comprehen-
sion of the nucHeiJ ' ii'iewiso scientific ultimates — such
as the C|ualities of tnno and space, the divisibility of mat-
ter, the co-ordination of motion and rest, the correlation
of forces, the mysteries of gravitation, light and heat —
are found to be not only not solvable, but not conceiva-
ble. And, as with the externo^l, so with the inward

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

lii'M

I 11^'

life; we cannot Tonceive the nature, nor explain the
origin and duration, of consciousness. The endless spec-
ulations of biology and psychology only leave impres-
sions at once of the strength and weakness of the mind
of man; strong in empirical knowledge, impotent in
every attempt rationally to penetrate the unfathomable.
Nowhere in mythology do we find the world self-created
or self-existent. Some external agency is ever brought
in to perform the work, and in the end the structure of
the universe is resolved into it^ , nginal elements.

Primordial man finds himself surrounded by natural
phenomena, the operations of which his intelligence is
capable of grasping but partially. Certain appetites
sharpen, at tnce, ct^rtain instincts. Hunger makes him
acquainted with tl? fV-nita of the earth; cold with the
skins of beasts. A : supplies him with rude im-

plements, and imparl!? ■. im a knowledge of his power
over animals. But as instinct merges into intellect,
strange powers in nature are felt ; invisible agents wield-
ing invisible weapons ; realities which exist unheard and
move unseen ; outward manifestations of hidden strength.
Humanity, divine, but wild and wondering, half-fed,
half-clad, ranges woods primeval, hears the roar of bat-
tling elements, sees the ancient forest-tree shivered into
fragments by heaven's artillery, feels the solid earth rise
up in rumbling waves beneath his feet. He receives, as
it were, a blow from within the darkness, and Hinging
himself upon the ground he begs protection; fro!i> what
he knows not, of whom he knows not. "Bury nn not,
tumultuous heavens," ho cries, "under the clouds of
your displeasure!" "t::5trike me not down in wrath,
fierce flaming fire!" "Earth, Ih) firm!" Here, then, is
the origin of prayer., And to render more eftectual his
entreaties, a gift is offered. Seizing ujKjn whatever he
prizes moft, his food, his raiment, he rushes forth and
hurls his propitiatory offering heavenward, earthward,
whithersoever his frenzied fancy dictates. Or, if this
is not enough, the still more dearly valued gift of human
blood or human life is offered. His own tlesh he freely

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRIESTCRAFT.

lacerates; to save his own life he gives that of his
enemy, his slave, or even his child. Hence arises sac-
rifice.

And here also conjurings commence. The necessity
is felt of opening up some intercourse with these mys-
terious lowers ; relations commercial and social ; calami-
ties and casualties, personal and public, must be traced
to causes, and the tormenting demon bought off. But it
is clearly evident that these elemental forces are not all
of them inimical to the happiness of mankind. Sun-
shine, air and water, the benign influences in nature,
are as powerful to create, as the adverse elements are to
destroy. And as these forces appear conflicting, part
productive of life and enjoyment, and part of destruc-
tion, decay, and death, a separation is made. Hence
principles of good and evil are discovered ; and to all
these unaccountable forces in nature, names and proper-
ties are given, and causations invented. For every act
there is an actor — for every deed a doer; for every
power and passion there is made a god.

Thus we see that worship in some form is a human
necessity, or, at least, a constant accompaniment of hu-
Mfianity. Until perfect wisdom and limitless power are
the attributes of humanity, adoration will continue ; for
men will never cease to reverence what they do not un-
derstand, nor will they cease to fear such elements of
strength as are beyond thei»' control. The form of this
conciliatory homage appears to arise from common hu-
man instincts; for, throughout the world and in all
jigos, a similarity in primitive religious forms has existed.
It is a giving of something; the barter of a valuable
something for a something more valuable. As in his
civil polity all crimes may be comi)ounded or avenged,
so in his worship, the savage gives his p»*ide, his prop-
erty, or his blood.

At first, this spirit i)ower is seen in everything; in
the storm and in the soft evening air; in clouds and
cataracts, in mountains, rocks, and rivers; in trees, in
reptiles, beasts, and fishes. But when progressive man

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

obtains a more perfect maatery over the brute creation,
brute worship ceases ; as he becomes familiar with the
causes of some of the forces in nature, and is better able
to protect himself from them, the fear of natural objects
is lessened. Leaving the level of the brute creation he
mounts upward, and selecting; from his own species some
living or deiid hero, he endows a king or comrade with
superhuman attributes, and worships his dead fellow
as a divine being. Still he tunes his thoughts to subtler
creations, and carves with skillful fingers material images
of supernatural forms. Then comes idolatry. The great
principles of causation being determined and embodied
in perceptible forms, adorations ensue. Cravings, how-
ever, increase. As the intellect expands, one idol after
another is thrown down. Mind assumes the mastery
over matter. From gods of wood and stone, made by
men's fingers, and from suns and planets, carved by the
fingers of omni[>otence, the creature now turns to the
Creator. A form of ideal worship supplants the mate-
rial form ; god? known and tangible are thrown aside
for the unknown God. And well were it for the intel-
lect could it stop here. But, as the actions of countless
material gods were clear to the primitive priest, and by
him satisfactorily explained to the savage masses; so, in
this more advanced state men are not wanting who re-
ceive from their ideal god revelations of his actions and
motives. To its new, unknown, ideal god, the partially
awakened human minu attaches the jwsitive attributes
of the old, material deities, or invents new ones, and
starts anew to tread the endless mythologic circle ; until
in yet a higher state it discovers that both god and attri-
butes are wholly Iwyond its grasp, and that with all its
progress, it has advanced but slightly beyond the first
savage conception; — a power altogether mysterious, in-
explicable to science, controlling phenomena of mind
and matter.

Barbarians are the most religious of mortals. While
the busy, overworked brain of the scholar or man of
business is occupied with more practical affairs, the list-

OBIOIN OF FETICHISM.

less mind of the savage, thrown as he is upon the very
bosom of nature, is filled with innumerable conjectures
and interrogatories. His curiosity, like that of a child,
is proverbial, and as superstition is ever the resource of
ignorance, queer fancies and fantasms concerning life and
death, and gods and devils float continually through his
unenlightened imagination.

Ill-protected from the elements, his comfort and his
uncertain food-supply depending upon them, primitive
man regards nature wit& eager interest. Like the
beasts, his forest companions, he places himself as far as
possible in harmony with his environment. He migrates
with the seasons; feasts when food is plenty, fasts in
famine-time ; basks and gambols in the sunshine, cowers
beneath the fury of the storm, crawls from the cold into
)iis den, and there quasi-torpidly remains until nature
releases him. Is it therefore strange that savage intel-
lect peoples the elements with supernatural powers ; that
God is everywhere, in everything ; in the most trifling
accident and incident, as well as in the sun, the sea, the
grove ; that when evil comes God is angry, when fortune
smiles God is favorable; and that he speaks to his wild,
untutored ^xjople in signs and dreams, in the tempest and
in the sunshine. Nor does he withhold the still, small
voice, which breathes upon minds most darkened, and
into breasts the most savage, a spirit of progress, which,
if a people bo left to the frce fulfillment of their destiny,
is sure, sooner or later, to riixjn into full development.

We will now glance at the origin of fetichism, which
indeed may be called the origin of ideal religion, from
the other standpoint; that which arises from the respect
men feol for the memory of their departed arcestors.

The first conception of a dualty in man's nature has
liccn attributed to various causes ; it may be the result of
a combination of causes. There is the shadow upon
tlie ground, separate, yet inseparable; the reflection of
the form upon the water; the echo of the voice,
the adventures of fancy portrayed by dreams. Self

Vol. II. 3

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

i :i!^

is I '

':i; 1

is divisible from and inseparably connected with this
other self. Herefrom arise innumerable superstitions; it
was portentous of misfortune for one's clothes to be
stepped on ; no food must be left uneaten ; nail clippings
and locks of hair must not fall into the hands of an
enemy. Catlin, in sketching his portraits, often narrow-
ly escaped with his life, the Indians believing that in
their likenesses he carried away their other self.
And when death comes, and this other self departs,
whither has it gone? The lifeless body remains, but
where is the life? The mind cannot conceive of the
total extinguishment of an entity, and so the imagina-
tion rears a local habitation for every departed spirit.
Every phenomenon and every event is analyzed under
this hypothesis. For every event there is not only a
cause, but a personal cause, an independent agent behind
every consequence. Every animal, every fish and bird,
every rock and stream and plant, the ripening fruit,
the falling rain, the uncertain wind, the sun and stars,
are all personified. There is no disease without its god
or devil, no fish entangled in the net, no beast or bird
that falls before the hunter, without its special sender.
Savages are more afraid of a dead man than a live
one. They are overwhelmed with terror at the thought
of this unseen power over them. The spirit of the de-
parted is omnipotent and omnipresent. At any cost or
hazard it must be propitiated. So food is placed in the
grave; wives and slaves, and horses and dogs, are slain,
and in spirit sent to serve the ghost of the departed ;
phantom messengers are sent to the region of shadows
from time to time ; the messengers sometimes even vol-
unteering to go. So boats and weapons and all the
property of the deceased are burned or deposited with
him. In the hand of the dead child is placed a toy ; in
that of the departed warrior, the symbolic pipe of peace,
which is to open a tranquil entrance into his new abode;
clothes, and ornaments, and paint, are conveniently
placed, and thus a proper personal appearance guaran-
teed. Not that the things themselves are to be used.

THE WOBSHIP OF DEAD ANGESTOBS.

but the souls of things. The body of the chief rota,
as does the material substance of the articles buried
with it; but the soul of every article follows the soul of
its owner, to serve its own peculiar end in the land of
phantoms.

The Chinese, grown cunning with the great antiquity
of their burial customs, which require money and food
to be deposited for the benefit of the deceased, spiritual-
ize the money, by making an imitation coin of paste-
board, while the food, untouched by the dead, is finally
eaten by themselves.

But whence arises the strange propensity of all prim-
itive nations to worship animals, and plants, and stones,
things animate and inanimate, natural and supernatural?
Why is it that all nations or tribes select from nature
some object which they hold to be sacred, and which
they venerate as deity? It is the opinion of Herbert
Spencer that "the rudimentary form of all religion is
the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to
be still existing, and to be capable of working good or
evil to their descendants. " It is the universal custom with
savage tribes, as the character of their members becomes
developed, to drop the real name of individuals and
to fix upon them the attribute of some external object,
by whose name only they are aft )rwards known. Thus
a swift runner is called the ' antelope,' the slow of foot,
the 'tortoise,' a merciless warrior, the 'wolf,' a dark-
eyed maid may be likened to the 'raven,' a majestic
matron to the ' cypress.' And so the rivulet, the rock, the
dawn, the sun, and even elements invisible, are seized up-
on as metaphors and fastened upon individuals, according
to a real or fancied resemblance between the qualities
of nature and the character of the men. Inferiority
and baseness, alike with nobleness and wise conduct,
perpetuate a name. Even in civilized societies, a nick-
name often takes the place of the real name. School-
boys are quick to distinguish peculiarities in their fel-
lows, and fasten upon them significant names. A dull
scholar is called ' cabbage-head,' the girl with red ring-

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

l! !; .1

mu "

lets, ' carrots.' In the family there is the greedy
'pig,' the darling 'duck,' the little 'lamb.' In new
countries, and abnormal communities, where strangers
from all parts are promiscuously thrown together, not un-
frequently men live on terms of intimacy for years with-
out ever knowing each other's real name. Among miners,
such appellations as 'Muley Bill,' 'Sandy,' 'Shorty,'
' Sassafras Jack,' often serve all the purposes of a name.
In more refined circles, there is the hypocritical 'cro-
codile,' the sly 'fox,' the gruff 'bear.' We say of the
horse, ' he is as fleet as the wind,' of a rapid account-
ant, 'he is as quick as lightning.' These names, which
are used by us but for the moment, or to fit occasions,
are among rude nations permanent— in many instances
the only name a person ever receives.

Sometimes the nickname of the individual becomes
first a family name and then a tribal name; as when
the chief, 'Coyote,' becomes renowned, his children
love to call themselves 'Coyotes.' The chieftainship
descending to the son and grandson of Coyote, the
name becomes famous, the Coyote family the domin-
ant family of the tribe; members of the tribe, in their
intercourse with other tribes, call themselves 'coyotes,'
to distinguish themselves from other tribes; the head,
or tail, or claws, or skin, of the coyote ornaments the
dress or adorns the body ; the name becomes tribal, and
the animil the symbol or totem of the tribe. After a
few generations have passed, the great chieftain. Coyote,
and his immediate progeny are forgotten; meanwhile
the beast becomes a favorite with the people ; he begins
to be regarded as privileged; is not hunted down like
other beasts; the virtues and exploits of the whole
Coyote clan become identified with the brute ; the af-
fections of the people are centered in the animal, and
finally, all else being lost and forgotten, the descendants
of the chieftain, Coyote, are the offepring of the veri-
table beast, coyote.

Concerning image-worship and the material represen-
tation of ideal beings, Mr. Tylor believes that " when

ABStr.VCT CONCEPTIONS, M0N8TEBS, AND METAPHOBB. 87

man has got some way in developing the religious ele-
ment in him, he begins to catch at the device of setting up
a puppet, or a stone, as the symbol and representative of
the notions of a higher being which are floating in his
mind."

Primitive languages cannot express abstract qualities.
For every kind of animal or bird or plant there may be
a name, but for animals, plants, and birds in general, they
have no name or conception. Therefore, the abstract
quality becomes the concrete idea of a god, and the de-
scendants of a man whose symbolic name was ' dog,'
from being the children of the man become the child-
ren of the dog.

Hence also arise monsters, beings compounded of
bea'.t, bird, and fish, sphinxes, mermaids, human-headed
brutes, winged animals; as when the descendant of the
'hawk' carries off a wife from the 'salmon' tribe, a totem
representing a fish with a hawk's head for a time keeps
alive the occurrence and finally becomes the deity.

Thus realities become metaphors and metaphors reali-
ties; the fact dwindles into shadowy nothingness and
the fancy springs into actual being. The historical inci-
dent becomes first indistinct and then is forgotten ; the
metaphorical name of the dead ancestor is first respected
in the animal or plant, then worshiped in the animal
or plant, and finally the nickname and the ancestor both
are forgotten and the idea becomes the entity, and the
veritable object of worship. From forgetfulness of primo-
genitor and metaphor, conceiving the animal to be the
very ancestor, words are put into the animal's mouth, the
sayings of the ancestor become the sayings of the brute ;
hence mythological legends of talking beasts, and birds,
and wise fishes. To one animal is attributed a miracu-
lous cure, to another, assistance in time of trouble ; one
animal is a deceiver, another a betrayer; and thus
through their myths and metaphors we may look back
into the soul of savagism and into their soul of nature.

That this is the origin of some phases of fetichism
there can be no doubt; that it is the origin of all reli-

^^.

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

•11
i-ii

lili

i:!i

gions, or even the only method hy which animal and
plant worship originates, I do not believe. While
there are undoubtedly general principles underlying all
religious conceptions, it does not necessarily follow, that
in every instance the methods of arriving at those funda-
mental principles must be identical. As with us a child
weeps over a dead mother's picture, regarding it with
fond devotion, so the dutiful barbarian son, in order the
better to propitiate the favor of his dead ancestor, some-
times carves his image in wood or stone, which sentiment
with time lapses into idolatry. Any object which strikes
the rude fancy as analogous to the character of an indi-
vidual may become an object of worship.

The interpretation of myth can never be absolute and
positive ; yet we may in almost every instance discover
the general purport. Thus a superior god, we may be
almost sure, refers to some potent hero, some primitive
ruler, whom tradition has made superhuman in origin and
in power; demigods, subordinate or inferior beings in
power, must be regarded as legendary, referring to cer-
tain influential persons, identified with some element or
incident in which the deified personage played a con-
spicuous part.

Although in mythology religion is the dominant ele-
ment, yet mythology is not wholly made up of religion,
nor are all primitive religions mythical. "There are
few mistakes" says Professor Max Miiller "so widely
spread and so firmly established as that which makes us
confound the religion and the mythology of the ancient
nations of the world. How mythology arises, necessarily
and naturally, I tried to explain in my former lectui-es,
and we saw that, as an affection or disorder of language,
mythology may infect every part of the intellectual life
of man. True it is that no ideas are more liable to my-
thological disease than religious ideas, because they
transcend those regions of our experience within which
language has its natural origin, and must therefore, ac-
cording to their very nature, be satisfied with metaphori-
cal expressions. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither

FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS OF BELIQ^ON.

] it entered into the heart of man. Yet even the
j^ions of the ancient nations are by no means inevi-
tably and altogether mythological. On the contrary, as
a diseased frame pre-supposes a healthy frame, so a
mythological religion pre-supposes, I believe, a healthy
religion."

The universal secrets of supernatural beings are wrap-
ped up in probable or possible fable; the elements of
physical nature are impersonated in allegories, and
arrayed in forms perceptible to the imagination ; deities
are sometimes introduced into the machinery of the
supernatural in order to gratify that love for the mar-
velous which every attempt to explain the mysterious
forces of nature creates in the ignorant mind. Yet
it cannot truly be said that any form of religion, much
less any religion was wholly invented. Fanatics some-
times originate doctrines, and the Church sets forth its
dogmas, but there must be a foundation of truth or the
edifice cannot stand. Inventions there undoubtedly
have been and are, but inventions, sooner or later fall
to the ground, while the essential principles underlying

ligion and mythology, though momentarilv overcome
wept away, are sure to remain.

Every one of the fundamental ideas of religion is of
indigenous origin, generating spontaneously in the
human heart. It is a characteristic of mythology that the
present inhabitants of the world descended from some
nobler race. From the nobler impulses of fancy the
savage derives his origin. His higher instincts teach
him, that his dim distant past, and his impenetrable
future, are alike of a lighter, more ethereal nature ; that
his earthly nature is base, that that which binds him
to earth is the lowest, vilest part of himself.

The tendency of positive knowlege is to overthrow
superstition. Hence as science develops, many tenets of
established religions, palpably erroneous, are dropped, and
the more knowledge becomes real, the more real know-
ledge is denied. Superstition is not the effect of an
active imagination, but shows rather a lack of imagination,

SPEECH AND SPECULATION.

M'lili

n:M'!l1

i^iri .

for we see that the lower the stage of intelligence, and
the feebler the imagination, the greater the superstition.
A keen, vivid imagination, although capable of broader
and more complicated conceptions, is able to explain the
cruder marvels, and consequently to dispel the coarser
phases of superstition, while the dull intellect accepts
everything which is put upon it as true. Ultimate reli-
gious conceptions are symbolic rather than actual. Ul-
timate ideas of the universe are even beyond the grasp
of the profoundest intellect. We can form but an ap-
proximate idea of the sphere on which we live. To form
conceptions of the relative and actual distances and
magnitudes of heavenly bodies, of systems of worlds, and
eternities of space, the human mind is totally inadequate.
If, theroifore, the mind is unable to grasp material visible
objects, iiow much less are we able to measure the invisi-
ble and eternal.

When theretcre the savage attempts to solve the prob-
lem of natural phenomena, he first reduces broad concep-
tions to symbolic ideas. He moulds his deity according
to the measure of his mind ; and in forn^ing a skeleton
upon which to elaborate his religious instincts, proximate
theories are accepted, and almost any explanation ap-
pears to him plausible. The potential creations of his
fancy are brought within the compass of his comprehen-
sion; symbolic gods are mouMed from mud, or carved
from wood or stone; and thus by segregating an infi-
nitesimal part of the vast idea of deity, the worshiper
meets the material requirements of his religious con-
ceptions. And although the lower forms of worship are
abandoned as the intellect unfolds, the same principle
is continued. We set up in the mind symbols of the ulti-
mate idea which is too groat for our grasp, and ima^ning
ourselves in possession of the actual idea, we fall into
numberless errors concerning what we believe or think.
The atheistic hypothesis of self-existence, the pantheistic
hy|x>thesis of self-creation, and the theistic hypothesis of
creation by an extornal agency are equally unthinkable,
and therefore as postulates equally untenable. Yet un-

CLASSIFICATION OF PACIFIC STATES' MYTHS.

derlying all, however gross or superstitious the dogma,
is one fundamental truth, namely, that there is a prob-
lem to be solved, an existent mysterious universe to be
accounted for.

Deep down in every human breast is implanted a
religiosity as a fHndamental attribute of man's nature;
a consciousness that behind visible appearances is an in-
visible power; underlying all conception is an instirH
or intuition from which there is no escape, that beyond
material actualities potential agencies are at work ; and
throughout all belief, from the stupidest fetichism to the
most exalted monotheism, as part of these instinctive con-
victions, it is held that the beings, or being, who rule
man's destiny may be propitiated.

The first cry of nature is hushed. From time im-
memorial nations and i)eoples have come and gone,
whence and whither no one knows ; entering existence
unannounced they disap[)ear and leave no trace, save
perhaps their impress on the language or the mythology
of the world. Thus from historic fact bleiided with the
religious sentiments springs the Mythic Idea.

In the following chapters, I have attempted, as far as
practicable, to classify the Myths of the Pacific States
under appropriate head s. I n making such a classification
there is no ^'fficulty, except where in one myth occur
two or more divisions of the subject, in which case it
becomes necessary, either to break the narrative, or
make exceptions to the general rule of classifying. I
have invariably lulopted the latter altt>rnative. The
divisions which I make of Mythology are as follows: 1.
Origin and End of Things; II. Physical Mytlis; III.
Animal Myths; IV. Gods, Supernatural Beings, and
Worship; V. The Future State.

i iH''i

CHAPTER II.

ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS.
QcioBK Obkatton-Mttr— AzTio Orioim-Mtths— Thb Papaoob— MoMTinr-

tlA. AND THK CoXOTB— ThB MoQUIS — ThB ObBAT SpIDBR'B WbB OF TBI

FiHAS— Navajo and Pcbblo Creations— Obioin of Clbab Lakb and
Lake Tahok— Chabbya of the Cahrocs— Mount Shasta, the Wio*

WAM OF THE OrBAT SpIRIT— IdAHO SpRINQS AND WaTBR FaLLS — HoW

Diffbrenoes in LANonAoi OooDRBKD— Ybhl, thb Cbeatob of the
Thlinkebts— The Batbn and the Doo.

I :<i!

ir'l I

Of all American peoples the t^uich^s, of Guatema-
la, have left us the richest mythological legacy. Their
description of the creation as given in the Popol Vuh,
which may be called the national book of the Quichds/

> In Vienna in 1857, the book now best known as the Fopol Vuh
was first brought to the notice of Euronenn scholars, under the following
title: Z/M llistiirias del Ori<ien de loa Inaim de tntu Provincia de Guatemala,
traducldas de la Lengua Quichi! at CaaMlano para wan Comodidad dt loa
MiiiMroa del S. Evam/tlio, nor el H. P. F. Francinno Ximenet, cura dootrinero
por el real patrotuilo del Pueblo de S, Thomaa Vhuila. — Kxaclaniente aegun
fl texto eapaiiol del manuaorllo otininul que tie hnlla en la biblioieoa de (n
Univeraidad de Guatemala, publicado ]>or la primern vet, y aumetitado eon
una introduccion y anotncxoMH por el Or V. Scherrer. What Dr Hchorzer
says in n pitpur road before the Vienna Academy of Boieuces, Feb. 30th,
1850,- and repeats in his introduction, about its author, amounts to this : In
the early pn ' * of the 18th century Francisco Ximenez, a Dominicnn Father of
great rcputr tut his learning and his love of truth, tilled the ofilee of curate
U) the little Indian town of Chichicastenungo in the highlands of Guatemala.
Neither the time of his hlrth nor that of his death can be exactly asoert^tined,
but the internal evidence of one of his works shows that ho was engaged
upon it in 1731. Ho left many manuscripts, but it is supnosed tnat
the unpalatnltle truths some of them contain with regard to the ill-treatment
of the Indians by the colonial authorities s\ifHced, as previously in the case
nf Las ('asas. to ensure their partial destruction and tottil s\t2)pression. What
remains of them lav long hid in an obscure corner of the t'onvent of the
Dominicans in Guatemala, and passed afterwards, on the suoression of all

THE POPOL VUH.

is, in its rude strange eloquence and poetic originality,
one of the rarest relics of aboriginal thought. Although
obliged in reproducing it to condense somewhat, I have

the religions orders, into the library of the UniTersity of San Carlos (Oua-
temaLi). Here Dr. Hcherzer discovered them in June 1851, and care-
fully copied, and afterwards published as above the particular treatise
with which we are now concerned. This, according to Father Ximenez him-
self, and according to its internal evidence, is a translation of a literal copy of
an original book, written by or.o or more Quiches, in the Quiche language, in
Roman letters, after the Christians ha:l occupied Guatemala, and after the
real original Popol Vuh— National lloDk — had been lost or destroyed— lite-
rally, was uo more to be seen — and written to nplace that lost book. * Quise
trasiadar todas las historias d la letra de estos indios, y tnmbien traducirla
en la lengua castellana.' 'Esto escribiremos ya en la ley de Dios en la
cristiandad, los sacaremos, porque ya no hay libro comuu, original donde
verlo, Xiinenet, Hist. Ind, Uuat., pp. 1, 4, 5. ' Voilk ce que nous ecrirons de-
puis (qu'on a promulguu) la parole de Dieu, et en dedans du ChristiauiRme;
nons le reproduirons, parce qu'on ne voit plus ce Livre national,' 'Vne
x-chi-ka tzibah chupan chio u chabal Dios, pa Christianoil chic; x-chi-k'-
elezah, rumal ma-haoi chio ilbal re Popo-Vuh, lira.tseur de liourbmtrg, Popol
Vuh, p. 5. The evidence that the author was Quiche will be found in
the numerous passages scattered through the narrative in which he
speaks of the Quiche nation, and of the ancestors of that nation as ' our
people, 'our ancestors,' and so on. We pass now to what the Abbu Bras-
seur de Dourbourg has to say about the book. He says that Ximenes
'diRCovered this document, in the last years of the 17th century.' In
1855, at Guatemala, the abbe first saw Ximenez' manuscript containing this
work. The manuscript contained the Quiche text and the Spanish curate's
translation of that text. Hrasseur de Bourbourg copied both at that time, but
he was dissatistted with the translation, believing it to be full of faults owing
to the prejudices and the ignorance of the age in which it was made, as weU
as diflflgured by abridgments and omissions. 8o in 1860 he settled himself
among the Quichus and by the help of natives joined to his own practical
knowledge of their language, he elaborated a new and literal translation,
(auRsi litti'rale qu'il a tte poRsible de la faire). We seem justified then on
the whole in taking this document for what Ximenez and its own evidence
declare it to be, namely, a reproduction of an older work or body of Quiche
traditional history, written because that older work had been lost and was
likely to be forgotten, and written by a Quiche not long after the Spanish
contjuest. One consequence of the last fact would seem to be that a tinge of
biblical expression has, consciously or unconsciously to the Quichu who
wrote, influenced the form of the narrative. But these coincidences may be
wholly accidental, the more as there are also striking resemblances to expres-
sions in the Scandinavian Edda and in the Hindoo Veda. And even if tliey
be not accidental, 'much remains,' adopting the language and the conclu-
sion of Professor Max MUUer, ' in these American traiiitions which is so
ditforcnt from anything else in the national literatures of other countries,
that we may safely treat it as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of
Aniei'iaa.' Vliipa from a Ufrtiian If orAd/tow, vol. i,, p. 3'J8. For the fore-
going, as well as further information on the subject see :—Jiras»nir de lioiir-
bourii, 1'oimI Vuh, pp. 5-31, lU5-'i31; S'il rxinte Jen Sources de I'llist. Prim.,
pp.H;t-7; IHgt. dea Sat. Clc, <(»»i. i., pp. 47-(H; Xlmenet, Hist, Ind. Ouiit,,
pp. 5-15; Scherter, in Siltuixjberiehte arr Ahidemie der }y^iiisenshujtpn W'iin,
2(lth Feb., 186G; Jielpii' Spnniiih Conquest, vol. iv., pp. 455-0. Professor
MUUcr iu his essay on the Popol Vuh, has in one or two places misunder-
Rto'ul the narrative, There was no such creation of man as that lio givos
as the second, while his third creation is the second of the original,
.^gnin, he makes the four Quioh^ anoeston to be the progenitors of

OBIOIN AND END 0S< THINGS.

I li! 1

im':

I Si

endeavored to give not only the substance, but also, as
far as possible, the peculiar style and phraseology of the
original. It is with this primeval picture, whose simple
silent sublimity is that of the inscrutable past, that we
begin : —

And the heaven was formed, and all the signs thereof
set in their angle and alignment, and its boundaries fixed
towards the four winds by the Creator and Former, and
Mother and Father of life and existence, — he by whom
all move and breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the
peace of nations and of the civilization of his people, —
he whose wisdom has projected the excellence of all that
is on the earth, or in the lakes, or in the sea.

Behold the first word and the first discourse. There
was as yet no man, nor any animal, nor bird, nor fish,
nor crawfish, nor any pit, nor ravine, nor green herb,
nor any tree ; nothing was but the firmament. The face
of the earth had not yet appeared, — only the peaceful sea
and all the space of heaven. There was nothing yet
joined together, nothing that clung to anything else ; no-
thing that balanced itself, that made the least rustling,
that made a sound in the heaven. There was nothing
that stood up ; nothing but the quiet water, but the sea,
calm and alone in its boundaries : nothing existed ; no-
thing but immobility and silence, in the darkness, in the
night."

all tribes both while and black; while thev were the parents of the Quiohii
and kindred races only. The course of the legend brinss us to tribes of a
strange blood, with which these four ancestors and their people were often
at war. The narrative is, however, itself so confused and contradictory
at points, that it is almost impossible to avoid such things; and, as a
whole, the views of Professor MUller on the Popol Vuh seem just and well
oonsidered. Baldwin, Ancient America, pp. 101-7, gives a mere dilution of
Professor MUller's essay, and that without acknowledgment.

I The original Quiche runs as follows: * Are u tzihoxto vae ca catzinin-oo,
ca ca chamam-oo, ca tKinoni(;; ca ca cilanio, ca ca lolinic, ca tolona puch u
pa cah. Vae cute nabe tsih, nabe uchan.— Ma-lmbi-oo hun vinak, hun
ohicop; tsiquin, oar, tap, che, abith, hul, oivan, quim, qichelah: xn-utuquel
cah qolio. Mavi oalah u vach uleu : xa-utuquel remanio palo, u pah cah
ronohel. Ma-habi nakila ca molobic, ca cotcobic: hunta ca zilobic; ca mal
ca ban-tah, ca cots oa ban-tah pa cah. X-ma qo-vi nakila qolio yacalio; xa
remunio ha, xa lianio palo, xa-utuquel remauic; x-ma qo-vi nakilalo qolio.
Xa ca chamunio, oa tsininio chi gekum, chi ugub.'

This passage is rendered by the Abbtt Urasseur de Dourbourg thus: ' Voi-
oi le r^cit oomme quoi tout titait en auspsna, tout ^tait oalme et ■ilencieux;

rii!

THE QUICHE IDEA OF GBEATION.

Alone also the Creator, the Former, the Dominator,
the Feathered Serpent, — those that engender, those
that give being, they are upon the water, like a
growing light. They are enveloped in green and
blue; and therefore their name is Gucumatz.' Lo,
now how the heavens exist, how exists also the
Heart of Heaven; such is the name of God; it is
thus that he is called. And they spake; they con-
sulted together and meditated ; they mingled their words
and their opinion. And the creation was verily after
this wise: Earth, they said, and on the instant it was
formed ; like a cloud or a fog was its beginning. Then
the mountains rose over the water like great lobsters ;
in an instant the mountains and the plains were visible,
and the cypress and the pine appeared. Then was the
Oucumatz filled with joy, crying out: Blessed be thy
coming, Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, Thunderbolt.
Our work and our labor has accomplished its end.

The earth and its vegetation having thus appeared, it
was peopled with the various forms of animal life. And
the Makers said to the animals: Speak now our name,

tout utait itninobile, tout t-tait pnisible, et Tide etnit 1' immensitu des cieux.
Voilk done la premiere parole et le premier diHconrs. II n'y avait pas encore
uu senl homme, pas uii animal; pas d'oiseaux, de poissons, dY-crevissep,
de bois, de pierre, do fondrit>re8, de ravins, d'herbe ou bebocages: senlement
le ciel existait. La face de la t«rre ne se manifestait pas encore: seule la
mer pnisible t'tait ct tout I'cspaoe des cieux. II n'y avait encore rien qui fit
corps, rien qtii se cramponnilt k autre chose: rien qui se bulan^ftt, qui fit (le
raoiiulre) frolement, qui fit (entendre) un son dans le ciel. II n'y avait rien
mii oxiHtAt debout; (il n'y avait) que I'eau paisible, que la mercafme ct senle
I an I Htm borncs; car il n y avait rien qtii existAt. Ce n'l'tuit que I'immobili-
ti^ I't lo silence dans les teniibros, dans la nuit.' Popnl ru/i,p. 1,

And by Francisco Ximenez thus: Este es su ser dicho cuando estaba sus-
pensoenoalnia, ensilencio, sin movorse, sin rosa sine vacio el cielo. Y esta
es la primera palabra y elocuencia; aun nohabia hombrcs, animales, pharos,
pescatlo, cangrejo, palo, picdra, hoya, barranca, paja ni nionte, sino solo
estaba el cielo; no se manifestaba la faz de la lierra; sino que solo estaba el
mar represado, y todolo del cielo; aun nohabia cosa alguna juntu. nisonaba
nnda, ni cosa algnna se meneaba, ni oosa que hicicra nial, ni r.isa quo hioiera
"C'lt:," (osto es ruido en el oielo), ni habia cosa que est'iviese paraJa en
pit'; Nolo el agua vepresada, solo la mar sosegada, solo ella represaaa, ni cosa
al^ima habia que estuviose; solo estaba en silcncio, y sosiego en la obsou-
riduii, y la noche,' Hist, tnil, Uuat., pp. G-G.

3 'Oxeumntt, Utti'ralement serpent empluni)', et dans un sens plus I'tondu,
serpent revfitu de couleura brillantes, de vert ou d'azur. Les phunen dn guo
ou quetzid ofhrent I'galement les deux tointes. C'cst exactmont la mOme
chose que quetKtIcohnaU i\i\n>t la langae mexioaine.' Brasatur d« IhurboMrg,
Hist, dw Nal. Viu., torn, i., p. 50.

OBiaiN AND END OF THINGS.

iiiil

honor us, us your mother and father ; invoke Hurakan,
the Lightning-flash, the Thunderbolt that strikes, the
Heart of Heaven, the Heart of the Earth, the Creator and
Former, Him who begets, and Him who gives being, —
Speak, call on us, salute us! So was it said to the animals.
But the animals could not answer; they could not speak
at all after the manner of men ; they could only cluck,
and croak, each murmuring after his kind in a different
manner. This displeased the Create .'s, and they said to
the animals: Inasmuch as ye can not praise us, neither
call upon our names, your flesh shall be humiliated ; it
shall be broken with teeth ; ye shall be killed and eaten.

Again the gods took counsel together ; they determined
to make man. So they made a man of clay ; and when
they had made him, they saw that it was not good. He
was without cohesion, without consistence, motionless,
strengthless, inept, watery ; he could not move his head,
his face looked but one way; hip sight was restricted, he
could not look behind him ; he had been endowed with
language, but he had no intelligence, so he was consumed
in the water.

Again is there counsel in heaven: Let us make
an intelligent being who shall adore and invoke us.
It was decided that a man should be made of wood
and a woman of a kind of pith. They were made ; but
the result was in no wise satisfactory. They moved
about perfectly well, it is true ; they increased and mul-
tiplied ; they jxioplcd the world with sons and daughters,
little wooden mannikins like themselves ; but still the
heart and the intelligence were wanting; they held no
memory of their Maker and Former ; they led a useless
existence, they lived as the beasts live ; they forgot the
Heart of Heaven. They were but an essay, an attempt
at men; they had neither blood, nor substance, nor
moisture, nor fat; their cheeks were shrivelled, their feet
and hands dried up; their flesh languished.

Then was the Heart of Heaven wroth ; and he sent
ruin and destruction upon thoi^ ingrates ; he rained upon
them night and day from heaven with a thick resin;

DESTBUCTION AND BE-GBEATION OF MAN.

and the earth was darkened. And the men went mad
with terror; they tried to mount upon the roofs and the
houses fell ; they tried to climb the trees and the trees
shook them far from their branches ; they tried to hide
in the caves and dens of the earth, but these closed their
holes against them. The bird Xecotcovach came to tear
out their eyes ; and the Camalotz cut off their head ; and
the Cotzbalara devoured their flesh; and the Tecum-
balam broke and bruised their bones to powder. Thus
were they all devoted to chastisement and destruction,
save only a few who were preserved as memorials of the
wooden men that had been; and these now exist in the
woods as little apes.*

Once more are the gods in counsel ; in the darkness,
in the night of a desolated universe do they commune to-
gether: of what shall we make man? And the Crea-
tor and Former made four perfect men ; and wholly of
yellow and white maize was their flesh composed. These
were the names of the four men that were made: the
name of the first was Balam-Quitze ; of the second, Baiam-
Agab; of the third Mahucutah; and of the fourth, Iqi-
Balam." They had neither father nor mother, neither
were they made by the ordinary agents in the work of
creation ; but their coining into existence was a miracle
extraordinary, wrought by the special intervention of
him who is preeminently The Creator. Verily, at last,
were there found men worthy of their origin and their
destiny ; verily, at last, did the gods look on beings who
could see with their eyes, and handle with their hands,
and understand with their hearts. Grand of counte-
nance and broad of limb the four sires of our race stood
up under the white rays of the morning star — sole light
as yet of the primeval world — stood up and looked.
Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all ; they saw

* A lonR rambling Btor^ is here introdnoed which has nothing to do with
Creation, and which i.s omitted for the present.

i Ualam-Quiltii, the tiger with the Hweet smile ; nalam'Agdb, the tiger of the
night; Mahucidnh, the (liHtinauishcd niiiuo; ]ql-lia!am, the tiger of the moon.
' Telle CHt la nigniflcatiun litti^ralo que Xiutenez a donuuo de oc» quatre noms.'
Braaaeur de liourbourg, Popol KuA, p. 109,

OBIOIK AND END OF THINOS.

the woods and the rocks, the lakes and the sea, the
mountains and the valleys, and the heavens that were
above all ; and they comprehended all and admired ex-
ceedingly. Then they returned thanks to those who had
made the world and all that therein was: We oflfer up
our thanks, twice — ^yea verily, thrice ! We have received
life ; we speak, we walk, we taste ; we hear and under-
stand ; we know, both that which is near and that which
is far off; we see all things, great and small, in all the
heaven and earth. Thanks then. Maker and Former,
Father and Mother of our life! we have been created;
we are.

But the gods were not wholly pleased with this thing;
Heaven they thought had overshot its mark ; these men
were too perfect; knew, understood, and saw too much.
Therefore there was counsel again in heaven : What shall
we do with man now? It is not good, this that we see;
these are as gods ; they would make themselves equal
with us; lo, they know all things, great and small. Let
us now contract their sight, so that they may see only a
little of the surface of the earth and be content. There-
upon the Heart of Heaven breathed a cloud over the
pupil of the eyes of men, and a veil came over it as
when one breathes on the face of a mirror ; thus was the
globe of the eye darkened ; neither was that which was
far off clear to it any more, but only that which was near.

Then the four men slept, and there was counsel in
heaven : and four women were made, — to Balam-Quitze
was allotted Caha-Paluma to wife; to Balam-Agab,
Chomiha; to Mahucuth, Tzununiha; and to Iqi-Balam,
Cakixaha." Now the women were exceedingly fair to
look upon ; and when the men awoke, their hearts were
glad because of the women.

Next, as I interpret the narrative, there were other
men created, the ancestors of other peoples, while the

Cdha-paiuma, the falling water; Chomi-ha or Choniih-a, the bonntiful house
or the bonutiful water; in the same way, Tuiuuniha may moan either the house
or the water of the humming-birds; and Cahlxaha, cither the house or the
water of the aras [ whioh are a kind of parrot]. Braimur d« Jivurbourg, Popol
Vtih, p. 205.

■'I"

THE QUICHES SET OUT FOB TULAN-ZUIVA.

first four were the fathers of all the branches of the
Quiche race. The different tribes at first, however, lived
together amicably enough, in a primitive state; and in-
creased and multiplied, leading happy lives under their
bright and morning star, precursor of the yet unseen sun.
They had as yet no worship save the breathing of the
instinct of their soul, as yet no altars to the gods;
only — and is there not a whole idyl in the simple words?
— only they gazed up into heaven, not knowing what they
had come so far to do!' They were filled with love,
with obedience, and with fear ; and lifting their eyes to-
wards heaven, they made their requests: —

Hail! Creator, Former! thou that hearest and
understandest us! abandon us not, forsake us not!
God, thou that art in heaven and on the earth, Heart
of Heaven, Heart of Earth! ^ve us descendants and a
posterity as long as the light endure. Give us to walk
always in an open road, in a path without snares; to
lead happy, quiet, and peaceable lives, free of all reproach.
It was thus they spake, living tranquilly, invoking the
return of the light, waiting the rising of the sun, watch-
ing the star of the morning, precursor of the sun. But
no sun came, and the four men and their descendants
grew uneasy: We have no person to watch over us, they
said, nothing to guard our symbols. So the four men and
their people set out for Tulan-Zuiva,' otherwise called
the Seven-caves or Seven-ravines, and there they re-
ceived gods, each man as head of a family, a god ; though
inasmuch as the fourth man, Iqi-Balam, had no children
and founded no family, his god is not usually taken into
the account. Balam-Quitz(5 received the god Tohil ; Ba-

^ ' Are ma-habi ohi tsnkun, qai ooon ; zavi ohi oah chi qni paoaba qni vaoh ;
mavi qu'etaam x-e be-vi naht x-qni bano. ' ' Alora iU ne s^rvaient pas enoore
et ne Bontenaient point (leg autels des dieux) ; aeulement ils tournaientleun
viBuges vera la ciel, et ils ne anvaient oe qn'iU ^taient Tenna faire si loin.'
Brasmtr de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, jj. 209. It is right to add, however, that
Ximenez gives a much more proaaic torn to the passage: 'No cabian de
RUBtento, sine que levantaban las caras al oielo y no se sabian alejar.' /fM.
Ind.Gwtt., p. M.

* Or as XimenoB, Hist. Ind. Ouat., p. 87, writes it,— J\datuk, (las aiete
ouevas y siete barrancas) .

Vol.. III. « •

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

lam Agab received the god Avilix; and Mahucutah re-
ceived the god Hacavitz ; all very powerful gods, but Tohil
seems to have been the chief, and in a general way, god
of the whole Quiche nation. Other people received gods
at the same time ; and it had been for all a long march
to Tulan.

Now the Quiches had as yet no fire, and as Tulan
was a much colder climate than the happy eastern land
they had left, they soon began to feel tiie want of it.
The god Tohil who was the creator of fire had some in his
possession ; so to him, as was most natural, the Quiches
applied, and Tohil in some way supplied them with fire.

But shortly after, there fell a great rain that extin-
guished all the fires of the land ; and much hail also fell
on the heads of the people ; and because of the rain and
the hail, their fires were utterly scattered and put out.
Then Tohil created fire again by stamping with his
sandal. Several times thus fire failed them, but Tohil
always renewed it. Many other trials also they under-
went in Tulan, famines and such things, and a general
dampness and cold, — for the earth was moist, there being
as yet no sun.

Here also the language of all the families was confused
so that no one of the first four men could any longer un-
derstand the speech of another. This also made them
very sad. They determined to leave Tulan; and the
greater part of them, under the guardianship and direc-
tion of Tohil, set out to see where they should take up their
abode. They continued on their way amid the most
extreme hanlships for want of food ; sustaining them-
selves at one time upon the mere smell of their staves,
and by imagining that they were eating, when in verity
and in truth, they ate nothing. Their heart, indeed, it
is again and again said, was almost broken by affliction.
Poor wanderers! they had a cruel way to go, many for-
ests to pierce, many stem mountains to overpass and a
long passage to make through the sea, along the shingle
and pebbles and drifted sand, — the sea being, however,
parted for their passage.

quighcS orioin of the sun.

At last they came to a mountun that they named
Hacavitz, after one of their gods, and here they rested, —
for here they were by some means given to understand
that they should see the sun. Then indeed, was filled
with an exceeding joy, the heart of Balam-Quitz^, of
Balam- Agab, of Mahucutah, and of Iqi-Balam. It seemed
to them that even the face of the morning star caught a
new and more resplendent brightness. They shook their
incense pans and danced for very gladness: sweet were
their tears in dancing, very hot their incense — their pre-
cious incense. At last the sun commenced to advance:
the animals, small and great, were full of delight; they
raised themselves to the surface of the water; they flut-
tered in the ravines; they gathered at the edge of the
mountains, turning their heads together toward that
part from which the sun came. And the lion and the
tiger roared. And the first bird that sang was that called
the Queletzu. All the animals were beside themselves at
the sight; the eagle and the kite beat their wings, and
every bird, both small and great. The men prostrated
themselves on the ground, for their hearts were full to
the brim.

And the sun, and the moon, and the stars were now
all established. Yet was not the sun then in the be-
ginning the same as now ; his heat wanted force, and he
was but as a reflection in a mirror; verily, say the histo-
ries, not at all the same sun as that of to-day. Never-
theless he dried up and warmed the surface of the earth,
and answered many good ends.

Another wonder when the sun rose! The three tribal
gods, Tohil, Avilix, and Harr*vitz, were turned into stone,
as were also the goda connected with the lion, the tiger,
the viper, and other fierce and dangerous animals. Per-
haps we should not be alive at this moment — continues
the chronicle — ^because of the voracity of these fierce ani-
mals, of these lions, and tigers, and vipers ; perhaps to-
day our glory would not be in existente, had not the sun
caused this petrification.

And the people multiplied on this Mount Hacavitz,

OBIGIN AND END OF THINOS.

and here they built their city. It is here also that they
b^an to sing that song called Kamucu, 'we see.' They
sang it, though it made their hearts ache, for this is what
they said in singing: Alas! We ruined ourselves in
Tulan, there lost we many of our kith and kin, they still
remain there, left behind! We indeed have seen the
sun, but they — now that his golden light be^ns to ap-
pear, where are they?

And they worshiped the gods that had become stone,
Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and they offered them the
blood of beasts, and of birds, and pierced their own ears
and shoulders in honor of these gods, and collected the
blood with a sponge, and pressed it out into a cup before
them.

Toward the end of their long and eventful life Ba-
lam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam
were impelled, apparently by a supernatural vision, to
lay before their gods a more awful offering than the life
of senseless beasts. They began to wet their altars
with the heart's blood of human victims. From their
mountain hold they watched for lonely travelers belong-
ing to the surrounding tribes, seized, overpowered, and
slew them for a sacrifice. Man after man was missing in
the neighboring villages; and the people said; Lo! the
tigers have carried them away, — for wherever the blood
was of a man slain, were always found the tracks of
many tigers. Now this was the craft of the priests, and
at last the tribes began to suspect the thing and to fol-
low the tracks of the tigers. But the trails had been
made purposely intricate, by steps returning on them-
selves and by the obliteration of steps; and the moun-
tain region where the altars were was already covered
with a thick fog and a small rain, and its paths flowed
with mud.

The hearts of the villagers were thus fatigued within
them, pursuing unknown enemies. At last, however, it
became plain that the gods Tohil, Avilix and Hacavitz
and their worship, were in some way or other the cans*
of this bereavement: so the people of the villages con-

THE END OF THE QUICH^ CREATION.

spired against them. Many attacks, both openly and
by ruses, did they make on the gods, and on the four
men, and on the children and people connected with
them ; but not once did they succeed, so great was the
wisdom, and power, and courage of the four men and of
their deities. And these three gods petrified, a«» we
have told, could nevertheless resume a movable ^!;^pe
when they pleased ; which indeed they often did, as will
be seen hereaft;er.

At last the war was finished. By the miraculous aid
of a horde oft wasps and hornets, the Quiches utterly de-
feated and put to the rout in a general battle all their
enemies. And the tribes humiliated themselves before
the face of Balam-Quitz^, of Balam-Agab, and of Mahu-
cutah: L iifortunates that we are, they said, spare to us
at least our lives. Let it be '^), it was answered, al-
though you be worthy of death ; you shall, however, be
our tributaries and serve us, as long as the sun endure,
as long as the light shall follow his course. This was
the reply of our fathers and mothers, upon Mount Ha-
cavitz; and thereafter they lived in great honor and
peace, and their souls had rest, and all the tribes served
them there.

Now ii, > uiiie to pass that the time of the death of
Balam-Quitz^, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam
drew near. No bodily sickness nor suffering came upon
them; but they were forewarned that their death and
their end was at hand. Then they called their sons
and their descendants round them to receive their last
counsels.

And the heart of the old men was rent within them.
In the anguish of their heart they sang the Kamucu,
the old sad song that they had sung when the sun first
rose, when the sun rose and they thought of the friends
thr bad left in Tulan, whose face they should see
HO more for ever. Then they took leave of their
one by one; and of their sons, one by one; of

wives,

each i particular they took leave; and they said:
We return to our people; already the King of the

OSIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

otags is ready, he stretches himself through the heaven.
Lo, we are about to return; our work is done; the days
of our life are complete. Remember us well; let us
never pass from your memory. You will see still our
houses and our mountains; multiply in them, and then
go on upon your way an«l see again the places whence we
are come.

So the old men too'; leave of their sons and of their
wives; and Balam-Quitz^ spake again: Behold! he said,
I leave you what shall keep me in remembrance. I
have taken leave of you — and am filled with sadness,
he added. Then instantly the four old men were not;
but in their place was a great bundle ; and it was never
unfolded, neither could any man find seam therein on
rolling it over and over. So it was called the Majesty
Enveloped ; and it became a memorial of these fathers,
and was held very dear and precious in the sight of the
Quiches ; and they bunied incense before it."

Thus died and disappeared on Mount Hacavitz Balam-
Quitzd, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, these
first men who came from the east, from the other side of
the sea. Long time had they been here when they
died ; and they were very old, and surnomed the Ven-
erated and the Sacrificers.

Such is the Quiche account of the creation of the
earth and its inhabitants and of the first years of the
existence of mankind. Although we find here described

* The following pnoHage iu a letter from the AbM Bramenrdo noiirbonrg,
to Mr. Uiifn of Co|)enhageu, bearing date 25th Untober, 1H6H, inav be UMuful
in thia connectioa:— * On sait que la coutumu tolt^tiue et luexiaaiue dtait de
ooniterver, conime ohes lea ohrelienn, lea reliqneH dtm h^roa de la patrie: on
enveloppait leiim oa avec dea pierrea pr^oieuaea dana un paqiiet d'^toffea
annutil on donnait le nom de Tlaquimllolli; oea imiiuotH deniouraient k Ja-
mata ferm^a et on lea dupumtit an f<>nd dea aanotnairna oil on lea oonaervait
ooinuie dea objeitta aikcn'a.' NmuteUm Annalen de» loynf/fA, 1H68, toin. iv., p.
968. One of tli<>He 'bundlea,' wua uivou up to the Christiana by a Tlaaoa-
Iteo Hoine time after the i^onqtii'Ht. It wita reported to contain the remaina of
Gamaxtli, the chief }(.h1 of Tlaacala. The native hiatorian, Camargo, de-
aorilM>H it aa foUowa: ' Qnand on dt'tlt le paqitet oh ae trouvaient lea oondrea

do I'idole (^aniaxtle, on y trouva anaai un paqnet de ohevenx blonda,

on y trouva anaHi une t^meraude, et de aea cendtna on avnit fait une pAte,
en lea pi'triannnt hv< o le aang dea entanta que Ton a\.iU aaoriilea.' HIm, dt
'naxoamu; iu SouwUti Anmlu du Vy., torn, xclx., 1M3, p. 279.

MBXXOAN COSMOGONY.

in the plainest and least equivocal terms a supreme, all-
powerful Creator of all things, there are joined with
him,, in a somewhat perplexing manner ^ number of
auxiliary deities and makers. It may be that those
whose faith the Popol Yuh represents, conceiving and
speaking of their supreme god under many aspects and
as fulfilling many functions, came at times, either un-
consciously or for dramatic effect, to bring this one
great Being upon their mythic stage, sustaining at once
many of his different parts and characters. Or per-
haps, like the Hebrews, they believed that the Creator
had made out of nothing or out of his own essence, in
some mysterious way, angels and other beings to obey
and to assist him in his sovereign designs, and that
these 'were called gods.' That these Quich6 notions
tsecm foolishness to us, is no argument as to their adapta-
tion to the life and thoughts of those whe believed them ;
for, in the words of Professor Max Miiller, *' the thoughts
of primitive humanity were not only different from our
thoughts, but different also from what we think their
thoughts ought to have been.""

Yet whatever be the inconsistencies that obscure
the Popol Yuh, we find them multiplied in the
Mexican cosmogony, a tangled string of meagre and
apparently fragmentary traditions. There appear to
have been two principal soliools of opinion in
Andhuac, differing as to who was the Creator of
the world, as well as on other points, — two veins of
tradition, perhaps of common origin, which often seem
to run into one, and are oftener still considered as one
by historians to whom these heathen vanities were mat^
ters of little importance. The more advanced schiv)!,
ascribing its inspiration to Toltec sources, seems to have
nourished notivbly in Tezcuco, especially while the fa-
mous Nezahualcoyotl reigned tliert^, and to have had
very definite monotheistic ideas. It taught, 'is is
asserted in unmistakable terms, that all things hud been

» Bae C'(Mt'< ifyihohg^ of lh$ Aryan Nationt, Tol. i., p. 938.

OBIOIN AND END OF THIN08.

made by one God, omnipotent and invisible; and to
this school were probably owing the many gentle and
beautiful ideas and rites, mingled with the hard, coarse,
and' prosaic cult of the mass of the people."

The other school may be considered as more distinc-
tively national, and as representing more particularly
the ordinary Mexican mind. To it is to be ascribed by
far the larger part of all we know about the Mexican
religion." According to the version of this school, 'I'ez-
catlipoca, a gcd whose birth and adventures are set
forth hereatter, was the creator of the material heaven
and earth, though not of mankind ; and sometimes even
the honor of this partial creation is disputed by others
of the gods.

One Mexican nation, again, according to an ancient
writer of their own blood, affirmed that the earth had
been created by chance ; and as for the heavens, they had
always existed."

:*-^ t '

11 Even ■nppoiiing there were noHOocial historical reasonii (or making thia
distinction, it seems convenient that such a division sliould be made in a
country where the distinction of classes was so marked us in Mexico. As
Ueode puts the case, Martrydom of Man, p. 177, ' In those countries where
two distinct clitsHcs of men exist, the one intellectual and learned, the other
illiterate and degraded, there will be in reality two religions, though nomi-
nally there may be only one.'

" ' Les pretres et les nobles de Mexico avaient peri presquetous lors do la
prise de oette ville, et ceux qui avaient echappe au massacre s'etuient rvfu-
gi^s dans des lieux iuaccessibles, Ce furentdouo presque toniours des geua
du peunle nans t^ducation et livres aux plus grossieres superstitions qui lenr
ftrent les recits (^u'ils nous out tmnsmis; Les missionnaires, d'allleura,
avaient plus d'interet & connaltre les usageit qu'ils vouUicnt duraciuer de la
masse du peupio qu'k oomprendre le sens plus ulevu que la partie uuluirue
de la nation pouvait y attacher.' TeriMux-Compang, Rsmti sur la TMoyonie
Mtxicalitf, in n'ouwl.tH AnnattH dea Voy., tom. Ixxxv., 1H40, o. 274.

» This last statement rests on the authority of Domingo MuAos Camargo,
a native of the city of Tliscala who wrote about 16H5. See his HM. d«
TkuccUlan as translated by Temaux Coinpans in the SottitUfH Annulta
de» Voy., tom. soix., 1M43, p. lUO. 'Leu Indicns ue orovaieut pas que le
inonde eikt (H6 i -ku, mitis peiisaient qu'il ^tait le produit du hasard. lis
disaient aussi qtie les eieux avaieni toujoun exist<S.' * Estos, pues, iiloania-
run con vlaridad el verdiulero origen y priucipio de todu el IJniverso, purquo
asientan <iue el oielo y la tierni y nuanto en eilon so huUa us obra du la
poderoHA inano de un Dios Suprcuio y Anioo, A <|uien dikban el uombre de
Tlocnie Nahnaciue, que quiere decir, criador de todiui las cusou. Llara4l>aiile
tikiiiitien Ipalnemohualoni, que quiere deoir, por iiuieu vivimos y soinoa,
y tn6 la iinica dridod que odoramn en uquelloa primitivos tiempos; y
aun dospnes que se intrtnlujo la idolatrtn y i>l falso culto, le 'jrevurun siem-
nre Nunorior n todos sum dioses, y le invtM'abun levaiitaiido los ojos al oiolo.
En I'stu ureea"|i« ue matituviertm ooastontes hasta la llegada de los es-

ohhialpopooa uanusgbipt.

From the fragments of the Chimalpopoca manuscript
given by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg we learn that
the Creator — whoever he may have been — produced his
work in successive epochs. In the sign Tochtli, the
earth was created ; in the sign Acatl was made the fir-
mament, and in the sign Tecpatl the animals. Man it is
added, was made and animated out of ashes or dust by
(jlod on the seventh day, Ehecatl, but finished and per-
fected by that mysterious personage Quetzalcoatl.
However this account may be reconciled with itself or
with others, it ^<r vher appears that man was four times
made and four times destroyed."

paiioleB, como aflnun Herrera, no solo lo8 mejioanog, sino tanibien loa de
Michoaoan.' Veylia, Iliatoria AntUjua dt Mvjieo, torn, i., p. 7. * Los Tnltecaa
ulcanznron y supieron la oreacion del muudo, y oonio el Tloquo Nahuaque lo
orio y las demas ooaas que hay en ^1, como son plantaa, luoiites, aiiimalea,
nves, Hgna y peceH; aaimismo aupieron como ori6 DioB al hombre y una mu-
ger, de dondo Ioh hombres degoendieron y se mulUplicaron, y sobre eato
aiiitden muckaH fAbulna que por eacusar prolijidad no se ponen aqui.' IxtlH'
xochill, Keluciones, in Kiugaborough, vol. iz., p. 321. ' Dioa Criador, que en
Icngua Indiana llam6 T16quo Nnhulbque, queriendo dkr k entender, que eate
Solo, PoderoBO, y Clementisaimo Dio«.' Boiurini, Jdta de una Hist., p. 79,
' Confimaikuan Ioh Mexicanoa a vn Bupremo Dina, Heilor, y hazedor do todo, y
eHtc era el prinnipal que venerauan, mirando al ciulo, lliiuiandolu oriador del
cielo y tierra.' Herrera, Hint. Gen , dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. 15, p. 86. ' Kl dioa que
He llamaba TitlacaAon, (Tezoatlipuca), dt'vian que era criador del cielo y do la
liorra y era todo poderoso.' SaUw/un, llhtl. AtU. Mi'X,, torn, i., lib. iii., p. 241.
' Tezcatlipoca, Queato era il maggior Dio, ohe in que' ))aeHi n adorava,

dono il Dio inviHibile, o Supremo Eaaere, di cui abbiam ragionato Era

il iJio della Providenza, I'anima del Moudo, il Creator del Cielo e della Ter-
ra, cd il Signor di tutte le coge.' Clavliero, Storii Antica drl MesHiao, toui. ii.,
p. 7. ' La creacion del cielo v de la tierra aplicabiin k divernoH dioHea, y al-
giinoH 4 Tezcatlipuca y & Uzilopuohtli, A aoguu otroa, Ocelopuchtli, y de loa
prinvipalea de Mexico.' MemlUta, Ilist. Kden., p. 81.

>* ' Loraque le ciel et la torre a'etaiont faita, quatre foia dejk I'homme avait
et(! formu. . . .de oendrea Dieu I'avait furniu et auimu.' The Ctnkx l.'hlmulttu-
fiwi, or Chimalpomca MS., after Hraaaeur d« Jitmrbourg, JliM. des XiU, Cit\,
tiiiu. i., p. 63. TuiB Codex Chimalpopoca, ao called by the Ablxi liraaBeur de
Udurbourg, ia an anouymoua niauuHorint in the Mexican language. What
we really know of thia much-tulked-of document Ib little, and will be beat
given in the original form. The following ia the flrat notice 1 And of thia
miuiUMcript, witn ita appurtenancefl, being Uoturini'a deHcription of it aa
noHHeHHetl at one time by him. Caldlogo, pp. 17-18. ' Una hlatoriu de Ioh
IteynoH de Culhukcan, y Mexico en lengua Nikhuatl, y pa|>el £uro]M'o do
Autor Anonvmo, y tieiie ailaiUda una Breve Itelaciou de Ion DioBca, y Ititoa
(le la Qvntilidad en lengua CaHlellana quo eacribi6 el Uachiller Don Pedro
Ponce, Indio ('aa!i(]ue Ueneflciado, quo fu^ del Partido de Tzumpahnkcan.
EntA todo oopiado de letrn do Don Fernando do Alba, y le faltik la primera
toja.' With regard to the term ffahuaU uaed in thia ('alnUHpie, aee id p. t)>i :
' LoH ManuBcriUiH en lengua NkhnatI, que en eate CatAlogo ho citan, Me enti-
onde Her en lengua Mexicana!' Thia manuaoript, or a copy of it, fell into
the handa of the Abbt^ DrnHaeur de Donrlxturg in the city of Mexico, in the
year 1850, lirasmHr de Bouriourj, iJiWio</i»Vyu« Mtxlco-UuMmuHeime, Intro-

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

This may perhaps be looked upon as proceeding from
what I have called for convenience the Toltecan school,
though this particular fragment shows traces of Christian
influence. What follows seems however to belong to
a distinctively Mexican and ruder vein of thought. It
is gathered from Mendieta, who was indebted again to
Pray Andres de Olmos, one of the earliest missionaries
among the Mexicans of whom he treats; and it is de-
cidedly one of the most authentic accounts of such mat-
ters extant.

The Mexicans in most of the provinces were agreed
that there was a god in heaven called Gitlalatonac, and
a goddess called Citlalicue ;" and that this goddess had
given birth to a flint knife, Tecpatl. Now she had many
sons living with her in heaven, who seeing this extraor-
dinary thing were alarmed, and flung the flint down to
the earth. It fell in a place called Chicomoztoc, that
is to say the Seven Oaves, and there immediately
sprang up fix>m it one thousand six hundred gods.
These gods being alone on the earth, — though as will
hereafter appear, there had been men in the world at
a former period, — sent up their messenger Tlotli,
the Hawk, to pray their mother to empower them
to create men, so that they might have servants as be-
came their lineage. Citlalicue st^emed to be a little

i.\i

riii

■ if''

ducHon, p. xxi., and tho learned khb6 deRcribes it as (ollowa: — ' Oodex
Ohiinalpopoou (Cunie da), oonteniint les EpoqueH, diten HiHtuire den 8(>-
leila et I'HlMtoire iftt KoyauiUBit de Colhuuoau et de Mexion, toxte Mexi-
oain (oorri^tH d'aprett celiii de M. Aubin), aveo iin easai de trudnotiou fmu-
<;aiBe en r'jgard. ^r. in 4"— Manuaorit de 93 ff., oopi^ et tradnit par le Higna-
taire de la bibiiotlit^que. C'est la oupie du document murqut'i au n' 13,
( viii., dii oataln){ae de Botnriui, houh le titre de: Historia de Ion UeynoH de
Oolhuaoau y Mexico, eto. Ce doomuent, oh pour la premi6re foia j'ui Houlevi'
le voile enigmatique qui reoouvrait ten Hymbules de fa religiou et de I'hiHloire
da Mexiqne et le plas iinpurtaut de touit rem aai nuua noient reHti'i* dvii an-
uales antiqneH inexioaiuoH. II renferine ohronologiqnement ThiHtoire guolu-
giqae du nionde, par H.iriea de 13 anit, k oommenoer de plua de dix millo ana
avant I'^re chri'tiunntN auivant Iuh caloula mexioaina.' la., p. 47.

^ Utherwiap called, aoeording to Clavigen), the god Omftemttl, nnd the

Soddeaa OmtolKuaU. Ternaux-l'Oinpana aaya: 'Lea noma d'Ometeuotli et
'Oinecibuatl ne a* tronvenl nulle part ailleura dana la ntythologle tnexioaine;
maia on pourrait lea expltqner i>itr rt'-tyinologie. ()m» aignttte deux en niexi-
eain, et toua lea auteura aont a'aooord pour tradulre litteralemvnt leur nom
par deux aeignaun el deux damea.' iVuuiwUM AnnaUi dm Vou,, torn. Ixxxvi.,
1840, p. 7.

■| ml

! '1

AZTEO OBEATION-MYTHS.

ashamed of these sons of hers, born in so strange a
manner, and she twitted them cruelly enough on what
they could hardly help : Had you been what you ought to
have been, she exclaimed, you would still be in my com-
pany. Nevertheless she told them what to do in the mat-
ter of obtaining their desire: Go beg of Mictlanteuctli,
Lord of Hades, that he may give you a bone or some ashes
of the dead that are with him ; which having received
you shall sacrifice over it, sprinkling blood from your
own bodies. And the fallen gods having consulted to-
gether, sent one of their number, called Xolotl," down
to hades as their mother had advised. He succeeded
in getting a bone of six feet long from Mictlanteuctli;
and then, wary of his grisly host, he took an abrupt de-
parture, running at the top of his speed. Wi-oth at this,
the infernal chief gave chose ; not causing to Xolotl, how-
ever, any more serious inconvenience thim a hasty fall
in which the bone was broken in pieces. The messenger
gathered up what he could in all haste, and despite
his stumble made his escape. Reaching the earth,
he put the fragments of bone into a basin, and all the
gods drew blood from their bodies and sprinkled it mto
the vessel. On the fourth day there was a movement
among the wetted bones and a boy lay there before all ;
and in four days more, the blood-letting and sprinkling
boing still kept up, a girl was lifted from the ghastly
dish. The children were given to Xolotl to bring up;
and he fed tlien on the juice of the maguey." Increas-

I* XnMl, 'n(>ryant or page.'— .VoHmi, Vomfndarlo en Imujua CaxteBmw Metl-
<-nnA. Not ' eye ' an Home HoholiiMtH have it.

>' Literally, in thn earlioHt copv of the mvth that I have Keen, ih« mUk of
(heihlMle, * la leohe de oardo,' which tenn naH been rcpuntvd blindly, and
nppiireutly without any idea of itH ineanin)^, by the varioim writ<>rH that have
followed. The old authoriticm, howcvxr, and eHpeoially Mendieta, from
whom I take the h'K^nd, were in the habit of onllinc the maKuey a thiHtle;
and indeed the tremendona priokloa of thit Mexican plant may lay Kood claim
to thn ATemo me {mpun« htmnitot the Hoottinh emblem. * Maxney, qne ea el oar-
don dedonde Hatwn la miel.' Afeiulietn, ins(. AV/m, p. 110. ' Metl ea un arliol
6oardoqneen len((na de laa lalaa ae llama maguey,' MutnHttia, IM. d« tint
Ihd., in Icathalctta, Cot. d« Doe., tom. i., p. 'i48. ' Et aimilmente-oogliono le
foKlie di queato albero, ft oardo ohe ai tenitono Ih, come ana lo vigne, et
chiamanlo maKtieia,' JMaHone fatta per un SmtU'huumo d«i aifpmr Cortem, in
Hamugh Vlagffi, torn, iii., fol. 307.

OBIOIN AMD END OF THINGS.

ing in stature, they became man and woman; and from
them are the people of the present day descended, who,
even as the primordial bone was broken into unequal
pieces, vary in size and shape. The name of this first
man was Iztacmixcuatl, and the name of his wife Ilan-
cueitV" and they had six sons born to them, whose de-
scendants, with their god-masters, in process of time
moved eastward from their original home, almost uni-
versally described as having been towards Jalisco.

Now there had been no sun in existence for many
years; so the gods being assembled in a place called
Teotihufican, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at
the time round a great fire, told their devotees that he
of them who should first cast himself into that fire,
should have the honor of being transformed into a sun.
So one of them called Nanahuatzin, — either as most
say, out of pure bravery, or as Sahagun relates, because
his life had become a burden to him through a syphilitic
disease, — tlung himself into the fire. Then the gods
began to peer through the gloom in all directions for the
expected light and to make bets as to what part of
heaven he should first appear in. And some said Here,
and some said There ; but when the sun rose they were
all proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed u^Mn the
eoat.^ And in that same hour, though they knew it

iim;m

1* Motolinia in loatboUctta, Cot. torn, i., pp. 0-10, says this flrat man and
woman were begotten between the rain and the du8t of the earth — ' engendrada
de In lluvia y del pulvo de la tiurra' — and in other ways adds to the per*
plexity; so thut I am well inclined to agree with MUller, AimrlkaniiKhe ifrre-
nflfionen, p. 6tH, when he Hayn these ouHmogoniual mythH dinplay marks of
local origin and of the subsequent fusion oif several legends into an incon-
gruous whole. 'Aus dieser Mengo von Verschiedenheiten in diesen Kos-
mogonien ist ersiohtlich, dass viele Lokalmythen hier wie in Peru unabhtin-
gig von einander entstauden die man Ausserlich niit t>iuander vorband, die
aber in mancherloi WidersprQcheu auch nooh spAter ihre urspriiugliche Un-
abhknoigkeitsu erkennen geben.'

» Here, as elsewhere in this legend we follow Andres de Olraos' account as
giviju by Mendieta. Bahagun, however differs from it a good deal in places.
At this point for example, he mentions some notable personiigos who guessed
right about the rising of the sun:—' Otros se pusieron & mirar Acia el orientr,
y digeron aquf, de esta parte ha do salir el 8ol. El dicho de estos f uu verda-
aero. Dioen que los que mirantn Ania el Oriente, fueron Quetsalooatl, que
tambien se llama EoatI, y otr(» que se llama Toteo, y nor otro nombre Anaoatly.
teou. y por otro nombre Tlatitvictezoatlipuca, y olnm que se llaman Miniz-
ooa,* or as in Kingsbo.ough's editiim, Mex. Antiq, vol. vU., p. 186. * por

HOW THE SUN WAS PLACED IN THE HEAVENS.

not, the decree went forth that they should all die by
sacrifice.

The sun had risen indeed, and with a glory of the
cruel fire about him that not even the eyes of the gods
could endure ; but he moved not. 'There he lay on the
horizon ; and when the deities sent Tlotli their messenger
to him, with orders that he should go on upon his way,
his ominous answer was, that he would never leave that
place till he harl destroyed and put an end to them all.
Then a great fear fell upon some, while others were moved
only to anger ; and among the latter was one Citli, who im-
mediately strung his bow and advanced against the glit-
tering enemy. By quickly lowering his head the Sun
avoided the first arrow shot at him ; but the second and
third had attained his body in quick succession, when,
filled with fury, he seized the last and launched it back
upon his assailant. And the brave Citli laid shaft to
string nevermore, for the arrow of the sun pierced his
forehead.

Then all was dismay in the assembly of the gods, and
despair filled their heart, for they saw that they could
not prevail against the shining one ; and they agreed to
die, and to cut themselves open through the breast.
Xolotl was appointed minister, and he killed his
companions one by one, and last of all he slew himself
also.'"' So they died like gods; and each left to the sad
and wondering men who were his servants, his garments
for a memorial. And these servants made up, each
party, a bundle of the raiment that had been left to

otro nombre Anaoatl y Teon, y por otro nombre Tlataviotezoatlipuca, j otroa
qno Be Unman Mimizooa, que non inumerable8;y cnatro mnaeres, la nna ne
llama Tiacapan, la otra Teton, la tercera Tlaooeoa, la onarta Xoooyotl.' Saha-
ijun, IlLHt. (fen., torn, ii., lib. viii., p. 248.

o^ UeHideH (iifferenoeR of authorities already noticed, I may add that Sa>
hngun deHcribea the pentonnge who became the aun, — aa well an him who,
M we aball Hoon aee, became the moon, — ax belougin;^ before hlH transfor-
mation to the number of the gods, and not as one of the men who served
them. Further, in recounting the death of the gods, Rahogun says that to
the Ail', Kcnti, QuctzalcoatI, was allnted the task of killing the rest; nor doea
it appear that Qnetzalcoatl killed himielf. As to Xolotl, he plays quite a
cowardly part in this version; trying to elude his death, he transformed him-
le'f into various things, and was omy at last taken and killed under the form
of a fish called AmoloU,

OBiaiN AND END OF THINQS.

them, binding it about a stick into which they had bed-'
ded a small green stone to serve as a heart. These bun-
dles were called tlaquimilloii, and each bore the name of
that god whose memorial it was; and these things were
more reverenced thbn the ordinary gods of stone and
wood of the country. Fray Andres de Olmos found one
of these relics in Tlalmanalco, wrapped up in many
cloths, and half rotten with being kept hid so long.'**

Immediately on the death of the gods the sun be-
gan his motion in the heavens; and a man called Te-
cuzistecatl, or Tezcociztecatl, who, when Nanahuatzin
leaped into the fire, had retired into a cave, now
emerged from his concealment as the moon. Others
say that instead of going into a cave, this Tecuzis-
tecatl, had leaped into the fire after Nanahuatzin,
but that, the heat of the fire being somewhat abated,
he had come out less brilliant than the sun. Still
another variation is, that the sun and moon came
out equally bright, but this not seeming good to the gods,
one of them took a rabbit by the heels and slung it into
the face of the moon, dimming its lustre with a blotch
whose mark may be seen to this day.

After the gods had died in the way herein related,
leaving their garments behind as relics, those servants
went about everywhere, bearing these relics like bundles
upon their shoulders, very sad and pensive and wonder-
ing if ever again they would see their departed gods.
Now the name of one of these deceased deities was Tez-
catlipoca, and his servant having arrived at the sea
coast, was favored with an apparition of his master in
three different shapes. And Tezcatlipoca spake to his
servant saying: Come hither, thou that lovest me so well,
that I may tell thee what thou hast to do. Go now to
the House of the Sun and fetch thence singers and in-
struments so that thou mayest make me a festival ; but
first call upon the whale, and upon the siren, and upon
the tortoise, and they shall make thee a bridge to the sun.

t> This kind of idol tnRWAn evidently to the myiteriont ' Envelope ' of
the Qnioh^ myth. Bee also note 9.

THE TEZCUCAN AOCOUNT OF THE CBEATION.

Then was all this done; and the messenger went
across the sea upon his living bridge, towards the House
of the Sun, singing what he had to say. And the Sun
heard the song, and he straitly charged his people and
servants, saying: See now that ye make no response to
this chant, for whoever replies to it must be taken away
by the singer. But the song was so exceeding sweet
that some of them could not but answer, and they were
lured away, bearing with them the drum, teponaatli, and
the kettle-drum, vewetl. Such was the origin of the
festivals and the dances to the gods ; and the songs sung
during these dances they held as prayers, singing them
always with great accuracy of intonation and time.

In their oral traditions, the Tezcucans agreed with the
usual Mexican account of creation — the falling of the
flint from heaven to earth, and so on — but what they after-
ward showed in a picture, and explained to Fray Andres
de Olmos as the manner of the creation of mankind, was
this: The event took phice in the land of Aculma, on
the Tezcucan boundary at a distance of two leagues from
Teswuco and of five from Mexico. It is said that the
sun, being at the hour of nine, cast a dart into the earth
at the place we have mentioned and made a hole ; from
this hole a man came out, the first man and somewhat
imperfect withal, as there was no more of him than from
the arm-pits up, much like the conventional European
cherub, only without wings. After that the woman
came up out of the hole. The rest of the story was not
considered proper for printing by Mendieta; but at any
rate from these two are mankind descended. The name
of the first man was Aculmaitl, — -that is to say, acuUi^
shoulder, and mavtl, hand or arm, — and from him the
town of Aculma is said to take its name." And this ety-
mology seems to make it probable that the details of thi.s
myth are derived, to some extent, from the name of the

» Besides the Chimalpopooa manuHcript, the earlieiit aummarieB of the
Mexican creation-raytha are to be found in Mrtuikia, Hisl. Ectea., pp. 77-81 ;
Stthajxtn, IM. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 233, tota. ii., lib. vii., pp. 246-260;
Boturinl, Idea de una Hist., pp. 37-43; Torqwmada, Monarq, Ind., iom. i., pp.
31-6, torn, ii., pp. 76-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. dd Metaico, torn. ii„ pp. 8-10.

ORIGIN AND END OF THINOB.

place in which it was located ; or that the name of the
first man belonging to an early phase of the language,
has been misunderstood, and that to the false etymol-
ogy the details of the myth are owing.

As already stated there had been men on the earth
previous to that final and perfect creation of man from
the bone supplied by Mictlanteuctli, and wetted by the
gods with their own blood at the place of the Seven
Oaves. These men had been swept away by a succes-
sion of great destructions. With regard to the number of
these destructions it is hard to speak positively, as on no
single point in the wide range of early American reli-
gion, does there exist so much difference of opinion. All
the way from twice to five times, following different
accounts, has the world been desolated by tremendous
convulsions of nature. I follow most closely the version
of the Tezcucan historian Ixtlilxochitl, as being one of
the earliest accounts, as, prima facie, from its origin,
one of the most authentic, and as being supported by a
majority of respectable historians up to the time of Hum-
boldt.

Of the creation which ushered in the first age we know
nothing; we are only told by Boturini, that giants then
began to appear on the earth. This First Age, or 'sun,'
was called the Sun of the Water, and it was ended by
a tremendous flood in which every living thing perished,
or was transformed, except, following some accounts, one
man and one woman of the giant race, of whose escape
more hereafter. The Second Age, called the Sun of
the Earth, was closed with earthquakes, yawnings of the
earth, and the overthrow of the highest mountains.
Giants, or Quinam^s, a powerful and haughty race still
appear to be the only inhabitants of the world. The
Third Age was the Sun of the Air. It was ended by
tempests and hurricanes, so destructive that few indeed
of the inhabitants of the earth were left; and those
that were saved, lost, according to the Tlascaltec ac-
count, their reason and speech, becoming monkeys.

The present is the Fourth Age. To it appear to be-

THE AGES OB SUNS OF THE UEXIGANS.

long the falling of the goddess-bom flint from heaven,
the birth of the sixteen hundred heroes from that flint,
the bi^th of mankind from the bone brought from hades,
the transformation of Nanahuatzin into the sun, the trans-
formation of Tezcatecatl into the moon, and the death of
the sixteen hundred heroes or gods. It is called the
Sun of Fire, and is to be ended by a universal conflagra-
tion.**

Connected with the great flood of water, there is a

n TxUUxochiU, ITisl. Chichimtca in Klmjaborough's Mex. Anliq., vol. ix., pp.
205-6. The mme author, in his Relaciones, lb. pp. 321-2, either through
his own carelessness or that of a transcriber, transposes the second and
third Ages. To see that it is an oversight of some sort, we have but to pass
to the summary he gives at the end of these same Relaciones, lb., p. 459,
where the account is again found in strict agreement with the version given
iu the test. Gitmar^o, Hint, de TUtx. in Nouvellea Aiuvcdea ties Voy., torn,
xcix., 1813, p. 13J, giving as we may suppose the Tlascalteo version of the
general Mexican myth, agrees with Ixtlilxochitl as to the whole number of
Ages, following, however, the order of the error above noticed iu the KelO'
ciorf^. The Tlascalteo historian, moreover, aflSrms that only two of these
Ages are past, and that the third and fourth destructions are yet to come.
M. Ternaux-Compans, Nouvettes Annates des Vau., torn. Ixxxvi., 1840, p. 5,
udoi>ts this Tlascalteo account as the general Mexican tradition; he is fol-
lowed by Dr. Prichard, Rsetrnhm, vol v., pp., 360-1. Dr. Prichard cites
Bradford as supporting the same opinion, but erroneously, as Bradfonl. Am.
Antiq., p. 32S, follows Humboldt, lioturini. Idea de una liik., p. 3, and Clavi-
gero, Storki Ant. del Mi'sako, torn, ii., p. 57, agree exactly with the text. The
AbbJ Brasseur de llourbourg also accepts the version of three past destruc-
tions, S'il exlste des Sources de t'lliat. Pnm., pp. 26-7. Professor J. G. MUl-
ler, Amerllainif^he ITrrelijionen, pp. 510-12, ndmits that the version of three
pnst destructions and one to come, as given in the text, and in the order there
given, ' seeuis to be the most ancient Mexican version ;' though he decides to
follow Humboldt, and adopts what he calls the ' latest and fullest form of the
myth. ' The Siti'^'iatinne delte Taixtte del Godice Mesdiftno [ Vaticano 1 contradicts
itself, giving first two past destructions, and farther on four, Kinjsliomwih's
Mi-x. Anliq., vol. v., pp. 163-7; as does also the Explic. del Codex TeUerUino-
Heminaia, Ih., pp. 131-6. Kingsboron^h himself seems to favor the idea of
throo past destructions and four ages in all; see Mex. Anliq., vol. vi., p. 171,
note. Goiniira, IVi-it. .V^ae., fol. 297-8; Leon v Oama, Dos Piedras, parte i.,
pp. 94-5; Humboldt, Vuejt., tom.ii., pp. 118-129; Prescott, C'otif. o/ A/eoe.,
vol. i., p. 61; Gallatin, in km. Elhnol. Soc. Traninct., vol. i., p. 325,— de-
scribe four past destructions and one yet to come, or five Ages, and
the Chimalpopoca MS., see note 13, seems also to favor this opinion.
LiiDtly, Mendieta, HM. Edes., p. 81, declares that the Mexicans believe in
five Suns, or Ages, in times past; but these suns were of inferior quality, so
tlint the soil produced its fruits only in a crude and imperfect state. The
voiiHoquence was that in every case the inhabitants of the world died through
thn eating of divers things. This present and sixth Hun was good, however,
iiud under its influence all things were produced properly. Torquemada—
who has, indeed, been all along appropriating, bv whole chapters, the so
loni,' inedited work of Mendieta; and that, if we believe Icazbalceta, //M.
E'kt., yoticiasdet Autor., pp. xxx. to xlv., under circumstances of peculiar
turpitude — of course gives also five past Ages, repeating Mendieta word for
wurd with the exception of a single 'la.' Jfonarg. Ind., torn, ii., p. 79.
Vol. UI. s

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

Mexican tradition presenting aome analogies to the story
of Naib and his ark. In most of the painted manu-
scripts supposed to relate to this event, a kind of boat is
represented floating over the waste of water, and con-
taining a man and a woman. Even the Tlascaltecs, the
Zapotecs, the Miztecs, and the people of Michoacan are
said to have had such pictures. The man is variously
called Coxcox, Teocipactli, Tezpi, and Nata; the woman
Xochiquetzal and Nena."

The following has been usually accepted as the ordi-
nary Mexican version of this myth: In Atonatiuh, the
Age of Water, a great flood covered all the face of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof were turned into
fishes. Only one man and one woman escaped, saving
themselves in the hollow trunk of an ahahv£te or bald
cypress; the name of the man being Ckxxcox, and that of
of his wife Xochiquetzal. On the waters abating a little
they grounded their ark on the Peak of Colhuacan, the
Ararat of Mexico. Here they increased and multiplied,
and children b^an to gather about them, children who
were all born dumb. And a dove came and gave them
tongues, innumerable languages. Only fifteen of the
descendants of Coxcox, who afterward became heads of
families, spake the same languor or could at all under-
stand each other; and from these fifteen are descended
the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Aoolhuas. This dove
is not the only bird mentioned in these deluvial tra-
ditions, and must by no means be confounded with the
birds of another palpably Christianized story. For in
Michoacan a tradition was preserved, following which
the name of the Mexican Noah was Tezpi. With better
fortune than that ascribed to Coxcox, he was able to
save, in a spacious vessel, not only himself and his wife,

M ProfesRor J. O. Mailer, Amtrikianiache Urreligionm, p. 668, remarks of
these two personaoes: ' Rein nordi8ch ist der chichimekische Coxcox, der
Bohon bei aer Flathsage genannt wnrde, der Tezpi der Mechoakaner. Dob
ist auch araprfinglich ein Waasergott und Fischgott, danim trftgt er anch den
Namen GipaotU, Fisch, Teocipactli, gAttlicher Fisch, Huehuetonacateoci-
paclli, alter Fischgott von onserem Fleisch. Darum ist auch seine Oattiu
eino FflaniengOttin wit Namen Xoohiquetsal d. h. geflagelte Blume.'

I::;i,

THE TOWEB OF BABEL.

but also his children, several animalB, and a quantity of
grain for the common use. When the waters began to
subside, he sent out a vulture that it might go to and
fro on the earth and bring him word again when the dry
land began to appear. But the vulture fed upon the
carcasses that were strewed in every part, and never re-
turned. Then Tezpi sent out other Lirds, and among
these was a humming-bird. And when the sun began to
cover the earth with a new verdure, the humming-bird
returned to its old refuge bearing green leaves. And
Tezpi saw that his vessel was aground near the moun-
tc.in of Colhuacan and he landed there.

The Mexicans round Cliolula had a special legend,
connecting the escape of a remnant from the great del-
uge with the often-mentioned story of the origin of the
people of Anahuac from Chicomoztoc, or the Seven
Caves. At the time of the cataclysm, the country, ac-
cording to Pedro de los Rios, was inhabited by giants.
Some of these perished utterly ; ct' ^-^ were changed in-
to fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by
closing themselves into certain caves in a mountain
called Tlaloc. When the waters we»e assuaged, one
of the giants, Xelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to
Cholula and began to build an artificial mountain,
08 a monument and a memorial of the Tlaloc that
had sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept
through all the land. The bricks were mode in Tlama-
nalco, at the foot of the Sierra de Cocotl, and passed to
Cholula from hand to hand along a file of men — whence
these came is not said — stretching between the two places.
Then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods
aroused, as the huge pyramid rose slowly up, threaten-
ing to reach the clouds and the great heaven itself; and
the gods launched their fire upon the builders and slew
many, so that the work was stopped.'" But the half-fin-

" Boiurini, Idea tie una His/, pp. 113-4; Id., Caldlogo, pp. 39-40; ClaiH-
flcro, Stor'M Ant, dd MeaMco, torn, i., pp. 129-30, torn, ii., p. ($; Spieifatione
deUe Tavole dd Coiiice Mexioano [Vaticauo] tev. vii., in Kim/idmroujh'a Mtx-
Ant., vol. v., pp. 164-6; Otmelli Carreri, in ChurchiU'H Col. Voff,, vol. iv., p.
481; UumlxMt, Vues., torn. !., pp. 114-15, torn ii., pp., 176-8; Tj/lor'a Ana.

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

i; ii

1:J' i

ished structure, afterwards dedicated by the Clioiultecs
to Quetzalcoatl, still remains to show how well Xelhua,
the giant, deserved his surname of the Architect.

hwic, pp. 276-7; Gonlra, in Prea:oU, Conquista dv ^fexko, torn, iii., pp. 1-10.
A caret'nl couiparisoLX of tue passa^^ea given above will sliow that thiti whole
Rtr^jr of the escape of Coxcox and Ma wife in a Imat from a great deluge,
and of the distribnticu by a bird of different languat;|eH to their descend-
ants, rests on the interpr itation of certran Aztec paintings, containing sup-
posed pictures of a floud, of Coxcox aad his wife, of a canoe or rude vessel
of some kind, uf tlij mountain Cu'huacan, which was the Mexioiin Ararat,
and of a bird distributing languages to a number of men. Not one of
the earliest writers on Mexicat mythology, none uf those personally fa-
miliar with the natives and with their oral traditions as existing at the
time of, or immedi;itely after the conquest, seems to have known this
legend; Olmos, Sahi^iin, Motolinia, Mendieta, IxtlilxochitI 4ud Camargo,
are all of them silent with regard to it. These facts must give rise to gravn
suspicions with regard to the accuracy of the commonly accepted version,
notwithstanding its apparently implicit reception up to this time by the most
critical historians. These suspicions will not be lessened by the result of
the researches of Don Josj Fernando Itauiire/., Conservator of the Mexican
National Museum, a gentleman not less remarkable for liis familiarity with
the language and antii^uities of Mexico than for the moderai h >n and calmness of
his criti.al judgments, as far as these are known. In a commnnii^ation datod
April, 1858, to Garcia y Ciibns, Alias (kojrdfii'A), EsUid'ntko r 1114 '>rko de In lie-
pabliiia Mjli-ana, ontrega 29, speaking of the celebrated Mexican picture
there for the first time, as he claims, accurately given to the public, — SigUenza's
copy of it, as givtm bv GoincUi Caren-i, that given by Clavigoro in his Shria <M
Messico, that given by Humboldt in his AttoH PittorMque, and that given by
Kingsborough beiu^^ all incorrtvt, — Beilor llitmiroz sitys:— The authority of
writers so competent as Sigdenza and Clavi^ero imposed silence on the in-
credulous, and after th« illustrious Baron von Humboldt added his irresistible
authority, adopting that interprettitiou, nobody doubted that "the traditions
of the Hebrews were found among the people of America;" that, as the wiso
Baron thought, "their Coxcox, Teocinactli, or Tezpi is the Noah, Xisutrus,
or Menou of the Asiatic families;" and that "the Cerro of Culhuacan is the
Ararat of the Mexicans, ' ' Grand and magnificent thought, bnt unfortimately
only a delusion. The blue square No. 1, with its bitnds or obscure lines
of the same color, cannot repre.'<ent the terrestrial globe covered witu the
waters of the flood, because w.> should have to suppose a repetition of the
same deluge in the figure No. 41), where it is reproduced with some of its
priiicipiil accidents, N^'ither, for the same reason, do the human heads and
the heads of birds whi(*li anpear t<.) float there, denote the submerging of men
and aiuiiiiils, for It w>iul<l In' necessary to give the same explanation to those
seen in gnmp No. 'M. It might be argued that the group to the left (of
No. 1), made up of a human head placed under the head of a bird, lepre-
si'nted phonetieuily the name Cox(U)x, and deiioted the Aztec Noah; but the
group on the right, formed of a woman's head with other symboli'^ flguri<s
above it, evidently does not express the name Xo<!liiquetzal, whi<'h ii« said t'<

h.ive bnen th'vt of his wife Let us now pass on to the dove ).;i ving tongii •«

to the primitive men who were born mute. The oomnias whieh seem to
come from the beak of the bird there represented, form one of the most com-
plex and varied symbols, in respeet to tueir phoiietie forec. wliieh are fouml
111 our hieroglyphic writing. In connection with animated beings they
designate gonerically the pmissinn of the voice .... In the group before us they
dnnote purely and siniiply that thi; bird was singing or speaking— to whom?
-to the group of persons before it, who by the direction of their faces nml
I) >(Hi>.! show clearly and distinctly the attention with whieh they listi'iin).
(.'oasLMpiuntly the designer of the boforo-mentiontvd drawing for Clavigitro,

riii

THE MEXICAN DELUGE. 68

Yet another record remains to us of a traditional
Mexican deluge, in the following extract from the Chimal-
popoca Manuscript. Its words seem to have a familiar
sound ; but it would hardly be scientific to draw from
such a fragment any very sweeping conclusion as to its
relationship, whether that be Quich<5 or Christian : —

When the Sun, or Age, Nahui-Atl came, there had
passed already four hundred years ; then came two hun-
dred years, then seventy and six, and then mankind
wore lost and drowned and turned into fishes. The
waters and the sky drew near etich other; in a single
day all was lost; the day Four Flower consumed \^1
that there was of our ttosh. And this year was the ytja*
Ce-Calli ; on the first day, Nahui-Atl, all was lost. The
very mountains were swallowed up in the flood and the
waters remained, lying tranquil during fifty and two
spring-times. But before the Hood began, Titlacahuan
iiad warned the man Nata and his wife Nena, saving:

pre-ocoupied with the ictea of gignifyinc; by it the pretendi .1 confusion of
tonf;ueH, chauKcd with bin ^ncil the hiHtoriu truth, Kivin^ to theHu MKuren
t)i)p(>Hite .Urections. ExiiiniuiuK ittt^'ntivcly the inttxuclitudeM nml cmirB of
tbu graver and the pencil in all hiHtorituil euKntvinKH relating to Mexico, it in
Heun that they are no leaH numerouM an<l HeriouH than thow) of the |)en. The
iutcrpnitutious ijiveii tu the ancient Mexican paintinKH by ardent iuuiKiua-
tionii led away by love of novelty or by the Hnirit of HyHtein, justify to a cer-
tain point the distrust and dimavor with which the lant and niomt dislin-
({iiiHhi'd hiMtoriau of the Cuu(|ueiit of Mexico ( W. H. Prcscott) has treated thin
lutiH-estiu); and preciouM class of historical documents. Heilor llaniircz goea
on thus at aoiue length to his conolusionM, which reduce the original ]>aint-
ing to a simple record of a wandering of the Mexicans among the lakes of the
Mexican valley,— that jimrney b<<giiining at a place 'not more than nine
miles from the gutters of Mexico,'— a recoi-d having absolutely no connection
either with the mythinal deluge, already descrilMul as one of tl'ie four destruc-
tions of the world, or with any other. The biril . -eaking in the picture, he
connects with a well-known Mexican fablo gi<-i.|. !, Tortiuemadu, in which a
bird is described as speaking from a tr«'e to th" lead, rs of (he Mexicans at a
(u'rtiiiu Ht'tge of their migration, aud repeating tht^ work Tilmi, th,'^t is to say,
' L't us go.' A little birii called Ihe TiVn iV-if/iioi, with a cry that (he vulgar still
interpret in a somewhat similar sense, is well Lnown iii Mexico, and is iiev-
lia]iy at the tKittom of the tradition, it may U> added thatTonjuetuada gives
u painted inanuscrint, possibly that under diHctission, as his authority for the
story. The Imat, the mountain, and the other adjuncts of th<' picture are
explained in a like simple way, as Mie hieriigly])liies. for the most part, of
various proper names. Our spa'je here will not i)'rmit further ((•'tails -
though another volume will contain this picturi> aiul a further discuitsioii of
th(> subject, — but I may remark in concluding that the mialeration with
which Heilor llamireK discusses the (inestion. as well as his great experience
uiul learning in matters of Mexican anti(iuity, seem to claim for his views
the seriuun oousideration of future <itudent«.

ORIGIN aND end op THINGS.

I" ■'

Mi ■ ■

!■

1.^

■i:?!

Make now no more pulque, but hollow out to yourselves
u great cypress, into which you shall enter when, in the
month Tozoztli, the waters shall near the sky. Then
they entered into it, and when Titlacahuan had shut
them in, he said to the man : Thou shalt eat but a single
ear of maize, and thy wife but one also. And when
they had fmishcd eating, each an ear of matie, they pre-
pared to set forth, for the waters remained tranquil and
their log moved no longer ; and opening it they began to
see the fishes. Then they lit a fire, rubbing pieces of
wood together, and they roasted fish. And behold the
deities Citlallinicue and Citlallatonac looking down from
above, cried out: divine Lord! what is this fire that
they make there? wherefore do they so fill the heaven
with smoke? And immediately Titlacahuan Tetzcatli-
poca came down, and set himself to grumble, saying:
What does this fire here? Then he seized the fishes and
fashioned them behind and before and changed them
into dogs.'"

We turn now to the traditions of some nations situated
on the outskirts of the Mexican Empire, traditions dif-
fering fram those of Mexico, if not in their eU'ments, at
letist in the combination of those elements. Following
our usual custom, 1 give the following legt'ud Ijf longing
to the Miztecs just as they themselves wer*- ac^'un-
tomed to depict and to interpret it in tin^r pnmitivt^
scrolls: — ^

In the year and in the day of obscurity and (iarkness.
yea even befoi-e the days or the years wew, when the
world was in a great darkness and cbiu)H, wheu tlie earth
w»is covered with water and there wjis notliing but nunl
an<l slime on all the face of tbc; earth, — lM>hold a g<Kl
became visible, ind his name was the Deer, and his sur-

M BrRBHi'ur rl«' r,onrJ>oiirj(, IHnt. dcit Knt. C\\\, torn. I., pp. 495-7.

" Fr. (JreKorio (inruiH, (h'litn lif Im 1ml., pp. IW7-W, took thin narrntivc
from a iNtok he fomid iu u ounvuiit in C'liilapn, a little Indian town alwitit u
IflikKne nnil a half Houth of Oajaoa. Thv l>ook had lM«>n eouinili-d Ity (In
vintr of that convent, and- ' eitoriti) con hum FiKuruH, couio h>ii ImiioHde iii|iirl
Rnino Mixtrco Ihm tenian en huh LibruM, u PerganiinoH an-olladoH, con la di -
claracion de lo (|Ui< Hiunifleaban Ian FiuuntH, vu que ountabau au Origen, la
Creacion del Muudu, lUlluvlu Uuuvral.

THE FLYING HEBOES OF MIZTEGA.

name was the Lion-Snake. There appeared also a very
beautiful goddess called the Deer, and surnamed the
Tiger-Snake.* These two gods were the origin and be-
gin ing of all the gods.

Now when these two gods became visible in the world,
they made, in their knowledge and omnipotence, a great
rock, upon which they built a very sumptuous palace, a
masterpiece of skill, in which they made their abode
upon earth. On the highest part of this building thei*
was an axe of copper, the edge being uppermost, and on
this axe the heavens rested.

This rock and the palace of the gods were on a moun-
tain in the neighborhood of the town of Apoala in the prov-
ince of Mizteca Alta. The rock was called The l*lnce
of Heaven; there the gods first alMxie on earth, living
many years in great rest and content, as in a happy and
delicious land, tuough the world still lay in obscurity
and darkness.

IMie father and mother of all the gods being here in
their place, two mim were born to them, very handsome
and very s \ed in all wisdom and arts. The first was
railed thi .nd of Nine Snakes, after the name of the
flay on which he w}t*< Iwrn; and the second was called,
in like manr>»'r the Wind of Nine Caves. Very daintily
iideed were these youths brought up. When the elder
wished to uiiihh*' himself, he t(x>k the form of an eagle, Hy-
ing thus far and wid«' the younger turned himself into
a small iK'ast of a Her|)ent .Mha|N>. havinu, wings that he
used with such agilitv and sleight that he iHM'ame invis-
ible, and Hew through rocks and walls even as through
the air. As they went, tiie din and clamor of these
brethren wax beard by i\uMO over wh<»ni they passed.
They t<K)k the,"*- figun»s to manife."<t the |iower that was in
them, l)oth ill tranMi'orming theiiiHi>lves and in ivsutiiiiig
attain their original xhap. And they alnxle in gi-eat jx'ace
in the manrion of their fmrents, so they iigreed to make

•" ' QtU' rtimrpi'irron viHiblcniftitc un Dion. <jnt' tiivo por Noinlir. km f'iirvo,
i por Holirt'niiinhri* I'ldrhtii ile Ia"h>; i iiiitt Diimit iiiui lindii. i iK'nunna, iiuc hii
N'Dialii'i' fuu un (.'l«ri)o ' por Hobreuouibre r'Mi»'>rrt lir Tiiflf.' Wurrin, /(/..pp.
a.7

ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS.

k^'

a sacrifice and an offering to these gods, to their father
and to their mother. Then they took each a censer oC
clay, and put fire therein, and poured in ground bekm
for incense ; and this offering was the first that had ever
been made in the world. Next the brothers made to
themselves a garden, in which they put many trees,
and fruit-trees, and flowers, and roses, and odorous herbs
of different kinds. Joined to this garden they laid out
a very beautiful meadow, which they fitted up with all
things necessary for ottering sacrifice to the gods. In
this manner the two bi-ethren left their parents' house,
and fixed themselves in this garden to dress it and to
keep it, watering the trees fl>nd the plants and the odor-
ous herbs, multiplying them, and burning incense of
powder of beleflo in censers of clay to the gods, their
father and mother. They made also vows to these gods,
and promises, praying that it might seem good to them
to shape the firmament and lighten the darkness of the
world, and to establish the foundation of the earth, or
rather to gather the waters together so that the earth
might appear, — as they had no phuje to rest in save only
one little garden. And to make their prayers more ob-
ligatory upon the gods, they pierced their ears and
tongues with flakes of flint, sprinkling the blood that
dropped from the wounds over the trees and plants of the
gard<?n with a willow branch, as a sacred and blessed
thing. After this sort they employed themselves, post-
poning pleasure till the time of the granting of their de-
sire, remaining always in subjection to the gods, their
father and mother, and attributing to them moi'e \yowQY
and divinity than they really ix)8se88ed.

Fray Garcia here makes a break in the relation, — that
he may not weary his readers with so many absurdities,
— but it would ap|iear that the firmament was arranged
and the earth miulc Ht for mankind, who alx)ut that time
must also have made their apixuirance. For there came
a great deluge afterwards, wneitun perished many of the
sons and daughters that had been lK)rn to the gods ; and
it is said that when the deluge was passed the human

THE DUEL WITH THE SUV.

race was restored as at the first, and the Miztec king-
dom populated, and the heavens and the earth estah-
lished.

This wc may suppose to have been the traditional ori-
«iin of the common people ; but the governing family of
Mizteca proclaimed themselves the descendants of two
youths born from two majestic trees that stood at the en-
trance of the gorge of Apoala, and that maintained them-
selves there despite a violent wind continually rising
f mm a cavern in the vicinity.

Whether the trees of themselves produced these youths,
or whether some primeval vEsir, as in the Scandinavian
story, gave them shape and blood and breath and sense,
we know not. We are only told that soon or late the
youths separated, each going his own way to conquer
lands for himself. The braver of the two coming to the
vicinity ofTilantongo, armed with buckler and bow, was
much vexed and oppressed by the ardent rays of the
8un, which he took to be the lord of that district striv-
ing to prevent his entrance therein. Then the young
warrior strung his bow, and advanced his buckler befoi-e
him, and drew shafts fix)m his quiver. He shot there
against the great light even till the going down of the
siune; then he took possession of all that land, seeing he
had grievously wounded the sun, and forced him to hide
lH3hind the mountains. UjKin this story is founded the
lordship of all the caciques of Mizteca, and uixm their
descent from this mighty archer their ancestor. Even
to this day, the chiefs of the Miztecs blazon as their
arms a plumed chief with l)ow, arrows, and shield, and
the sun in front of him setting l)ehind gray clouds.™

Of the origin of the Zaj)otecs, a jK'ople Ixjhlering on
these Miztecs, Hurgoa sjiys, with a touching simplicity,
that he could find no account worthy of lK»lief. Their
iiistorical paintings he astM'ikvs to the invention of tho
devil, affirming hotly that those jK^oplo were blinder in
8iich vanities than the Egyptians and the Chaldeans.

« Burgoa, Otoj. Deaciip., timi i., fol. 128, 17(1.

llJ

OBIOIN AND END OP THINGS.

Some, he said, to boast of their valor made themselves
out the sons of lions and divers \vild beasts; others,
grand lords of ancient lineage, were produced by the
greatest and most shady trees ; while still others of an
unyielding and obstinate nature, were descended from
rocks. Their language, continues the worthy Provincial,
striking suddenly and by an undirected shot the very
center of mythological interpretation, — their language
was full of metaphors; those who wished to persuade
spake always in parables, and in like manner painted
their historians.*

In Guatemala, according to the relations given to Fa-
ther Geronimo Roman by the natives, it was believed
there was a time when nothing existed but a certain
divine Father called Xchmel, and a divine Mother called
Xtmana. To these were born three sons,^' the eldest of
whom, filled with pride and presumption, set about a
creation contrary to the will of his parents. But he
could create nothing save old vessels fit for mean uses,
such as earthen iK)ts, jugs, and things still more despicable ;
and ho was hurled into hades. Then the two younger
brethren, called respectively Hunchevan and Hun-
avan, prayed their parents for iwrmission to attempt the
work in which the r brother had failed so signally. And
they were grantc' I leave, being told at the same time,
that inasmuch as they had humbled themselves, they
would succeed in 'heir undertaking. Then they made
the heavens, and the earth with the plants thereon, and
fire and air, and out of the earth itself they made a man
and a woman, — presumably the parents of the human
race.

According to ToiYiuemada, there was a deluge some
time after tliis, and after the deluge the people continued
to invoke as god the great Father and the great Mother

'• Ihmjoa, Otoa. Deacrip., fol. 11)0 7.

SI Ono (if tho liftH (.'iiKiiH MHH, KivcH, noonrdiDK to HelpH, 'troo« hijo« ' in-
Ktrad of 'trcH hijoH;' tlu> Iftfter, however, l>eiiiK the «M>rniot reatlin({, i»m the
liHt of iiiiiiieH ill thu iwuM a"iimHcri(it hIiuwh, nud as Father Uoinun given it.
HtH> uute 33.

THE COYOTE OP THE PAPAOOS.

already mentioned. But at last a principal woman "
among them, having received a revelation from heaven,
taught them the true name of God, and how that name
should be adored ; all this, however, they aftenvard for-
got.'"

In Nicaragua, a country where the principal language
was a Mexican dialect, it was believed that ages ago
the world was destroyed by a flood in which the most
part of mankind perished. Afterward the teotes, or
gods, restocked the earth as at the beginning. Whence
came the teotes, no one knows; but the names of two
of them who took a principal part in the creation were
Tamagostat and Cipattonal."

Leaving now the Central American region we pass
north into the Papago country, lying south of the Gila,
with the river Santa Cruz on the east and the Gulf of
California on the west. Here we meet for the first time
the coyote, or prairie wolf; we find him much more than
an animal, something more even than a man, only a
little lower than the gods. In the following Papago
myth" he figures as a prophet, and af> a minister and as-
sistunt to a certain great hero-god Montezuma, whom we
are destined to meet often, and in many chanicters, as a
central figure in the myths of the Gila valley: —

The Great Spirit made the earth and all living things,

" This tntdition, wiys tho AHhi' BmBfienr fie BonrboiirR, Iliitt. rfw Nnl.
Cii'., torn, ii., jip. 74-5, hiiH indubitably refereiu-e to n queen whoHu memory
liuH lH'cMni(> utUkcluHl to very utuny pluceH in (lunteruiilu, nnd Central Ameri-
ca Kt'lit'rully. She waH called Atit, Grandmothi>r: and from her the volcano
of Atitluu, received the name Atital-huyu, by v-hich it is Htill known to the
ubonKinett. ThiH Atit lived during four centnrieH, and from her ore dt^mjeuded
nil the royal and princely familicH of Guatemala.

'•>■•' Uiitmii), lieiniihlit'tt tie loH JntlioH Or.ditenialex, part 1, lib. 2, cap. 15, after
tldrriii, Orujen tie hs /u'/., pp. ii'2!t-30; his I'asiiH, Hist. AiuiliMiiiUai, MH.,
cup. "iilG, after Hrlpn' .S'/mii». Conq., vol. ii., p. 140; Torwiemwin, .W')»m»'(/.
lull., toni. ii., pp. 53-4; Jiraaaeur de Jiourbounj, Hist. iltM S'ltl, Civ., ton*. H ,
PI). 74-5.

^* The flntt of theHA two name^ \h erroneonRly Hpelt ' FamaRoztad ' by .\i.
Ternaux-romi)anH, Mr. Hijuier, and the Abhi'' HraHH>-ur dc UourlMinrs, ihe
two latter perhapH led aHtray by the «Tror of M. Tenianx-('iinn)anH, an error
wbit^h Antt appeared in that Ventleuiau'it traUHlation of Uvtedo. Oi'irdn,
Itntt. Urn,, torn, iv., p. 40. I'lir Mariyr, dt>c. vi., cnp. 4.

•'•' Thin tradition wan ' gathered princiiuilly from the rf<]aiionii of Con
(jiiicn, the intelligent chief of the central PapagM-' iMii'Uimn, in Iml. .ifi'.

It i>i., i8«5, pp. i;n-;j.

ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS.

before he made man. And he descended from heaven, and
digging in the earth, found clay such as the potters use,
which, having again ascended into the sky, he dropped
into the hole that he had dug. Immediately there came
out Montezuma and, with the assistance of Montezuma,
the rest of the Indian tribes in order. Last of all came
the Apaches, wild from tleir natal hour, running away
as fast OS they were created. Those first days of the
world were happy and peaceful days. The sun was
nearer the earth than he is now ; his grateful rays made
all the seasons equal, and rendered garments unneces-
sary. Men and beasts talked together, a common lan-
guage made all brethren. But an awful destruction
ended this happy age. A great flood destroyed all flesh
wherein was the breath of life; Montezuma and his
friend the Coyote alone escaping. For before the flood
began, the Coyote prophesied its coming, and Montezu-
ma took the warning and hollowed out a boat to himself,
keeping it ready on the topmost summit of Santa Rosa.
The Coyote also prepared an ark ; gnawing down a great
cane by the river bank, entering it, and stopping up the
end with a certain gum. So when the waters rose these
two saved themselvifH, and met again at lost on dry land
after the flood had passed away. Naturallx enough Mon-
tezuma was now anxious to know how nmcli dry land
hud been left, and he sent the Coyote off on four succes-
sive journeys, to find exactly where the sea lay toward
each of the four winds. From the west and from the
south, the answer swiftly came: The sea is at hand. A
longer search wru^i that made towards the east, but at last
there too was the sea found. On the north only was no
water found, though the faithful messenger almost
wearied himself out with searcliing. In the meantime
the (Jreat Spirit, aided by Montezuma, hud again re-
IK'opled the world, and animals and men In'gan to in-
crease and multiply. To Montezuma had In'en allotted
the care and government of the new race ; but pufted up
with pride iind self im[K>rtance, he neglected the most im-
{)ortant duties of his onerous |)OHition, and suflered the

LEGEND OF MONTEZUMA.

most disgraceful wickedness to pass unnoticed among the
people. In vain the Great Spirit came down to earth
and remonstrated with his vicegerent, who only scorned
his laws and advice, and ended at last by breaking out
into open rebellion. Then indeed the Great Spirit was
filled with anger, and he returned to heaven, pushing
back the sun on his way, to that remote part of the sky
he now occupies. But Montezuma hardened his heart,
and collecting all the tribes to aid him, set about build-
ing a house that should reach up to heaven itself. Al-
ready it had attftined a great height, and contained many
aiMirtments lined with gold, silver, and precious stones,
the Avhole threatening soon to make good the boast of its
architect, when the Great Spirit launched his thunder,
and laid its glory in ruins. Still Montezuma hardened
himself; proud and inflexible, he answered the thunderer
out of the haughty defiance of his heart; he ordered the
temple-houses to be desecrated, and the holy images to
l)e dragged in the dust, he made them a scoff and by-
word for the very children in the village streets. Then
the Great Spirit prepared his supreme punishment. He
sent an insect flying away towards the east, towards an
unknown land, to bring the Spaniards. When these
came, they made war upon Montezuma and destroyed
him, and utterly dissipated the idea of his divinity.*

"> The le^cndnry Monteziimn, whom we sball meet bo often in the mythoU
nf;y of the Uilit viiflev, muHt uut be confounded with the two Mexican nion-
Mvhti of the Hume title. The niinie itHelf wouhl Heeni, in the absence of proof
to tlie poiitrnry, to have been carried into Arizona and New Mexico by the
Spiiniui'ds or their Mexican attenduntu, and to have become gradually aiuioci-
atcd in the niinda of some of the New Mexican and neighboring tribes, with
H vague, mythical, and departed grandenr. The name Muntezunut became
thus, to use Mr. Tylor's words, thut of the great ' Homebody ' of the tril)e.
This being once the case, all the lesser heroes would be graifually absorbed
in the gi-euter, and their names forgotten. Their deeds would become his
ilcedx, their fame his fame. There » evidence enough that thin is a general
tendency of tradition, even in historical times. The pages of Mr. Cox's
xeholaily and comprehensive work, The MytluAixw of the Aryan Xatums, teem
with examples of it. In Persia, deeds of every kind and date are referred to
Antnr. In Russia, buildings of every age are dechred to l>e the work
of Peter the Great. All over Europe, in Germany, France, Spain, Switzer-
land, England, Scotland, Ireland, the exploits of the oldest mythological
heroes figuring in the Sagas, Eddas, and Nioelungen Lied have Inten ascribed
in the folk-lore nnd ballads of the people to Darbarossit, Charlemagne, ltoab»
•HI, Charles V., William Tell, Arthur, liobin Hood, Wallace, and St. Patrick.

OBiaiN AND END OF THINGS.

The Fimas," a neighboring and closely allied people
to the Papagos, say that the earth was made by a cer-
tain Chiowotmahke, that is to say Earth-prophet. It
appeared in the be^nning like a spider s web, stretching
far and fragile across the nothingness that was. Then
the Earth-prophet flew over all lands in the form of a
butterfly, till he came to the place he judged flt for his
purpose, and there he made man. And the thing was
after this wise : The Creator took clay in his hands, and
mixing it with the sweat of his own body, kneaded the
whole into a lump. Then he blew upon the lump till it
was filled with life and began to move ; and it became
man and woman. This Creator had a son called Szeu-
kha, who, when the world was beginning to be tolerably
peopled, lived in the Gila valley, where lived also at the
same time a great prophet, whose name has been foi^ot-
ten. Upon a certain night when the prophet slept, he
was wakened by a noise at the door of his house, and
when he looked, a great Eagle stood before him. And
the Eagle spake : Arise, thou that healest the sick, thou
that shouldest know what is to come, for behold a deluge
is at hand. But the prophet laughed the bird to scorn
and gathered his robes about him and slept. After-
wards the Eagle came again and warned him of the
waters near at hand ; but he gave no ear to the bird at
all. Perhaps he would not listen because this Eagle had
an exceedingly bad reputation among men, being re-
ported to take at times the form of an old woman that
lured away girls and children to a certain cliff so that
they were never seen again ; of this, however, more anon.
A third time, the Eogle came to warn the prophet, and
to say that all the valley of the Gila should be laid waste
with water; but the prophet gave no heed. Then, in

The connection of the name of Montezuma with ancient bnildinoi and legend-
ary advintureH in the mythology of the Gila volley scemii to oe Himply an-
other example of the same kind.

^ I am indebted for these particulars of the belief of the Pimas to the
kindness of Mr. J. H. Stout of the Pima agency, who procured me a per-
sonal interview with Ave chiefs of that nation, and their very intelligent and
obliging interpreter, Mr. Walker, at San Francisco, in October, 1873.

DELUOE OF THE PIMA8.

the twinkling of an eye, and even as the flapping of the
Eagle's wings died away into the night, there came a
peal of thunder and an awful crash ; and a green mound
of water reared itself over the plain. It seemed to stand
upright for a second, then, cut incessantly by the light-
iing, goaded on like a gret beast, it flung itself upon the
prophet's hut. When the morning broke there was noth-
ing to be seen alive but one man — if indeed he were a
man ; Szeukha, the son of the Creator, had saved himself
by floating on a ball of gum or resin. On the waters fall-
ing a little, he landed near the mouth of the Salt River,
uix)n a mountain where there is a cave that can still be
seen, together with the tools and utensils Szeukha used
while he lived there. Szeukha was very angry with
the Great Eagle, who he probably thought had had more
to do with bringing on the flood than appears in the
narrative. At any rate the general reputation of the
bird was sufliciently bad, and Szeukha prepared a kind
of rope ladder from a very tough species of tree, much
like woodbine, with the aid of which he climbed up to
the cliff where the Eagle lived, and slew him.* Looking
about here, he found the mutilated and decaying bodies of
a great multitude of those that the Eagle had stolen and
taken for a prey ; and he raised them all to life again and
sent them away to repeople the earth. In the house or
den of the Engle, he found a woman that the monster had
taken to wife, and a child. These he sent also upon
their way, and from these are descended that great peo-
ple called Hohocam, 'ancients or grandfathers,' who
were led in all their wanderings by an eagle, and who
eventually passed into Mexico.* One of these Hohocam

'8 For the killing of this Oreat Eagle Szeukha had to do a kind of pen-
ance, which waH never to scratch himself with his nailH, but always with u
Hmall stick. This custom is still observed by all Pimas; and n bit of wood,
renewed every fourth day, is carried for this purpose stuck in their long hair.

3!> With the reader, as with myself, this clause will prolwbly call up some-
thing more than a mere suspicion of Spanish influence tinging the incidents
of the legend. The Pimas themselves, however, asserted that this tradition
existed among them long before the arrival of the Spaniards and was not
inodiflcd thereby. One fact that seems to speak for the comparative purity
of their traditions is that the name of Montezuma is nowhere to be found in
them, although Cremouy, Apaclu:a, p. 1U2, states the contrary.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

^>^

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1.0

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2.0

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Hiotographic

Sciences

Corporation

33 WIIT MAIN r.TMIT

WIUTIR.N.Y. !4!«I0

(71«) •79-4S03

OBIQIN AND END OF THINGS.

numed Sivano, built the Casa Grande on the Gila, and in-
deed the ruins of this structure are called after his name
to this day. On the death of Sivano, his son led a
branch of the Hohocam to Salt River, where he built
certain edificeci and dug a large canal, or aceguia. At
last it came about that a woman ruled over the Hohocam.
Her throne was cut out of a blue stone, and a mysteri-
ous bird was her constant attendant. These Hohocam
were at war with a people that lived to the east of them,
on the Rio Verde, and one day the bird warned her that
the enemy was at hand. The warning was disregarded
or it came too late, for the eastern people came down in
three bands, destroyed the cities of the Hohocam, and
killed or drove away all the inhabitants.

Most of the Pueblo tribes call themselves the descend-
ants of Montezuma;*" the Motjuis, however, have a quite
different story of their origin. They believe in a great
Father living where the sun rises; and in a great Moth-
er, whose home is where the sun goes down. The Fa-
ther is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine;
but from the Mother are all joys, peace, plenty, and
health. In the beginning of time the Mother produced
from her western ho:ne nine races of men in the follow-
ing primary forms: First, the Deer race; second, the
Sand race; third, the Water race; fourth, the Bear race;
fifth, the Hare race; sixth, the Prairie-wolf race ; seventh,
the Rattle-snake race; eighth, the Tobacco- plant race;
and ninth, the Reed-grass race. All these the Mother
placed resi)ectively on the spots where their villages now
stand, and transformed them into the men who built the
present Pueblos. These race-distinctions are still sharp-
ly kept up; for they are l)elieved to be realities, not
only of the past and present, but also of the future ; every
man when he dies shall be resolved into his primeval
form; shall wave in the grass, or drift in the sand, or
prowl on the prairie as in the beginning."

«• (frtga'H Commtrct of Iht PraMta, vol. 1., p. 208.

" TVn Bntch in Schoolrra/Vn Arch,, vol. Iv., pp. 86-6.

OAYE-OBIOIN OF THE NAVAJOS.

The Navajos, living north of the Pueblos, say that at
one time all the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyoteros,
and white people, lived together, underground in the heart
of a mountain near the river San Juan. Their only
food was meat, which they had in abundance, for all
kinds of game were closed up with them in their cave ;
but their light was dim and only endured for a few
hours each day. There were happily two dumb men
among the Navajos, flute-players who enlivened the dark-
ness with music. One of these striking by chance on
the roof of the limbo with his flute, brought out a hol-
low sound, upon which the elders of the tribes deter-
mined to bore in the direction whence the sound came.
The flute was then set up against the roof, and the Rac-
coon sent up the tube to dig a way out; but he could
not. Then the Moth-worm mounted into the breach,
and bored and bored till he found himself suddenly on
the outside of the mountain and surrounded by water.
Under these novel circumstances, he heaped up a little
mound and set himself down on it to observe and pon-
der the situation. A critical situation enough ! for, from
the four comers of the universe, four great white Swans
bore down upon him, every one witb two arrows, one
under either wing. The Swan from the north reached
him first, and having pierced him with two arrows, drew
them out and examined their points, exclaiming as the
result: He is of my race. So also, in succession, did all
the others. Then they went away ; and towards the di-
rections in which they departed, to the north, south, east,
and west, were found four great arroyos, by which all
the water flowed off, leaving only mud. The worm now
returned to the cave, and the Raccoon went up into the
mud, sinking in it mid-leg deep, as the marks on his fur
show to this day. And the wmd began to rise, sweep-
ing up the four great arroyos, and the mud was dried
away. Then the men and the animals began to come
up iTom their cave, and their coming up required sever-
al days. First came the Navi^os, ana no sooner had

Vol. in., •.

OBIGIN AND E>n) OF THINGS.

they reached the surface then they commenced gaming
at patok, their favorite game. Then came the Pueblos
and other Indians who crop their hair and build houses.
Lastly came the white people, who started off at once for
the rising sun and were lost sight of for many winters.

While these nations lived underground they all spake
one tongue ; but with the light of day and the level of
earth, came many languages. The earth was at this
time very small and the light was quite aa scanty as it
had been down below; for there was as yet no heaven,
nor sun, nor moon, nor stars. So another council of the
ancients was held and a committee of their number ap-
pointed to manufacture these luminaries. A large house
or workshop was erected ; and when the sun and moon
were ready, they were eYitrusted to the direction and
guidance of the two dumb fluters already mentioned.
The one who got charge of the sun came very near,
through his clumsiness in his new office, to making a
Phaethon of himself and setting fire to the earth. The
old men, however, either more lenient than Zeus or lack-
ing his thunder, contented themselves with forcing the
offender back by puffing the smoke of their pipes into
his face. Since then the increasing size of the earth
has four times rendered it necessary that he should be
put bock, and his course farther removed from the world
and from the subterranean cave to which he nightly re-
tires with the great light. At night also the other dumb
man issues from this cave, bearing the moon under his
arm, and lighting up such part of the world as he can.
Next the old men set to work to make the heavens, in-
tending to broider in the stars in beautiful patterns, of
bears, birds, and such things. But just as they had
made a beginning i\ prairie-wolf rushed in, and crying
out: Why all this trouble and embroidery? scattered the
pile of stars ove: all the floor of heaven, just as they
still lie.

When now the world and its firmament had been fin-
ished, the old men prepared two earthen linages or water-
jars, and having decorated one with bright colors, fiUed

OBIOIN-MYTHS OV 80UTHEBN OALIFOBNIA.

gaming

Pueblos

. houses.

once for

inters.

all spake

I level of

) at this

uity as it

> heaven,

icil of the

imber ap-

ixge house

ind moon

iction and

uentioned.

irery near,

making a

irth. The

[US or lack-
forcing the
pipes into
the earth
should be
the world
lightly re-
►ther dumb
under his
as he can.
savens, in-
itterns, of
they had
id crying
[attered the
ist as they

been fin-
er water-
r»lors, filled

it with trifles; while the other was left plain on the out-
side, but filled within with flocks and herds and riches
of all kinds. These jars being covered and presented to
the Navajos and Pueblos, the former chose the gaudy
but paltry jar; while the Pueblos received the plain and
rich vessel; each nation showing in its choice traits
which characterize it to this day. Next there arose
among the Navajos a great gambler, who went on win-
ning the goods and the persons of his opponents till he
had won the whole tribe. Upon this, . one of the old
men became indignant, set the gambler on his bow-
string and shot him off into space, — ^an unfortunate pro-
ceeding, for the fellow returned in a short time with fire-
arms and the Spaniards. Let me conclude by telling
how the Navajos came by the seed they now cultivate :
All the wise men being one day assembled, a turkey-hen
came flying from the direction of the morning star, and
shook from her feathers an ear of blue corn into the
midst of the company; and in subsequent visits brought
all the other seeds they possess.*'

Of some tribes, we do not know that they possess any
other ideas of their origin than the name of their first
ancestor, or the name of a creator or a tradition of his
existence.

The Sinaloas, from Culiacan north to the Yaqui River,
have dances in honor of a certain Viriseva, the mother
of the first man. This first man, who was her son, and
called Vairubi, they hold in like esteem.** The Cochimis,
of Lower California, amid an apparent multiplicity of
gods, say there is in reality only one, who created
heaven, earth, plants, animals, and man.** The Pericues,
also of Lower California, call the creator Nipar^ja, and
say that the heavens are his dwelling-place. A sect of

♦* Ten Brotck in SchtxAci^ft'H Arch,, ▼ol. It., pp. 80-00; and Eaton, lb.,
pp. 218-0. The-latter account differa a Iktle from that giyen in the text, and
lunkeH the following addition: After the Mavi^oi oame up from the cave, there
cnine a time vhen, by the ferocity of gianui and rapacions animals, their
utimbera were reduced to thne — an old man, an old woman, and a young
woinnn. The atook waa repleniahed by the latter beuing a child to the sun.

«> RUku, HM., pp. 18, 40.

M Clavtgtro, BtorUt dtUa Cal, torn 1., p. 139.

OmOIK AND END OF THINaS.

the same tribe, add that the stars are made of metal, and
are the work of a certain Fwutabui; while the moon has
been made by one Cucunumic.*"

The nations of Los Angeles County, California, believe
that their one god, Quaoar, came down from heaven;
and, after reducing chaos to order, put the world on the
back of seven giants. He then created the lower ani-
mals, and lastly a man and a woman. These were made
separately out of earth and called, the man Tobohar, and
the woman Pabavit.**

Hugo Reid, to whom we are mainly indebted for the
mythology of Southern California, and who is an excel-
lent authority, inasmuch as his wife was an Indian woman
of that country, besides the preceding gives us another
and different tradition on the same subject: Two great
Beings made the world, filled it with grass and trees, and
gave form, life, and motion to the various animals that
people land and sea. When this work was done, the
elder Creator went up to heaven and left his brother
alone on the earth. The solitary god left below, made to
himself men-children, that he should not be utterly com-
panionless. Fortunately also, about this time, the moon
came to that neighborhood ; she was very fair in her
delica;e beauty, very kind hearted, and she filled the
place of a mother to the men-children that the god had
created. She watched over them, and guarded them
from all evil things of the night, standing at the door of
their lodge. The children grew up very happily, lay-
ing great store by the love with which their guardians
regarded them ; but there came a day when their heart
saddened, in which they began to notice that neither
their god-creator nor their moon foster-mother gave them
any longer undivided affection and car^, but that in-
stead, the two great ones seemed to waste much precious
love upon each other. The tall god began to steal out
of their lodge at dusk, and spend the night watches in
the company of the white-haired moon, who, on the

M Clavtgtro, Bloria dttta CcU„ torn, i., pp. 185-7.
«• Hugo Btid, in Loa Angthi Star.

CENTBAI/-CALIFOBNIAN OBEATION-MTTHS.

other hand, did not seem on these occasions to pay such
absorbing attention to her sentinel duty as at other times.
The children grevi sad at this, and bitter at the heart
with a boyish jealousy. But worse was yet to come:
one night they were awakened by a querulous wail-
ing in their lodge, and the earliest dawn showed them
a strange thing, which they afterwards came to know
was a new-bom infant, lying in the doorway. The god
and the moon had eloped together; their Great One
had returned to his place beyond the aether, and that he
might not be separated from his paramour, he had appoint-
ed her at the same time a lodge in the great firmament;
where she may yet be seen, with her gauzy robe and
shining silver hair, treading celestial paths. The child
left on the earth was a girl. £ne grew up very soft,
very bright, very beautiful, like her mother; but like
her mother also, so fickle and frail! She was the
first of woman-kind, from her are all other women
descended, and from the moon ; and as the moon changes
so they all change, say the philosophers of Los An-
geles."

A much more prosaic and materialistic origin is that
accorded to the moon in the traditions of the Gallino-
meros of Central California.** In the beginning, they
say, there was no light, but a thick darkness covered all
the earth. Man stumbled blindly against man and
against the animals, the birds clashed together in the
air, and confusion reigned everywhere. The Hawk
happening by chance to fly into the face of the Coyote,
there followed mutual apologies and afterwards a long
discussion on the emergency of the situation. Deter-
mined to make some effort toward abating the public
evil, the two set about a remedy. The Coyote gathered
a great heap of tules, rolled them into a ball, and gave it
to the Hawk, together with some pieces of flint. Gather-
ing all together as well as he could, the Hawk flew
straight up into the sky, where he struck fire with the

« Hugo RHd, lb.

" Ruuiaa River Valley, Sonoma County.

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

flints, lit his ball of reeds, and left it there, whirling
along all in a fierce red glow as it continues to the pres-
ent; for it is the sun. In the same way the moon was
made, but as the tules of which it was constructed were
rather damp, its light has been always somewhat uncer-
tain and fijeble.*"

In northern California, we find the Mattoles," who
connect a tradition of a destructive flood with Taylor
Peak, a mountain in their locality, on which they
say their forefathers took refuge. As to the creation,
they teach that a certain Big Man began by making
the naked earth, silent and bleak, with nothing of
plant or animal thereon, save one Indian, v/iio roamed
about in a wofuUy hungry and desolate state. Sudden-
ly there rose a terrible whirlwind, the air grew dark
and thick with dust and drifting sand, and the Indian
fell upon his face in sore dread. Then there came a
great calm, and the man rose and looked, and lo, all the
earth was perfect and peopled ; the grass and the trees
were green on every plain and hill ; the beasts of the
fields, the fowls of the air, the creeping things, the things
that swim, moved everywhere in his sight. There is a
limit set to the number of the animals, which is this:
only a certain number of animal spirits are in existence ;
when one beast dies, his spirit immediately takes up its
abode in another body, so that the whole number of ani-
mals is always the same, and the original spirits move in
an endless circle of earthy immortality."

We pass now to a train of myths in which the Coyote
again appears, figuring in many important and some-
what mystical r61es, — figuring in fact as the great Some-
body of many tribes. To him, though involuntarily as
it r^ppears, are owing the fish to be found in Clear Lake.
The story runs that one summer long ago there was a
terrible drought in that region, followed by a plague of
grasshoppers. The Coyote ate a great quantity of these

*• Powers' Porno, MS.
M Humboldt Oonntr.
M Powtra' Porno, BIB.

THE COYOTE OF THE GALIFOBNIANS.

grasshoppers, and drank up the whole lake to quench his
thirst. After this he lay down to sleep off the effects of
his extraordinary repast, and while he slept a man came
up from the south country and thrust him through with
a spear. Then all the water he had drunk flowed back
through his wound into the lake, and with the water the
grasshoppers he had eaten; and these insects became
fishes, the same that still swim in CleaP Lake."'

The Californians in most cases describe themselves as
originating from the Coyote, and more remotely, from
the very soil they tread. In the language of Mr.
Powers, — ^whose extended personal investigations give
him the right to speak with authority, — " All the abo-
riginal inhabitants of California, without exception,
believe that their first ancestors were created directly
from the earth of their respective present dwelling-
places, and, in very many cases, that these ancestors were
coyotes.'"" •

The Potoyantes give an ingenious account of the
transformation of the first coyotes into men: There was
an age in which no men existed, nothing but coyotes.
When one of these animals died, his body used to breed
a multitude of little animals, much as the carcass of the
huge Ymir, rotting in Ginnunga-gap, bred the maggots
that turned to dwarfs. The little animals of our story
were in reality spirits, which, after crawling about for a
time on the dead coyote, and taking all kinds of shapes,
ended by spreading wings and floating off to the moon.
This evidently would not do ; the earth was in danger
of becoming depopulated ; so the old coyotes took coun-
sel together if perchance they might devise a remedy.
The result was a general order that, for the time to come,
all bodies should be incinerated immediately after death.
Thus originated the custom of burning the dead, a
custom still kept up among these people. We next learn,
— what indeed might have been expected of animals of
such wisdom and parts, — that these primeval coyotes

M Powers' Porno, MS.
M Povoera' Pomo, MS.

OBIOIN Am) END OF THINGS.

b^an by d^rees to assume the shape of men. At first,
it is true, with many imperfections; but, a toe, an ear,
a hand, bit by bit, they v.'cre gradually builded up into
the perfect form of man looking upward. For one
thing they still grieve, however,- of all their lost estate, —
their tails are gone. An acquired habit of sitting up-
right, has utterly erased and destroyed that beautiful
member. Lost is indeed lost, and gone is gone for ever,
yet still when in dance and festival, the Potoyante
throws ofif the weary burden of hard and utilitarian care,
he attaches to himself, as nearly as may be in the ancient
place, an artificial tail, and forgets for a happy hour the
degeneracy of the present in simulating the glory of the
past.**

The Califomians tell again of a great flood, or at least
of a time when the whole country, with the exception of
Mount Diablo and Reed Peak, was covered with water.
There was a Coyote on the peak, the only living thing
the wide world over, and there was a single feather toss-
ing about on the rippled water. The Coyote was look-
ing at the feather, and even as he looked, flesh and
bones and other feathers, came and joined themselves
to the first, and became an Eagle. There was a stir on
the water, a rush of broad pinions, and before the
widening circles reached the island-hill, the bird stood
beside the astonished Coyote. The two came soon to be
acquainted and to be good friends, and they made occa-
sional excursions together to the other hill, the Eagle
flying leisurely overhead while the Coyote swam. After
a time they began to feel lonely, so they created men ; and
as the men multiplied the waters abated, till the dry land
came to be much as it is at present.

Now, also, the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin
began to find their way into the Pacific, through the
mountains which, up to this time, had stretched across
the mouth of San Francisco Bay. No Poseidon clove
the hills with his trident, as when the pleasant vale of
Tempo was formed, but a strong earthquake tore the

^JohntUm, in Schoolannft'a Arch., vol. iv., pp. 224-6.

HOW THE GOLDEN GATE WAS OPENED.

8»

rock apart and opened the Qolden Gate between the
waters within and those without. Before this there had
existed only two outlets for the drainage of the whole
country; one was the Russian River, and the other the
San Juan."

The natives in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe, ascribe
its origin to a great natural convulsion. There was
a time, they say, when their tribe possessed the whole
earth, and were strong, numerous, and rich; but a day
came in which a people rose up stronger than they,
and defeated and enslaved them. Afterwards the
Great Spirit sent an immense wave across the conti-
nent from the sea, and this wave engulfed both
the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small
remnant. Then the taskmasters made the remaining
people raise up a great temple, so that they, of the
ruling caste, should have a refuge in case of another flood,
and on the top of this temple the masters worshiped a
column of perpetual fire.

Half a moon had not elapsed, however, before the
earth was again troubled, this time with strong con-
vulsions and thunderings, upon which the masters took
refuge in their great tower, closing the people out.
The poor slaves fled to the Humboldt River, and
getting into canoes paddled for life from the awful sight
behind them. For the land was tossing like a troubled
sea, and casting up Are, smoke, and ashes. The flames
went up to the very heaven and melted many stars, so
that they rained down in molten metal upon the earth,
forming the ore that the white men seek. The Sierra
was mounded up from the bosom of the earth ; while
the place where the great fort stood sank, leaving only
the dome on the top exposed above the waters of Lake
Tahoe. The inmates of the temple-tower clung to this
dome to save themselves from drowning ; but the Great
Spirit walked upon the waters in his wrath, and took
the oppressors one by one like pebbles, and threw them
far into the recesses of a great cavern, on the east side of

M //. B. D. in Hesperian Mag., vol. iU., 1869, p. 326.

OSIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

the lake, called to this day the Spirit Lodge, where the
waters shut them in. There must they remain till a
last great volcanic burning, which is to overturn the
whole earth, shall again set them free. In the depths of
their cavern-prison they may still be heard, wailing and
moaning, when the snows melt and the waters swell in
the lake."

We again meet the Coyote among the Cahrocs of
Klamath River in Northern California. These Cahrocs
believe in a certain Chareya, Old Man Above, who made
the world, sitting the while upon a certain stool now in
the possession of the high-priest, or chief medicine-man.
After the creation of the earth, Chareya first made fishes,
then the lower animals, and lastly man, upon whom was
conferred the power of assigning to each animal its re-
spective duties and position. The man determined to
give each a bow, the length of which should denote the
rank of the receiver. So he called all the animals
together, and told them that next day, early in the
morning, the distribution of bows would take place.
Now the Coyote greatly desired the longest bow ; and,
in order to be in first at the division, he determined to
remain awake all night. His anxiety sustained him for
some time; but just before morning he gave way, and
fell into a sound sleep. The consequence was, he was
last at the rendezvous, and got the shortest bow of all.
The man took pity on his distress, however, and brought
the matter to the notice of Chareya, who, on considering
the circumstances, decreed that the Coyote shou^ 1 become
the most cunning of animals, as he remains tc this time.
The Coyote was very grateful to the man for his inter-
ceHsion, and he became his friend and the friend of his
children, and did many things to aid mankind as we
shall see hereafter."

The natives in the neighborhood of Mount Shasta, in
Northern California, say that the Great Spirit made this
mountain first of all. Boring a hole in the sky, using a

M Wadaieorth, in Hukhinga' Col. Mag., vol. ii., 1868, pp. 356-8.
" Pouxra' Porno, MB.

MOUNT SHASTA TW^ WIQWAM OF THE GREAT SPIBIT. 91

large stone as an auger, he pushed down snow and ice
until they b&d reached the desired height; then he
stepped from cloud to cloud down to the great icy pile,
and from it to the earth, where he planted the first trees
by merely putting his finger into the soil here and there.
The sun began to melt the snow ; the snow produced
water; the water ran down the sides of the mountains,
refreshed the trees, and made rivers. The Creator
gathered the leaves that fell from the trees, blew upon
them, and they became birds. He took a stick and
broke it into pieces; of the small end he made fishes;
and of the middle of the stick he made animals, — ^the
grizzly bear excepted, which he formed from the big end
of his stick, appointing him to be master over all the
others. Indeed this animal was then so large, strong,
and cunning, that the Creator somewhat feared him, and
hollowed out Mount S: u . ; as a wigwam for himself,
where he might reside while on earth, in the most per-
fect security and toinfort. So the smoke was soon to be
seen curling up from the mountain, where the Great
Spirit and his family lived, and still live, though their
hearth-fire is alight no longer, now that the white man
is in the land. This was thousands of snows ago, and
there came after this a late and severe spring-time, in
which a memorable storm blew up from the sea, shaking
the huge lodge to its base. The Great Spirit commanded
his daughter, little more than an infant, to go up and
bid the wind to be still, cautioning her at the same time
in his fatherly way, not to put her head out into the
blast, but only to liirust out her little red arm and make
a sign before she delivered her message. The eager
child hastened up to the hole in the roof, did as she
was told, and then turned to descend ; but the Eve was
too strong in her to leave without a look at the forbidden
world outside and the rivers and the trees, at the far
ocean and the great waves that the storm had made as
hoary as the forests when the snow is on the firs. She
stopped, she put out her head to look; instantly th;
storm took her by the long hair, and blew her down to

ORiaiN AND END OF THINOB.

the earth, down the mountain side, over the smooth ice
and soft snow, down to the land of the grizzly bears.

Now the grizzly bears were somewhat different then
from what they are at present. In appearance they
were much the same it is true ; but they walked then on
their hind legs like men, and talked, and carried clubs,
using the fore-limbs as men use their arms.

There was a family of these grizzlies living at the
foot of the mountain, at the place where the child was
blown to. The father was r-jtuming from the hunt
with his club on his shoulder and a young elk in his
hand, when he saw the little shivering waif lying on the
snow with her hair all tangled about her. The old
Grizzly, pitying and wondering at the strange forlorn
creature, lifted it up, and carried it in to his wife to see
what should be done. She too was pitiful, and she fed
it from her own breast, bringing it up quietly as one of
her family. So the girl grew up, and the eldest son
of the old Grizzly married her, and their offspring was
neither grizzly nor Great Spirit, but man. Very proud
indeed were the whole grizzly nation of the new race,
and uniting their strength from all parts of the country,
they built the young mother and her family a mount-
ain wigwam near that of the Great Spirit; and this
structure of theirs is now known as Little Mount Shasta.
Many years passed away, and at last the old grandmother
Grizzly became very feeble and felt that she must soon
die. She knew that the girl she hud adopted was the
daughter of the Great Spirit, and her conscience troubled
her that she had never let him know anything of
the fate of his child. So she called all the grizzlies
together to the new lodge, and sent her eldest grandson
up on a cloud to the summit of Mount Shasta, to tell
the father that his daughter yet lived. When the
Great Spirit heard that, he was so glad that he immedi-
ately ran down the mountain, on the south side, toward
where he had been told his daughter was; and such
was the swiftness of his pace that the snow was melted
here and there along his course, as it remains to this

THE GRIZZLY FAMILY OF MOXTNT SHASTA.

day. The grizzlies had prepared him an honorable
reception, and as he approached his daughter's home, he
found them standing in thousands in two files, on either
side of the door, with their clubs under their arms. He
had never pictured his daughter as aught but the little
child he had loved so long ago ; but when he found that
she was a mother, and that he had been betrayed into the
creation of a new race, his anger overcame him ; he scowled
so terribly on the poor old grandmother Grizzly that she
died upon the spot. At this all the bears set up a fear-
ful howl, but the exasperated father, taking his lost dar-
ling on his shoulder, turned to the armed ho^t, and in his
fury cursed them. Peace! he said. Be silent for ever!
Let no articulate word ever again pass your lips,
neither stand any more upright; but use your hands as
feet, and look downward until I come again! Then he
drove them all out ; he drove out also the new race of men,
shut to the door of Little Mount Shasta, and passed
away to his mountain, carrying his daughter; and her
or him no eye has since seen. The grizzlies never spoke
again, nor stood up ; save indeed when fighting for their
life, when the Great Spirit still permits them to stand as
in the old time, and to use their fists like men. No Indian
tracing his descent from the spirit mother and the grizzly,
as here described, will kill a grizzly bear; and if by an
evil chance a grizzly kill a man in any place, that spot
becomes memorable, and every one that passes casts a
stone there till a great pile is thrown up."

Let us now pass on, and going east and north, enter
the Shoshone country. In Idaho there are certain famous
Soda Springs whose origin the Snakes refer to the close
of their happiest age. Long ago, tlie legend runs, when
the cotton-woods on the Big River were no larger than
arrows, all red men were at peace, the hatchet was
everywhere buried, and hunter met hunter in the game-
lands of the one or the other, with all hospitality and good-
will. During this state of things, two chiefs, one of the

M Joaquin Milkr'B L\ft Among^ iht Moiloen, pp. 235-336, 243-6.

OBIOIN AND END OF THINOS.

SLoshone, the other of the Comanche nation, met one
day at a certain spring. The Shoshone had been suc-
cessful in the chase, and the Comanche very unlucky,
which put the latter in rather an ill humor. So he got
up a dispute with the oiiier as to the importance of their
respective and related tribes, and ended by making an
unprovoked and treacherous attack on the Shoshone,
striking him into the water from behind, when he had
stooped to drink. The murdered man fell forward into
the water, and immediately a strange commotion was
observable there; great bubbles and spirts of gas shot
up from the bottom of the pool, and amid a cloud of
vapor there arose also an old white-haired Indian, armed
with a ponderous club of elk-horn. Well the assassin
knew who stood before him ; the totem on the breast
was that of Wankanaga, the father both of the Shoshone
and of the Comanche nations, an ancient famous for his
brave deeds, and celebrated in the hieroglyphic pictures
of both peoples. Accursed of two nations! cried the old
man, this day hast thou put death between the two
greatest peoples under the sun ; see, the blood of this
Shoshone cries out to the Great Spirit for vengeance. And
he dashed out the brains of the Comanche with his club,
and the murderer fell there beside his victim into the
spring. After that the spring became foul and bitter,
nor even to this day can any one drink of its nauseous
water. Then Wankanaga, seeing that it had been defiled,
took his club and smote a neighboring rock, and the rock
burst forth into clear bubbling water, so fresh and so
grateful to the palate that no other water can even be
compared to it.""

Passing into Washington, we find an account of the
origin of the falls of Palouse River and of certain native
tribes. There lived here at one time a family of giants,
four brothers and a sister. The sister wanted some
beaver-fat and she begged her brothers to get it for her,
— no easy task, as there was only one beaver in the

u RimUm'i Advtn. in M«»,, pp. 844-6.

THE GIANTS OF THE FALOUSE UIVEB.

country, and he an animal of extraordinary size and
activity. However, like four gallant fellows, the giants
set out to find the monster, soon catching sight of him near
the mouth of the Palouse, then a peaceful gliding river
with an even though winding channel. They at once
gave chase, heading him up the river. A little distance
up-stream they succeeded in striking him for.the first time
with their spears, but he shook himself clear, making in his
struggle the first rapids of the Palouse, and dashed on
up-stream. Again the brothers overtook him, pinning him
to the river-bed with their weapons, and again the vigor-
ous beast writhed away, making thus the second falls
of the Palouse. Another chase, and, in a third and
fatal attack, the four spear-shafls are struck again through
the broad wounded bock. There is a last stubborn
struggle at the spot since marked by the great falls called
Aputaput, a tearing of earth and a lashing of water in the
fierce death-flurry, and the huge Beaver is dead. The
brothers having secured the skin and fat, cut up the body
and threw the pieces in various directions. From these
pieces have originated the various tribes of the country,
as the Cayuses, the Nez Percys, the Walla Wallas, and
so on. The Cayuses sprang from the beaver's heart, and
for this reason they are more energetic, daring, and suc-
cessful than their neighbors.**

In Oregon the Chinooks and neighboring people tell
of a pre-human demon race, called Ulhaipa by the
Chinooks, and Sehuidb by the Clallams and Lummis.
The Chinooks say that the human race was created by
Italapas, the Coyote. The first men were sent into
tlie world in a very lumpish and imperfect state, their
mouth and eyes were closed, their hands and feet im-
movable. Then a kind and powerful spirit called Ikd-
nam, took a sharp stone, opened the eyes of these poor
creatures, and gave motion to their hands and feet. He
taught them how to make canoes as well as all other
implements and utensils ; and he threw great rocks into

M WUkta' Nar. In U. 8. Tx. Ex., vol. Iv., p. 406.

OBIGIN AND END OF THINOS.

the rivers and made falls, to obstruct the salmon in their
ascent, so that they might be easily caught."

Farther north among the Ahts of Vancouver Island,
perhaps the commonest notion of origin is that men at
first existed as birds, animals, and fishes. We are told of
a certain Quawteaht, represented somewhat contradictori-
ly, as the ficst Aht that ever lived, thickset and hairy-
limbed, and as the chief Aht deity, a purely supernatural
being, if not the creator, at least the maker and shaper
of most things, the maker of the land and the water,
and of the animals that inhabit the one or the
other. In each of these animals as at first created, there
resided the embryo or essence of a man. One day a
canoe came down the coast, paddled by two personages
in the, at that time, unknown form of men. The ani-
mals were frightened out of their wits, and fled, each
from his house, in such haste that he left behind
him the human essence that he usually carried in his
body. These embryos rapidly developed into men ; they
multiplied, mnde use of the huts deserted by the animals,
and became in every way as the Ahts are now. There
exists another account of the origin of the Ahts, which
would make them the direct descendants of Quawteaht
and an immense bird that he married, — the great Thun-
der Bird, Tootooch, with which, under a diflerent name
and in a different sex, we shall become more familiar
presently. The flapping of Tootooch's wings shook the
hills with thunder, tootah; and when she put out her
forked tongue, the lightning quivered across the sky.

The Ahts have various legends of the way in which
fire was first obtained, which legends may be reduced to
the following: Quawteaht withheld fire, for some reason
or other, from the creatures that he had brought into the
world, with one exception ; it was always to be found
burning in the home of the cuttl -fish, telhoop. The
other beasts attempted to steal this fire, but only the

•> Fyanchhre'a Nar., p. 368; Cox's Advm,, toI. i., p. 317: Oibba' CMmok
Vocab^ pp., 11-13; Id,, CMlam and Lummi Vooab., pp. 15-20; Parker'a Sw-
plor. Tour, p. 139.

NOOTKA AND 8ALISH GBEATION-HTTHS.

iheir

land,

en at

)ldof

ctori-

lairy-

Sktural

ihaper

water,

►r the

, there
day a

onages

tie Ln\'

I, each

behind
in his

i; they

nimals,
There

, which
.wteaht
Thun-
t name
amiliar
ook the
ut her

iky.
■which

uced to

reason

linto the

found

The

ily the

U' Chinook

\rktr'8 B«-

deer succeeded ; he hid a little of it in the joint of his
hind leg, and escaping, introduced the element to general
use.

Not all animals, it would appear, were produced in the
general creation ; the loon and the crow had a special
origin, being metamorphosed men. Two fishermen,
being out at sea in their canoes, fell to quarreling, the
one ridiculing the other for his small success in fishing.
Finally the unsuccessful man became so infuriated by
the taunts of his companion that he knocked him on the
head, and stole his fish, cutting out his tongue before he
paddled off, lest by any chance the unfortunate should
recover his senses and gain the shore. The precaution was
well taken, for the mutilated man reached the land and
tried to denounce his late companion. No sound how-
ever could he utter but something resembling the cry of a
loon, upon which the Great Spirit, Quawteaht, became
so indiscriminatingly angry at the whole affair that he
changed the poor mute into a loon, and his assailant
into a crow. So when the mournful voice of the loon
is heard from the silent lake or river, it is still the poor
fisherman that we hear, trying to make himself under-
stood and to tell the hard story of his wrongs.*"

The general drift of many of the foregoing myths
would go to indicate a wide-spread belief in the theory
of an evolution of man from animals.*" Traditions are
not wanting, however, whose teaching is precisely the
reverse. The Salish, the Nisquallies, and the Yakimas
of Washington, all hold that beasts, fishes, and even
edible roots are descended from human originals. One
account of this inverse Darwinian develop'^ent is this:
The son of the Sun — w* ""'n he may have been — caused
certain individuals to &,\ivti through a lake of magic oil,
a liquid of such Gircean potency that the unfortunates

•* Spnat'B 8<mt9, pp. 176-86, 203-14.

*i To the pxamples alreadv ({iven of this we mar add the case of the Hai-
dahs of Queeu dnnrlotte iHiand, of whom Mr. Toole, Q. Char. M., p. 136,
layB: * Their deioent from the orowE in quite gravely affirmed uuil steaafaitly
maintained.'

Vol. III. T

;;

-fS OBIOIN AMD END OF THINGS.

immersed were transfonned as above related. The
peculiarities of organism of the various animals, are the
results of incidents of their passage ; the bear dived, and
is therefore fat all over; the goose swam high, and is
consequently fat only up to the water-line ; and so on
through all the list.^

Moving north to the Tacullies of British Columbia,
we find the Musk-rat an active agent in the work of
creation. The flat earth, following the Tacully cosmog-
ony, was at first wholly covered with water. On the
water a Musk-rat swam to and fro, seeking food. Find-
ing none there, he dived to the bottom and brought up a
mouthful of mud, but only to spit it out again when he
came to the surface. All this he did again and again
till quite an island was formed and by degrees the whole
earth. In some unexplained way this earth became
afterwards peopled in every part, and so remained, until
a fierce fire of several days' duration swept over it, de-
stroying all life, with two exceptions ; one man and one
woman hid themselves in a deep cave in the heart of a
mountain, and from these two has the world been since
repeopled."

From the Tacully country we pass north and west
to the coa»t inhabited by the^Thlinkeets, among whom
the myth of a great Bird, or of a great hero-deity, whose
favorite disguise is the shape of a.bird, assumes the most
elaborate proportions and importance. . Here the name
of this great Somebody is Yehl, the Crow or Raven,
creator of most things, and especially of the Thlinkeets.
lYery dark, damp, and chaotic waa the world in the
beginning; nothing with breath or body .moved there
except Yehl; in the likeness of a raven he brooded over
the mist, his black wings beat down the vast confusion,
the waters went back before him and the dry land
appeared. The Thlinkeets were placed on the earth —
though how or when does not exactly appear — while the
world was still in*^ darkness, and without sun or moon

•* Andtnon in LorH'a Nat., vol. ii., p. 240.
•> Harmon'g Jovr., pp. 30i-3.

YEHL, THE OBEATOB 0» •put. ™«^

^^* OF THE TBUNKEETS.

by eight nrf bfrd^Hhe k?„1 ^?Jf"S?»»*'j' "•""''^
assurance surer, he ev4led to ^'f *^ ^o make
box everj, time'he left ho^ ^ ffij^"' ?.,» « Wnd of
a widow it would appeT^a. d *" "''''« ''« «'»<»'•,
"he Ijad, fine tall fellSSTSw "^"8 7 '*'^'" »»«
The jealous uncle couKS "PT^bing manhood,
being in the neighborhot^ 'f fc^ •?* *»"«">' of their
them one by one, tS.e ^?^J^' ""«• . So he inveigled
on preteme of fi'shin^, Td d^l^M" ««, "ith him
poor mother was left desdate .iT ^ *««• The
to weep for her children Ado^^^'^"" " *^ ^-^ore
-saw her there, and pitied her- f!!~^!*'^»*bale

That chTd Z'a,'":S*\hrt'f ^"^ ^-''^
human shape, and gre v ud a mi ^\ "^ himself a
We archer. One d!y ^k P \™«h J, hunter and nota-

■"g a long tail like a mS a^rt?f "^ *» '>™. bav-
«» of metal; the name 7th'e bfrd '""^r^"""™* biU
that IS Crane that can soar to h ""^ Kut^hatushl,
bird, skinned it, and wh^ev.^ K ™".- ^*' «hot the
cloUie himself iAitoX™"™' •" "'*^ to fly used t^

'0 ~im:fif^™;"„ ti^ir^ ■"I"" -'«'*'»»«>

brothera; so he onened »h2 L • f"' *e death of hia
f wife ;as shut X i^r/r'"* «>« 'vell-^.a^'!
.«ew off and told tfie huZ^ ^ i.*^ ""«''* faithful birds
'",.« m„rfe«,us m^.'^St l^ *' T' '"« •>" home
P?t'ence, he g«ietedY;hl »TiT"'"«' '""'«™''. in his
h.m mto his* canoe CalTT^'T' "'"■ '""led
paddled out some way he flun^ ^'P t *«• Having
"an and foreed him overLT* ij"*^'^ "" *« ^ounf

~. ar.d st«>d-„p in^Ir'i'„xrai:L2."^«5!Lt£

100

ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS.

murderer was beside himself with fury, he imprecated
with a potent curse a deluge upon all the earth, well
content to perish himself so he involved his rival in
the common destruction, for jealousy is cruel ast the
grave. The flood came, the waters rose and rose; but
Yehl clothed himself in his bird-skin, and soared up to
heaven, where he struck his beak into a cloud, and re-
mained till the waters were assuaged.

After this affair Yehl had many other adventures, so
many that " one man cannot know them all," as the
Thlinkeets say. One of the most useful things he did
was to supply light to mankind — with whom, as appears,
the earth had been again peopled after the deluge. Now
all the light in the world was^ stored away in • three
boxes, among the riches of a certain mysterious' old
Chief, who guarded his treasure closely. Yehl set
his wits to work to secure the boxes ; he determined to
be born into the chief's family. The old fellow had one
daughter upon whom he doted, and Yehl transforming
himself into a blade of grass, got into the girl's drinking-
cup and was swallowed by her. • In due time she gave
birth to a son, who was Yehl, thus a second time bom of
a woman into the world. Very proud was the old chief
of his grandson, loving him even aZs he loved his daugh-
ter, so that Yehl came to be a decidedly spoiled child.
He fell a crying one day,. working himself, almost into a
fit; he kicked and scratched and howled, and turned
the family hut into a little pandemonium as only an
infant plague can. He screamed for one of the three
boxes ; he would have a box ; nothing but a box should
ever appease him ! The indulgent grandfather gave him
one of the boxes; he clutched it, stopped crying, and
crawled oft' into the yard to play. Playing, he, contrived
to wrench the lid off, and lo! the beautiful heaven, was
thick with sta's, and the box empty. The old man
wept for the loss of his stars, but he did *not scold his
grandson, he loved him too blindly for that. Yehl had
succeeded in 'getting the stars into the firmamer)t, and
he proceeded to repeat his successful trick, to do the like

ADVENTURES OF YEHL AMD KHAMUKH.

101

res, so

as the

he did

ppears,
Now

1- three

ous old

ehl set

lined to

had one

iforming

•inking-

}he gave
bom of

)ld chief

Is daugh-

A child.

[st into a
turned
only an
le three
Ix should
rave hini
|ing, onA
•ontrived
kven .was
old man
Bcold his
fehl had,

lent, ft"*
the like

by the moon and sun. As may be imagined, the difficulty
was much increased ; still he gained his end. He first
let the moon out into the sky, and some time afterward,
getting possession of the box that held the sun, he
changed himself into a raven and flew away with his
greatest prize of all. When he set up the blazing light
in heaven, the people that saw it were at first afraid.
Many hid themselves in the mountains, and in the
forests, and even in the water, and were changed into
the various kinds of animals that frequent these places.

There are still other feats of Yehl's replete with the
happiest consequences to mankind. There was a time,
for instance, when all the fire in the world was hid away
in an island of the ocean. Thither flew the indefatigable
deity, fetching back a brand in his mouth. The dis-
tance, however, was so great that most of the wood was
burned away and a part of his beak, before he reached
the Thlinkeet shore. Arrived there, he dropped the
embers at once, and the sparks flew about in all direc-
tions among various sticks and stones; therefore it is
that by striking these stones, and by friction on this wood,
fire is always to be obtained.

Light they now had, and fire; but one thing was still
wanting to men; they had no fresh water. A personage
called Khanukh" kept all the fresh water in his well,
in an island to the east of Sitka, and over the mouth of
the well, for its better custody, he had built his hut.
Yehl set out to the island in his boat, to secure the water,
and on his way he met Khanukh himself, paddling along
in another boat. Khanukh spoke first: How long
liast thou been lining in the world ? Proudly Yehl
answered: Before the world stood *in its place, I was
there. Yehl in his turn qtestioned Khanukh: But how
long iiast thou> lived in the world,? To which Khanukh
replied: Ever since the time that the liver came out from

* ThiB Khannkh was the progenitor o( the Wolf family of the Thlinkeete
even aa Yehl was that of the Raven family. The influence of this wolf-deity
Beems to have been senerally malign, but except in connection with this
water-legend, he ia littte menuoned in the Thiiukeet myths.

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

below." Then said Yehl : Thou art older than I. Upon
this Khanukh, to show that his power was as great as
his age, took off his hat, and there rose a dense fog, so
that the one could no longer see the other. Yehl then
became afraid, and cried out to Khanukh ; but Khanukh
RTxswered nothing. At last when Yehl found himself
completely helpless in the darkness, he began to weep
and howl ; upon which the old sorcerer put on his hat
again, and the fog vanished. Khanukh then invited
Yehl to his house, and entertained him handsomely with
many luxuries, among which was fresh water. The
meal over, host and guest sat down, and the latter began
a long relation of his many exploits and adventures.
Khanukh listened as attentively as he could, but the
story was really so interminable that he at last fell
asleep across the cover of his well. This frustrated
Yehl's intention of stealing the water while its owner
slept, so he resorted to another stratagem : he put some
filth under the sleeper, then waking him up, mode him
believe he had bewrayed himself. Khanukh, whose own
nose abhorred him, at once hurried off to the sea to wash,
and his deceiver as quickly set about securing the pre-
cious water. Just as .\ ll-father Odin, the Raven-god , stole
Suttung s mead, drinking it up and escaping in the form
of a bird, so Yehl drank what fresh water he could,
filling himself to the very beak, then took the form
of a raven and attempted to fly off through the chimney
of the hut. He stuck in the flue however, and Khanukh
returning at that instant recognized his guest in the
struggling bird. The old man comprehended the situa-
tion, and quietly piling up a roaring fire, he sat down
comfortably to watch the choking and scorching of his
crafty guest. The raven had always been a white bird,
but so thoroughly was he smoked in the chhnney on this
occasion that he has ever since remained the sootiest of

C7 ' Seit der Zeit, entgegnete Khanukh, als von unten die Leber herons-
kam.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skit., p. 61. What is meant by the term ' die Leber,'
literally the partionlar gland of the body called in English 'the liver,' I
cannot say; neither Holmberg or any one else, as for as my knowledge goex,
attempting any explanation.

OHETHL AND AHOI8HANAKH0V.

108

fowls. At last Khanukh watching the fire, heeame
drowsy and fell asleep; so Yehl escaped from the island
with the water. He flew back to the continent, where
he scattered it in every direction ; and wherever small
drops fell there are now springs and creeks, while the
large drops have produced lakes and rivers. This is the
end of the exploits of Yehl ; having thus done every-
thing necessary to the happiness of mankind, he returned
to his habitation, which is in the east, and into which no
other spirit, nor any man can possibly enter.

The existing difference in language between the Thlin-
keets and other people is one of the consequences of a
great flood, — perhaps that flood already described as
having been brought on through the jealousy of the
canoe-builder. Many persons escaped drowning by
taking refuge in a great floating building. When the
waters fell, this vessel grounded upon a rock, and was
broken into two pieces; in the one fragment were left
those whose descendants speak the Thlinkeet language,
in the other remained all whose descendants employ a
diflerent idiom.

Connected with the history of this deluge is another
myth in which a great Bird figures. When the waters
rose a certain mysterious brother and sister found it
necessary to part. The name'' of the brother was Chethl,
that is. Thunder or ^Lightning, and the name of the
sister was Ahgishanakhou, which means the Under-
ground Woman. As they separated Chethl said to her:
Sister, you shall never see me again, but while I live
you shall hear my voice. Then he clothed himself in
the skin of a great bird,, and flew towards the south-
west. His sister climbed to the top of Mount Edgecomb,
which is near Sitka, and it opened and swallowed her
up, leaving a great hole, or crater. The world itself is
an immense flat plate supported on a pillar, and under
the world, in silence and darkness, this Under-ground
Woman guards the great pillar from evil and malignant
powers. She has never seen her brother since she left
the upper world, and she shall never see him again ; but

lOi

OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS.

still, when the tempest sweeps down on Edgecomb, the
lightning of his eyes gleams down her crater-window,
and the thundering of his wings re-echoes through all her
subterranean halls.''

The Koniagas, north of the Thlinkeets, have their
l^endary Bird and Dog, — the latter taking the place
occupied in the mythology of many other tribes by the
wolf or coyote. Up in heaven, according to the Koni-
agas, there exists a great deity called Shljam Schoa.
He created two personages and sent them down to the
earth, and the Riven accompanied them carrying light.
This original pair made sea, rivers, mountains, forests,
and such things. Among other places they made the
Island of Kadiak, and so stocked it that the present
Koniagas assert themselves the descendants of a Dog.^

The Aleuts of the Aleutian Archipelago seem to dis-
agree upon their origin. Some say that in the beginning
a Bitch inhabited Unaloska, and that a great Dog swam
across to her from Kadiak; from which pair the human
race have sprung. Others, naming the bitch-mother of
their race Mahakh. describe a certain Old Man, called
Iraghdadakh, who came from the north to visit this
Mahakh. The result of this visit was the birth of two
creatures, male and female, with such an extraordinary
mixing up of the elements of nature in them that they
were each half man half fox. The name of the male
creature was Acagnikakh, and by the other creature he
became father of the human race. The Old Man how-
ever seems hardly to have needed any help to people the
world, for like the great patriarch of Thessaly, ^e was
able to create men by merely cast'ng stones on the earth.
He flung also other stones into tl 3 air, into the M'ater,
and over the land, thus making b; sts, birds, and fishes.
In another version of the narrative he first father of the

« Sarreit-Lenmrd's Trav., pp. 54-7; Holmberg, Sthn. Skit., pp. 14, 52-63;
Baer, Slat. u. Elhn., pp. 93-100; DalVs Alaska, ) . 421-22; Marfie's Vane.
M., pp 452-5; RhhirJaon'a Jour., vol. i., p. 405: Mayne's B.C,. p. 272.

•9 BMr, Slat. u. Elhn., p. 116; LWansfcy** Voy., pp. 197-8; Doll's Maaka,
p. 405; Uoltnbtrg, EUm. Skis., p. 140.

THE DOO-OBIGIN OF THE HYPEB0BEAN8.

106

the
low,
iher

their

place

^ the

[^oni-

choa.

3 the

light.

>rest8,

,e the

resent

og.*
:o dis-
inning
; swam
liuman
ther of
called
|it this
of two
[dinary
it they
,e male
;ure he
how-
Iple the
e was
earth,
water,
fishes,
of the

U, 62-63;
le'8 Vane.

1272.
IsAlaaka,

Aleuts is said to have fallen from heaven in the shape
of a dog.™

In the legends of the Tinneli, living inland, north-east
of the Koniagas, the familiar Bird and Dog again appear.
These legends tell us that the world existed at first as a
great ocean frequented only by an immense Bird, the
beating of whose wings was thunder, and its glance light-
ning. This great flying monster descended and tou hed
the waters, upon which the earth rose up and appeared
above them; it touched the earth, and therefrom came
every living creature, — except the Tinneh, who owe their
origin to a Dog. Therefore it is that to this day a dog's
tiesh is an abomination to tLo Tinneh, as are also all
who eat such flesh. A few years before Captain Frank-
lin's visit they almost ruined themselves by following the
advice of some fanatic reformer. Convinced by him of
the wickedness of exacting labor from their near rela-
tions, the dogs, they got rid at once of the sin and of
all temptation to its recommission, by killing every cur in
their possession.

To return to the origin of the Tinneh, the wonderful
Bird before mentioned made and presented to them a
peculiar arrow, which they wore to preserve for all time
with great care. But they would not; they misappro-
priated the sacred shaft to some common use, and imme-
diately the great Bird flew away never to return. With
its departure ended the Golden Age of the Tinneh, — an
age in which men lived till their throats were worn
through with eating, and their feet with walking.*"

Belonging to the Northern-Indian branch of the Tin-
neh we find a narrative in which the Dog holds a promi-
nent place, but in which we find no mention at all of
the Bird: The earth existed at first in a chaotic state,
with only one human inhabitant, a woman who dwelt in
a cave and lived on berries. While gathering these one
day, she encountered an animal like a dog, which followed

™ Chorta, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 7; KoU»bw'a Voy., vol. ii., p., 165.
" Dunn's Oregon, pp. lOi, el seq: SchoolcrafVB Ardt, vol. v., p.
Ifacfcenne's Voy., p. oxnii.; Franklin a Nar., vol. i., pp. 249-60.

173;

106

OBIQIS AND END OF THINGS.

her home. This Dog possessed the power of transform-
ing himself into a handsome young man, and in this
shape he became the father by the woman of the first
men. In course of time a giant of such height that his
head reached the clouds, arrived on the scene and fitted
the earth for its inhabitants. He reduced the chaos to
order; he established the land in its boundaries, he
marked out with his staff the position or course of the
lakes, ponds, and rivers. Next he slew the D(^ and tore
him to pieces, as the four giants did the Beaver of the
Palouse River, or as the creating iEsir did Aui^elmir.
Unlike the four brothers, however, and unlike the sons
of Bor, this giant of the Tinneh used the fragments not
to create men or things, but animals. The entrails of
the dog he threw into the water, and every piece became
a fish ; the flesh he scattered over the land, and every
scrap became an animal ; the bits of skin he sowed upon
the wind, and they became birds. All these spread over
the earth, and increased and multiplied ; and the giant
gave the woman and her progeny pov<rer to kill and eat
of them according to their necessities. After this he
returned to his place, and he has not since been heard
of"

Leaving now this division of our subject, more par-
ticularly concerned with cosmogony, it may not be amiss
to forestall possible criticism as to the disconnected man-
ner in which the various myths are given. I have but
to repeat that the mythology with which we have to
deal is only known in fragments, and to submit that a
broken statue, or even a broken sherd, of genuine
or presumably genuine antiquity, is more valuable to
science and even to poetry, than the most skillful ideal
restoration.

Further, the absence of any attempt to form a con-
nected whole out of the myths that come under our
notice cannot but obviate that tendency to alter in out-
line and to color in detail which is so insensibly natural
to any mythographer prepossessed with the spirit of a

" Jleamt'a Jowrrwy, pp. 343-3.

nrrEBFBETATION OF inTHS.

107

system. In advancing lastly the opinion that the dis-
connected arrangement is not only better adapted toward
preserving the original myths in their int^rity, but is
also better for the student, I may be allowed to close the
chapter with the second of the Rules for the Inter-
pretation of Mythes given by so distinguished an au-
thority as Mr. Keightley: "In like manner the mythes
themselves should be considered separately, and detached
from the system in which they are placed ; for the single
mythes existed long before the system, and were the prod-
uct of other minds than those which afterwards set them
in connection, not unfreo'.ently without fully under-
standing them." "

n KeifihOty'a Mytlt. ofAncUtU Oreeot and Italy, p. 14.

CHAPTER III.

PHYSICAL MYTHS.

Bum, Moon, and Stabs— Ecupseb Tbb Moon Pkhsonifikd in thb Land

or THB CbESOBNT— FiBE — How THE CoTOTB STOLB Fini FOB THB GaHBOCH-

How THB Fboo Lost His Taii<— How tri Gototb Stole Fibe vob
TUB Nayajos— Wind and Thcndbb— The Foob Winds and the Cbohs
— Wateb, tub Fibst of Elemental Things -Its Sacbkd and Glbanb-
INO PowEB — Eabth and Skt— Eabthqitaxes and Volcanoes— Moun-
tains— How the Hawk and Gbow Bcilt the Goast Range — The
Mountains of Yosemitb.

Fetichism seems to be the physical philosophy of man
in his most primitive state. He looks on material things
as animated by a life analogous to his own, as having a
personal consciousness and character, as being severally
the material body that contains some immaterial essence
or soul. A child or a savage strikes or chides any object
that hurts him, and caresses the gewgaw that takes his
fancy, talking to it much as to a companion.

Let there be something peculiar, mysterious, or danger-
ous about the thing and the savage worships it, deprecates
its wrath and entreats its favor, with such ceremonies,
prayers, and sacrifices as he may deem likely to win
upon its regard. In considering such cases mythologic-
ally, it will be necessary to examine the facts to see
whether we have to deal with simple fetichism or witii
idolatry. That savage worships a fetich \«rho worships
the heaving sea as a great living creature, op kneels to
flame as to a hissing roaring animal ; but the Greeks in
conceiving a separate anthropomorphic god of the sea or

VAOABIES GONOEBNING CELESTIAL BODIES.

109

of the fire, and in representing that god by figures of
difierent kinds, were only idolaters. The two things,
however, are often so merged into each other that it
becomes difficult or impossible to say in many instances
whether a particular object, for example the sun, is
regarded as the deity or merely as the representation or
symbol of the deity. It is plain enough, however, that
n tolerably distinct element of fetichism underlies much
of the Indian mythology. Speaking of this mythology
in the mass, the North American Review says: " A
mysterious and inexplicable power resides in inanimate
things. They, too, can listen to the voice of man, and
influence his life for evil or for good. Lakes, rivers, and
waterfalls are sometimes the dwelling-place of spirits,
but more frequently they are themselves living beings, to
be propitiated by prayers and offerings." *

The explicit worship of the sun and more or less that
of other heavenly bodies, or at least a recognition of
some supernatural power resident in or connected with
them, was widely spread through Mexico, as well among
the uncivilized as among the civilized tribes. The wild
Chichimecs or that portion of the wild tribes of Mexico to
which Alegre applied this name, owned the sun as their
deity, as did also the people of the Nayarit country."

In what we may call civilized Mexico, the sun was
definitely worshiped under the name of Tonatiuh, the
Sun in his substance, and under that of Naolin, the Sun
in his four motions. He was sometimes represented by
a human face surrounded with rays, at other times by a
full-length human figure, while again he often seems to
be confused or connected with the element fire and the
god of fire. Sahagun, for instance, usually speaks of
the festival of the month Izcalli as appertaining to the
god of fire, but in at least one place he describes it as
belonging to the sun and the fire.^ The sun, it is toler-

I Korih Am. Rev., rol. oiii., p. 1.

> Akgre, Ulal. Vomp, d« Jiaua, torn, i,, p, 970; iipo«<(M(o<M AfanM, p. 68,
) Sahanun, Hint. (Jtn., torn. 1.. lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 300-18; JCttpltoaoion M
Citilex Ti:Ueriuno-Ri>m'niiUi, pwti» ii., lam. x., in Kinrtaborough'ii Mat, Antlqt,
vol. v., p. 130; 8p^9J(u^oM dtttt Ta\)ol» M CoJio$ Mtgieano f VtUicanaJ Uv.

PHYaiOAL MYTHS.

ably certfdn, held, if not the highest place, one not far
removed from that position in the Mexican pantheon.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Tylor, Squier, and Schoolcraft
agree in considering sun-worship the most radical reli-
gious idea of all civilized American religions.^ Pro-
fessor Miiller considers the sun-god and the supreme
Mexican Teotl to be identical.' Dr. Brinton, as we shall
see when we come to notice the mythology of tire, while
not denying the prominence of the sun-cult, would refer
that cult to a baf>al and original fire-worship. Many
interpreters of mythology see also the personification of
the sun in others of the Mexican gods besides Tonatiuh.
More especially does evidence seem to point strongly in
this direction in the case of Quetzalcoatl, as will be seen
when we come to deal with this god.

The Mexicans were much troubled and distressed by
an eclipse of the sun. They thought that he was much
disturbed and tossed about by something, and that he
was becoming seriously jaundiced. This was the occa-
sion of a general panic, women weeping aloud, and men
howling and shouting and striking the hand upon the
mouth. There was an immediate search for men with
white hair and white faces, and these were sacrificed to the
sun, amid the din and tumult of singing and musical in-
struments. It was thought that should the eclipse become
once total, there would be an end of the light, and that
in the darkness the demons would come down to the
devouring of the people.'

178, 181-3; MendUla,
>, torn, ii., pp. 0, 11,

zxv. and zxxiii., ic Kingalwrough'a Mtx, ArUtq., Tol. ▼., p]
Hist. EdtB., pp. 80-1; Clavigero, Utoria Ani. del Meta
17, 34-5.

* Brasatur de Bourhourg, HM. dea Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 301; Braaaeur d«
Bowbourg, Qualn Leltrta, p. 150; Tyhr'a Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 250, !26ii
-3: Squier'a Serptni Sjftnbol, pp. 18-20; Schoolcraft'a Arch., Tof. Ul., p. 60,
Tol. iv., p. 630, vol. v., pp. 20-87. \o\. vi., pp. 504, 626, 636.

* Mmtr, AmerikxmiacM Urreligionen, p. 474.

* Sahaaun, llial. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 244-6. In Gamp«ohe, lu
1834, M. Wnldeok witneBsed an eclipae of the moon durinu which the Yucn-
teoi conducted themaelves much m their fathern might huvo d(me in tht'ir
gentile days, howling frightfully and making every effort to part the oeletitiul
oombatanta. The snly apparent advance made on the old ouatomi was the
firing off of muaketa, 'to prove ' in the worda of th« aarcaatio artiat, ' that the
YuonteoN of to-^y an not atrangera to the prognts of dvlUiation.' WaUleck,
Voy. Pitt., p. 14.

ECLIPSES, AND THEIB EFFECT ON MAN.

Ill

otfar
theon.
)lcraft
X reli-

Pro-
ipreme
Q shall
, while
d refer

Many
ition of
matiuh.
•ngly in
be seen

jssed by
as much
that he
ihe occa-
md men
upon the
len with
edtothe
isical in-
become
and that
n to the

2; Mtndieia,
., pp. 9. 11.

Braaatur d«
}p. 359, 1262

^peohe, iu
h the \ucii-
one in their
the oelestittl
HUB WM the
It, 'that the
• Waidwk,

The Tlascaltecs, r^^ording the sun and the moon as
husband and wife, believed eclipses to be domestic quar-
rels, whose consequences were likely to be fatal to the
world if peace could not be made before things proceeded
to an extremity. To sooth the ruffled spirit of the sun
when he was eclipsed, a human sacrifice was offered to
him of the . ruddiest victims that could be found ; and
when the moon was darkened she was appeased with
the blood of those white-complexioned persons commonly
known as Albinos.'

The idea of averting the evil by noise, in case of an
eclipse either of the sun or moon, seems to have been a
common one among other American tribes. Alegre
ascribes it to the natives of Sonora in general. Ribas
tells how the Sinaloas held that the moon in an eclipse
was darkened with the dust of battle. Her enemy had
come upon her, and a terrible fight, big with consequence
to those on earth, went on in heaven. In wild excite-
ment the people beat on the sides of their houses, en-
couraging the moon and shooting flights of arrows up
into the sky to distract her adversary. Much the same
OS this was also done by certain Californians.'

With regard to an eclipse of the moon the Mexicans
seem to have had rather special ideas as to its effects
upon unborn children. At such times, women who were
with child became alarmed lest their infant should be
turned into a mouse, and to guard against such an un-
desirable consummation they held a bit of obsidian, iztU,
in their mouth, or put a piece of it in their girdle, so
that the child should be born perfect and not lipless, or
noseless, or wry-mouthed, or squinting, or a monster.'
These ideas are probably connected with the fact that
the Mexicans worshiped the moon under the name of
Meztli, as a deity presiding over hiunan generations.

f Camargo, HM. dt TUmoaOan, in JVouvtUM ^tmolM di* Voy,, 184S, totn.
xovii., p. 1»3.

*AU»ir; HM. Comp. d» Juut, torn. ii.. p. 218; Ribaa, UM.d»tM Trium-
pkos, p. 202; Bamana, In Aobinton'a Life in Vol., pp. 296-800.

• Sahagun, Hid. Otn., torn, ii., Ub. riii., p. 20U.

112

PHTBIGAL MYTHS.

This moon-god is considered by Glavigero to be identical
with Joaltecutli, god of night.*"

It is to the Abb4 Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, that
we must turn for a truly novel and cyclopean theory of
Mexican lunolatry. He sees back to a time when the
forefathers of American civilization lived in a certain
Crescent Land in the Atlantic; here they practiced
Sabaism. Through some tremendous physical catas-
trophe their country was utterly overwhelmed by the
sea ; and this inundation is considered by the abh^ to
be the origin of the deluge-myths of the Central- Ameri-
can nations. A remnant of these Crescent people saved
themselves in the seven principal islands of the Lesser
Antilles; these are, he explains, the seven mythical
caves or grottoes celebrated in so many American legends
as the cradle of the nations. The saved remnant of the
people wept the loss of their friends and of their old land,
making the latter, with its crescent shape, memorable for-
ever by rdopting the moon as their god. "It is the
moon," writes the great Amdricaniste, " male and
female, Luna and Lunus, personified in the land of the
Crescent, engulfed in the abyss, that I believe I see at
the commencement of this amalgam of rites and symbols
of every kind." " I confess inability to follow the path
by which the abbe has reached this conclusion ; but I
have indicated its whereabouts, and future students may
be granted a further insight into this new labyrinth and
the subtleties of its industrious DsBdalus.

The Mexicans had many curious ideas about the stars,
some of which have come down to us. They particularly
reverenced a certain group of three called mamaffwantli,
in, or in the neighborhood of, the sign Taurus of the
zodiac. This name was tthe same as that of the stickH
from which fire was procured: a resemblance of some

>■ ExpHcacion del Codtx TeUertano-RemmaU, part, ii., lam. x., in Kinoi>-
borough's Mex. Antiq., vol. t., p. 139; SpiegoMtoiu dtUe Tavole del Godiot J/rari-
cano fVttlkanoJ, tav. xxri., in Kin/Hborough'a Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 17t);
Sahagun, HIM. Oen., torn, il., lib. vU.. p. 260; Ohvigero, Storia AtU. del Memko,
tnm.il., pp. 0-17.

» Brauiur de Bourbourg, Quatre Letlres, pp. 166-6.

WHAT THE MEXICANS THOUGHT OF STABS AMD COMETS. 118

itical

:, that

ory of

5nthe

sertain

icticed

catas-

by the

hU to

Ameri-

e saved

> Lesser

lythical

legends

X of the

)ld land,

able for-

It is the

lale and

id of the
1 see at
symbols
the path

jn; but I

[ents may
inth and

Ithe stars,
ticularly
\1aJhoa2tU,
M of the
[he sticks
of some

-,. in Kind"-

[Codice 3ff «• i-

V., P- V

kind being supposed to exist between them and these
stars. Connected again with this was the burning by
every male Mexicani of certain marks upon his wrist, in
honor of the same stars ; it beii^ believed that the man
who died without these marks should, on his arrival in
hades, be forced to draw fire from his wrist by boring
upon it as on a fire-stick. The planet Yenus was wor-
shiped as the first light that appeared in the world, as the
god of twilight, and, according to some, as being identical
with Quetzalooatl. This star has been further said to
borrow its light from the moon, and to rise by four starts.
Its first twinkle was a bad augury, and to be closed out
of all doors and windows; on appearing for the third
time, it began to give a steady light, and on the fourth
it shone forth in all its clearness and brilliancy.

Comets were called each citlalinpopoca, or the smok-
ing star; their appearance was considered as a public
disaster, and as announcing pest, dearth, or the death of
some prince. The common people were accustomed to
say of one. This is our famine, and they believed it to
cast down certain darts, which falling on any animal,
bred a maggot that rendered the creature unfit for food.
All possible precautions of shelter were of course taken
by persons in positions exposed to the influence of these
noxious rays. Besides the foregoing, there were many
stars or groups of stars whose names were identical with
those of certain gods; the following seem to belong to
this class: Tonocatlecutli or Citlalalatonalli, the milky
way ; Yzacatecutli, Tlahvizcalpantecutli, Ceyacatl, Achi-
tutnetl, Xacupancalqui, Mixcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Con-
temoctli."

I have already noticed a prevailing tendency to con-
nect the worship of fire and that of the sun. The rites
of a perpetual fire are found closely connected with

» JSkpHeaoion deUe Taoole del Codioe Mtxtcano, fMtt, i., lam. ii., part. U.,
lam. xiv., iu Klngtborouyh'a Mex. AnUq,, vol. v., pp. 139, 140; Spugation$
dflle TamU dtl Codicc Mtxicano fVaHca»Mj, tav., xvli., xxxi., lb., vol. v., pp.
175, 181; Sahagun, HM. Oen., toro. ii., lib. vii., pp. 960-263; Camariio,
Uigt. de TlaxcaUan, iu iVouue//e« Annalta dta Koy., 1m3, toiu. xoviii., p. 198;
Vol. III. 8

PHTBICAL MTFHS.

a sun-cult, and, whichever may he the older, it is certain
they are rarely found apart. "What," says Tylor, "the
sea is to Water-worship, in some measure the Sun is to
Fire-worship." " Brinton would reverse this and give
to fire the predominance: in short, he says, the sun
"is always spoken of as a fire;" "and without danger
or error we can merge the consideration of its wor-
ship almost altogether is this element." " This sounds
rather extravagant and is hardly needed in any case;
for sufficient reason for its deification can always be
found in its mysterious nature and awful powers of
destruction, as well as in its kind and constantly
renewed services, if gratitude have any power in mak-
ing a god. The mere guarding ayid holding sacred
a particular fire probably originated in the importance
of possessing an unfailing source of the element, and in
the difficulty of its production if allowed to die out,
among men not possessed of the appliances of civiliza-
tion.

When we come to review the gods in general, those
connected with fire will be pointed out as they appear;
for the present, let it suffice to say that many American
peoples had such gods, or had ceremonies suggesting
their existence and recognition, or lastly, had legends of
the origin or procurement of the fire they daily used on
the altar or on the hearth. In the Pueblos of New
Mexico, and more especially among the Pecos, sacred
perpetual fires were kept up by special command of
their traditionary god and ruler Montezuma; but these
fires were not regarded as fetiches." The Mexican
fire-god was known by the name of Xiuhtecutli, and
by other names appertaining to the diflerent aspects
in which he was viewed. While preserving his own
well-marked identity, he was evidently closely re-

Mendieta, HM. Edea., p. 81. The word (eoutfi is of freqnent ooounrenoe as a
tennination in the namee of Mexican gods. It signifies ' lord ' and is written
with Tarions spellinRii. I follow that given by Molina's Vocabulary.

II Tylor'a Prim. VuU., toI. ii., p. 260.

i« BrMm'a M<Mt, p. 143.

uWard, ia Ind. Af, Btft., 19M, Tp. W9.

HOW THE CAHB0C8 OBTAINED FIBE.

116

>ertam
•, '"the
in is to
id give
le Bun
danger
ts wor-

sounds
ly case;
mys be
were of
nstantly
in mak-
r sacred
portance
t, and in

die out,

civiliza-

ral, those

y appear;
American

uggesting
egends of
f used on
s of New
)8, sacred
(imand of
but these
Mexican
3utli, and
it aspects
; his own
iosely re-

otinenoe as »
landiBwrittttn

ilary.

lated also to the sun-god. Many and various, even
in domestic life, were the ceremonies by which he
was recognized ; the most important ritual in connection
with his Si r vice being, perhaps, the lighting of the new
fire, with which, as we shall see, the banning of every
Mexican cycle was solemnized."

There are various fables scattered up and down among
the various tribes regarding the origin or rather the pro-
curing of fire. We know how the Quiches received it
from the stamp of the sandal of Tohil; how^ from the
home of the cuttle-fish, a deer brought it to the Ahts in
a joint of his leg; how from a distant island the great
Yehl of the Thlinkeets fetched the brand in his beak
that filled the flint and the fire-stick with seeds of eter-
nal fire.

The Cahrocs hold that, when in the beginning the crea-
tor Chareya made fire, he gave it into the custody of two
old hags, lest the Cahrocs should steal it. The Cahrocs,
having exhausted every means to procure the treasure,
applied for help to their old friend the Coyote ; who,
having maturely, considered how the theft might best
be accomplished, set about the thing in this way:
From the land of the Cahrocs to the home of the old
women he stationed a great company of animals, at
convenient distances ; the strongest nearest the den of the
old beldames, the weakest farthest removed. Last of
all he hid a Cahroc in the neighborhood of the hut, and,
having left the man precise directions how to act, he
trotted up to the door and asked to be let in out of the
cold. Suspecting nothing, the crones gave him ad-
mittance ; 'so he lay down in front of the fire, and made
himself as comfortable as possible, waiting for the further
action of his human accomplice without. In good time,
the man made a furious attack on the house and the old
furies rushed out atiOnce to drive off the invader. This
was the Coyote's opportunity.' Instantly he seized a

."> Sahagun, HM, Otn., torn, i., lib. i'., p. 16; Tormumada, Monarq. Ind.,
torn, ii., pp. 56-7; Bra$aeur de Bourbourg, UM. dt$ Nat. Civ., torn, iii., pp.

481-a.

116

PHTSIOAL MITHS.

half-burnt brand and fled like a comet down the trail; and
the two hags, seeing how they had been outwitted, turned
after him in immediate and furious chase. It had gone
hard then with the hopes of the Gahrocs, if their four-
lej^ed Prometheus had trusted to his single speed; but
just as he began to feel the pace tell on him, and just as
the wierd' women thought they were about to recover
the brand, the Cougar relieved him of it. Great was
the satisfaction of our wise Coyote, as he sank down,
clearing his sooty eyes and throat, and etching his
breath, to see the great lithe cat leap away with the
torch, and the hags gnash their choppy gums as they
rushed by, hard in pursuit, on the dim trail of sparks.
The Cougar passed the brand to the Betu*, the Bear to
his neighbor, and so on to the end. Down the long line
of carriers, the panting crones plied their withered old
legs in vain ; only two mishaps occurring among all the
animals that made up the file. The squirrel, last in the
train but one, burned his tail so badly that it curled up
over his back, and even scorched the skin above his
shoulders. Last of all, the poor Frog, who received the
brand when it had burned down to a very little piece,
hopped along so heavily that his pursuers gained on him,
gained fast and surely. In vain he gathered himself for
every spring, in vain he stretched at every leap till the
jarred muscles cracked again. He was caught. The
smoke-dimmed eyes stood out from his head, his little
heart thumped like a club against the lean fingers that
closed upon his body — yet that wild croak was not the
croak of despair. Once more for the hope of the Cah-
rocs! one more struggle for the Coyote that trusted
him in this great thing! and with a gulp the plucky
little martvr swallowed the fire, tore himself from the
hands that held him, leaped into a river, and diving
deep and long, gained his gaol ; but gained it a mourn-
ful wreck, the handsome tail, which, of all his race,
only the tadpole should ever wear again, was utterly gone,
left, like that of an O'Shanter's mare, in the witch's
grasp; only the ghost of himself was left to s^it out on

FIRE, THE LIOHTNING, AVD WIND.

some |neoei» of wood the preoioii» embers pKeserved at ao
great a cost. And it is because the Frog e^iat out this
fire upon these pieces of wood that it can i^way»be
extracted again by rubbing them hard together."

The Navajos have a legend as to the procuring of fir^^
that has many analogies to the foregoing. They tell
how, when they first gained the earth, they were with-
out fire, and how the Coyote, the Bat, and the Squirrel
agreed to procure it for them. The object of their denire
seems to have been in the possessicm of the animals in
general, in some distant locality. The Coyote, having
attached pine splinters to his tail, ran quickly through
the fire and fled with his lighted prize. Being keenly
pursued, however, by the other animals, he soon tired ;
upon which the Bat relieved him, and dodging and
flitting here and there, carried the splinters still farther.
Then the Squirrel came to the assistance of the Bat, and
succeeding him in his office, contrived to reach the
hearths of the Navajos with the coveted embers."

The natives of Mendocino county^ California, believe
that lightning is the wigin of fire, that a primeval bolt
hurled down by the Man Above fell upon certain wood^
from which, consequently fire can always be extracted by
rubbing two pieces together."

From fire let us turn for a moment to wind, whose
phenomena, as might be expected, have not been allowed
to pass wholly unnoticed by the mythologies with which
we have to deal. When wq come to examine ideas
connected with death and with the soul of man and its
future, we shall find the wind, or the air, often in use. as
the best name and figure for the expression of primitive
conceptions of that mysterious thing, the vital essence or
spirit. The wind too is often considered as a god, or at
least as the breath of a god, and in many American
languages the Great Spirit And the Qreat Wind are one
and the same both in word and signification. The name

" PoteerH' Porno, MS.

i» Eaton, in Sckoolcrqft'» Arch., vol. iv., pp. 218-10.

'9 Powtra' Porno, MS.

PHYSICAL MTTHS.

of the god Hurakan, mentioned in Quiche mytiis, still
signifies the Storm in many a language strange to his
worshipers, while in Quiche it may be translated Spirit,
or swiftly moving Spirit;** and the name of the Mexi-
can god Mixooatl is said to be to this day the correct
Mexican term for the whirlwind.**

An interesting point here arises with regard to the
divisicMi of the heavens into four quarters and the naming
of these after the names of the wind. Dr. Brinton
believes this fact to be at the bottom of the sacredness
and ofl;en occurrence of the number four in so many
early legends, and he connects these four winds and
their embodiment in many quaternions of deities, with
the sacredness of the cross and its use among widely
separated nations, to whom its later Christian significa-
tion was utterly unknown.**

If we may suppose that the Great Spirit and the wind
are often represented under the form of an enormous bird,
we must connect with them, as their most inseparable
attributes, the thunder and the lightning; the first, as
we have so often seen, is the rustling or stridor of the
wings of the bird, the second is the flashing of his eyes.
The Raven of the Koniagas is not, however, as among
most other tribes of the great Northwest, the author of
these things; but their principal deity when he is angry
sends down two dwarfs, who thunder and lighten
according to his command.^ Of the god Hurakan,
whom we have noticed as the etymon of the word hurri-
cane, the Popol Vuh says: " The flash is the first sign
of Hurakan; the second is the furrow of the flash; the
third is the thunder-bolt that strikvs;"''* and to the
Mexican god, Tlaloc, are also attached the same three
attributes."

*> Brwu:mr de Bourbourg, S'U Exiate dea Souroea de I'Hia. Prim, du Mexiqut,
,p. 101.

« Brasaew de BouriHturg, Hid. NcU. Civ., torn, iii., p. 485; Brinton'a Myths,
p. 61.

n Britdon's Mutha, pp. 66-98.

n Holmberg, Ethn. SJW»., p. 141.

M Ximemt, mat. Ind. Own., p. 6; Brataewr de Bawr1>ourg, Popot V\A, p. 9.

» OanM, Doa Piedraa, pt. ii.. p. 76.

WATEB AS A FUSIFTINO ELEMENT.

119

Turning to water, we find it regarded among many
tribes as the first of elemental things. It is from a pri-
meval ocean of water that the earth is generally sup-
posed to come up. Water is obviously a first and chief
nourisher of v^etable life, and an indispensable prere-
quisite of all fertility ; from this it is but a short step to
saying, that it is the mother of those that live by the
earth's fertility. "Your mother, Chalchiuhtlicue, god-
dess of water," is a phrase constantly found in the mid-
wife's mouth, in her address to the child, in the Mexican
washing or baptismal service.**

The use of water more or less sanctified or set apart or
made worthy the distinction ' holy ;' the employment of
this in a rite of avowed purification from inherent sin,
at the time of giving a name, — baptism, in one word, —
runs back to a period far pre-Christian among the
Mexican, Maya, and other American nations; as
ancient ceremonies to be hereafter described will show.
That man sets out in tliis life-journey of his with a
terrible bias toward evil, with a sad and pitiful liability
to temptation, is a point upon which all religions are
practically unanimous. How else could they exist?
Were man born perfect he would remain perfect, other-
wise the first element of perfection would be wanting;
and perfection admits of no superlative, no greater, no
god. Where there is a religion then, there is generally
a consciousness of sin voluntary and involuntary. How
shall I be cleansed? how shall my child be cleansed from
this great wickedness? is the cry of the idolater as well
as of the monotheist. Is it strange that the analogy be-
tween corporal and spiritual pollution should indepen-
dently suggest itself to both? Surely not. Wash and
be clean, is to all the world a parable needing no inter-
preter."

M Sahaffun, Hial. Oen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 197.

" Singularly apt in this connection are the wise words that Oarlyle, Past
and Presmil Chartism, book i., p. 233, puts into the month of his mythical
friend Sauerteig, — ' Strip thyself, go into the bath, or were it into the limpid
pool and running brook, and there wash and be clean; thou wilt step out
again n purer and a better man. This oousciouBuetM of perfect outer pureness,

PHYSICAL MYTHS.

T^e ceremdifll use of water followed the Mexican
through all his life; though for thei present we shall
only notice one more custoin connected with it, the last
of all. When a body was buried, a vase of clean, sweet
water was let down into the tomb; bright, clear, life-
giving and preserving water, — ^hope and love, dumb and
inarticulate, stretching vague hand toward a resurrection.

The Mexican rain and water god was Tlaloc, sender
of thunder and lightning, lord of the earthly paradise,
and fertilizer of earth ; his wife was the Ghalchiuhtlicue,
already mentioned.* Like Tlaloc was Quiateot, the
Xicaraguan rain-god, master of thunderbolts and general
director of meteorological phenomena.*

The Navajos puffed tobacco smoke straight up toward
heaven to bring rain, and those of them that carried a
corpse to burial were unclean till washed in water.* In
a deep and lonely cafion near Fort Defiance there is a
spring that this tribe hold sacred, approaching it only
with much reverence and the performance of certain
mystic ceremonies. They say it was once a boiling
spring, and that even yet if approached heedlessly or by
a bad Indian, its waters will seethe up and leap forth to
overwhelm the intruder."

The Zuflis had also a sacred spring; sacred to the rain-
god, who^ as we see by implication, is Montezuma the
great Pueblo deity himself. No animal might taste of
its sacred waters, and it was cleansed annually with
vessels also saci'ed, — most ancient vases that hod been
transmitted from gpuemtion to generation since times to

that to thy nkin there now adheres no foreiffn spenk of imperfection, how it

radiates in on thee with cunning Hynibolio lufluenceH, to the very Houll

It remainn a religious duty from oldest time in the East Even the dull

English feel something of this; they have a saying, " oleaalinesa is near of
kin to Godliness." '

M Cld^ijero, Starla Ant. flel Meiisico, tom. ii., pp.' 15-10. ' Era oonosciutn
con altri nomi assiti esoressive, i quali o signittcuvano i divers! effetti, cIdi
oauionano I'aoqne, o le aiverso apnaronze, c. ,>ri, che formano col loro nu)to,
I Tlascallesi la chiamavano Mutlalcueje, oioi, veatita di gouna turchina,'
Bee also MMer, Reittrn }n Mex., tom. iii., p. 89.

» Oiifcffo, jnsl. (/en., tom. iv., pp. 4«, 56.

w Till Hrmck, in Schooleraft't Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; BrUM, In InJ. M.
Rept., 1807, p. 358.

« Backtu, in 8choolcr<tft'B Arch,, tol. It., p. 313.

THE EARTH, THE SEA, THE SKT.

ican
shall
I last
(weet
life-
» and
jtion.
jnder
idise,
licue,
t, the
meral

oward
ried a
*> In
re is a
t only
certain
boiling
or by
rthto

In, how it
ThouU.--
J the dull
|b near u(

|)no8o»uta
fetti, fh«
J)ro moto.
lurchinn.'

l/iu/. M-

which even tradition went notback. These vessels were
kept ranged on the wall of the well. The frog, the
rattlesnake, and the tortoise were depicted upon them,
and were sacred to the great patron of the place, whose
terrible lightning should consume the sacrilegious hand
that touched these hallowed relics.**

We have seen how the Califomian tribes believe
tliemselves desf^ended from the very earth, how the bodi-
less ancestor of the Tezcucans came up from the soil, how
the Guatemalteos, Papagos, and Pimas were molded
from the clay they tread, and how the Navajos came to
light from the bowels of a great mountain near the river
San Juan. It seems long ago and often to have come
into men's mind that the over-arching heaven or
Homething there and the all-producing earth are, as it
were, a father and mother to all living creatures. The
Comanches call on the earth as their mother, and on the
Great Spirit as their father. The Mexicans used to
pray: Be pleased, our Lord, that the nobles who may
die in the war be peacefully and pkikoirjrlv received by
the sun and the earth, who are the father and mother of
nil.** It was probably, again, with some reference to the
motherly function of the earth that the same l)eople,
when an earthquake came, took their children by the
head or hand, and lifted them up saying: The earth-
quake will make them grow."* Sometimes they specified
a [Mirticular part of the earth as closer to them in this
relation than other parts. It is said thnt on the tenth
day of the month Quecholli, the citi/xjuH (^f Mexico and
those of Tlatelolco were wont to visit a hill called Caca-
teiK»c, for they said it was their mother."

As to the substance, arrangemeiit, and so on of the
earth and sky there remain one or two iiioas not already
given in connection with the general creation. The
Tlaacaltecs, and iierhaps others of the Andlnuu5 peojjles,
believed that the earth was fiat, and ending with the sea-
s' H7ii;)/»^. In Poc. R. : : j/., vol. iil., p. 30.
" .S'(i/..i.,iin, IIM. Gen., torn. 11., lib. vl., p. 43.
)< <SVi/iiif/i(n, IHM. Ihn,, turn, ii., lib. v., np., pp. 21-3.
M Siihdyun, Hid. Utn., torn, i., lib. ii., p. 7U.

132

PHYSICAL MYTHS.

I' !

i !

shore, was borne up by certain divinities, who when
fatigued relieved each other, and that as the burden was
shifted from shoulder tc shoulder earthquakes occurred.
The sea and sky were considered as of one material, the sea
being more highly condensed ; and the rain was thoug\it
to fall not from clouds but from the very substance of
heaven itself** The Southern Californians believed that
when the Creator made the world he fixed it on the back
of seven giants, whose movements, as in the preceding
myth, caused earthquakes." The sky, according to cer-
tain of the Yucatecs, was held up by four brothers called
each of them Bacab, in addition to their several names,
which seem to have been Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac.
These four, God had placed at the four corners of the
world when he created it, and they had escaped when all
else were destroyed by flood.*'

In the interior of the earth, in volcanoes, subterranean
gods were often supposed to reside. The Koniagas, for
example, held that the craters of Alaska were inhabited
by beings mightier then men, and that these sent forth
fire and smoke when they heated their sweat-houses or
cooked their food.**

The rugged majesty of hills and mountains has not
been without its effect on the reverential mind of the
American aborigines. Direct worship was unusual, but
several incidents must have already informed the reader
that a kind of sanctity is often attaclied to great eleva-
tions in nature. A predilection for hills and mounds uh
landmarks and fanes of tradition, and as places of w»)r-
ship, was as common among the Americans as among tlu>
people of the old world. The Choles of the province of
Itza had a hill in their country that thev regarded as
the god of all the moiuitains, and on which they burned
a i)erpetual fire." The Mexicans, praying for rain, were

M Camarqo, Hiat, d« TIaxctUlan, in Nouvellea AnnaUa dn Voy., i834, torn,
xoviii.. p. liii.

" RtUI, in Lo» Anijelen Star.

)** fAimla, Ntl, ih tan Cimui de Yumtan, p. 200.

«• Ilolmbeni, Klhn. Skit., p. 141.

«» VUlagutknt, lHat. Conq. d« lUa, pp. 151-8.

-W:

HILLS AND MOUNTAIN BANOE8.

128^

3 cer-
called
lames,
Jauac.
of the
tien all

ranean
^as, for
habited
t forth
uses or

accustomed to vow that they would make images of the
mountains if their petitions were favorably received ;**
and, in other points connected with their religion to show,
as has appeared and will appear both with them and
with other jieople, their recognition of a divinity abid-
ing on or hedging about the great peaks. What wonder,
indeed, that to the rude and awe-struck mind, the ever-
lasting hills seemed nearer and liker heaven than the
common-place level of earthy? and that the wild man
should kneel or go softly there, as in the peculiar pre-
sence of the Great Spirit? This is hardly a new feeling,
it seems an instinct and custom as old as religion.
Where went Abraham in that awful hour, counted to him
fo'^ 1 lo-howi^.sness through all the centuries? Where
.«:r»!()HM, T thunderings and lightnings that heralded
th;.' aeli very of the Law, when the son of Amram talked
with Jehovah face to face, as a man talketh with his
friend? Whence saw a greater than Moses the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of tliem? whence, in the all-
nights that came after, did the prayers of the Christ
awcend ? and where stood he when his raiment became
as no fuller on earth could white it, Moses and Elias
talking with him, and Peter so sore afraid ?

Where hills were not found conveniently situated for
purposes of worship, they seem to have Ijeen counterfeit-
ed after man's f; '^ble fashion: from high-place and
mound, from pyrvurui and tcocalli, since the morning
stars sang toge*Uoi, the smoke of the altar and the
censer has noi vvih'Sd to ascend. But the day ))eginB
to broaden oi t, .ivl the mists of the morning tiee
away; thoujj;'i ihe i ills Ui not lowered, (jod is lifted
up. Yet they have ii,eir glory and their charm still
even to us, and to the savage they often appear a«
the result of a sixicial and several creation. We remem-
IxT how the (Jreat Spirit made Mount Shashi as his
only worthy abiding-place on eai*th; and I give hero
another legend of a much more trivial sort than the first,

' torn. 1., Hb. 11., p. 177.

PHT8IGAL MTTHfi.

telling how, not Mount Shasta alone, but all the mount-
ains of California were built and put into position:— •*'
At a time when the world was covered with water there
existed a Hawk and a Crow and a very small Duck.
The latter, after diving to the bottom and bringing up a
beakful of mud, died ; whereupon the Crow and the Hawk
took each a half of the mud that i.^3 been brought up,
and set to work to make the mountains. Beginning at
a place called Teheechaypah Pass, they built northwards,
the Hawk working on the eastern range and the Crow
on the western. It was a long and weary toil, but in
time the work was fi: sa.,1. and as they laid the last
peak the workers met ac t Shasta. Then the Hawk

saw that there had been i i play somewhere, for the
western range was bigger than his; and he charged the
Crow with stealing some of his mud. But the smart
bird laughed a hoarse guffaw in the face of his eastern
brother, not even taking the trouble to disown the theft,
and chuckled hugely over his own success and western
enterprise. The honest Hawk was* at his wits' end, and
he stood thinking with his head on one side for quite a
long time ; then in an absent kind of way he picked up
a leaf of Indian tobacco and began to chew, and wisdom
came with chewing. And he strengthened Himself
mightily, and fixed his claws in the mountiun^', and
turned the whole chain in the water like a great Healing
wheel, till the range of his rival had changed places 'vith
his, and the Sierra Nevada was on the east and the
Coast Range on the west, as they remain to this day.

This legend is not without ingenuity in its way but
there is more of human interest in the following pretty
story of the Yosemite nations, as to the origin of the
names and present appearance of certain \yeak» and other
natural features of their valley: —

A certain Totokunula was once chief of the people
here; a mighty hunter and a good husbandman, his

« PovMim' Porno, MH. Thin in a tradition of tlie Yoouts, a Galiforninn
tribe, ncoupying tho Kern and Tuliiro l>iiHinH, tho middle Ban Jonquiu, and
tlie varioua atreauiH running into Luke Tulare.

TOTOKONULA. AND TISAYAG OF YOSEMITE.

125

tribe never wanted food while he attended to their wel-
fare. But a change came; while out hunting one day,
the young man met a spirit-maid, the guardian angel of
the valley, the beautiful Tisayao. She was not as the
dusky beauties of his tribe, but white and fair, with roll-
ing yellow tresses that fell over her shoulders like sun-
shine, and blue eyes with a light in them like the sky
where the sun goes down. White, cloudlike wings were
folded behind her shoulders, and her voice was sweeter
than the song of birds; no wonder the strong chief loved
her with a mad and instant love. He reached toward
her, but the snowy wings lifted her above his sight, and
he stood again alone upon the dome, where she had been.

No more Totokonula led in the chase or heeded
the crops in the valley; he wandered here and there
like a man distraught, ever seeking that wonderful shin-
ing vision that had made all else on earth stale and un-
profitable in his sight. The land began to languish,
missing the industrious directing hand that had tended
it so long; the pleasant garden became a wilderness
where the drought laid waste, and the wild beast spoiled
what was left, and taught his cubs to divide the prey.
When the fair spirit returned at last to visit her valley,
she wept to see the desolation, and she knelt upon the
dome, praying to the Great Spirit for succor. Clod
heard, and stooping from his place, he clove the dome
ujjon which she stood, and the granite was riven beneath
her feet, and the melted snows of the Nevada rushed
through the gorge, bearing fertility ujion their cool Iwsom.
A Ixjautiful lake was formed between the cloven walls of
the mountain, and a river issued from it to feed the
valley for ever. Then sang the binls as of old, laving their
iKxlies in the water, and the odor of Howers rose like a
pleasant incense, and the trees put forth their buds, and
the corn shot up to meet the sun and rustled when the
breeze crept through the tall stalks.

Tisayac moved away as she had come, and none knew
whither she went; but the people called the dome by
lior name, as it is indeed known to this day. After her

'496

PHYSICAL MYTHS.

departure the chief returned from his weary quest; and
as he heard that the winged one had visited the valley,
the old madness crept up into his eyes and entered,
seven times worse than at the first, into his empty soul ;
he turned his back on the lodges of his people. His last
act was to cut with his hunting-knife the outline of his
face upon a lofty rock, so that if he never returned his
memorial at least should remain with them forever. He
never did return from that hopeless search, but the
graven rock was called Totokunula, after his name,
and it may be still seen, three thousand feet high, guard-
ing the entrance of the beautiful valley.**

Leaving this locality and subject, I may remark that
the natives have named the Pohono Fall, in the same
valley, after an evil spirit; many persons having been
swept over and dashed to pieces there. No native of the
vicinity will so m icli as point at this fall when going
through the valley, nor could anything tempt one of
them to sleep near it; for the ghosts of the drowned are
tossing in itii spray, and their wail is heard forever above
the hiss of its rushing waters."

« HiUchings' Col. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 197-0.
« IMchinQs' Col. Mag., vol. iv., p. 2«.

CHAPTER IV.

ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY.

R6lic8 Asbioned to Anihau— AuacBiKs raoM thkib MoyiMSKTB— Trb Ilii-

OMKNXdOwL— TUTBLABT AnIHALS— MkTAUOBPHOSXD MkN — Tea OOBEBS-

Squibbkl of Vancoutib Island- Monxxtb and Bkavkrs— Fallkn Mkn
— Thk Sacbeu Animals— Pbominknob or the Bibd— An Emblem or
THE Wind— The Sebpent, am Emblem of the Liohtnimo — Not Spe-

CULLT CONNKCTED WITH EviL — ThE SeBPENT OF THE PuBBLOS — ThE

Wateb-Skake — Ophiolatbt — Pbohinbnce OF the Doo, OB the Cototb
— Obneballt thocoh not always a Benetolbkt Powbb — How the
Covotb let Salmon up the Klamath — Dansb Maoabbr' and 8ad
Death of the Cototb.

The reader must have already noticed the strange rCles
filled by animals in the creeds of the Native Races of the
Pacific States. Beasts and birds and fishes fetch' and
carry, talk and act, in a way that leaves even /Esop's heroes
in the shade ; while a mysterious and inexplicable influence
over human destiny is often accorded to them. It is of
course impossible to say precisely 'how much of all this is
metaphorical, andy how mucji is held as soberly and
literally true. Probably the proportion varies all the
way from one extreme to the other among different
nations, aiid among peoples of different stages of culture
in the same nation. They, spake only in part, these
priests and prophets of barbaric cults, and we can under-
Htand only in part; we cannojb solve the dark riddle of
the past; we can oftenest only repeat it, and even that in
a more or less imperfect manner.

The Mexicans had their official augurs and sooth-

138

ANIMAL MTIHOLOaT.

sayers, who divined much as did their brethren of classic
times. The people also drew omen and presage from
many things: from the howling of wild beasts at night;
the singing of certain birds; the hooting of the owl; a
weasel crossing a traveler's path ; a rabbit running into
its burrow ; from the chance movements of worms, bee-
tles, ants, frogs, and mice ; and so on in detail.^

The owl seems to have been in many places considered
a bird of ill omen. Among all the tribes visited by Mr
Lord, from the Fraser River to the Saint Lawrence, this
bird was portentously sacred, and was a favorite decora-
tion of the medicine-men. To come on an owl at an
unusual time, in daylight for example, and to hear its
mystic cry, were things not desirable of any that loved
fulness of pleasure and length of days.^ In California,
by the tribes on the Russian River, owls were held to be
devils or evil spirits incarnate.''

We often find an animal adopted in much the same
way as a patron saint was selected by the medioQval knight.
The Hyperborean lad, for example, when he reaches man-
hood, takes some beast or fish or bird to be his patron, and
the spirit connected with that animal is supposed to guard
him. Unlike most Indians, the Eskimo will have nu
hesitation in killing an animal of his tutelary species;
he is only careful to wear a piece of its skin or bone,
which he regards as an amulet, which it were to him a
serious misfortune to lose. Prolonged ill luck some-
times leads a man to change his jMitron beast for another.
The spirits connected with the deer, the seal, the salmon,
and the beluga are regarded by all with special venera-
tion.*

^/The Mexicans used to allot certain animals to certain
parts of the body ; perhaps in muc|i the same way a»
astrologers and alchymists used to connect the stars ol'
heaven witli difierent substances and persons. The fol-
lowing twenty 'Mexican symbols -were suppose!^ to rule

> Sahtigun, IHgt. Otn., torn, ii., lib. v., pp. 1-14, np. pp. 25-0.
• Ijord'a Naturalist in Vancouvtr ManJ, vol, ii., pp. 32-i,

> Powers' Porno, MS.

« DttU'a Alaaha, p. U6.

THE HUMANITY OF ANIMALS.

129

over the various members of the human body: The sign
of the deer, over the right foot ; of the tiger, over the
left foot; of the eagle, over the right hand; of the
monkey, over the left hand ; of death, — represented by
a skull, — over the skull ; of water, over the hair ; of the
house, over the brow; of rain, over the eyes; of the do^,
over the nose ; of the vulture, over the right ear ; of the
rabbit, over the left ear; of the earthquake, over the
tongue ; of flint, over the teeth ; of air, over the breath ;
of the rose over the breast; of the cane, over the heart;
of wind over the lungs — as appears from the plate in the
Codex Vaticanus, the Italian interpreter giving, how-
ever, " over the liver;" of the grass, over the intestines;
of the lizard, over the loins; and of the serpent over the
genitals."

Sometimes the whole life and being of a iium was
supposed to be bound up in the bundle with that of some
animal. Thus, of the Guatemaltecs, old Gage quaintly
enough writes: " Many are deluded by the Devil to be-
lieve that their life dependeth upon the life of such and
such a beast (which they take unto them as their familiar
spirit) and think that when that beas* dieth they must
die; when he is chased their hearts pant; when he is
faint they are faint ; nay it happeneth that by the devil's
delusion they appear in the shajie of that beast.""

Animals are sometimes only men in disguise; and
this is the idea often to be found at the bottom of that
sacredness which among particular tribes is ascribed to
particular animals.

The Thlinkeet will kill a bear only in case of great
necessity, for the bear is supposed to be a man that has
taken the shape of an animal. We do not know if they
think the same of the albati'oss, but they certainly will

' Cmlex Vatlcamts (Mex.), in KlngHhorow/h's Mex. Antiq., vol. ii., plate 75;
Spifi/otione dellc Tavole del C'odice Mexicano (VaticanoJ, in Kingnborouiih's
Mi'x. Antiq., vol. v., p. l!)7, tav. Ixxv.; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in
KinitHboroutjh's Mex, Antiq., vol. vi., pp. '.^22-3, plate Ixxv. It will be Been
tha; I have tntHted more to the plate itself than to the Italian explanation.
Ah to KiugBborough'a translation of that explanation, it ia nothing but a gloss
with additions to and oniissionB from the original.

Oage'a Neu) Survey, p. 334.
Vol. III.

If-"

130

ANIMAL MYTHOLOOT.

i
i

i
I

not kill this bird, believing, like mariners ancient and
modem, that such a misdeed would be followed by bad
weather.''

Among the natives seen by Mr Lord on Vancouver Is-
land, ill-luck is supposed to attend the profane killing of
the ogress-squirrel, and the conjurers wear its skin as a
strong charm among their other trumpery. As tradition
tells, there once lived there a monstrous old woman with
wolfish teeth, and finger-nails like claws. She ate chil-
dren, this old hag, wiling them to her with cunning
and oily words, and many were the broken hearts and
empty cradles that she left. One poor Rachel, weeping
■for her child and not to be comforted because it was not,
cries aloud : Oh, Great Spirit, Great Medicine, save my
son, in any way, in any form! And the great, good
Father, looking down upon the red mother pities her;
lo, the child's soft brown skin turns to fur, and there
slides from the (press's grip no child, but the happiest,
liveliest, merriest little squirrel of all the west—but
bearing, as its descendants still bear, those four dark
lines along the back that show where the cruel claws
plowed into it escaping."

Where monkeys are found, the idea seems often to
have occurred to men, to account for the resemblance of
the monkey to the man by making of the first a fallen
or changed form of the latter. We have already seen
how the third Quiche destruction of the human race ter-
minated thus ; and how the hurricane-ended Sun of the
Air in Mexican mythology, also left men in the apish
state. The intelligence of beavers may have been the
means of winning them a similar distinction. The Flat-
head says these animals are a fallen race of Indians,
condemned for their wickedness to this form, but who
will yet, in the fulness of time, be restored to their hu-
manity.'

As we shall see more particularly, when we come to

f Hdmhtrg, Ethn. SkU., p. 30.

* Lnrd'8 JVd(., vol. ii., pp. 52^.

• Cox'b Advm., vol. i,, p. 253.

SACBEDNESS OF GEBTAIN BRUTES.

deal with the question of the future life, it was a com-
mon idea that the soul of the dead took an animal shape,
sometimes inhabiting another world, sometimes this.
The Thlinkeets, for example, believed that their shamans
used to have interviews with certain spirits of the dead
that appeared to them in two forms, some as land ani-
mals, some as marine.^"

The Galifornians round San Diego will not eat the
flesh of large game, believing such animals are inhabited
by the souls of generations of people that have died ages
ago; 'eater of venison!' is a term of reproach among
them."

The Pimos and Maricopas had, if Bartlett's account
be correct, some curious and unusual ideas regarding
their future state; saying that the several parts of
the body should be changed into separate animals; the
head would perhaps take the form of an owl, the feet
become wolves, and so on." The Moquis supposed that
at death they should be severally changed into animals
— bears, deer, and such beasts; which indeed, as we
have already seen, they believed to have been their ori-
ginal fonn.**

Different reasons are given by diftJsrent tribes for
holding certain animals sacred ; some of these we have
already had occasion to notice. Somewhat difterent
from most, however, is that given by the Northern-Indian
branch of the Tinneh, for not eating the flesh of foxes,
wolves, ravens, and so on. This tribe are accustomed to
abandon the bodies of their dead wherever they happen
to fall, leaving them to the maws of kites or of any other
animals of prey in the neighborhood ; therefore nothing
but the extremest necessity can force any member of the
nation to make use of such animals as food.^*

Certain natives of Guatemala in the province of AcaUn,
called by Yillagutierre Mazotecas, kept deer in so tame a

>« DaU's Alaska, pp. 422-3.

II Schookraft'a Arvh., vol. v., p. 216.

« BartteiVa Pen. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222.

» Ten Broeck, in Schoolcr^ft'a Arch., vol. iv., p. 86.

■< Jleame'8 Journey, p. 3il.

132

ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT.

state that they were easily killed by the least active soldiers.
These deer were held as sacred by the inhabitants ; for
tradition told them that their greatest god had visited
them in this figure." The Apaches greatly respect the
bear, neither killing him nor tasting his flesh. They
think that there are spirits of divine origin within or
connected with the eagle, the owl, and all birds perfectly
white. Swine, they hold to be wholly unclean.^* Some
animals are sacred to particular gods: with the Ziinis,
the fn^, the turtle, and the rattlesnake were either con-
sidered as specially under the protection of Montezuma,
— here considered as the god of rain, — or they were them-
selves the lesser diviniti'^s of water."

It is sometimes necessary to guard against being mis-
led by names. Thus the natives of Nicaragua had gods
whose name was that of a rabbit or a deer ; yet the.se
animals were not considered as gods. The identity of
name went only to say that such and such were the gods
to be invoked in hunting such and such animals."

The reader must have already noticed how important
is the part assigned to birds in our mythology, especially
in creation-myths. A great bird is the agent of the chief
deity, iierhaps the chief deity himself. The sweep of
his wings is thunder; the lightnings are the 'glances of
his eyes." Chipewyans, Thlinkeets, Atnas, Koltschanes,
Kenai, and other nations give this being great prominence
in their legends.

Brinton believes this bird to be the emblem of the wind,
to be " a relic of the cosmc^onal myth which explained
the origin of the world from the action of the winds, un-

15 ViUofiutiem, Ilisl. Conq. Jtxa, p. 43.
"> Charlton, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 209.

" Whipple, Etobank, and Turner's Rept., pp. 39-40, in Pac. R. R. Rept.,
vol. iii.

's Oviedo, Hist. Oen., torn, iv., pp. 54-5.

» Swinborue, Anactor'ia, has found an allied idea worthy of his Rnblimo
verse:—

' Cast forth of heaven, with feet of awful gold,
And plumeless winga that make the bright air blind,
Lightning, with thunder for a hound behind.
Hunting through fields unfurrowed and unsown — '

THE WIND OB THUNDEB BIBD.

188

der the image of the bird, on the primeval ocean;"* and
his view is probably correct in many cases.

The savage is ever ready to be smitten by natural
powers. Ignorant and nga[)e with wonder, is it unnatural
that he should regard, with a superstitious awe and re-
spect, the higher and more peculiar animal gifts, relating
them to like physical powers, and managing to mix and
confuse the whole by a strange synthesis of philosophy ?
Birds flew, the winds flew ; the birds were of the kith of
the winds, and the winds were of the kin of the gods
who are over all. Poor, weary, painted man, who could
only toil dustily along, footsore and perhaps heartsore,
with strange longings that venison and bear-meat could
not satisfy, — was it very wonderful if the throbbing
music and upward flight of the clear-throated and swift-
winged were to him very mysterious and sacred things?
"All living beings," say the north-eastern Eskimos,
" have the faculty of soul, but especially the bird." From
the flight and song of birds, the Mexican divined and
shadowed forth the unborn shapes of the to-come. He
died too, if he died in an odor of warlike sanctity, in
the dtrong faith that his soul should ultimately take the
foim of a bird and twitter through the ages in the purple
shadows of the trees of paradise.''*

The Kailtas on the south fork of the Trinity in Cali-

id Brinton's Myths, p. 205. The Norse belief is akin to this: —
' The giant Hrsuelgur,
At the end of heaven,
Sits in an eagle's form;
'Tis said that from his wings
The cold winds sweep
Over all the nations.

Vaflhrudvers maal; Orenville Pigott's
translation, in Scandinavian Mytholoriy, p. 27.

Scott, Pirate, chap, v., in the ' Song of the Tempest,' which he transHtes
from Noma's mouth, shows that the same idea is still found in the Shetland
Islands: —

Stem eagle of the far north-west.
Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt.
Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, . . .
Gease thou the waving of thy pinions.
Let the ocean irepose in her dark strength;
Goase thou the flashing of thine eyes.
Lot the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin.'
" .bVtfc«.7wn, Jrtst. Oen., torn, i, lib.iii., p. 265; Ctavlijero, Storia Ant. dtl
Memco, tom. ii., p. 5.

184

ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT.

fomia, though they do not turn the soul into a bird, do
say that as it leaves the body a little bird carries it up to
the spirit-land.**

The Spaniards of Vizcaino's expedition, in 1602,
found the Californians of Santa Catalina Island venerat-
ing two great black crows, which, according to Sefior
Galan, were probably a species of bird known in Mexico
as rey de ha eopUotes, or king of turkey-buzzards; he
adding that these birds are still the objects of respect
and devotion among most Californian tribes."

As another symbol, sign, or type of the supernatural,
the serpent would naturally suggest itself at an early
dote to man. Its stealthy, subtle, sinuous motion, the
glittering fascination of its eyes, the silent deathly thrust
of its channeled fangs, — what marvel if the foolishest
cf men, like the wisest of kings, should say " I know it
not; it is a thing too wond*>rfnl for me?" It seems to
be immortal : every spring-time it cast oiT and crept from
its former skin, a crawling unburnt phoerix, a new ani-
mal.

Schwartz, of Berlin, affirms, from deep research in
Greek and Gennan mythology, that the paramount
germinal idea in this wide-spread serpent-emblem is the
lightning, and Dr. Brinton develops the same opinion at
some length.'"

Tlaloc, the Aztec rain-god, held in his hand a ser-
pent-shaped piece of gold, representing most probably
the lightning. Hurakan, of the Quichf^ legends,
is otherwise the Strong Serpent, he who hurls
below, referring in all likelihood to storm powers as
thunderer.'" This view being accepted, the lightning-

•• Powers' Porno, MS.

*> Torquemada, MotMrq. Ind., torn, i., p. 713:

' The entire tribes of the

Oaliforaiau Indiania [aio 1 appear to have had agreat devotion and venera
tion for the Condor or Yellow-hondod Vulture.' Taylor, in Cal. Farmtr, M«»
25th, 1860. ' Cathartea Califoruianua, the largest rapacious bird of Nurth
Amerioe.' Baird'n Birds of N. Am., p. 5. ' This bird is an object of gruut
veneration or worship among the Indian tribes of every portion of the state.'
Reid, in Los Angtits Star.

« Brinlon's Myths, p. 113.

*> Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn. !{■, PP- M-71; Cktvigero, Sloria Ant.dil
niessioo, torn, ii., pp. 14-16; Oama, Dos PUdrar:, pt. ii., pp. 76-7.

THE GBOSS AND THE FOUB WINDS.

185

serpent is the type of fruitfulness; the thunder
storm being inseparably joined with the thick, fer-
tilizing summer showers." Born, too, in the middle
heaven, of a cloud mother and of an Ixion upon whom
science cannot yet place her finger, amid moaning breeze
and threatening tempest, the lightning is surely also
akin to the wind and to the bird that is their symbol.
The amalgamation of these powers in one deity seems to
be what is indicated by such names as Quetzalcoatl,
Gucumatz, Cukulcan, all titles of the God of the Air in
different American languages, and all signifying ' Bird-
Serpent.'

In a tablet on the wall of a room at Palenque is a
cross surmounted by a bird, and supported by what ap-
pears to be the head of a serpent: "The cross," says
Brinton, " is the symbol of the four winds; the bird and
serpent, the rebus of the air god, their ruler."

It does not appear that savage;^ attach any special signi-
ficance of evil to the snake, though the prepossessions
of early writers almost invariably blind them on this
point." This rule is not without its exceptions however ;
the Apaches hold that every rattlesnake contains the
aoul of a bad man or is an emissary of the Evil Spirit."
The Piutes '^f Nevada have a demon-deity in the form
of a serpent itill supposed to exist in the waters of Pyra-
mid Lake. The wind when it sweeps down among the
nine islands of the lake drives the waters into the most
fantastic swirls and eddies, even when the general surface
of the luke is tolerably placid. This, say the Piutes, is
the devil-snake causing the deep to boil like a pot; this
is the old serpent seeking whom he may devour ; and no
native in possession of his five sober wits will be found
steering toward those troubled waters at such a time."

In the Pueblo cities, among the Pecos especially, there
existed in early times an immense serpent, supposed to
be sacred, and which, according to some accounts, was

•« MMer, Amtrtkaniache Umll(iionm, p. BOO.

" Tylor'tPrim. VuU., vol. ii., p. 217.

« Cfiarlhn, in Schmlirafl'a Anh., vol. v., p. 809.

» Virginta lUy CKronioU, in 8. F. DaUy Evg Poti, of Aug. lath, 1879.

I »

186

ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT.

fed with the flesh of his devotees. Gregg heard an
"honest ranchero" relate how, one snowy morning, he
had come upon this terrible reptile's trail, " large as that
of a dragging ox ;" the ranchero did not, pursue the in-
vestigation farther, not obtrud^.ig his science, such as it
was, upon his religion. This serpent was supposed to
be specially connected with Montezuma, and with rain
phenomena: it is often called " the great water-snake."
It was described to Whipple " as being as large round
as a man's body; and of exceeding great length, slowly
gliding upon the water, with long wavy folds " like the
Nahant sea-serixjnt, — to Mollhausen, as being a great
rattlesnake, possessor of power over seas, lakes, rivers and
rain; as thick as many men put t(^ether, and much
longer than all the snakes in the world ; moving in great
curves and destroving wicked men. The Pueblo In-
dians prayed to it for rain and revered its mysterious
powers.**

A people, called by Castafieda Tabus, apparently of
Sinaloa in the neighborhood of Culiacan, regarded cer-
tain large serijents with sentiments of great veneration
if not of worship.'* These reptiles seem also to have
been regarded with considerable reverence in Yucatan.
In 1517, Kernal Diaz noticed many figures of serpents in
a temple he saw at Campeche. Juan de Orijalva, also,
found at the same time many such figures at Champotou,
among other idols of clay and wood."

We have already spoken of the Mexican Tlaloc and of
the frequent appearance of the serpent in his worship;
it does not ap[)ear, however, notwithstanding Mr Squier's
assertion to tlu? contrary, that that the serpent was actu-
ally worshiped either in Yucatan or Mexico. Ikriial
Diaz, indeed, says positively in one passnge, speaking of

"> Orc()<j'H f^om. J'niMtH, vol. i., pp. 371-2; Wfilpple, Jiwbank, and Turnir'n
Ufpt., pp.' 3H-I), in Vac. H. R. Hiftt , vol. ill.; millmuifn, Tai/ehurh, p. 17();
IfomtneA's Dmrlit, vol. 1., pp. l(i4-5. Cert<«in liitor tL-xvelern deny all tho
foivtf^oinK M 'ftfltion uud fiiblo;' mnnniug, probably, thnl they buw nothiiiK
of it, or that it do(>H not nxint nt preHoiit. Wand, in bul, j\ff. lUpt., 1804, p.
1S);1; Meline'H V'loo ThuuHaml MlltH. p. i^6(l.

SI CnHliD'itila, Voy, tk Cibola, in TtmawC'CompanH, Voy(h;ea, Borie i., toni.

ix., p. ino.

x Jkrttai IHat, Hiat. Cvnq,, (ol. 3, 8.

THE DOG OF AMEBIGAN MYTHOLOOT.

187

and of
orship ;
quior's
k8 jvctu-
liernal
ung of

Turnir'.s

h, p. m;

ly all th«
nothing
1804, p.

I i., torn.

a town called Tenayuca, that " they worshiped here, in
their chief temple, three serpents;" but the stout soldier
was not one to make fine distinctions between gods and
their attributes or symbols ; nor, even with the best in-
tentions, was he or any other of the conquistodores in a
|X)sition to do justic. to the faith of ' gentiles.' ^

We shall hereafter find the serpent closely connected
with Quetzalcoatl in many of his manifestations, as well
as with others of the Mexican gods.

From the serpent let us turn to the dog, with his rela-
tions the wolf and coyote, an animal holding a respecta-
ble place in American mythology. We have seen how
many tribes derive, figuratively or literally, their origin
from him, and how often he becomes legendarlly impor-
tant as the hero of some adventure or the agent of some
deity. He is generally brought before us in a rather
tenevolent aspect, though an exception occurs to this in
the case of the Chinooks at the mouth of the Columbia.
With these the coyote figures as the chosen medium for
the action of the Evil Spirit toward any given malevo-
lent end, — as the form taken by the Evil One to coun-
teract some beneficence of the Good Spirit toward the
poor Indian whom he loves.'*

Very difterent from this is the character of that Coyote
of the Cahrocs whose good deeds we have so often had
(KUMision to set forth. One feat of his yet remains to be
told. — how he stocked the river with salmon. Chfirova,
the creator, had mjule salmon, but he had put them in
the big-water, and made a great fish-dam at the mouth
of the Klamath, so that they could not go up; and this
dam was closiul with something of the nature of a white
man's key, which key was given in charge to two old
hajrs, not wholly unfamiliar to us, to keep and watch
ov(>r it niglit and day, so that no Cahroc should get near
it. Now fish being wanting to the Cahrocs, they were
sorely pushed by hunger, and the voice of women and

" lirml nidt, Hist. Conq.. fol. 130; Schoolorafl'a Arch., vol. v., p. 106.
" Lord's A'(i<„ vol. ii , p. 218.

188

ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT.

little children was heard imploring food. The Coyote
determined to help them ; he swore by the stool of Cha-
reya that before another moon their lodges should drip
with salmon, and the very dogs be satisfied withal. So
he traveled down the Klamath many days' journey till
he came to the mouth of the river and saw the big- water
and heard the thunder of its waves. Up he went to the
hut of the old women, rapped, and asked hospitality for
the night ; and he was so polite and debonair that the
crones could find no excuse for refusing him. He
entered the place and threw himself down by the fire,
warming himself while they prepared salmon for supper,
which they ate without offering him a bite. All night
long he lay by the fire pretending to sleep, but thinking
over his plans and waiting for the event that should put
him in possession of the mighty key that he saw hanging
so high above his reach. In the morning one of the
hags took down the key and started off toward the dam
to get some fish for breakfast. Like a flash the Coyote
leaped at her, hurling himself between her feet; heels
over head she pitched, and the key flew far from her
hands. Before she well knew what had hurt her the
Coyote stood at the dam with the key in his teeth,
wrenching at the fastenings. They gave way ; and with a
great roar the green water raced through, all ashine with
salmon, utterly destroying and breaking down the dam,
so that ever after fish found free way up the Klamath.

The end of the poor Coyote was rather sad, considering
his kindness of heart and the many services he had ren-
dered the Cab rocs. Like too many great personages, he
grew proud and puffed up with the adulation of flatterers
and sycophants, — proud of his courage and cunning, and
of the success that had crowned his great enterprises for
the good of mankind, — proud that he had twice deceived
and outwitted the guardian hags to whom Chareya had
entrusted the fire and the salmon, — so proud that he
determined to have a dance through heaven itself, hav-
ing chosen as his partner a certain star that used to imsa
quite close by a mountain where he spent a good deal of

COYOTES MUST NOT DANCE WITH STABS.

139

his time. So he called out to the star to take him by
the paw and they would go round the world together for
a night; but the star only laughed, and winked in an
excessively provoking way from time to time. The
Coyote persisted angrily in his demand, and barked and
barked at the star all round heaven, till the twinkling
thing grew tired of his noise and told him to be quiet
and he should be taken next night. Xext night the star
came quite up close to the cliff where the Coyote stood,
who leaping was able to catch on. Away they danced
together through the blue heavens. Fine sport it was
for a while ; but oh, it grew bitter cold up there for a
Coyote of the earth, and it was an awful sight to look
down to where the broad Klamath lay like a slack bow-
string and the Cahroc villages like arrow-heads. Woe
for the Coyote! his numb paws have slipped their hold
on his bright companion ; dark is the partner that leads
the dance now, and the name of him is Death. Ten
long snows the Coyote is in falling, and when he strikes
the earth he is " smashed as flat as a willow-mat". —
Coyotes must not dance with stars.'"

u Povoer'a Porno, MS.; Boaoana. in Robinson's Life in Col., pp. 260-263,
describes certain other OalifornianB aa worshipirg for their chief god aome-
thiu^ in the form of a stuffed ooyote.

CHAPTER V.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Eskimo Witchcraft — The Tinnkh and thb Komiaqas— Kuoamb of tbk
Alkdtb— Thb Thlin'kketb, thb Haioahb, and the Nootkab— Pabadibx
Lost of tub Okanaoanb — The Salish, the Clallahb, the Chinooxb,
THE Gayuses, the Walla Wallas, and the Nez Pkbckb— Shoshone
GHODiii — Northebm Califobmu — The Hi v at Montkbey — O01OT and
Chiniochimich — Antaoonistio O0D8 OF LowKB California — Comam-
OBEs, Apaches, and Navajob— Montbedha of the Pueblob— Moqdib
and Mojaves — Primeval Back of Nobthebn California.

We now come to the broadest, whether or not it
be the most important, branch of our subject, namely,
the gods and spirits that men worship or know of.
Commencing at the extreme north, we shall follow
them through the various nations of our territory
toward the south. Very wild and conflicting is the
general mass of evidence bearing on a belief in
supernatural existences. Not only from the nature
of the subject is it allied to questions and matters
the most abstruse and transcendental, — in the ex-
pression of which the exactest dialectic terminology
must often \ye at fault; much more the rude and stam-
mering speech of savages — but it is also apt to call up
prejudices of the most warping and contradictory kind
in the minds of those through whose relation it must
pass to us. However hopeless the task, I will strive to
hold an equal beam of historical truth, and putting away
speculations of either extreme, try to give the naked
expression of the belief of the |X3oples we deal with, —

ESKIMO SHAMANISM

mg to the ingenbus sSS&^ "^iT ' ^^^^

The Eskimos do notappear tol^ ^^"* *^^"«t«-
deity, but only an indeS nuT^^'"? ^"-^^ «"Preme
things varying in name, ^ter 2^^ «"P«*-"«tural
seeming to predominate ^S " ^^^^acter-the evil
small ivory image rudely carveJ fl"^ "" *^^^ P^^son a
mal, as a kind of talisman fh! ^^P«^«ent some ani-
success in huntin-^ nlZl T T ^'^^"ght to further
'i'-irdly be looked"i;on3 '"^ "*^^'- P"^^"its, but can
are generally to b^Cl fofT/^'"' ''''''^'^' «« C
fepnce. All superSm, l^sL^^^^^^^^^
the medium of shVmdns -^^funo ?n '• *'«"«««ted through
Jnedicme-menofeastern Vni" !^^^"^««"««'eringto the
>oth male and femarioh ^^"^^^^'-^^th^^e there 1
t or his or herTwn reT^^Jr''^^ «" «^ «^r the £ne
''I'f art differ somewhafn^r j^'^' ^'^^ ^ites of Sr
of their Tinneh neTghWs' and' v '"^ *" ^^^"' ^'^'n thoi
ti;e Tschuktschi and otW snr^ """-^ ^"^"^ *hoserf
whole religion may be sCmed,m?" *"^«' ^"^ their
•tH^^expression in witchcrT' ^' "' " ^"^'"^ fear finding

%f hS^^^^^^^ of ,,,

i «pific, do not seem inanv^of th5^ '•^^"^'*" '^^d to the
;^ «;^gle expressed idea Zfr^^Z ?"""« *"»>«« to have
heLoucheux branch recocmS ^-'^ «"P»'«me power,
dent in the moon whn^ ?k ''*'''**^'» Persona^rresi
starting on a h^g tLul'"^^^^^^^^^^ «~n
^•""ng them as a pSor SZiri" ^?« '^ing once lived

«elt ridiculous to his i ui^i ^""^ "^^'^ »^»de liim-
very large snow.shoctf£"«r^->^, '"'^'^•"g « pair^f
a starveling like him j?o„ ^?'' "^"'^^ "«* see wha

^/,ll7!:-'c""?'» ^-or.. pp. ,0. ,0.. .,_. . . ^"^ ^"^

, . "'"^ ««jro88 a new

•20, 3:;6.

Iti 00D8, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

trail that led to a head or two of freshly killed game.
They were glad enough to get the game and without
scruples as to its appropriation ; still they felt curious as
to whence it came and how. Suspicion at last pointing
to the boy and bis great shoes, as being in some way
implicated in the affair, he was watched. It soon
became evident that he was indeed the benefactor of the
Loucheux, and the secret hunter whose quarry had so
often replenished their empty pots; yet the people were
far from being adequately grateful, and continued to
treat him with little kindness or respect. On one occa-
sion they refused him a certain piece of fat — him who had
so often saved their lives by his timely bounty ! That night
the lad disappeared, leaving only his clothes behind, hang-
ing on a tree. He returned to them in a month, however,
appearing as a man and dressed as a man. He told
them that he had taken up his home in the moon ; that
he would always look down with a kindly eye to their
success in hunting; but he added, .that as a punishment
for their shameless greed and ingratitude in refusing him
the piece of fat, all animals should be lean the long win-
ter through, and fat only in summer; as has since been
the case.

According to Heame, the Tinneh believe in a kind of
spirits, or fairies, called nantena, which people the earth,
the sea, and the air, and are instrumental for both good
and evil. Some of them believe in a good spirit called
Tihugun, ' my old friend,' supposed to reside in the sun
and in the moon ; they have also a bad spirit, Chutsain,
apparently only a personification of death, and for this
reason called bad.

They have no regular order of shamdns; any one when
the spirit moves him may take upon himself their duties
and pretensions, though some by happy chances, or pecu-
liar cunning, are much more highly esteemed in this re-
gard than others, and are supported by voluntary con-
tributions. The coi\jurer often shuts himself in his tent
and abstains from food for days till his earthly grossncss
thins away, ard the spirits and things unseen are con-

-«."or nl?rtht';L^^^^^^^ ?« yT^r Ti„„eh
keen eye, holding their owf'J^i ?*'^?^ ^^'"^ and the
mock at the terrors of th^n^^ I/" *^« J«««e of life
. dwindle with diseaSor a^'^7«We; ^"^ «« the puS
in the shadow of imDenS.f5 t ^"^« «*rike together
to exf.1 the evil C^of Thth ^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^"
Among the Taculliesfa «,Xtn f« ^*^'"* "possessed
this stage, on the truth Tnd «^" '" '*^*^'» ^^^orted to at
thechancesof ar^very Asfl "J"""^^^ ^^^°^ de^nd
which they most frequeVeo^C?-'"^"' " *^^ ^'•^"•es
of their moral chari^ter and^T ?''^^^'- something
mentioned," but in St ^^^^'^fo'* deserve to b?
-th women and w h VenTfil^^^^ *»^««XS^
worse than the sins of &2,^ f J^S^"" *"d '^stiality
stomach of description Th! ^^ <?«n»orrah defy the
tedious and disguSg rites^S' *^"? ^^ *'"« of the
sh^ans over the sick and at vSaTl ^^ *^« ^inneh
iney blow on the invalid l!„ u "® *^*^^'" emergencies

" th other details of hoou, rlT ''^ »' *e mouth
with tribe and localitv Th^^"? 7«3'ing inMniMy

"f? had ate not spirits thit "^ """ "''<"" dealinra
ne.tl,er are they re<S^ bv „"^-\™'' » <»■ of mT

^ve or kindl/«s?:Sf fe^-ri^it -7 *»«-»«"tof
bo«d._where «ny ton^/^'J^, ^^-"nterest are the
withpo«re«8„pe™.,„,i„«^«-that lu,k ,he tj^^^

Pf«d by oifering, toth" 2rr'' "' o'^^y^oCl
though very rarely, by human™ 4"'' """^ sometimes
We also „ chief deLrS"''T.°''»'"o«- l"ey
""d » power for evil caileS eS' "'""^ ^^J™ Soh«(

•' ^., p. 174.

144 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Of the Aleuts, it is said that their rites showed a much
higher religious development than was to be found among
any of their neighbors ; the labors of the Russian priests
have, however, been successful enough among them to
obliterate all remembrance of aught but the outlines of
their ancient cult. They recognize a creator-god, but
without worshiping him; he had made the world, but
he did not guide it; men had nothing to do any longer
with him, but only with the lesser kugans, or spirits, to
whom the direction and care of earthly affairs have been
committed. The stars and the sun and the moon were
worshiped, or the spirits of them among others, and
avenged themselves on those that adored them not. The
offended sun smote the eyes of a scoflfer with blindness,
the moon stoned him to death, and the stars constrained
him to count their number — hopeless task that always
left the victim a staring maniac. The shamans do not
seem to have enjoyed that distinction among the Aleuts
that their monopoly of mediation between man and the
invisible world gave them among other nations. They
were generally very poor, living in want and dying in
misery ; they had no part nor lot in the joys or sorrows
of social life ; never at feast, at wedding, or at a funeral
was their face seen. They lived and wandered men for-
bid, driven to and fro by phantoms that were their mas-
ters and not their slaves. The Aleuts had no permanent
idols, nor any worshiping-places built with hands; near
every village was some sanctified high place or rock,
sacred as a Sinai against the foot of woman or youth,
and whoever profaned it became immediately mad or
sick to death. Only the men and the old men visited
the place leaving there their offerings of skins or feathers
with unknown mysterious ceremonies.

The use of amulets was universal; and more than
shield or spear to the warrior going to battle was a belt
of sea-weed woven in magic knots. What a philosopher's
sione was to a Roger Bacon or a Paracelsus, was the
tkhimkee, a marvelous pebble thrown up at rare inter-
vals by the sea, to the Aleutian hunter. No beast could

ALEUTUN MYSTEBY.DANCE

resist its attraction- he ihn^f - . ^^

ch.;ise his pre^, he'had tlvT"^-/* ^'^ "« "eed to
animal walked up to its deL T^ ^""^ ^t^^e aTthe
was grease taken ^n\th ^"P'^f *" P^^^^ cWm
head touehed with th?s w^'^f^^t^ '^''' *^« «P^-

tfatdttr';' "-"""^- ' "^^'^ ^^'

night dances held in the momh'Tn^^ ^^*^^" religious
Idols, or figures of some ^^71 ""^ December. WoSden
and carried from Sd to'ill!,"'"^!^"' theocc^^^
ceremonies Then H^rto^^^^/j*^ ^^^y esoteric
Ihe men and women were D.,tfi.f^ a marvelous sight
each party a woodenL^" ^^P^^*' i" the middle of
wooden masks or blinderf ^ "^ "^^ "P'' certain ^^^1
contrived that the W^^^^^^ «» each perln i*

htte cireie n>und hTf^t Th ^' ^^'^^^S^Se^

rather beforj^te td 1^"'^^^ ^^^^^ the ima4l*^v
descended and enterS Ito f^,*^ ^^''^ ^^^'^ a ku<2
him or to her w W 1 S *^^ ^^«n %ure W^*
- the whirl oftaTaw?utdrel T' ^^»' - was'^^^d
was not more fatalThan a^l ' *^^ «*«^« «f the Gorgon
possessed the idol- anH f« ^'''"''^ °^ the demon S
opposite sex, howWerl/ """^ °"^ *« J«>k on re of thi
-mted as oneXd ''^^: tt^l ^^ -^^^"^even'
Idols and the masks wpI t !^ ^^^^^ was over thp
may be added thaTsuch m„ J^^''\ ^^^^ «««t awly ' It
by prophets in therHfT''' "' ^'^'^ ^^^e need^7eve„
that know all V ^1 f^''''^''' with the great 'S

Vou m.. ,7 "'• ^'^' vol. i., p. oX P- ^^'^J -OaW'a ^mAo,

146

GODS. SUPEBNATUILLL BEINQS. AND WORSHIP.

ter of these in the supernatural world, nor even their
comparative rank, can be established above contradiction.
Thus Yehl is said to be the creator of all beings and
things, yet we have not forgotten how Khanukh wrung
from the unwilling lips of him the confession : Thou art
older that I. It is (^ain said of Yehl that his power is
unlimited ; but alas, we have seen him helpless in the
magic darkness raised by Khanukh, and howling as a
frightened child might do in a gloomy corridor. The
nature of Yehl is kind and he loves men, while the re-
verse is generally considered true of Khanukh ; but Yehl,
too, when his anger is stirred up sends sickness and evil
fortune. Yehl existed before his birth upon earth ; he
cannot die nor even become older. Where the sources
of the Nass are, whence the east-wind comes, is Nass-
shakieyehl, the home of Yehl; the east-wind brings
news of him. By an unknown mother a son was bom
to him, who loves mankind even more than his father,
and provides their food in due season. To conclude the
mattei", Yehl is, if not the central figure, at least the
most prominent in the Thlinkeet pantheon, and the
alpha and the omega of Thlinkeet philosi.^hy and theol-
ogy is summed up in their favorite aphorism : As Yehl
acted and lived, so also will we live and do. After
Yehl and Khanukh, the Thlinkeets believe in the brother
and sister, Ghethl and Ahgishanakhou, the Thunder or
Thunder-bird, and the Under-ground Woman. Chethl
is a kind of great northern rukh that snatches up and
swallows a whale without difficulty, while his wings and
eyes produce thunder and lightning as alrearly described ;
his sister Ahgishanakhou sits alone below and guards
the Irminsul that supports the world of the North-west."
The Tiilinkeets have no idols, unless the little images

> In Holmberg's account of these Thlinkeet supernatural powers, not' "
is said of the sun or moon as indicating the possession of life by thot
ony qualities not material. But Dunn, The Omjnn Territnry, p. ?
Dixon, Voyarft Round Uie World, pp. 169-90, describe at least some
tribes of the Thlinkeets and many trib'js of the Haidahs, that consider u

to be a great spirit moving over th>) earth once every day, animatiii^ I
keeping alive all creatures, and, apparently, as being the origin of all; H"
moou IS a subordinate and night watcher.

1BE THLIKKEET SHAMAN.

sometimes carried hv ♦»,« • .
may be caiied b/Ct ^l^^^/^J charming with
nor pnests, unless their soSs 1^2 .^''^"^ ^«™h»P
may be entitled to tH-^se S^*- "^ *^® "*«« of them
or shamans seem to S^munK "**'""!• '^^^^^^e ^o^ei^S
-tions are ^nerallyl^^X^^'^ ^^'^ -«-J« -nd
though the death of a mfSlf • ^^qmesced in by all-
tim is sometimes Infful^^r^^^' V "P^^^ vt'
the deceased. Shamdni^is^S^,, v ^ ^l *^^ "^^^^^i^^^ of
ml course of things theTong^^i^J^^^^^^^' ^«"«t»^
dre^s and so on, is inheritSTv 1 ^^P**^*"'' "»««'"»
of the deceased conjurer 1^ ^^, ^^^ *^" ""' grandson
ever, prove himself worthy „f !.^°""g.^^an must, how-
comes assured to him Kir '^ P*'*'*^^" "^^re it be.
with spirits. The futu^ XmL"^ ?' communicating
forest or up some moun^n wK hf ^^ ^"*^ * ^«"cly
mg onl^. on the roots oUhe m^t T' '^*^^' ^««J-
for the spirits to come ^hC^'/Z'^^'''^^ ^""^ ^«iting
supposed to do in fn,m to to fir 'll "^ ^ ^"^"^"^
the meeting takes place m?H f K u •T''^- ^^ «» Ko well

^^'T'' « «"PP08ed to be hid thp wh ,^ ^'^"^^ «^ wWch
ot shamanism Th*. »« ® ^'^^^^^ Power and seoi**

and four times, elh timelT^V^' ^^* fe t'S

^•'^ntly, reaching out aVthe ^^ft" -^.^^^^^ ^«"« ^n-
the man cuts off and preservS L7^ ? ' *°"^"«' ^'hich
P ace, for if any one^nrSa^ f ^',«^ayin aclose
tahsman the sight would^ " ^ ^^''''^^ ^ook on this
« inned by the tlTam^niTd th" T"^". '^^^^ «"- «
of hi« profession, while The Zl '^^ f '''" '^^P' ^^ a sign
[awful to kill a^Tver.otter 11? '' """^' '^ ''^ ^^'
have been described if L^v/"..'""^ «^^'«n« ^
^it the would-be sham/n T .^^ ^^e spirits xvili not

|of the otter-tontet CrK al""^^^^^^^^^^^

^ « the tomb of a dead r„m - ^''f' *^'^ "eophyfe

tia GODS. 8UPSBNATUBAL BEIKOS, AN1> WOBSHIP.

When all these things have been done the shaman re-
turns to his family emaciated and worn out, and his new
powers are immediately put to the test. His reputation
depends on the numb^^r of spirits at his command. The
spirits are called yeh, and to every conjurer a certain
numbf^r of them arf; attached as familiars, while there
are others on whom he may call in an emergency; in-
deed every man of whatever rank or profession is
attended by a familiar spirit or demon, who only aban-
dons his charge when the man becomes exceedingly bad.
The world of spirits in general is divided into three
classes: keeyek, tdkeeyek, and Ukeeyek. The first-class,
'the Upper Ones,' dwell in the north and seem
to be connected with the northern lights; they are
the spirits of the brave fallen in battle. The other two
classes are the spirits of those that died a natural death,
and their dwelling is called takankdu. The takeeyek,
' land-spirits,' appear to the shamdns in the form of land
animals. With regard to the tekeeyek, 'sea-spirits*
which appear in the form of marine animals, there is
some dispute among the Thlinkeets as to whether these
spirits were ever the spirits of men like those of the other
two classes, or whether they were merely the souls of sea
animals.

The supreme feat of a conjurer's power is to throw one
of his liege spirits into the body of one who refuses to
believe in his power ; upon which the possessed is taken
with swooning and fits. The hair of a shamun is never
cut. A a among the Aleuts, a wooden mask is necessary
to his safe intercourse with any spirit ; separate masks
are worn for interviews with separate spirits. When a
shaman sickens, his relatives fast for his recovery ; when
he dies, his body is not burned like that of other men,
but put in a box which is set up on a high frame. The
first night followi^ his death bi;^ body is left in that
corner of his hut in which he died. On the second
night it is carried to ant ther corner, and so on for four
nights till it has occupied successively all the corner^: of
the yourt, all the occupants of which are supposed *a) fust

SOLAB SPIRIT OP THE HAIDAH8.

during this time. On the fifth a .^
down on a board, and LXn^. th T.k^", *^^ ''' «ed
often used in his'rites when afL ^'T t«^ ""^^ ^^
his hair and the other inThoi®^'''^ '^^^'^^ ^^e one in
head is then covered with I^^,^"^g« «^ his nose. The
taken to its placeXp* W ^^^^ «nd the body

dropping a little tobacco into fhf^? *^^ ^^^^ without
m«;ies of the mightM^^'i*'' *^" ^'»*«'- ^ conciliate the

ine Haidahs bel'ipvA tu^
rator and supreme ruler th^l^^^^^^^^ ^ he the
!»"» ^vith the material sun wh7i. "«^^?«^ever confuse
"»g round the fixed earth mid " '^'"'"« "»«» ^valk-
crown. Sometimes the mLL,r'""^ '^ "radiated"
fused indefinite way wUnb' *" connected in a con-
an evil spirit who/aCi*^%r;\' '^''''' '^'^^^ «
wi h hoofs and horisTouXn.^ •^"""' " P^^ided
fashion of them, whether orfh!i*'""» " «^'d as to the
at leajt those s^nhXfJ:L'T^ £'« ""'d^ti"!
land, have no worsJ.ip, nor did fh! i^",^" ^^^''^otte Is-
a« in any way responds b,e to an v'l '^^"^" themselves
As with their northern „!? f I? ^"^'^y ^«^ their action^

Klmmikh. wi.ui. ."V^.v*^'*' ffves us a vn^..\dl'.;. ^fnaifn Altx. Arch

horn are toy,^ri4TnUfV.:'t^''^ ^1 " host of Zd :«.i^^.,«^kits do not

«b«.it«heoriKi^Sn«t«JT"'?,°f " »'n'erZx^a£ l"^'^ formerly ^u

qmro,I greut "kill in the ui« „7 ,''*'^\ "" ^^^h n„d w«bT l*' ""■" *"''»• h«fd
'"•<>«. assume their -ImL ?i ''**' •»<>» and urrL i/'"*'*' ^""K ho no-

^, . BJUl.. Who aw .UPP0.8U to U Uie fottnjr'"^'.^ <''•' **o

Huusn Of tho IndUB

UO GODS, BUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

With some at least of the Haidahs there was in exist-
ence a rite of this sorcery attended by circumstances of
more than ordinary barbarity and feroeit;y'. When the
salmon season is over and the provisions of winter have
been stored away, feasting and conjuring begin. The
chief — who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed
to possess little authority save from his connection with
the preter-human powers — goes off to the loneliest and
wildest retreat he knows of or can discover in the mount-
ains or forest, and half starves himself there for some
weeks till he is worked up to a frenzy of religious in-
sanity and xhe nawhks — fearful beings of some kind not
human — con^ient to communicate with him by voices or
otherwise. During all this observance, the chief is called
taamish, and woe to the unlucky Haidah who happens
by chance so much as to look on him during its continu-
ance ; even if the taamish do not instantly slay the in-
truder, his neighbors are certain to do so when the thing
oomes to their knowledge, and if the victim attempt to
conceal the affair, or do not himself confess it, the mont
cruel tortures are added to his fate. At last the inspired
demoniac returns to his village, naked save a bear-skin
or a ragged blanket, with a chaplet on his head and a
red band of alder-bark about his neck. He springs on
the first person he meets, bites out and swallows one or
more mouthfuls of the man's living flesh wherever he
can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and another,
repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor from
his sudden and half-masticated surfeit of flesh. For
some days after this he lies in a kind of coma, " like tin
over-gorged beast of prey," as Dunn says; the same
observer adding that his breath during that time is
" like an exhalation from a grave." The victims of this
ferocity dare not resist the bite of the taamish ; on the
oontrary, they are sometimes willing to offer themselves
to the ordeal, and are always proud of its scars.''

The Kootkas acknowledge the existence of a great per-

V Dunn'ji Ortffon, pp. 253-U; Somthr, in lAmd. Otog, Soo, Jour., vol. xi,, 1%
833; Bancro/t'B Nat. liaceg, vol. i., p]). 170-71.

NOOTKA OODS.

161

ist-

jof

the

ave

The

leed

with

and

)unt-

gome

win-

d not

ces or

called

ippens

iitinu-

[he in-

) thing

;mpt to

le most

iij»pired

far-skin
and a

|ing8 on
one or
jver he
|.nother,
>r from
11. VoT
like an
[e same
|time is
of this
on tlie
[raselves

5at per-

flonage called Quahootze, whose habitation is apparently
in the sky, but of whose nature little is known. When
a storm begins to rage dangerously the Nootkas climb to
the top of their houses and looking upwards to this great
god, they beat drums and chant and call upon his name,
imploring him to still the tempest. They fast, as some-
thing agreeable to the same deity, before setting out on
the hunt, and, if their success warrant it, hold a feast in
his honor afi^r their return. This festival is held usually
in December, and it was formei'ly the custom to finish it
with a human sacrifice, an atrocity now happily fallen y|
into disuse ; a boy, with knives stuck through the super- |
ficial flesh of his arms, legs, and sides, being exhibited as
a substitute for the ancient victim.

Matlose is a famous hob-goblin of the Nootkas; he is
a very Caliban of spirits; hiis head is like the head of
something that might have been a man but is not; his
uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles ; his monstrous
teeth and nails are like the fangs and claws of a bear.
Whoever hears his terrible voice falls like one smitten,
and his curved claws rend a prey into morsels with a
single stroke.

The Nootkas, like so many American peoples, have a
tradition of a supernatural teacher and benefactor, an
old man that came to them up the Sound long ago. His
canoe was copper, and the paddles of it copper; every
thing he had on him or about him was of the stune metal,
lie landed and instructed the men of that day in many
things; telling them that he came from the sky, that
their country' should be eventually destroyed, that they
should all die, but after death rise and live with him
ahove. Then all the people rose up angry, and took his
canoe from him, and slew him ; a crime from which their
descendants have derived much benefit, for copjier and
the use of it have remained with them ever since. Huge
inuigcs, carved in wood, still stand in their houses in-
tended to represent the form and hold in remembrance
the visit of this old man, — by which visit i» not improb-
ably intended to be signified an avatar or incarnation

162

OODS, SUPERIfATUBAL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIP.

of that chief deity, or great spirit, worshiped by many
Californian tribes as ' the Old Man above.'

The Ahts regard the moon and the sun as their
highest deities, the moon being the husband and the
sun the wife. To the moon chiefly, as the more
powerful deity, they pray for what they require; and to
both moon and sun, as to all good deities, their prayers
are addressed directly and without the intervention of
the sorcerers. Quawteaht — which seems to be a local Aht
modification of Quahootze — who made most things
that are in the world, was the first to teach the people to
worship these luminaries who, over all and seeing all,
are more powerful than himself, though more distant
and less active. There is also that Tootooch, thunder-
bird, of which so much has been already said.

The Nootkas, in general, believe in the existence of
numberless spirits of various kinds, and in the efficacy
of sorcery. As in neighboring nations, the shaman
gains or renews his inspiration by fasting and solitary
meditation in some retired place, re-appearing at the end
of his vigil half-starved and half-instme, but filled with
the black virtue of his art. He does not generally col-
lect a meal of living humnn flesh like the toamish of the
preceding family, but he is satisfied with what his teeth
can tear from the corpses in the burial-places. Old
women are admitted to a shai^e in the powers of sorcery
and prophecy and the interpretation of omens and dreams;
the latter a most important function, as few days and
nights pass over a Nootka house that do not give occasion
by some vision or occurrence for the office of the sibyl or
the augur."

• JeieUt'a Nar,, p. 83; SmuIw, in Land. Qtoq. Soc. Jour., vol. xl., pp, 223-
4; Mo/ras, Explor., torn, i,, p. 346; SutUy MtxioatM, Viagr, p. 130; Mf ares'
Voy.. p. 270; Uutchlnia' Vol. Maq., vol. v., pp. 'ii'i-4; Mai'fii'H Vano, M., pit.
433-411, 455; Bmet-Lenmrd'n Trav., pp. 61-3; Sproat'» Scenm, pp. 40, li<u-
8, 107-75. 205-11; Cook'a Vny. to Pac, vol. 11., p. 317. Ah illuBlrnliiig
■tron;(ly the Nootkn idea* with regnnl to the Banctity of the moon and nun,
M well «R the cuniieetion of the Hun with the Are. it may be well to call atten-
tion to the two following ouatomt:— ' El Tays [ chief 1 uopuedehiioeruRudHHUs
magerea aln ver enteramonte iluminado el diaoo ae la luna.' Sutil y Mud-
eana, Flai^o, p. 145. * OirU at puberty . .are kept pari ioularly from the mui or
■" "7. lutiiiai

fire.' Aincrci/Y'< Nal. Raou, vol. i., p. 197.

I oonneotiou it may be uioi)-

PAEADISE LOST OP THE 0KANAGAN8.

a bad spirit Kishtsamah or S ha ^^^^^^ '^"'i ^^
^^ntly through the air^ tWn k^*^ moving con-
without their knowledge The Ok?^'"^ ?" ^ <J«ne
«hip public or private,^ ut betP p?"^ • "' '^^^^ "« ^or-
of importance they offer ..niu^"^"^' ^" anything
spirit for assistance : ^lin L J ."'^ P"*^'^^ to the go^^
passed n,und and eacTo^e "mok^^ T^^'^^' ^ Pi^^
he rising sun, the same ZarTttj^y^ ^^'^^ *«^«rd
respecively toward thelelvennt^'''^''f^^^^'^^^
beneath. Then thev havp f h^ ^^""^ «"^ the earth

h-oine Scomalt, w&%t;ntS T^'^'^ ^"'^ -"^
a kind of Okanagan fall or mJLi- ^'•^''^^""ected with
long ago that the sun w^ J^itr^'"" ^"^^^ ^""^ ^o, so
and no bigger than a stir tHV""^ • '^"^ very small
fa called Samahtl whcLkh "^ "fu^^^""^ ^^^^^^^
J«land. It wa. inhab red b^ a 1/^" ^^'^"*« ^an's
«ature and governed by a taU Lv *' '"^^ «^ ^'>«ntic
alt; and she was a great and ! '^T'*" """^ «com.
Scomalt. Atlastthe^^l"oftfe7J V"'*^^^"
by war, and the noise of ra'tLwLh'^'";^ V" ^^'^^yed
%hting the one with the othor '^'^j*^^^^' the white men
;ngly wroth. She roi up anS' aTd^ Sc'n^'^lt was exceed"
these wicked far from me m \ ^^/ "«^ ^ ^i" drive
vexed concerning Sem^f^^ ^"^f^^" '^ "« longer
faithful of my ^ple^vith tir f-^t^'^ *^"^»« 'he
And she drove trrebelliol * *?"'''"^' ""''y "»ore
^nd of the island, and broke of .,'' *• ^*^« "««"nosi
^|vh.Mhey wero huddled^Tn'd^ pl£ KTutlo'^, Z

"Wiu in n„ elab!r««li.**' '"" hundred blankotii Tkj .!** "»•' *^^f' wob estf.

ulwrifflneH: May thnv .11 k I*"*'* "" '" um nmonS„-«» V""V"^<"« «' conl
"ve«„„«, b?r&IJ^.(''»«»ded for -yXWrilu? JuVwH

OODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF.

drift whither it would. This floating island was tossed
to and fro many days and buffeted of the winds exceed-
ingly, so that all the people thereon died save one man
and one woman, who, seeing their island was ready to
sink, made themselves a canoe and gat them away to-
ward the west. After paddling day and night for many
suns, they came to certain islands, whence steering
through them, they came at last to where the mainland
was, being the territory that the Okanagans now inhabit;
it was, however, much smaller in those days, having
grown much since. This man and woman were so sorely
weather-beaten when they landed that they found their
original whiteness quite gone, and a dusky reddish color
in its place. All the people of the continent are de-
scended from this pair, and the dingy skin of their storm-
tossed ancestors has become a characteristic of the race.
And even, as in time past the wrath of the fair Scomalt
loosed the island of their ancestors from its mainland,
and sent it adrift with its burden of sinful men, so in
a time to come, the deep lakes, that like some Hannihal'H
vinegar soften the rocks of the foundations of the world,
and the rivers that run for ever and gnaw them away,
shall set the earth afloat again ; then shall the end of the
world be, the awful itsowkighJ'

The Salish tribes believe the sun to be the chief deity,
and certain cei'emonies, described by Mr Lord as having
taken place on the death of a chief, seem to indicate that
fire is in some way connected with the great light." The
chief is ex officio a kind of priest, presiding for the most
part at the various observances by which the deity of the
sun is recognized. There is the usual belief in sorcery
and second sight, and individuals succeed, by force of

• Rom' Advtti., pp. 3S7-0.

10 • The bravest woman of the tribe, one used to o&rrying Ammuuition to
the warrior when enf{Aged in light, bnred her breast to the pertMU who for
courage and oonduot was deemed flt successor to the departed. From the
breast he out a small portion, which he threw into the Are. She then cut n
■moll piece from the shoulder of the warrior, which was also throwu into
the Are. A piece of bitter root, with a piece of meat, were nest thrown into
the Are, all these being intended as offerings to the Hun, the d«ity of tho
Flatheads.' Tolmit, in Jjonl't N<U., vol. ii., pp. aa7-8. For references to the
remaining matter of the paragraph see Id., vol. ii., pp. 337-491 860.

DEITIES OF THE CLALLAms.

special rifts for fiio*' ^

'hem«,lve, accoZS'iJ::;*'^ "editation, i„ having

; the gemr:?^^"^^." V" " '^^" %» C
tribe are sunno^H t^ i! ^ "® "ledicine-mpn „f^ *k '

»"<" evil wi,Rl'°,^;;« ""h influence tZlf^
or sehuidb as thp lo^f "" ^**^ « the dpmn« 5

^•t society, the idZZZT:^y. ""> •""""of «
good dca of ceremony a„d Ivl '"°'» '" attended by a
thiw night, must the nov^^ ^f ??" *• Three day, i,d

!»-^»4^-Wt£:tr'/r^^

iKunara, the creator of fhn, •
«!nong the ChinoorX tv"'"'"''"' " ** P«^«rful deitv

ho Coyote, who created me^ aft!^ "J*^' ^'"«« JtalaZ*
^"«Ht them ho. to mata td^XS^^^^^^^

" XHn«'a Wand

^«.'^^"'""^''^'-''--''X.„.,,^.,;,^

156 GODS, SUPEBNATUAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

make a fire, and how to cook ; for this the first fruits of the
fishing season are always sacred to him, and his figure is
to be found carved on the head of almost every Chinook
canoe on the Columbia. They have a fire-spirit, an evil
spirit, and a body of familiar spirits, tamanowaa. Each
person has his special spirit, selected by him at an early
age, sometimes by fasting and other mortification of the
flesh, sometimes by the adoption of the first object the
child or young man sees, or thinks he sees, on visiting
the woods. These spirits have a great effect on the
imagination of the Chinooks, and their supposed direc-
tions are followed under pain of mysterious and awful
punishments ; people converse — " particularly when in the
water" — ^with them, apparently talking to themselves in
low monotonous tones. Some say that when a man dies
his tamanowa passes to his son ; but the whole matter
is darkened with much mystery and secrecy ; the name
of one's familiar spirit or guardian never being mentioned
even to the nearest friend. A similar custom forbids
the mention of a dead man's name, at least till many
years have elapsed after the bereavement.

The Chinook medicine-men are possessed of the usual
powers of converse and mediation with the spirits good
and evil; there are two classes of them, employed in
all cases of sickness, — the etaminuas, or priests, who in-
tercede for the soul of the patient, and, if necessary, for
its safe passage to the land of spirits, — and the keekUes,
or doctors, sometimes women, whose duty it is to ad-
minister medical as well as spiritual aid.*^

With the Cayuses and the Walla- Wallas any one may
become a medicine-man ; among the Nez Perces the ofiice
belongs to an hereditary order. Women are sometimes
trained to the profession, but they are not believed to
hold such extreme powers as the males, nor are they
murdered on the supposed exercise of some fatal influ-

» WUkxa' Nar. in U. S. Ex. Ex., yol. v., pp. 124-6; Coos'* Advtn., toI. i., p.
317; Dtinn'a Oregon, pp. 125-fl; Franchire'a Nar., p. 358; Mofraa, Explor.,
torn, ii., p. 3»4; lioaa' Advtn., p. 96; Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 13it, 246,
264; Tolmi\ in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; OMs' Chinook Vooab., pp. 11, 13;
Olbbs', Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 16, 29; Irving's Atloria, pp. 339-40;
Tyhr's Prim. Cult., vol. ii, p. 263.

SHOSHONE DEMONS.

IS a power of life, and death h\ •,''"^ *''»" ^^^e. His
W a hated life Tf „ttt ^^^^^^ T ^^**^^^«"d
the stare of the Medusa- he Tml^, ? J^"*' «^ ^"^^3^ ««
«lnj jour friend or C^elf an?7*l ^^^^^^'"'-he can
how sweet an anod^i^/J^T* Vk ^^"^'' b»* ^^^n
magic can avail when the hS« W 2^-? '' "« «*rong
avenger's shaft, no cunnin. u ^^"^ *"«'^^es down the

the life in whei his SLT>"'r"* *^** ««" C
Potsherd,-and so it c^^es atutTnt^ *^*^ ^^"» ^^^^^ «
everywhere with theirT^in thlfr ) /^"J"^^«^«»k
8 rained to be very warv in IL* ^'^"^' '^"d are con-
nous powers." ^ "^^ ''' ^^^^^^ exercise of their nefa-
ihe Shoshone ]pn-on^<, i

mountains of Monta?^wTthm?I^'''^"•" ^'^' «f the
«7^^. who are al^uT two^t'r' "' ^J'"""^ «"»ed
and provided each with a tlu "'rly\P'f^'^yr^^ked,
one are accustomed to eat un L ^''"^'' «^ *'»« evi

may find, leaving in its stL^ ""guarded infant they
race. When the\ "tier tmesT '' ^?'^^«^" ^""^fuT
po.^s to be her child the S I l"'^'^ ^^''^t «he sup.
W and begins to dilrtn C^'\^' ""'''' ^e^
and the alarm therebn^^enJ^'^f'^^^u^"^ «''•««'««
»mp to make his esca^,^ thereT„ ^T *^/ ^'^"e'O"^
dit's within the twentvfhnrh "? h«Pe further: she

'n the meantimrtt HUl^^^^^^^^^ ^'^ ^^" ^"tcfi
'^nJ make an end of her bv fi^K- ""t "^^" ^^"rn
n^eal. There is another varfetv ^?^.k^^' interrupted
<^fpa^mh8, 'water-infantJ' S^ I *^^'^ hobgoblins
ch'Idren as do their bmthprfi ^'^ ^Z'^^"'' ^o»nen and
^Plete the ring^houtK ^h ^h'^^""*-". and
Shoshone child and mother '• *** *'^*''^« "^""^ the

168 OODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINaS. AND WOBSHIP.

The Califomian tribes, taken as a whole, are pretty
uniform in the main features of their theogonic beliefs.
They seem, without exception, to have had a hazy con-
ception of a lofty, almost supreme being; for the most
part referred to as a Great Man, the Old Man Above, the
One Above ; attributing to him, however, as is usual in
such cases, nothing but the vaguest and most negative
functions and qualities. The real, practical power that
most interested them, who had most to do with them and
they with him, was a demon, or body of demons, of a toler-
ably pronounced character. In the face of divers assertions
to the effect that no such thing as a devil proper has ever
been found in savage mythology, we would draw atten-
tion to the following extract from the Porno manuscript of
Mr Powers — a gentleman who, both by his study and by
personal investigation, has made himself one of the best
qualified authorities on the belief of the native Califomi-
an, and whose dealings have been for the most part with
tribes that have never had any friendly intercourse with
white men: — " Of course the thin and meagre imagina-
tion of the American savages was not equal to the crea-
tion of Milton's magnificent imperial Satan, or of Goethe's
Mephistopheles, with his subtle intellect, his vast powers,
his malignant mirth ; but in so far as the Indian fiends
or devils have the ability, they are wholly as wicked as
these. They are totally bad, they have no good thing
in them, they think only evil ; but they are weak and
undignified and absurd ; they are as much beneath Satan
as the ' I^g Indians ' who itivent them are inferior in
imagination to John Milton."''

A definite location is generally assigned to the evil
one as his favorite residence or resort; thus the Cali-
fornians in the county of Siskiyou, give over Devil's
Castle, its mount and lake, to the malignant spirits, and
avoid the vicinity of these places with all possible care.

The medicine-man of these people is a personage of some
importance, dressing in the most costly furs ; he is a non-
combatant, not coming on the field till after the fight ; among

" Poioer'a Porno, MS.

SACRED PIBES.

Other duties, it ig ahanl.,f«i "*

enemy, there to chant the H.^ **^" ^"^^n by the
angry spirit that wXh f v **^r"g «nd appeal the
only after this has S^* *^^^ Judgment of dife^ for
"gain the lodge^t the'oW V' Jl^"«^* ^^^ ^ iigt
lodge-fires are never allowJS 1 ''*'**''• 0"«« lit th!se
peace; it would be a h^ f ^ ^ ^"* ^"ring times^

«»ng with these men Id "'I^i'^^/^^^^^ ««^ ev^ry
The power of nr««K'- , oeducible from nU iU-^

"■any other Wbes ^^J^S"^"^' 'he Euroca, ^d

m the «„,red flro of" S^h" *« "-^ that ia to be b^

y only with eertai„7m=«utr„l ""j"'"™ ''^ '»»'>. "-S
r^'tl fire is lit everv ^ S """^ '^""nonies. Th„
""■e • who ha» g;„rZ -^r '" September by a* mi;
m«iaated for tT„ "d^s . '^n^j *t,/'»^ ""d &.ted Sd
«^»«1, no seculareye m'u A S " '*'^'''n "me Ci
°f 't under awful penalH " T^ » " '"'"='' "« 'he mote
never suflered to Tout tm th "^^ <""* hnrnilt

further heat unne^^y aid f„rv""">«"'' to reX
_ On one only occnal™, ■ "l "V'onvenient.

°.f 'vomen, wh^enl^Se • t' ^I"^ ''"'"> «•» head
«« ranks, she i, Se ^ H*^ '"'""''"''''> "Su
;^1 *e falls exhauS t ^ ** '" "■« "weat-houi
'"" even by becoS a mi^' ""' "PI*", howeve?
'»'« the interior of tliisj^'"""^ «»'J.ehope to Z'

" Joaquin JUiUer'a r/*.

160

GODS, SUPEUNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

The admission of a man to the medicine is a much
severer affair. He must retire to the forest for ten days,
eating no meat the while, and only enough aoom-porridge
to keep the life in him ; the ten days past, he returns to
the sweat-house and leaps up and down till he falls, just
as the woman did.

The doctors or sorcerers are of two kinds, ' root doctors'
and ' barking doctors.' To the barking doctor falls the
diagnosis of a case of sickness. He, or she, squats down
opposite the patient, and barks at him after the manner
of an enraged cur, for hours together. If it be a poison-
ing case, or a case of malady inflicted by some conjurer,
the barking doctor then goes on to suck the evil thing out
through the skin or administer emetics, as may be
deemed desirable. If the case, however, be one of less
serious proportions, the ' barker,'^ after having made his
diagnosis, retires, and the root-doctor comes in, who, with
his herbs and simples and a few minor incantations, pro-
ceeds to cure the ailment. If a patient die, then the
medicine is forced to return his fee; and if he refuse
to attend on anyone and the person die, then he is forced
to pay to the relatives a sum equal to that which was
tendered to him as a foe in the beginning of the affair;
thus like all professions, that of a medicine has its
draw-backs as well as advantages.

Several Northern Califomian tribes have secret socie-
ties which meet in a lodge set apart, or in a sweat-house,
and engage in mummeries of various kinds, all to fright-
en their women. The men pretend to converse with the
devil, and make their meeting-place shake and ring (^;ain
with yells and whoops. In some instances, one of their
number, disguised as the master fiend himself, issues from
the haunted lodge, and rushes like a madman through
the village, doing his best to frighten contumacious
women and children out of their senses. This, it would
seem, has been going on from time immemorial and the
poor women are still gulled by it, and even frightened
into more or less prolonged fits of wifely propriety and
less easy virtue.

CALIFOBNUN DEITIES.

. '''^e coast tribes of Del ]Vorfo n **^

m constant terror of a maliJ^ ?''""*-^' California, live
form of certain animals Thjf*"' ^P*"' that takes thp
a tarantula, and i on k *'"° ^^ * K of aWjc of
^-ts that if at^to";^ -P-if y d;iigh^^^

wliite hair that f«n ""^^^^ne-bag, and as Cvin!i^
Practicall,: Wv^ VcS ^^"* }^Z^m^
Cahfornian tribes, venemtP iL^ ' ^'J® *h« ™aJoritv of
dread is also had of SS t'^L^^^ "^y^^ Xat
habits; these, sa^ thelur^/X'tr"« of nocturna

^^^:X t^f^^^ ^-of bea^and
and those connect^^^ ;^h! "' ^^ Californian belief

Man, who made the eartfZi ^'f ' ''^'^*'^^^' ^^'^afc Big
^ we hnd it again bofh „^ A^** "^^«« »" th? skv »
San Luis Obisp^ the ^rS ^M^ :!{ ^^ -Sd
»n these neighborhoods to ih^ }.? ^^^^ were offered
w^greeted ,ith cnW^of« "^^ ^^^^ and his rS^
Father Geronimo Boiana»» •

.iSsly v-^&i'S- "^- ^- »'«• *

left beCdKr^i. **"« «' ""reX't^^V " " ^P" ^^e, 3J
WRin the text hi^»^^°'*™'''»°«'riSi8toJS?i^^^ to V

leS OODS, SUPLSNATURAL BBINOS, AND WORSHIP.

relation of the faith and worship of the Aoagchemem
nations, in the valley and neighborhood of San Juan
Capistrano, Califoriiia. Part of it would fall naturally
into that part of this work alloted to origin ; but the
whole is so intimately mixed with so much concerning
the life, deeds, and worship of various supernatural per-
sonages that it has seomed better to fit its present ix)sition
tlmn any other. Of the first part of the tradition there
are two versions — if indeed they be versions of the same
tradition. We give first that version held by the serranm,
or highlanders, of the interior country, .hree or four
leagues inland from the said San Juan Capistrano: —

l^efore the material world at all existed there lived two
beings, brother and sister, of a nature that can not be
explained; the brother living abov<\ and his name
meaning the Heavens, the sister living below and her
name signifying Earth. From the union of these two,
there sprang a numerous oftspring. Earth and sand
were the first fruit« of this marriage ; then were born
rocks and stones; then trees both great and small; then
grass and herbs; then animals; lastly was born a great
personage called Ouiot, who was a "grand captain." By
some unknown mother many children of a medicine race
were born to this Ouiot. All these things hap})ened
in the north; and afterward when men were created
they were created in the north ; but as the people multi-
plied they moved toward the south, tlie earth growing
larger also and extending itself in the same direction.

in process of time, Ouiot Ixjcoming old, his chil-
dren plottod to kill him, alleging that the infirmities of

longest and the nioHt valuable notice in exiHtenoo on the reli^on o.' a nation of
the nutivi! (.^uliforniunH, an oxiHliiiu at thi- time uf the HpaniMh conquvMl, ami
more wotthy of (.'onttdeucu than the g<>ueral nin of huvIi doc-uuicntH ><f iiu}'
.Ute whatever. The fattier prouiired his infornuition as folIowM. Hi' HiiyH:
' Ck)(t aHHigiied to }nn thr«-i' aued Indians, the youngeHt of whoi)i >^'aH o' 'T
aevnnty yearH of ago. They knew all the Mecrets, for two of them wita
onpilaiits, and the other apul, who were well histruvted in the niyHteriex. IW
giftM, endcarmentM. and kindncHH, I elieited from them their secretH, with
Uieir expIanationH; audby witnesHing the eerenioni«s whi<!h they peiforiiicd,
I learned by degreen, their mysterieH. Tims, by devoting a portion of the
niglits to urofoiuid nieditatir)n, and enmpariug their aetionn with tiieir diit-
closures, I wum enabled after i\ long time, to aomiire u knowledge of their r«-
ligion.' JiotoatM, iu UiAtimiunit l\ft in Vai, p. 336.

.^^r^^

'^ooTo^opxaB.OAaoaB-BM,.

ag<. m^e him unfit any lonirer t.
to their welfa,^. So Iht^pJt .^^^^^^ ***«"» «^ attend
drink and when he dS^of J? ''"""^ P«^««» ^n hi«
upon him, . he rose uTLf \^ ^"^ ^^^ness came

mountoi„« and went doTn?olh5 '^'^ ^^^'^^ ^n^e
though at that time there wa^'l^f V"" '*»« ^ea-sho^
who«e name i« the Earth S^i"lf^*^^^• Hismoth^'

Tthtf' "^'^ "* ^'^^ Potirolt^^ "^'^^^^^ - a
out the fragrance of it «♦♦.„ * , "* ^he sun to brew-
Coyote, who came and ovelf*^ t^^ attention of^e
en«^ to death, and thouJhT „^^^^ ,.SoOuior«ick!

would shortly return and ^ wfth ♦i' '^''^'*" ^'*".i he
never }ieen seen since An 7i^ ^^^"^ ««ain, he has

that the title of Hm n^ T " and escaoed a ft

""'ki-' man, another ix«ni . U """«"• "'"^ ' K" now i„
R'voyou power, c^hafto^^l, '''!• "!"» ">»; «« forZ 1

-«•■'«» to c^.0, ^ ^wr^^i:,'^, ,:-.- u.

GODS, BUPEBNATUBAL BEINOB, AND WORSHIP.

that the game fail not and the harvests be sure. Then
Chinigchinich made man ; out of the clay of the lake he
formed him, male and female; and the present Califor-
nians arc the descendants of the one or more pairs there
and thus created.

So ends the known tradition of the mountaineers;
we must now go back and take up the story anew at its
beginning, as told by the pkiyanon, or ^leople of the valley
of San Juan Capistrano. These say that an invisible
all-i)owerful being, called Nocuma, made the world and
all that it contains of things that grow and move, lie
made it round like a ball and held it in his hands, where
it rolled alwut a good deal at first, till he steadied it by
sticking a heavy black rock called tnaaiU into it, as a kind
of ballast. The sea was at this time only a little stivam
running round the world, and so crowded with fish that
their twinkling fins had no kinger room to move; .so
great was the press that some of the more foolish fr}'
were for effecting a landing and founding a colony,
upon the dry land, and it was only with the utmost
difficulty that they were [lersuadtHi by their elders, that
the killing air and })aneful sun and th** want of feet inust
infallibly prove the destructiim before many daysof iii
who took part in such a desinnate enterjirixp The projKM
plan wjis evidently to improve and eniurp' tlioir pnwiit
home; and to this ond, i)rincipally by thi* »id of one very
large (i.sh, they broke the great rock tosaut in two. find-
ing a bladder in the centre filled with a very bitter siih-
stance. The taste of it plejised the fish, so they emptied
it into the water, and instantly the water became salt
and swelled up and overHowed a great part of the old
earth, and made itself tlie new boundaries that remain
to this day.

Th«'n Xiwuma created a man, shaping him out of the
soil of the earth, calling him Kjoni. A woman als«) the
great gcKl made, presumably of the same material as tlic
man, calling her Ae. Many children were born to tliin
first pair, and their descendants multiplied over the land.
The name of one of these last was Sirout, that is to m),

THE Pi«gT MSDIOWE-MAN.

Handful of Tobacco an^ *h **

-^. which me^j^CVtdZV'' ^'' ^'^ ^^ Yea.
^rn a «on, while they^liedln^ ^r"* ^^ ^'^i^t w^
e.glit leagues from San J,r„ p,^P*«^ north-east abo,J?
this son was Ouiot, thatl tT^X'^"'. The naine of
/lerce and redoutable warrinr T^ 7»n»'nator; he grew a
«o»«, he extended hrsSi*"^*^' ^"'^^^^^"^'^^^n-
eveo^whei^ as with a roi !? ^ ^" ^^"^>^ «de S*
«P'red against him. It^as detT^" '"1 '^' People con?
i'e by poison; a piece of iS! ^^*7"»'»ed that he should
"• «« deadly k way ?h/t t ""^^ ^"* ^«« ground ud

t'Hit 1.0 held himself consS; T'' notwithstanding
7"ied of his danger by «^"^^?^ *^« ^'^rt, having S
the c^oe.;;,^, ^^ ulmbirto^vL f'^^^g animal t^^

,7«- "ed to hi, a*i»tonco b^« "'* ""«" "f the Cd
'"» U)die. Hi, C^Sv' '""''•ore w,M „„thin„ f™

, »^hilo t|,p j,^ . vv«.« '.1 *"** nation reioiced

-'"■•'■d to then,. „«„i^^ JhiT"' '^""■'•' "'cw a!!

'';: I'^'^V'*; "TM. that he milr'. ''""• '""* ^" thes^ g,^
ot''<''' that h.. «,;.,»,♦ ^"^ '^"'«' 'ain to fall f»

"'WO apiwiTOi in tl,,, „1„ 1 ** "'* "'•''«''' "f Oniot

GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

chinich, which means Almighty. He first manifested
his powers to the people on a day when they had met in
congregation for some purpose or other; he appeared
dancing before them crowned with a kind of high
crown made of tall feathers stuck into a circlet of some
kind, girt with a kind of petticoat of feathers, and having
his flesh painted black and red. Thus decorated he was
called the tdbet. Having danced some time, Chinigchinich
called out the medicine-men, or puplems as they were
called, among whom it would appear the chiefs are
always numbered, and confirmed their power; telling
them that he had come from the stars to instruct them
in dancing and all other things, and commanding that
in all their necessities they should array themselves in
the tobet, and so dance as he had danced, supplicating
him by his great name, that thus they might receive
of their petitions. He taught them liow to worship
him, how to build vangu£chs, or places of worship, and
how to direct their conduct in various affairs of life.
Then he prepared to die, and the people asked him if
they should bury him ; but he warned them against
attempting such a thing: If ye buried me, he said, ye
would tread upon my grave, and for that my hand would
be heavy upon you ; look to it, and to all your ways,
for lo, I go up where the high stars are, where mine eyes
shall see all the ways of men ; and whosoever will not
keep my commandments nor observe the things I have
taught, behold disease shall plague all his body, and no
food shall come near his lips, the bear shall rend his
flesh, and the crooked tooth of the serpent shall sting
him.

The vanquech, or place of worship, seems to have been
an unroofed inclosure of stakes, within which, on a
hurdle, was placed the image of the g(xl Chinigchinich.
This image was the skin of a coyote or that of a mount-
ain-cat stuffed with the feathers of certain birds, and
with various other things, so that it looked like a live
animal ; a bow and some arrows were attached to it on tho
outside, and other arrows were thrust down its throat m

SANCTDABIESOPBETOOE.

that the feathers of th«™ ""

of a quiver. ?hf ^T ^Pf^J^ «he month a, out

fored.and not to be an^Jl!^ "^ *« ineIo8u« w"'

doe. not ^m that ZriS^Jl^J"*^'""^ r^ot^^jH

d..p there offenrf, bTonW p^™"" „T P*" "^ «>e w^"

of pantomine connected witfT ' ^"^ """""'mes a kind

be furthe,*d-thu8, desTriL ™r''*1'*'''8<'«»i«dto

nn,.m.cked the action's of XdiZT '" """"""S ""e

ones bow. Each vanquech w^k T"« ™<' '"''"ginK

nght, of sanctuary excldwl * ""•>' "'^ "fuge, with
or Christian countries v?,'"^«*''"-«nMited in JeS

«.fe there whatev^r'S, ^fZ Z ''■"'' ""^
were blotted out from ihnt rH ' } *"® ^'*"ne was •>« if
at liberty to leavTVe L^^[":"*' «"d the off^^^^^
fore, it wa« „ot lawful even to'L"?^ T"^ «^»t^
that the avenger could do wrtl^^- f ?u^'« «"'"«; all
hmi, saying: Lo, a cowai^ who h'^'l!! ""^ *'"" «"d deride
^'hmigchinieh! This Shf ^""^ ^" tbrced to flee to
^neaner thing i^thluto^y^turn^^ ^ '""e^ a

he hend of him that fled Cn?h1/,' P""'«^''"«"t from
t'ves; hfe went for life evS ""^ """'« o^-his rela-
even to the thini andlZl ^'^^'•'^"^ tooth for toSh

I^«idesChinig4fnirhef^^^^^^^
feared, a god called Touch ^wh-^?' «'' «t any rate
tains and the bowels of th; ^^o inhabited the mou„!
from ti, to time in leroZt' "P^?^**""^' ^^^^^ve"
^rnfying kind. Every d.iW at 1 '"''""'' '*"''"«'« of a
•reived, sent to him Lm t *^? "^^^ ^^-six or seven
Protectcy.. To find mit wlTat L''™-' T« «"'""^' -^ a
«hape of animal was nar« tt • ?"'"'"' «'" «P"it in the
t!'« «nbject fitted «n w£,^rV'^« ^^e hwLiowc . «

«»titlod hnn to wait L I .\^; "J. ' "^' ^^hoso rmik
."'^'rcd inclosure, was set h ^T''? "Pl"tHti«n in o

one of the wise men^n „±u^^^^ '"''' -k.U^K^lhy
Iho child was then loft T ''^^•"^' "< •orno animui

169 GODS, SUFBBNATURAL BEINGS, AMD WOBSHIP.

by eating or drinking or otherwise, would be reported to
the god by the sprawling figure the enchanter had drawn
in the clay, and that in such a case the punishment of
Chinigchinich would be terrible. After all this was
over, a scar was made on the child's right krm, and some-
times on the thick part of the leg also, by covering the
part, " according to the figure required," with a peculiar
herb dried and powdered, and setting fire to it. This
was a brand or seal required by Chinigchinich, and was
besides supposed to strengthen the nerves and give " a
better pulse for the management of the bow." **

The Acagchemems, like many other Califomian tribes,**
regard the great buzzard with sentiments of veneration,
while they seem to have had connected with it several
r'ites and ideas peculiar to themselves. They called this
bird the paties, and once every year they had a festival of
the same name, in which the principal ceremony was the
killing of a buzzard without losing a drop of its blood.
It was next skinned, all possible care being taken to pre-
serve the feathers entire, as these were used in making
the feathered petticoat and diadem, already described as
part of the ti'bet. Last of all the body was buried within
the sacred iiiClosure amid great apparent grief from the
old women, they mourning as over the loss of rela-
tive or frieid. Tradition explained this: the panes
had indeed b^n once a woman, whom, wandering in the
mountain ways, the great god Chinigchinich had come
suddenly upon and changed into a bird. How this was
connected with the killing of her anew every year by
the people, and with certain extraordinary ideas held
relative to that killing is, however, by no means clear;
for it was believed that as often as the bird was killed it
vfos miule alive again, and more, and faith to niuve
mountaiuN — that the birds killed in one same yearly feast
in many separate villages were one and the same bini.
How these things were or whv, none knew, it was enough

n Hoc p. 11.1. of tl 'B volume, for a cutitiom among the Mazioaiu not with-
out anulogieH to thiH.

M 8(te p. 131, of thiH volume.

uiat thev wpno a « * 109

The Pericues of Lower P«i.v •

ayp. was a real mo«»j; "''*''; "neof whnm A "™v

^ong time he liv«iS *u ***" ^'""ng god wa« «5
whom it is almost to h!fp *H «»«««tor8 ofThe Sr^ **
we are told K wa^^atlT^^^^V" ^^^^^^^
"P out of the earth Thi '""'^^'"en, drawing thl

fmn hi, wound,, «„d he ZLJ^^ •""> «>n»t«nu7

h^ven mto a cave rnider t^^ ? "' "'"1 «"" forth rf
Jhalea of the «,a wer^^^.e ^r ' "'"'"* "»" e the

Tupinm to be their ^reaTaP '°°* *'"" heldflS

170

GODS. BUPEBNATUAL BEXKGS, AND WOBSHIP.

Niparaya.^ The Cochimis and remaining natives of the
Califomian peninsula seem to have held in the main
much the same ideas with regard to the gods and powers
above them as the Pericues held, and the sorcerers of all
had the common blowings, leapings, fastings, and other
mummeries that make these professors of 'the sinister art
so much alike everywhere in our territory.**

The natives of Nevada have ideas respecting a great
kind Spirit uf some kind, as well as a myth concerning
an evil one ; but they have no sj^ecial class set apart as
medicine-men." The Utah belief seems to be as nearly
as possible identical with that of Nevada.^

The Comanches acknowledge more or less vaguely a
Supreme Spirit, but seem to use the Sun and the Earth
as mediators with and, in some sort, as embodiments of
him. They have a recognized body of sorcerers called
pinjaeantes, and various religious ceremonies and chants;
for the most part of a simple kind, and directed to the Sun
as the great source of life, and to the Earth as the pro-
ducer and receptacle of all that sustains life. According
to the AbW Domenech, every Comanche wears a little
figure of the sun, attached to his neck, or has a picture of
it painted on his shield ; from the ears of each hang also
two crescents, which may possibly represent the moon.''

The Apocbes recognize a supreme power in heaven
under the name Yaxtaxitaxitanne, the creator and master
of all things ; but tbey render him no open service nor wor-
ship. To any taciturn cunning man they are accustomed
to credit intercourse with a preternatural power of some
kind, and to look to him as a sort of oracle in various
emergencies. This is, in fact, their medicine-man, and

w See pp. 83-4, this volnme.

" Vtn-!ias, NotUiisdeladul., torn. 1., pp. 103-124; Claviiiero, StortadtUa
Vol., torn, i., pp. 135-141; lluntbdltU, Easai J'ol.. torn, i., p. 314.

w Virninia City Chrwiicle, quoted in S. F. Daily Ev'y J^ost, o( Oct. ISth,
1873; Brown*' a lAmerCai., p. 188.

so Dt Smet'H IMtrra, p. 41.

'I Parker, in SchnoU!n\fl's Arch., vol. v., p. 084; Whipple, Eutbank, and
Tiirn?r'a llepl., pp. 35-6, in Pac. li. It. Kept., vol. iii.; Jiarrriro, Ojeadaadm
N. Mm., ap. p. 8; Filley'a Life and Adum., p. 83; Marcy'sArmyUfe, pp. 58,
01; Domeutch, Jour, d'un Miaa,, pp. 13, 131, 401).

MONmUMA OF TEE PUEBLOS.

in cases of illnp«9 i,« . , *'*

them from their evil one^„^ T^^ *« be to pro&
min Jong -ound stones thona-K* *' J *^® ««rae end cer

f«i spirit wh.^ "„^e t ' ""'"^"'^ of « g.^ld

""J rate he is trod tSt ' ^ ^O"' Montezuma "^T!
;«no„g the PueWrS'furPPT' '° ''»ve «pLA'
'l-e" present towns. ''Si^*^!;?d ""-ived at ofS
"'her the anoes,„,„, .S::^.^?^ *"'"'' """«* ht

""""'""people; but
'W-.^rtv'^ **" *■• *■«•• .p. PP a 1 „

ITS GODS, SUPERNATUBAL 8EIN08, AND 1lK)BSHIP.

the most regard him as a kind of semi or wholly divine
priest, prophet, leader, and l^slator. Under restric-
tions pointed out in a former note,** we may fairly regard
him as at once the Melchizedek, the Moses, and the
Messiah of these Pueblo desert wanderers from an Egypt
that history is ignorant of, and whose name even tradi-
tion whispers not. He taught his people to build cities
^ith tall houses, to construct estufas, or semi-sacred
sweat-houses, and to kindle and guard the sacred fire.

At Acoma, it is said by some, was established the first
Pueblo, and thence the people marched southward, form-
ing others. Acoma was one, and Pecos another. At
this last, Montezuma planted a tree upside down, and
said that, on his leaving them, a strange nation should
oppress them for many years, years also in which there
should be no rain, but that they were to persist in
watching the sacred fire until the tree fell, when he
would return, with a white race which should destroy
their enemies; and then rain should fall again and the
earth be fertile. It is said that this tree fell from its
abnormal position, as the An^rican army entered Santa

The watching of the fire, kept up in subterranean
estufas, under a covering of ashes generally, and in the
basin of a small altar, was no light task. Tlie warriors
took the post by turns, some said, for two successive days
and nights, sons food, sans drink, sans sleep, sans every-
thing. Otlicrs affirm that this watching was kept up
till exhaustion and even death relieved the guard — the
last not to be wondered at, seeing the insufferable close-
ness of the place and the accumulation of carbonic acid.
The remains of the dead were, it was sometimes sup{X)sed,
carried off by a monstrous serpent. This holy fire was
believed to be the palladium of the city, and the watch-
ers by it could well dream of that day, when, coming
with the sun, Montezuma should descend by the column
of smoke whose roots they fed, and should nil the shabby

M See pp. 77-8, note 36, Uuh volume.

^ « ^OT DEAD BDT SLBB^j^^

^^'""»te s^t&" *e^oj:fe„f

g-nng from hi, sCm at^h " Jf"'' 'he Tell Si
Gennany « at heTSZ^tht "T'' '•'" ''«'"'• " When

»> in th?.Uo':^' orr'n"*""* ctX'lttj

«nd the plumes of him— ^' "P"" t'le mountains

Slid by hirtriji- "*" » 'leHpoir

To earth t„n,ii"«^X!'^* »"»«

4';S th^t ri^^^^ '^i \ -me time prfeste .
«/ t»»e «un and of MontS2a "^' ^y which the^^^r'

«e power-according to^Z/' '"""^'"'^^ n« wdl L
f^'iake, to whom !», ^ "*® «W5count«— <,f w ♦ u^ri
ior life •" f h , -^ ^^^^ of Montezumn^ ^® ^^«*

Which \. ^^ "'** officiate in^ertir ^-^''"^ *« ^"^^
ZT ^^^^y Pr«y for rain Tu " ct'i^'monies with

Vv^,

■».

lAAAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

1.25

1.4

11.6

<S^

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

us W»T MAIN ITMIT

V.'i«8$T1^N.V 14S80
(7U/ S73-4S03

174 aODS, 8UPEBNATURAL BBINOS, AND WORSHIP

Laguna, a rude effigy or idol, intended, apparently, to
represent only the head of the deity ; it was made of
tanned skin in the form of a brimless hat or cylinder
open at the bottom. Half-way round, it was painted
red; the other half was green. The green side was
rudely marked to suggest a face : two triangles were cut
for eyes ; there was no nose ; a circular leather patch
served for a mouth, and two other patches in an
appropriate situation suggested ears. Crowning the
head was a small tuft of leather, said to be supplemented
by feathers on festal occasions. A sorry image one
would say, yet one looked upon by its exhibitors with
apparently the greatest veneration ; they kneeling in a
most devoted manner, going through a form of prayer,
and sprinkling it with a white powder. One of the
worshiiiers said it was God and the brother of God;
and the people bring it out in dry seasons, and, with
dancing and other rites, invoke it for rain.

Christianity has now effaced the memory of most of
the rites of the Pueblo religion, but Dr Ten Broeck
noticed that many of the worshipers at the Christian
church in Laguna carried little baskets in their hands
containing images of domestic animals, or of beasts of the
chase, molded in mud or dough ; it being the custom, as
it had been there from time immemorial, for those that
had been successful in the chase, or in accumulating
cattle, to bring such simulachres of their prosperity before
the altar of God, — probably, a modification produced by
the poverty of the people of a rite as old as the altar of
Abel, to wit, the offering of the firstlings and firstfruits to
that Deit>' whose blessing had given the increase.

It has been affirmed, without much foundation or pro-
bability of truth, that the Pueblos worshiped fire and
water."

»• are(n'» Com. PraMen, vol. i., pp. 371-3; Davia' El Qringo, pp. 142, 396;
8imp»>n'H Overland Journ., pp. 'Jl -3; Ihmetuch'ii DtmU, vol. i., pp. Ifl^-fi, 41H.
Tol. ii., pp. 62-3, 401; Mmhavmtn, Twiebuch, pp. 170, 219, 284; MMm'h Tm
ThouMUulMUM on Horatback, pp. 202, 226; ittucton's Advtn. in Mm.., p. lOS;
3Vn Broeck, iu Scho(^eraft't Arch., vol. Iv., p. 73; Ward, in Ind. Aff- ^^'^ >
1864, pp. 102-3; Emory's Reconnoiamince, p. 30; Tylor'n Prim. VvU.. vol. ii.,
p. 384; Brinton't My(h$, p. 190; CorotMdo, in Hakluyt'a Voy., vol. iil., p.

MOJAVE DEITIES.

1T6

The Moquis know nothing of Montezuma; they believe
in a Great Father, living where the sun riwis, and in a
great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down.
This Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and
famine; but from the mother are all their joy, peace,
plenty, and health."

The Mojaves tell of a certain Matevil, creator of hea-
ven and earth, who was wont in time past to remain
among them in a certain grand casa. This habitation
was, however, by some untoward event broken down;
the nations were destroyed ; and Matevil departed east-
ward. Whence, in the latiPi' days, he will again return
to consolidate, prosper, and live with his people forever.
This Matevil, or Mathowelia, has a son called Mastamho,
who made the water and planted trees. There is also
an Evil Spirit Newathie.*

From a letter just received from Judge Roseborough,
I am enabled to close this chapter with some new and
valuable facts regarding the religious ideas of certain
tribes — not accurately specified — of the north-west por-
tion of Upper California. The learned judge has given
unusual attention to the subject of which he writes, and his
opportunities for procuring information must have been
frequent during ten years of travel and residence in the
districts of the northern counties of California: —

Among the tribes in the neighborhood of Trinity river
is found a legend relating to a certain Wappeckquemow,
who was a giant, and apparently the father and leader of

879. Fremont gives an kcoount of the birth of MonteEuma : Hin mother was,
it iH said, a woman of exquisite beauty, udmiird and Rought after by all men,
they making her presents of corn and skins and all that they had; but the
fantidiuus beauty would accept nothing ot them but their gifts. In process
of time a season of drought brought on a famine and much distress; tlicn it
wus that the rich ladv showed her charity to be as great in one direction as
it had been wanting in another. She opened her granaries and the gifts of
the lovers she had not loved went to releave the hungry she pitied. At last
with rain, fertility returned to the earth; and on the chaste Artemis of the
PnebloB its touch fell too, Bhe bore a son to the thick summer shower and
that son was Montecnma.

" Ten Hrotck, in SoKoolavft'ii Arch., vol. Iv., pp. 85-0.

M Whipplf, Ewbank, and Tumtr'g Rfpl., pp. 42-3, in Poo. R. R. Rtnt.,
vol. iii.; Dodt, in Ind. 4ff. Rtpt., 1870, p. 1129.

176 OODS, BUPEBNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

a pre-human race like himself. He wa« expelled from the
country that he inhabited — near the mouth of the Kla-
math — for disobeying or offending some great god, and a
curse was pronounced against him, so that not even his
descendants should ever return to that land. On the
expulsion of these Anakim, the ancestors of the people to
whom this legend belongs came down from the north-
west, a direction of migration, according to Judge Rose-
borough, uniformly adhered to in the legends of all the
tribes of north-west California. These new settlers, how-
ever, like their predecessors of the giant race, quarreled
with the great god and were abandoned by him to their
own devices, being given over into the hands of certain
evil powers or devils. Of these the first is Omahd, who,
possessing the shape of a grizzly bear, is invisible and
goes about everywhere bringing sickness and misfortune
on mankind. Next there is Makalay, a fiend with a horn
like a unicorn ; he is swift as the wind and moves by
great leaps like a kangaroo. The sight of him is usually
death to mortals. There is, thirdly, a dreadful being
called Kalicknateck, who seems a faithful reproduction of
the great thunder-bird of the north : thus Kalicknateck
" is a huge bird that sits on the mountain-peak, and broods
in silence over his thoughts until hungry ; when he will
sweep down over the ocean, snatch up a large whale, and
carry it to his mountain-throne, for a single meal."

Besides the before-mentioned powers of evil, these
Trinity people have legends connected with other person-
ages of the same nature, among whom are Wanuswegock,
Surgelp, Napousney, and Nequiteh.

When white miners first came to work on the Trinity
River, ^heir advent caused, as may be imagined, much
unsatisfactory speculation among the aborigines; some
saying one thing of the whites and some another. At
last an old seer of the Hoopah Valley settled the question
by declaring that the new-comers were descendants of
that banished Wappeckquemow, from whose heads the
already-mentioned curse, forbidding their return, had
been by some means lifted.

a s
to 1
shell
table
Thes
come
"hou
—all
down
at tin
many
boats;
made(
to the
to certj
sels.
refuse
acciunu
seen,
sea in t
rude hn
offtheii
grcat wi
the nort
in (larki
men sufl
wind, th
as the U
fi inarv'ol
was suej
While tlu
'»g i'oun(
vast of 1m
wen; hut
know of,
once livei
now is.

THE KITCHEN-MIDDEN OF THE HOHOATES.

177

The coast people in northern California have
a story about a mysterious people called Hohgates,
to whom is ascribed an immense bed of mussel-
shells and bones of animals still existing on the
table-land of Point St George, near Crescent City.
These Hohgates, seven in number, are said to have
come to the place in a boat, to have built themselves
"houses above-ground, after the style of white men"
— all this about the time that the first natives came
down the coast from the north. These Hohgates. living
at the [xjint mentioned, killed many elk on land, and
many seals and sea-lions in fishing excursions from their
boats; using for the latter purpose a kind of harpoon
made of a knife attached to a stick, and the whole fastened
to the boat with a long line. They also sailed frequently
to certain rocks, and loaded their little vessels with mus-
sels. By all this they secured plenty of food, and the
refuse of it, the bones and shells and so on, rapidly
accumulated into the great kjokken rmdding still to be
seen. One day, however, all the Hohgates being out at
sea in their boat, they struck a huge sea-lion with their
rude harpoon, and, unable or unwilling to cut or throw
oft' their line, were dragged with fearful speed toward a
great whirli)ool, called Ohareckquin, that lay far toward
the north-west. It is the place where soul? go, where
in darkness and cold the spirits shiver for ever ; living
men sufter even from its winds, — from the north-west
wind, the bleak and bitter Charreck-rawek. And just
as the boat reached the edge of this fearful place, behold,
a marvelous thing: tiie rope broke and the sea-monster
was Kwept down alone into the whirl of wind and water,
while the Hohgates were caught up into the air; swing-
ing round and round, their boat floati d steadily up into tho
vast of heaven. Nevermore on earth were the Hohgates
seen ; but there are seven stars in heaven that all men
know of, and these stars arc the seven Hohgates that
once lived where the great shell-bed near Crescent City
now is.

III

Vol. m. la

CHAPTER VI.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Gods and Rklioious Bitbs of Chihuahua, Sonoba, Durakoo, and Sin-
ALOA — Thk Mexican Relioion, beceiteu with diftebknt deorees or

OBEDULITY BY DIFFBBENT OLABSEB OF THE PEOPLE — OPINIONS OF DIFFER-
ENT AVbitebs as to its Natube — MoNOTHEisu OF Nezaiiualcoyotl—
Pbesknt condition of the Study of Mexican Mytholooy— Tezcatli-
pocA — Pravebb to Him in time of Pestilence, of War, fob those
IN AuTHOBitY— Prayer used by an Absolvino Priest— Genuineness of
the fobkooino Pbayebs — Chabaotbb and Works of Bahauun.

From the Pueblo cities let us now pass down into
Mexico, glancing first at the northern and north-western
neighbors of this great people that ruled on the plateau
of Andhuac. The Chihuahuans worshiped a great god
called by them the 'captain of heaven' and recognized
a lesser divinity as abiding in and inspiring their priests
and medicine-men. They rendered homage to the sun;
and when any comet or other phenomenon ap^xjared in
the heavens they oftered sacrifice thereto; their sacrifice
being much after the Mexican fashion ; fruits, herbs, and
such things as they had, together with blood drawn from
their bodies by the pricks of a thorn.*

In Sonora, — the great central heart of Mexico making
its beatings more and more clearly felt as we approach
it nearer, — the vague feelings of awe and reverence with
which the savage regards the urtseen, unknown, and un-
knowable powers, begin at last to somewhat lose their

' i Soe. Mm. Otog., Bolttin, torn, iii., p. 29; Doc. IM. Mcx., serie iv., torn.
iU., p. 86.

GODS OF SONOBA AND DUBANOO.

179

vagueness and to crystallize into the recognition of a
power to be represented and symbolized by a god mode
with hands. The ofierings thereto begin also, more and
more, to lose their primitive simple bhape, and the blood,
without which is no remission of sins, stains the rude
altar that a more Arcadian race had only heaped with
flowers and fruit. The natives of Sonora bring, says Las
Casas, "many deer, wolves, hares, and birds before a
large idol, with music of many flutes and other instru-
ments of theirs; then cutting open the animals through
the middle, they take out their hearts and hang them
round the neck of the image, wetting it with the flowing
blood. It is certain that the only offering made in all
this province of Sonr ra was the hearts of brutes."" All
this they did more especially in two great festivals they
had , the one at seed-time, the other at harvest ; and we have
reason to rejoice that the thing was no worse, reason to
be glad that the hearts of brave men and fair women, and
soft children not knowing their right hand from their left,
were not called for, as in the land of the eagle and coctuf
banner, to feed that devil's Minotaur, superstition.

The people of Durango called the principal power in
which they believed Meyuncarne, that is to say. Maker
of All Things; they had another god, Cachiripa, whose
name is all we know of him. They had besides innu-
merable private idols, penates of all possible and impoa-
eible figures ; some being stone, shaped by nature only.
In one village they worshiped a great flint knife that
their flint implements of every kind might be good and
Bure. They had gods of storm and gods of sunshine,
gods of good and gods of evil, gods of everything in
heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters
under the earth. Their idols received bloody sacrifices,
not always of beasts; a bowl containing beans and the
cooked human flesh of an enemy was oflered to them
for success in war.'

> Las Casus, Ilisl. ApologiUea, MB., torn, iii., oAp. 168; 8mUh'a ReMm
«f Cahna dt Kaca, p. 177.

s miMs, Hist, dt tos Triwnphot, pp. 473-6; Doe. Hid. Mt»., Mri« iv., torn.

iii., p. 48.

i80 GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WOESHIP

•

Much of the preceding paragraph belongs also to Sin-
aloa or cannot'be exactly located more in the one province
than in the other. The Sinaloas are said to have
venerated above all the other gods one called Cocohuame,
which is, being interpreted, Death. They worshiped also
a certain Ouraba,* which is Valor, oftering him bows,
iarrows, and all kinds of instruments of war. To Sehua-
toba, that is to say Pleasure, they sacrificed feathers,
raiment, beads of glass, and women's ornaments. Bam-
usehua was the god of water. In some parts, it is said,
there was recognized a divine element in common herbs
iand birds. One deity — or devil, as Ribas calls him with
the exquisite courtesy that distinguishes the theosophic
historian — ^was the especial patron of a class of wizards
closely resembling the shamans and medicine-men of
the north. No one seemed to know exactly the powers
of this deity, but everyone admitted their extent by re-
cognizing with a respectful awe their effects; effects
brought about through the agency of the wizards,
by the use of bags, rattles, magic stones, blowings, suck-
ings, and all that routine of sorcery with which we are
already familiar. This deity was called Grandfather or
Ancestor."

One Sinaloa nation, the Tabus, in the neighborhood
of Culiacan, reared great serpents for which they had
a good deal of veneration. They propitiated their gods
with offerings of precious stones and rich stuffs, but they
did not sacrifice men. With an altogether characteris-
tic insinuation, the Abbe Domenech says, that though
highly immoral in the main, they so highly respected
women who devoted themselves to a life of celibacy,

* Apparently the same ns that Vairubi spoken of on p. 83 of this volume.
4 lubas, Hist, de Ion Triumpliim, pp. IC, 18, 40. ' A uno de bus dioBcs llnra-
abun Ouraba, que auiere docir fortaleza. Era como Mnrto, dies de In guorrn.
Ofrdo'anlo arcua, itechaa y todo gtiuero de armas para el fcliz txito do hus
batallas. A otro llaraaban Behuutoba, que quiero decir, delrito, :i nuku
ofrecian pluinas, mantas, cueutecillas de vfdrio y ndornos rouRerilcs. Al dius
de Ian aguas Uamabnn Bamuaehua. El maa venerado de todos era Coco-

' huatne, que signifloa muerte.' Aleyre, Hist, Comp. de Jesua, torn, ii., p. 'Hi.
'They worship' for their gods such things as they haue in their houROR, ns

' namely, hearbes, and birdes, and sing songs vnto them in their Innguugo.
Ooronado, in Ilakluyt'a Voy., vol. iii., p. 363.

THE MEXICAN RELIGION AND ITS HISTOBIANS.

181

line.
Inni-
Irrft.

jiien

|l\iUH

loco-

45.

k, M

lugo-

that they held great festivals in their honor —
leaving the reader to suppose that the Talius had a class
of female religious who devoted themselves to a life of
chastity and were respected for that reason ; the truth is
found to be, on referring to the author Castafieda — from
whom apparently the abb4 has taken this half truth
and whole falsehood- — that these estimable celibate women
were the public prostitutes of the nation."

The Mexican religion, as transmitted to us, is a con-
fused and clashing chaos of fragments. If ever the great
nation of Anahuac had its Hesiod or its Homer, no ray
of his light has reached the stumbling feet of research in
that direction ; no echo of his harmony has been ever
heard by any ear less dull than that of a Zumdrraga. It
is given to few men to rise above their age, and it is
folly to expect grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ; yet it
is hard to suppress wholly some feelings of regret, in
poring ujwn those ponderous tomes of sixteenth and
seventeenth century history that touch upon Mexican
religion; one pities far less the inevitable superstition
and childish ignorance of the barbarian than the senility
of his Christian historian and critic — there was some
element of hope and evidence of attainment in what the
half-civilized barbarian knew ; but from what heights of
Athenian, Roman, and Alexandrian philosophy and elo-
quence, had civilization fallen into the dull and arrogant
nescience of the chronicles of the clergy of Spain.

Wc have already noticed^ the existence of at least two
schools of religious philosophy in Mexico, two average

<• * IIh cdlubraient de grandes fdten en I'honneur des femmes qui voulaient
vivro (lunt) le cJlibat. Les caciques d'un canton se rtuniBwiient it dnnsaient
tons nus, I'un nprbs I'autre, avec la femmo qui nvait priH oette determination.
Quaud la danae utait terminie, iU la couduisaicnt dans uno petite uiaiaon
mi'un nvait d.'corie & cet cffet, et lis jouissnient de sa peraonno, les caciqtieB
a' nbord ct cnsuite toug ceux qui le voulaient. A dnter de ce moment, clles
no pouvtiient rien refuser h quicuuque leur offrait le prix tixu pour cela.
EUcu n'(. tiilcnt jamaia diopenBeea de cette obligation, m6me quand pins tard
clles BO mariaient.' Castaneda, in Ternawc'Compans, Toy., serie i., torn, ix.,
pp. 150-1. ' Although these men were very immoral, yet Buch was their re-
Hpuct (nr nil women who led a life of ceUoacy, that they celebrated grand
fustivalu in their honour.' And there he makes an end. Domcneeh'a Dtaerii,
vol. i., p. 170.

^ This volume, pp. 66-0.

-H

i ^Hm

■ |M

' Hi

liB

OOD8, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

levels of thought, the one that of the vulgar and credu-
lous, the other that of the more enlightened and reflec-
tive. It has resulted from this thnt different writers
differ somewhat in their opinions with regard to the pre-
cise nature and essence of that religion, some saying one
thing and some another. I cannot show this more short-
ly and — what is much more important in a subject like
this — more exactly, than by quoting a number of these
opinions:

" Turning from the simple faiths of savage tribes of
America, to the complex religion of the half-civilized
Mexican nation, we find what we might naturally expect,
a cumbrous polytheism complicated by mixture of several
national pantheons, and beside and beyond this, certain
appearances of a doctrine of divine supremacy. But
these doctrines seem to have been spoken of more defi-
nitely than the evidence warrants. A remarkable native
development of Mexican theism must be admitted, in
so far as we may receive the native historian Ixtlilxo-
chitl's account of the worship paid by Nezahualcoyotl,
the poet-king of Tezcuco, to the invisible supreme Tloque-
Nahuaque, he who has all in him, the cause of causes,
in whose star-roofed pyramid stood an idol, and who
there received no bloody sacrifice, but only flowers and
incense. Yet it would have been more satisfactory, were
the stories told by this Aztec panegyrist of his royal an-
cestors confirmed by other records. Traces of divine
supremacy in Mexican religion are especially associated
with Tezcatlipoca, * Shining Mirror,' a deity who seema
in his original nature the Sun-god, and thence by ex-
pansion to have become the soul of the world, creator of
heaven and earth, lord of all things. Supreme Deity.
Such conceptions may, in more or less measure, have
arisen in native thought, but it should be pointed out
that the remarkable Aztec religious formulas collected
by Saha^un, in which the deity Tezcatlipoca is so promi-
nent a figure, show traces of Christian admixture in their
material, as well as of Christian influence in their style.
In distinct and absolute personality, the divine Sun in

COMPLEXITY OF AZTEC THEOLOGY.

188

Aztec theology was Tonatiuh" whose huge pyramid-
mound stands on the plain of Teotihuacan, a witness of
his worship for future ages. Beyond this the religion of
Mexico, in its complex system, or congeries of great gods,
such as results from the mixture and alliance of the
deities of several nations, show^s the solar element ixwted
deeply and widely in other personages of its divine my-
thology, and attributes especially to the sun the title of
Teotl, God."»

" It is remarkable," says Professor J. G. Miiller, " that
the well-instructed Acosta should have known nothing
about the adoration of a highest invisible God, under
the name of Teotl. And yet this adoration has been re-
ported in the most certain manner by others, and made
evident from more exact statements regarding the nature
of this deity. He has been surnamed Ipalnemoan, that
is, He through whom we live, and Tloquenahuaque, that
is, He who is all things through himself. He has been
looked upon as the originator and essence of all things,
and as especially throned in the high cloud-surrounded
mountains. Rightly does Wuttke contend against any
conception of this deity as a monotheistic one, the poly-
theism of the people being considered — for polytheism and
monotheism will not be yoked together; even if a logical
concordance were found, the inner spirits of the princi-
ples of the two would still be opposed to each other.
Another argument stands also clearly out, in the total
absence of any prayers, offerings, feasts, or temples to or
in the honor of this god. From this it is evident that
Teotl was not a god of the common people. Yet this,
on the other hand, cannot justify us, — the so-frequently-
occurring statements of well-informed authorities being
taken into account, — in denying in toto all traces of a pan-
theistic monotheism, as this latter may easily spring up

* I would call attention to the fact that Alvarado, the ruddy handsome
Spanish cnptuiu, waH called Tonatioh by the Mexicans, just as Barnabas was
called Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, by the people of Lystra—going to show
how uufetish and anthropomorphic were the ideas connected with the aun-
god by the Mexicans.

9 Tylor'8 Prim. CuU., vol. U., p. 311.

18i

GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

among cultivated polytheists as a l(^cal result and out-
come of their natural religion. Nezahualcoyotl, the en-
lightened king of Tezcuco, adored as the cause of causes,
a god without an image. The chief of the Totonac
aborigines of Cempoallan had, if we may credit the
speech put in his mouth by Las Casas and Herrera, an
idea of a highest god and creator. This abstract
idea has also here, as in other parts of America, inter-
twined itself with the conception of a sun-god. Hence
the Mexicans named the sun-god pre-eminently Teotl ;
and that enlightened king of Tezcuco, who built a temple
of nine stories — symbolizing the nine heavens — in honor
of the stars, called the sun-god his father." '"

" To the most ancient gods," says Klemm, "belonged
the divinities of nature, as well as a highest being called
Teotl, God. He was perfect, independent, and invisible,
And consequently not represented by any image. His
qualities were represented by expressions like these:
He through whom we live. He who is all in himself.
This god coincides very nearly with the Master of
Life of the North Americans. In opposition to him
is the evil spirit, the enemy of mankind, who often
appears to and terrifies them. He is called Tlacate-
cololotl, that is to say. Rational Owl, and may possi-
bly, like the Lame-foot of the Peruvians, be a sur-
vival from the times when the old hunter-nations in-
habited the forests and mountains. Next to Teotl

•• Matter, Amerikanische Urreligiotun, pp. IT' 4. The 80-often diBoussed
resemblance in form and sif^uification betwei .. the two Mexican words ieotl
and calli (see Molina, Vocabuhrio) and the two Greek words (heos and
kalia, is completely enough noticed by MQlIer. ' Die Mexikanischen Volker
haben cinen Appellativniimen t&t Gott, Teotl, wtlcher, da die liuchstaben
tl blosse aztekische Endnug sind. merkwiirdiger Wcise mit dem Indoger-
Mauischen theos, Deus, Deva, Dew, zusammenstimmt. Dieses Wort wird
EUr Dildung mancher Gotteruamen oder Kultusgegenstfinde gebniueht.
Hieher gehoren die Gfittemamen Tcotlacozonqui, Teocipactli, Teotetl,

GOttermarsch. Dazu kommen noch manche Namen von Htadten, die alB
Kultussitze ausgezeichnet waren, wie das uns schon frtther bekaunt gewordene
Teotihuacan. Im Plural wurden die G6tter Teules genannt una ebcu bo,
wie uns Bemal Diaz so oft erz&hlt, die Geffthrten des Cortes welche das ge-
meiue Volk als Gfitter bezeiohnen wollte.' Id., p. 472.

TLOQUE-NAHUAQUE.

186

was Tezcatlipoca, that is to say, Shining Mirror; he
was the god of providence, the soul of the world,
and the creator of heaven and earth. Teotl was
not represented by any image, and was probably not
worshiped with offerings nor in any special temples;
Tezcatlipoca was, however, so represented, and that as
a youth, because time could have no power over his
beauty and his splendor. He rewarded the righteous,
and punished the ungodly with sickness and misfortune.
He created the world, and mankind, and the sun, and
the water, and he was himself in a certain degree tLc
overseer thereof""

The Abbe Brasseur believes in the knowledge by the
Mexicans and certain neighboring or related natiors. of
a Supreme God; but he thinks also that the names of
great priests and legislators have often been usod for or
confounded witl 'Le one Name above e\ery name. He
says: "In the traditions that have reached us the
mime oi the legislator is often confused with that
of the divinity ; and behind the symbolic veil that covers
primitive history, he who civilized and brought to light
in the Americans a new life, is designedly identified with
the Father of the universal creation. The writers who
treat of the history of the ancient American nations avow
that, at the time of the landing of the Spaniards on the
soil of the western continent, there was not one that did
not recognize the existence of a supreme deity and arbi-
ter of the universe. In that confusion of religious ideas,
which is the inevitable result of ignorance and supersti-
tion, the notion of a unique immaterial being, of an in-
visible power, had survived the shipwreck of pure primi-
tive creeds. Under the name Tloque-Nahuaque, the
Mexicans adored Him who is th(i first cause of all things,
who preserves and sustains all by his providence; call-
ing him again, for the same reason, Ipalnemoaloni, He
in whom and by whom we are and live. This god was
the same as that Kunab-Ku, the Alone Holy, who was
adored in Yucatan; the same again as that jJurakan,

>i KUmm, CuUur-OtschichU, torn, v., pp. 114-5,

-I'll

186 OODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

the Voice that Cries, the Heart of Heaven, found with the
Guatemalan n-itions of Central America; and the same
lastly as that Teotl, God, whom we find named in the
Tzendal and Mexican hooka. This "God of all purity,"
as he was styled in a Mexican prayer, was, however, too
elevated for the thoughts of the vulgar. His existence
was recognized, and sages invoked him; hut he had
neither temples nor altars, — perhaps hecause no one
knew how he should be represented, — and it was only
in the last times of 'the Aztec monarchy that Nezahual-
coyotl, king of Tezcuco, dedicated to him a teocalli of nine
terraces, without statues, under the title of the unknown
god.""

Mr Gallatin says of the Mexicans: " Their mythology,
as far as we know it, presents a great number of uncon-
nected gods, without apparent system or unity of design.
It exhibits no evidence of metaphysical research or ima-
ginative powers. Viewed only as a development of the
intellectual faculties of man, it is, in every respect, vastly
inferior to the religious systems of Egypt, India, Greece,
or Scandinavia. If imjwrted, it must have been from
some barbarous country, and brought directly from such
country to Mexico, since no traces of a similar worship
are found in the more northern parts of America.""

"The Aztecs," writes Prescott, "recognized the exist-
ence of a Supreme Creator and Lord of the Universe.
But the idea of unity — of a being, with whom volition
is action, who has no need of inferior ministers to
execute his purjioses — was too simple, or t(X) vast, for
their understandings; and they sought relief as usual,
in a plurality of deities, who presided over the elements,
the changes of the seasons, and the various occupations
of man. Of these, there were thirteen principal deities,
and more than two hundred inferior; to each of whom
some special day, or appropriate festival, was conse-
crated.""

•• Bnusrur de Bourbourq, Iflst, (its Kat. Civ,, torn, i., pp.
IS Uiillutin, in Amer, Anliq. iS'ne. Tmninct., vol, i., p. 3Gi.
'< PrtacoU'a Conq. of Mex., vol. I,, p. 57.

46-0.

FBIMrnVE WORSHIP.

187

According to Mr Squier: " The original deities of tlie
Mexican pantheon are few in number. Thus when the
Mexicans engaged in a war, in defense of the liberty or
sovereignty of their country, they invoked the War God,
under his aspect and name Huitzlipochtli. When sud-
denly attacked by enemies, they called u\y)n the same
god, under his aspect and name of Paynalton, which im-
plied God of Emergencies, etc. In fact, as already else-
where observed, all the divinities of the Mexican, as of
every other mythology, resolve themselves into the pri-
meval God and Goddess." "

" The population of Central America," says the Vi-
comto do Bussierre, '* although they had preserved the
vw^wc notion of a superior eternal God and creator,
kiimvn by the name Tootl, hud an Olympus as numerous
as that of the Greeks and the Romans. It would apjiear, —
the most ancient, though, unfortunately, also the most
obscure legends being followed, — that during the civilized
period which preceded the successive invunsions of the
barbarous hordes of the north, the inhabitants of Ana-
huac joined to the idea of a supremo Innng the worship
of the sun and the moon, oflering them llowers, fruits,
anil tiie first fruits of their fields. The most ancient
moiuunents of the country, such as the pyramids of Teo-
tihuacan, were incontestably consecrated to those lumi-
naries. Let us now trace some of the most striking
features of these jieople. Among the number of their
goils, is found one represented under the figui*e of a man
otiTiially young, and considered as the symlwl of tho
supreme and mysterious (JimI. Two other gcxls tiiero
were, watching over mortals from the height of a celestial
city, and charged witii the accomplishment of their
prayers. Air, earth, firo, and water had their particu-
lar divinities. The woman of the serjient, the i)rolifio
woman, she who never gave birth but to twins, was
adored as the mother of tho human race. The sun and
tho m(H)n luul their altars. Various divinities presi<led
over the phenomena of nature, over the day, tho night,

'i Squier'a Serpent Symbol, p. 47.

il,'

183 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

the mist, the thunder, the harvest, the mountains, and
BO on. Souls, the place of the dead, warriors, hunters,
merchants, fishing, love, drunkenness, medicine, flowers,
and many other things had their special gods. A multi-
tude of heroes and of illustrious kings, whose apotheosis
had been --lecreed, took their place in this vast pantheon,
where were besides seated two hundred and sixty divin-
ities of inferior rank, to each of whom nevertheless one
of the days of the year was consecrated. Lastly, every
city, every family, every individual, had its or his celes-
tial protector, to whom worship was rendered. The
number of the temples corresponded to that of the gods;
these temples were found everywhere, in the cities, in
the fields, in the woods, along the roads, and all of them
had priests charged with their service. This complicated
mythology was common to all the nations of Andhuac,
even to those that the empire had Ijeen unable to sub-
jugate and with which it was at war; but each country
had its favorite god, such god being to it, what Huitzilo-
pochtli, the god of war, was to the Aztecs." "

The Mexican religion, as summed up by Mr Brantz May-
er," "was a comjwund of spiritualism and gross idolatry;
for the Aztecs believed in a Supreme Deity, whom they
called Teotl, God ; or Ipalnemoani, He by whom we
live; or Tloque Nahuaque, He who has all in himself;
while their evil spirit bore the name of Tlaleatcololotl,
the Rational Owl. These spiritual beings are sur-
rounded by a number of leaser divinities, who were prob-
ably the ministerial agents of Teotl. These were
Huitzil()[X)tchtli, the god of war, and Teoyaomiqui,
his s[X)use, whose duty it was to conduct the souls of
warriors who perished in defense of their homes and
and religion to the ' house of the sun,' the Aztec heaven.
Huitziloix)tchtli, or Mextli, the god of war, was the
special protector of the Aztecs; and devoted as they
were to war, this deity was always invoked before battle,

>» TJu-wUrre, L'Emplrt Mtxleain, pp. 131-3.

i' JiraiUt ,\l(iiier, in SvliookrajVa Arch., vol. vi., p. 686; goe aho, Brantt
Mayzr'a Mtxiw cw it was, p. 110.

MEXICAN BELIOION, OKEEE AND BOMAN:

iSO

and recompensed after it by the offering of numerous
captives taken in conflict."

'* The religion of the Mexicans," writes Sefior Carbajal
Espinosa," plagiarizing as literally as possible from Clavi-
gero, " was a tissue of errors and of cruel and superstitious
rites. Similar infirmities of the human mind are in-
separable from a religious system originating in caprice
and fear, as we see even in the moat cultured nations
of antiquity. If the religion of the Mexicans be com-
pared with that of the Greeks and Romans, it will be
found that the latter is the more superstitious and ridic-
ulous and the former the more barbarous and sangui-
nary. These celebrated nations of ancient Europe
multiplied excessively their gods because of the mean
idea that they had of their power; restricting their rule
within narrow limits, attributing to them the most atro-
cious crimes, and solemnizing their worship with such
execrable impurities as were so justly condemned by the
fathers of Christianity. The gods of the Mexicans were
less imperfect, and their worship although superstitious
contained nothing repugnant to decency. They hud
some idea, although imperfect, of a Supreme Being, ab-
solute, independent, Ixilieving that they owed him tri-
bute, adoration, and fear. They had no figure whereby
to represent him, believing him to Ijc invisible, neither
did they give him any other name, save the generic one,
God, which is in the Mexican tongue teotl, resembling
even more in sense than in pronunciation the theos of
the Greeks; tiiey used, however, epithets, in the highest
degree expressive, to signify the grandeur and the ix)wcr
which they believed him endowed with, calling him
Ipalnemoani, that is to say, Ho by whom we live, and
Tloque-Nahuaque, which means. He that is all things in
himself But the knowledge and the worship of this
Supremo Essence were obscured by the multitude of pods
invented by su|)erstition. The people believed further-
more in an evil spirit, inimical to mankind, calling

■3 Carhajal Esphioaa, Ilist. dt Mtxko, torn, i., pp. 403-0; Clavigtro, Storiu
Ant, del Mvasico, turn, il., pp. U-4.

190 aODS, SDPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

him Tlacatecololotl, or Rational Owl, and saying that
oftentimes he revealed himself to men, to hurt or to
terrify them."

" The Mexicans and the Tezcucans," following Sefior
Piraentel, " recognized the existence of a Supreme Being,
of a First Cause, and gave him that generic title Teotl,
God, the analogy of which with the Theos of the Greeks,
has been already noted by various authors. The idea of
God is one of those that appear radical to our very exist-
ence .... With the Mexicans and Tezcucans this idea
was darkened by the adoration of a thousand gods, in-
voked in all emergencies; of these gods there were thir-
teen principal, the most notable being the god of prov-
idence, that of war, and that of the wind and waters.
The god of providence had his seat in the sky, and hod
in his care all human affairs. The god of the waters
was considered as the fertilizer of earth, and his dwelling
was in the highest of the mountains where he arranged
the clouds. The god of war was the principal protector
of the Mexicans, their guide in their wanderings from
the mysterious country of Aztlan, the god to whose
favor they owed those great victories that elevated theni
from the lowly estate of lake-fishermen up to the lord-
ship ot Anahuac. The god of the wind had an aspect
more benign .... The Mexicans also worshiped the sun
and the moon, and even, it would appear, certain ani-
mals considered as sacred. There figured also in the
Aztec mythology an evil genius called the Owl-man,'"
since in some manner the good and the bad, mixed up
here on earth, have to be explained. So the Persians
had their Oromasdcs and Arimancs, the first the genius
of good, and the second of evil, and so, later, Maniche-
ism presents us with analogous explanations."*

Solis, writing of Mexico and the Mexicans says:
"There was hardly a street without its tutelary god;
neither was there any calamity of nature without its altar,
to which they had recourse for remedy. They imagined

'• Ilomhrt Buho.

w PlmenM, Mem. »obr$ la Ikua ImUgma, pp. 11-13.

THE NAMELESS GOD.

«wid made their gods out of th ■ ^'^

sending that theyTesse„ed th. ^""^ ^^^'' "«* under-
they attributed to others ttT"',?^ ^^'"^ ^7 what
their gods, and so compete 'as 1 ?/'i,^ "^^^"^^ ^ we^
Idolatry, they were nTwUhout th:^ '"'T« ^^^^'^
buperior Deity, to whom ihl .J-, ^«nowledge of a
the heavens a^id ti^Zl^^''Tk^:'c^y'^ '""^ -^^«on of
among the Mexicans a ^od J*l ."^'"^^ ^^ things wa^
;vord in their language SwwS;'. "''"'' *^^^ ^«^ ^o
theygaveittobeimderst^d tim/ft ^V^"^'' ^»'»n. only
reverently towards he^veTa^^ ^^••^'''""^^'^''"'Po nt"ng
^shion the attribute oSb?e^:-.T.i° ^'"^^^^^r the"?

""■" B"» ioiiacateotle, who tl,,.„ .-. •' ""^slowed on
created the «oi|d • mid I, ?,' i-*^ *"!''• ""^ "'« god that
«»»'' <« lord of an T " ™" "«'•>' P»inted with I
"»S"d r they Jd h^it^/'f;''': »ffe««, ^^rifi^to
' le others to whom t he 1 1 v "",' '^'' «•"='' things Vn
«me o,- demons."" "^ '"""«'=«' >™«' men ont on "

We liave already seen fmm ir
«.» co„fcs«,a to a s'mX" f J^rr'?"' " the Mexi-
«« t''"W and the saidtfX^l ^'">'' ?"'^ """«»- of
vo-ted,iooi<i„,,„„^tratt;''S':|,;t;'£^

192

GODS. SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Creator of heaven and earth." '** In contra-distinction
to this it may be well to consider the following extract
from the same author: " Such was the blindness of the
Mexicans, even to the naturjil light, that they did not
think like men of good judgment that all created things
were the work and effect of some immense and infinite
cause, the which only the First Cause and true God is.
.... And in Mexico 'alone (according to the common
opinion) they had and adored two thousand gods, of whom
the principal were Vizilipuztli and Tezcatlipucatl, who
as supreme were set up in the height of the great temple,
over two altars. . . .Tezcatlipucatl was the god of provi-
dence, and Vizilipuztli the god of war." *'

Speaking of Mexican temples^" and gods, Oviedosays:
"But Montezuma had the chief [temple], together with
three other prayer-houses, in which he sacrificed in
honor of four gods, or idols, that he had ; of these they
had one for god of war, as the Gentiles had Mars; to
another they gave honor and sacrifice as god of the
waters, even as the ancients gave to Neptune ; another they
adored for god of the wind, as the lost heathen adored
iEolus; and another still they revered as their sovereign
god, and thi.s was the sun. . . .They had further other
gods ; making one of them god of the maize-fields, attri-
buting to him the power of guarding and multiplying
the samo, as the fable-writing poets and ancients of an-
tiquity did to Ceres. They had gods for everything,
giving attributes to each according to their surmises, in-
vesting them with that godhead which they had not, and
with which it was not right to invest any save only the
true God.""
• Speaking in general terms of probably a large part of

t' See this vol. p. 57, note 13. On pnges 55 ami 60, and in tho note per-
taining tliorotc), will uIho bo found luauy ruforcnoca bearing on thu matter
uudur preiient diocuHsion.

«i Ilen-era, Ifisl. Ueii., dec. il., lib. vii., cap. xviii., ^). 253.

M Qiles, Oviodrt calls them, (Hpellod cites by most wntein) the following; ex-
plan:itioii boing given in glossary of Voren Amerkanaa Empkadan por Onedo,
appended to tho fourth voluuie of tho Hint. Gen. : ' Qil : tcmpio, casa de ornci-
on. Estu voi! era mny general en casi todn Amurica, y muy principahucnts
en las coniaroas de Yu'nitan y Mochuaean.'

>' Ouiciio, IM. Oen., torn, iii., p. 603.

ACOSTA AND TEOTL

^ew Spain, Toraupmo^ ' ^^

these p^opfe er^ i^" ^^n-* !*• But a.i?'^ P'?**"-
attributing it^^'" '" ''«WI'"tinB thi, / •'" *'''"'''
"■e^ ■^milfaT^ sods; ;>.et, i„ iXv 1"';?"^ """^

"O"! to „„!!!*"" reke into tli Indil^r"" ^««ta
"■"cli, ivliereU f '"' '"<"•"• tonirues tJ?„ u??*"' "f

"-%- to co;„,cv: ettif ""St !i' '■■"™-^:^

„ »'Vpai.e»<»„„„, ■ ""'■y """de Iheir

»l * N„iiu.„|'"°?'S»l. que quiera d,.|, =.«

*«ffe |)v Hw, »* ■. P' ^'''*' — Not ho u - ' .''•' *oni. «! „ on " ' y "' ser eu

IM GODS. SUPEBNATUBi^ BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

greatest adoration to an Idol called Yitzilipuztli, the
which in all this region they called the most puissant
and Lord of all things: for this cause. the Mexicaines
built him a Temple, the greatest, the fairest, the highest,
and the most sumptuous of all others .... But heere
the Mexicaines Idolatrie hath bin more pernicious and
hurtfull than that of the Inguas, as wee shall see plainer
heereafter, for that the greatest part of their adoration
and idolatrie, was imployed to Idols, and not to naturall
things, although they did attribute naturall effects to
these IdoUs, as raine, multiplication of cattell, warre, and
generation, even as the Greekes and Latins have forged
Idolls of Phoebus, Mercuric, Jupiter, Minerva, and of
Mars. To conclude, who so shall neerely looke into it,
shall finde this manner which the Divell hath vsed to
deceive the Indians, to be the same wherewith hee hath
deceived the Greckes and Romans, and other ancient
Gentiles, giving them to vnderstand that these notable
creatures, the Sunne, Moone, Starres, and Elements, had
power and authoritie to doe good or harme to men."*

Mendieta says: " It is to be noted for a general rule
that, though these people, in all the continent of these
Indias, from the farthest parts of New Spain to the parts
of Florida, and farther still to the kingdoms of Peru,
had, as has been said, an infinity of idols that tliey
reverenced as gods, nevertheless, above all, they still
held the sun as chiefest and most powerful. And they
dedicated to the sun the greatest, richest, and most
sumptuous of their temples. This should be the power
the Mexicans called Ipalnemohuani, that is to say, 'by
whom all live,' and Moyucuyatzin ayac oquiyocux ayiw
oquipic, that is to say, ' he that no one created or formed,
but who, on the contrary, made all things by his own

Sower and will.' .... So many are the fictions and fa-
tes that the Indians invented about their gods, and so
differently are these related in the different towns, that
neither can they agree among themselves in recounting

M iieosta. HM. Nat. Ind., pp. 334, 337-8.

«^«»BW.sWH™,Uas„cifl^OBV.

'hem, nor shall there Iw. f„. j "*

»tond them. In the ttf^r^™? *''o^«'I under-

«.o»e -^f^*tn'"th2t"^'-«^ Sl"St

H,„ r '.V'e" «o remark," writeaS ""PO'^titions.""
Uie Indians had a diWnh^Cf ""I"^' " «'at nithouirl.

wie lollowinff terms- " n ii "**"Ve prayer courluwi •

llf'ndieta,JIUt.g,i„ o. „, , ^ •'"^-rgOds ),— jou thftfc

196

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

ii':

have all power over men forsake us not in danger. We
invoke you, as well also as the sun Nauholin, and the
moon, spouse of that brilliant luminary, the stars of
heaven also, and the wind of the night and of the day."^

According to the somewhat vague and incomplete ac-
count of Fray Toribio de Benavente, or Motolinia, — the
latter his adopted name and that by which he is best
known, — another of the original and early authorities in
matter concerning the gentile Mexicans: " Tezcatlipoca
was the god or demon that they held for greatest and
to whom most dignity was attributed . . . They had
idols of stone, and of wood, and of baked clay ; they also
made them of dough and of seeds kneaded into the
dough . . . Some of them were shaped like men,. . . some
were like women ; . . . some were like wild beasts, as lions,
tigers, dogs, deer, and such other animals as frequented
the mountains and plains ; . . . some like snakes of many
fashions, large and coiling ... Of the owl and other
night-birds, and of others as the kite, and of every large
bird, or beautiful, or fierce, or preciously feathered, —
they had an idol. But the principal of all was the sun.
Likewise had they idols of the moon and stars, and of
the great fishes, and of the water-lizards, and of toads and
frogs, and of other fishes ; and these they said were the
gods of th< fishes . . . They had for gods fire, water, and
earth ; and of all these they had painted figures ... Of
many other things they had figures and idols, carved or
painted, even of butterflies, fleas, and locusts." **

Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, was he who — accord-
ing to the no doubt somewhat partial account of his de-
scendant Ixtlilxochitl — pushed the farthest into overt
speech and act his contempt of the vulgar idolatry and
his recognition of a high, holy, and to a great extent
unknowable supreme power. This thoughtful monarch
" found for false all the gods adored by the people of
this land, saying that they were statues and demons

33 Camargo, ITwt. de Thx., in Nouvelles Annates des Voy., 1843, torn, xcviii.,
p. 101, torn, xcix., p. 168.

3« Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in leazbaloeta, Col., torn, i., pp.4, 33-24.

moral things, and he Znt to l.T ^"^^ ^««rned in

other seeking if haplvTeli^hf 2/7 T^ ^^an an\
true God and creator of all thhi""^ ^^^^^ to affirm thi

.^'^/^^^"rseofhishislir^afchr '^^ ^« ^n n
that he composed on this fh ^i^*" ^^^"ess the son-H

was only OnC that S^io^fLT;.^ ^^^ th«t t'^eS
and earth, that he sustained allT ?! "^^'^^'^ «f heaven

^eyer--tho„gh there weieL^.'^i'P^ «"d sufferiLf
^dols--did the king SecTl^^^'^^P'-^^^ntingmafv
when divinity was diisSd " ''j;^^*""'ty of i,,-"^
palne moalani,' which rnSe T''"^"*^ "^ "auhaqie y
as above expressed. Wrfh . ^T "^ ^^^ conviction^
a« his fother and the earth .t'"'' ''" ''^^^Knized tJie «"«
^ow it is in tbJLTt '^' ^'^ mother."'^ ^""

jnfe' or doubthiS^^^^^^^^^^^^ *^"* ^- been said deny
N^^ uaw^ the creeHf

tianslated, from among othpr n "^^ P»««age above

««hject in the ^^to,.^^r^,w ^"''''^^''' *«"«J»ng the mmt
J have selected j7'^,^t'^^^""^^"« »nd in the /?./.! *
urr... 1 J "'*^'^ciea It not becaii«o ;♦ • li ^^ekiciones.

«'*d, or the most eloque^ !! .1'" "'« ■"°«' clearly

fyV lUVO OOP fnlu„.. ... X , '"! "1 hnvixhni'nu„i.<„ 1,

198 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEHfOS. ANl> WOBSHIP.

solely on account of the sentence with which it concludes:
Nezahualcoyotl "recognized the sun as his father
and the earth as his mother." These few words occurr-
ing at the end of a eulogy of the great Tezcucan by a
confessed admirer, these few words that have passed un-
noticed amid the din and hubbub raised over the lofty
creed to which they form the last article, these few words
so insignificant apparently and yet so significant in their
connection, — should go far to prove the faithfulness of
of Ixtlilxochitl's record, and the greater or less complete-
ness of his portrait of his great ancestor. Were Ixtlilxo-
chitl dishonest, would he ever have allowed such a pagan
chord as this to come jangling into the otherwise jjerfect
music of his description of a perfect sage and Christian,
who believed in a God alone and all-sufficient, who be-
lieved in a creator of all things without any help at all,
much less the help of his dead material creatures the sim
and the earth ? Let us admit the honesty of Ixtlilxo-
chitl, and admit with him a knowledge of that Unknown
God, whom, as did the Athenians, Nezahualcoyotl igiio-
rantly worshiped ; but let us not be blinded by a glitter
of words — which we may be sure lose nothing in the
repetition — as to the significance of that 'ignorjintly;'
let us never lose sight across the shadow of that obscure
Athenian altar to the Unknown God, of the mighty
columns of the Acropolis and the crest of the Athena
Promachos. Nezahualcoyotl seems a fair type of a
thoughtful, somewhat sceptical Mexican of that better-
instructed class which is ever and everywhere the horror
of hypocrites and fanatics, of that class never without
its witnesses in all countries and at all times, of that
class two steps above the ignorant 'aity, and one step
above the learned pri' sthood, yet far still from that simi)le
and perfect truth wl ch shall one day be patent enough
to all.

Turning from the c ?ussion of a point so obscure and
intangible as the monc leism of Nezahualcoyotl and the
school of which he was le type, let us review the very
palpable and indubital ^ polytheism of the Mexicans.

AMERICAN MYTHOIOOY

mylhology „aa tj,, ,^ |, 'f.' ™™ .« J"mble as Aryan
the ripest Went «„d s^houil!' ,"?"" '<'■' the vai of
"i-y into the path/„r.~P » .the "ineteenth^n":
"to god or hera sh„„ti„! S? rf"»g. «hicl. led again
Unfortunately tl» nhilol^j;;" , *""» "V he invemed
7 'an eKh«Ltivetfe';,"Ar"'"'%''« "-"te^W for

given to the world on the \rv > u 'j "".■■ "^"mple, has
ft/>eAn,an Nations, is L ,'!'ft ''«*"^''' "' his 4*ifoZ
'nd«.d makes themil^^Vi^rflTft'^; "'""hS
there is nothin.'formo „t ""''''» hke the nre».nf

«.™nge, with sue°li sClTS;' """ '" «""'-' »~-
s'We, all accessible inaterfl »1 T^"'''*'"'™' "» ""V be n™.
hat done let mom "kTlSlT^"J""'"°*e subject in h«S^
their place in (he wall „f • """ «"<< »nd give then.'
place there, whether or noTf' . *'<»• they hale a
■noTow; abreachisIheJetL ,'l/r"'» *»-4 or to?
«t and (ill it. "•«"* that shall be empty until th7y

wh|::':ffiS-^j'-^" -*-» on the

wuh^a ei'Ltrgo-j I'-n'd -ir '•■« '-••^"

tmtmg this phase of his Phm.„«* . ""'^ Proceed, iHus.
f possible the various ni^r*'." *^ ^"•'^"^'^te as closelJ
^,^-«ed to this g4at SrL7'^'-^^'^''«^""««^^
litlfwoan, Yautl, TelnuchfiJ T? '''' ^"' ^'•^^'ous names
^--, Neeoeiautira^^^^^^^^^

aOO OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

0, thou almighty God, that givest life to men, and
art called Titlacaoan, grant me in thy mercy everything
needful to eat and to drink, and to enjoy of thy soft and
delicate things; for in grievous toil and straitness I live
in the world. Have mercy on me, so poor I am and
naked, I that labor in thy service, and for thy service
sweep, and clean, and put light in this poor house, where
I await thine orders; otherwise let me die soon and end
this toilful and miserable life, so that my body may find
rest and a breathing-time.

In illness the people prayed to this deity as follows:

God, whose name is Titlacaoan, be merciful and send
away this sickness which is killing me, and I will reform
my life. Let me be once healed of this infirmity and I
swear to serve thee and to earn the right to live ; should

1 by hard toil gain something, I will not eat it nor
employ it in anything save only to thine honor ; I will
give a feast and a banquet of dancing in this poor house.

But the sick man that could not recover, and that felt
it so, used to grow desperate and blaspheme saying:
Titlacaoan, since thou mockest me, why dost thou not
kill me?**

Then following is a prayer to Tezcatlipoca, used by
the priest in time of pestilence: mighty Lord, under
whose wing we find defense and shelter, thou art invis-
ible and impalpable even as night and the air. How
can I that am so mean and worthless <lare to appear be-
fore tiiy majesty? Stuttering and with rude lips I si)eak;
ungainly is the manner of my speech as one leaping
among furrows, as one advancing unevenly; for all this
I fear to raise thine anger, and to provoke instead of ap-
peasing thee; nevertheless thou wilt do unto me as may
please thee. Lord, that hast held it g(X)d to forsake
us in these days, according to the counsel thou hast as
well in heaven as in hades, — alas for us, in that thine
anger and indignation has descended in these days
upon us; alas, in that tlie many and grievous afllictions
of thy wrath have overgone and swallowed us up,

>« Sahainm, Itiat. Otn., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 341-3.

PBAm W TIME OF PESTILENCE.

coming down even as fi*nno»

wretches that inhabU the IrT"';?"^ •"''r « "P«" the
lence with which we ar^ «fflT* r"**"'^ '« ^^e soiTpesti-
Alas, valiant anfallll^t^^^ "'"^ost desti^^ed.
pie are almost made an^nT^f ^T*^' ^^'^ ^^^mon L,.
destruction and n.Jn^K ""^ **"*^ destroyed- a ^S^
thij nation; and, Xat t S'^^^f. ^'^IreadV.ir^*
children that ak inno^nraL^'*'*"] ^^ ^"' the little
only to play with pebbleTrn/* v.""^^"«^»d "othini
of earth, they too die bml" *^>^.^P "P ""le mounds
again8t8tonesandawa^I-l!^K" ''"'^ ^«^^^ *« Pieces as

the cradles, nor those XrcoL "I ""* "^^» tho.e in
Ah, Lord, howaP th;n«.„tl "^ "*** walk nor sDeal/
f "d old ai'id of men ant t^""' confounded ; of Tun^
hmnch nor root; thy trr" f'T ^"^^'"« "Sef
;vealth are leveled d^own ^nd 7.\ **'->^,P^Plo and thy
mtector of all, most vaTant andt'n^-l'^-. ^ «"r Lord^
/ hine anger and thine inXn^f " T^ '''"^' ^hat is this?
^" haling the stoneanS^^^^^^^

pestilence, made exceediiS • '^'''' '^^he fire of Se
»>«hut, burningund snSSr ^^^^^ "«tion, as a fire
«o;;nd. The grfndersoTivteTh?'^ """V"^ "P^ht o7
^tter whips u,x,n the misemb^ nfT ^"^P^^-V^d, and thy
'^come lean and of littirSnl "^ ^^^P'^' ^^^o have

«'^"^- Vea, what doest tio ? ' T'^ "'^ ^ follow grS
compassionate, invS . ! Z'".'^' ^ ^^^^'d, most stro^J^
f things obey, u";,rdl/T^ ^''ose wf,'
he world, to win „, JJ is "n '"^T^ '^^'P^"'^^ the rule of
'"7«t hast thou d i,^t.d ' p'^Jf '-^vbat in thy di 'nf
K<^thor forsaken tl v Sn. '^^^^^'^ ^ast thou aC

-niv determined iha? Hti:! t 'T^^^^^ ^^-" ttot
h^' no more memory of it i } "^ ^PJ^' "»^^ that there
j'^co become a wooded ilUitj T-^', *'"^^ *'»« I'^-Pc'd
mdventure wilt thou "^^ tuI^t^'T «* '^^""^^«?
t'iei)IiU3esofpraver luu] til u . the temples and

an OODS. STJPBBMATUBAL BEIN08, AND WOBSHIP.

will go on to the end to our destruction ? Is it already
fixed in thy divine counsel that there is to be no mercy
nor pity for us, until the arrows of thy fury are spent to
our utter perdition and destruction? Is it possible that
this lash and chastisement is not given for our cor-
rection and amendment, but only for our total destruc-
tion and obliteration; that the sun shall nevermore
shine upon us, but that we must remain in perpetual
darkness and silence; that nevermore thou wilt look
upon us with eyes of mercy, neither little nor much ?
Wilt thou after this fashion destroy the wretched sick
that cannot find rest nor turn from side to side,
whose mouth and teeth are filled with earth and
scurf? It is a sore thing to tell how we are all in dark-
ness, having none understanding nor sense to watch for
or aid one another. We are all as drunken and without
understanding, without hope of any aid; already the
little children perish of hunger, for there is none to give
them food, nor drink, nor consolation, nor caress, — none to
give the breast to them that suck ; for their fathers and
and mothers have died and left them orphans, suffer-
ing for the sins of their fathers. our Lord, all-
powerful, full of mercy, our refuge, though indeed
thine anger and indignation, thine arrows and stones, have
sorely hurt this poor people, let it be as a father or a
mother that rebukes children, pulling their ears, pinch-
ing their arms, whipping them with nettles, pouring
chill water upon them ; all being done that they may
amend their puerility and childishness. Thy chastise-
ment and indignation have lorded and prevailed over
these thy servants, over this poor people, even as rain
falling upon the trees and the green canes, being touched
of the wind, drops also upon those that are below. most
compjissionate Lord, thou knowest that the common folk
are as children, that being whipped they cry and sob and
repent of what they have done. Peradventure, already
these poor people by reason of thy chastisement weep, sigh,
blame,' and murmur against themselves ; in thy presence
they bliune and bear witness against their bad beeds and

SPABE THE GBEEW ASH ta». n^,

"■*« A«j> TAKE THE BIPB.

punish themselves therefor n. t .
nate pitiful, noble, «,d p^^^^ ^^'1.°»««t ^on^passio-
people to repent; let theCHw " ^'^'^ ^ S^^^^e
end here, to begin again inhp^^**'"^"* «»«<*, let it
don and overlS>k Xe "1 „f ^?"" '"f "™ "«*• Par-
anger and thy resTtn^l"! f *^® P^P'e; cause thine
within thy hrelrZ^^'l^^^'. ??-". '' ^^^
there; /et it cease, for of a^^ "/* ^'*'**'^''' '«* '* rest
death nor escape to inypl^^SJ'^'-y "«»« can avoid
and all that iTve in Krid^LT*"^"*^*«'^^th;
thl8 tribute shall everv mT^ ^-^^^ ^^^^ thereof-
«hall avoid from fdanea?h V''? ^'^ "«^- ^^"e
what hour soever it niaylelnl t '* '^**^>^ °^«««enger
mg always to devour aU thaHi • T""^ ""^ thirst-
powerful that none shaU e^"' .Tu '" *^f T'^^ «»^1 «o
man be Punished a«3oi^ ^^^P? : *,^«»;"deed «hall every

Lord, at least take mtvaLX ^^^'^^' ^ '"ost pitiful
ren that are in the c^les ut^T^"'^: "^-'^ the Sh/w-
Have merey also, WuZ ,£ *^"* "**""«* ^«Ik.
rable who have nothing to ^" !„' r'""^ ^""-^^ "^'«e-
withal, nor a place to sifep wh ' T "i f^""^' themselves
a happy day is, wh(^r&„ *" "'*' '^""^^ what thinir

affliotioi, an^d sidne^r fc T "^'"^^"^^^ '^ S
Lord, if thou shouM fort" to b' ""''" ^' "«* ^tter
soldiers and upon the men f L^ IT "^^^^ "P«» the
need of sometime; belmld iUsTVf^r J^"" ^"**^«ve
go to serve food and drh k in th^l ' **" 9^ ^" ^^^ «nd
to die in this pestilence and I T'^ "^**»« «»»» than
«t«3"g Lord, pS^tector ^f Ti? tT"f .If ^^''^l^' « "»««*
of ho world, and universal mX h /h' '"^*^' ««vernor
fiiction thou hast alread/taTn ' » ' '^'' ''"^ «"*>«"
«"'fice; make an end of 'thrsmnl 'a T'* P"'"«hment
ment; quench also tStT,,/?^*"»«*' thy resent-
tlune anger: let serenUy ^m^ "" '^^^'^^'i"^ fire of

«mall birds of thy people'^b^rr- '^"'^r^' ^«' the
the sun; give therquiet wlfh "^^ to approach

904 OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

and I have nothing more to say, only to prostrate and
throw myself at thy feet, seeking pardon for the faults
of this my prayer; certainly I would not remain in thy
displeasure, and I have no other thing to say.

The following is a prayer to the same deity, under his
names Tezcatlipuca and Yoalliehecatl, for succor against
poverty : O our Lord, protector most strong and cora!-
passionate, invisible, and impalpable, thou art the giver
of life ; lord of all, and lord of battles, I present myself
here before thee to say some few words concerning the
need of the poor people, the people of none estate nor
intelligence. When they lie down at night they have
nothing, nor when they rise up in the morning; the
darkness and the light pass alike in great poverty.
Know, Lord, that thy subjects and servants, sufter a
sore poverty that cannot be told of more than that it is
a sore poverty and desolateness. The men have no gar-
ments nor the women to cover themselves with, but only
certain rags rent in every part that allow the air and the
cold to pass everywhere. With great toil and weariness
they scrape together enough for each day, going by
mountain and wilderness seeking their food ; so faint and
enfeebled are they that their bowels cleave to the ribs,
and all their body reechoes with hollowness; and they
walk as people aftrighted, the face and the body in like-
ness of death. If they be merchants, they now sell
only cakes of salt and broken pepper; the people that
have something despise their wares, so that they go out
to sell from door to door and from house to house ; and
when they soil nothing they sit down sjully by some lencc,
or wall, or in some corner, licking their lips and gnaw-
ing the i.ails of their hands for the hunger that is in
them ; they look on the one side and on the other at the
mouths of those that pass by, hoping peradventurc that
one may s\yeak some word to them. O compassionate
God, the bed on which they lie down is not a thing to
rest u[)on, but to eiuhire torment in ; they draw a rag
over them at night and so sleep ; there they throw down
their bodies and the bodies of children that thou hast

PRAYER FOR AID AGAINST POVERTY.

205

given them. For the misery they grow up in, for the
filth" of their food, for the lack of covering, their faces
are yellow and all their bodies of the color of earth.
They tremble with cold, and for leanness they stagger in
walking. They go weeping, and sighing, and full of
sadness, and all misfortunes are joined to them ; though
they stay by a fire they find little heat. our Lord,
most clement, invisible, and impalpable, I supplicate
thee to see good to have pity upon them as they move in
thy presence wailing and clamoring and seeking mercy
with anguish of heart. O our Lord, in whose power it
in to give all content, consolation, sweetness, softness,
prosperity and riches, for thou alone art lord of all good,
— have mercy upon them for they are thy servants. I
supplicate thee, Lord, that thou prove them a little
with tenderness, indulgence, sweetness, and softness,
which indeed they sorely lack and require. I suppli-
cate thee that thou will lift up their heads with thy favor
and aid, that thou will see good that they enjoy some
days of prosfKirity and tranquillity, so they may sleep and
know repose, having prosi)erou8 jmd peaceable days of
life. Should they still refuse to serve thee, thou after-
wards canst take away what thou hast given ; they having
enjoyed it but a few days, as those that enjoy a fragrant
and Ijeautiful llower and find it wither presently. Should
this nation, for whom I pray and entreat thee to do them
g(X)d, not understand what thou hast given, thou canst
take away the good and pour out cursing; so that all
evil may come u^jon them, and they become poor, in
need, maimed, lame, blind, and deaf: then indeed they
shall waken and know the g(K)d that they had and have
not, and they shall call \i\yon thee and lean towards thee ;
but thou wilt not listen, for in the day of abundance
they would not understand thy goodness towards them.
In conclusion, I supplicate thee, O most kind and benif-
icent Lord, that thou will see gotxi to give this ^wople
to taste of the goods and riches that thou art wont to
give, and that proceed from thee, things sweet and soft

*'' Pur k frem do In oomida: Sahagun, IlUd. Om,, torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 30.

li:

906 GODS, SUPEBNATDSAIi BEINGS. AND WOBSHIF.

- ■ ^

1^'

and bringing content and joy, although it be but for a little
while, and as a dream that passes. For it is certain that
for a long time the people go p. ^ly before thee, weeping
and thoughtful, because of the anguish, hardship, and
anxiety that fill their bodies and hearts, taking away all
ease and rest. Verily, it is not doubtful that to this poor
nation, needy and shelterless, happens all I have said.
If thou answerest my petition it will be only of thy
liberality and magnificence, for no one is worthy to re-
ceive thy bounty for any merit of his, but only through
thy grace. Search below the dung-hills and in the
mountains for thy servants, friends, and acquaintance,
and raise them to riches and dignities. our Lord,
most clement, let thy will be done as it is ordained in
thy heart, and we shall have nothing to say. I, a rude
man and common, would not by importunity and pro-
lixity disgust and annoy thee, detailing my sickness,
destruction, and punishment. Whom do 1 ei^r-^k to?
Where am I ? Lo I speak with thee, King ; well do I
know that I stand in an eminent place, and that I talk
with one of great majesty, before whose presence
flows a river through a chasm, a gulf sheer down of
awful depth ; this also is a slippery place, whence many
precipitate themselves, for there shall not be found one
without error before thy majesty. I myself, a man of
little understanding and lacking speech, dr -e to address
my words to thee; I put myselfin peril of falling into the
gorge and cavern of this river. I, Lord, have come to
take with my hands blindness to mine eyes, rotten-
ness and shrivelling to my members, poverty and
affliction to my body; for my meanness and rudeness
this it is that I merit to receive. Live and rule for
ever in all quietness and tranquillity, thou that art our
lord, our shelter, our protector, most compassionate, most
pitiful, invisible, impalpable.

This following is a petition in time of war to the same
principal god, under his name of Tezcatlipoca Yautlnecoci-
untlmonenequi, praying favor against the enemy: our
Lord, moet compuasionate, protector, defender, invisible,

PBAYEB IN TIME OF WAB.

impalpable, by whose will and wisdom we are directed
and governed, beneath whose rule we live, — 0, Lord
of battles, it is a thing very certain and settled that war
begins to be arranged and prepared for. The god of
the earth opens his mouth, thirsty to drink the blood
of them that shall die in this strife. It seems that they
wish to be merry, the sun and the god of the earth
called Tlaltecutli ; they wish to ^ve to eat and drink to
the gods of heaven and hades, making them a banquet
with the blood and flesh of the men that have to die in
this war. Already do they look, the gods of heaven
and hades, to see who they are that have to con-
quer, and who to be conquered; who they are that
have to slay, and who to be slain; whose blood
it is that has to be drunken, and whose flesh it is
that has to be eaten ; — which things the noble fathers
and mothers whose sons have to die, are ignorant of.
Even so are ignorant all their kith and kin, and the
nurses that gave them suck, — ignorant also are the fa-
thers that toiled for them, seeking things needful for
their food and drink and raiment until they reached the
age they now have. Certainly they could not foretell
how those sons should end whom they reared so anx-
iously, or that they should be one day left captives or
dead upon fhe field. See good, O our Lord, that the
nobles who die in the shock of war be peacefully and
agreeably received, and with bowels of love, by the sun
and the earth that are father and mother of all. For
verily thou dost not deceive thyself in what thou doest,""
to wit, in wishing them to die in war; for certainly
for this didst thou send them into the world, so
that with their flesh and their blood they might be
for meat and drink to the sun and the earth. 1^ not
wroth, Lord, anew against those of the profession of
war, for in the same place where they will die have died

** ' Porqne I la yerdad no os flngaftaiB oon lo qne luuwiB:* mo Sahagmi, in
Kbui»borou;ik'a Ma. Antiq., toI. t., p. 866, u the ■nbsUtation of ' engaAeiH '
for ' engnAaia ' deatrovH the seMe of the paaaaoe in Buatamante'a ed. of the
lame, WM. Om., torn, ii., lib. vi.,p. 43.

108 GODS, SUPEBNATDBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

many generous" and noble lords and captains, and
valiant men. The nobility and generosity of the nobles
and the greatheartedness of the warriors is made appar-
ent, and thou makest manifest, Lord, how estimable
and precious is each one, so that as -such he may be held
and honored, even as a stone of price or a rich feather.
Lord, most clement, lord of battles, emperor of all,
whose name is Tezcatlipoca, invisible and impalpable,
we supplicate thee that he or they that thou wilt per-
mit to die in this war may be received into the house of
the sun in heaven, with love and honor, and may be
placed and lodged between the brave and famous war-
riors already dead in war, to wit, the lords Quitzicqua-
quatzin, Maceuhcatzin, Tlacahuepantzin, Ixtlilcuechavac,
Ihuitltemuc, Chavacuetzin, tind all the other valiant and
renowned men that died in former times, — who are re-
joicing with and praising our lord the sun, who are glad
and eternally rich through him, and shall be for ever;
they go about sucking the sweetness of all flowers delec-
table and pleasant to the taste. This is a great dignity
for the stout and valiant ones that died in war; for this
they are drunken with delight, keeping no account of
night, nor day, nor years, nor times ; their joy and their
wealth is without end; the nectarous flowers they sip
never fade, and for the desire thereof men of high de-
scent strengthen themselves to die. In conclusion, I
entreat thee, Lord, that art our lord most clement,
our emperor most invincible, to see good that those that
die in this war be received with bowels of pity and love
by our father the sun, and our mother the earth ; for
thou only livest and rulest and art our most compassion-
ate lord. Nor do I supplicate alone for the illustrious and
noble, but also for the other soldiers, who are troubled and
tormented in heart, who clamor, calling upon thee,
holding their lives as nothing, and who fling themselves
without fear upon the enemy, seeking death. Grant

^ By an error and a solecism of Bustamente's ed. the Tvords ' gentes
rojos' ore substituted for the ndjeotive 'Benerosos:' see, as in the preciil-
lug note, Sahagun, in Kinfitborough's Me*. Aniiq., vol. v., p. 367, and Sahaijun,
im. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 43.

mYEB TO THE GOD OP BATTLES.

them at least some small part of fl.^ 7" ^

and repose in this life; or Kere tZ ^"'^7' ««°»« ^
not destined to prosoeritv « ^®^®' *^ ^^^s world, thev arp
officers of the BCrgi!^e^?K5' H ^^l^^-^ -d
luidesand tothoseinheiven AhI .k""^ to those in
1 18 to rule the state and to be «11T ^^T ^^ose chaise
„f make them to be fatherland t^*^ "" ^^^^'h^-
of war hat wander by S a^S J"^*^,^ *« ^^e men
and ravine,-in their hand isThl '"T*^'"' ^^ height
enemies and criminals, ial^ f^ ??"*??«« «f death for
ties, the offices and thr^rm ^^ ^''*"^"*i«» «f digni-
grantingprivilege?to those Sat 1^'- '^' ^^^^Mhe
on the head, and ear-rin^ tn^7T "^'"^^ «"^ *««il«"
have yellow skins tied otLS?^' ^^ ^^^^^^^H and
Pnvilege of appoint^ theT^^^^^^ them i's the

every one shall wear.^ It is To ,T '^ *^ '"^^"^^"^ *hat
nnssion to certain to nJ ^ ***®^ ^^^ to give ner
ehalchivetes, tuTuol^^:^^^^^^^

and to wear necklaces knd iewel« nf ?/" *^^ ^»«ce«,
things are delicate and prSut^Is^^^-- «» of which
% riches, and which thou S ff.lP^^^ing fn)m
feate and valiant deeds in ^^ T^ *^^ *^.^* Perform
I^ord, to make grace of 1 \ ^ ®"*''®** *hee also O
^Wiers, give them' ZeleJt a^l^, *^« «~
vvorld, make them stout Tni u ^^ ^"^ ^^^ging in this
cowardice from their hea^t 7? ""^ *«^^ «W a
'^eet death with cheerfulnZ k1 "«* ««Jy «hall they
7f thing,a.flower8^^^^^^^^^ desire it as {

the hoots and shouts of thpir "^ '^' "'''' '^'^^d at all
^ to thy friend. Formnuoh.^T'''''' ^^'' ^o to them
on whose will deS h?^.*^"*" ^^* ^o«l of batde^
-It, needing not ffa^tuI^Vj^^^^^^^^ "^^ S
Lord, to make mad andTlu ^^'"""^ «"t"^at thee
without hurt to us tly la^lTr '""V^^^ ^ ^h^t
h«nds, into the handTKurten:r^-«« into our

„;'EsdecirOoa,«„dantesdr» •. ^ '"^"^ enduring

given .bolW' In B7«teM.T^'«-<>«?V. Jlfeo,. .!„«. _..

Vol. m. x« ««w»«iwn,

^s Jtfea,. ^„<,. _ J

210

GODS, SUPEBNATUSiLL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

80 much hardship and poverty. our Lord, since
thou art God, all-powerful, all-knowing, disposer of all
things, able to make this land rich, prosperous, praised,
honored, famed in the art and feats of war, able to make
the warriors now in the field to live and be prosperous,
if, in the days at hand, thou see good that they die in
war, let it be to go to the house of the sun, among all
the heroes that are there and that died upon the battle-
field.

The following prayer is one addressed to the principal
deity, under his name Tezcatlipoca Teiocoiani Tehima-
tini, asking favor for a newly elected ruler: To-day, a
fortunate day, the sun has risen upon us, warming us, so
that in it a precious stone may be wrought, and a hand-
some sapphire. To us has appeared a new light, has
arrived a new brightness, to us hais been given a glitter-
ing axe to rule and govern our nation, — has been given
a man to take upon his shoulders the affairs and troubles
of the state. He is to be the image and substitute of
the lords and governors that have already passed away
from this life, who for some days labored, bearing
the burden of thy people, possessing thy throne and
seat, which is the principal dignity" of this thy nation,
province, and kingdom; having and holding the same
in thy name and person some few days. These have
now departed from this life, put off their shoulders the
great load and burden that so few are able to suffer. Now,
Lord, we marvel that thou hast indeed set thine eyes
on this man, rude and of little knowledge, to make him
for some days, for some little time, the govenior of this
state, nation, province, and kingdom. O our Lord, most
clement, art thou peradventure in want of persons and
friends? — nay verily, thou that hast thereof more than
can be counted! Is it, peradventure, by error, or that
thou dost not know him; or is it that thou hast taken
him for the nonce, while thou seekest among many for

<* 'Dignidad,' Sahamn, in Kingsborough'a Mm. AtUiq.,yo\. v.. p. 359,
misprinted 'diligenoia^ in Bnatamente's Sahagun, Hist.Om., tom.u.,Ub.
Ti., p. 46.

anot

profi

give

us.

perhj

thy \

this ;

that I

fear t

sidera

has, ti

makin

dignitj

presun;

withpc

know t

theatre,

merry.

through

carelessj

from th

wood, a

and the

Then th(

dung-hil]

lings, an(

when tho

roan is J

who art c

t^r, undei

that thou

rouch as h

deign to pi

what he h«

he has to ft

contrary tc

what is to I]

night; we

another and a better ih. u

give thanks to thy male^v fn .?^^«''^d- finally we
»«. What thy dii^T^iret f « fr^" ^'^^^ ^ast^^:
perhaps beforehand this X" T *^" *^«"« ^nowe^
% will be done as t is £! ^ S^" Pn)vided for '
this man serve far i! determined in thv hearf • i **

thathewilffiTthtoffirdeSiv",' *^"^- '"^t*
fear to his subjects, dSZ m^^Z^ll' ^^^"^ "n^^st and

nas thinking that he will r^n.^-^ • *^® dignity he
niaking a sad dream oT I ^ l " '" '* ^«r « long time
dignity thou Iiast7iv^l^^i7^"^^ ^^e occupation aTd
presumption, makin|Spnf " ?^^«" ofpride and
with ^mp aid pagel f wllh& ^"^ ^"^ «^ut
know the event of all for all « * ^^"^ *^W thou wilt
theatre, at which thou wK *^.*^^ '^^^^^ ^d
"jerry. Perhaps this nl * .??*^ '"akest thy^tf

tag3,and extreme iZrty WI ^''^"'^''"'''WvS!
wnen thou wilt nnt !,!»,•'. '"^ hour of hi« j„„,\:

'ho art our Lo„i, our fnvfefblfr'i '^' ^Pf'^te tC
tor, under whose 'will ^dS '' ""Hpable protS
fc »f and pS fS":,^-* :«««>, who^all^e

KKht!SfRst'-t'

he im to follow, 80^ to tmL^"" ^ ^^' «»d the S
contrary to fh^r a- •?. commit no error in hi. «
whnf lo * u "-^ disposition and win m. "" ^^^ce,

~' most clement, that our

213 GODS, 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF.

ways and deeds are not so much in our hands as in the
hands of our ruler. If this ruler after an evil and per-
verse fashion, in the place to which thou hast elevated
him, and in the seat in which thou hast put him, — which
is thine, — ^where he manages the aflfairs of the people,
as one that washes filthy things with clean and clear
water, (yea in the same seat holds a similar cleansing
office the ancient god, vvho is father and mother to thy-
self, and is god of fire, who stands in the midst of flowers,
in the midst of the place bounded by four walls, who is
covered with shining feathers that are as wings), — if this
ruler-elect of ours do evil with which to provoke thine
ire and indignation, and to awaken thy chastisement
against himself, it will not be of his own will or seek-
ing, but by thy permission or by some impulse from
without; for which I entreat thee to see good to open his
eyes to give him light; open also his ears and guide him,
not so much for his own sake as for that of those whom
he has to rule over and carry on his shoulders.** I sup-

*^ This doubtfal and involved sentence, with the contained clause touching
the nature of the fire-god, runs exactly as follows in the two varying editions
of the original : ' i^i algnna cosa aviesa 6 mal heche hiciera en la dignidud que
le habeia dado, y en la silla en que le habeis puesto, que ^s vuestra, donde
est^l tratando los negocios populares, como (|uien lava cohhb sncias cou agus
may clara y muy limpia; en la qual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo oflcio de
lavar vuestro padre y madre de todos los Dioses, el Dios antiguo que i-s el
Dios del fuego, que est& en medio del albergue cerca de quatro paredes, y
e8t4 onbierto con plumas resplandecientes que son como alas, lo que este
electo hiciese mal hecho, con que provoque vuestra ira e indignacion, y des-
jrierte vuestro castiso contra si, noser& de su albedrio d de su querer, sino de
vuestra permision, o de algun otra sugestion vuestra, 6 de otro ; por lo cual os
■uplico tengais por bien de abrirle los ojos y darle lumbre y abrirle las orejas,
y gniadle k este pobre electo, no tanto por lo que el es, smo princi|)alnieute
por aquellos & quienes ha de regir y Uevar a cuestas.' Samr/un, in Khujs-
borough's Mex. Aniiq., vol. v., pp. 360-361. ' Si alguna cosa aviesa o mal
lieoha hiciere, en la dignidad que le habeis diido, y en la silla en que lo
habeis puesto que es vuestra, donde tisi'« tratando los negocios populnres,
oomo quien laba oosas sucias, con ntjin m y clara y may limpia, on la cual
ulla y dignidad tiene el mismo oficio de /.abar vuestro padre y madre, de
todos los dioses, el dios antiguo, que <>s '>l dios del fuego que esta en medio
de las flores, y en medio del alr.ci'giU' cercado de cuatro paredes, y cst&
oubierto con plumas resplandecienteb que son somo Alas; lo que este electo
hiciere mal hecho con que provoque vuestra ira e indignacion, y despierte
Tuestro oastigo contra sf, no Ber& de su alvedrio de 6 su querer, aino de vues-
tra permision, 6 de alguna otra sugestion vuestra, 6 de otro; por lo cual os
flnpiioo tenuis por bien de abirle los ojos, y darle luz, y abridle tambien las
orejas, y gmad a eate pobre electo; no tanto por lo que es el, sino principal-
mente por aquellos & quien ha de regir yllevar aouestas:' Bustameute's
Sahagun, Hist. Oen., torn. ii.. lib. vi., p. 48.

THAT A BUIEB MAT NOT ABUSE HIS POWEB.

218

plicate thee, that now, from the beginning, thou inspire
him with what he is to conceive in his heart, and the
road he is to follow, inasmuch as thou hast made of him
a seat on which to seat thyself, and also as it were a
flute that, being played upon, may signify thy will.
Make him, Lord, a faithful image of thyself, and per-
mit not that in thy throne and hall he make himself
proud and haughty, but rather see good, Lord, that
quietly and prudently he rule and govern those in his
charge who are common people: do not permit him to
insult and oppress his subjects, nor to give over without
reason any of them to destruction. Neither permit,
Lord, that he spot and defile thy throne and hall with
any injustice or oppression, for in so doing he will stain
also thine honor and fame. Already, Lord, has this
poor man accepted and received the honor and lordship
that thou hast given him ; already he possesses the glory
and riches thereof; already thou hast adorned his hands,
feet, head, ears, and lips, with visor, ear-rings, and brace-
lets, and put yellow leather upon his ankles. Permit it
not, Lord, that these decorations, badges, and ornaments
be to him a cause of pride and presumption; but rather
that he serve thee with humility and plainness. May it
please thee, our Lord, most clement, that he rule and
govern this, thy seignory, that thou hast committed to
him, with all prudence and wisdom. May it please tliee
that he do nothing wrong or to thine offense ; deign to
walk with him and direct him in all his ways. But if
thou wilt not do this, ordain that from this day hence-
forth he be abhorred and disliked, and that he die in
war at the hands of his enemies, that he depart to the
house of the sun ; where he will be taken care of as a
precious stone, and his heart esteemed by the sun-lord ;
he d}ing in the war like a stout and valiant man. This
would be much better than to be dishonored in the world,
to ]}e disliked and abhorred of his people for his faults or
defects, our Lord, thou that providest to all the
things needful for them, let this thing be done as I have
entreated and supplicated thee. ,

■1 ;;,

\h'l

214

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

The next prayer, directed to the god under his name
Tezcatlipoca Titlacaoamoquequeloa, is to ask, after the
death of a ruler, that another may be given: our
Lord, already thou knowest how our ruler is dead,
already thou hast put him under thy feet ; he is gathered
to his place ; he is gone by the road that all have to go
by, and to the house where all have to lodge ; house of
perpetual darkness, where there is no window, nor any
light at all ; he is now where none shall trouble his rest.
He served thee here in his office during some few days
and years, not indeed without fault and offense. Thou
gavest him to taste in this world somewhat of thy kind-
ness and favor, passing it before his face as a thing that
passes quickly. This is the dignity and office that thou
placedst him in, that he served thee in for some days, as
has been said, with sighs, tears and devout prayers lie-
fore thy majesty. Alas, he is gone now where our
father and mother the god of hades is, the god that
descended head foremost below the fire," the god that
desires to carry us all to his place, with a very impor-
tunate desire, with such a desire as one has that dies of
hunger and thirst; the god that is moved exceedingly,
both by day and night, crying and demanding that a)l
go to him. There, with this god, is now our late-de-
parted ruler ; he is there with all his ancestors that wore
in the first times, that governed this kingdom, with
Acamapichtli, with Tyzoc, with Avitzotl, with the firt^t
Mocthocuzoma, with Axayacatl, and with those that
came last, as the second Mocthecuzoma and also M(«"
thecn/riii.i llhuicamina." All these lords and kiuis
ruled, governed, and enjo3'ed the sovereignty and royal
dignity, and throne and seat of this empire; tiiey
ordered and regulated th.e aflairs of this thy kingdom. —
thou that art the universal lord and emperor, and that
needest not to take counsel with another. Already had

** See this volume p. CO.

*i Soino of thi'Ko noiuos nre differently spelt in Kinpsboroiigh'H ed., JIfX.
Antiq., vol. v., p. 3Ca. ; ' Uno de Ioh qnnteH fne Camnpichtli, otro fno Tizncic,
otro Avitzotl, otro el priniero Mote/.iizonia, otro Axnynon. y Ioh quo iiluirn &
lu parte hnu muerto, conio el Hegiindo Moteznzonui, y tnnibien Ylhiyraiiiiimi'

THAT A BULEB BE SET OVEB THE NATION.

215

these put off the intolerable load that they had on their
shoulders, leaving it to their successor, our late ruler, so
that for some days he bore up this lordship and kingdom ;
but now he has passed on after his predecessors to the
other world. For thou didst ordain him to go, and didst
call him to give thanks for being unloaded of so great
a burden, quit of so sore a toil, and left in i)eace and
rest. Some few days we have enjoyed him, but now
forever he is absent from us, never more to return to
the world. Perad venture has he gone to any place
whence he can return here, so that his subjects may see
his face again ? Will he come again to tell us to do this
or that? Will he come again to look to the consuls or
governors of the state ? Perad venture will they see him
any more, or hear his decree and commandment? Will he
come any more to give consolation and comfort to his
principal men and his consuls? Alas, there is an end
to his presence, he is gone for ever. Alas, that our
candle has been quiinched, and our light, that the axe
that shone with us is lost altogether. All his subjects and
inferiors, he has left in o^'pbanage and without shelter.
Peradventure will he take care henceforward of this
city, province, and kingdom, though this city be de-
stmyed and leveled to the ground, with this seignory
and kingdom? our Lord, most clement, is it a fit
thing tliat by tlie absence of him that died shall come to
the city, seignory, and kingdom some misfortune, in
which will be destroyed, undone, and affrighted the vas-
sals that live therein? For while living, he who has
died gave shelter under his wJngs, mv\ kept his feathers
spread over the jieopk. Great danger runs this your
city, seignory, and kingdom, if another ruler be not
elected inmiediately to Ije a shelter thereto. What is it
that thou art resolved to do? Is it good that thy iKK)ple
be in darkness? Is it grnxl that they Ik; without head or
shelter? Is it thy will that thev l»e leveled down and
destroyed? Woe for the ixK)r iind the little ones, thy
servants 'V it go seeking a father and mother, some one
to shelter tuid govern them, even as little children that

1:1

916

QODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

go weeping, seeking an absent father and mother, and
that grieve, not finding them. Woe for the merchants,
petty and poor, that go about by the mountains, deserts,
and meadows, woe also to the sad toilers that go about
seeking herbs to eat, roots and wood to burn, or to sell,
to eke out an existence withal. Woe for tne poor sol-
diers, for the men of war, that go about seeking death,
that abhor life, that think of nothing but i;he field and
the line where battle is given, — upon whom shall they
call? who shall take a captive? to whom shall they pre-
sent the same? And if they themselves be taken cap-
tive, to whom shall they give notice, that it may be
known in their land ? Whom shall they take for father
and mother, so that in such a case favor may be granted
them? Since he whose duty it was to see to this, who
was as father and mother to all, is already dead. There
will be none to weep, to sigh for the captives, to tell
their relatives about them. Woe for the ix)or of the
litigants, for those that have lawsuits with those that
would take their estates. Who will judge, make iwace
among, and clear them of their disputes and quarrels?
Behold when a child becomes dirty, if his motht'i* clean
him not, he must remain filthy. And those that, make
strife between themselves, that beat, that knock down,
who will keep peace between them? Those that for all
this go weeping and shedding tears, who shall wijw away
their tears and put a stop to their laments? I'orad ven-
ture can they apply a remedy to themselves? Thow
deserving death, will they jxiradventure pass sentence
upon themselves? Who shall set up the throne of
justice? Who shall ^xissess the Iiall of the judge,
since there is no judge? Who will ordain tlio
things that av*e necessary for the good of this city,
seignory, and kingdom? Who will elect the siK'ciiil
judges that have charge of the lower jHiople, district by
district? Who will look to the sounding of the drum
and fife to gather the i)eople for war? who will collect
and lead the soldiers and dextennis men to battle?
our Lord and protector see g(K)d to elect and decide uj[X)n

""""^ '^ '•-'«» 0^ A BAB Bn^.

some person sufficipnf m ah

to ghuiden and cheer theZ.1 ^ '"''"^ «^ '^^ stite,
mother cureases the ch Id tSTf •^^^ ^"^" «« ^^e
make music to the troubled S'^r.^;: ^T ^*»«^i»
at rest? our Lord mr^f i ^ *^** *hey may be
elect, whom we A^C mJlX' 'T^ «- r4^
him so that he may hold this voL T ^^' f^.^* ^"^ choose
ment; give him a/a loan vou^ ?h "^''"P ^"^ g^^^rn-
he may rule over this s^fgnC andT "5^ ^'**' «« *^«t
he lives; lift him from T. ? v kingdom as long a«
which he' is, and puUn h t th?l!"''' '^"^ humilit^in
we think him worVy of • ol* r^^r' ""^ dignity (hat
hght and splendor with vonr T ^ f"^' T'^ ^^'^^^^nt, give
^^'^^^. What has b^I^,;Sr n /"^ *^ ^^"« '^""^^ «»d kfng!
' .^je«ty ,. although ^.^dl^^vlT' *^ T^^^^^ *« %
en, and that staggers S^!"^'^^ """^^ ^^^'^^ ^^
which may lK3st «em theeTalTS ^ ^**"' ^^^ 'hat

What follows is a k nd'oP „ T^ *^"'«"gh all.
or prayer to get rid of TvnL^tullZ ^'^T""""«'^««n,
his iK,wer and dignity ,,! r ,^"^'"'^ and misused
pvest shelter to 'evo^; «„" tlir^' '""'^^^^^^^^nt, thZ
tree of great height and l""addrt» ^'^':T'^'"^' ^^«» '^ a
"^nJ impalpable; that at 1 ! f^^^'-^ invisible

petrate the stones Id the treo'^ ""'l^'^'^^^^^, able to
tamed therein. For thL.aJ^l''''^ '^^^^^^
knowest -.hat is within oil T' *''"" «^'««t and
*''^"Vht. 0.v«,uli i" nLtr*' ""^ ''^''^ our
i;;.^ ;1-^: -isos ft.,mZ~^ ^- '^ Httle smoke
hnhlr.! f,v,, t,,, ^, deed rd ;L '"""'"* '^* «» be
"».y «>^^o, .,, u..,i: ,eest and k 1 .T""""^'' «*' "^ing of

^'ir ruler ijus a cruel nnTi ," 'hou knowest that

;'!^"itv that thou Wtgi^ven I hn aT T^ '^^"^ he

'"* wn.e, as one dnmko I vl ' '' * '^'^''•"'kar.i abuses

^'"•* ^''^' nches, cligniy uTa Ibu^^^^^ thatistosTy

r.:,.;;,?';"J- • i»B«s..t.,.^' "t;^*"f »«^' «»at for a little

• ***** Tl(|

»il

i '■ i

218 aODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF.

while thou hast given him, fill him with error, haughti-
ness, and unrest, and that he becomes a fool, intoxicated
with the poison that makes him mad. His prosperity
causes him to despise and make little of every one; it
seems that his heart is covered with sharp thorns and
also his face : all of which is made apparent by his man-
ner of living, and by his manner of talking; never say-
ing nor doing anything t,\^zt gives pleasure to any one,
never caring for any one, never taking counsel of any one ;
he ever lives as seems good to him and as the whim
directs. our Lord, most clement, protector of all,
creatoi and maker of all, it is too certain that this man
has destroye; >. i . w^lf, has acted like a child ungrateful
to his father, i drunkard without reason. The

favors thou hast ■. orded him, the dignity thou hast set
him in, have occasioned his perdition. Besides these,
there is another thing, exceedingly hurtful and repre-
hensible: he is irreligious, never praying to the gods,
never weeping before them, nor grieving for his sins, nor
sighing ; from this it comes about that he is as headstrong
as a drunkard in his vices, going about like a hollow and
empty jxirson, wholly senseless; he stays not to consider
what he is nor the office that he fills. Of a verity he
dishonors and affronts the dignity and throne that he
holds, which is thine, and which ought to be much
honored and reverenced; for from it dopcu'ls the justice
and rightness of the judicature that he hold i, for the sus-
taining and worthily directing of thy nation, thou being
emperor of all. I le should so hold his ixjwer that the low-
er i)eople be not injured and oppressed by the great ; I'roni
him should fall punishment and humiliation on those
that resixict not thy ix)'ver and dignity. But all things
and people suffer loss in that he fills not his office as he
ought. The merchants suffer alst), who tu'o those to whom
thou givest the most of thy riches, who overrun all the
world, yea the mountains and the uniK3opled places,
seeking through much sorrow thy gifts, favors, and dain-
ties, the which thou givest sparingly and to thy friends.
Ah, Lord, not only does he dishonor thee as aforesaid,

THAT A BAD BULEB BE BEMOVED.

219

but also when we are gathered together to intone thy
songs, gathered in the place where we solicit thy mercies
and gifts, in the place where thou art praised and prayed
to, where the sad afflicted ones and the poor gather com-
fort and strength, where very cowards find spirit to die
in war, — ^in this so holy and reverend place this man
exhibits his dissoluteness and hurts devotion ; he troubles
those that serve and praise thee in the place where thou
gatlierest and markest thy friends, as a shepherd marks
his flock.** Since thou, Ijord, hearest and knowest to be
true all that I have now said in thy presence, there re-
mains no more but that thy will be done, and the good
plejusure of thy heart to the remedy of this affair. At
least, Lord, punish this man in such wise that he be-
come a warning to others, so that they may not imiUite
his evil life. Let the punishment fall on him from thy
hand that to thee seems most meet, be it sickness or
any other affliction; or deprive him of the lordship, so
that thou mayest give it to another, to one of thy friends,
to one humble, devoted, and i)euitent; for many such
thou hast, thou that lackest not iKjrsons such as are
necessary for this office, friends that hoixj, crying to thee :
thou knowest those for friends and servants that weep
and sigh in thy presence every day. Elect some one of
these tiiat he may hold the dignity of this thy kingdom
and seignory ; make trial of some of these. And now,
Lord, of all the aforesaid things which is it that thou
wilt grant? Wilt thou take fi*om this ruler the lordship,
dignity, and riches on which he prides himself, and give
theui to another who may be devout, j^xMiilent, humble,
obedient, capable, and of good understanding? Or, per-
adveuture, wilt thou be served by the falling of this
proud one into jx)verty and misery, as one of the \h)oy
rustics that can hardly gather the wherewithal to eat,
(h'iidv, and clothe himself? Or, |x»rad venture, will it
please thee to smite him with a sore punishment so that

^'^ Doth cditoni of Bnhngnn agree heroin UHiii^ the word 'obeJiiH.' An
Hhocj) w(>r(t uiikiiuwn in Moxico it in too tivident thnt othor hands thun Mcxi-
cim hnvo buon employed in the construction of this Hiniilo,

220 GODS, SUPEBNATtJBAL BEINOB. AKD WOBSHIP.

all his body may shrivel up, or his eyes be made blind,
or his members rotten? Or wilt thou be pleased
to withdraw him from the world through death, and
send him to hades, to the house of darkness and obscur-
ity, wiiere his ancestors are, whither we have all to go,
where our father is, and our mother, the god and the
goddess of hell. our Lord, most clement, what is it
that thy heart desires the most? Let thy will be done.
And in this matter in which I supplicate thee, I am not
moved by envy nor hate ; nor with any such motives
have I come into thy presence. I am moved only by
the robbery and ill-treatment that the people suifer, only
by a desire for their peace and prosperity. I would not
desire, O Lord, to provoke against myself thy wrath and
indignation, I that am a mean man and rude ; for it is
to thee, Lord, to penetrate the heart and to know the
thoughts of all mortals.

The following is a form of Mexican prayer to Tezcat-
lipoca, ustti by the officiating confessor after having heard
a confession of sins from some one. The peculiarity of
a Mexican confession was that it could not lawfully have
place in a man's life more than once ; a man's first absolu-
tion and remission of sins was also the last and the only
one he had to hope for: — our most compassionate
Lord, protector and favorer of all, thou hast now heard
the confession of this poor sinner, with which he has
published in thy presence his rottenness and unsavori-
ness. Perhaps he has hidden some of his sins before
thee, and if it be so he has irreverently and offensively
mocked thy majesty, and thrown himself into a dark
cavern and into a deep ravine ;*' he has snared and en-
tangled himself; he has made himself worthy of blind-
ness, shrivelling and rotting of the members, |X)verty,
and misery. Alas, if this poor sinner have attempted

4* ' Bi cfl ns( ha hecho burla de V.M., y oon deaacato v grnnde ofensa, se
ha arrojndu A una cima, y en una profunda barranca:' l^ustamente's c>d. of
Sahaijun, Hist. Gin,, torn, ii,, lib. vi., p. 58. The same passage runs as fol-
lows in KingHbornuKh's ed. : ' Si ^h asi ha hecho burla do vuistraumgestnd, y
oon desacato y grande ofensa de vuestra magcttad serA arrojado en uno sima,
y en una profunda barranca:' Kinjshoromjli's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 367.

PBAmuSEI.BV.C0WES80.„„„^

areckoning with a 1 h^h" .S"-- »^'I, that k^;^^^

seest him, for thou seest all ih- \ /""" thorouffhlv
wi houtbodil^parJlfhfhltT ^u^ T'^'^hleand
nii« own will, put liiuKself in thr*^-f *^^"S' ^'^'^,
thisisaplaceof vervstrinf • .• P^"^ and risk- tor
^-nt This rite LVke t^^^^^^^
thou washest away the fanU? ? ?^' ''''^'' ^^th which
fesses, even if he havl • °^ ^^"^ ^^^t wholly con
shortening of days ifZ 'TT^ destruction"^ and
truth, and have a Ld^,!f,^.^!-^"^" *«^d all Tie
and faults, he has receJve/ff '^ ^""^^^ fr«"» hi « ns
^hat they have iW^d Thl^"^^'" "^ *^^"^ «»d «?
pan that has slippedTnd fJt'^^ ™^" ^*« «ven as a
"}S thee in divers wis dirr"i" **^^ P^«^nce, offend
himself into a de^p'^cl'^rt ^„"d'^ ^"^ « 4

fen hke a poor and lean mLn a ^**«n»l««« well." He
discontented with alUhrnasri^T ^'" '' grieved and
pained and ill at enZ i ^ *' ^'^ ^^a^t and bodv nr!

mmed never to offend thee'^at: "iH "^^^"^ ^^'^er"

a[so that this poor ^vroiZ %a *^""&'' that knowest

l^berty of free >^ j^w^ ^^1, T. ''^ ''''^' «" en dre

the nature of thesgn unKhM ^? '^ ""^ inclined by

™e this is 80,0 our Lord nT'^^^ And

i\elper of all, since ZthkZTJ'T''^ Protector t^

"not sorry „„ly, bS? terriflj^ 2! ?."'■' •"' *'«'"•' 'he
„ » T-.. • i. »i.„ri..^ , ^^ """' % f"/ «nd

I <l

222

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

indignation against him be appeased and that his sins
be thrown on one side. Since thou art full of pity,
Lord, see good to pardon and to cleanse him ; grant him
the pardon and remission of his sins, a thing that de-
scends from heaven, as water very clear and very pure
to wash away sins,"*^ with which thou washest away all
the stain and impurity that sin causes in the soul. See
good, Lord, that this man go in peace, and command
him in what he has to do ; let him go to do penance for
and to weep over his sins; give him the counsels neces-
sary to his well living.

At this point the confessor ceases from addressing the
god and turns to the penitent, saying: my brother, thou
hast come into a place of much peril, a place of travail
and fear; thou hast come to a steep chasm and a sheer
rock, where if any one fall he shall never come up again ;
thou hast come to the very place where the snares and the
nets touch one another, where they are set one upon an-
other, in such wise that no one may pass thereby without
falling into some of them, and not only snares and nets
but also holes like wells. Thou hast thrown thyself down
the banks of the river and among the snares and nets,
whence without aid it is not possible that thou shouldst
escape. These thy sins are not only snares, nets, and
wells, into which thou hast fallen, but they are also wild
beasts that kill and rend both body and soul. Perad-
venture, hast thou hidden some one or some of thy sins,
weighty, huge, iilthy, unsavory, hidden something now
published in heaven, earth, and hades, something that
now stinks to the uttermost part of the world ? Thou
hast now presented thyself before our most clement Lord
and protector of all, whom thou didst irritate, offend, and
provoke the anger of, who to-morrow, or some other
day, will take thee out of this world and put thee under

purfBima par lavar

M < Cofw que desciende del cielo, como agaa olardiima y purfsL
Im peoadog: Sahagun, in Kitu/idiorough'a Mex. AtUiq., vol. y., p. 368. See
also Sahagun, Hid. Oen., torn, ii., lib. vl., p. 69.

The quality of mercy is not atrain'd

It droppetn as the gentle rain from hearen

Upon the place beneath: MerdntU of Vtntet, act. iv,

PEBILS OP FALSE CONFESSION.

h's feet, and send thee to ih. •

where thy father is anf thv TZ'"^^ ^""^"^ of hades

goddess of hell, whose mou^, 2*^' *^^ ^^ «"d X

to swallow thee and as man v Z ^""T «?«« desiring

In thatpla<,e shall heaven th^ T^. ^ ^" *h« woriT

merit in this world, aS?„ * , I^^f^^er thou didst

to what thou hast'eXed w1t^/^^^^^«^J"«ti<^,an^^^

misery, and sickness T** ,)^'*'» % works of po^rtv

tormented and aSdiitli'^'? "^^""^'^ thou^Ut t'
^n a lake of intolembt tor^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^t be ^l^

at this time, thou hast hS^^'f """"^ ^^^"^^^ ^"there
and communicating witr^our-^r"^" *^-^^^^i" «PeaS
all the secrets of every htart 1^^^'^^"*^ ^^^t s^f
that thou hast done, as o„e" ^hL .•^'"""^^ ^h«"y Si
deepplaoe, into a we 11 withnL iZ! ^"'^^ himself into"
created and sent Tn o th^tl^jtom. When thou wL?
wast created and sent Ih 7.?^^' ^^^»n and eood t^-

and very polished B„" of .^'^ ^^ gold very shinh'^
^hou hast defiled and stein Jl"',r"ir" «"d voS b„^
J h and in the uncleannert th •^'^'^' ""^ «>"-d in

P^tector „„d purS^^,^*;'* »-• Lori, who Mte

224 GODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEIKOS, AND WORSHIP.

more thou beginnest to radiate and to shine anew like
a very precious and clear stone, issuing from the belly
of the matrix in which it was ci*eated. Since this is
thus, see that thou live with much circumspection and very
advisedly now and henceforward, all the time that thou
mayest live in this world under the power and lordship
of our Lord God, most clement, beneficent, and munif-
icent. Weep, be sad, walk humbly, with submission,
with the head low and bowed down, praying to God.
Look that pride find no place within thee, otherwise thou
wilt displease our Lord, who sees the hearts and tlie
thoughts of all mortals. In what dost thou esteem thy-
self? At how much dost thou hold thyself? What is
thy foundation and root? On what dost thou support
thyself? It is clear that thou art nothing, canst do no-
thing, and art worth nothing; for our Lord will do with
thee all he may desire and none shall stay his hand.
Peradventure, must he show thee those things with
which he torments and afflicts, so that thou mayest see
them with thine eyes in this world ? Nay verily, for the
torments and horrible sufferings of his tortures of the
other world are not visible, nor able to be seen by those
that live here. Perhaps he will condemn thee to the
universal house of hades ; and the house where thou now
livest will fall down and be destroyed, and be as a dung-
hill of filthiness and uncleanness, thou having been ac-
customed to live therein with much satisfaction, waiting
to know how he would dispose of thee, he our Lord and
helper, the invisible, incorporeal and alone one. Therefore
I entreat thee to stand up and strengthen thyself and to
be no more henceforth as thou hast been in the past.
Take to thyself a new heart and a new manner of living,
and take good care not to turn again to thine old sins.
Consider that thou canst not see with thine eyes our
Lord God, for he is invisible and impalpable, he is Tez-
catlipoca, he is Titlacaoa, he is a youth of perfect per-
fection and without spot. Strengthen thyself to sweep,
to clean, and to arrange thy house ; for if thou do not
this, thou wilt reject from thy company and from thy

EXHOBTATIOX^OTHEPEXII^^T.

. -■ -- ^an PENITENT. ^,

house, and wilt offend mnoh .u ^

\« ever walking thmuffTn ^^^^'^^ «'^™ent youth thaf

»hould,Mo penance, Zkin"!"""^"'"' «' *»* S

noles p erced in th^u < ^•^' P'^^^s osier twiir, fu ,'
once ,i;.„gt 'SJ^ ^y' -- 'h-gh % rngt™"f5
not alone for the caStiJ^J!, '*""»«' «h»" £ 3f

"iffratitude thou hntf \ "^ neighbors; as also flT
Mowed onTr I ''^''^^" with referen^P f .u *^^

;;'«'; even though thou thv^liV "'''' « ^^^^er themselves
£hore remains nothing lii-^ T ^^^ ^^^^S^ of God -

!f '

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. >ND WORSHIP.

and to ask favor and light for the proper performance of
his office : O our lord, most clement, invisible and im-
palpable protector and governor, well do I know that
thou knowest me, who am a poor man, of low destiny,
born and brought up among filth, and a man of small
reason and mean judgment, full of many defects and
faults, a man that knows not himself, nor considers who
he is. Thou hast bestowed on me a great benefit, favor,
and mercy, without any merit on my part; thou hast
lifted me from the dung-hill and set me in the royal
dignity and throne. Who am I, my Lord, and what is
my worth that thou shouldst put me among the num-
ber of those that thou lovest? among the numl)er of
thine acquaintance, of those thou boldest for chosen
friends and worthy of all honor ; born and brought up
for thrones and roycal dignities; to this end thou hast
created them able, prudent, descended from noble and
generous fathers; for this end they were created and
educated ; to be thine instruments and images they were
born and baptized under the signs and constellations that
lords are born under. They were born to rule thy king-
doms, thy word being within them and speaking by their
mouth, — according to the desire of the ancient god,
the fathui of all the gods, the god of fire, who is in the
pond of water among turrets surrounded with stones like
roses, who is called Xiuhtecutli, who determines, exam-
ines, and settles the business and lawsuits of the nation
and of the common people, as it were washing them with
water; in the company and presence of this god the
generous personages aforementioned always are.
most clement Lord, ruler, and governor, thou hast done
me a great favor. Perhaps it has been through the in-
tercession and through the tears shed by the departed
lords and ladies that had charge of this kingdom." It
would be great madness to suppose that for any merit
or courage of mine thou hast favored me, setting me
over this your kingdom, the government of which is

M • Lob pasadoR seAoreB y BeAoras que tuvieron cargo de ^ste reino.' Saha-
gun. Hist, wn., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 71.

PBAYEB OF A BDLEB.

227

something very heavy, difficult, and even fearful ; it is
iis a huge burden, carried on the shoulders, and one that
with great difficulty the past rulers bore, ruling in thy
name. our Lord, most clement, invisible, and impal-
pable, ruler and governor, creator and knower of all
things and thoughts, beautifier of thy creatures," what
shall I say more, poor me? In what wise have I to
rule and govern this thy state, or how have I to
carry this burden of the common people? I who
am blind and deaf, who do not even know myself, nor
know how to rule over myself. I am accustomed to
walk in filth, my faculties fit me for seeking and selling
edible herbs, and for carrying and selling wood. What
I deserve, O Lord, is blindness for mine eyes and
shriveling and rotting for my limbs, and to go dressed
in rags and tatters; this is what I deserve and what
ought to be given me. It is I that need to be ruled and
to be carried on some one's back. Thou hasi many
friends and acquaintances that may be trusted with this
load. Since, however, thou has already determined to
set me up for a scoflf and a jeer to the world, let thy will
be done and thy word fulfilled. Peradventure thou
knowest not who I am; and, after having known me,
wilt seek another and take the government from me;
taking it again to thyself, liiding again in thyself this
dignity and honor, being already angry and weary of
bearing with me ; and thou wilt give the government to
another, to some close friend and acquaintance of thine,
to some one very devout toward thee, that weeps and
sighs and so merits this dignity. Or, peradventure,
this thing that happened to me is a dream, or a
walking in sleep. Lord, thou that art present
in every place, that knowest all thoughts, that dis-
tributest all gifts, be pleased not to hide from me thy
words and thine inspiration. I do not know the road I
have to follow, nor what I have to do, deign then not

' I

. til 5

"■i

^^ * Adornador de las oriaturas:' Sahagun, in Kingahorough'a Mex. Antia,,
vol. T., p. 377. 'Adornador de las almas.' Sahagun, Hist. Oen., torn, ii., lib.
Ti., p. 71.

228 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

to hide from me the light and the mirror that have to
guide me. Do not allow me to cause those I have to
rule and carry on my shoulders to lose the road and to
wander over rocks and mountains. Do not allow me to
guide them in the tracks of rabbits and deer. Do not
permit, Lord, any war to he raised against me, nor
any jxjstilence to come upon those 1 govern; for 1 should
not know, in such a cjvse, what to do, nor where to take
those I have ui)on my shoulders ; alas for me, that am
incapable and ignorant. I would not that an^ sickness
come upon me, for in that case thy nation and jxiople
would l)e lost, and thy kingdom desolated and given up
to darkness. What shall 1 do, O Lord and creator, if
by chance I fall into some disgraceful fleshly sin, and
thereby ruin the kingdom ? what do if by negligence or
sloth I lUido my subjects? what do if through my fault I
hurl down a precipice those I have to rule? Oiu* Lord,
most clement, invisible and imp(:l[mble, I entreat thee
not to separate thyself from me; visit me often; visit
this [Kwr house, for 1 will Ikj waiting for thee therein.
With great thirst 1 await thee and demand urgently
thy word and inspiration, which thou didst breatlie into
thine ancient friends and acquaintances that have ruled
with diligence and rectitude over thy kingdom. This is
thy thwue and honor, on either side whereof are seated
thy senators and principal men, who are Jis thine inuijte
and very iierson. They give sentence and sjKjak on the
afl'airs of the state in thy name; thou usest them as
thy flutes, sjKiaking from within them and placing thy-
self in their faces and ears, o^xining their mouths so tliiit
they may si)eak well. In this phice the mei'chants niiH'k
and jest at our follies, with which merchants thou art
spending thy leisure, since they are thy friends and iic-
quaint^inces; there also thou inspirest and breathest upon
thy devoted ones, who weep and sigh in thy preseuw,
sincerely giving thee their heart.™ For this reason thou

>*> The preoiHe ((irco of miioli of thiH Honteiico it in hnrd to undorHtund. It
Hoomn to ithow, nt niiy nttn, that tlie iiU'nihHiitH wuru HuppoHod to \w very
intiinitto with and onpeoiitlly favored liy thiH duity. The oriKimd rium ux
followB: 'Eueate lugar burlau y rieu do unestras buberfas Ion nugociitiitim,

PBAYEB OF A RULER FOR DIRECTION.

229

adornest them with pnidence and wisdom, so that they
may look as into a mirror witli two faces, where every
one's image is to be seen;" for this thou givest them a
very clear axe, without any dimness, whose brightness
lliislies into all plsu'es. For this cause also thou givest
them gifts and precious jewels, hanging them *'»()ni their
necks and ears, even like material ornaments such aw ar»i
tlu! micochil^ the tentetl, the tlapiloni or head-tassel, the
iiititemecntl or tanned stnip that lords tie round their
wrists,'"* the yellow leather bound on the ankles, the
beads of gold, and the rich feathers. In this i)ljice of
the good governing and rule of thy kingdom, are merited
tliy riches and glory, thy sweet and delightful things,
calmness and tranquillity, a jxjaceable and contented life;
all of which come from thy hand. In the siune place,
lastly, are also merited the adverse and wearistnne things,
sickness, [Kjverty, and the shortness of life ; whicli things
are sent by thee to those that in this condition do not
i'ulfill their duty. O our Lord, most clement, knower of
thoughts and giver of gifts, is it in my hand, that am a
mean man, to know how to rule? is the nuinner of my
life in mv hand, and the works that I have to do in mv
oflice? which indeed is of thy kingdom and dignity and
not »i ine. What thou mayest wish me to do and what
iim\ he thy will and dis[N)sition, thou aiding me I will
do. The n)ad thou mayest show me 1 will walk in;
that thou mayest inspire me with, and put in my
heart, that I will say and speak. oiu" Lord, most
clement, in thy band I wholly phu^e myself, for it is not
|)o.ssiltle ibr me to direct or govern myself; 1 aui blind,
ilurkne.ss, a dung-bill, {^ee gtK)d, Lord, to give me a

('(III l(H (|Uitl(>H oHtiiiH YOH ImU'niulixm, i)(>i'({U(i HonvucHlnm miii^'os y viu-HtroH
(MiKiciiliiM, y all: iim)iiniiH t' iiiHiilliiiH A viii'mIvoh dcvotoH, tjiic lloiiiii v Hiispi-
I'liii ell vncHtrii iircHt'iieiiiy <iH(liiiult' vcrdiid hu coriticon,' iSiilni'iiin, llist. tirn.,
tdiii ii., lit), vi., |>. 7;i.

■i' " I'lin* (im> v«'i»ii oonm vn PHpejo dc dos liiizeH, dotidt- ho rrprrMrntii Irt
iiii:tU('ii dc (vufii uiiii'. Sahivimi, lllsl. h'vii., (him, ii., lili. vi, i>. 1:1

'^ .V((-'ii(7i//i, <iri'ji'm>i[c'iir-rinj{Hl; Tntlili,\»\iny- dc iiidio | li|i-<ini>iiii<'iit'):
Miiliiui, Wiriihiihriii. Mdlitiii ((ivi'S iiIho Miitnnmill to iiicim.n ^old luiu'i'h't
or Hoiiictliiii^ of that, kind; liUHtaniniit)! triiiiHliitcH tlio word in llic hiiiuc viiy,
('Xiiiiii'n;^ tiiut the Htru|> nicntioniMl in tho tt-xt wait nHt>d to tiotlii) liritct>h*t
un. Sithuyun, iliid. Gm., tuiu. ii., lib, vi., p. 74.

1'*

i."

230

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

little light, though it be only as much or a fire-fly gives
out, going about at night ; to light me in this dream, in
this life asleep that endures as for a day; where are
many things to stumble at, many things to give occasion
for laughing at one, many things like a rugged road that
has to be gone over by leaps. All this has to haptien in
the position thou hast put me in, giving me thy seat and
dignity. O Lord, most clement, I entreat thee to visit
me with thy light, that I may not err, that 1 may not
undo myself, that my vassals may not cry out ajjiainst
me. O our Lord, most pitiful, thou hast made me row
the back-piece'"' of thy chair, also thy flute; all without
any merit of mine. 1 am thy mouth, thy face, thine
ears, thy teeth, and thy nails. Although I am a mean man
I desire to say that 1 unworthily represent thy penson,
and thine image, that the words I shall s[)eak have to
be esteemed as thine, that my face has to Im held as
thine, mine eyes as thii", and the punisliment that I
shall inflict as if thou hadst inflicted it. For all this
I entreat thee to put thy spirit within me, and thy words,
so that all may obey theui and none contradict.'"

Ti.;

Now with regard to the measure of the genuineness of
the prayers to Tezcatli|KK!a, just given, it seems evident
that either with or without the conscious connivance of
Father IJernardino de Suhagun, their historian, a certain
amount of sophistication and adaptation to (Miristiiin
ideas has crept into them ; it apjK'ars to he just iis evi-
dent, however, on the other hand, that they contnin a
i_'reat deal that is original, indigenous, and characteristic
in regard to the Mexican religion. At any rate they
puri)ort to do so, and as evidence hearing on the matter,
presented by a hearer and eye-witness at first hand, In

M ' E^piildiir (Ic vnoHtru willu.' Snhd'tun, ITIsI, fhn., torn. H., lib. vi., |i. 'V
wi ' H«' tlmt ilflivt'i'i'd this iiriiv»'r Itcfoic 'I't'xi'atliiincii, Htond on liiw fi 1 1,
kiH feet <'1(>M(< to^elhcr, ht'iuliii^' linimclf tiiwiin.s the rarlh. 'Hkini' lliiit \m i>'
very devout \vi vc nuked. IJefdre they I'e^iiii th '|>ntyei' they oflired cniiiil In
tlie'tire, or Honie iithel' Hiu'l'ittce, and if they were eovrredM'ilii a Manl« I. Ili< v
pulled the knot of It round to tlie hreiiHt, ho Ihn. they were naked in ImhI
Home Hpoke tliin praviT HipiattinK on their calves, and kept tlie knot of iIh'
Idanket on the nhoulder ' Sahwiun IIM, (Im., tt)n . ii., lib, vi., p. 75,

GENUINENESS OF THE FOREGOINO PRAYERS.

231

a man of strongly authenticated probity, learning, and
above all, of strong sympathy with the Mexican people,
beloved and trusted by tliose of them with whom he
came in contact, and admitted to the familiarity of a
friend with their traditions and habits of thought, — for
all these re^usons his evidence, however we may esteem
it, must be heard and judged."

(!> Father Bernnrdiuo de Sahngun, a Spanish Franciscan, was one of the
first ])i'bac'herH Heut tu Mexico; where he was much employed in the in-
Htructiuu of the native youth, working fur the niuHt part in the province of
Ti'zcuco. While there,' in the city of Tepeopulco, in the latter part of the
sixteenth century, he began the work, best known to nn an the JILstoria
(kiieral ile las Cosus </e yueva Ksp<ii'in, from which the above prayers have
been trannlated, and from which wo shall draw largely for further informa-
tion. It would bo hard to imagine a work of such a character constructed
after a better fashion of working than his. Gathering the principal natives of
the town in which he carried on his labors, ho induced them to appoint hiui
a number of persons, the most learned and experienced in the things of which
h(.' wished to write. 'Ihcse learned Mexicans being collected, Father Saha-
gini was accustomed to get theiu to paint down in their native fashion the
vjirious legends, details of history and mythology, and so on thiit he wiinted; at
thi) foot of tho said pictures these learned Mexicans wrote out the explanations
of tho same in the Mexican tongue; and this explaiiiitinn tho Father ISahu-
giin trauHluted into Spanish: that translation pur; (irts to be what wo now
read as tho llMnrla ({envml. Hero follows a trims. ation of the Prologo of
his work, in which he describes all the foregoing in his own way: "All
writers labor the best that they can to make their works authoritative; some
by witnesses worthy of fiiith, others by the writings of previous writers held
worthy of belief, otliers by tho testiuiony of the Sa<'red Scriptures. To me
are wanting all these foundations to make authoritative what 1 have written
in these twelve books [of the liistnria iiimrnl']. I have no other founda-
tion, but to set down here tho relation of the diligence that I made to know
the truth of all that is written in these twelve books. As I have said in other
]a'(ilogues to this work, I was commanded in all holy obedience by my chii f
]irilate to write in the Mexican langinigo that which appeared to me to be
iiNi'ful for the doctrine, w(U'sliip, and maintenance ot Christianity among
th('S(t natives of New S|)ain, and forthe aid of the workers anil ministers that
tiiught them. Having received this commandment, I made in the Spanish
language a minute or memorandum of all th(> matters that I had to treat of,

which matters are what is written in thi' twelve books which were begun

in the |iueblo of 'repeopuleo, which is in tlx^ province of Culhuaciin or Tez-
ciico. I'he work was done in the following way. In the aforesaid pueblo, ]
gut together all the principal men, together with the lord of the place, who
was called Don Diego de .Nicndo/,a, of great distinction and ability, well ex])eri-
enred ill things ecclesiastic, military, political, and even relating to idolatry.
Tiiey being come together, 1 set before them what I proposed to do, and
prayed them to appoint me able and exoerieiiced iiersoiis, with whom 1
iiiiglit converse and come to an understanding on sucli <|Ui'Htions as 1 might
]ii'ii|iiisc. 'I'liey answered nie that they would talk the matter over and give
their answer on another day; and with this they took their departure. So
on another day the lord and his principal nu'ti came, and having conferred
liigi'ther with great solemnity, as they were accustomed at that time to do,
lliey chose out tell tir twelve of (he principal old men, and told nie that with
tlii'S(> I might coinmunicate and tlmt these would instruct me in any iiiatterH
I Hhould iiii|uire of. Of these there were as many as four instructed in liiktin,
tu whuui I, Huuiu few yuars bifurc, hud myself taught grammar in the oollogo

f=if:p

GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSmP.

of Santa Cruz, in TIalteloIco. With these appointed principal men, includ-
ing the four instructed in grammar, I talked many days during about two
years, following the order of the min<'t« I bad already made out. On all the
subjects ou which we conferred they gave me ])ictures, — which were the
writings anciently in use among them, — and these the grammarians inter-
preted to me in their language, writing the interpretation at the foot of
the picture. Even to this day I hold the originals of these . . . When I went
to the chapter, with which wus ended the seven years' term of Fray Francis-
co Toril— lie that had imposed the charge of this work upon me — I was re-
moved from Tcpeopulco, carrjnng all my writings. I went to reside at Haut-
iiigo del TIalteloIco. There I brought together the principal men, set before
them the matter of my writings, and asked them to appoint me some able

Erincinal men, with whom I might exumino and talk over the writings I had
rougnt from Tepeopulco. The governor, vi'h the alcaldes, opnointed mo
as many as eight or ten principal men, selected from all the most able in their
language, and in the things of their antiquities. With these and with four
or five coUegiiius, all trilinguists, and living for the space of a year or more
secluded in the college, all that had been brought written from Tepeopulco
was clearly emended and added to; and the whole was rewritten in small
letters, for it was written with much haste. In this scrutiny or examiuhtiou,
he that worked the hardest of all the collegians was Martin Jacobita, who
W'ts then rector of the coUegt, an inhabitant of the ward of Kanta Ana. I,
having done all as above said in TIalteloIco, went, taking with me all my
writings, to reside in San Francisco de Mexico, where, by myself, for the space
of three years, I examined over and over again the writings, emended them,
divided them into twelve books, and each book into chapters and paragraphs.
After this. Father Mii,'uel Navarro being provincial, ond Father Diego de
Mendoza commissary-general in Mexico, with their favor I had all the
twelve books clearly copied in a good hand, as also the I'ontilla and the Van-
tires [which were other works on which Sahaguu was engaged]. I mailo
out also an Art of the Mexican language with a vocabulary-appendix. Now
the Mexicans added to and emended my twelve books [of the Jl'mUma (hmf-
ml] in many things while they were being copied out in full; ho that the tirst
sieve through which my work passed was that of Tepeopulco, the second
that of TIalteloIco, the third that of Mexico; and in all these scrutinies collegi-
ate grammarians had be(>n employed. The chief and most learned was An-
tonio Valeriauo, a resident of Azteapuzalco ; anoth' r, little less than the tirst,
was Ahmso Vegerano. resident of C.'uauhtitlan; another was Martin Jacobita,
above mentioned; another I'edro de Kautii Itueiiavcntura. resident of Cnanh-
titlan; all expert in three languages, Latin, Spanish, and Indian [Mexican |.
The scribes that made out the clear copies of all the works are Diegu
Degrade), resident of the ward of San Martin, Mateo Heverino, r<>sident of Xo-
chiiuilco, of the part of Ulliic. The clear copy being fully made out, by the
favor of the fathers above mentioned and the ex]>enditiu'e of hard caHlion the
scribes, the author thereof asked of th(( delegate Father Francisco de llivern
that the work be submitted to three or four religious, so that they might give
an opinion on it, and that in the provincial chapter, which was close at hand,
they might attend and report on the matter to the nssenibly, speaking as
the' thing might ajjnear to them. And these reported in the assembly that
the writings were of niueh value and deserved such support as was necessary
toward their eo npletioii. lint to some of the asseinlily it seemed that it
was contrary to their vows of poverty to spend money in copying these writ-
ings; so they eommantled the author to dismiss his serities, and that he
alone with his own hand should d<> what copying he want)>d done; but as he
w.is more than seventy years old, and fur the tr(>mbling of his hand not able
to write anything, nor abh^ to |)ro>'m'<i a dispensation from this mandate,
there was nothing done with the writings for more than tlve years. Duiiiig
this interval, aii(l at the next chapter, Father Miguel Navarro was elected
by the general chapter for custos cuHtndiuni, and Father Alonsode Ksealoim,
for provincial. During this time the author made a summary of all the
books and of all the chapters of each book, and j)rologuu8, wherein was said

CHABACTEBAXDW0BK8 0PSAHAGUN
with brevity all that *h„ k„ . ^

their appearXe 'Vn^H"^*"^'" I"-*'! beerwritS^fr'": ''l"^^'* *« Spff
books ofthe author nni" '"'''"' "'"e, the fatW . '°"* *^'« ^md made
were seen by ,La.iv *Ti' !'"P"««<1 tb««« through ail *r"'''"'''"' ^""^ «*» the
After 8,.me vefrS fi.f ''-"""V""* "PProve.I forV^" J^*' Proviuce, where thev
"t the petiti^of • tt S^r ' ."""'4 ' '"««««« S E°^""'' ^"'"'^e^
book,; which, fr, m " u '• f,"T*' ^"J* censSocS^^^ Miguel Navarro
hands of the author D iiw^'r*!"*?' '""»'« within abor/^*'" ^^^ ^"d
there a„y „„« to help t"^ « ' '""« ""thing was do " -n T"' »"" *be
"util tlie delecate-L. !.«;?! *'S .i*"*"" translated into fhl ^ "* ^'"ein, nor was
«-v and w,u, ,„S K™' witKi' ^'"'"^- d« S«que ^olme ^1? ^P"""^
hen, in o Spanish/ provdiT,i ','?'"' ""^ •"""'"""clodTthe anH^ *l'T ''"^^
the Mexican ImsmJJiTolX '^"^ '^"^ ""cessary to th!ir ! • '^ '° *™"slate
liUKh be sent to S.min ft " H "'"" ""<' '^e Spanish in an^/if'"» 'e-written.

the date at which s . "^"•' t"'"- »•, lib i P.. -i '^aching the nlaco

i""l the voc£ar^SS.;:''-«te he says: 'The'so ^^Ij^"' f I\"'- ^'i- £ to
;"t not translated'i.X'sSr-''';?';'^'"''' '» « «'- r Xv iS. "'"' '^' Art

=^^^"'^-iSsS£|SJg.s

'•b. i., lutrc'

of 'Salaam S'";h''f""' l'"*'^'" "f «'ih g i ^ took »;'"''; "V^-n^ourt "Kl
V"Kv[Jlex-ic 1 ' ;,'' ^f'">l>'t of that nniv ";« Uv u '""'''''" '»»« «'"vent

;.|t.....rcsponded'v;Hi:'!l,!^.:---':'r4itb./iSS^^^^

Ifodiigo. Whfle a"*vm,fil''i/"-''' ■" ""' ''"iiipany 6f Fat'hpr'TT' """ tliis pro-

;;,';:''.v •'•"...^ ""-tchlT ,,';';;"';:» ;^'«' !»„. :ri , ^ t ' £/r"" ''" v**-

leiidiiiu'c n thi> ,.!.,>,•.' ""'•."" ecstasy. Salmirm, „, ^'^"•c" he saw him

J. •..! s,.,.,,n.lly with tl.; lo :,'"iV;!' ^'? eonvcrsr; i «7, »' >"«tins.
iiiiitcloico in tlin „„ii """led i'at|,(,r j, , n. *"• Ho was

«■' it eau.II, 1,?% ";«" "f '"^'intu <'ru/; ^.^'v[^'7«."«professo7a?

" 'li'l not sec '•, ,"" 'V^'> t" Htriv.. with „.|V " '.'"'"tionod in the

"""'■"' '•"- t' ' , :;, ,"■'•."" •"" i" tbe 1 ;, ' :;'''';;r'";v"- r"»- to «„ „o

yiitW.cd .,v,., (lie l>,m ,^'":" "<'''»«i"n forth Hw. '" '^f''«<'">m their
•'">•""• insfrnc/cd he iV.vs "V'r'' '"'■' ''' ''-'I 'k" . vitr. tri''''''''''^ """

234

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

trailing; their betas, and the natives shedding tears, and the members of the
different religious houses giving praises to God our Lord for this holy death,
of which the murtyrology treats,— Gouzaga, Torcjuemada, Oeza, Rampineo,
and innuy others. In the library of Senior Eguinva, in the manuscript of the
Turriaini collection, I have read the article relating to lather Sahogun; iu it
a large catalogue of works that he wrote is given. 1 remember only the fol-
lowing: llistoria General de las cosas de yuiva Kspanu; Arte de <jr'.7iu'Vua
mexicana; Duxionario irilingue de esjmfiol, l(dw, y intxi<:ano; Stnnvnis
para loilo d uio en niex'wano, (post'o aunque sin nombre de autor); Posiil-
las 6 romiiieiUarios al evawielio, para las uiisas solenmes de dia de precepto;
Historla de los primeros pobladores /ram 'st:anos en Mia'ico; Salnwdia de la
vida de Cri>ito, de la viryen y de los santos, que vsaLan los indios, y precep-
tos para los cisados; Escala espmlual, que fue la primera obra que se im-
primiii en Mexico en la imprenta que trajo Hernan Cortes de Ksjiana.' Saha-
<jun, Hist. (Jen., torn, i., pp. vii.-ix. As to the manner iu which the Jlis-
toria If.ncral of Sahagun, 'whom,' says Prescott, ^fex., vol. i., p. (17,
'I have followed as the highest authority' iu matters of Mexican re-
ligion,— at last saw the light of publication, I give I'rescott's account,
Mt'X., vol. i., p. 88, as exact save in one point, for which see the correction
iu brackets: — 'At length, toward the close of the last century, the indefati-
gable Munoz succeeded in disinterring the long lost manuscript from the
place tradition had assigned to it, — the library of a convent at Tolosa, in Na-
varre, the northern extremity of Spain. 'With his usual ardor, he transcribed
the whole work with his own hands, and added it to the inestimable collec-
tion, of which, alas! he was destim 1 not to reap the full benefit himself.
From this transcript Lord Kiii'^sl .rough was enabled to procure the copy
which was published in 18110, in the sixth volume of his magnitlceut compila-
tion. [It was published in two parts, in the fifth and seventh volumes of that
compilation, and the exact date of the publication was 18H1 . 1 In it he expresses
an honest satisfaction at being the first to give Sahagun's work to the world.
But iu this supposition ho was mistaken. 'I'hu very year preceding, an edition
of it, with annotations, ajjpeared in Mexico, in throe volumes 8vo. It was
prepared by Bustamante, — a scholar to whose editorial activity his country
18 largely indebted,— from a coi)y of the Mufioz manuscript which came into
his possession. Thus this ri^uarkable work, which was denied the lionoix
of the press during the author's lifetinu', after passing into obliviim, reap-
peared, at the distanee of nearly three centuries, not in his own eonr.try, Imt
in foreign lands widely remote from each other, and that almost sinnillaiie-
ously. . . .Sidiagun divided his history into twelve books. The first eh ven
are occupieil with the social institutions of Mexico, and the last with the
Conquest. On the religion of the country he is particnhirly full. His gnat
object evidently was, to give a clear view of its mytludogy, and of the biu'-
densome rituiil which belonged to it. Beligion enteri'tl so intimately into
the most private concerns and usages of the .\ztecs. that Hahagim's work
must be a text-book for every stiulent of their antiquities. Tonjueniada
availed himself of a nianuscrii)t copy, which fell into his hands before it was
sent to Spain, to eiirieli his own j>iiges,--a circumstance more fortunate for
his readers than for Sahagun's reputation, wlnwe work, now that it is |iiil>-
lished, loses much of the originality anil interest which would otherwise
attach to it. In one respect it is invaluable; as ju'esenting a complete eol-
lection of the various forms of prayer, ac<'ommodated to every ])Ossi'.ile eniei-
gency, in use by the Mexicans. They mv often clothed in dignitUd and
Deautiful language, showing that sublime speculative tenets are quite com-
patible with the most degrading practices of iiupeintition. It is inu<di ' lii"
regretted that we have not the eighti'en hymns, inserted by the author in his
book, which would have particular interest, as the only specimen of devo-
tional poetry preserved of the A/tecs. The hieroglyphical paintings, wliidi
aeconq)anied the text are idso missing. If they have escaped the hands of
fanaticism, both may reappear at some future day.' As may have liieu
noticed, the editions of Hahagun by both Bustanumte and Kingsbonmgli Imvi'
been ooUHtitutly used together and collated during the course of this present

ADCLT^EATIOKOFIHEMAOTOMSS.

note 52 /7;.?«!:"««e, just ^efen-ed to A, ''^ "^"^^ tolerably ;Ti5 "« « ^^^o e,
1H0O / •,. il'sloria General ih- /««7. ' """"ns follows 7«/7^i ,. ^'^^ •'"t-

toreq„i,e for a perfect „»i"^*"'»«"te ( BwstamS 4to

quite away fro,,, the oriciunl ,.« •F'""'''"' »•"! ftlossed l» c"'^*'Vough'8

this corru;,ti„„ took ,S? ','^ *""eu by SuhaLrn n r ''> ,Sl"""sh ha1,ils

Imt it M-as iinme Uatilv „f/*^ f,°*'« "°' «li"w; b,U he Ip^'"*' '^ ^""^^ or when

'ts author. a,„l m. "".-f '^ "%»• "»e oriffinal m'.. " "A? /^."^^s "t to be inferred

•t;' ".Uhor, and tla t '^as £ "l" «"8'»"J °>"m crTp 'Cf, " *" ''^ "'^"•eS
iiiiiued atelv of M,o A '""" "eeauso thatt«,J«i I "'*" "*'"> taken fr,.n.

correct and Renuino"^; •. '" " t".""''; ""^^ *» bj g ve.ri.n.'?'^"''""''''- «»«•
''.Vthohandof Sahami, i.j *. '"•''"h book «.,. ,."'•"«■» words a

.""l'"nt this worcr.f sui"'''""-^; "' t^o N\nv "Cid S«^^ i''^ '"""^ ^''"^ '^^ '«

B'ven of the Way in

I 'ir

OM O0D3, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS. AND WOBSHIP.

which the book was got hold of, and when the guarantee of the exactness of
the copy was procured. I, to-day, possess an original manuscript, written
altogether and signed by the hand of Father Bahagun; in which is to be
noted an essential variation in certain of the chapters which I now present,
from those that I before published in the twelfth Dook of his Ilisloria Gene-
ral; which is the book treating; of the Conquest. Sahagun wrote this manu-
' script in the year 1585, that is to say, five years before his death, and he
wrote it without doubt under a presentiment of the alterations that his work
would suffer. He had already made alterations therein himself, since he
confesses (they are his words) that certain defects existed in them, that certain
things had been put into the narrative of that Conquest that should not have
been put there, while other things were left out that should not have been
omitted. Therefore [says Bustamante], this autc^praph manuscript discovers
the alterations that his writings underwent and gives us good reason to doubt
the authenticity and exactness of the text seen by Muiioz During the re-
volution of Madrid, in May, 1808, caused by the entrance of the French and
the removal of the royal family to Bayonne, the office of the secretary of the
Academy of History was robbed, and from it were taken various bundles of
the works of Father Sahagun. These an old lawyer of the court bought, and
among them one entitled: R'lacion de la conquista de esta Nueva Emana, como
la coiitaron los soldadoa indios que se haUaron preaentea. Convertioae en lengua
tapanola Uana 4 intelujible y Wen enmenilada en este afio de 1585. Unfortu-
nately there had only remained [of the Helacion, etc., (?)] a single volume
of manuscript, which Senor D. Jose Gomez de la Cortina, ex-count of that
title, bought, giving therefor the sum of a hundred dollars. He allowed
me the use of it, and I have made an exact copy of it, adding notes
for the better understanding of the Conquest; the before-mentioned
being altogether written, as I have said, and signed by the hands of
Father Sahagun. This portion, which the said ex-count has certified to,
induces us to believe that the other works of Sahagun, relating both to
the Conquest and to the Aparicion Ouadalnpana have been adulterated
because they did little honor to the first Conquerors. That they have at
all come to be discussed with posterity, has been because a knowledge of
them was generally scattered, and in such a way that it was no longer posni-
ble to keep them hidden; or, perhaps, because the faction interested in their
oonccahnent had disapiieared. In proof of the authenticity and identity of
this manuscript, we refer to Father Betancur in his Chronicle of the pro-
vince of the Santo Evangelio de Mexico, iiiakiug a catalogue of the illustri-
ous men thereof; speaking of Sahagun, he says on page 138: "The ninth
boo'.v that this writer composed was the Conquest of Mexico by Cortes;
which book afterwanl, in the year 1.585, he re-wrote and emended; the
[ emended ] original of this I saw signed with his hand in the possssion of Seiior
D. JuHU Francisco de Monteniayor, president of the Boyal Andiencia, who
carried it to Spain with the intention of having it printed; and of this I hiivo
a translation wherein it is said that the Marquis of Villa-Manrique, viceroy
of Mexico, took from him [Sahagun] the twelve books and sent them to his
majesty for the royal chronicler," ' Bustamante lastly gives a certificate of
the authenticity oif the manuscript under (discussion and published by him.
The certificate is signed by Jose Gomez de la Cortina, and runs as follows:
* Mexico, 1st April, 1840. I certify that, being in Madrid in the year 1828, I
bought from D. Lorenzo Buiz de Artieda, through the agency of my friend
and companion, D. Jost- Musso Valiente, member of the Spanish Academics
of language and of history, the original manuscript of Father Sahagun, of
which mention is made in this work by his Excellency Seizor D. ('Arlos Mnrfu
Bustamante, as constated by the receiijts of the seller, and by other dot'U-
monts in my possession.' So much for Bustamante's new position as n
reeditor of a part of Sahagun '4 Jlintoria General ', we have stated it in his
own words, ana in those of his ov n witnesses as brought forward by him. The
changes referred to do not involve any matter bearing on mythology; it niny
bo not out of i)laco to say however, that the evidence In favor of Bustamantu's
new views seema strong and truth-like.

CHAPTER VII.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Ihaor of Tezc&Ti.iPooA — Hu Sratb at the Stbkbt-oornebs — Tabioub
Leqknds about his Lira on Eabth — Qitetzalcoatl— His Dextkritt in
THR Mechanioaii Abts — His BiLioious Obsebtances — The Wealth

AND NlHBLBNKfB OF HIS AOHEBBilTB — EXPUUSION FBOM TuUiA OF QdBT-
ZALCOATI. BT TeZOATLIPOCA AMD HtTITZILOPOOBTLI — ^TbK MaOIO DrAUUBT
— HlTKMAO, OB YeHAO, KiNO OF THE ToLTEOS, AND THE MISFORTUNES
BBOUOBT UPON HIM AND HIS PEOPLE BT TeZCATLIPOCA IN yABIOCS
DI80UI8ES — QUETZALCOATL IN GhOLULA — DIFFERING ACCOUNTS OF THE

BiBTH AND Life of Quetzalooatl — His Oentle Chabactkb— He drrw
UP THE Mexican Calendar — Incidents of his Exile and of his Joub-

NET TO TlAPALLA, AS BELATED AND OOMMENTRD UPON BT YABIOUS WRIT-

EBS — Bbasseur's ideas about the Quetzalcoatl Myths— Quetzalcoatl

OONStDEBED A SuN-GoD BY TtLOB, AND AS A DaWN-HeRO BY BbINTON —

Helps — Domeneoh — The Codioju — Lono Discussion of the Quetzal-
coatl Myths by J. G. MIllkb.

In the preceding chapter I have given only the loftier
view of Tezcatlipoca's nature, which even on this side
cannot be illustrated without many inconsistencies. We
pass now to relations evidencing a much meaner idea
of his character, and showing him whom we have seen
called invisible, almighty, and beneficent, in a new and
much less imposing light. We pass, in fact, from the
Zeus of Plato and Socrates to the Zeus of Ilesiod and
Homer.

Let us glance first at the fashion of his representation in
the temples, though with little hope of seeing the particular
fitness of many of the trappings and symbols with which
his statue was decorated. His principal image, at least

(887)

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

in the city of Mexico, was cutout of a very shining hlack
stone, called itzli, a variety of obsidian, — a stone vahied,
in consideration of its capabilities of cleavage, for making
those long splinters, used as knives by the Aztecs, for
sacrificial and other purposes. For these uses in wor-
ship, and perhaps indeed for its manifold uses in all re-
gards, it was surnamed teoteUj divine stone. In places
where stone was less convenient the image was made of
wood. The general idea intended to be given was that
of a young man ; by which the immortality of the god
was set forth. The ears of the idol were bright with ear-
rings of gold and silver. Through his lower lip was
thrust a little crystal tube, perhaps six inches long, and
through the hollow of this tube a feather was drawn;
sometimes a green feather, sometimes a blue, giving the
transparent ornament the tint at one time of an eme-
rald, at another of a turquois. The hair — carved from
the stone, we may suppose — was drawn into a queue and
bound with a ribbon of burnished gold, to the end of
which ribbon, hanging down behind, was attached a
golden ear with certain tongues of ascending smoke
painted thereon ; which smoke was intended to signify
the prayers of those sinners and afflicted that, commend-
ing themselves to the god, were heard by him. Upon
his head were many plumes of red and green feathers.
From his neck there hung down in front a great jewel of
gold that covered all his breast. Bracelets of gold were
upon his arms, and in his navel was set a precious green
stone. In his left hand there flashed a great circular
mirror of gold, bordered like a fan with precious feathers,
green and azure and yellow ; the eyes of the god were
ever fixed on this, for therein he saw reflected all that
was done in the world. This mirror was called itlachia,
that is to say, the ' looker-on,' the ' viewer.' Tezcatlipoca
was sometimes seated on a bench covered with a red
cloth, worked with the likeness of many skulls, having
in his right hand four darts, signifying, according to some,
that he punished sin. To the tx)p of his feet were at-
tached twenty bells of gold, and to his right foot the fore-

WORSHIP OP TEZOATLIPOCA.

239

foot of a deer, to show the exceeding swiftness of this
deity in all his ways. Hiding the shining black body,
was a great cloak, curiously wrought in black and white,
adorned with feathers, and fringed about with rosettes of
three colors, red, white, and black. This god, whose
decorations vary a little with different writers — varia-
tions probably not greater than those really existing
among the different figures representing in different
l)laces the same deity — had a kind of chapel built
tu hold him on the top of his temple. It was
a dark chamber lined with rich cloths of many
colors; and from its obscurity the image looked out,
seated on a pedestal, with a costly canopy immediately
overhead, and an altar in front; not apparently an
altar of sacrifice, but a kind of ornamental table, like a
Christian altar, covered with rich cloth. Into this holy
of holies it was not lawful for any but a priest to enter.

What most of all, however, must have served to bring
the worship of Tezcatlipoca prominently before the people,
were the seats of stone, built at the corners of the streets,
for the accommodation of this god when he walked in-
visibly abroad. Mortal, born of woman, never sat there-
on ; not the king himself might dare to use them : sacred
they were, sacred for ever, and always shadowed by a
canopy of green boughs, reverently renewed every five
days.*

Lower and lower we must now descend from the idea
of an almighty god, to take up the thread of various
legends in which Tezcatlipoca figures in an anything but
creditable liirht. We have already seen him described
as one of those hero-gods whom the new-born Sun was
instrumental in destroying;' and we may suppose that
he then ascended into heaven, for we find him after-
ward descending thence, letting himself down by a

' Acoula, Hist. Nal. /nd., pp. 353-4; Clavitjero, SlorlaAnt.dd Mmsico, torn.
ii.,jp.7; Duran, Ilisl. Ant, de kt Nueva Espalia, M8., quoted iu Squier'n Notes
(') Palado, Carta, note 27, pp. 117-8; Sahagxin, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p.

212; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensig, lam. ii. Bnd xxvi,, in Kinija-
borow/h's Mex. Aniiq,, vol. v., pp. 132, 144-5; •Spiegaxione delle Tavole del Codice
Mexicano, tav. xlii., xlix.,in Kin'jsborough'a Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 186, 188.
' See this volume p. 62.

240 OODS, SUPEBKATUiUL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

rope twined from spider's web. Rambling through the
world he came to a place called Tulla, where a certain
Quetzalcoatl — another, according to Sahagun, of the hero-
gods just referred to — had been ruling for many years.
The two engaged in a game of ball, in the course of
which Tezcatlipoca suddenly transformed himself into a
tiger, occasioning thereby a tremendous panic among the
spectators, many of whom in the haste of their flight
precipitated themselves down a ravine in the neighbor-
hood into a river and were drowned. Tezcatlipoca then
began to persecute Quetzalcoatl from city to city till he
drove him to Cholula. Here Quetzalcoatl was held as
chief god, and here for some time he was safe. But only
for a few years; his indefatigable and powerful enemy
forced him to retreat with a few of his adherents toward
the sea, to a place called Tlillapa or Tizapan. Here the
hunted Quetzalcoatl died, and his followers inaugurated
the custom of burning the dead by burning his Ixniy.'

The foregoing, from Mendieta, gives us a glimpse, from
one point of view, of that great personage Quetzalcoatl,
of whom we shall know much more anon, and whom in
the meantime we meet again and again as the opponent,
or rather victim of Tezcatlipoca. Let us consider Saha-
gun's version of the incidents of this strife : —

Quetzalcoatl was, from very ancient times, adored as a
god in Tulla. He had a very high cw* there, with many
steps up to it, steps so narrow that there was not room
for a whole foot on any of them. His image was always
in a recumbent position and covered with blankets.
The face of it was very ugly, the head large and fur-
nished with a long beard. The adherents of this god were
all devoted to the mechanical arts, dexterous in working
the green stone called chalchiuite, and in founding the
precious metals; all of which arts had their beginning and
origin with the said Quetzalcoatl. He had whole li' isos
made of chalchiuites, others made of silver, ot'
white and red shells, othe.'-s of planks, others of tui os,

* Mendieta, Hid. Edes., p. 82.

* Temple; see this vol., p. 192, note 26.

QDITZAtOOAn^

and others of rich f..ti, „ *"

light of foot and swTft t"' • '^" "^h^-^nta were verv
and they were calkf ,^ SO'ng whither they ^ J!y
™o«nlaii called SteStT'^'*,!'^- 'rh"^ U a
•o have a crier, andthe'~L^r "r"'' Q-ot^lcoatl uU
and the people ' of inihuSTP,""'; f """J """teM
heard and understood „»' '""''"d leagues dietZ'

he had all that waa needfbl L^f^'***" "'as very rich .
''as abundant, and S InfJ" «"' »»<> •<> drinkfm"^'
oarry clasped in hi" arms n I^l?" ""■<""«» ™«n" „ld
round; the stalks of thrwilHP'""""«'«"««l a fathom
«"ck that people cUmlL L""" rl""' '^^'^ » 1»M
fowedandSheredynoTalli^T '"''! "^- Cotton WM
Hwhitish,green,bU^ b?S 'r''«'»*t.yeII„w,C
these colors in thecott™ were 'S""':'g<'. and tainy;

"■•"x, and of other pred™,.!.!'^" '*'"'«' «•"«! chalchi
of cocoa-nut trees' rfdTveL^^f ""'' « ««»* ahundani"
herente of Quetzalcoatl were ^t'"' ™." ^"■'«"' <»■ ^
for nothing; they were n^^r h ""''•'' "* »»<! wantej
SoT 1'^u*''^ -^1 ea« 'f^Zi '"-^^ - ver lacS

^^^'l^Jat r^ickl'tl'' '^^^^^^^^^^^

242 fK>DS, SUPEBMATUBAL BEINQS, AND WORSHIP.

who wrought many deceits in TuUa. Tezcatlipoca especi-
ally pre^wed a cunning trick; he turned himself into a
hoary-headed old man, and went to the house of Quet-
zalcoatl, saying to the servants there, I wish to see and
speak to your raaster. Then the servants said, Go uway,
old man, thou canst not see our kinp-, for he is sick, tliou
wilt annoy h'.m and cause him heaviness. But Tezcatli-
poi'a insisted, I must see him. Then the servants bid
the sorcerer to wait, and they went in and told Quetzal-
coatl how an old man without affirmed that he would
tee the king and would not be denied. And Quetzal-
coatl answered, Let him come in, behold for many days I
have waited for his coming. So Tezcatlipoca entered,
and he said to the sick god-king. How art thou? adding
further that he had a medicine for him to drink. Then
Quetzalcoatl answered. Thou art welcome, old man, be-
hold for many days I have waited for thee. And the
old sorcerer spake again. How is thy body, and how art
thou in health? I am exceedingly sick, said Quetzalcoatl,
all my body is in pain, I cannot move my hands nor my
feet. Then, answered Tezcatliixxja, behold this medicine
that I have, it is good and wholesome and intoxicating;
if thou will drink it. thou shalt be intoxicated and healed
and eased at the heart, and thou shalt have in mind the
toils and fatigues of death and of thy departure.* Where,
cried Quetzalcoatl, have I to go? To Tullantlapallan, re-
plied Tezcatlipoca, where there is another old man wait-
ing for thee ; he and thou shall talk together, and on thy
return thence thou shalt be as a youtii, yea, as a lx)y.
Arid Quetzalcoatl hearing these words his heart was
moved, while the old sorcerer, insisting more and more,
said. Sir, drink this medicine. Hut the king did not wish
to drink it. The sorcerer, however, insisted. Drink, my
lord, or thou wilt be sorry for it hereafter ; at least rub
a little on thy brow and taste a sip. So Quetzalcoatl
tried and tasted it, and drank, saying, What is this? it

( T aoordaraeoa h4 de loi tnbi^oit y fttt'gai de la tnnerte, 6 de vunHfiit idit.
JEtn^ysftorowr/A'a Mtm, Antl]., vol. vil., p. 100. Y H'Hirdaraeoa ha Ion *ml>aJ(iK y
(atigaa de la muerte, 6 de Yiieetm vicU. Sahagun, /fist, (/en., torn. i.| lib. iii.,
pp. 845-6.

TEZCATLIPOGA AS A PEDDLEB.

243

seems to be a thing very good and savory; already I
feel myself healed and quit of mine infirmity; already I
am well. Then the old sorcerer said again, Drink once
more, my lord, since it is good; so thou shall be the
more perfectly healed. And Quetzalcoatl drank again,
he made himself drunk, he began to weep sadly, his heart
was eased and moved to depart, he could not rid himself
of the thought that he must go ; for this was the snare
and deceit of Tezcatlipoca. And the medicine that Quet-
zalcoatl drank was the white wine of the country, made
from the magueys that are called teumetl.

So Quetzalcoatl, whose fortunes we shall hereafter fol-
low more particularly, set out upon his journey ; and Tez-
catlipoca proceeded further guilefully to kill many Toltecs,
and to ally himself by marriage with Yemac, who was
the temporal lord of the Toltecs, even as Quetzalcoatl was
the spiritual ruler of that people. To accomplish these
things Tezcatlipoca took the appearance of a poor for-
eigner, and presented himself naked, as was the custom
of Huch people, in the market-place of Tulla, selling green
chilly pepper. Now the palace of Vemac, the great king,
overlooked tiie market-place, and he had an only daugh-
ter, and the girl, looking by chance among the buyers
and sellers, saw the disguised god. She was smitten
through with love of him, and she began to sicken.
Vemac heard of her sickness and he inquired of the
women that guarded her us to what ailed his daughter.
Thoy told him as best they could, how for the love of a
IK-Mldler of i)epper, named Toveyo, the princess luul lain
down to die. The king immediately sent a crier upon
the mountain Tzatzitepec to make tliis proclamation :
Tolte(;s, seek me out Toveyo that goes about selling
green pepper, let him be brought before me. So the
people sought everywhere for the handsome pepper ven-
der; but he was nowhere to lje found. Then, after thoy
could not find him, he ap^xiared of his own accord one
day, at his old place and trade in the market. He was
brought before the king, who said to him, Where dost
thou belong to? and Toveyo answered, I am a foreigner

ODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

come here to bcU my green pepper. Why doat thou
delay to cover thyself with breeches and with a blanket?
HJiid Vemac. Toveyo answered that in his cf^untry such
things were not in fashion. Vemac continued, My
daughter longs after thee, not willing to be comforted
by any Toltec ; she is sick of love and thou must heal
her. But Toveyo replied. This thing can in nowise be,
kill me first; I desire to die, not being worthy to hear
these words, who get my living by selling green pep|)er.
I tell thee, said the king, that thou must heal my dau<2;li-
ter of this her sickness ; fear not. Then they ttx)k the
cunning g(xl, and waslied him, and cut his hair, and (iyod
all his body, and put breeches on him and a blanket;
and the king Vemac said, Get thee in and see my daugh-
ter, there where they guard her. Then the young man
went in and he remained with the princess and she be-
came sound and well ; thus Toveyo become the son-in-
law of the king of TuUa.

Then l)ehold all the Toltecs being filled with jealousy
and offended, spake injurious and insulting words against
king Vemjvc, saying among themselves, Of all the Toltocs
can there not to be found a nuui, that this Vemiw marries
his daughter to a pe<ldler? Now when the king hoaid
all the injurious and insulting words that the ix'uplc
spake against him, he was moved, and he spke to the
people saying. Come hither, liehold I have heanl all
these things that ye say against me in the matter of my
son-in-law Toveyo; dissimulate then; take him diroit-
fuUy with you to the war of (^acatoj)ec and (^)at»'iH»c,
let the enemy kill him there. Having lieard these wonls
tl>c Toltecs armed themselves, and collected a midtituiU',
and went to the war, bringing Toveyo along. Arrived
where the fighting wjis to take place, they hid him with
the lame and the dwarfs, charging them, as the custom
was in such cases, to watch for the enemy, whih; the
soldiers went on to the attack. The battle In'gau ; the
Toltecs at once gave way; treacherousl5' and guilefully
d'jserting Toveyo and tlio cripples, leaving them to Ih^
slaughtered at their post, they returned toTullaand told

the
alon
the
was
had
the f
anny
nothi
shall
"gaiiii
he pu
When
and t(
Let w
went
the
shield
Toveyo
dancing
joieing.
l)lurnes
all the I
the fiicc
that ca
^^'mac I
what th(
hast dcai
ease. JJ
And a
••ich font;
to gather
the top ,

Ntrangcrs
'^ nuink'i
wer-e ulj ^

ffii'ls, to a
«n(l 1(.(I th

'"'"gingen<
*''o'«gh th(

TBIUMPH OF TEZOATLIFOGA.

246

the king how they had left Toveyo and his companions
alone in the hands of the enemy. When the king heard
the treason he was glad, thinking Toveyo dead, fur he
was ashamed of having him for a son-in-law. Affairs
had gone otherwise, however, with Toveyo from what
tlie plotters supposed. On the approach of the hostile
army he consoled his deformed companions, saying. Fear
nothing; the enemy come against us, but I know that 1
HhaP kill them all. Then he rose up and went forward
agaiiiHb them, against the men of Coatepec and Cacatepec;
he put them to flight and slew of them without number.
When this came to the ears of Vemac, it weighed upon
and terrified him exceedingly. He said to his Toltecs,
Let us now go and receive my son-in-law. So they all
went out with king Vemac to receive Toveyo, bearing
the arms or devisos called quetzalapanecayutl, and the
nhields called xiucMinali They gave these things to
Toveyo, and he and his comrades ''oceived them with
dancing and the music of flutes, with triumph and re-
joicing. Furthermore, on reaching the palace of the king,
plumes were put upon the heads of the concjueroi-s, and
all the Ixxly of ejich of them was stained yellow, and all
the fju3e red; this was the customary reward of those
that came back victorious from war. And king
Vomjic said to his stm-in-law, I am now satisfied with
what thou hast done and the Toltecs are satisfied ; thou
luist dealt very well with our enemies, rest and take thine
eat<t». But Toveyo held his [M^ace.

And after this, Toveyo adorned all his Ijody with the
rich feathers called tocivUl, and commanded the Toltecs
to gather together for n festival, and sent a crier up to
the top of the moimtain, Tzat/.ite|xt^, to cidl in the
Htruiigers and the |KH>ple afar off to dance and to feast.
A numl)erless multitude gathered to Tulla. When they
woit> all gathered Toveyo led them out, ^ouiig men and
girls, to a place called TexcahijMi. where he himself l)egan
and led the dancing, playing on a drum, lie wmg tiMt,
Hinging each verse to the dancers, who sang it after him,
though they knew not the sung before luutd. Then won

216

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS, AND WOBSHIF.

to be seen there a marvelous and terrible thing. From
sunset till midnight the beat of the countless feet grew
faster and foster; the tap, tap, tap of the drum closed
up and poured into a continual roll ; the monotonous
song rose higher, wilder, till it burst into a roar. The
multitude became a mob, the revel a riot ; the i)eople be-
gan to press upon and hustle each other ; the riot became
a panic. There was a fearful gorge or ravine there, with
a river rushing through it called the Texcaltlauhco; a
stone bridge led over the river. Toveyo broke down
this bridge as the people fled ; grim corypheus of this
fearful revel, he saw them tread and crush each other
down, under-foot, and over into the abyss. They that
fell were turned into rocks and stones ; as for them that
escaped, they did not see nor think that it was Toveyo
and his sorceries had wrought this great destructi<Mi;
they were blinded by the witchcraft of the god, and out
of their senses like drunken men.

Far from being satisfied with the slaughter at Texca-
lapa, Tezcatlip(x^a proceeded to hatch further evi) against
the Toltecs. He took the appearance of a certain val-
iant man called Teguioa, and commanded a crier to sum-
mon all the inhabitants of TuUa and its neighl)orhuo(l
to come and help at a certain piece of work in a certain
flower-garden (said to have been a garden belonging to
Quetzalcoatl.). All the jxjople gathered to the work,
whereupon the disguised god fell upon them, kmwking
them on the head with a coa.'' Those that escai^d the
coa were trodden down and killed by their fellows in
attempting to escape ; a countless number was slain ; every
man that had come to the work was left lying deml
among the tnxlden flowers.

And after this Tesscatlipoca wrought another witcli-
craft against tlie Toltecs. He called himself Tlacave-
pan, or Acexcoch, and came and sat down in the midst
of the market-place of Tulla, having a little manikin (naid

T Hon of burnt wood. ' Coa: pnlo toatado, smpleado nor lot indioR |Mro
labrnr la tierra, 4 luanera de haiada. ( Lengua de ('uba. ) Voces Avi«ruiina»
Kmpltadaa Por OvMo, appended to Oviedo, IIM. Gm,, torn, ir., p. 600.

TEZOATLIPOOA DEAD.

247

to have been Huitzilopochtli) dancing upon his hand.
There was an instant uproar of all the buyers and
Hellers and a rush to see the mirncle. The people crushed
and trod each other down, so that many were killed there ;
and all this happened many times. At last the god*
sorcerer cried out, on one such occasion. What is this?
do you not see that you are befooled by us? stone and
kill us. So the people took up stones and killed the
said sorcerer and his little dancing manikin. But when
the body of the sorcerer had lain in the market-place for
some time it began to stink and to taint the air, and the
wind of it poisoned many. Then the dead sorcerer spake
again, saying. Cast this body outside the town, for many
Toltecs die because of it. So they prepared to cast out the
l)ody, and fastened ropes thereto and pulled. But the
talkative and ill-smelling corpse was so heavy that they
could not move it. Then a crier made a proclamation,
saying, Come all ye Toltecs, and bring ropes with you, that
we may drag out and get rid of tbis pestilential cai-cass.
All came jiccordingly, bringing ropes, and the ro|XJ8 were
fastened to the Inxly, and all pulled. It was utterly in
vain. Rojje at\er rojie broke with a sudden snap, and
those that dragged on a n)\^ fell and were kilUnl when it
broke. Then the dead wizard looked up and said,
Toltecs, a verse of a st)ng is needed ; and he himself gave
them a verse. They rei)eated the verse after him, and,
singing it, pulled all together, so that with shouts they
hauled the Ixxly otit of the city; though still not without
many ro[)es breaking and many persons being killed as
before. All tbis being over, those Toltecs that remained
unhurt returned every man to his place, not rememlier-
ing anything of what hml hapixjued, for they were all as
(Iriniken.

Other signs and wonders were wniught by Te/xjatli-
jKHMi in his role of sorcerer. A white bird called Yz-
taocnixtli, was clearly seen Hying over TuUa, transfixed
with a dart. At night also, the sierra callwl Zacatepec
l)nrncd, and the flames were seen fwm far. All the
]HH)ple were stirred up and oftrighted, saying one to an-

■It.
I''

348

OODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINQS, AND WORSHIP.

other, O Toltecs, it is all over with us now ; the time of
the end of Tulla is come ; alas for us, whither shall we
go?

Then Tezeatlipoca wrought another evil upon the Tol-
tecs: he rained down stones upon them. There fell also,
at the same time, a great stone from heaven called tech-
caU; and when it fell the god -sorcerer took the appear-
ance of an old woman, and went about selling little ban-
ners in a place called Chapultepecuitlapilco, otherwiise
named Yetzinco. Many then became mad and bought
of these banners and went to the pltice where was the
stone Techcatl, and there got themselves killed ; and no
one was found to say so much as. What is this that hap-
pens to us? they were all mad.

Another woe Tezeatlipoca brought upon the Toltecs.
All their victuals suddenly became sour, and no one was
able to eat of them. The old woman, above mentioned,
took up then her abode in a place called Xochitla, and
began to roast maize ; and the odor of the roasted maize
reached all the cities round about. The starving people
set out immediately, and with one accord, to go where the
old woman was. They reached lier instantly, for here it
may be again said, that the Toltecs were exceedingly
light of foot, and arrived always immediately whitherso-
ever they wished to go. As for the Toltecs that gathered
to the sham sorceress, not one of them escaped, she killed
them every one.'

Turning, without remark for the present, from Tezeat-
lipoca, of whose life on earth the preceding farrago of
legends is all that is known, let us take up the same
period in the history of Qiietzalcoatl. The city of Cho-
lula was the place in which this god was most honored,
and towards which he was sup|K)sed to be most favoral)ly
inclined ; Cholula being greatly given to commei-ce and

* XiH-MUa, garden; see Mnlina Vixuihulario, Perhapn that Knnlen boloiiK-
inK to Quptatlcoutl, whioL bad been already ho fattil tu theTulteo«. Seo thJH
volume p. 246.

• Kinaiihorouiih'a Mrx. Antiq,, vol. vii., pp. I(l8-i;i; Sahamm, IIM. (Ifn.,
torn, i., lib. iii., I p. 'J4;i-66, It will be Hcen mat in aInioHt all point of kihII-
tna the edition of KinKHlwrouKh in followed iu preference to the, in Hucb
pointa very inaccurate, edition of Brnttamnnte.

han(
to b
Choi

very

had

with

IMAGE OF QUETZALGOATL.

249

handicraft, and the Gholulans considering Quetzalcoatl
to be the god of merchandise. As Acosta tells: '' In
Oholula, which is a commonwealth of Mexico, they
worshipt a famous idoll which was the god of marchan-
dise, being to this day greatly given to trafficke. They
called it Quetzaulcoalt. This idoll was in a great place in
a temple very hie : it had about it, golde, silver, Jewells,
very rich feathers, and habites of divers colours. It
had the forme of a man, but the visage of a little bird,
with a red bill, and above a combe full of wartes, hav-
ing ranckes of teeth, and the tongue hanging out. It
carried vpon the head, a pointed myter of painted paper,
a sithe in the hand, and many toyes of golde on the legges ;
with a thousand other foolish inventions, whereof all
had their significations, and they worshipt it, for that hee
enriched whome hee pleased, as Memnon and Plutus. In
trueth this name which the Choluanos gave to their god,
was very fitte, although they vnderstood it not: they
called it Quetzaalcoalt, signifying colour of a rich feather,
for such is the divell of covetousnesse." "

Motolinia gives the following confused account of the
birth as a man, the life, and the apotheosis of this god.
The Mexican Adam, called Iztacmixcoatl by some writ-
ers, married a second time." This second wife, Chima-
matl by name, bore him, it is said, an only son who was
called Quetzacoatl. This son grew up a chaste and tem-
{jerate man. He originated by his preaching and prac-
tice the custom of fasting and self-punishment; and from
that time many in that country began to do this pen-
ance, lie never married, nor knew any woman, but lived
restrainedly and chastely all his days. The custom of
sacrificing the ears and the tongue, by drawing blo(xl
from these members, was also introduced by him; not
for the service of the devil but in penitence for the sins
of his speech and' his hearing: it is true that afterward
the demon misappropriated these rites to his own use
and worship. A man called Chichimecatl fastened a

>(> AtxtiUa, irid. N<U. Ind., p. 354.

» Aa tu the flnit wife and nor family we thia vol. p. 60.

:i, I

flBO GODS. SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIP.

leather strap on the arm of Quetzalooatl, fixing it high
up near the shoulder; Chichimecatl was from that time
called Aco%uatl, and from him, it is sivid, are descended
those of Colhua, ancestors of Montezuma and lords of
Mexico and Coluacan. This Quetzalcoatl is now held
as a deity and called the god of the air ; everywhere an
infinite number of temples has been raised to him, and
everywhere his statue or picture is found."

According to the account of Mendieta, tradition varied
much as to the facts of the life of Quetzalcoatl. Some
said he was the son of Camaxtli, god of hunting and
fishing, and of Camaxtli's wife Chimalma. Others make
mention only of the name of Chimalma, saying that as she
was sweeping one day she found a small green stone
called chalchiuite, that she picked it up, became miracu-
lously pregnant, and gave birth to the said Quetzalcoatl.
This god was worshiped as a principal deity in Cholula,
where, as well as in Tlaxcala and Huejotzingo, there
were many of his temples. We have already had one
legend from Mendieta," giving an account of the expul-
sion from Tulla and death of Quetzalcoatl ; the following
from the same source gives a different and more usual
version of the said expulsion : —

Quetzalcoatl came from the parts of Yucatan (although
some said from Tulla) to the city of Cholula. He wns
a white man, of portly person, broad brow, great eyes,
long black hair, and large round beard ; of exceedingly
chaste and quiet life, and of great moderation in all
things. The people had at least three reasons for the
great love, reverence, and devotion with which they re-
garded him: first, he taught the silversmith's art, a craft
the Cholulans greatly prided themselves on; second, he
desired no sacrifice of the blood of men or animals, but
delighted only in offerings of bread, roses and other
flowers, of perfumes and sweet odors; third, he pro-
hibited and forbade all war and violence. Nor were
these qualities esteemed only in the city of his chiefest

» Mfttolinia, Hint. lndio$, in IcMhaktta, Col., torn, i., pp. 10-11.
i> Heo this vol., p. 24U.

DEPABTTTRE OF QUETZALCOATL.

251

labors and teachings; from all the land came pilgrims
and devotees to the shrine of the gentle god. Even
the enemies of Cholula came and went secure, in fulfill-
ing their vows ; and the lords of distant lands had in
Cholula their chapels and idols to the common object of
devotion and esteem. And only Quetzalcoatl among all
the gods was preeminently called Lord ; in such sort, that
when any one swore, saying, By Our Lord, he meant
Quetzalcoatl and no other; though there were many
other highly esteemed gods. For indeed the service of
this god was gentle, neither did he demand hard things,
but light ; and he taught only virtue, abhorring all evil
and hurt. Twenty years this good deity remained in
Cholula, then he passed away by the road he had come,
carrying with him four of the principal and most virtu-
ous youths of that city. He journeyed for a hundred
and fifty leagues, till he came to the sea, in a distant
province called Goatzacoalco. Here he took leave of
his companions and sent them back to their city, in-
structing them to tell their fellow citizens that a day
should come in which white men would land upon their
coasts, by way of the sea in which the sun rises;
brethren of his and having beards like his; and that
^ they should rule that land. The Mexicans always waited
for the accomplishment of this prophecy, and when the
Spaniards came they took them for the descendants of
their meek and gentle prophet, although, as Mondieta re-
marks with some sarcasm, when they came to know them
and to experience their works, they thought otherwise.

Quetzalcoatl is further reported by Mendieta to have
assisted in drawing up and arranging the Mexican Calen-
dar, a sacred book of thirteen tables, in which the reli-
gious rites and ceremonies proper to each day were set
forth, in connection with the appropriate signs. It is
said that the gods having created mankind, bethought
themselves that it would be well if the people they had
made had some writings by which they might direct
themselves. Now there were, in a certain cave at Cuer-
navoca, two personages of the number of the goda, and

ssa

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

they were man and wife, he Oxoraoco and she Oipacto-
nal; and they were consulting; together. It appeared
good to the old woman that her descendant Quetzalcoatl
should be consulted. The Cholulan god thought the
thing of the calendar to be good and reasonable ; so the
the three set to work. To the old woman was respect-
fully allotted the privilege of choosing and writing the
first sign; she painted a kind of water-serix;nt called
cipactli, and called the sign Ce Cipadli, that is " a ser-
pent." Oxomoco, in his turn wrote " two canes," and
then Quetzalcoatl wrote "three houses;" and so they
went on till the whole thirteen signs of each table were
written out in their order."

Let us now take up again the narrative of Sahagun, at
the point where Quetzalcoatl, after drinking the \x)tion
prepared by Tezcatlipoca, prepares to set off u\yon his
journey. Quetzalcoatl, very heavy in hearty for all the
misfortunes that this rival god was bringing upon vhe
Toltecs, burned his beautiful houses of silver and of shell,
and ordered other precious things to be buried in the
mountains and ravines. He turned the cocoa-nut trees
into a kind of trees that are called mizquitl] he com-
manded all the birds of rich plumage, the quetzaltototl,
and the xiuhtotl, and the tlauquechol, to tly away and
go into Anahuac, a hundred leagues distant. Then he
himself set out upon his road from Tulla; he traveled un
till he came to a place called Quauhtitlan, where was a
great tree, high and very thick. Here the exile rested,
and he asked his servanic for a mirror, and looked
at his own face. What thouf^hts soever were working
in his heart, he only said, I am already old. Then he
named that place Yevequauhtitlan, and he took up stonos
and stoned the great tree ; and all the stones he threw
sank into it, and were for a long time to be seen sticking
there, from the ground even up to the topmost branches.
Continuing his journey, having flute-players playing
before him, he came to a place on the road where he
was weary and sat down on a stone to rest. And looking

i< MmdUta, Hial. Eclts., pp. SJ, 80, 93-3, 07-8.

THE SUN GALLS QUETZALCOATL.

253

toward Tulla, he wept bitterly. His tears marked and
ate into the stone on which he sat, and the print of his
hands, and of his back parts, was also found therein
when he resumed his journey. lie called that place
Temacpalco. After that he reached a very great and
wide river, and he commanded a stone bridge to be
thrown across it; on that bridge he crossed the river,
and he named the place Tepanoaya. Going on upon
his way, Quetzalcoatl came to another place, where cer-
tain sorcerers met and tried to stop him, saying, Whither
goest thou? why dost thou leave thy city? to whose cai-e
wilt thou commend it ? who will do penance ? Quetzalcoatl
replied to the said sorcerers. Ye can in no wise hinder
my going, for I must go. They asked him further.
Whither goest thou? He said, To Tlapalla. They con-
tinued. But to what end goest thou? He said, I am
called and the sun calls me. So the sorcerers said, (Jo
then, but leave behind all the mechanical arts, the melt-
ing of silver, the working of precious stones and of ma-
sonry, the painting, feather- working, and other crafts.
And of all these the sorcerers despoiled Quetzalcoatl. A s
for him, he cast into a fountain all the rich jewels that
he had with him ; and that fountain was called Cohcaa-
pa, and it is so named to this day.

Quetzalcoatl continued his journey; and there came
another sorcerer to meet him, saying, Whither goest thou ?
Quetzalcoatl said, To Tlapalla. The wizard said. Very
well; but drink this wine that I have. The traveler
answered, No: I cannot drink it; I cannot so much as
taste it. Thou must drink, said the grim magician, were
it but a drop; for to none of the living can 1 give it; it
intoxicates all, so drink. Then Quetzalcoatl took the
wine and drank it through a cane. Drinking, ho made
himself drunk ; he slept u|X)n the road ; he l)egan to snore ;
and when he awoke, he UK)ked on one side and on the
other, and tore his hair with his hands. And that place
was called Oochtoca.

Quetzalcoatl going on upon his way and passing l)o-
tween the sierra of the volcano and the snowy sierra, all

OODS. 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

his servants, being hump-backed and dwarfs, died of cold
in the pass between the said mountains. And Quet-
zalooatl bewailed their death bitterly and sang with
weeping and sighing. Then he saw the other snowy
sierra, which is called Poyauhtecatl and is near Teca-
machalco; and so he passed by all the cities and places,
leaving many signs, it is said, in all the mountains and
roads. It is said further that he had a way of crossing
the sierras whereby he amused and rested himself at the
same time: when he came to the top of a mountain he
used to sit down, and so seated, let himself slide down
the mountain-side to the bottom. In one place he built
a court for ball-play, all of squared stone, and here he
used to play the game called Uacktli}^ Through the midst
of this court he drew a line called the tdcoti) and where
that line was made the mountain is now opened with a
deep gash. In another place he cost a dart at a great
tree called a pochutl, piercing it through with the dart
in such wise that the tree looked like a cross ; for the
dart he threw was itself a tree of the same kind." Some
say that Quetzalcoatl built certain subterranean houses,
called micthncako'] and further, that he set up and bal-
anced a great stone, so that one could move it with one's
little finger, yet a multitude could not displace it. Many
other notable things remain that Quetzalcoatl did among
many peoples; he it was that named all the places and
woods and mountains. Traveling ever onward, he came
at last to the sea-shore, and there commanded a raft to
be made of the snakes called coatkipecMli. Having seated
himself on this raft as in a canoe, he put out to sea, and
no man knows how he got to Tlapallan."

Torquemada gives a long and valuable account of
Quetzalcoatl, gathered from many sources, which cannot
be overlooked. It runs much as follows: — The name

» See thi8 vol. p. 213.

M TlaehUi, juego de pelota con las nalgas; el Ingar donde jnegan assi.
MolitM. Vocabwano.

1^ This last clause is to bo fonnd only in Bnstamante's ed.; see Sahagun,
IRst. Oen., torn. !., lib. iii., p. 268.

w KintiiAorough's Mex. Aniiq., vol. vii., pp. 114-6; Sahagun, IHsl. Oen.,
torn, i., lib. iii.. pp. 255-9.

SWIFTNESS OF THE 8EBVANTS OF QUETZALCOATL. 255

Quetzalcoatl means Snake-plumage, or Snake that has
plumage, — and the kind of snake referred to in this
name, is found in the province of Xicalanco, which is
on the frontier of the kingdom of Yucatan as one goes
thence to Tabasco. This god Quetzalcoatl was very cele-
brated among the people of the city of Cholula, and held
in that place for the greatest of all. He was, according
to credible histories, high priest in the city of Tulla.
From that place he went to Cholula, and not, as Bishop
Bartolome de las Casas says in his Apologia, to Yucatan ;
though he went to Yucatan afterwards, as we shall see.
It is said of Quetzalcoatl that he was a white man, large
bodied, broad-browed, great-eyed, with long black hair,
and a beard heavy and rounded.^' He was a great arti-
ficer, and very ingenious. He taught many mechanical
arts, especially the art of working the precious stones
called chalchiuites, which are a kind of green stone
highly valued, and the art of casting silver and gold.
The people, seeing him so inventive, held him in great
estimation, and reverenced him as king in that city ; and
so it came about that, though in temporal things the
ruler of Tulla was a lord named Huemac,*" yet in all
spiritual and ecclesiastical matters Quetzalcoatl was su-
preme, and as it were chief pontiff.

It is feigned by those that seek to make .much of their
god that he had certain palaces made of green stone like
emeralds, others made of silver, others of shells, red and
white, others of all kinds of wood, others of turquoise,
and others of precious feathers. He is said to have been
very rich, and in need of nothing. His vassals were
very obedient to him, and very light of foot; they were
called tlanquacemilhuique. When they wished to pub-
lish any command of Quetzalcoatl, they sent a crier up
upon a high mountain called Tzatzitepec, where with a
loud voice he proclaimed the order ; and the voice of
this crier was heard for a hundred leagues distance, and

>B ' Era Hombre bianco, crecido de cuerpo, ancha la freute, Iob ojoh Rran-
des, lo8 cabelloB larsoR, y negros, la barba grande y redouda.' Torquemada,
Momrq. Ind., torn, li., p, 47.

*<> Spelled Vemac by Sahagun; see preceding pages of this chapter.

256 OODS, BUFEBNATUBAL BEINGS, ANI> W0B8HIP.

farther, even to the coasts of the sea: all this is affirmed
for true. The fruits of the earth and the trees flourished
there in an extraordinary degree, and sweet singing birds
were abundant. The great pontiff inaugurated a system
of penance, pricking his legs, and drawing blood and
staining tiiorewith maguey thorns. He washed also at
midnight in a fountain called Xiuhpiicoyn. From all
this, it is said, the idolatrous priests of Mexico adopted
their similar custom.

While Quetzalcoatl was enjoying th*% good fortune with
pomp and majesty, we are told that a great magician
called Titlncahua [Tezcatlipocsi], another of the ginls.
arrived at TuUa. He took the Form of an old man, and
went in to see Quetztilcoatl, sayintr to him. My lord, in-
asmuch as I know thine intent and how much thou
desirest to set out for certain distant lands, also, l)ecaus«
I know from thy servants that thou art unwell, I have
brought thee a certain beverage, by drinking which thou
shalt attain thine end. Thou shalt so make thy way to
the country thou desirest, having perfect health to make
the journey; neither shalt thou rememl)er at all the
fatigues and toils of life, nor how thou art mortal."
Seeing all his projects thus discovered by the pretended
old man, (Quetzalcoatl questioned him, Where have 1 to
go. Tezcatlipoca answered. That it was already deter-
mined with the supreme gods, that he had to go to Tla-
palla, and that the thing was inevitable, Invanse there
was another old man waiting for him at his destination
A"' Quetzalcoatl heard this, he said that it was true, and
that he desired it much; and he took the vessel and
drank the liquor it contained. Quetzalcoatl v. as thus
easily jK^rsuaded to what TezcatliiH)ca desirei'i, because
he wished to make himself innnortal ntul to <')ijoy \k'\'-
[K'tual life. Having swallowed the draught he heciuno
beside himself, and out of his mind, weeping sadly and
bitterly. He determined to go to Tiapalla. He de-
stroyed or buried all his plate and other property and

'> Thin agroes ill with whnt Ih ruluiod ut this puint by Suhiiguii; m>« tlli^«
vol. II. 242,

QUETZALCOATL LEAVES MARKS ON A STONE.

257

set out. First he arrived at the place, Quauhtitlan,
where the great tree vfos and where he, borrowing a
mirror from his servants, found himself " already old."
The name of this place was changed by him to Uuehue-
quauhtitlan, that is to say, '' near the old tree, or the
tree of the old man ;" and the trunk of the tree was filled
with stones that he cast at it. After that he journeyed
on, his people playing flutes and other instruments, till
lie came to a mountain near the city of 1'lalncpantla,
two leagues from the city of Mexico, where he sat down on
a stone and put his hands on it, leaving marks embedded
therein that may be seen to this day. The truth of this
thing is strongly corroborated by the inhabitants of that
district; I myself have questioned them up«m the sub-
ject, and it has been certified to me. Furthermore we
have it written down accurately by many worthy authors ;
and the name of the locality is nc»w Temaci)alco, that is
to say *' in the palm of the hand. '

.lourneying on to the coast and tt) the kingdom of Tla-
palla, (Juetzalcoatl was met by the thrce sorcerers, Tez-
catlii)0ca and other two with him, who had already
brought so much destruction uixm Tulla. These tried
to stop or hinder him in his journey, quer>tioning him,
Whither goest thou? He answei-ed, To Tlapalla. To
whom, they inquired, hast thon given the ciiarge of thy
kingdom of Tulla, and who will do iK'uanco there? But
he said that that was no longer any alTair of his and that
ho must pursue his mavl. And l^'ing further questioned
as to the object of his joun.ey. he said that he was on,lh>d
by the lord of the lasid to which he was going, who was
the sun.*' The three wizards seeing then the detemii-

w At this part of the Bto«7 Toniut-iiiiitlrt XnVon oiiportuiiity, |)iircntlit>t-
iciiUy, ti) rumai'k thut thin fulilo wkh vtiy Kiiii'mlly furri'ti't nnioHK tho
MoxiPiuia, and that wbuii Futhur lUtrniknliiio il<> HiUiiik<»i wiih in tlii> city of
Xuchimilon, they itHked him whtrc Tln)mllii wuh, Huhiigiin rcplii'd Ihiit he
(lid iiiit kuuw, Hfi iudftfd ht> ilid not (ni<r imy om* t'Uc it l><>in^ iipimirntly
wlmlly mythical), nor oven undt>rNtnnd lln'ir tjUfNtinii, inuMninch hm lin hud
I'l'i'u lU that tiino onlv h litth* whiio in tho ooiintry it lu'inK ttfty yomn liefont
hi< wrotu hiA hook | tho llistnriii (Ifwiiil |. SuhoKUn uddH thiitthc McxiciutH
iimilo nt thut tiniu .livnrh triulM of tliiH kind. qutrntioniuK lh«i (IhriHtiann tn
H('(« i( thuy kmnv auyUiing of th^'ir antiquitioa Tonnirmailn, Momtrtj. Iml,,
toiii, il., i>. r>().

vuL. ni. w

268 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

natiun of Quetzalcoatl, made no further attempt to dis-
suade him from his purpose, but .contented themselves
with taking from him nil his instruments and his
mechanical arts, so that though he departed those
things should not be wanting to the state. It was hen>
that Quetzalcoatl threw into a fountain all the rich
jewels that he carried with him; for which thing the
ibuntain was called from that time ( W^iuipan, that is to
say, " The water of the strings or chains of jewels."
The same place is now called (\)juipan, that is to say.
" in the snake-water," and very pro|)erly, l)ecause the
word (Quetzalcoatl means " feathered snake." in this
way he journeyed on, suffering various molestations
from those sorcerers, his enemies, till he arrived ut
Oholula where he wiu* received (as we in another pint
say),'" and afterward julored !is ginl. Having lived
twenty years in that cits he was exjR'lled by 'rewuth-
|)Oca. He set out for the kingdom of Tlapalla, jMM'oin-
{MiniiHl by four virtuous youths of noble birth, and in

" The paHHaKo of Toiujuoinartii r*^«rr<'il t«i I ooiuletiBo an follows: Cit-
trtiii iM'oplo caiiH! from tin' nortli by wii.v "f Puiiuco. Tliciw wciv nun of
mnuX curriiiKo, wi'll-drt'HHfil in loii^ rolH'H of Itluck liiii'ii, opitii in fmni. itml
without ('H])i'H, out low lit tilt' neck, with Kl»<>rf nlrcvi'H that did n^- ..>ini'ti)
Ui(t (>ll>ow; till' Maine, in fuct.uH the iiativi-v iihc U< tliiK dav in tli< Ihh'ch
From I'liiiuco they paHHcd on viTV pt'aci'abU ••>• H»^<'<^8 t<» 'I'ldla. wli.ii' tli<v
wt'H' Wi'll rcri'ivcd liy tlu' inhuoitantM. Tl»r •^.uiitry th«'r", howrviT, wun
already too thickly |)opiiliiti'd to HUHtaiii the iw-w •oinerH, ho theNi- iiiimhicI om
to ("liolnla wheri' they hud an exeelUnt rrei-iHinn. They liruUKht with
Uiem a<4 their eliief and lieud. a iM'rHona^e eidli-d <^uet>sali'<>all, a fiiir iiiui
ruddy mimplfsioned niun. with a ImiK l>eard. fn Cholula tlii'Hi> penpli'
remained and multiplied, and sent oolonieit lo people I'piierand J.ower Mi/.-
U'ca and the/a|H)toeaii <'ouiitrv ; and them' it in miid raiiu-d the ^rand edillecs,
whoHtt remuina urn atill to he !«een at Miellan. TlieHe followerx of (/net/iil-
ouatl were men of xreat knowledge and euniimK HrtiatH in all kiiidM -A tiix'
work; not n<> Kood at iiiaMonry andthe uw of the luiiiinier, a** in caHiinu aixl
in the ongruvinu and aeltiiiK of preeioiiM Htonea, and in all kimlM of ariixix'
wulpttiro, niid in aKrienUure. (^iiel/aleoatl had, however, twn eiiriiiK-'.
Te/.<'atli|HKta waa one, and Hiieiiiae Mnn of Tulla the other; tlieite Iwn liml
Iteeii immt inMlrumental in cauainK him lo leavf Tulla. And al riinliilii,
Hueiiiao followed him up with a K^eat army ; and Quetxaleoial, not wixhiiiK
tc eiiKNg ■ ill any war, departed for another i>art with numt part of hin pi'i')>li'

K<>*i*K> i^ '** "'*'*!• t>* )* I'^*>(1 nailed Onohualeo, wliieli ia near the Men, mid
(tmliraood what oni now ealled Yueatati, Taliaaeo, and Caiiipeehe 'lli'ii
when Hanmae ounix to the plaee wjiero he had thought to Hlid (|uet/.Hli mill.
ftnd foiiiKl him not. be waa wrath and laid waate and deatroyed nil >!>''
country, and made hiiuat'lf lord ovpr it and eaUNod alao that the penpli' wi

■hipiMil him ua a k<hI. All thia h« did l^i olmcuri) and Idot out tlie iiiory

nf Quet/Hl(!oatl and for tho hut«< that ho bure him. Tuniutmaiia, .Utmaiij.
Itul., torn, i., pp. 354 0.

QUETZALCOATL SWEPT THE ROADS.

259

Goatzacoalco, a province diHtant from Cholula toward
the sea a hundred and fifty leagues, he embarked for hin
destination. Parting with his disciples, he told them
that there should surely come to them in after times, by
way of the sea where the sun rises, certain white men
with white l)eardH, like him, and that these would be his
brothers and would rule that land.

After that the four disciples returned to Cholula, and
told all that their master and god had prophesied when
(loparting. Then the (-holulans divided tlieir province
into four principalities and gave the government to tiiose
four, and some four of their descendants always nded
in like manner over these tetrarchies till the Spaniard
came; Inking, however, snl)ordinate to a central |x)wer.

This QuetMilcoatl was g(Ml of the air, and as such had
his temple, of a round shaixj and very mtignificent.
He was nuuie gixl of the air for the mildness and gentle-
ness of all his ways, not liking the sharp and harsh
rTica^ures to which the other gods were so strongly in-
< i ,(h1. 't is to lx» said further that his life on earth
wius n»ark«vl l)y intenst»ly religious chanicteristics ; not
only was be devot*»d to the careful obsi*rvance of all the
•A'l (iiHtoiiiarv fonns of worship, but he himself ordained
•,m<\ i(pj)()int«»d many new rites, cen^monies, and festivals
tor tlic luioration of the g(Mls; ami it is held for certain
that he m.wle the calendar, lie hiul priests who were
(allt'd <|ue<|uet%alc<ihua, that is to say " priests of the
(iidrr of (^uetzalcoatl." The memory of him was 'en-
slaved (b-eply ujKHi the minds of the iH»ople, and it is
Nftid that when barren womm |)raye(l and made siu'ri-
fio^'f Uf liim, children were givi'u them. He was, iw
We liH<<'sai«l, got! of the winds, and the }M»wero1 causing
tJHin to blow was attributed to bini as well as the jK)wer
of calming or causing their fmy to «'ease. It was said
lurtlirr that he swept the n)ad, s«» that tht'^gods called
rial(»i|nes c-ould rain: this the |H«oplr nnagiui'd iMH-uu'se
ordinarily a numth or more JH-lbre the rains U'gan there
t)l(>\v stiitng winds throughout all New Spain. Quet/al-
coatl is desj'ribeil m having worn during life, for the

Vi\

aeO GODS, BUFEBNATUBAL BEINGS. AND W0B8HIP.

sake of modesty, garments that reached down to the
feet, with a blanket over all, sown with red crosses.
The Cholulans preserved certain green stones that had
belonged to him, regarding them with great veneration
and esteeming them as relics. Upon one of these was
carved a monkey's head, very natural. In the city of
Cholula there was to be found dedicated to him k great
and magnificent temple, with many steps, but each step
so narrow that there was not room for a foot on it. His
image had a very ugly face, with a large and heavily
bearded head. It was not set on its feet but lying
down, and covered with blankets. This, it is said, was
done as a memorial that he would one day return to
reign. For reverence of his great majesty, his image
was kept covered, and to signify his absence it was kept
lying down, as one that sleejjs, as one that lies down to
sleep. In awaking from that sleep, he was to rise up
and reign. The jjeople also of Yucatan reverenced this
god Quetzalcontl, calling him Kukulcan, and saying that
he came to them from the west, that is from New Spain,
for Yucatan is eastward thei^efrom. From him it is said
the kings of Yucatan are descended, who call themselves
Cocomes, that is to say "judges or hearers."**

Clavigero's account is characteristically clear and com-
prehensible. It may be summed up as follows: —

Among the Mexicans and other nations of Amihuac,
Quetzalcoatl was accounted g<xl of the air. He is said
to have been sometime liigh-priest of TuUa. He is de-
scrilx»d as having bet»n white,-7-a large, broad-browod,
great-eyed man, with long black hair and thick beard.
His life was rigidly temi^rate and exemplary, ami hi»
industry was directed by the profoundest wisdom, lie
amassed great tR'Jwure, and his was the invention of
getn-cutting and of metal-casting. All things prosjK'ivd
in his time. One ear of corn was a man's load ; and
the gourds, or pumpkins, of the day were as tall as one's
body. No one dyed cotton then, for it grew of all colDrs;
and all other things in like manner were perfect and

•♦ Torqui^nada, Monani. I»d., torn, ii., pp. 48-S3.

OLAYIGEBO ON QUETZALCOATL.

261

abundant. The very birds in the trees sang such songg
as have never since been heard, and flashed such mar-
velous beauties in the sun as no plumage of later times
could rival. Quetzalcoatl had his laws proclaimed from
the top of the hill Tzatzitepec, (mountain of outcry),
near Tulla, by a crier whose voice was audible for three
hundred miles.

All this, however, was put an end to, as far as Tulla
was concerned, by Tezcatlipoca, who, moved perhaps by
jealousy, determined to remove Quetzalcoatl. So the
god appeared to the great teacher in the guise of an old
man, telling him it was the will of the gods that he be-
tiike himself to Tlapalla, and administering at tho same
time a potion, the eilect of which was to cause aw in-
tense longing for the said journey. Quetzjilcoatl set out
and, having performed many marvels on the way, arrived
in Cholula. Here the inhabitants would not suftcr him
to go farther, but persuaded him to accept the govern-
ment of their city ; and he remained with them, teaching
many useful arts, customs, and ceremonies and preach-
ing against war and all other forms of cruelty. Accord-
ing to some, he at this time arranged the divisions of
the seasons and the calendar.

Having lived twent\ years in Cholula. he left, still
impelled by the subtle draught, to seek this inuiginary
city of Tla[>alla. He was no more seen of men, some
said one thing and some another; but, however he
might have di8apiH.»ared, he was ajwtbeosized by the
ToUecs of Cholula, who raised him a great mound and
built a sanctuary upim it. A similar structure was
erected to his honor at Tulla. From Cholula bis wor-
Hiup as god of the air spread over all tiie country; in
Yucatan the nobles claimed descent fn»ui him.**

The ideas of Hrasseur with ivgard tt>Qui't/alct>atl have
thoir i-oots in and must Ih» traced back to the very llrst
apiH'aring of the Mexican religion, or t»l' the religion or
religions l)y which it wjis precedwl; so that to arrive iit
those ideas 1 nuist give a suunnary of the abbe's whole

'^ nunit/trv, IIU4, JiU. M .Vciwico, pp. U-U.

262 aODS. SUPERNATUILkL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP

theory of the origin of that creed. He believes that in
the seething and thundering of volcanoes a conception
of divinity and of supernatural powers first sprang up in
the mind of the ancestors of the Mexicans. The volca-
noes were afterwards identified with the stars, and the
most terrific of all, Nanahuatl or Nanahuatzin,** received
the honors of a[X)theosis in the sun. Issued from the
earth of the Crescent (Brasseur's sunken island or con-
tinent in the Atlantic)," personified in the antique
Quetzalcoatl, prototype of priests and of sacerdotal con-
tinence, he is thus his son and identifies himself with
him; he (the divinity, Tylor's "Great Somebody") is
the model of sages under the name of Hueman and
the prototype of kings under that of Topiltzin. Strange
thing to find united in one being, |)ersonalities so diverse !
King, philosopher, priest par excellence, whose virtues
serve as a rule to all the priests of the pagan antiquity,
and, side by side with all that, incontinence and passion
deified in this invalid, whose name even, " the syphili-
tic," is the expression of the abuse he has mode of the
sex.

At the commencement of the religion two sects appear
to have sprung up, or rather two manners of judging the
si:me events. There was first a struggle, and then a
separation ; under the banner-names of Quetzalcoatl and
Tezcatliixxja the rival schools fought for the most jwirt —
of course there wore divers minor factions; but the
foregoing were the principal and most imix)rtant. There
is every reason to Ixdieve that the religion that took
Quetzalcoatl for symhijl was but a reformation upii
another more ancient, that hail the moon for its object.
It is the m(N)n, male and female, hniui Limus, personi-
fietl in the earth of the Crescent, engulfed in the abyss,
that I l)elieve (it is always the ablw that speaks) 1 see
at the commencement of the anuilgam of rites and sym-
bols of every kind, tvligion of enjoyments and material
pleasures, Iwrn of the promiscuity of the men and

*■ H(« p. lU) ()( thiH volunui.
*^ Hah {). 1 Vi of thin vuIudm.

BBASSEUB ON QUETZA-LCOATL.

268

women, taken refuge in the lesser Antilles after the cata-
clysm.

The religion that had taken the moon for point of
departure, and in which women seem to have played the
principal rule, as priestesses, attacked formally, by this
very fact, a more antique religion, a pre-diluvian relig-
ion that appears to have been Sabaism, entirely exempt
from idolatry, and in which the sun received the chief
homage. In the new religion, on the contrary, it was
not the moon as a star, which was the real object of
worship, it was the moon-land (lune-terre), it was the
region of the Crescent, shrouded under the waves, whose
death was wept and whose resurrection was afterward
celebrated in the appearance of the isles — refuge of the
shipwrecked of the grand catastrophe — of the Lesser
Antilles; to the number of seven principal islands, sung,
in all American legends, as the Seven Grottoes, cradle of
nations.

This is the myth of Quetzalcoatl, who dies or disap-
pears, and whose p^^rsonality is represented at the
outset in the isles, then successively, in all the coun-
tries whither the civilization was carried of which he
wius the flag. 80 far as 1 can judge at present, the priest
who })laced himself under the aegis of this grand name,
lul)ored solely to reform what there was of odious and
barbarous in the cult of which the women had the chief
direction, and under whose regime human blood flowed
in waves. After the triumph of (Quetzalcoatl, the men
who bore his name took the direction of religion and
wxnoty, wliich then made considerable progress in their
hands.

\\\xi if we are to believe the same traditions, their pre-
IH)n(k'rance had not a very long duration. The most
restless and the most audacious among t!»e jmrtisans of
the ancient order of things, raised the flag of iwolt;
they l)ecatne the chiefs of a warlike faction, rival of the
wu'crdotal, — ti concpu'ring faction, nourco of veritable
n)yal dynoHties and of the religion of" the sun living and
victoriouM, in opixinition to the giKl entombed in the

h
I

OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS, AND WORSHIP.

abyss. Quetzalcoatl, vanquished by Tezcatlipoca, then
retired before a too-powerful enemy, and the Toltecu
were dispersed among all nations. Those of them that
remained coalesced with the victors, and from the accord
of the aforementioned three cults, there sprang that
monstrous amalgam of so many different ideas and sym-
bols, such as is found to-day in what remains to us of the
Mexican religion.

For me (and it is always the abb^ that speaks), I be-
lieve I perceive the origin of the struggle, not alone in
the diversity of races, but principally in the existence of
two currents of contrary ideas, having had the same point
of departure in the events of the great cataclysm of the
Crescent Land, above referred to. Difterent manners of
l(x>king at these events and of commemorating them, seem
to me to have marked from the beginning the starting
point of two religions that lived, perhaps, side by side
tor centuries without the explosion of their disagree-
ments, otherwise than by insignificiint agibitions. Before
these two could take, with i*egard to each other, the pm-
portions of a schism or a heresy, it was necessary thiit
all the materials of whicii these religions are constituted
htul iuul time to elalK)rate themselves, and that tiic
hieroglyphics which representeil their origin Iuul Ixicoiiie
sulfioiently obscure for the priesthotnl to keep the vulgar
froui understanding them. For, if schism has brought
on the struggle Ixjtween and afterward the violent sepa-
ration of families, this separation can not have taken
place till after the entire creation of myths, the entire
construction of these divine genealogies, of these |KM'tio
traditions, that are found scattered tunong all the i)e()i)U's
of the earth, but of which the complete whole does not
exist, save in the history and religion of Mexico.*"

Two orders of gods, — the one order fallen from heaven

MThis, in its antoumlitDf iinmennity, is the nbb^'H theory: hiH niippoHi-
tinnnl CreHooiit Liiiul wuh thu c.rnMo of nil hunuin niccH niid hiiiiiaii (■^<'('ll^*.
Oil its 8iibtn(>r)(ttnRe thn nforcNiiid rnceH nr.il crei'dH nnrcnd nnd (K^vclnpi'il
through nil the world to their rcHpectivo preiient loualitleH and plutHeH. 'I'll''
Mflxicnn Itninoh of tliiM dt'vclopinent ho ooiiHidern the likeiit tu iiud the iiiDst
olosely eunuooted with the originnl.

UANY GHABA0TEB8 OF QUETZALGOATL.

965

into the abyss, becoming there the judges of the dead,
and being personified in one of their number, who came
to life again, symbolizing thus life and death, — ^the other
order surviving the cataclysm and symbolizing thus an
imperishable life, — such, at its origin, is the double
(sluiracter of the myth of Quetzalcoatl. But, in reality,
this god he is the earth, he is the region swallowed up
by the waters, he is the vanquished stifled under the
weight of his adversary, under the force of the victorious
wave ; which adversary, which power in opposition to the
first, joining itself to the fire on the blazing pile of Na-
nahuatl, is Tezcatlipoca, is Hercules, conqueror of ene-
mies, is the god whose struggle is eternal as that of the
ocean beating the shore, is he in whom the light becomes
afterward personified, and who becomes thus the battle-
flng of the opponents of Quetzalcoatl. To the dead god
a victim is necessary, one that like him descends into
the abyss. This victim was a young girl, chosen among
those that were consecrated at the foot of the pyramid,
and drowned ; a custom long found as well in Egypt as
at Chichen-Itza," and in many other cx)untrie8 of the
world. But to the god come to life again, to the god in
whom fire was personified, and immortal life, to Quet-
mlcoatl when he became Huitzilopochtli, victims were
sacrificed, by tearing out the heart — symbol of tlie jet
of fiaine issuing fwm the volcano — to ofter it to the con-
c(ii(>ring sun, syml)ol of Tezcatlipoca, who first demanded
holocausts of human blood .^

w In Yucatan.

'" Hrtmsevr de liourhourg, Qtiatret Lfttns, pp. 154-7. Much of thin Inst
piirikKraph BuetnH uttt>rly iiiuompruhensible niul ulmnn), even viewed from the
Htiuul-i)oint of the Ahlx' liniMMi-ur kiuiHelf . l)y no nu-iinH vertuin, iit nil pointo,
of huvm« cnugkt the exnol nieaniuK by its author, I gi\e the oriKinul:— Deux
orlrcH de dicux, dont les uuh, toiubeH du cicl dunH I'libinie oil iU devienneut
lis JUKI'S dcH niortH, He pcrauuuitlent en un seul qui rt'HHUHfito, Hynibole de la
vio ft de In mort; dont leH autres snrvivcut k In deHtmetion, Hvnil)ole de In
vie iuiperiHWible; tel est le double carnctere du nivthe de Quetznl-llontl, k Hon
iii'inine. Main en rt'nlitt^ ce dieu, o'ent In terre, c^ent hi n-giou enwvi'lie koub
lt>K citiix, o'eHt le viiinou etoutTe houb le jHiida de Hon adventnire, houh I'eifort
tlu Ilk viiKUe victorieuHO et oelle-ei H'uuiHMtnt an feu Bur le biioher de Nnnahu-
ntl, (t'cHt Texontlipoi-n, o'eHt Hercule, vniuqueurde hi'h cnnenUH, o'ent le dieu
(lout la lutte eHt iHernelle, comnie celle de I'Oct'nn bnttnnt le rivnue, o'ent
I'i'liii on qui HO peroonnitto euHuite In lnn[iit>re et (pii dcvieut niuni le ilropeau
ili'H lulvertinircH de QuetzaUContl. An dieu mort, il fnlluit une viotiuic, cuni-

' i3?;i

166 OODS. SCPERNATDBAL BEIN08. AND WORSHIP.

Mr Tylor declares Quetzalcoatl to have been the Sun:
"We may even find him identified with the Sun by
name, and his history is perhaps a more compact and
perfect series of solar myths than hangs to the name of
any single personage in our own Aryan mythology.
His mother, the Dawn or the Night, gives birth to him,
and dies. His father Camaxtli is the sun, and was wor-
shiped with solar rites in Mexico, but he is the old Sun
of yesterday. The clouds, personified in the mythic
race of the Mixcohuas, or " Cloud-Snakes'* (the Nifx;l-
ungs of the western hemisphere), bear down the old Sim
and choke him, and bury him in their mountain. But
the young Quetzalcoatl, the Sun of to-day, rushes up in-
to the midst of them from below, and some he slays at
the first onset, and some he leaves, rifl with red wounds
to die. We have the Sun boat of Helios, of the Egypt-
ian Ra, of the Polynesian Maui. Quetzolcoatl, his
bright career drawing toward its close, is chased into
far lands by his kindsman Tezcatliixx:a, the young Sun
of to-morrow. He, too, is well known as a Sun God in
the Mexican theology. Wonderfully fitting with all
this, one incident after another in the life of Quetziil-
coatl falls into its place. The guardians of the sacred
fire tend him, his funeral pile is on the top of Oriuiba,
he is the heljxjr of travelers, the maker of the cahnuliu*,
the soui-ce of austrology, the beginner of history, the
bringer of wealth and happiness. He is the patron of
the craftsmen, whom he lights to his labor; tis it is
written in an ancient Sanskrit hymn, * He steps fortli,
the splendor of the sky, the wide-seeing, the far-aiinin<r,
the shining wanderer; surely enlivened by the sun, do
men go to their tasks and do their work.' Even his

me Ini, descondue dans rabhne: oe fnt une jeune fllle, ohoiHio pnnni oilli h
qui lui i-Uient ounHnortios iiu pied de la pyraiuidt>, et qu'oii iioynit en lit
plouucunt BotiH I'euu, coutnuio qn'on retninva lon^tenipM en EKViite, eoiniiu*
k Ckichen-Itzit, uiuni que dann uieu d'uutreH pays dn iiuiiide. Miuh iiu diiii
retiHUHcite, »u dieii en qui se i)erHonniflnit le feu, 1h vio inunortelle, a V'"''"''
CixUI, devenu lluiUU-OpochUi, on Racrifla deH victiineH huuh noinbre, a tpii
Ton arrachait le ooBur, aymbole dn jet de lluninie Hortant dn voli'un, ])iinr
I'offrir an mileil vaiuqueur, symlHilo do Tezeatli]MH'a qui, le itremier, uvnit
demaudt- duo Uuluoaustea de aaog huiuaiu. Id., i>p. 342-3.

BRINTON ON QDETZALCOATL.

»tory the I,^„d „f Qu*S^^<^t 'L ^T r*' '" "hose

truth many ^urL^firZhilif"'""'"' "^ '"
!■« name, but he himself s«„, ^'*''' !'."«" "Iways bore

»nd «1I hia alle^reU ErJ i" P" f.""*"""" of the fancr
emblematic naiSe, the ffiVL;; "I"^' ''",' " »>>'"'• hTh
"1W8 at Palenque I bail ■?*"*• """^ '''» rebus and

Toliil, therumbler: Huem,^ ■^""""'-""'"'"fenake-
heo^tl, lorf of theVourwSs '?"''«''''"''; ^^'I't
;H'l>e«™ in him that has fen JJ^ ^T- •''"'"™ «>

;'-"- «» '« »«* -oH^ALr^vii: d:fe

4' * Tt™Sn!lnX'^r:t"o'^'" •" *"« '-'J of
Pneat of that hap, y rel,!, ''"'-"'" Onent, and was high

"ynibol, and the tem,,™„f bh„, f ""''".'"8 »'»■• »■« W»
e-^P-^^Iy as the ail,o" of tt'^A'^if"'"' •"'"■»
moasure time, he was tlie auLJ^f ■ ^ ''■>' ^V' we
<!■"•• Lil<e all the dtw„ he^?',;"r '"'" ""■ *««"«'■
"« "f white complexiorclot S/h "*" 'T'!' "'V^M
a« most of the A,tec axl, ,vi,h VV,"« "''"« ">K «nd
W'en his earthly work wal H^^ " f"" ""'I """'"K 'i'""!
«;H "Signing i . r^,:^that I'~"-''r«^'"'''e

Jla|«II«n dema.,ded hispreseVl n'."?;: ""» "•"'«"• "f
wnsthathe had lm.„ „'"•*■"<*• »ut the real motive

«« called SlS^lrtZ"'"''^;''^''''l««'"S.t!
wl'" li.id descended f™ni,» ,"^ "'' "I""' <>f niKht

P-^wnted his riv^wTa dr'V'^' " "I'''''-'''''' "eb t„d
'■"mortality, but in T , l'"^*" l"-e«ended to confer
"|S for home. Iv, tf^;,*^,?^''"','*, """'"'"'"''I'leT™!

"prraid their dark md X i ' ? "''en «ie clouds

'»•;". -".d pour «m WvifS 2." t'« "'« -""""t-
In his other charJter T^e? . '"" *''" ""•■Ws.

; I'.

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WIMTIR.N.Y, MSIO

(7U) •73-4»03

268 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

Tonacateotl, god of our flesh or subsistence, or (accord-
ing to Gomara) was the son of Iztac Mixcoatl, the white
cloud serpent, the spirit of the tornado. Messenger of
Tlaloc, god of rain, he was figuratively said to sweep
the road for him, since in that country violent winds are
the precursors of the wet seasons. Wherever he went
all manner of singing birds bore him company, emblems
of the whistling breezes. When he finally disappeared
in the far east, he sent back four trusty youtlis who
had ever shared his fortunes, ' incomparably swift and
light of foot,' with directions to divide the earth between
them and rule it till he should return and resume his
power. When he would promulgate his decrees, his
herald proclaimed them from Tzatzitepec, the hill of
shouting, with such a mighty voice that it could be heard
a hundred leagues around. The arrows which he shot
transfixed great trees, the stones he threw leveled for-
ests, and when he laid his hands on the rocks the mark
was indelible. Yet as thus emblematic of the thunder-
storm, he possessed in full measure its better attributes.
By shaking his sandals he gave fire to men ; and peace,
plenty, and riches blesp^d his subjects. Tradition says
he built many temples to Mictlantecutli, the Aztec Pluto,
and at the creation of the sun that he slew all the other
gods, for the advancing dawn disperses the spectral
shapes of night, and yet all its vivifying power does but
result in increasing the number doomed to fall before the
remorseless stroke of death.

His symbols were the bird, the serpent, the cross and
the flint, representing the clouds, the lightning, the four
winds, and the thunderbolt. Perhaps, as Huemac, the
Strong Hand, he was god of the earthquakes. The Za-
potecs worshii)ed such a deity under the image of thJH
number carved from a precious stone, calling to mind
the 'Kab ul,' the Working Hand, adored by the Mayas,
and said to be one of the images of Zamna their hero
god. The human hand, ' that divine tool,' as it has
been called, might well bo regarded by the reflective
mind as the teacher of tiie arts and the amulet whose

ANALOGUES OF QDETZALCOATL.

960

magic power has won for man what vanti^e he has
gained in his long combat with nature and his fellows."*"

Mr Helps sees in Quetzalcoatl the closest analc^ies
with certain other great civilizers and teachers that
made their appearance in various parts of the American
continent: — " One peculiar circumstance, as Humboldt
remarks, is very much to be noted in the ancient records
and traditions of the Indian nations. In no less than
three remarkable instances has superior civilization been
attributed to the sudden presence amonj^ them of per-
sons differing from themselves in appearance and de-
scent.

Bohica, a white man with a beard, appeared to the
Mozca Indians in the plains of Bogota, taught them how
to build and to sow, formed them into communities,
gave an outlet to the waters of the great lake, and, hav-
ing settled the government civil and ecclesiastical, retired
into a monastic state of pentitence for two thousand
years.

In like manner Manco Capac, accompanied by his
sister, Mama Oello, descended amongst the Peruvians,
gave them a code of admirable laws, reduced them into
communities, and then ascended to his father, the Sun.

Amongst the Mexicans there suddenly apj)eared Quet-
zalcoatl (green-feathered snake), a white and bearded
man, of broad brow, dressed in a strange dress; a
legislator, who recommended severe ijenances, lacerating
his own body with the prickles of the agave and the
thorns of the cactus, but who dissuaded his followers
from human sacrifice. While he remained in Anjlhunc,
it was a Satumian reign ; but this great legislator, after
moving on to the plains of Cholula, and governing the
Chohilans with wisdom, passed away to a distant country,
and was never heard of more. It is said brieHy of him
that ' he ordained sacrifices of flowers and fruits, and
stopped his ears when he was spoken to of war.' " **

The Abb^ Domenech considers the tradition of the

" BrirUon't Mythn, pp. 180-3.

" JMpa' Span. Conq., vol. 1., pp. 880-7.

270 GODS. 8UPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

lives of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca to be a bit of sim-
ple and slightly veiled history, and also that there were
several Quetzalcoatls. Let it be remembered in reading
the abbe's version of this matter that the names of places,
peoples, and the dates he gives are in great part myth-
ical and conjectural : — " After the enfranchisement of the
Olmecs, a man named Quetzalcoatl arrived in the coun-
try, whom Garcia, Torquemada, Sahagun, and other Span-
ish writers took to be Saint Thomas. It was also at that
time that the third age ended, and that the fourth began,
called Sun of the fire, because it was supiwsed that it was
in this last stage that the world would be destroyed by
fire.

It is in this fourth period that the Mexican historian
places the Toltecs' arrival in New Spain, that is to say,
about the third century before the Christian era. Ac-
cording to the Quiches' traditions, the primitive portion
of the Nahoas, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a dis-
tant East, beyond immense seas and lands. Amongst
the families and tribes that bore with least patience
this long repose and immobility, those of Canub, and of
Tlocab may be cited, for they were the first who deter-
mined to leave their country. The Nahoas sailed in
seven barks or ships, which Sahagun calls Chicomoztoe,
or the seven grottos. It is a fact worthy of note, that in
all ages the number seven was a sacred number among
the American people, troin one pole to the other. It
was at I'Anuco, near Tampico, that those strangers dis-
embarked; they established themselves at Paxil, with
the Votanites' consent, and their state took the name of
Huehue-Tlopallan. It is not stated from whence they
came, but merely that they came out of the regions
where the sun rises. Tlit supreme command was in the
hand of a chieftain, wh<>ni history calls Quetzalcohuatl,
that is to say, Lord par excellence. To his care was con-
fided the holy envelo|ie, which concealed the divinity from
the human gaze, and he alone received from it the
necessary instructions to guide his people's march.
These kinds of divinities, thus enveloped, pos^d fur

THE CODICES ON QUETZALCOATL.

271

being sure talismans, and were looked upon with the
greatest respect and veneration. They consisted gener-
ally of a bit of wood, in which was inserted a little
idol of green stone ; this was covered with the skin of a ser-
pent or of a tiger, after which it was rolled in numerous
little bands of stuff, wherein it would remain wrapped
for centuries together. Such is, perhaps, the origin of
the medicine bags made use of, even in the present day,
by the Indians of the Great Desert, and of which we shall
speak in the second volume of this work."

Of apparently another Quetzalcoatl, he writes: "The
Toltecs became highly flourishing under the reign of
Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl, a Culhuacan prince, who preached
a new religion, sanctioning auricular confession and the
celibacy of the priests. He proscribed all kinds of war-
fare and human sacrifices. Tezcatlipoca put himself at
the head of the dissatisfied party, and besieged ToUan,
tlie residence of Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl ; but the latter re-
fused to defend himself, in order lo avoid the effusion of
blood, which was prohibited by the laws of the religion
he himself had established, and retired to Cholula, that
had been constructed by his followers. From thence he
went to Yucatan. Tezcatlipoca, his fortunate rival, after
ii long reign became in his turn the victim of the ix)pu-
liir discontent, and fell in a battle that was given him
by Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl's relatives. Those two kings
are elevated to the rank of gods, and their worship was
a perpetual subject of discord and civil war in all
Andhuac until the arrival of the Spaniards in the New
World.'"^

The interpreters of the different codices, or Mexican
paintings represented in Kingsborough's great work,
give, as is their wont in all matters, a confused, imiier-
t'ect, and often erroneous account of Quetzalcoatl: —
'' (Quetzalcoatl is he who was born of the virgin, called
Chulchihuitztli, which means the precious stone of i)en-
luice or of sacrifice. He was saved in the deluge, and
was born in Zivenaritzcatl where he resides. His fast

" Dommtch'a Deetria, vol. i., pp. 32-3, 39

272

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

was a kind of preparation for the arrival of the end of the
world which they said would happen on the day of Four
Earthquakes, so that they were thus in daily expectation
of that event. Quetzalcoatl was he who they say created
the world, and they bestowed on him the appellation of
lord of the wind, because they said that Tonacatecotli,
when it appeared good to him, breathed and begat
Quetzalcoatl. They erected round temples to him, with-
out any corners. They said that it was he (who was
also the lord of the thirteen signs which are here repre-
sentt'd), who formed the first man. He alone had a
human body like that of men, the other gods were of an
incorporeal nature."**

"They declare that their supreme deity, or more pro-
perly speaking, demon Tonacatecotle, whom we have
just mentioned, who by another name was called Citina-
tonali, .... begot Quetzalcoatl, not by connection with a
woman, but by his breath alone, as we have observed
above, when he sent his ambassador, as they say, to the
virgin of TuUa. They believed him to be the god of the
air, and he was the first to whom they built temples and
churches, which they formed perfectly round, without
any angles. They say it was he who eftected the reform-
ation of the world by penance, as we have already said ;
since, according to their account, his father had cre-
ated the world, and men had given themselves up to
vice, on which account it had been ^o frequently de-
stroyed. Citinatonali sent this his son into the world to
reform it. We certainly must deplore the blindness of
these miserable jieople, on whom Saint Paul says the
wrath of God has to be revealed, inasmuch as his eternal
truth was so long kept back by the injustice of attribut-
ing to this demon that which belonged to Him ; for lie
being the sole creator of the universe, and He wlio made
the division of the waters, which these poor people just
now attributed to the Devil, when it appeared gixxl to
Him, dispatched the heavenly ambassador to annouiico

M Explinadon del Codex TeUeriam-BemmsU, parte ii., lam. li., In Kinns-
borough's Mex. Aniiq,, vol. v., pp. 135-0.

hOlleb on qitetzalcoatl.

978

to the virgin that she should be the mother of his eter-
nal word ; who, when He found the world corrupt, re-
formed it by doing penance and by dying upon the cross
for our sins; and not the wretched Quetzalcoatl, to
whom these miserable people attributed this work.
They assigned to him the dominion over the other
thirteen signs, which are here represented, in the same
manner as they had assigned the preceding thirteen to
his father. They celebrated a great festival on the ar-
rival of his sign, as we shall see in the sign of Four
Earthquakes, which is the fourth in order here, because
they feared that the world would be destroyed in that
sign, as he had foretold to them when V e disappeared in
the Red Sea; which event occurred ca the same sign.
As they considered him their advocate, they celebrated
a solemn festival, and fasted during four signs." ^

J. G. Miiller holds Quetzalcoatl to be the representative
national god of the Toltecs, surviving under many miscon-
ceptions and amid many incongruities, — bequeathed to
or adopted into the later Mexican religion. The learned
professor has devoted an unusual amount of care and
research to the interpretation of the Quetzalcoatl myths;
and as no other inquirer has shown therein at once so
accurate and extensive an acquaintance with the subject
and so calm and judicious a judgment, we give his
opinion at length, and first his summing up of the fable-
history of Quetzalcoatl : —

The Toltecs, a traditional pre-historic people, after
leaving their orignal northern home Huehuetlapallan
(that is Old-red-land) chose Tulla, north of Anahuao
m the first capital of their newly founded kingdom.
Quetzalcoatl was their high-priest and religious chief
at this place. Huemac, or Huematzin, conducted the
civil government as the companion of Quetzalcoatl, and
wrote the code of the nation. Quetzalcoatl is said to
have been a white man (some gave him a bright red

ill
'If

>» Spkfatinne dtlh Tavoh dtl Codkt Mmioano, Ut. xli., mngOwroiugk'B
Mtx. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 184^6.
Vol. III. IS

«M

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AKD WOBSHIF.

face), with a strong formation of body, broad forehead,
large eyes, black hair, and a heavy beard. He always
wore a long white robe; which, according to Gomara,
was decorated with crosses; he had a mitre on his head
and a sickle in his hand. At the volcano of Cotcitepec,
or Tzatzitepec, near Tulla, he practised long and numer-
ous penances, giving thereby an example to his priests
and successors. The name of this volcano means " the
mountain of outcry;" and when Quetzalcoatl gave
laws, he sent a crier to the top of it whose voice
could be heard three hundred miles off. He did
what the founders of religions and cults have done
in other countries: he taught the people agriculture,
metallurgy, stone-cutting, and the art of government.
He also arranged the calendar, and taught his subjects
fit religious ceremonies; preaching specially against
human sacrifices, and ordering offerings of fruits and
flowers only. He would have nothing to do with wars,
even covering his ears when the subject was mentioned.
His was a veritable golden age, as in the time of Saturn ;
animals and even men lived in peace, the soil produced
the richest harvests without cultivation, and the grain
grew so large that a man found it trouble enough to
carry one ear; no cotton was dyed, as it grew of all
colors, and fruits of all kinds abounded. Everybody
was rich and Quetzalcoatl owned whole palaces of gold,
silver, and precious stones. The air was filled with the
most pleasant aromas, and a host of finely feathered
birds tilled the world with melody.

But this earthly happiness came to an end. Tezcat-
lipoca rose up against Quetzalcoatl and against Huemac,
in order to separate them, and to destroy their govern-
ment. He descended from the sky on a ro|)e of spider-
web and commenced to work for his object with the aid
of magic arts. He first appeared in the form of a hand-
some youth (and in the dress of a merchant), dressed as
a merchant selling pepper-pods, and presented himself
before the daughter of king Huenmc. He soon sediiced
the princess, and thereby oixmed the road to a general

TBAYELS OF QUETZALCOATL.

275

immorality and a total collapse of the laws. He pre>
sented himself before Quetzalcoatl in the form of an old
man, with the view of inducing him to depart to his
home in Tlapalla. For this purpose he offered him a
drink which he pretended would endow him with im-
mortality. No sooner had Quetzalcoatl taken the drink,
then he was seized with a violent desire to see his father-
land. He destroyed the palaces of gold, silver, and pre-
cious stones, transformed the fruit-trees into withered
trunks, and ordered all song-birds to leave the country,
and to accompany him. Thus he departed, and the birds
entertained him during his journey with their songs.

He first traveled southward, and arrived in Quauh-
titlan, in Anahuac. In the vicinity of this town he
broke down a tree by throwing stones, the stones remain-
ing in the trunk. Farther south, in the same valley,
near Tlalnepantla, or Tanepantla, he pressed hand and
foot into a rock with such force that the impression has
remained down to the latest centuries, in the same man-
ner as the mark of the shoes of the horses of Castor and
Pollux near Regillum. The Spaniards were inclined
to ascribe these and similar freaks of nature to the Apos-
tle Thomas.

Quetzalcoatl now turned toward the east, and arrived
in Cholula, where he had to remain for a longer period,
as the inhabitants intrusted him with the government of
their state. The same order of things which had taken
place in Tulla, his first residence, was here renewed.
From this centre his rule spread far and wide ; he sent
colonists from Cholula to Huaxayacac, Tabasco and Cam-
peche, and the nobility of Yucatan prided themselves on
their descent from him ; men having been found in our
time who bear his name, just as the descendants of Vo-
tan bore the name of Votan in Chiapas. In Cholula it-
self he was adored, and temples were everywhere erected
in his honor, even by the enemies of the Cholulans. After
n residence of twenty years in Cholula, he proceeded on
his journey toward Tlalpalla until he arrived at the
river and in the province of Coatzacoalco, or Goasacoal-

m
\\

'it

tTi

GODS, SUPERNATDBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

CO, Guasacualco, that is Hiding-nook of the snake — south
of Vera Cruz. He now sent the four youths, who had
accompanied him from Cholula, back to the Cholulans,
promising to return later on and renew the old govern-
ment. The Cholulans placed the four youths at the head
of their government, out of love for him. This hope of
his return still existed among the Mexican nations at the
time of Cortes' arrival. In fact, Cortes was at first held
to be the returning Quetzalcoatl, and a man was sacrificed
to him, with whose blood the conqueror and his com-
panions were marked. Father Sahagun was also asked,
by everybody on his journey to Mexico, if he and his suite
came from Tlapalla. According to Montezuma's account
to Cortes, Quetzalcoatl really did once return to Cholula,
but after such a length of time that he found his subjects
married to the native women, having children, and so
numerous that a number of new districts had to be
founded. This new race would not recognize their old
chief, and refused to obey him. He thereupon departed
angrily, threatening to return at another time and to
subdue them by force. It is not remarkable that an
expectation, which was a hope to the Cholulans, should
be a dread to Montezuma and his subjects.

According to some accounts, Quetzalcoatl died in the
Hiding-nook of the snakes, in the Goatzacoalco country;
according to others, he suddenly disappeared toward the
east, and a ship, formed of snakes wound together,
brought him to Tlapalla.

A closer view and criticism of this tale, in the light of
the analogy of mythological laws, shows us that Quetzal-
coatl is the euhemerized religious ideal of the Toltecan
nations. The similarity of this tale with those of Man-
co Capac, Botschika, Saturn, and others, is at once ap-
parent. The opinion of Prescott, Wuttke, and many
others, who held him for a deified man, founder of a
religion and of a civilization, is confirmed by the latest
version of the fable, in which Quetzalcoatl is represented
in this character. Although euhemerism is an old idea
with all people, as well as with the Americans, — per-

QUETZALGOATL AND THE TOLTECS.

277

Bonification being the first step toward it, — the general
reasons which everywhere appear against the existence
of such founders of a civilization must also be made to
speak against this idea of Quetzalcoatl.

If a special value is placed upon the white face and
the beard, it must be remembered that the beard, which
is given to the Mexican priests, could not be omitted
with Quetzalcoatl ; and the mention by some of his hav-
ing had a white face, and by others a red, might arouse
a suspicion that Quetzalcoatl has been represented as a
white man on account of his white robe.

The fable of Quetzalcoatl contains contradictions, the
younger elements of which are a pure idealism of the
more ancient. For instance, the statement that the
earth produced everything spontaneously, without hu-
man labor, does not agree with the old version of the
myth, according to which Quetzalcoatl taught agricul-
ture and other industries requiring application and hard
work. The sentimental love of peace has also been at-
tributed to this god in later times, during a time when the
Toltecs had lost the martial spirit of their victorious ances-
tors, and when the Cholulans, given to effeminacy, dis-
tinguished themselves more by cunning than by courage.
The face of the god is represented, in the fable, tis more
beautiful and attractive, than it is depicted on the images.
At the place where he was most worshiped, in Cholula,
the statute of Quetzalcoatl stood in his temple, on the
summit of the great pyramid. Its features had a
gloomy cast, and differed from the beautiful face which
is said to have been his on earth.

The fable shows its later idealized elements in these
points. In all other respects, the Toltecan peculiarities of
the entire nation are either clearly and faithfully de-
picted in their hero, as in a personified ideal, or else the
original attributes of the nature deity are recognizable.
Where the Toltecs were, there v:as he also, or a hero
identical with him; the Toltecs who journeyed south-
ward are colonists sent by him; the Toltecs capitals,
TuUa and Cholula, are his residences ; and as the laws

OODB, &UPEBNATDBAL BEIMOS, AND WOBSHIP.

of the Toltecs extended far and wide, so did the voice
of his crier reach three hundred miles into the country.
The arts and welfare of the Toltecs, their riches and re-
ligious feeling, even their later unwarlike peacefulness,
all these attributes are transferred to Quetzalcoatl. The
long robe of the Toltecs was also the dress of their
hero; the necktie of the boys of his religious order is
attached to his image; and, as his priests wore the
mitre, he is also represented with it. He is, above all,
depicted as the original model of the Toltec priests, the
Tlamacazque (the order was called Tlamacazcojotl), whose
chief, or superior, always bore the name of Quetzalcoatl.
As these oiders of his had to submit to the strictest ob-
servances, — their members having to slit the tongue,
ears and lips in honor of Que^lcoatl, and the small
boys being set apart for him by making an incision on
their breasts, — so he submitted, before all others, to
these penances on the Tzatzitipec Mountain. These self-
inflicted punishments must not be termed penances, as
is often done, for they have no moral meaning, such as to
do penance for committed sins, nor have they the mystic
meaning of the East Indian idea of the end of the
world (Weltabsterben) and the return to the pantheistic
chaos (Urall and Urnichts) ; all this is foreign to the
American religion. They are, on the contrary, blood-
offerings, substitutes for the human sacrifices in the
background, to obtain earthly blessings, and to avert
earthly misfortunes. As Quetzalcoatl preached against
human sacrifices, so his priests under the Aztec rule,
were very reluctant to make them. After the g'^ .it
slaughter by Cortes, in Cholula, Montezuma procetsaed
to the great temple of Huitzilopochtli, made many
human sacrifices, and questioned the god, who bade him
to be of good heart, and assured him that the Cholulans
had suffered so terribly merely on account of their re-
luctance to offer up human beings.

As the disappearance of the Toltecs toward the south
and the south-east agrees with the disappearance of
Quetzalcoatl, so we find many truts from the end of the

lastT

After

fled 80

words,

toward

avenge

After

His la>

The be

otzin, a

after d

would i

long cu]

how wel

turn of

Quezj

a nation

nature-h

where tl

that the

transforr

king, hi<i

in being (

the civili

the origi

transforn

the hura«

and the i

8hi[x;rs a

influence

creator.

The pu
fable, as
the young
nature, U
maintain©
symbolize
made appa
the air.

QUETZALCOATL A NATUBE-DEITT.

979

last Toltec king reproduced in the end of the Toltec hero.
After the defeat of king Tlolpintzin, he (Tlolpintzin)
tleci southward, toward Tlapalla. He made use of these
words, in his last farewell to his friends: I have retired
toward the east, but will return after 5012 years to
avenge myself on the descendants of mine enemies.
After having lived thirty years in Tlapalla, he died.
His laws were afterward accepted by Nezalhualcoyotzin.
The belief that Tlolpintzin stayed with Nezalhualcoy-
otzin, and some other brave kings, in the cave of Xicco,
after death, like the three Tells of Switzerland, but
would at some time come out and deliver his people, was
long current among the Indians. Every one will notice
how well this agrees with Montezuma's account of the re-
turn of Quetzalcoatl.

Quezatlooatl cannot, however, be a representative and
a national god of the Toltecs, without having an original
nature-basis for his existence a» u ^od. It is every-
where the ca.se among savrws with their national god,
that the latter is a nature-deity, who becomes gradually
transformed into a national god, then into a national
king, high-priest, founder of a religion, and at last ends
in being considered a human being. The older and purer
the civilization of a people is, the easier it is to recognise
the original essence of ita national god, in spite of all
transformations and disguises. So it is here. Behind
the human form of the god glimmers the nature shape,
and the national god is known by, perhaps, all his wor-
shipers as also a nature deity. From his powerful
influence upon nature, he might also be held as the
creator.

The pure human form of this god, as it appears in the
fable, as well as in the image, is not the original, but
the youngest. His oldest concrete forms are taken from
nature, to which he originally belongs, and have
maintained themselves in many attributes. All these
symbolize him as the god oi fertility, chiefly, as it is
made apparent, by means of the beneficial influence of
the air. All Mexican and European statements make

GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

him appear as the god of the air and of the wind ; even
the euhemeristic idea deifies the man Quetzalcoatl into
a god of the air. All the Mexican tribes adored him at
the time of the conquest as god of the air, and all ac-
counts, however much they may differ on the particular
points of his poetical life, agree, without exception, in
this one respect, as the essential and chief point. Be-
sides the symbols, which are merely attached to the
image, there are three attributes, which represent as
many original visible forms and exteriors of the god, in
which he is represented and worshiped : the sparrow, the
flint (Feuerstein), and the snake.

According to Herrera, the image of Quetzalcoatl had
the body of a man, but the head of a bird, a sparrow
with a red bill, a lai^e comb, and with the tongue hang-
ing far out of the mouth. The air-god of these northern
people, parallel to Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec Huitzilopochtli,
was represented with devices connected with the hum-
ming-bird, in remembrance of his former humming-bird
nature. This is the northern element. The great spirit
of the northern redskins also appear in his most esteemed
form as a bird. The Latin Picus was originally a wood-
pecker (Specht), afterward anthropomorphized and even
euhemerized, but he has ever the woodpecker by his side,
in his capacity of human seer. Several Egyptian gods
have human bodies and animal heads, especially heads of
birds. Birds are not alone symbols of particular godHke
attributes, as used in the anthrojwmorphic times, not mere
messengers and transmitters of the orders of the gods, but
they have originally been considered as gods themselves,
with forms of godlike powers, especially in North
America; and the exterior of the god of the air, the
fructifying air, is naturally that of a bird, a singing-
bird. The hieroglyphic sign among the Mexicans lor
the air is, therefore, the head of a bird with three tongues.
Wherever Quetzalcoatl stayed and ruled, there birds
filled the air, and song-birds gave indication of their
presence; when he departed, he took them with him,
and was entertained during the journey by their singing.

QUETZALCOATL AND THE FLINT.

981

A second form of Quetzalcoatl was the flint, which
we have already learned to know as a symbol and
hieroglyphic sign for the air. He was either repre-
sented as a black stone, or several small green ones,
supposed to have fallen from heaven, most likely aerolites,
which were adored by the Cholulans in the service of
Quetzalcoatl. Betancourt even explains the meaning of
the name Quetzalcoatl, contrary to the usual definition,
as " twin of a precious stone." The fable of Quauhtit-
lan is also connected with this stone- worship; how Quet-
zalcoatl had overthrown a tree by means of stones which
remained fixed in it. These stones were later on adored
as holy stones of Quetzalcoatl. The stone at Tlalnepan-
tla, into which he pressed his hand, must also have rep-
presented the god himself Similar ancient stone-wor-
8hii)8, of greater nature deities as well as fetiches, were
found, in many instances, in Peru, in the pre-Inca times.
In ancient Central America we meet with the worship
of such green stones called chalchihuites. Votan was
worshiped in the form of such a green stone, connected
with the other two attributes. This attribute of Quet-
zalcoatl most likely belongs to the south.

The third form of Quetzalcoatl, which also belongs to
the south, is the snake; he is a snake-god, or, at least,
merged into an ancient snake-god. The snake is not, as
far as I know, a direct symbol of the air, and this attri-
bute is, therefore, not the one pertaining to him from
the beginning ; but the snake represents the season which,
in conjunction with heat and rain, contains the fructify-
ing influence of the atmosphere, spring, the rejuvenating
year. However, the very name of the god signifies,
according to the usual explanation given to it, "the
feathered snake, the snake covered with feathers, the
green feathered-snake, the wood-snake with rich feath-
erH." A snake has consequently Ijeen added to the
human figure of this god. The other name, under which
lie is adored in Yucatan, is Cuculciin, a snake covered
with godlike feathers. The entrance to his round temple
in Mexico represented the jaw and fangs of a tremen-

H t

» .■ i(:

OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS, AND WOBSHIP.

dous snake. Quetzalcoatl disappeared in Goatzacoaico,
the Snake-corner (or nook), and a ship of snakes brought
him to Tlapalla. His followers in Yucatan were called
snakes, Cocome (plural of Coatl), while he himself bore
the name of Cocolcan in this country as well as in Chia-
pas. The snake attribute signifies, in connection with
Huitzilopochtli, also the beneficial influence of the atmos-
phere, the yearly renewed course of nature, the contiim-
al rejuvenation of nature in germs and blossoms. The
northern celestial god, Odin, is in many ways connected
with snakes, he transformed himself into a snake, and
bore the by-name of Snake.

The relationship of Tczcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, as
given in the fable, may be touched upon here. The
driving away of the latter by Tezcatlipoca does not, as
may be supposed, signify a contest between the Aztec
religion and the preceding Toltecan. In such a case
Huitzilopochtli, the chief of the Aztec gods, by whose
adoration the contrast is painted in the deepest colors,
would have been a much better representant.

Quetzalcoatl no doubt preached against human sacri-
fices, brought into such unprecedented swing by the
Aztecs, yet the worshipers of this god adopted the sacri-
fice of human beings in an extensive way during the
Aztec rule, to which period this part of the Quetzalcoatl
fable necessarily owes its origin. At this time the con-
trast was so slight that Quetzalcoatl partook of the high-
est adoration of Aztecs, not only in Cholula, but in
Mexico and everywhere. His priest enjoyed the highest
esteem and his temple in Mexico stood by the side of
that of Huitzilopochtli. Montezuma not only calls the
Toltec hero a leader of his forefathers, but the Aztecs
actually consider him as a son of Huitziloixwhtli. The
opposition of the two gods, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatliixxra,
has another reason: the difterence lies not in their wor-
ship, but in their nature and being, in the natural i)lie-
nomena which they represent. If the god of the beneficial
atmosphere, the manifested god-jwwer of the atmosphere
of the fructifying seasons, is adored in Quetzalcoatl ; then

QUETZALCOATL AND THE SNAKE.

Tezcatlipoca is his opposite, the god of the gloomy lower
regions destitute of lite and germ, the god of drouth, of
withering, of death.

Wherever, therefore, Quetzalcoatl rules, there are riches
and abundance, the air is filled with fragrance and song-
birds — an actual golden era ; but when he goes south-
ward with his song-birds, he is expelled by Tezcatlipoca,
drouth sets in, and the palaces of gold, silver, and pre-
cious stones, symbols of wealth, are destroyed. He
promises, however, everywhere to return. A represen-
tation mentioned and copied by Humboldt, shows Tez-
catlipoca in the act of cutting up the snake. This
has not the meaning of the acts of Hercules, of Ton-
atiuh, of the great spirit of the Chippewas, of the Ger-
man Siegfried, of the Celtic dragon-killers Tristan and
Iwein, or of the other sun-gods, spring-gods, and culture-
heroes, who tight and subdue the snake of the unfertile
moisture ; such an interpretation would be opposed to the
nature of this god. On the contrary, the god of death
and drouth here fights the snake as the symbol of mois-
ture, of the fertilization of the plant-life.

The question now arises: if Quetzalcoatl only received
his snake attribute in the south, and this his name, what
was his original northern and Toltecan name? We
answer, coinciding with the views expressed by Ixtlil-
xochitl and others, who afhrm that Quetzalcoatl and his
worldly companion, Uueuuic, were one and the same
l)er8on. The opposed opinion of Ternaux-Compans,
who states that Quetzalcoatl must have been an Olmec,
while Huemao was a Toltec, actually gives the key to
the solution of the question. Both are right, Ixtlilxo-
chitl and Ternaux, Huemac is the original Toltec name
uf the Toltec national god, ruler, and author of the
holy books, the ancient name used by the Toltecs. As
this people succumbed more and more to soutlicrn influ-
ences, and their ancient air-god in his sparrow form re-
ceived in addition the snake attribute, on account of
his rejuvenating influence u(X)n nature, then, the new
name of the more cultivated people soon apiwarcd.

284 GODS, 8UPEBNATUSAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF.*

The name may, therefore, be Olmec, but not ' the god ;
we may sooner suppose that the attributes of the Maya
god, Votan, have been transferred to the Toltec god.
Both names having thus a double origin; the legend
which found two names, made also two persons of them,
and placed them side by side. It is, however, easy to
see that they are naturally one: Huemac has just as
much a religious signification as Quetzalcoatl ; as Hue-
matzin, he wrote the divine book, containing all the
earthly and heavenly wisdom of the Toltecs. Quetzal-
coatl has, in the same degree, besides his religious posi-
tion, the worldly one of ruler and founder of a civili-
zation. As Quetzalcoatl possesses a divine nature, so
does Huemac, to whom also are ascribed the three hun-
dred years of life, and the impression of the hand in the
rock.

Besides the attributes of the sparrow, flint, and snake,
there are others which ascribe to Quetzalcoatl the same
properties, but less prominently. As god of the air,
he holds the wonderfully painted shield in his hand, a
symbol of his power over the winds. As god of the fer-
tilizing influence of the air, he holds, like Saturn, the
sickle, symbol of the harvest — he it is that causes the
grain to ripen. It used to be said that he prepared the
way for the water-god, for in these regions, the rains
are always preceded by winds. It was on account of
this intimate connection with the rain, which had
already procured him the snake attribute, that his
mantle was adorned with crosses. We have already seen
that such crosses represented the rain-god with the
Mayas, and are symbols of the fructifying rain. Con-
sequently they are well suited for the god who is only
air-god in the sense of the air exercising its fructifying
and invigorating influence upon the earth.

Another question, which has already occurred to ub,
must here be considered. Why did this god come from
the east, depart toward the east, and wLy should ho be
expected from the east? The Toltecs have, according
to almost unanimous statements, come from the north,

QUETZALOOATL AND THE TBADE-WINDS.

286

and even Quetzalcoatl commences his rule in the north,
in Tulla, and proceeds gradually on his journey fix)m the
north to the south-east, just like the Toltecs, who trav-
eled southward from Tulla. It is plain that he departs
for the east, because this is his home, from which he came
and will return. His eastern origin is, no doubt, based
upon the direction of the eastern trade-winds, which
carry rain 'id, with it, fertility to the interior of Cen-
tral America. The rains began three or four weeks
earlier in Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Tabasco than in
Puebla and Mexico. Another reason, which has, how-
ever, a certain connection with the above, may be the
relationship of the god of air and the sun-god, who often
assumed an equal position in nature and in worship.
We know that the founders of the Peruvian and Muys-
can cults come from the east, because they are sun-gods.
Quetzalcoatl is not such a deity, it is true, but the ferti-
lizing air-god is also in other places closely connected
with the fructifying sun, as, for example Huitzilopochtli,
Odin, and Brama. The sun is his eye. This connection
with the sun, Montezuma referred to when he spoke in
the i^resence of Cortes of the departure of Quetzalcoatl
for the regions from which the sun comes. As the
sun is the eye of heaven, to whom the heart of the vic-
tim sacrificed to the god of heaven is presented, so it is
at night with the moon, to whom the same tribute was
paid at the feast of Quetzalcoatl. I merely refer to this
here to show the connection of the air-god with the great
heavenly bodies.

Several other significations are attached to the idea of
an air-god. It is natural that the god of heavenly bless-
ing should also be the god of wealth. All wealth dcjHinds
originally upon the produce of the soil, upon tl.vj blessing
of heaven, however world! > opinion of the matter may
be. (}old is merely the symbol of this wealth, like the
golden shower of Zeus. The inia^ie of Quetzalcoatl was,
thorefore, according to Acosta, adorned with gold, silver,
jewels, rich feathers, and gay dresses, to illustrate his
wealth. For this reason he wore a golden helmet,

S86

aODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS, AND WOBSHIF.

and his sceptre was decorated with costly stones. The
same view is also the basis of the myths of the ancients
about snakes and dragons guarding treasures. The
fact that the merchants of Gholula worshiped the god of
wealth before all others, and as their chief deity, requires
no explanation.

His worship in Gholula was conducted as follows:
Forty days before the festival, the merchants bought a
spotless slave, who was first taken to bathe in a lake
called the Lake of the Gods, then dressed up as the
god Quetzalcoatl, whom he had to represent tor forty
days. During this time he enjoyed the same adoration
as was given to the god: he was set upon a raised
place, presented with flowers, and fed on the choicest
viands. He was, however, well guarded during the
night, so that he might not escape. During his exhibition
through the town, he danced and sang, and the women and
children ran out of their houses to salute him and make
him presents. This continued until nine days before the
end of the forty days. Then two old priests approached
him in all humility, saying, in deep voice: Lord, know
that in nine days thy singing and dancing will cease, be-
cause thou must die! If he continued of good spirit, and
inclined to dance and sing, it was considered a good omen,
if the contrary, a bad one. In the latter case they pre-
pared him a drink of blood and cacao, which was to ob-
literate the remembrance of the past conversation.
After drinking this, it was hoped that he would resume
his former good humor. On the day of the festival
still greater lionors were shown him, music sounded and
incense was burnt. At last, at the midnight hour, he
was sacrificed, the heart was torn out of his body,
held up to the mtx)n, and then thrown toward the image
of the god. The body was cast down the steps of the
temple, and served the- merchants, especially the slave-
dealers, for a sacrificial meal. This feast and sacrifice
took place every year, but afler a certain number of
cycles, as in the divine year, Teoxihuitl, they were cele-
brated with much more pomp. Quetzalcoatl hod, gene-

QUETZAL'COATL AS A HEALING GOD.

287

rally, his human sacrifices during the Aztec rule, as well
as the other gods.

The power which reestablishes the macrocosm, heals
and rejuvenates the microcosm also: it is the general
healing power. With the good weather thousands of
invalids are restored, and refreshing rains not only re-
vive the thirsty plains of the tropics, but man himself.
Thus the air-god, the atmosphere, becomes a healing
god. A Phoenician told Pausanius that the snake god,
Jilsculapius, signified the health-restoring air. If this
god of heaven is also a snake-god, like Quetzalcoatl, the
rejuvenating and re'invigorating power of nature is ex-
pressed in a clear parallelism.

The snake-god is also a healing god, and even the
Greek Jiisculapius cannot dispense with the snake.
It is, thus, not to be wondered at that the sterile women
of the Mexican peoples directed their prayers to Quetzal-
coatl.^

This concludes the able summing-up presented by
Miiller, and it is given as I give all theoretical matter,
neither accepting nor rejecting it, as simply another ray
of light bent in upon the god Quetzalcoatl, whose nature
't is not proposed here to either explain or illustrate,
but only to reproduce, as regarded from many sides by
the earliest and closest observers.

" Miiller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 577-590. Some further notes
rpgardiiiR thiH god from a different point, may be found in Jiraaseur de Bour-
bourg, Palenqu^, pp.40 etc., 66 etc.

CHAPTER VIII.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

YABIOT78 ACCOUNTS OF THK BiBTH, ObiOIN, AMD DeBIYATION OF TBI MAHB

OF THB MExroAN Wab Ood, HnrTziLOPocHTLi, OF BIB Temple, Imaog,
Ckbehonial, Festitau, akd his deputy, OB page, Paynal— Clatioe-

BO — BOTURINI — ACOSTA — SoLIS — SaBAOUN — HFUBEBA — ToBQUEMADA

— J. O. Ml'llkr's Summary of the HuiTziix>pocBTiii Mytbb, their
Obiqin, Relation, and Sionification — Txlob — Codex Vaxicanub—
Tlaloc, God of Wateb, especially of Rain, and of Mountains—
Clavioebo, Oaha, and Ixtlilxochitl — Frayeb in time of Dbocoht
— Camaboo, Moiolinia, Mknoista, and THB Vatican Codex on the
Sacbifices to Tlaloc — The Decobations of his Victims and the places
of their Execution — Gatuiorino Rushes fob the Sebvice of the
Wateb God — Highway Robberies by tbe Priests at this time-
Decorations and Implembntb of the Priests— Punishments for Cere-
monial Offences — Tbb Whiblpool of Pantitlan — Images of the
Mountains in bonob of tbb Tlaloc Festival — of the coming Rain
AND Mutilation of tbb Images of tbb Mountains— Genebal Pbomi-

MBNCB IN THB CULT OF TlAIjOO, OF TBI NuMBBB FoUB, THE CbuBS,
AMD TBE SnAKB.

Huitzilopochtli, Huitziloputzli, or Vitziliputzli, was
the god of war and the especially national god of the
Mexicans. Some said that he was a purely spiritual
being, others that a woman had borne him after mirac-
ulous conception. This legend, following Olavigero, ran
as follows :

In the ancient city of Tulla, lived a most devout
woman, Coatlicue by name. Walking one day in the
temple as her custom was, she saw a little ball of feath-
ers floating down from heaven, which, taking without

BIBTH OP HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

thought, she put into her bosom. The walk being ended,
however, she could not find the ball, and wondered
much, all the more that soon after this she found her-
self pregnant. She had already many children, who
now, to avert this dishonor of their house, conspired to
kill her; at which she was sorely troubled. But, from
the midst of her womb the god spoke : Fear not, my
mother, for this danger will I turn to our great honor
and glory. And lo, Huitzilopochtli, perfect as Pallas
Athena, was instantly born, springing up with a mighty
war-shout, grasping the shield and the glittering spear.
His left leg and his head were adorned with plumes of
green; his face, arms, and thighs barred terribly with
lines of blue. He fell upon the unnatural children, slew
them all, and endowed his mother with their spoils. And
from that day forth his names were Tezahuitl, Terror, and
Tetzauhteotl, Terrible god.

This was the god who became protector of the Mexi-
cans, who conducted them so many years in their pil-
grimage, and settled them at last on the site of Mexico.
And in this city they raised him that pi-oud temple so
much celebrated even by the Spaniards, in which were
annually held their solemn festivals, in the fifth, ninth,
and fifteenth months; besides those kept every four
years, every thirteen years, and at the beginning of every
century. His statue was of gigantic size, in the posture
of a man seated on a blue-colored bench, from the four
corners of which issued four huge snakes. His forehead
was blue, but his face was covered with a golden mask,
while another of the same kind covered the back of his
head. Upon his head he carried a beautiful crest, shaped
like the beak of a bird ; upon his neck a collar consist-
ing of ten figures of the human heart; in his right hand,
a large, blue, twisted club; in his left, a shield, on which
appeared five balls of feathers disposed in the form of a
cross, and from the upper part of the shield rose a golden
Hag with four arrows, which the Mexicans pretended to
have been sent to them from heaven to perform those
glorious actions which we have seen in their history. His

Vol. III. 19

290 GODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

body was girt with a large golden snake, and adorned with
various lesser figures of animals made of gold and pre-
cious stones, which ornaments and insignia had each their
peculiar meaning. They never deliberated upon making
war without imploring the protection of this god, with
prayers and sacrifices; and ofiered up a greater number
of human sacrifices to him than to any other of the gods.*

A diflferent account of the origin of this deity is given
by Botui'ini, showing the god to have been a brave Mexi-
can chief, who was afterward apotheosized : —

While the Mexicans were pushing their conquests and
their advance toward the country now occupied by them,
they had a very renowned captain, or leader, called
Huitziton. He it was that in these long and iieriloiis
journeys through unknown lands, sparin^, iiimself no
fatigue, took care of the Mexicans. The fable says of
him that being full of years and wisdom he was one
night caught up in sight of his army, and of all his
people, and presented to the god Tezauhteotl, that is to
say the Frightful God, who, being in the shape of a
horrible dragon, commanded him to be seated at his
right hand, saying: Welcome, valiant captain; very
grateful am I for thy fidelit}'^ in my service and in gov-
erning my people. It is time that thou shouldest rest,
since thou art already old. and since thy great deeds
raise thee up to the fellowship of the immortal gods.
Return then to thy sons and tell them not to be afflicted
if in future they cannot see thee as a mortal man ; for
from the nine heavens thou shalt look down propitious
upon them. And not only that, but also, when I strip
the vestments of humanity from thee, I will leave to
thine afflicted and orphan people thy bones and thy
skull so that they may be comforted in their sorrow, and
may consult thy relics as to the road they have to fol-
low: and in due time the land shall be shown them that

• Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words; huUiU'm, the humming-bird,
and opochtli, left, — so called from the left foot of his imoge being dccorntcd
with humming-bird feathers. Clavigero, Storia Ant, del Messico, torn, ii-, pp-
17-10.

IMAQE OF HUITZILOPOGHTLI.

SBl

I have destined for them, a land in which they shall
hold wide empire, being respected of the other nations.

Huitziton did according to these instructions, and after
a sorrowful interview with his people, disapjieared,
carried away by the gods. The weeping Mexicans re-
mained with the skull and bones of their beloved captain,
which they carried with them till they arrived in New
Spain, and at the place where they built the great city
of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico. All this time the devil
spoke to them through this skull of Huitziton, often asking
for the immolation of men and women, from which
thing originated those bloody sacrifices, practiced after-
wards by this nation with so much cruelty on prisoners
of war. This deity was called, in early as well as in
later times, Huitzilopochtli, — for the principal men be-
lieved that he was seated at the left hand of Tezcatlipoca,
— a man derived from the original name Huitziton, and
from the word mapoche, * left hand.' *

Acosta gives a minute description of the image and
temple of this god : —

" The chiefest idoU of Mexico was, as I have sayde,
Yitziliputzli. It was an image of wood like to a man,
set vpon a stoole of the colour of azure, in a b* mkard or
litter, at every corner was a piece of wood in forme of a
Serpent's head. The stoole signified thjit he was set in
heaven : this idoU hadde all the forehead azure, and had
a band of azure vnder the nose from one eare to another:
vpon his head he had a rich plume of feathers, like to
the beake of a small bird, the which was covered on the
toppe with golde burnished very browne : hee had in his
left hand a white target, with the figures of five pine
apples, made of white feathers, set in a crosse : and from
above issued forth a crest of gold, and at his sides hee
hadde foure dartes, which (the Mexicaines say) had
beene sent from heaven to do those actes and prowesses
wliich shall be spoken of: In his right hand he had an
azured staffe, cutte in fashion of a waving snake. All
those ornaments with the rest hee had, carried his sence

* Boturini, Idea de una HM., pp. 60-1.

fe- ■ . 'it' il :■ 1

IMi

: - t

1 1

■ i

GODS. SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

as the Mexicaines doe shew; the name of Vitziliputzli
signifies the left hand of a shining feather. I will
speake heereafter of the prowde Temple, the sacrifices,
feasts and ceremonies of this great idoll, heing very
notable things. But at this present we will only shew,
that this idoll thus richly appareled and deckt, was set
vpon an high Altare, in a small peece or boxe, well
covered with linnen clothes, Jewells, feathers and orna-^
ments of golde, with many rundles of feathers, the fairest
and most exquisite that could be found : hee had alwaics
a curtine before him for the greater veneration. loyning
to the chamber or chappell of this idoll, there was a
peece of lesse worke, and not so well beautified, where
there was another idoll they called Tlaloc. These two
idolls were alwayes together, for that they held them as
companions, and of equal power.

There was in Mexico, this Cu, the famous Temple
of Vitziliputzli, it had a very great circuite, and within
a faire Court. It was built of great stones, in fashion of
snakes tied one to another, and the circuite was called
Coatepantli, which is, a circuite of snakes: vppon the
toppe of every chamber and oratorie where the Idolls
were, was a fine piller wrought with small stones, bhicke
as ieate, set in goodly order, the ground raised vp with
white and red, which below fave a great light. Vpon
the top of the pillar were battlements very artificially
made, wrought like snailes [caracoles], supjwrted by two
Indians of stone, sitting, holding candlesticks in their
hands, the which were like Croisants garnished and en-
riched at the ends, with yellow and greene feathers and
long fringes of the same. Within the circuite of this
court, there were many chambers of religious men, and
Others that Avere appointed for the service of the Priests
and Popes, for so they call the soveraign Priests which
iserve the Idoll.

There were foure gates or entries, at e east, west,
north, and south ; at every one of these gi». s beganne a
faire cawsey of two or three let^ues long. 'here was in
the midst of the lake where the cittie of Me ico is built,

TEMPLE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

29g

foure lai^e cawseies in crosse, which did much beautify
it; vpon every portall or entr;v was a God or IdoU,
having the visage turned to the causey, right against
the Temple gate of Vitziliputzli. There were thirtie
steppes of thirtie fadome long, and they divided from
the circuit of the court by a streete that went betwixt
tliem ; vpon the toppe of these steppes there was a walke
thirtie foote broad, all plaistered with chalke, in the
midst of which walke was a Pallisado artificially made
of very high trees, planted in order a fadome one from
another. These trees were very bigge, and all pierced
with small holes from the foote to the top, and there
were roddes did runne from one tree to another, to the
which were chained or tied many dead mens heades.
Vpon every rod were twentie sculles. ;;nd these ranckes
of sculles continue from the foote to the toppe of the tree.
This Pallissado was full of dead mens sculls from one
end to the other, the which was a wonderfuU mourne-
full sight and full of horror. These were the heads of
such as had beene sacrificed ; for after they were dead,
and had eaten the flesh, the head was delivered to the
Ministers of the Temple, which tied them in this sort
vntil they fell off by morcells ; and then had they a care
to set others in their places. Vpon the toppe of the
temple were two stones or chappells, and in them were
the two IdoUs which I have spoken of, Vitziliputzli, and
his companion Tlaloc. These Chappells were carved and
graven very artificially, and so high, that to ascend vp to
it, there was a staire of stone of sixscore steppes. Before
these Chambers or Chappells, there was a Court of fortie
foote square, in the midst thereof, was a high stone of
five hand breadth, poynted in fashion of a Pyramide, it
was placed there for the sacrificing of men ; for being
laid on their backes, it made their bodies to bend, and
so they did open them and pull out their hearts, as I
shall shew heereafter." '

' Auosta, lUst. Nai. Ind., pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a description of
the wanderings of the Mexicans and liow tlieir god Vitziliputzli, directed and
Rnided them therein, much as the Ood of Israel directed his people, across
the wilderness to the Promised Land. Traditiun also tells, how he him*

294 GODS, SUPEENATURAL BEINGS, AND WOKSHIP.

w'.,--ia,

Solis describes this temple also: —

The top of the truncated p} ramid on which the idols
of Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc were placed was forty foet
square, and reached by a stair of a hundred and twenty
steps. On this platform, on either hand, at the head of
the stairs, stood two sentinel-statues supporting great can-
dlesticks of an extraordinary fashion. And first, from
the jasper flags, rose a hump-backed altar of green stone.
Opposite and beyond was the chapel wherein behind
curtains sat Huitzilopochtli, on a throne supported by a
blue globe. From this, supposed to represent the heav-
ens, projected four staves with serpents' heads, by whicli
the priests carried the god when he was brought
before the public. The image bore on its head a bird of
wrought plumes whose beak and crest were of burnished
gold. The feathers expressed horrid cruelty and were
made still more ghastly by two stripes of blue one on the
brow and the other on the nose. Its right hand leaned
as on a staft' upon a crooked serpent. Upon the left arm
wag a buckler bearing five white plums, arranged in form
of a cross; and the hand grasped four arrows veneratod
as heaven-descended. To the left of this was another
chapel, that of Tlaloc. Now these two chaiiels and idols
were the same in every particular. These gods were
esteemed brothers — their attributes, qualities, lowers,
inclinations, service, prayers, and so on, were identical
or interchangeable.*

Sahagun says of Huitzilopochtli, that, being originally
a man, he was a sort of Hercules, of great strength and
warlike, a great destroyer of towns and slayer of men.

aelf revealed that manner of sacrifice most acceptable to Iuh will :~B()nio of
the priests liaviuR overnight of!endod him, lo, in the morninK, tln«y wiio
all dead men; their stomachH Xmug uut open, and their hearts pulkd out;
which rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted (or the service of that deity,
and retained until their rooting out by the stern Kpiuiish husbandry, ho well
adapted to such foul ond bloody tores. I'urchaa, llis rUiirimea, vol. iv,, I'l).
1002-3.

« Solis, Hist. Conq. Mrx., tom.i.,pp.30C-8. This writer says: <The8i)imiHh
■oldieni called this idol llucbilohos,hy a corrupt pronunciation: so too llcriiid
Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors differ much in describing this ninj^iiili-
oont building. Antonio de Henera follows Francisco r,opcz de Oi'niaiu too
closely. We shall follow Father Josef de Aoosta and the better iufuiiiiud
authors.' 7c/., p. 395.

HUITZILOPOCHTLI AND OAMAXTLI.

396

In war he had been a living fire, very terrible to his
adversaries ; and the devise he bore was a dragon's head,
frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its
mouth. A great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, trans-
forming himself into the shape of divers birds and beasts.
While he lived, the Mexicans esteemed this man very
highly for his strength and dexterity in war, and when
he died they honored him as a god, offering slaves, and
sacrificing them in his presence. And they looked to it
that those slaves were well fed and well decorated with
8uch ornaments as were in use, with ear-rings and visors;
all for the greater honor of the god. In Tlaxcala also
they had a deity, called Gamaxtli, who was similar to
this HuitziloiX)chtli.'

Gage, in a pretty fair translation of Hcrrera, describes
this god with Tezcatlipoca. He says : —

" The gods of Mexico (as the Indians reiwrted to the
first Spaniards) were two thousand in number; the
chiefest were Vitzilopuchtli, and Tezcatlipoca, whose
images stood highest in the temple ujwn the altars.
They were made of stone in full proiwrtion as big as
a giant. They were covered with a lawn called Na-
car; they were beset with pearls, precious stones, and
pieces of gold, wrought like birds, beasts, fishes, and
flowers, adorned with emeralds, turquies, chalcedons,
and other little fine stones, so that when the lawn was
taken away, the images seemed very beatitiful and glorious
to behold. These two Indian idols had for a girdle great
snakes of gold, and for collars or chains al)out their
necks ten hearts of men mode of gold ; and ejich of them
had a counterfeit visor with eyes of glass, and in their
necks Death painted. These two gods were brethren,
for Tezcatlipoca was the god of providence, and Vitzilo-
puchtli, god of the wars, who was worshiped and feared
more then all the rest." *

Torquomoda goes to some length into the legeYid

Hf^

* Sahagun, HUt. Oen., torn. 1., lib, i., p. 1.

"Wrtf/e's New Survey, pp. 110-7; Herrtra, IHsl, Om,, torn, i., dec. ii.,
lib, vii,, cap. xvli.

9B6

OODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

and description of this god of war, Huitzilopochtli, or
Mexiti;—

Huitzilopochtli, the ancient god and guide of the
Mexicans, is a name variously derived. Some say it is
composed of two words: huitzilin, ' a humming-bird', and
tlahuipuchtli, * a sorcerer that spits fire.' Others say that
the second part of the name comes not from tlahuipueht
li, but from opuchtli, that is, 'the left hand;' so that the
whole name, Huitzilopochtli, would mean ' the shining-
feathered left hand.' For this idol was decorated with
rich and resplendent feathers on the left arm. And
this god it was that led out the Mexicans from their own
land and brought them into Anahuac.

Some held him to be a purely spiritual being, others
affirmed that he had been born of a woman, and related
his history after the following fashion : Near the city of
Tulla there is a mountain called Coatejiec, that is to ^ay
the Mountain of the Snake, where a woman lived, named
Coatlicue, or Snake-petticoat. She was the mother of
many sons called Centzunhuitznahua, and of a daughter
whose name was Coyolxauhqui. Coatlicue was very
devout and careful in the service of the gods, and she
occupied herself ordinarily in sweeping and cleaning the
sacred places of that mountain. It happened that one
day, occupied with these duties, she saw a little ball of
feathers floating down to her through the air, which she
taking, as we have already related, found herself in a
short time pregnant.*

Upon this all her children conspired against her to

"> ' Pero lo8 tnismos Nnturalen aflrman, que este Nombre tonmrnn dn ol
OH Prinoipul, que cUob traxcron, el qunl tenia don NombreH, el uiio Huit-
cilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este HeRuudo, quiere deuir Ouibligu de

* * Aconteci6, pues, vu dia, que estando barriendo, come acoBtunibi'idm,
yib bajar por el Aire, una polota pequoAa, hecba de plumas, ik niaiient ilc
ovillo, hecho de hilado, que He le vino k los manoR, In quid tomo, y initio
entro Ioh NithuaB, h Faldellin, v la came, debnjo do la fnjit que le ('rniu rl
ouerpo (porque Hieniure traen lujado ente genera de veMtidu) no imagiiiniulo
ningun miHterio, ni nn de aqnel eaHo. Acabo de barrer, y buBch la lolotii
de plninn, para v^r de qu6 podria aprovecharla en Rervicio de huh ItioNcK, ,v
no la lialiri. Qued6 do ento adnairada, y mucho mas de conorer en m^ qw
Acfu\e a<iiie1 puuto ae avia hecho preilada.' Torqunnada, J/onaro. iii(/., tuiii.
U., pp. 41-2.

DOUGH BTATUEOPHUITZILOPOCHm.

f all. Then, imid aLr& ^"1. r«* ^^«5«n
fully armed, having a shieW f iT^f'^^f^^tli was born
hand in his rightl. dar t lonil/"^^",^*' ^» '»« ^^^
te barred over with hnes of thj' "^ ^^^' «»d «» his
head was decorated wilLa gret Zt'f'''' ^'^ ^re.
IS left leg wa« lean and leatE " /k^?^" ^^''^^'^^^,
the arms barred with blue Hp /h "^ ^^^' *^»ghs and
f serpent made of torcll u ^n ''""^^ *« «PPear
he ordered a soldier ,^nS IWh "^"f ?^^--A..«,/;T„d
serpent^ and taking it Sti.l"'^"^'*/^"^ *« iighi this
q»i. From this embr/Jl Jl '.*^ embnuje Covolxauh-
f iately died, anrn:^^t^;^F-^^^l daughte'r imme-
brethren and took their 2 ^'^^T'^ «'"^^ «" her
herewith After this he wrL-'^J"# ^"« "^«ther
is o saj Fright, or Ama^em^nt 0^^^^, ^'^'^''"i"' that
of a mother, without a fatW -la "f1 '"^ "' " ^'^^^ ^orn
tes, for .in these his worshi iT^ ? ^//^"' ^^^ «f bat-
"hle to them. Besides thfo^d^ar"^ ^'"^ ^''y ^^vor-
permanently set ud in ♦» "'^'*'""^>' »mtV?e of this irod

there was aWerl^Xetev^e'^ ^""^^'^ «^' ^^-^-l
«nd seeds of various Ef T "^ '^ ""'''' "'"^^^ «f grains
neighborhood of the tTml \? '^""."^" *'^''^ ^>«"« m tL

groimdupwithgJtdevSamJT^ T"^^^^'^ '"^
ranth and other Dlanf«^-^^^"t seeds, of theama

hW of children, tr;„rCrf ''^ T' ^^h X"
tl'ey shaped into a statuc^of fh r""«'* ^^''^^^t; which
;rn. The priests carried thJ« ' '"'*'" '^"^ «t«ture of a
f'- altar, previously rate '^^^^^^^^^^ to the temple and
trnmi)et8 and other instrumeln f T'^^'^""' P'^Jing
a»d ado with dancin? a T • ' -"^ ""''^'"f^^ "»'«»> noise

the high-priest and the « 1. • ""'A^'^ '" the „,orninir
crated the imnge, with su^ 7'"'*'* ^'^'^^^ and cm^^.
^^^"'e in use ling Imf fc"? '"^ «o"«c.3ratio ^
f«embled, every i^r^n /».„/',' *'"^' and the iieonle
-ched it whe Jve&ufd ^C^. T' '' *^« 'X
-' "^«^e offerings ^^r.^^ ^ ^1^7 X^^^:

I )

298 OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

cious stones, each according to his means and devotion,
sticking the said offerings into the soft fresh dough of
which the idol was confected. After this ceremony
no one was allowed to touch the image any more, nor to
enter the place where it was, save only the high-priest.
After that they brought out the image of the god Pay-
nalton," — who is also a war god, being vicar or sub-cap-
tain of the said Huitzilupochtli, — an image made of
wood. It was carried in the arms of a priest who rep-
resented the god Quetzalcoatl, and who was decorated
with ornaments rich and curious. Before this priest
there marched another carrying [the image of] a great
snake, large and thick, twisted and of many coils. The
procession filed along at great length, and here and there
at various temples and altars the priests offered up sacri-
fices, immolating human captives and quails. The
first station, or stopping-place, was at the ward of Teot-
lachco. Thence the cortege passed to Tlatelulco (where
I, Torquemada, am now writing this history) ; then to
Popotlan; then to Chapultepec — nearly a lengue from
the city of Mexico; then to Tepetoca; then to Acachi-
nanco; then back again to the temple whence it had set
out; and then the image of Paynalton was put on the
altar \.aere stood that of Huitzilo|xx;htli, being left there
with the banner, called ezpaniztli, that had been carried
before it daring the march: only the great snake, men-
tioned above, was carried away and put in another place,

• This Pnynalton, or Paynal, wns n kind of depntjr-god, or subntitnte for
Huitzilopoclitli ; used in canes of urgent haste and iminediate onierKency,
where perhaps it might ho thought there was not time for the lengthened
ceremonies necessary to tlio invocation of the greater war deity. Sahagun's
account of Paynal is concise, and will throw light on the remarks of
Torquemada, as given above in the text. Bahagun says, in effect: This god
Paynal was a kind of sub-captain to Huitzilopochtli. The latter, as chiuf-
oaptain, dictated the deliber.tte undertaking of war against any province ; tho
iotmer, o" vioar to the other, served when it became unexpectedly necesHary to
tn.'e ut> arms and make front hurriiidly against an enemy. Then it wasthitt
Paynal— whose name means ' swift, or hurried, '—when living on earth sot
out in person to stir up tho people to repulse the enemy. Upon his <lcnth
ho was deiAed and a festival apnointed in his honor. In this festival, his
image, richly decoroted, was carried in a long procession, every one, benrcr
of the idol or not, running as fast as ho could; all of which renresented tho
nromptiiesH that is many time,: necessary to resist the assault of a foo attack-
ing by surprise or ambusonde. Sahagun, Ulat. <fen., torn, i., lib. i,, p. 'i.

SYMBOLIO DEATH OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

299

to which it belonged. And at all these places where
the procession appeared, it was received with incensings,
sacrifices, and other ceremonies.

This procession finished, it having occupied the great-
er part of the day, all was prepared for a sacrifice. The
king himself acted the part of priest; taking a censer,
he put incense therein with certain ceremonies and in-
censed the image of the god. Tiiis done, they took down
again the idol, Paynalton, and set out in march, tho.se
going in front that had to be sacrificed, together with all
things pertaining to the fatal rite. Two or three times
they made the circle of the temple, moving in horrid
cortege, and then ascended to the top, where they slew
the victims; beginning with the prisoners of war, and
finishing with the fattened slaves, purchased for the
occasion, rending out their hearts and casting the same
at the feet of the idol.

All through this day the festivities and the rejoicings
continued, and all the day and night the priests watched
vigilantly the dough statue of Huitziloixxjhtli, so that no
oversight or carelessness should interfere with the venera-
tion and service due thereto. Early next day they took
down said statue and set it on its feet in a hall. In-
to this hall there entered the priest, called after Quet-
zalcoatl, who had carried the image of Paynalton in his
arms in the procession, as before related ; there entered
also the king, with one of the most intimate servants,
called Tehua, of the god Huitzilopochtli, four other
great priests, and four of the principal youths, called
Telpochtlatoque, out of the number of those that had
charge of the other youths of the temple. These men-
tioned, and these alone, being assembled, the priest
named after Quetzalcoatl took a dart tip^ied with Hint
and hurled it into the breast of the statue of dough,
which fell on receiving the stroke. This ceremcmy was
styled, * killing the god Huitziloixxjhtli so that his IxKly
might Ik) eaten.* Upon this the priests advanced to
the fallen image and one of them pulled the heart out of
it, and gave the same to the king. The other priests

900

GODS, 8TJPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

cut the pasty body into two halves. One half was given
to the people of Tlatelulco, who parted it out in crumbs
among all their wards, and specially to the young
soldiers, — no woman being allowed to taste f morsel.
The other half was allotted to the people of that part of
Mexico called Tenochtlitlan ; it was divided among the
four wards, Teopan, Atzaqualco, Quepopan, and Moyot-
lan ; and given to the men, to both small and great, even
to the men-children in the cradle. All this ceremony
was called (eoquahj that is to say, ' god is eaten,' and
this making of the dough statue and eating of it was re-
newed once every year.^"

Closely as J. G. Miiller studied the character of Quet-
zalcoatl, his examination of that of Huitzilopochtli, has
been still more minute and was indeed the subject of a
monograph published by him in 1847. A student of
the subject cannot afford to overlook this study, and I
translate the more important parts of it in the paragraphs
which follow; not, indeed, either for or against the in-
terests of the theory it supports, but for the sake of the
accurate and detail d handling, rehandling, and group-
ing there, by a master in this department of mytholoj.!-
cal learning, of almost all the data relating to the matter
in hand: —

Huitzilopochtli has been already referred to as an orig-
inal god of the air and of heaven. He agrees also with
Quetzalcoatl in a second capital point, in having bo-
come the anthro^wmorphic national god of the Aztecs,
as Quetzalcoatl of the Toltecs. On their marches and
in their wars, in the establishment of codes and towns,
in happiness as well as in misfortune, the Aztecs were
guided by his oracle, by the spirit of his being. As the
Toltecs, especially in their later national character,
differ from the Aztecs, so differ their two chief national
gods. If the capital of the Toltecs, Cholula, resembled
modern Rome in its religious efforts, so the god enthi*oned
there was transformed into the human form of a high-
priest, in whom this people saw his human ideal, in

' ^qvtnMda, Monarq. lnd„ torn, i., p. 203, torn, ii., pp. 41-3, 71-3.

THF NAME HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

801

the same manner one might be led to compare the capi-
tal of the Aztecs with ancient Rome, on account of its
warlike spirit, and therefore it was right to make the
national god of the Aztecs a war god like the Roman
Mars.

We will commence with the name of the god, which,
according to Sahagun, Acosta, Torquemada, and most of
the writers, signifies ' on the left side a humming-bird ;'
from huitzUin, 'a humming-bird,' and opochtli. 'left.'
In connecting the Aztec words, the ending is cut off.
The image of the god had in reality, frequently, the
feathers of the humming-bird on the left foot. The con-
nection of this bird with the god is, in many ways, ap-
propriate. It no doubt apiieared to them as the most
beautiful of birds, and as the most worthy representant
of their chief deity. Does not its crest glitter like a
crown set with rubies and all kinds of precious stones?
The Aztecs have accordingly, in their way, called the
humming-bird, 'sun-beam,' 'or sun-hair;' as its alighting
upon flowers, is like that of a sun-beam. The chief god
of the Caribs, Juluca, is also decorated with a band
of its feathers round the forehead. The ancient Mexi-
cans had, as their most noble adornment, state-mantles
of the same feathers, so much praised by Cortes; and
even at the present time the Aztec women adorn their
ears with these plumes. Thia humming-bird decoration
on the left foot of the god was not the only one ; he
had also a green bunch of plumage upon his head, shaped
like the bill of a small bird. The shield in his left hand
was decorated with white feathers, and the whole image
was at times covered with a mantle of feathers. To
the general virtues which make comprehensible the
Immming-bird attribute as a divine one, must be added
the special virtue of bravery iieculiar to this bird, which
is specially suited to the war god. The English trav-
eler Bullock tells how this bird distinguishes itself
for its extraordinary courage, attacking others ten
times its own size, flying into their eyes, and using
its sharp bill as a most dangerous weapon. Noth-

802

aODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

ing more daring can be witnessed than its attack upon
other birds of its own species, when it fears disturbance
during the breeding-season. The effects of jealousy
transform these birds into perfect furies, the throat
swells, the crest on their head, the tail, and the wings
are expanded ; they fight whistling in the air, until one
of them falls exhausted to the ground. That such a
martial spirit should exist in so small a creature
shows the intensity of this spirit; and the religious
feeling is the sooner aroused^ when the instrument of a
divine power appears in so trifling and weak a body.
The small but brave and warlike woodpecker stood in a
similar relation to Mars, and is accordingly termed picus
nuirtius.

This, the most common explanation of the name Lluit-
ziloix)chtli, as ' humming-bird, left side' is not followed
by Veytia, with whom Prichard agrees. He declares
the meaning of the name to be ' left hand,' from hiiit-
zUoc, 'hand,' because Huitzilopochtli, according to the
fable, after his death, sits on the left side of the god
Tezcatlipoca. Now, Huitzilopochtli is in another place
considered as the brother of this god; he also stands
higher, and can therefore scarcely have obtained his
name from his position with respect to the other deity.
Besides, hand in Aztec is properly translated as maitl, or
toma.

Over and above this attribute which gives the god liis
name, there are others which point towards the concep-
tion of a war god. Huitzilopochtli had, like Mars and
Odin, the spear, or a bow, in his right hand, and in
the left, sometimes a bundle of arrows, sometimes a
round white shield, on the side of which were the four
arrows sent him from heaven wherewith to ixM'foiin
the heroic deeds of his jxiople. On these wea^wns de-
pended the welfare of the state, just as on the ancik
of the Roman Mars, which had fallen from the sky, or
on the pcdladium of the warlike Pallas Athena.

By-names also point out Huitzilopochtli as war god ;
for he is called the terrible god, Tetzateotl, or the rug-

KINDBED OP HUITZILOPOCHTLT.

803

ing, Tetzahuitl. These names he received at his birth,
when he, just issued from his mother's womb, overthrew
his adversaries.

Not less do his connections indicate his warlike nature.
His youngest brotlier, Tlacahuepancuextotzin, was also
a war god, whose statue existed in Mexico, and who re-
ceived homage, especially in Tezcuco. In still closer
relationship to him stands his brother-in-arms, or, as
Bernal Diaz calls him, his page, Faynalton, that is,
'the fleet one;' he was the god of the sudden war
alarm, tumultus or general kvee en masse; his call
obliged all capable of bearing arms to rush to the de-
fence. He is otherwise considered as the representant
of lluitzilopochtli and subordinate to him, for he was
only a small image, as Diaz says, and as the ending ion
denotes. The statue of this little war-crier was always
placed upon the altar of Huitzilopochtli, and sometimes
carried round at his feast.

Other symbolic attributes establish Huitzilopochtli as
the general national god of this warlike people, and sym-
bolized his personal presence. On the march from the
ancient home, the priests took their turn, in fours, to
carry his wooden image, with the little flag lallen from
heaven, and the four arrows. The litter, upon which
the image was carried, was called the ' chair of god,'
teoicpaUl, and was a holy box, such as . Avas used among
the Etruscans and Egyptians, the Greeks and the Ro-
mans, in Ilium, among the Japanese, among the Mon-
gols. In America, the Cherokees are also found with
such an ark. The ark of the covenant carried by the
Levitcs through the desert and in battle, was of a simi-
lar kind. Wherever the Aztecs halted for some time
during their wanderings, they erected an altar or a
sacrifice mound to their god, u\)on which they placed
this god's-litter with the image ; which ancient observ-
ance they kept up, in later times, in their temples.
By its side they erected a movable tent, tabermiculmn,
(Htiftshiitte), in the open country, as is customary
among nomadic people, such as the Mongols. The god,

804

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

however, gave them the codes and usages of a cultured
people, and received offerings of prisoners, hawks, and
quails.

As the head of a sparrow on a human body points to
the former worship of Quetzalcoatl under the form of
a sparrow, so the humming-bird attribute on the image
and in the name of Huitzilopochtli, points him out as an
original animal god. The general mythological rule, that
such animal attributes refer to an ancient worship of the
god in question under the form of an animal, points this
out in his case, and the special myth of Huitziton assists
here in the investigation of the foundation of this origin-
al nature.

When the Aztecs still lived in Aztlan, a certain
Huitziton enjoyed their highest esteem, as the fable
tells. This Huitziton heard the voice of a bird, which
cried " tihui," that is * let us go.' " He thereupon
asked the people to leave their home, which they ac-
cordingly did. When we consider the name Huitzi-
ton, the nature of the story, and the mythical time to
which it refers, no doubt remains as to who this Huit-
ziton is supposed to be. It is evident that he is none
other than the little bird itself, which, in our later form
of the myth, as an anthropomorphic fable, is separated
from him; separated euhemeristically, just as the latin
Picus was separated from his woodpecker. This Picus,
whose songs and flight were portentous, was rep-
resented as a youth with a woodpecker on his head, of
which he made use for his seer-art; but was originally,
as denoted by his name, nothing else than a woodpecker,
which was adored on the wooden pillar from which it
sent its sayings. This woodiiecker placed itself upon the
vexUlum of the Sabines, and guided them to the region
which has been named Picenum after it. As this bird
guided its people to their new abode, like Huitziton,
so many other animal gods have lead those who, in
ancient times, sought new homes. Thus a crow con-
ducted Battus to Gyrene; a dove led the Chalcitl-

■' See this vol., p. G9, note.

^^ZITON AND PAYNALTON.

lans to Cvrenp. a»^ii • ^^

the Cretan^, to pX i '"• *« S"™ «f a dolphin took
ment, to which a ™V"h':r\«'™ded « newitSS
curried Cadmus tn Tk u ""^ P<""*«i the wav ,. k .."
The originJ^^'^ I'^'^J^ -If fed the Hipi"„i '^ '
Mbayas, received thcdivin! ^ *" ^"'erican peopleX
»"., to «.„ a, entS i::'7;;'\™"Bhthe5^/^!
pepp e instead of settlinr,l„ ^^ territories of other

tl'\T Jl^'-'-'t" "m^th L";, " ?«'» h-bitati™-
tavors the birth of mvth, lit .1 *''" founding of town.

he founding of c„S^ the ,Tt'"^'f^'"«' ™ »'™ d^'
the nu,ne„„a fable" of the Chri".- "'""''■ '^•^^S
'vere pointed out by „„;„:?„ ^''"«twn mediievnl aae
"M heathenism then e "Sl';^"" "'' «■<' ""nnant^f
je^me the subject, HuS™ i, M''"* f'P"''"' fancy. ■^

humJ„g.bi,,?'X"T„r*^^^^^^^^
yllable, as i„ Paynaltor fhf, the i"« "■ '""■'""tive
the bearer, at the time of th„ T„humming-bird was
mess^e of j^ to thrTetn frf'^r'^ °?^' "^ '^« <"vTne
■elated to the Aztecs if f i t*'"'''"acans, a peonle

mers of the divine Ini T' '"^""^ "^«''«d «« inter

F-SaSo^ft^i^^t^^^^^^^^

''e vvas merely a small h' ■ "^ •''"^'"'«]X)morphi.sm

See this vol. p. fi7
'"''• III. ao

806

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

The identity of the two, in spite of the different ex-
planations of the naine, is accepted by Veytiti, wlio gives
Huitzitoc as the name of the chief who led the Aztec
armies during their last wanderings from Chicomoztoc, or
the Seven Caves, into Anahuac. Under his leadership
the Aztecs were everywhere victorious, and for this
reason he was placed, after his death, on the left side of
the god Tezcatlipoca; since which time he was called
Huitzilopochtli.

The identity of Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli, is also
shown by otKer facts besides the nfime, the attribute, and
the mythological analogy : the same important acts are
ascribed to both. We have seen that Huitziton com-
manded the Aztecs to leave their home; according to
another account of Acosta, this was done on the persua-
sion of Huitzilojjochtli. If other Spanish authors state
that this was done by instigation of the devil, they mean
none other than Huitzilopochtli, using a mode of speech
which had become an established one. This name became
a common title of the devil in Germany, under the form
o.' Vizliputzli, soon after the conquest of Mexico, as may
be seen in the old popular drama of Faust. The fable
further relates of Huitziton that he taught the Aztecs to
produce fire by friction, during their wanderings. The
gift of fire is usually ascribed to a culture-god. Huitzil-
opochtli was such a deity ; he introduced dress, laws, and
ceremonies among his people. The statement that Huit-
ziton ^ ui at some time, given fire to the people, has no
(•listovical meaning; there is no people without fire, and

* yrmerly told myth mentions that man made fire even
I efore the existence of the present sun. The significa-
tion of the fable is a religious one, it is a myth in v/hich
the Aztecs ascribe the origin of all human cultme to
Huitziton their culture-god, afterward Huitziloj oc^tli.

This god wore also a band of human hearts and faces
of gold and silver; while various bones of dead men, as
well as a man torn in pieces, were depicted on his dress.
These attributes like those of the Indian Schiwa and
Kali, clearly point him out as the god to whom human

sac

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com

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are i

valle

their

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the ti

were

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ber of

boastii

had th

triump

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The As

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for the

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were bro

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command

I'll, or Me

(Opuntie)

SACBIPICE MYTHS.

sacrifices were made Tf ^

among the nations con,posinirT« J?^*^."«^ely believed
human sacrifices had Cn ^- ♦ ^^^""'^^n Empire that
wUhin the last two ce^urie^Xr' > '''' ""^^
bloodless offerings had beTn m' a . ^ **''** ti'ne only
commencement of hum^^J^'t' ^ '"•^'^^ P^«««« the
century, in which theZ^I^; t? ^"- **'" ^«"r*««"th
are said to have occurred ^"ccessive cases thereof

:^^^yo?AZ'uZr^^^^ f *^"* «-e in the

their enemies of Xo^h^n K^? ^°"^^^' « »>«ttle wi?h
of the Colhuas, oX^Tllj ^^^^^^^^'^^^Jecided in frvor
the tributary A^t^ln the r^T" wl f "'^ ^"^"^
were presenting a large numL 1, ?^*"'^ *^^ ^olhui
^'"S, the Aztecs had onhTZjf}"^''^'^ ^^^'^ their
fcreted, but exhibited"^ tXTof th"'' 7''"™ *^'^^ ^«Pt
ber of ears that they had Zllt'" ^^^^''^'^ «""«-
boas ing that the victory woudhZ^'' ''^"" ^»«'nie«,
had they lost time in maS 1; ^^" '""^^ delayed
triumph, they erected tnfjP^.^^ .Proud of th^l?

Hui.dopochco,and made known to tl "*? ^^^'^^^^^ ^^
of the Colhuas, that the^ Z *^ Jheir ord, the king
costly and worthy sacrS tZJ'' "^^^ *^'« g«d «
the hands of prints ThI"^ uH ^'"» «<^nt them bv
frs laid irre^X nt^ ,t^' -^»«h ^^^ "-ssen^
ihe Aztecs swallowed thdr rt '' ^"^ ^^P^^ted.

[- the sak^tf tj^ S^ZteV' «-' m^^
them, the four prisonef/H^^^^'^'"^'* than to grace

their breasts cut open with tvl- !v '^"""^ ^^ sacrifice
heart torn out ^his strfff/l^'' ^^^ *^^ P«lpitatins
pn the Colhuas, tL'SLw^^^^ consternatiof
their service and drovp f ?.« ^^^ *^^ Aztecs from
Jer^d for some tte X^l Z '''''^- '^^^'^ "^^^^^ ^^"
command of thei/goS fo' S!^"*'^' ^"'^ t^^", at ?he
]^^> or Mexico, on tsitf where t^ ^K^" ."^ ^^^"^'h tit!
(Opuntie) grewing upon a r^k ^' ^"^ ^"""^ « "«P«1

308 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP,

At the second sacrifice a Colhua was the victim.
An Aztec was huntin?. on the shore of the lake, for an
animal to offer his patron deity, when he met a Colhua
called Xomimitl; he attacks him furiously, bears him
down, and the defeated man is made to bleed upon the
sacrifice stone.

Both myths are aitiological, and explained by the
sacrifice system (Opferkultus). This is shown in the
case of the four prisoners, of whom we shall learn more
in the third story. The second story personifies the
Aztec and the Colhua peoples in the two men, the
second nation supplying the first with human sacrifices.
With the sacrifice of Xomimitl, the parallelism of which
to the four Xochimilos cannot be overlooked by any
one, the first temple of Huitzilo{)ochtli, in Tenochtitlaii,
was inaugurated.

The third sacrifice shows still more closely the relig-
ious basis (Kultusgrundlage) of the myth. Here also.
as in the former, we have to do with a Colhua.
The Aztecs oft'ered the Colhua king to show diviiio
honors to his daughter and to a^wtheosize her into tlio
mother of their national god, declaring that such \vas
the will of the deity. The king, rejoicing at tlie honor
intended for his daughter, let her go, and she wan
brought to T^enochtitlan with great pomp. Xo sooner,
however, had she ariived than she was sacrificed, fiayod,
and one of the bravest youths dressed in her skin. Tlie
king was invited to the solemn act of the deification of
his daughter, and only became aware of her death when
the flame from the copal gum revealed to him the bUxxly
skin al)out the youth pln^ou at the side of the god. The
daughter was, however, at once formally declared mothor
of Huitzilo|K)chtli and of all the gods.

This aitiological cultus-myth is easily explained.
Tlie name of tiie daughter is Teteionan, whom we havo
learned to know as the gods-mother, and as T«x;itzin, * our
grandmother." She was never the daughter of a

" If 801110 of the uumeH and myths, mentioned or uUnded to from tiint' to
time, by MUller iind othorrt, uro yet unknown to the reader, he will rciiu in-

TETEIONAN.

309

human king, but has been transformed into one by eu-
hemerism, somewhat as Iphigenia is to be considered as
originally Artemis. The goddess Teteionan had her
special festival in Mexico, when a woman, dressed as
goddess, was sacrificed ; while held on the back of an-
other woman, her head ^vas cut oft', then she was flayed,
and the skin carried by a youth, accompanied by a
numerous retinue, as a present to liuitzilo[K)chtli. Four
prisoners of war were, moreover, previously sacrificed.

Similar to this stoiy, told by Clavigero, is another,
narrated by Acosta. According to the latter, Tozi was
the daughter of the king of C'ulhujican, and was made
the first human sacrifice by order of IIuitzilojxx;htli, who
desired her for a sister. Tozi is, however, none other
than Tocitzin, and is also shown to be 'our grandmother.'
According to the Aztec version, the custom of dressing
priests in the skin of sacrificed beings dates from her —
such representations are often seen, esjwcially in Hum-
boldt ; the Basle collection of Mexican antiquities jwssesses
also the stone image of a priest dressed in a human skin.
The fourth month, Tlacaxij)ehualitzli, this is. 'to flay a
man,' derived its name from this custom, which is suld to
have l)een most frequent at this period of the year.

(iroddesses, or beings representing goddesses, are sacri-
ficed in both of these fables. We have met with human
wicrifices among the Muyscasin (central America, and in
connection with many deities of the Mexicans, in which
the human victim represents the gml to whom he is to
he sacrificed. Slaves im|)ersonating gods were also
Bjwrificed among the northern Indians, the Mt-called
Indios bravos. The jwrson sjwrificed is dtvoiiiod by
the god, is given over to him, is already piTt of him,
is the god himself. Such was the case with tlie slave
that personated Quetzalcoatl in the menhants' festival
in ('holula.

The critic is only able to admit the relative truth of

l)cr th« impoHHibility of any nrrnnKcmect of thimc luixt'd niul fnr-iiivdlvcil
Ii'Ki'IkIh by wkinh, withuut intliiitu verliiuKt*, tliiM tiiniliUi could lio wliolly
iil>viat«'(1. In Dooil tinto, and with w< lUirncHs Ih poHMiblo, thti liut uf godH
iind li'gt'ude will be uiiide hh uuurly us > ..ty be conipl«3te.

810

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

the recentness of the period in which the origin of Mexi-
can human sacrifices is placed bv these three myths. We
ah-eady know that human sacrifices are very ancient in
all America, and that they have only been put aside at «.
few places by humane efforts; us in Peru to some extent
by means of the Incas. We have met with them through-
out all South America.

The statement so generally made that the Toltec
Quetzalcoatl preached against human sacrifices, certainly
implies the previous existence of such sacrifices. This
statement abtout Quetzalcoatl also points out the way to
the assimilation of the varying accounts, fables, and
myths In very ancient times human sacrifices pre-
dominated everywhere. The Toltecs, like the Incas,
endeavored more or less to abolish them, and, even if not
altogether successful, they reduced them considerably.
The Aztecs reintroduced them. In the East Indies,
these sacrifices date back to the era before the flood, and
the Greeks there met with remains of anthrojx>phagy,
the basis thereof

Brahmanism sought to exterminate the.^e ancient sac-
rifices, and the Vedas forbid them, a prohibition which,
in connection with the custom of pretending to sacrifice
human beings, gives evidence of a former use of actual
sacrifices. The later sect of Shiwaits again introduced
them.

However ancient the national iwlitical phase of lluit-
zilopochtli may be, the nature j)hase is still older.
This god, too, has a nature-basis which not only explains
his being, but throws light ujx)n his further uni'olding
as a national or war god. All seai'chers who do not
begin with this basis, see nothing but inexplicable rid-
dles and contradictions l)efore them.

This natui-e-basis is first seen in the myth about his
birth. In the neigh lK)rluK)d of Tulla there was a place
cjilled Coatejjec, where lived a god-fearing womiui,
called Coatlicue. One day, as she was going to the
temple, according to her custom, a gaily coloritd bail of
feathers fell down from heaven; she picked it up, uiid

TWO MOTHERS OP HUrrZILOPOCTTLI.

311

hid it in her bosom, intending to decorate the altar
therewith. As she was on the point of producing it for
this purjwse, it could not be found. A few days after-
ward she was aware of being pregnant. Her children, the
Centzunhuitznahuas, also noticed this, and, in order to
avoid their own disgrace, they determined to kill her be-
fore she was delivered. Her sorrow was however, mirac-
ulouslv consoled by a voice that made itself heai-d from
witliiu iier womb, saying: Fear not, mother, 1 will save
thee to thy great honor, and to my great fame! The
brothers, urged on by their sister, were on the i^oint of
killing her, when, Iwhold, even as the armed Athena
sprang from her father's head, lluitziloixxjhtli was born;
the shield in his left hand, the spear in his right, the
green plunmf.e \ his hejul, and humming-bird feathers
on his hi\ le^; '. ■"■ nice, arms, and legs being, moreover,
striped viia i/l.ie. At once he slew his op()unents,
plundered tb.>ii dwellings, and brought the spoils to his
mother. From this he was called Terror and the Fright-
ful God.

If we dissect this myth, we notice that another mother
apjwars than the one formerly sacrificed in his honor, Te-
teionan. Two mothers present nothing reuiarkable in
mythology, I have only to mention AphriKliteand Athena,
who according to different accounts, had dilVerent fathers.
So long as the formation of myths gtK's on, founded upon
fresh conceptions of nature, souiewhat diiVerent ideas
(for wholly dift'erent, even here, the two mothers are
not) from distinct |X)iMts oi view, aro always jxissible.
It is the authropomorpLidHi o) tlj age that fixes on the
one-sided conclusion. '-U' ion an is lluitziloi)ochtli'8
mother, because she i** the i lothor of all the gods. The
mother, in this iuviauce, lis '^'^ Klora of the Aztecs, eu-
hemerized into a god-fearing woman, (^oatlicue, or Coat-
lantana, of whose worship in C'oitepec and Mexico we
we have alreiuly s[X)ken.

The second point prominent in the myth, is the
close connection of lluitziloixx^htli with the l)otanical
knigdom. The hurr ning-bird is the messenger of

812

GODS, 8DPERNATCRA1 BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

spring, sent by the south to the north, by the hot to
the teinjierate region. It is the means of fructifying the
flowers, its movements causing the transfer of the pol-
len from the stamens to the germ-shells. It sticks its
long, thin little bill deep into the liower, and rummag-
ing beneath the stamens, drinks the nectar of the flower,
while promoting the act of plant-reproduction. In the
Latin myth also. Mars stands in close connection with
Flora: Juno gives him birth with Florae ^id, without
the assistance of Jupiter. In our mythology of the
north, Thor is on a friendly footing with Nanna, the
northern Flora. We are already acquainted also with
a fable of the Pimas, nccordii»g to which the goddess of
maize l)ecame pregnant by . vavidrop, and bore the
forefather of the people, he wh^- the great houses.

The question, why Iluitzilopocl t should be the son
of the goddess of plants, and what his real connec-
tion with the botanical kingdom consists in, is solved by
examining his worship at the three ancient yearly feasts,
which take place exactly at those jxiriods of the year
that are the most influential for the Mexican climate,
the middle of May, the middle of August, and the end
of December. As a rule, in the flrst half of May
the rain begins. Previous to this, the greatest drought
and torpidness reign ; the plants api)ear feeble and drot)p-
ing; nature is bare, the earth gray with dry, withered
gross. After a few days of rain, however, the trees
appear in a freish green, the ground is covered with new
herbs, all natiu-e is reiinimated. Trees, bushes, plants,
develop their blossoms; a va[K)ry I'ragrance rises over all.
The fruit shoots from the cultivated field, the juicy,
bright green of the maize I'efi'eshes the eye. Miihlen-
pfordt, who stayed a long time in these regions, gives this
description of the season. Vulker's statement that rain
and water stund as fructifying principles in the flrst
rank in ancient physics, and that tliey meet us in imui-
merable myths, holds doubly gtuxl for the tropics. It
requires little imagiiuition to understand what a power-
ful impression transformed nature, with all its beauty

SISms OP HUITZILOPOOHTLI

and blessings, must produce in fh , . '''

nature. It i« on thir^unt t.T^ ^^ ^^^^^^^d of
came to enjoy so high?2ardl *^' r^'''''' '^^^''^Joc
has Quetzalcoutl disdfineS tof^on,T^' *^« ^^t^cs, nor
crosses of a rain-god. And Z Hu '''" "?^"**^ ^^^^ the
of tl,e year, the festival of the ar!?^^^ «^«t fea«t
oftenng of incense, stands at [^,5 ^^^ ^'«^' «f the
«easonofthereinvigorS„rn I ^S^n^ing of the
pagan Germans used to ll^^f ^^xt"*"^ ^3^ the rain The
Bertha, Frieg, anTot wlS" n."' f T"' ^^"'^t
at this period. The Azteclnr, n„ ' ?^'^ **'^ ««""try
^e^ an image of their chirfST^rP?^'*"^' «^'' this
and honey, of the .^ume size ,^"^110".^"/ '^''^^' P^""ts
the youths sang the deeds of t" "^^^ ^"^'"^'^ ' and

tudes o quails, incense-burni. J 3 u ^^"*?"g «^'n»"lti-
of priests and virgins, folbw^^' Th ' '\^^'^^''^^^ dance
% were called si«tJrs of H^txilo' !',?"«' vvhoonthis
•^^ dry maize-leaves on the r Hf ^ ''"'"^ ^"^'^'^nds
'eeds ,„ their hands; by |^" , ,^"^'' ?."d ^"••ned split
«on. The priests, ,n -^the onnl '''"^'"^' "''^^ ^^y «««-
q»'ekened nature, lav J beiH^fr-^' represented the
^Vow although, ,«3cor.lh..r? X ^' ""^'^^'^ ^'itli honey
;- ^-« in ArJric^^X:^^;^^^, *»'-« --e
.Ijeos are here renresento,! ' "^*'**'' ^'^'^-opeans the

»"ney or bee bi Js JeV 'b '""^"""fe-Wrds, aL Si ed
^^ ^gather their 'iU:^1;r--^,;"dhu.m.nng like
lii s i(Kjd consists of u stn . ;. . *;;h«-«lni|)ed flowers
;'"'! they feed their An^^'i^'!!';?* ^'^'Jf ^^ves on hone^;
o.jjjue covered with S L e'^ '\''^ '^t tlJo'

"ither, another svmlK)!,-.--^' ^*'*^' ^'''t'^ts bore
;» !i-^ hand, on w'illch \: t^r'^of TV'" '""^ '^ «
vn.g another bunch of feaU e m LT'''' ''''' ^'''^^
*''^'^a,s hawk-plumage denZl h i"''"'^'^' *''"«t(H),
«^'a.son. A prisoner hml b / . 'l*-' l'^^*'"* «t' the fine
;^^ a victim,Ttnd was S^l-f^^^^^'' '1.^'' "' -^V'"> e

814

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

the priests. The little children were consecrated to the
god of their country, ut this festival, by a small incision
on the breast.

So also Mars appears as god of spring, he to whom the
grass and the sacred spring time of the b'rth of animals
(ver sacrum) were dedicated, whose chief festival and
whose month are placed at the commencement of spring,
at which time the Salii also sang their old religious songs,
and a man personated the god. The Tyrian festival of
the awaking of Hercules fell also in spring, for the same
reason. Thus, in the myth of the birth of Uuitzilu-
pochtli, and in his first festival, spring, or the energy that
produces spring, is made the basis of his being. His
warlike attributes are appendages of the anthropomor-
phized national and war god.

The second great festival of the deity takes place in
the middle of August. The rains which have lasted
and refreshed up to this time, become intermittent, and
the fine season approaches, during which the azure sky of
the tropics jxjurs its splendor and its beneficial warmth
upon men, animals, and plants, scattered o\'er a plain
situated 8500 feet above the level of the sea. This
the twelfth month there, the month of rijie fruits
idols in all temples and dwellings are decorated with
flowers. It is now no longer the rain which is the bless-
ing, but the blue sky which cherishes the variegated
flower- world. For this reason the image of Huitzilo-
p(K5htli was blue, his head was womid round with an azure
ribbon, in his right hand he held an azure stall' or club,
and he sat on an azure stool, which, according to ancient
accounts, represents heaven as his dwelling-place. His
arms and legs had also blue stripes, and costly blue
stones hung round his neck. The Egyptian god of fer-
tility, Khem, wjus also representod in blue.

The third festival of Huitzilo]^xx:htli takes place dur-
ing the wintci solstice, a period which plays a great rule
in all worships and myths. The best-known festival of
this kind is the one held on the 25th of l)ecenil)er
throughout the Roman Empire, to celebrate the birth of

The

DEATH OP VEGETATION.

Mithras, the invincible sun Th Z- ^^^

America call December he%no^^^ ^f If^"" ^" ^«rth
and January that of ill ^"® /"onth of the small snirif

;ng season, »nd the new sta^'r *"''""'"■ "''""'enter,
■n, the mountain, are VvelVl?H ""'• ''"'"' '"W -^t^
d™» ..p, the plan,, sea«hT„ vaii T""' "■" 8"""«1
many trees lose their foli . ," " ""'"' nourishment

~^;;f - " Cnte 'thergS "t^'' --

■ngsand penanees, wash7"«s ^Uh"""',' "'^"^'"" V^fy-
fasts, processions, burnin , S ■ ^ *'"'"'' Wood-Iettin/,
»"<i human bein^," r,"|ul;:^"f ' T'^«7 "^ <I"^i^
«"etzalcotttl's pri?s s theifsh^J „„ ''"""'"'■ One of
"f Huitzilopochtli nhieh \r , " ""'"'' "t this ima '
now co„sid^"^"S ^Tl"^ "'« S°d whoTS
«"th human victim. alS' „,','"""■' "»*i eut outT
»entative of the gITore'arth "th-^ 1''", "'l^' «- 4.-e
divided among the varZ, „' . '^>' however, was
evmman«ce1ved„pir Ef "' J/"' "''•^' ^ th,rt
god who is eaten.' '^ ""' ""■'' «'"<''l <«V»8& ' the

»'on. This thini ft«°'r ': *" ""^ ""nie conclu?

fetival in honor of the i J ^ ?»'•"' "'" """>« time „
he g.Kl of the under wor^7dl'" f^' '''""^thWa
yr, WW. „.,, ^J^^ ; th, o drought aid of

^""«- J lie mvth ffivos n H;r«;i / "* ®' "'» brother

;^^:'^ 1. of Osiris! Xlm7t',wT "'"' «'•"« to tt"

»• I>i«nysos and Hercules in th/l' "'■"!"• "'" <'o''th
Adonis hvcs with Aijlim,l!t„ i ''"onieian colonies

»"<! with IVrsjL,' h^n« ;''f.°"'-" ''alfofthey „"■
""■e«vesf„rt,,„tXrtrw'"ht'' ''';;'T''"" "^''"h^^

«-*»--»oofthisSri't'^rpi::«'?,^s

I :

th,

816 GODS, SDPEENATUBAL BEnnaS, AND WORSHIP.

of the dying off of vegetation, even if this should be in
the summer.

As regards the custom of eating the god, this also
occurs at another feast which is celebrated during this
season, in honor of the gods of the mountains and the
water. Small idols of seeds and dough were then pre-
pared, their breasts were opened like those of human vic-
tims, the heart was cut out, and the body distributed for
eating. The time at which this occurs, shows that it
stands in necessary connection with the death of the god.
When the god dies it must be as a sacrifice in the fashion
of his religion, and when the anthropomorphized god
dies, it is as a human sacrifice amid all the necessary
usages pertaining thereto: he is killed by priests, the
heart is torn out, and his lx)dy eaten at the sacrifice
meal, just as was done with every human sacrifice.
Could it be meant that the god, in being eaten, is im-
parted to, or incorporated with, the person eating him ?
This is no doubt so, though not in the abstract, meta-
physical. Christian or moral sense, but only with regard
to his nature-sense, (seiner Naturseite), which is the real
essence of the god. He gives his body, in seed, to be
eaten by his people, just as nature, dying at the approach
of the winter, at this very period, has stored up an
abundance of its gifts for the sustenance of man. It
gives man its life-fruit, or its fruit of life as a host or
holy wafer. As a rule, the god, during the time of sac-
rifice, regales with the offering those bringing sacrifices;
and, the eating of the ttesh of the slave, who so often
represents the god to whom he is sacrificed, is the same
as eating the god. We have heard of the custom among
some nations of eating the ashes of their forefathers, to
whom they give divine honors, in order to become pos-
sessors of their virtues. The Arkansas nation, west of
the Mississippi, which worshiped the dog, used to eat
dog-flesh at one of its feasts. Many other jxioples
solemnly slaughter animals, consume their flesh, and
moreover pay divine lionors to the remains of these ani-
mals. Here the eating of the god, in seeds, is made

YEABLY LIFE OF THE PL.VNT-WOELD.

817

clear — this custom also existed among the Greeks. The
division of the year-god by the ancients, in myth and
religious system, has, for the rest, no other sense than
has this distribution of the body of Huitzilopochtli. This
is done with the sun-bull at the festival of the Persian
Mithras, as at the feast, and in the myth of the Diony-
sos-Zagreus, of Osiris and Attys.

The three yearly festivals, as well as the myth of his
birth, all tend to show the positive connection of Huit-
zilopochtli with the yearly life of the plant- world.
The first festival is the arrival of the god, as the plant-
world is ushered in, with its hymns praying for rain,
its virgins representing the sisters of the god and the
inimical drought, in the same sense as the brothers and
sister, especially the latter, are his enemies in the myth
of his birth, and, as Tezcatlipoca, the god of drought is
his brother. Brothers and sisters not seldom represent
parallel contrasts in mythology and worship. The
second celebration presents the god as the botanical
kingdom in its splendor, for which reason the Mexicans
call the humming-bird the sunlnjam, from the form as-
sumed by the god at this time. The humminsr-bird,
moreover, takes also his winter sleep, and thus tf god
dies in winter with the plants. The Greenianders asked
the younger Egede if the god of heaven and earth ever
died, and, when answered in the negative, they were
much surprised, and said that he must surely be a great
god. This intimate connection with the plant- world is
also shown in the birth-myth of Huitzilo})ochtli, who here
apijears as the son of the goddess of plants. It now l)e-
comes easier to answer the question of Wuttke: has the
fable of this birth reference merely to the making a man
out of a god already existing, or to the actual birth
of the god? The Aztecs, it is true, were undecided on
this point, some conceding to him a human existence on
earth, others investing him with a conciousness of his
nature being. We, however, answer this question simply,
fmm the preceding: the birth of the g(Ml is annual, and
the myth has therefrom invented one birth, said to have

818

GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

taken place at some period, while the anthropomorphism
fables very prettily the transformation into a man. Of
the former existence of a born god, the myth knows
nothing, for it is only afterward that it raises the god
into heaven. It has not, however, come to euhemerism
in the case of Huitzilopochtli, though it has with lliiit-
ziton. In placing the god in the position of son to the
plant-goddess, the myth separates his Injing from that of
the mother, consequently, Huitzilopochtli is not the plant-
world himself, however closely he may be related to it.
This is made clearer by following up the birth-myth,
which makes him out to be not only the son of Coatlicue,
but also of the force causing her fructification. The
variegated ball of feathers which fell from heaven, is
none other than Huitzilopochtli himself, the little hum-
ming-bird, which is the means of fructifying the plants,
and the virile, fructifying nature-force manifested by
and issuing from him in the spring. He is also born
with the feather-tuft, and this symbol of the fine setuson
never leaves him in any of his forms, it remains his at-
tribute.

The Tapuas in South America have, after a similar
symbolism, the custom, at their yearly seed-sowing
festivals, of letting some one hang a bunch of ostrich-
feathers on his back, the feathers \mng spread over like
a wheel. This feather-bunch is their symbol of the fruc-
tifying power which comes from heaven. Their belief
that bread falls from heaven into this tuft of feathers is
thus made clear. In this myth we find the natural basis
of such a birth-myth. In our northern mythology,
Neekris, the ball, is, in the same manner, the father of
Nanna, the northern Flora. That this virile jxiwer of
heaven is made to appear as a ball of feathers, suits the
humming-bird god. The Esths also imagined their god
of thunder, as the god of warmth, in the form of a bird.
In the same sense, doves were consecrated to Zeus,
in Dodona and Arcadia, and a flying bird is a symbol
of heaven among the Chinese. This force may, how-
ever, be symbolized in another form, and give rise to a

THE VIBILE NATUBE-POWEB.

319

birth-m3^h of exactly the same kind. Thus, the
daughter of the god Sangarius, in the Phrygian myth,
hid in her bosom the fruit of an almond-tree, which had
grown out of the seed of the child of the earth, Agdistis:
the fruit disappeared, the daughter became pregnant and
bore the beautiful boy Attes. According to Arnobius,
it was the fruit of a i)omegranate-tree, which fructified
Nanna. Among the Chinese, a nymph, called Puzza,
the nourisher of all living things, became pregnant by
eating a lotus-flower, and gave birth to a great law-
giver and conqueror. Danae, again, becomes pregnant
from the golden shower of Zeus — an easily understood
symbolism. It is alwaj's the virile nature-power, either
as seen in the sun, or in the azure sky (for which reason
Huitzilopochtli is called the lord of the heaven, Ochibus
or Huchilobos), which puts the variegated seed into the
womb of the plant-world, * at the same time bringing
himself forth again, and making himself manifest in the
plant-world.' This heavenly life-force no sooner finds
an earthly mother-womb than its triumph is assured, even
before birth, while developing its bud ; just as the inner
voice, in the myth, consoled the mother, and protected
her against all her enemies. It is only after his birth
that the myth holds Huitzilopochtli as a personal an-
thropomorphic god.

This is the natural signification of Huitzilopochtli,
which we have tujcepted as the basis of all other devel-
opments of the god, and for this universal reason,
namely, that the most ancient heathen gods are nature-
gods, mythologic rules being followed, and that the pagan
religion is essentially a nature-worship as well as a \)o\y-
theism. The special investigation and following up of
the various virtues have led to the same result. But,
as this view has not yet been generally accepted in re-
gard to this god, a few words concerning the union of
the anthropomorphic national aspect of Huitzilopochtli,
with his natural one may be added. It has Ijeen thought
necessary to make the martial phase of Huitzilopochtli
the basis of the others, as with Mars. War is, from

' '1

,'t

1 :ff

• h

GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINQS, AND WORSHIP.

this point of view, a child of spring, because weapons
are then resumed after the long winter armistice. Tliis
is not at all the case with Uuitzilopochtli, because the
rainy season, setting in in spring, when the arrival and
birth of the god are celebrated, renders the soft roads of
Mexico unsuitable for war expeditions. Wars were
originally children of autumn, at which time the ripe
fruits were objects of robbery. But the idea of a war
and national god is easily connected with the basis of a
fructifying god of heaven. This chief nature-god may
either be god of heaven, as Huitzilopochtli, as the rain-
giving Zeus is made the national god by Homer, to
whom human sacrifices were brought in Arcadia down
to a late period, or he may be a sun-god, like Baal, to
whom prayers for rain were addressed in Phoenicia, to
further the growth of the fruit, and who also received
human sacrifices. The Celtic Hu is alw) an ethereal
war god, properly sun-god, who received human sacri-
fices in honor of the victory of spring; none the less is
Odin's connection with war, battle, and war horrors ; he
is a fire-god, like Moloch and Shiva, to whom human
sacrifices were made for fear of famine and failure of
crops. The apparent basis of such a god has not to be
considered so much as the point that the people ascriloed
to him the chief government of the course of the year. In
such a case, the chief ruler also l)ecomesthe national god.
the life of the nation depending immediately on tlie
yearly course of nature. Is the nation warlike, then, the
national god naturally becomes a war god as well. As
anthropomorphism connects itself with the nature-god
only at a later period, so does his worship as war god
and national god. In the case of Mars, as well as of"
Picus and Faunus, the same succession is followed.
Mars, for example, is called upon in a prayer which has
been preserved by Cato, to protect shepherds and flocks,
and to avert bad weather and misgrowth ; Virgil refers
to him as a god of plants. In the song of the Arvalian
brothers, he is called upon as the protector of the flowers.
Thus, in his case also, the nature side is the basis. The

SNAKE SYMBOLISM.

Chinese syi Aimn r.f *u . ^^*

phases, is fxpresS in sul a"!" "' '^' *"« ^^^^ or

|h« union has already Xnilh. ^f?' of plants.
Aztecs in the hummin/bird thp k"^^"^ ""^«""' *he
round the flowers, in w« ,t C^"^- ^I^'^^ plays
spirit burns. Amonir thp vl V^^ *^^ ^ntensest war
P aced upon the rinffff th, f ^^P*^^»«' *he beetle was
nified world and pr^u/tio' ''"'"^^' ^^^^ ^^^om it Z

^-^^^^^^ o^ Huitzilo-

«^:tw^rship^^, ti^'r^^^ oir

«nakes with whi^ thifert^'^^^^. '''' ""~
iniage, and how this a ribute 1^"^^ ^ *^^ '"^th and
humming-bird attribute inOnT ""^^^^ *« *h« original
goddess Coatlicue gave him bSh "^/A^^ ^^^ «n^ke-
fies, m one ca^, time in nnnf^ ^^ *^® «"ake signi-

instance, water, ' or ThV^rutL^'^r'^"^ '" «"«'her
blossoms, the eternal ciS of ^7 S*^«" of germs and
«''^yng,-it ,uite proper for "?r'*l'"^'"^*'«"' ^ooth-
found unil , the S ttiU t'^ ^"^"^'^^ «re
seemingly possessed by him wp ^ ^' ^"'^''^'^^^ "ot
connection with the earth S ^HhT u""'"' «"«h «« a
be found in other Mp vino V^ *^^ dealing power fn

Its skin every year miW +«i ^"f ^ the snake chanirps

•nake-goddess. Even «7?l,. ' ,'"'*' "' "«refoPe, »

Pfe»..te the fructifying ZeZ'dih Ki ""? *^'"»^" " «>-

'l>e 8jmbol of productive ZeTandf 'r'"^- " « »"«>

tale of the life-endowingE J^ '"'' ,'"' "'' '""o- »ttri.

«pre.e„t« the ;,earl3, «juveS„?f°:« "'" ^^-y""""' 't

He snake Agathod^Jn^'l^Lf ""''''''<' "««»"».

Wm „s the symbol of JirtilTv Tf !?"• "^ ^rain and

Ais nature of his, in sprin, in !{' " "'* ^ e^Wbits

■^ a suiuble attribute'^™^' ".fa" ™'".l ""'" ""> "'"^

-, and^ the Punjab. wh^L'Silitni^l-Z^i^f

GODB, BUPEBNATUBAL BEINOS, AND WOBSHIP.

yearly inundations, has the name of snake lands (Nag-
akhanda), and claims an ancient worship. The sustain-
ing water-god, Vishnu, alao received the snake attribute.
Among the Chinese, the water could be represented by
a snake. The Peruvians call the boa constrictor the
mother of nature.

The idea of the yearly renewal of nature is also con-
nected with that of time forever young, and the Aztecs,
therefore, encircle their cycle with a snake as the sym-
bol of time. The more positive signification which
the snake, placed by the side of the humming-bird, gives
to Huitzilopochtli, is that of a soothsaying god, like the
snake Python among the Greeks. The snake signified
'king' among the Egyptians, and this suits Huitzilo-
pochtli also, who ixay properly enough be considered the
real king of his people. If, as connected with Huitzilo-
pochtli, the snake also represents the war god, on ac-
count of lis spirited mode of attack, I cannot with cer-
tainty say, but the myth as well as the worship places
it in this relation to the war goddess Athene. Although
the idea of a national and a war god is not quite obscured
in the snake attribute, yet the nature side is especially
denoted by it, as in the southern countries, where snake
worship prevailed ; the reference to the southern nature
of this god is quite evident in the snake attribute. In
the north, moisture, represented by the snake, has never
attained the cosmological import which it has in the hut
countries of the south. There, the snake rather repre-
sents an anticosmogonic, or a bad principle."

Mr Tylor, without couunitting himself to any extent in
details, yet agrees, as far as he goes, with Miiller. lie
says: " The very name of Mexico seems derived from
Mexitli, the national war-god, identical or identified
with the hideous gory Huitzilopochtli. Not to attempt
a general solution of the enigmatic nature of this ine.v-
tricable compound parthenogenetic deity, we may notice
the association of his principal festival with the winter-

u MaUer, AnurihaniKhe Urrtligionm, pp. 601-013.

winteBpSOlstice festival.

solstice, when his paste idol was shot through with an
arrow, and being thus killed, was divided into morsels
and eaten, wherefore the ceremony was called the teo-
giialo, or * god-eating.' This, and other details, tend to
show Huitzilopochtli as originally a nature-deity, whose
life and death were connected with the year's, while his
functions of war-god may be of later addition." "

Of this festival of the winter solstice the date and
further particulars are given by the Vatican Codex as
follows: —

The name Panquetzaliztli, of the Mexican month that
began on the first of December, means, being interpreted,
' the elevation of banners.' For, on the first day of De-
cember every person raised over his house a small paper
flag in honor of this god of battle ; and the captains and
soldiers sacrificed those that they had taken prisoners in
war, who, before they were sacrificed, being set at
liberty, and presented with arms equal to their adver-
saries, were allowed to defend themselves till they
were either vanquished or killed, and thus sacrificed.
The Mexicans celebrated in this month the festival of
their first captain, Vichilopuchitl. They celebrated at
this time the festival of the wafer or cake. They made a
a cake of the meal of bledos, which is called tzoali, and
having made it, the spoke over it in their manner,
ftnd broke it into plfj* <»s. These the high priest put into
wrtain very clean vessels, and with a thorn of maguey,
which resembles a thick needle, he took up with the
utmost reverence single morsels, and put them into the
mouth of each individual, in the manner of a com-
munion,— and I am willing to believe that these poor
people have had the knowledge of our mode of com-
munion or of the preaching of the gosix;!; or |x;rhapB
the devil, most envious of the honor of God, may have
led them into this superstition in order that by this
ceremony he might be adored and served as Christ our
Lord On the twenty-first of December they cele-

'ir'

T)/lor'a PHm. Cult, vol. il., p SlTft

834 OODS, BUFEBNATVBAL BEmaS, AND WOBSHIP.

brated the festival of this god, — through whose instru-
mentality, they say, the earth became again visible after
it had been drowned with the waters of the deluge : they
therefore kept his festival during the twenty following
days, in which they oftered sacrifices to him."

The deity Tlaloc, or Tlalocateuchtli, ..hom we have
several times found mentioned as seated beside Huitzilo-
pochtli in the great temple, was the god of water and
rain, and the fertilizer of the earth. He was held
to reside where the clouds gather, upon the highest
mountain-tops, especially upon those of Tlaloc, Tlascala,
and Toluca, and his attributes were the thunderbolt; the
flash, and the thunder. It was also believed that in
the high hills there resided other gods, subaltern to
Tlaloc — all passing under the same name, and revered
not only as gods of water but also as gods of moun-
tains. The prominent colors of the image of Tlaloc were
azure and green, thereby symbolizing the various shades
of water. The decorations of this image varied a good
deal according to locality and the several fancies of
different worshi^jers : the description of Gama, founded
on the inspection of original works of Mexican religious
art, is the most authentic and complete. In the great
temple of Mexico, in his own proper chapel, called f/>e-
oatl, adjoining that of Huitzilojxxjhtli, this god of water
stood ujxjn his pedestal. In his left liand was a shield
ornamented with feathers; in his right were certain
thin, shining, wavy sheets of gold representing his
thunderbolts, or sometimes a golden serpent represent-
ing either the thunderbolt or the moisture with which
this deity was so -ntimately connected. On his feet were
a kind of half-boots, with little Indls of gold hanging there-
from. Round his neck was a banti or collar set with
gold and gems of price; while from his wrists de|KM)dcd
strings of costly stones, even such as are the ornaments of
kings. His vesture was an azure smock reaching to the
middle of the thigh, cross-hatched all over with riblK)ns

"Spltgathnt (kilt Tuvole dtl CoiHce Mtxirano fValicanoJ, tov. Ixxi -ii.,
in KinjHborowjIi'H Mex, Anliq., vol. v,, pp, lU6-«.

DECORATIONS OF TLALOO.

of silver forming squares; and in the middle of each
square was a circle also of silver, while in the angles
thereof were flowers, pearl-colored, with yellow leaves
hanging down. And even as the decoration of the vest-
ure so was that of the shield ; the ground blue, covered
with crossed ribbons of silver and circles of silver: and
the feathers of yellow and f,i"een and flesh-color and
blue, each color forming a distinct band. The body was
naked from mid-thigh down, and of a grey tint, as was
also the face. This face had only one eye of a somewhat
extraordinary character: there was an exterior circle of
blue, the interior was white with a black line across it
and a little semi-circle below the line. Either round
the whole eye or round the mouth was a doubled band,
or ribbon of blue ; this, although unnoticed by Torque-
mada, is aflirmed by Oama to have been never omitted
from any figure of Tlaloc, to have been his most char-
acteristic device, and that which distinguished him speci-
ally from the other gods. In his open mouth were to be
seen only three grinders ; his front teeth were painted
red, as was also the pendant, with its button of gold,
that hung from his ear. His head-adornment was an
oixju crown, covered m its circumference with white and
green feathers, and from behind it over the shoulder
deijended other plumes of red and white. Sometimes
the insignium of the thunderbolt is omitted with this
god, and Ixtlilxochitl represents him, in the picture of
the month Etzalli, with a cane of maize in the one hand,
and in the other a kind of instrument with which he
was digging in the ground. In the ground thus dug were
put maize leaves filled with a kind of fixNl, like fritters,
called etzoMi; from this the month took its name."

A prayer to this god has been preserved by Sahagun,
in which it will be noticed that the word Tlaloc is used
sometimes in the singular and sometimes in the plural : —

our Lord, most clement, liberal giver and lord of
verdure and coolness, lord of the terrestrial paradise,

>" r/ai'ti/fro, StoHa Ant. dtl MtnMco, torn, ii,, p. 14; Lton y Oama, Dot
i'ininu, pt 1., p. 101, pt il., pp. 76-0.

I
Ml

t- :;.

'.■' J

326

GODS, BUPERNATUBAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

odorous and flowery, and lord of the incense of copal, woe
are we that the gods of water, thy subjects, have hid
themselves away in their retreat, who are wont to serve
us with the things we need and who are themselves
served with uUi and auchtli and copal. They have left
concealed all the things that sustain our lives, and
carried away with them their sister the goddess of the
necessaries of life, and carried away also the goddess of
pepper. our Lord, take pity on us that live; our food
goes to destruction, is lost, is dried up ; for lack of water,
it is as if turned to dust and mixed with spiders' webs.
Woe for the miserable laborers and for the common
people ; they are wasted with hunger, thev go about un-
recognizable and disfigured every one. They are blue
under the eyes as with death ; their mouths are dry as
sedge; all the bones of their bodies may be counted
as in a skeleton. The children are disfigured fvi:;d yellow
as earth; not only those that begin to walk, but even
those in the cradle. There is no one to whom this tor-
ment of hunger does not come ; the very animals and
birds suffer hard want, by the drought that is. It is
pitiful to see the birds, some dragging themselves along
with drooping wings, others falling down utterly and un-
able to walk, and others still with their mouths ojien
through this hunger and thirst. The animals, our
Lord, it is a grievous sight to see them stumbling and
falling, licking the earth for hunger, and panting with
open mouth and hanging tongue. The people lose their
senses and die for thirst ; they perish, none is like to re-
main. It is woeful, O our Lord, to see all the face of
the earth dry, so that it cannot produce the herbs nor
the trees, nor anything to sustain us, — the earth that
used to be as a father and mother to us, giving us milk
and all nourishment, herbs and fruits that therein grew.
Now is all dry, all lost; it is evident that the Tlaloc
gods have carried all away with them, and hid in
their retreat, which is the terrestrial paradise. The
things, O Lord, that thou wert graciously wont to give
us, upon which we lived and were joyful, which are the

PBAYEB TO TLALOC.

life and joy of all the world, and precious as emeralds
or sapphires, — all these things are departed from us.
our Lord, god of nourishment and giver thereof, most
humane and most compassionate, what thing hast thou
determined to do with us? Hast thou, peradventure
altogether forsaken us? Thy wrath and indignation
shall it not be appeased ? Hast thou determined on the
perdition of all thy servants and vassals, and that thy
city and kingdom shall be left desolate and uninhabited?
Peradventure, this has been determined, and settled in
heaven and hades. our Lord, concede at least this,
thali the innocent children, who cannot so much as walk,
who are still in the cradle, may have something to eat, so
that they may live, and not die in this so great famine.
What have they done that they should be tormented and
should die of hunger ? No iniquity have they committed,
neither know they what thing it is to sin ; they have
neither offended the god of heaven nor the god of hell.
We, if we have offended in many things, if our sins have
reached heaven and hades, and the stink thereof gone
out to the ends of the earth, just it is that we be de-
stroyed and made an end of; we have nothing to say
thereto, nor to excuse ourselves withal, nor to resist
what is determined against us in heaven and in hades.
Let it be done; destroy us all, and that swiftly, that we
may not suffei from this long weariness which is worse
than if we b. Mn fire. Certainly it is a horri-
ble thing to sr er this hunger; it is like a snake lacking
food, it gulos down its saliva, it hisses, it cries out for
Bomethit. 'levour. It is a fearful thing to see the
anguish' < ^3manding somewhat to eat; this hunger
is intense v.s burning fire, flinging out sparks. Lord,
let the thing happen that many years ago we have hctird
8aid by the old men and women that have passed away
from us, let the heavens fall on us and the demons of
the air come down, the Izitzimitcs, who are to come to
destroy the earth with all that dwell on it ; let darkness
and obscurity cover the whole world, and the habitation
of men be nowhere found therein. This thing was

! i

:i- !

828 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

known to the ancients, and they divulged it, and from
mouth to mouth it has come down to us, all this that
has to happen when the world ends and the earth is
weary of producing creatures. Our Lord, such present
end would be now dear to us as riches or pleasures once
were — miserable that we are! See good, O Lord, that
there fall some pestilence to end us quickly. Such
plague usually comes from the god of hades ; and if it
came there would peradventure be provided some allow-
ance of food, so that the dead should not travel to hades
without any provision for the way. that this tribu-
lation were of war, which is originated by the sun, and
which breaks from sleep like a strong and valiant one,
— lor then would the soldiers and the brave, the stout
and warlike men, take pleasure therein. In it many
die, and much blood is spilt, and the battle-field is filled
with dead bodies and with the bones and skulls of the
vanquished; strewn also is the face of the ( irth with
the hairs of the head of warriors that rot ; but this they
fear not, for they know that their souls go to the house
of the sun. And there they honor the sun with joyful
voices, and suck the various flowers with great delight;
there all the stout and valiant ones that died in war are
glorified and extolled ; there also the little and tender
children that die in war are presented to the Sun, very
clean and well adorned and shining like precious stones.
Thy sister, the goddess of food, provides for those
that go thither, supplying them with provision for the
way; and this provision of necessary things is the
strength and the soul and the staff of all the people uf
the world, and without it there is no life. But this
hunger with which we are afflicted, our most humane
Lord, is so sore and intolerable that the miserable com-
mon i)eople are not able to suft'er nor support it ; being
still alive they die many deaths; and not the i)e()plu
alone suffer but also all the animals. our must
compassionate Lord, lord of green things and gums,
of herbs odorous and virtuous, I beseech thee to look
with eyes of pity on the people of this thy city and

PBATEB FOB BAIN.

3!29

kingdom; for the whole world down to the very
beasts is in peril of destruction, and disappearance,
and irremediable end. Since this is so, I entreat
thee to see good to send back to us the food-giving
gods, gods of the rain and storm, of the herbs and of
the trees ; so that they perform tigain their office here
with us on the earth. Scatter the riches and the pros-
perity of thy treasures, let the timbrels of joy be shaken
that are the staves of the gods of water, let them take
their siindals of india-rubber that they may walk with
swiftness. Give succor, O Lord, to our loinl, the god
of the earth, at least with one shower of water, for
when* he has water he creates and sustains us. See
good, Lord, to invigorate the corn and the other foods,
much wished for and much needed, now sown and
planted ; for the ridges of the earth suffer sore need and
anguish from lack of water. See good, O Lord, that
the people receive this favor and mercy at thine hand,
let them see and enjoy of the verdure and coolness that
are as precious stones; see good that the fruit and the
substance of the Tlalocs be given, which are the clouds
that these gods carry with them and that sow the rain
alx)ut us. See good, Lord, that the animals and
herbs be made glad, and that the fowls and birds of
precious feather, such as the quechotl and the caguan,
Hy and sing and suck the herbs and flowers. And let
not this come about with thunderings and lightnings,
symbols of thy wrath ; for if our lords the Tlalocs come
with thunder and lightning the whole people, being lean
and very weak with hunger, would be terrified. If in-
deed some are already marked out to go to the earthly
paradise by the stroke of the thunderlwlt, let this death
ite restricted to them, and let no injury befall any of
the other people in mountain or cabin; neither let hurt
come near the raagueys or the other trees and plants of
the earth; for these things are* necessary to the life and
sustenance of the people, poor, forsaken, and cast-away,
who can with difficulty get food enough- to live, going
about through hunger with the bowels empty and stick-

tf?i

I 1','

880

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

ing tx) the ribs. our Lord, most comptissionate, most
generous, giver of all nourishment, be pleased to bless
the earth and all the things that live on the face thereof.
AVith deep sighing and with anguish of heart I cry upon
all those that are gods of water, that are in the four
quarters of the world, east and west, north and south,
and upon those that dwell in the hollow of the earth, or
in the air, or in the high mountains, or in the deep
caves, I beseech them to come and console this poor
people and to water the earth ; for the eyes of all that
inhabit the earth, animals as well as men, are turned
toward you, and their hope is set upon your persons.
our Loi-d, be pleased to come."

This is a prayer to Tlaloc. But it was not with
prayers alone that they deprecated his wrath and im-
plored his assistance ; here as elsewhere in the Mexican
religion sacrifices played an important part. When the
rain failed and the land was parched by drought, great
processions were made in which a number of hairless
dogs, common to the country, and good to eat, were
carried on decorated litters to a place devoted to this
use. There they were sacrificed to the god of water by
cutting out their hearts. Afterwards the carcasses were
eaten amid great festivities. All these things the Tlas-
caltec historian, Camargo, had seen with his own eyes
thirty years before writing his book. The sacrifices of
men, which were added to these in the days of great-
ness of the old religion, he describes as he was informed
by priests who had officiated thereat. Two festivals in
the year were celebrated to Tlaloc, the greater feast and
the less. Each of these was terminated by human sacri-
fices. The side of the victim was oiiened with a sharp
knife; the high priest tore out the heart, and turning
toward the east offered it with lifted hands to the sun,
crushing it at the same time with all his strength. He
repeated this, turning in succession towards the remain-
ing three cardinal points; the other tkimacaxgites^ or

'» Sahagun, in Klngahorough'a Mu. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 372-C; Sahagun,
Ulst. Otn., vol. ii , pp. 04-70.

VENOEANOE OF TLALOG.

8S1

priests, not ceasing the while to darken with clouds of
incense the faces of the idols. The heart was lastly
burned and the body flung down the steps of the temple.
A priest, who had afterwards been converted to Christi-
anity, told Camargo that when he tore out the heart of
a victim and flung it down, it used to palpitate with such
force as to clear itself of the ground several times till it grew
cold. Tlaloc was held in exceeding respect and the priests
alone had the right to enter his temple. Whoever dared
to blaspheme against him was supposed to die suddenly or
to be stricken of thunder; the thunderbolt, instrument of
his vengeance, flashed from the sky even at the mo-
ment it was clearest. The sacrifices oflered to him in
times of drought were never without answer and result;
for, as Camargo craftily insinuates, the priests took good
care never to undertake them till they saw indications
of coming rain ; besides, he adds, — introducing, in de-
fiance of tiec deus interstt, a surely unneeded personage,
if we suppose his last statement true, — the devil, to
to confirm these people in their errors, was always sure
to send rain.*

Children were also sacrificed to Tlaloc. Says Moto-
linia, when four years came together in which there
was no rain, and there remained as a consequence hardly
any green thing in the fields, the people waited till the
maize grew as high as the knee, and then made a gene-
ral subscription with which four slave children, of five
or six years of age, were purchased. These they sacri-
ficed in a cruel manner by closing them up in a cave,
which was never opened except on these occasions."*

According to Mendieta, again, children were some-

M Camargo, IRsl. dt Tlaxcattan, in Nouvtlles AnnalM rfes Voy., 1843, torn.
99, pp. 133, 135-7. Camargo, being a Tlasoalteo, moHt of bin writingH
have particular reference to his own province, but in this aa in other plucen
he Heema to be deacribing general Mexican custonia.

s> The text without saying directly that these unfortunate children were
closed there alive appears to infer it: 'Cuando el maiz estaba 4 la rodilla,
pnra un dia repartian y echaban pecho, con que compraban cuatro niAos
«8clavog de edad do cinco A seia aiSos, y snoriHcAbanloa & Tlaloc, dios d^l
ngiin, poni^ndoloa en una cueva, y ccrrabanla Imnta otro aAo que hacian lo
iniHuio. Eate cruel Bacrifioio.' MotiAinia, in Icaibaloeta, Col, de Doc,, torn, i.,
p. 45.

\ In

hi I

vr !

'•f

882 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIF.

times offered to this god by drowning. The children
were put into a canoe which was carried to a certain part
of the lake of Mexico where was a whirlpool, which is
no longer visible. Here the boat was sunk with its
living cargo. These gods had, according to the same
author, altars in the neighborhood of pools especially
near springs; which altars were furnished with some
kind of roof, and at the principal fountains were four
in number set over against each other in the shape of a
cross — ^the cross of the rain god."

The Vatican Codex says, that in April a boy was
sacrificed to Tlaloc and his dead body put into the maize
granaries or maize fields — it is not clearly apparent which
— to preserve the food of the people from spoiling.** It
is to Sahagun, however, that we must turn for the most
complete and authentic account of the festivals of Tlaloc
with their attendant sacrifices.

In the first days of the first month of the year, which
month is called in some parts of Mexico, Quavitleloa,
but generally Atlcaoalo, and begins on the second of our
February, a great feast was made in honor of the Tlalocs,
gods of rain and water. For this occasion many chil-
dren at the breast were purchased from their mothers;
those being chosen that had two whirls (remolinos) in
their hair, and that had been been born under a good
sign ; it being said that such were the most agreeable
sacrifice to the storm gods, and most likely to induce
them to send rain in due season. Some of these infants
were butchered for this divine holiday on certain moun-
tains, and some were drowned in the lake of Mexico.
With the beginning of the festival, in every house, from
the hut to the palace, certain poles were set up and to

ft < Tambien tenian fdolos Junto 4 los agnas, mayonnente cerca de laH
fnentes, 4 do hacian bus altareH con bus gradas cubiertaH por enciina, y en
muchas principales fuenteH cuatro altares de estos a nianera de cruz unos
enfrente de otros, y all ( en el agua echaban mucho encienao ofrecido y papel.'
Mmdieta, Hht. Evlts., pp. 87, 102.

^ ' In qnento tuese ritornavano ad omare li tempj, e le immngini come
nello paBsato, ed in fine delli venti di sacriflcavano un putto at Dio dell' ac-
ana, e lo inettevano infra il niniz, a fine che non si guaataBfte la proviHioue
di tutto r anno.' SpUjaxiom deUe Tavole del Codlce Mexicano, tav. Ix., in
King8borowjh'$ Mex. Andiq., vol. v., p. 191.

8ACBIFI0ES OF GHILDBEN.

these were attached strips of the paper of the country,
daubed over with india-rubber gum, said strips
being called amateteuitl; this was considered an lionor
to the water-gods. And the first place where children
were killed was Quauhtepetl, a high mountain in the
neighborhood of Tlatelulco; all inlants, boys or girls,
sacrificed there were called by the name of the place,
Quauhtepetl, and were decorated with strips of paper
dyed red. The second place where children were killed
was Yoaltecatl, a high mountain near Guadalupe. The
victims were decorated with pieces of black paper, with
red lines on it, and were named after the place, Yoal-
tecatl. The third death-halt was made at Tepetzingo, a
a well-known hillock that rose up from the waters of
the lake opposite Tlatelulco; there they killed a little
girl, decking her with blue paper, and calling her Qute-
zalxoch, for so was this hillock called by another name.
Poiauhtla, on the boundary of Tlascala, was the fourth
hill of sacrifice. Here they killed children, named as
usual after the locality, and decorated with paper on
which were lines of india-rubber oil. The fifth phice of
sacrifice was the no longer visible whirlpool or sink of
the lake of Mexico, Pantitlan. Those drowned here
were called Epcoatl, and their adornment epuepaniuhqu'.
The sixth hill of death was Cocotl,'^* near Chalcoatenco ;
the infant victims were named after it and decorated
with strips of paper of which half the number were red
and half a tawny color. The mount Yiauhqueme, near
Atlacuioaia, was the seventh station; the victims being
named after the place and adorned with paper of a tawny
color.

A 'I these miserable babes before being carried to
their death were bedecked with precious stones and
rich feathers and with raiment and sandals wrought
curiously; they put upon them paper wings (as if
they were angels) ; they stained their faces with oil of

'* ' Whence is derived the name coeolfs, by which the boys of the choir of
the cathedral of Mexico are novr known.' JhisUnnante, note to Sahafian, Hist,
Oen., torn, i., lib. ii., p. d5.

Ill

■

'I '

\\]

I 1

Br! I

881

aODS, SUPEBNATURiUli BEINOS, AND WORSHIP.

india-rubber, and on the middle of each tiny cheek they
painted a round spot of white. Not able yet to walk,
the victims were carried in litters shining with jewels
and awave with plumes; Hutes and trumpets bellowed
and shrilled round the little bedizened heads, all so un-
fortunate in their two whirls of hair, as they passed
along; and everywhere as the litters were borne by, all
the people wept. When the procession reached the
temple near Tepetzinco, on the east, called Tozocan,
the priests rested there all night, watching and singing
songs, so that the little ones could not sleep. In the
morning the march was again resumed ; if the children
wept copiously those around them were very glad, say-
ing it was a sign that much rain would fall ; while if
they met any dropsical person on the road it was taken
for a bad omen and something that would hinder the
rain. If any of the temple ministers, or of the others
called qitaquaviUl, or of the old men, broke off from the
procession or turned back to their houses before they
came to the place where the sacrifice was done, they
were held for infamous and unworthy of an}' public of-
fice ; thenceforward they were called rnocauJique, that is
to say, ' deserters.'^

More ludicrous than diabolical are the ceremonies of
the next feast of Tlaloc. In the sixth Aztec month, the
month Etzalqualixtli, there was held a festival in honor
of the gods of water and rain. Before the commence-
ment of this festival the idol priests fasted four days,
and before beginning to fast they made a procession
to a certain piece of water, near Citlaltepec, to gather
tules; for at that place these rushes grew very tall and
thick and what part of them was under water was
very white. There they pulled them up, rolled them
in bundles wrapped about with their blankets, and
so carried them back on their shoulders. Both on going
out for these rushes and on coming back with them, it
was the custom to rob anyone that was met on the road ;

« Kingsboronqh's Mex. Antiq., vol. Tii.,pp. 37-8; Sahagun, iOst. Oen., torn.
i., lib. ii.. pp. 84-7.

SPOLIATION OF CfiSAB FOB THE CHUBGH.

885

and as every one knew of this custom the roads
were generally pretty clear of stragglers about this time.
No one, not even a kin«r'8 officer returning to his
master with tribute, could hope to escape on such
an occasion, nor to obtain from any court or magis-
trate any indemnification for loss or injury so sustained
in goods or person ; and if he made any resistance to his
clerical spoilers they beat and kicked and dragged him
over the ground. When they reached the temple with
their rushes they spread them out on the ground and
plaited them, white with green, into as it were painted
mats, sewing them firm with threads of maguey-root;
of these mats they made stools, and chairs with backs.
The first day of the fast arrived, all the idol ministers
and priests retire ti to their apartments in the temple
buildings. There retired all those calleu thmacazlequio-
agues, that is to say, ' priests that have done feats in
war, that have captured three or four prisoners;' these
although they did not reside continually in the temple,
resorted thither at set times to fulfil their offices. There
retired also those called tlamacazcayiaque, that is, ' priests
that have taken one prisoner in war;' these also, al-
though not regular iiira ites of the cues, resorted thither,
when called by the*;! duties. There retired also those
that are called tlanmcazqueaticanime, * priest singers,' who
resided permanently in the temple building because they
had as yet captured no one in war. Last of all those
also retired that were called tlamacaztezcahoan, which
means 'inferior ministers,' and those boys, like little
sacristans, who were called tlamacatoton, ' little ministers.'
Next, all the rush mats that had been made which
were called aztapilpetlatl, 'jaspered mats of rushes, or
mats of white and green' were spread round about
the hearths (hogares) of the temple, and the priests pro-
ceeded to in (^st themselves for their offices. They
put on kind ol jacket that they had, called xicoUi, of
1 ' iloth; on the left arm they put a kind of scarf,
<ijctli ; ill th> .'ft hand they took a bag of copal, and
lie rigl't a censer, temaitl, which is a kind of sauce-

886

OODS, 8UPEBNATTT8AL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIF.

pan or frying-pan of baked clay. Then they entered into
the court-yaixi of the temple, took up their station in
the middle of it, put live oals into their censers, added
copal, and offered incense toward the four quarters of
the world, east, north, west, and south. This done
they emptied the CG9.I3 from their incense-pans into the
great brasiers that were always barning at night in the
court, brasiers somewhat less in height than the height
of a man, and su thick that two men could with difficulty
clasp them.

This over, the priests returned to the temple build-
ings, calniecac, and out off their ornaments. Then they
offered before the hearth little balls of dough, called
verttelolotH ; each priest offering four, ai'ranging them on
the aforementioned rush mats, and putting them down
witii great care, so that they should not roll nor move;
and if the balls of any one stirred, it was the duty of
his fellows to call attention to the matter and have him
punished therefor. Some offered instead of dough foiu*
little pies or four pods of green pepjier. A careful scru-
tiny was also observed to see if any one had any dirt on
his blanket, or any bit of thread or hair or feather, and
that no one should trip or fall; for in such a case he hnd
to Ixj punished ; and as a consequence every man took good
heed to all his steps and ways during these four days.
At the end of each day's offerings, certain old men, called
auaquacuiltin, came, their faces dyed black, and their
heads shaved, save only the crown of the head, whore
the hair was allowed tc grow long, the reverse of the
custom of the Christian priests. These old men daily
collected the offerings that had been made, dividiiiu:
them among theminelves. It was further the custom
with all the priests and in all the temples, while I'twim^
these' four days, to lie wakened at midnight by the blunt
of horns and shells and other instruments: when all
rose up and, utterly naked, went to where were
certain thorns of maguey, cut for the purpose the day
before, and with little lancets of stone they hacked their
ears, staining the prepared thorns of maguey uiid l)o-

smec

man

prop(

other

themi

them

clay.

ders, (

in the

and m

pellets

along,

thorns

use. ]

live co«

walked

span br

some w

rattled i

them."

four rem

»"g, or CI

during t

calmecac

i?ods, in

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where th(

««lled aax

'our qutir

»'gl»t one

, '"'Ennn,
'lo eHtiercol ,1

BATHING IN THE FESTIVAL OF TLALOO.

837

smearing their faces with the blood that flowed ; each
man staining maguey-thorns with his blood in number
proportioned to his devotion, some five, others more,
others less. This done all the priests went to bathe
themselves, how cold soever it might be, attended by
the music of marine shells and shrill whistles of baked
clay. Every one had a little bag strapped to his shoul-
ders, ornamented with tassels or strips of painted paper;
in these bogs was carried a sort of herb ground fine
and made up with a kind of block dye into little longish
pellets.*" The general body of the priests marched
along, each one carrying a leaf of maguey in which the
thorns were stuck, as in a pincushion, which he had to
use. before these went a priest with his censer full of
live coals and a bag of copal ; and in advance of all these
walked one carrying a board on his shoulder of about a
span broad and two yards long, hollowed apiMirently in
some way, and filled with little rollers of wood that
rattled and sounded as the bearer went along shaking
them." All the priests took part in this procession, only
four remaining behind to take care of the temple-build-
ing, or calmecoc, which was their monastery. These four
during the absence of the others remained seated in the
calmecoc and occupied themselvt's in devotion to the
gods, in singing and in rattling with a hollow board
of the sort mentioned above. At the piece of water
where the priests were to bathe there were four houses,
called accauccUli, ' fog houses,' set each toward one of the
four quarters of the nomposs ; in the ablutions of the first
night one of these houses was occupied, on the second

«> ' En aqnellAR tAlegaa lltvftban nna manera de hnrina heoha 4 In maneni
do GHtiurcul do ratoueH, que elloH llaniabnn yyaquitlli, que era oonAcionada
roil tiiitit y con |)oIvoh A» una yerva que vIIoh Itaiiiaii yietll; in cumo veleAoa
(leOaHtilla.* Kiminburowih'it Mtx. Anwi-, tuI. vii., p. 61.

" Sahagnn giveH two (liferent aoouunla o( thiH iiiHtrmiiont : ' Una tabla tan
lirKit cnino ilon vama, v anclia coino nn palnio 6 poco iiiiih. Yvan deiitro de
I'Htits (ublai* unaa Honajan, y (<l (lue le llevaba iva Honanrlo con ellaN. Llama-
liiui k (mta tabla Axochicanalixtli, 6 Naratlnuoavitl.' '"bo m>rnnd deRoription
is: ' Uua tabla de ancbnra do un palino y ao liirKura de doH brauiH; \\ treohoa
ivim unoii H'^-iiaiaH en cata tabla, iinoH |>edar.ii> liw de niadrro mllizoH y ntadoa
!i Ilk iiiiHiPik tabla, y dentro do clla ivan nonaiulo Ioh uiiom von km otron, Eatn
titbin :.n llaniatm aiaukchicaouitli.' Kinyiborowjh'M Mx, Antiq., vol. vii., pp.
61 und 59.

Vol. UI. M

! fffl

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

night another, and so on through all the four nights and
four houses of the fog. Here also were four tall poles
standing up out of the water. And the unfortunate
bathers, naked from the out«et as we remember, rejichod
this place trembling and their teeth chattering with
cold. One of their number mumbled a few Mords,
which being translated mean: this is the place of
snakes, the place of mosquitos, the place of ducks, aiul
the place of rushes. This said, all flung themselves into
the water and began to splash with their hands and
feet, making a great noise and imitating the cries of
various aquatic birds." When the bathing was over,
the naked priests took their way back accompanied by
the music of pipes and fjhells. Half dead with cold and
weariness they reached the temple, where drawing their
mantles over them they flung themselves down in a con-
fused heap on the rush mats, so often mentioned, and
slept as best they could. We are told that some tjilked
in their sleep, and some walked about in it, and some
snored, and some sighed in a painful manner. Thero
they lay in a tangled weary heap not rising till noon of
the next day.

The first thing to be done on waking was to array
themselves in tlieir canonicals, take their conwrs,
and to follow an old priest called Quaquacuilti to all
the chaiKjls and altars of the idols, incensing tlicin.
After this they were at lil)erty to eat; they s<iuattod
down in groups, and to each one was given such UmhI as
had l)oen sent to him from his own house; and if any one
took any of the jwrtion of another, or even exchanged his
for that of another, he was punished for it. INuuhIi-
' mcnt also attended the dropping of any morsel wliilc
eating, if the fault were not atoned for by a fine. Aft*>i'
this meal, they all went to cut down branches of a cor-

•" ' roinciiKikbnn A vocoar y k gtiint y n, contrnhnror Ii»h nvoH del hriii>,
unoH 4 l(m iinudeH, otroH 4 uiiah nveii zniKiudnH del n|{nA quo llaiiiu (lipititi,
otnm k loH inmrvoit runrinnH, otroH k Iiih K'trzotuH hlniicnH, otrtm I'l Iuh uuraiH.
AqudlluB palitbmN quit «U><«ia c\ Hiitrapn iiiirncu ({iio f>ritn invoonoion uii I'l'-
moiiio pnrn liidilar u(|IU'11:>h leugiiagim do uvoh on ul a({iia.' KiiKjHlm-oiiijI''*
Mf9. Antiq., vul. vii., p. 61.

tain

fbunc

temp]

with '

signal

part

any oi

compa

— a pi

accuse)

ing, ei(

poor, a

Thes

man be

in his c

general

out like

i»g iwts

They 8j

you do ]

your ho

revels b

indeed (

glory: u

pai-ent n

rot-feath(

fiiNtened

the nupc

crinnpled

<J<>wn on

was paint

of nuut;asi

»'' tiger-sl

which cla'j

'hvu thre

^'pr's tall,

'lis two iiii

I'l'Ptain he

"'YauhUai

SELiaiOUS DISCIPLINE.

tain kind called acoooiad, or, where these were not to be
found, green ctines instead, and to bring them to the
temple in sheaves. There tliey sat down, every man
with V.is sheaf, and waited for an arranged signal. The
signal given, every one .sprang up to some appointed
part of the temple to decorate it with his boughs; and if
any one went to a place not his, or wandered from his
companions, or lagged behind them, they punished him
— a punishment only to be remitted by paying to his
accuser, within the four days of which we are now sijeak-
ing, either a hen or a bin ket or a breech-clout, or, if very
ix)ur, a ball of dough in a cup.

These four days over, the festival was come, and every
man began it by eating etzalll, a kind of maize porridge,
in his own house. For those that wished it there was
general dancing and rejoicing. Many decked themselves
out like merry-andrews and went about in parties carry-
ing ix)ts, going from house to house, demanding etzulli.
They sjing and danced l)efore the door, and said, "If
you do not give me some porridge, 1 will knock a hole in
your house;" whereu|K)n the ctzalli wais given. These
revels began at midnight and cease*! at dawn. Then
indeed did the priests arra}' themselves in all their
glory: underneath was a jacket, over that a thin trans-
parent mantle called ainiihqnemUl, decorated with \wr-
rot-feathers set cross-wise. Between the shoulders they
ftiHtened a great round paix»r Hower, like a shield. To
tiie nape «)f the neck they attached other flowers of
crumpled pajx»r of a semi-ciirular shape; these hung
down on both sides of the head like ears. The forehead
was painted blue and over the paint was dusted jwwder
of niareasite. In the right hand was carried a bjig nuwle
of tiger-skin, and embn)i(lered with little wl»it(^ shells
wiiich clattered as one walked. The bag seems to have
Uvn three-cornered; from one angle hung down the
tiger's tail, from another his two fore fwt, from another
liistwo Iiind feet. It cimtained incense made from a
certain herb calknl yuuiiUli'" Theiv went one priest

10 ' YauhUaulli or YtinKl, mnyi luoreno o negro.' Molina, VocabulaHo,

840

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BRINGS. AND WORSHIP.

bearing a hollow board filled with wooden rattles, as
before described. In advance of this personage there
marched a number of others, carrying in their arms
images of the gods made of that gum that is block and
leaps, called uUi (india-rubber), these images were called
ttUdeu, that is to say 'gods of ulli.' Other ministers
there were carrying in their arms lumps of copal, shaped
like sugar loaves; each pyramid having a rich feather,
called quetzal, stuck in the peak of it like a plume. In
this manner went the procession with the usual horns
and shells, and the purpase of it was to lead to punish-
ment those that had transgressed in any of the points
we have already discussed. The culprits were marched
along, some held by the hair at the nape of the neck,
others by the breech-clout; the boy offenders were held
by the hand, or, if very small, were carried. All these
were brought to a place called Totecco, where water was.
Here certain ceremonies were performed, paper wns
burned in sacrifice, as were also the pyramids of copal
and images of ulli, incense being thrown into the fii'c
and other incense scattered over the rush mats with
which the place was adorned. While this was going on
those in charge of the culprits had not been idle, but
were flinging them into the water. Great was the noiw,
it is said, made by the splash of one tossed in, and the
water leajied high with the shock. As any one came to
the surface or tried to scramble out he was pushed in or
pushed down again — well was it then for him who could
swim, and by long far diving keep out of the reach of
his tormentors. For the others they were so roughly
handled that they were often left for dead on the waterH
edge, where their relatives would come and hang them
up by the feet to let the water they had wwallowed run
out of them; a method of cure surely as bad as the
malady.

The shrill music struck up again and the procession
returned by the way it hod come ; the friends of the
punished ones carrying them. The monjistery or cal-
mecao reached, there began another four days' ftu^t,

calleo

quittc

least <

for a

fast w

corata

paintec

mixed

ried th<

— bags

chief p

in the

satchels

ziouihti,

»n proce

priest of

work, fit

out abov(

it. His

gum, blai

a preat m

waist. ^

t'ley pray

they stopi

dusted the

yiftuhtii i

four round

small hook

«nd as he

<l»'«wing bf

found. H

he took the

with it-~i)e

imitation of

one retired

his ornamei

ducked wen

the rest an

T^hat night

^THE POUB BALLS

east one wa« not liableTbetfor-lf "* °^^^^^' «' «*
for a breach of such etlette "^f "^? "F Punished
fast was celebrated by W na a^ ««nc»"8ion of this
comted themselves in S Sr/^Tn\" P"^«*« de-
painted blue, the face ITL ^^- ^" ^^^ head was
'"i^ed with L black ZrCr"^ with hone^, ( Je^

ried the incense-bags embroils ^.u^r^,^*'^^ ^^"^ car-
-bags made of tigerTki^ ^ V^^' '''"« ^^ite shells
chief priests, and&T'p^^^T • T^^' ^- *he
m the case of the Sr n!S /^ '""'^^^ *i««r-skin
«itchels were fashioned trre'wr*^ k?".™^ «^ *hese
n:^^' others to i^semble Ss fe^'^ ^'^"^ «^^^-
m procession to the temple anHw^ T^^^ '»a«'hed
priest of Tlaloc. Hehad „n ifi^^T **" "^^^hed the
^o/kj fitting close to tt fe^^^^^^^^^^ '^^^ of basket
put above, with many nl nmp« r • ^^^"^ '^^'^ «preadin«r
'*• His face wa« anSnt^ ^^.'/'"^ ^'^"^ *»»e middle of
gt.m, black as ink a^^n^eaS^^^^^ india-rubbef
a jrreat nose, and a wig aSif I T.T'^' ""^^ ^^th
7«*- All went alo4 Sin, ;'\k " "^ ^"^ "« *he
thej prajed, till thev mmlT A" ^ ^ themselves as if

f«^«tojW and7^:STule ^r"'.?^^'^'^- ^"^'^
dn«ted them over withZwder^?.'*1 ^''^ «'^""'^' «nd
^"^"htli incense. uioHhis^hi^''-^'^^'^ mixed with
four round chalchiuitenke itt i j^ '"^ J^""*** P>«««d
^mall hook painted blue and t!-!^ ' ^" ^"^ ^^ «
«"d as he touched S^e m^ "^ '""^ ^'^^ ^i^h it;
drawmg back his hand an^ ♦ ^5 ? movement as if
.•^"nd. He «catte^ to" :„r""^ ^^''^^ cx,mpleli;!
^'« took the boa«l ISh the Sf •^"/*" '"'**«' the^
mth it-perhaps a kind of ^r^ '""^^ ''"^ ««"nded
""•tation of thfthunier of ll*^''''!' '^ *^'""der in
one retired to his houror L K- ^- ^P«" "'is every
his ornaments; and The .mf? "^^P^^^^y «"d put off
fucked wen3 cirri^ at ^t' hot" ""'T *'"^ ^^
"« «-'«t and recovery that fh. """"^ dwellings for

''-' "^«'^^ the r..ti.LX^z,z^:^^^^^^^^

842 OODS. SXTPEBNATUBAL BRINQS, AND W0B8HIP.

the musical instruments of the cu itself were sounded,
the great drums and the shrill shells. Well watched
that night were the prisoners who were doomed to death
on the morrow. When it came they were adorned with
the trappings of the Tlaloc gods — for it was said they
were the images of these gods — and those that were
killed first were said to be the foundation of the others,
which seemed to be symbolized by those who had to die
last being made to seat themselves on those who had
been first killed.*

The slaughter over, the hearts of the victims were put
into a pot that was painted blue and stained with ulli in
four places. Together with this pot offerings were taken
of paper and feathers and precious stones and chalchiuites,
and a party set out with the whole for that part of the
lake where the whirlpool is, called Pantitlan. All who
assisted at this offering and sacrifice were provided with
a supply of the herb called iztauhiatl, which is something
like the incense used in Spain, and they puffed it with
their mouths over each other's faces and over the fiices
of their children. This they did to hinder mngguts
getting into the eyes, and also to protect against a certain
disease of the eyes caWed ^lorH'tUo-o-alixtli-j some also put
this herb into their ears, and others for a certain suj)er-
stition they had held a handful of it clutched in the hand.
The party entered a great canoe belonging to the king,
furnished with green oars, or paddles, s^wtted with ulli,
and rowed swiftly to the place Pantitlan, where the
whirlpool was. This whirlpool was surrounded by logs
driven into the bottom of the lake like piles — probably
to keep canoes from being drawn into the sink. ThcHC
logs being reached, the priests, standing in the bows of
the royal vessel, began to play on their horns and shelln.
Conspicuous among them stood their chief holding the

>« * Coniensalmn lueao k mntar k loa oaptiTos; aqnelloa qne primero niatn-
ban (lecian tiue «mn el fnnditinento de km qne eran imasen de loBTlalnqiuH,
que iviin ndore/ndoH con Ioh ornnmentos de Ioh niiHmoH Tlaloques qne (ivitn
adereiadoH ) deoiau erun »n» iiuaaeuea, y awi Ion que morinn k la imntre ivniiKt'
4 aentar Hobre loi que primero habian niuerto.' Klngtborwijh's Mtx. .'tufi'/..
vol vil, p. 64.

papi

then

and

cano

mocG

and

the J

washt

forehc

hepui

descril
teries,
out bei
We
of the
many
other
«nd ho
In t
and wh
Octobei
shape o,
cut out
gether ^
tion or c
the moui
of the .
*'«ow thn
or whose

•"«• i; lib. 1

IMAOES OF THE MOUNTAINS.

843

pot containing the hearts; he flung them far into the
whirling hollow of water, and it is said that when the
hearts plunged in, the waters were strangely moved and
stirred into waves and foam. The precious stones were
also thrown in, and the impers of the offering were
fiistencd to the stakes with a number of the chalchiuites
and other stones. A priest took a censer and put four
papers called tdhuitl into it, and burned them, offering
them toward the whirlpool ; then he threw them, censer
and all, still burning into the sink. That done, the
canoe was put about and rowed to the landing of Teta-
macolco, and every one bathed there.

All this took place between midnight and morning,
and when the light began to break the whole body of
the priests went to bathe in the usual place. They
washed the blue \mni off their heads, save only on the
forehead ; and if there were any offences of any priest to
be punished he was here ducked and half drowned as
described above. Lastly all returned to their monas-
teries, and the green rush mats spread thei*e were thrown
out behind each house.''^

We have given the description of two great festivals
of the Tlalocs, — two being all that are mentioned by
many authorities — there still remain, however, two
oilier notable occasions on which they were propitiated
and honored.

In the thirteenth month, which was called Tepeilhuitl,
and which began, according to Clavigcro, on the 24th of
October, it was the custom to cut certain sticks into the
shape of snakes. Certain images as of children were also
cut out of wood, and these dolls, called hecatoto)U,i^ to-
gether with the wooden snakes, were used as a founda-
tion or centre round whicl to build up little effigies of
the mountains; wherein the Tlalocs were honored as gods
of the mountains, and wherein memorial was had of
those that hod been drowned, or killed by thunderbolts,
or whose bodies had been buried without cremation — the

» Alnoaborouff/k'a Mtx, Aniiq., toI. vii., pp. 49-66; Sahagvm, Ilht, Om.,
torn, i., lib. ii., pp. Ill-ia4.

8M Q0D8, 8UPEBNATUBAL BEIMOS, AND WORSHIP.

dolls perhaps representing the bodies of these, and the
snakes the thunderbolts. Having then these wooden
dolls and snakes as a basis, they were covered with dough
mixed from the seeds of the wild amaranth ; over each
doll certain papers were put; round one snake and one
doll, set back to back, there appears next to have been
bound a wisp of hay, (which wisp was kept from year to
year and washed on the vigil of every feast), till the
proper shape of a mountain was arrived at; over the
whole was then daubed a layer of dough, of the kind
already mentioned. We have now our image of the
mountain with two heads looking opposite ways, stick-
ing out from its summit. Round this summit there
seem to have been stuck rolls of dough representing the
clouds usually formed about the crests of high mountains.
The face of the human image that looked out over these
dough clouds was daubed with melted ulli ; and to both
cheeks of it were stuck little tortillas, or cakes of the
everywhere-present dough of wild amaranth seeds. On
the head of this same image was put a crown with feath-
ers issuing from it.^ These images were made at night,

'< This passage relating to the making of images of the monntains is such
a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use largely any con-
Btmctive imagination one may possess to reproduce even a comprehensible
description. I give the original; if any one can make rhyme or renson out
of it by a closer following of the words of Bahagnn, he shall not want the
opportunity: ' Al trece mes llamaban TepeilhnitT. £n la fiesta que se hacia
en este mes cubriah de miisa de bledos unos palos que tenian hechos coino
culebras, y hacian imagenes de montes fnndadas sobre unos palus hechos 4
manera de niitos que llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de
masa de bledos. Ponianle delante junto unas masas rolUzas y larguillas de
masa de bledos & manern de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas
imagenes & honra de los montes altos doude se juntan las nubes, y en memo*
ria de los que habian mnerto en agua o heridos de rayo, y de los que no se
quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes hacianlos
sobre unos rodeos 6 roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate, y guardubanlas
de un aAo para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta Uevabnn 4 lavar estas rosras
al rio «} & la fuente, y qnando las Uevaban ivanlas taftendo con unos )iito8
hechos de barro cocido 6 con unos caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en uuns
casas A oratorias que estaban hechos & la oriUa del agua que se llama Ayunh
calli. Lavabanlas con unas ojas de cartas verdes; Mgunos con el aguu quo
pasaba por su oasa las lavaban. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas 6, sn
casa con la misma musica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los
montes como est4 dicho. Alf{unos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de
amaneoer cerca del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de

Eersona y otra de culebrn, y uutaban la cara de persona con ulli derretido, y
Mian unas tortillas preqneAuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y ponianlas
en las mexillas de la oara de persona de ana parte y de otra; onbrianlos eon

SACBIPICES TO TLALOC

offered to them, «nS Is ofT J' '^" *«» C^
flour and sugar.'and 1,^^"^. « Pp'ridge of ma.'^
Incense was burned M^lh ? ?'^*'"'« or of d<«8
censer shaiHrf like rh»d life ^'"^ «>«,„„ i„T^
b„rn,„g coals. Tho^Xlufr./'S"?'^"''''" of
^^ Pui^ue i„ honor of theirjldt^ 1?^^

honor 'rftSTIatSlr^Z' """^ *«- W"ed i„
women were named respecHvS^ T""**™' The fo"
Xochetecatl, and May^&t' Jr"""' M-'Wq-™'
appear as the image of tL '"^ ""^ decoratwl to
^led Milnaoatl; ^ZlL^^y^- The maTwI^
l^ese victims, adorne^th l? 'y "^ '*« ^^^
ull were borne to their d«,m iHiH J^J^'n^Wned with
to the summit of the cu nT '"l"' ^'"g carried
on the sacrificial stone .S^^k*""* *''«'»"' onl by one

»tirf«'^««^»K«nd'^i^/i:!s^

Slide slowly down fho ♦« i ^^'^ ^^es allowed f«
"-PM de Jnt I^g\!::&''?I« to the earth-^,^"
corpses were carried to . . i '^^. "'<' Pnests. The
cut off and preiZ) sdX** *''*," "■" heads were
the temples of each sff, * Th.'^v^l- *""* *mu«h

earned to the wards from whicft.^'? """^ '<«"y
«nd there cut in pieces ,115 . "•'' '"«' »«* out alive

he images of the 1™^"'' S' ^' "-e same t2
to describe, we« broken 1"*^°'' T \*™ "'tempted
thej- were covered was ^t out ^a ^""-^ *'* «hich
»;«» eaten, every day^ ^^^ t^/y '» «'« «u„, and
the said imag^ h J hf f!., ^c papera with which
over the wfeps of hc^ »^°"'"' «'»"' 'hen spS
"hole was fastened uoSh^ If "^ntioned, and the
-. one had int"lZ.TA ^^^'^^ ^i
»»<» mnim „„. ,1. V remain till required

846

OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

for the next year's feast of the same kind ; on which
occasion, and as a preliminary to the other ceremonioK
which we have alrctuly described in the first part c»f thin
feast, the people took down the jMiper and tlie wisp from
their private oratories, and carried them to the pubUc
oratory called the acaucaUi, left the paper there, and re-
turned with the wisp to make of it anew the image of a
mountain.**

The fourth and last festival of Tlaloc which we
have to describe, fell in our December and in the six-
teenth Aztec month, called the month Atemuztli. About
this time it began to thunder round the mountain-tops,
and the first rains to fall there ; the common i)eopIe said,
" Now come the Tlalocs," and for love of the water they
made vows to make images of the mountains — not, how-
ever, as it would appear, such images as have been de-
scribed tis ap^jertaining to the preceding festival. The
priests were very devout at this season and very earnest
in prayer, expecting the rain. They took each man his
incense-pan or censer, made like a great spoon with a
long round hollow handle filled with rattles and termi-
nating in a snake's head, and offered incense to all the
idols. Five days before the beginning of the feast tiic
common people bought paper and ulli and tlint knives
and a kind of coarse cloth called nequen, and devoutly
prepared themselves with fasting and [)enance to make
their images of the mountains and to cover them witii
paper. In this holy season, although every one bathed,
he washed no higher than the neck, the head was left
unwashed; the men, moreover, abstained f«x)m their
wives. The night preceding tlie great feast-day was
spent wholly, flint knife in hand, cutting out pai)er into
various shapes. These paixjrs called tetevUl, were stained
with ulli ; and every householder got a long pole, covered
it with pieces of this papr, and set it up in his court-
yard, where it remained all the day of the festival.
Those that hod vowed to make images of the mountains

11 Ktnifbnrouoh'it Mex. Anllq., vol. vii., pp. 71-3; Sahwjun, Iliat, Qtn., toiii.
i., Ub. ii., pp, 16U-16i.

KILUNO IMA0E8 OF THB M0UNTAIK8.

847

invited priests to their houses to do it for them. The
priests came, bearing their drums and rattles and instru-
ments of music of tortoise-shell. They mode the images
— apiMiren ,ly like human figures — out of the dough of
wild amaiinth seed, and covered them with paper. In
some houses there were mode five of such images, in
others ten, in others fifteen ; they were figures that stood
for such mountains as the clouds gather n>und, such as
the volcano of the Sierra Nevada or that of the Sierra of
Tlascala. These images being constructed, they were
set in order in tiie oratory of the house, and lx;fore each
one was set food — very small pies, on small platters, pro-
portionate to the little image, small lx>xes holding a little
sweet porridge of maize, little calabashes of cocao, and
other small green calabashes conttilning puhpie. In one
night they presented the figures with food in this man-
ner four times. All the night too they sang before them,
luid played upon flutes; the regular flutists not being
employed on this occasion, but certain small boys who
were paid for their trouble with something to eat. When
tiic morning came, the ministers of the idols asked the
intister of the house for his tzotzopaxtll, a kind of broad
wooden knife used in weaving,'" and thrust it into the
brejists of the images of the mountains, as if they were
living men, and cut their throats and drew out the hearts,
which they put in a green cup and gave to the owner of
the house. This done, they took all the iwviKjr with
which these images had been adorned, together with
certain gre<ni mats that had l)een used for the same pur-
pose, and the utensils in which the offering of food had
Ixjen put, and burned all in the court-yard of the house.
Tlie ashes and the mutilated images seem then to have
lxH»n carried to a public oratory called Aiauhcalco, on
the shore of the lake. Then all who assisted at these
ceremonies joined themselves to eat and drink in honor
of the mutilated images, which were calUnl tepieme.
Women were allowed to join in this bancjuet provided

'* ' TBotzopnztIi, pain ancho cotno ouchilla con que tupen y aprietuu !n
tela 4110 Me t«xi-.' Afolina, Voca'mlario.

i 4

848

GODS, 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIP.

they brought fifteen or twenty heads of maize with them ;
they received every one his or her share of food and
pulque. The pulque was kept in black jars and liftied out
to be drunk with black cups. This banquet over, the
paper streamers were taken down from the poles set up
in the court-yards of the houses and carried to certain
places in the water that were marked out by piles driven
in — we may remember that our whirlpool of Pantitlan,
in the lake of Mexico, was one place so marked — and to
to the tops of the mountains, and left thero as it would
appear."

In taking leave here of Tlaloc I may draw attention
to the prominence in his cult of the number four, the
cross, and the snake ; and add that as lord of one of the
three Aztec divisions of the future world, lord of the
terrestrial paradise, we shall meet with him again in
our examination of the Mexican ideas of a future life.

^ Kingsborough's Me*. Aniiq., vol. vii., pp. 80-1; Sahagun, Hitt. Gen.,
toiii. i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Farther notice of Tlaloo and bis wor-
ship will be founa in the 8piega*ione delle TavoU del Codiee Mexlcano, tav.
zxTiii., Ivii., Ix., Ixii., in Kin^^orough's Mex. Aniiq., toI. v., pp. 179, 190-2;
BoturM, Idea, pp. 12-3, 99, 101; Amer. Ethnd. 8oc., Tranaac*., vol. i., p. 305;
MoMinia, Hi^, Ind., in Icatbalceta, Col. de Doc., torn, i., pp. 32, 3d, 42, ii 5;
Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., p. 290, and torn, ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121,
147, 151, 212, 251-4; Herrera, Hist. Oen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Oomara,
Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 216; Tylor't Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 235, 243; Mutler,
Amtrihaniache Utr^tgUmm, pp. 500-4 et passiin.

CHAPTER IX.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Thk Mother ob aiiI^-kouribhimo Ooddisb ttitoxb yabiouh nahks akd in

TABI0C8 ASPECTS — HXB FXABT IN THE ElKTKNTH AzTEO MONTH OcHP-
AMIZTLI — FeSTITALB Or THK ElOHTB MONTH, HcKTTECUILHCITL, AND
OP THK FoDBTB, HCEYTOZOZTLI — ThK DKIFICATION OF WOMEN THAT DIED
IN CHILD-BIBTH — ThX OoDDKBS OF WaTKB UNDKB VABIOUS NAMES AND
IN TABIOUB ASPECTa— CkBEMONIES OF THK BaPTISM OB LUBTBATION OF

CHiLDBEN — The Goddess of Lote, heb vabiocb names and aspects —

RlTEB OF confession AND ABSOLUTION — TbK God OF FIBK AND BIB VABI-

ocs NAMES — His festivals in the tenth month Xoootlveti and IN

THE KIOHTEKNTH MONTH YZCAU; ALSO HIS QCAOBIENNIAL FESTIVAL IN
THE LATTKB MONTH — ThE OBEAT FESTIVAL OF BVEBT FIFTT-TWO TKABS;
LIOHTINO THK NKW FIBE — ThB GoD OF HADES, AND TEOTAOMIQITX, OOLLKO-
TOB OF THB SOULS OF TBK FALLEN BBAVK— DKIFICATION OF DEAD BCLEBS AND
BEBOEB — MiXCOATL, GoD OF HUNTINO AND BIS FEAST IN THE FOUBTKBNTB

MONTH, Qdbcholli — Vabious otheb Mbxican DEITIES— Festival in thi

second month, TlACAXIFKHITALIZTLI, with notice of THX oladiatobial
SACHIFICES — COMPLETK SYNOPSIS OF THE FESTIVALS OF TBK MEXICAN CaL-

endab, fixed and movable — Temples and Pbixstb.

Centeotl is a goddess, or according to some good au-
thorities a god, who held, under many names and in many
cliaracters, a most important place in the divine world of
the Aztecs, and of other Mexican and Central American
peoples. She was goddess of maize, and consequently,
from the importance in America of this grain, of agricul-
ture, and of the producing earth generally. Many of her
various names seem dependent on the varying aspects of
the maize at difierent stages of its growth ; others seem to
have originated in the mother-like nourishing qualities

(849)

III,

til

350 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

of the grain of which she wiis the deity. Miiller lays
much stress on this aspect of her character: " The force
which sustains life must also have created it. Centeotl
was therefore considered as bringing children to light,
and is represented with an infant in her arms. NoIk.'!
gives us such a lepresent^tion, and in our Mexican
museum rfc Basel there are many images in this form,
made of burnt clay. Wirere agriculture rules, there
more children are brought to mature age than among
the hunting nations, and the land revels in a large [K)pu-
lation. No part of the world is so well adapted to
exhibit this difterence lus America. Centeotl is conse-
quently the great pnxlucer, not of children merely, she
is tile great gtxldesa, the most ancient gcKldess." *

Centeotl was known, according to Chivigero, by the
titles Tonacajohua, 'she who sustains us;' Tziiittotl,
' original goddess ;' and by the further names Xilonon,
Iztacacenteotl, and Tlatlauhquicenteotl. 8he was fur-
ther, according to tlie same author, identical with To-
nant/in, ' our mother,' and, according to Miiller and
many Spanish aiithoriti<>s, either identical or closely con-
nwted witii the various deities known as Teteioiian, ' the
mother t)f the gcnls.' '^ Cihuatcoatl. ' the snake-woman,'
Tazi or Toci or TiK'itzin, ' our grandmother,' and Earth,
the universal materitd mother. S(iuier says of Tiazol-
teotl, that " siie is Cintcotl tlie goddess of maize, uiidor
another asiR'ct." *

Hhe was particularly honored by the Totonacs, with

' ifiillrr. AiiurU'nnisrlif. rrrrliiiiniifn, p, 4!>.'<,

• Cliivincro, >/iir;.( Ant. (/(/ Mrssiid, tniii, ii., pp. 1(1, 22, indcml hiij-h that
Trtcioiiiiii mill 'rucil/iii iirc» ' ccrtiiinly ditl'i rent.

1 Sijiiifi-'H Sn'iK'ut Syiiihiil, p 17. A piisHui,'!' wliicli iniikoH tho )irinc!piil I'lr-
iiii'iit uf tlic I'lmnu'tcr of Toti or Tocit/in tliiil of (.imlilcHH of I'iscoiil may
bi' •onilcUHi'il from AcoMtii, uh follows: Winn thi' MtxicMiis, in llitir
wuiult'i'in^'H, hud Ht'tlli'd for a titiic in llu> Iriritorv of ('i)lhum'iiii. Ilirv wcrn
iiiHtnictcti by their ^01! Iluit/ilop.K lull to ^;o fort\i inul niiikc wiirH, mul lirnt
to itpotlii'osi/)'. after his ilircctionH, 11 (iodtless of Diseord, l''ollo\vin}4 IhrHo
direi'lioiiH, they .. itt to tho kiii^ of ('tilliiia> hii for hi^« daiiKhter to be tlieir
(pUH'M. M ived by the hoii(>r, the fallier hi nt bin liuplenH duiiuhter. ^oi^i'-
oimly r.ttired, to be >nthroiied. Hut the wiley, miperHtitious, and feroeioiiH
MexieanK nlew the ^irl and tiayed her, and eloliied a voiin)^ man in lier sKiii,
(■allinf( him 'their K'xbh'KH and nuaher of tin ir );oi).' under the name of
Toeey, that in '({rand niothur.' Hue nlso ruivlius, His / 'iA/ci/iici, vol. iv.,

p. mi.

THE UOTHER-NOURISUEB.

851

whom she was the chief divinity. They greatly loved
her, believing that she did not demand human victims,
l)iit was conteiit with Howers and lVuit«, the fat banana
and the yellow maize, and small animals, such tis doves,
quails, and rabbits. Mon*, they \\o\nid that she would in
the end utterly deliver them fix>m the cruel necessity of
such sacrifices, even to the other gods.

With very difteivnt feelings, as we shall stxm see, did
the Mexicans projxjr approach this deity, making her
temples iiorrid with the tortured f(?rms of luunan sju3ri-
fices. It shows how deep the stain of the bl(HHl was in
the Mexican religious heart, how iK)isoMoiis far the odor
of it had crept through all the senses of tiu» Aztec soul,
when it coidd be l)elieved that the great sustainer, the
yellow waving maize, the very motlier of all, nmst be
fed ujwn the tk'.sa of her own children.*

To nuike comprc'hensible various allusions it seems
well here to sum up rapidly the characters given of cer-

< naviiero, Shria Ant. iM Messico, toni, i., pp. lfi-2'i; Kxprnnr'um del Cixlea
TelUriitHii- ReiiienniK, liiiii. xii., in Kiivishdrouiih's .l/cr. Antiij., vnl. v., j). 140;
>'/>ic;/(iii(>ii<* (W/e Tai'ole iM Cixlire Mifiraim, tuv. x\x., //>., p, IWI; UnmhiMl,
Knsdi /'()/i7i(/uf, U>m. i., p. 217; Nc/ioo/ccn/Tx Arrh.. vdl. vi., p. tiltl. Tin' Hiii-ri-
li(M>s to ("oiittHitl, i( hIic lit- itU'iilicitl with the t'lirth-uiotlior, iirr illiiMtrutcd
liy the Htitttiiiiunt of MoiiiUctu, Hist. A'i'/cs., \>.H\, timt tli<< Mrxii'iins |)iiiiitt'tl
the iiiirth-KoiUlcHK iiH n fron with ii liloody mouth in wi'i-y joint of \u'v liody,
( whioh fro(j wi' Hlmll ini'ct upiin hy itiul by in ii ('cnlfoM fcHtiviil) for they
Kiii'l that till* oiirth ilcvonri'il all thin^H a ]ii'oiif also, hy the )i\, unions;
ntli i'M of a like kind whii'h w«> shall oncouiilcr, that not to the llimioos aloiui
(lis Mr J. ti. MtlUiT Honi«'wln'ro utHrnis), Imt to th<> Mrxirans also, l)t'lon){('d
llic idi-a of multiplying thf orpins of tlifir dcilits to I'xpicss y,wii\ powi'is in
any Kivcn direction. Tho following noti' from tlic >/iii(/(i:i(iiir (/(//.• Tnrok
i/i/ Coilii'i' Miwhiitw, in KiwisliDroiuili'ti Mrx. .lii/iV/., vol. v., pp. 17!< HO, illus*
tritcs th(> laHt point notifi'd, ^ivcs another form or ri'l;ili(in of tlir i^oddiKs of
K'istt'nanci', and also thf oriKin of tho nanu' applied ' ■ the Mexieau
pi'leHtH: ' 'I'hoy fci^n that Maya^'iiil was a woman with f-"- ■ 'iidred lireiints,
iiiid that the ]Hnh, on aeeiuint of her fruilfulnes.'*, ehiini^it. Iicr into tlio
Maguey, which is lhi< vine of that eiuiiitry, from wl-ieli they make win".
She presidi'd over these thirteen signs', liul wlloi MM' I'haneed 1(1 lie litun on
the liiKt si),'n of till' Herlt, it proved unliii'ky to lm>' tnr t'lev say that it "Uh
a|iplled to the Tlam.u/lat/.Kuex, who were a race of demmis (iwellite^ amongst
tliiiii, who aeeiU'diii); to their iieeount wandered throii^'li the air. rimii whom
(lie minislei-H of their temples took their deiioniinatiiiii. When thin m\'1\
arrived, parents (>ujoined their ehililren not tn leave the house, lexi any mis-
(■iitune (u- unlueky aeeident should liefall fliem They lulieviil that tliose
wlio were horn in Two Canes, whieh is tin' sreoiid si'„'ti, woiiM he Imin livid,
f'lr they sny that that si^n was applii'il to hinven Tlir\ niaiiufai tnre hh
niiiny Ihinifs from this plant ealjed the .Maguey, and it is so very iiHeful in that
ciiimtry, that the devil toidc occasion to iiuluee tlicui to hi'liexe Ihal it was a
g"il, and tu worship and uflTcr HaoriUuoH vu it.'

s tS'.J,

■J tt-' ■'■

862

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

tain goddesses identical with or resembling in various
points this Centeotl, Chicomecoatl* was, according to
Sahogun, the Ceres of Mexico, and the goddess of provi-
sions, as well of what is drunk as of what is eaten. She
was represented with a crown on her head, a vase in her
right hand, and on her left arm a shield with a great
flower painted thereon; her garments and her sandals
were red.

The first of the Mexican goddesses was, following the
same authority, Cioacoatl, or (Uvacoatl, the goddess of ad-
verse things, such as poverty, downheartedness, and toil.
She appeared often in the guise of a great hidy, weariu}:;
such apparel as was used in the paUice ; she wjw also heard
at night in the air shouting and even roaring. lii'Hides licr
name Cioacoatl, which means ' snake-woman,' she wiw
known as 1\)iiant/in, that is to say, ' our mother.' Slio
was arrayed in white robes, and her hair was arranged
in front, over her forehead, in little curls that crossed
each other. It was a custom with her to c»rry a cnulh'
on her shoulders, as one that carries a child in it and
after setting it down in the market-place iM^sid*- the
other women, to disappear. When this cradW was ex-

J Sahaijun, HIM. Gen., torn, i,, lib. i., pp. r>-fi; (hillathi, in Amrr. Kthiml.
Soc, Tramacl., vol. i., jip. IWI, Iltlt-rill, coiult'iiHiiiK frmii and (•(iiiiuk iitiiin
upon tho coditH^s VikticikiiiiH und Ti'lliTiiiinm mxyn: ' 'rimiciM'iKHii. iIhk
Tuehiiiuctznl (pluckiiiK ruHo), luid CliiiMiiniM'iiiiiktl (hovcii scrju'iitK); wil- ■•'
Tonui'iitU'cotlc; tlu' ciiiim! of Htnility. finnim", imd iiiiHi'iU'M of lif-
Amon^Mt HithuKUiiV HU)i(irior doitioH, iHfouiidciviu'oiitl, tlm ' Hi'i|M'iit W'ln »ii
uIho (Milled Toiiiint/.iii, -our iiiotlu'r;' iiud he, boIxt uh hi> ih in Kcriptural
nlluHionH, chIIh Iut Ev»>, muI usoribcH to Iut, ns tlic iiit<'rpp'tt'rn [of tlii'
codiccHj to ToniktitoinKit, all thti niiHcricM iind ikIvitmi' thin^H of tln' world.
ThiM nniilo^y ix, if I iini not miHtjtkfii, tli<' only fouiulution for itll tli< hIIii-
HionH to P'vo and hor liiHtory, hcfon', dnriiii^. luul ivftir the mm, whi( Ii tin' in
torprnterH liiivi' tried to (•xtnu't from puintiiiKx wliicli indicutc nothiii)< of (If
kind. They woro ccrtuiiily misliikon in siiyiii)^ flmt tlicir Tonunicinj;.* wan
ttlwo ciillod ('hi(!oiii('('ouiitl, Ht'vru HiTptHitH. Tlu'y «lioiild liHvo Hitid t'ivuioiiH,
the Ht'i'punt woman. Cltitnuiifcoiitl, iiiittead of hciiiK tli»< cihihh of Htt-rilily,
famine, oto., in, mioordinn to Siiliii^iin, tin* i(()dd<'HH of iil>undiini'i>, tliiil wliitli
HupplicH Ixith outintf and drinking; prolmbly thu hiuiu' an T/.introtl, or (in-
teotl, tlu> KoddenH ot maize (froM cenlU, niai/.c), which hu dot'H not mcntimi.
There is no more foundition fo.' am'ribinK to Tonacacinua the name of Sui'hi-
queUal.' Gania, />«.s l'Ui!>:i.>i, pt i., p. IIH. Hayn in effeet: ("ihuai'ohuall.
or Hii.tke woman, waH MUppoHod to have ^ivun hiith to two uhildren, male
and female, whenee Hnrtinn the human raee. It in on thin aecoiint that
twinH are called in Mexiuii kxh/iiki, ' suakus, ' or iu the iiingulur uuhuati or
L'oatI, now vulgarly pronounced cuutc.

MESI0INE-O0DDES8.

amined, there wsu, f« j ^^'^

'f the divmers that pronoEi ! ^^'-^j^n^- nnd «I«^
c nldren according to tE bi?*h T" *''^' '"''tune of
al*^ that ca8t lots with ml n? • ^*'?>' ^"r^'n'M her
by looking into water fnlTr/T'^' "'««« thatm.gu ed
^•■t« of cord tied tZZ: t :^e IT f'' '^' '«*« - th
- ;"a^ot« from the mou i/or eve " H '^''^ ''"'^" ^"''">«
'» ^' "tones from other ,mr « ofX'. ^ '"^ "^*'''^*^^
J ad sweat-baths, ^.m^,4S in , Ij Y^-''^ '"'^^ those that
;;->;« ..t th. image of E^d t^i rr\ ['^''^^ '««t
''•/^mazca.teci, that i.s to Zv ,, *'^^ ''^t''''- calhng
the baths.' Herkdorersn.nl ?•'• *''« *f'-a»»«l«nother of
^.^'^^ buying a TTf^^ ""r^'^^^'''^'^'''^^te4rv
v-^tim with theo.. \ ZtZn.^''^^' ^^^^^'oratiufr "^
--'-ng they danced wtb t .n f 1' ^"'•^^'"- ^--'v
h^r dei,.at..|v. ,>ravi.K h ' t^at'l' ''"''' '""^ •^"^"'^'•
^h- ar..J atnnsui^h,.. i,, '1* '*'•>' ^'""hJ a great

Hwp nor 1,0 s^!t th. Ur^ "7 f'-/^ H'K. migh^ no"t
h'cadnd hour did come C^ i 'l***^*'" ^^'''^^ the
wo others that ar^.>m pa "^7f ''?'" '*'''• together wi h
^''•> then a man chXlT '1 ''fT.^^''««th. thev tiaved
«'>o"talI the city plS 'r*^'^^ ^ '^'"'' '"-1 went

''-identity with' fe^^^^^^^^ 'T^n''>''"''''^^ *
Koddesw was renpp«n../ !i ^ ""^ "ufticienth cl,.nr Tl •

»tiwk plum,., wiiic, i»„,„i J"- .'» ""» knct „,,„.

<^ ""i' of tho <io^h frMH^i!:; " '""; ""■■-. ....d

pi"' »■<.«. mndHl., « ,l,irt wiU, u- Ti: .""' "'"'"''I-"-

OODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINOS, AND WORSHIP.

|i
I

she held a shield with a round plate of gold in the centre
thereof; in her right hand she held a broom/

The festival in which divers of the various manifesta-
tions of the mother-goddess were honored, was held in
the beginning of the eleventh Aztec month, boning on
the 14th of September; Centeotl, or Cinteotl, or Cen-
teutl, or Tzinteutl, is however represented therein as a
male and not a female.

Fifteen days before the commencement of the festival
those that took part in it began to dance, if dancing it
could be called, in which the feet and body were hardly
moved, and in which the time was kept by raising and
lowering the hands to the beat of the drum. This went
on for eight days, beginning in the afternoon and finishing
with the set of sun, the dancers being perfectly silent,
arranged in four lines, and each having both hands full
of flowers, cut branches and all. Some of the youths,
indeed, too restless to bear the silence, imitated with
their mouths the sound of the drum ; but all were forced
to keep, as well in motion as in voice, the exactest time
and good order. On the expiration of these eight days
the medical women, both old and young, divided them-
selves into two parties, and fought a kind of mock battle
before the woman that had to die in this festival, to
amuse her and keep tears away ; for they held it of biul
augury if this miserable creature gave way to her grief,
and as a sign that many women had to die in child-
birth. This woman who was called for the time being,
' the image of the mother of the gods,' led in person the
first attack upon one of the two parties of fighters, being
accompanied by three old women that were to her as
mothers and never left her side, called respectively Aon,
Tlavitezqui, and Xocuauhtli.'' The fight consisted in
pelting each other with handfuls of red leaves, or leaven
of the noptil, or of yellow flowers called cempoakue/utl,
the same sort as had been carried by the actors in the

• mmfahorough'a Mex, Antiq,, vol. vii., pp. 3-4; Sahagun, JIM. Oen., torn.
I., lib. i., pp. 4-7.

1 Or, aodording to Bustamante'M ed., Aba, TUviteoqui, and Xoquauohtli.'
Sahagun, UM, ihn., ton. i, Ub, ii.. p. 149.

pre
whi
of 1
ovej
houi
duri

''""^^^^^^OT^O^OBD.,,.

Which wfre sulndS^l^fn '"""'"" "" ^^ro girdles f„
of the herb callS y^/'"^ g«"jds fi"ed wifh^'d^?
over, the woman thaihad to dl^ 1^ ting-match w^
house whe,^ «he was gu^J". f '^ ^ /^d back to the
during four successive da^Cf." ^^'^' ^^«« ^epeat^
^ng Toci, that is to sav '^!: ^^" ***« ^»ctim represent

went »wing1ma,«,C^vervTH '""'r "''"h.'^'l?^
"■"ving p„«<, through the Zr^! T '''« »"'"'«I, and
aje Pnests who toolf her toH^^' *« "»" ^oeivid by
«l>.<! had to be killed Th.^ .?"* ""•''^ «■« c" where

"■Idwive, consoled her- w/V?*"™' «<»"«» S
fj- night thou .h«inMt',,'»W'->'l«nd not ^,

"J^nied her with the onL^il, 'r H'"8- ^en tliev
«t"vmg „li the while toZTth^f f 'J"? ««''''-■»' T«f
W<.gro„„d, that she mighf 1' f^'.-^''" ''»«' in S
knowmgit. At midniS 1 1 d A"'^'''-''''^ ""J without
« cough breaking the sZll °,''™»<^88. not so much Z
«">plc.-top, and faugl t upsS^ftt" """■ '"^ '» «■« "y
"'«;^ There was h^ly ^ ^'"^ ™ ">« »'«.uldcrs of {
»f deluged with blood whiK' ''^'' '^'■"w felt him-
«". fospatch, and fl«v^' Z^J^^ *«» l«headod wUh
""gh» was first taken S'^^ •''"!• ^''« «"<"' "f the
Pfwntly revealed to LlT^*^' *" " P'"-l'ose to Ke
"" of Toci. With th„ " •'^ C^'teotl, who was tli^

-Uwop.rs..„s,whohad';:^:.?-^V:i^t''™

366 OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

this service, and behind came several other priests. In
front there ran a number of principal men and soldiers,
armed with besoms of blood-stained grass, who looked
back from time to time, and struck their shields as if
provoking a fight; these he pretended to pursue with
great fury, and all that saw this play (which was called
GocacaUi) feared and trembled exceedingly. On reach-
ing the cu of Uuitzilopochtli, the Toci priest spread out
his arms and stood like a cross before the image of the
war god ; this he did four times and then went on to the
cu of Centeotl, whither, as we remember, the skin of the
thighs of the flayed woman had been sent. This skin
of the thighs another young priest, representing the god
Centeotl, son of Toci, had put on over his fiice like a
mask, in addition to this loathsome veil, he wore a
jacket of feathers and a hood of feathers attached to the
jacket. This hood ran out into a peak of a spiral form
falling behind ; and the back-bone or spine of this spiral
resembled the comb of a cock ; this hood was called ytz-
tlacdiuhqiii, that is to say ' god of frost.'

The Toci priest and the Centeotl priest next went to-
gether to the cu of Toci, where the first waited for
the morning (for all this already described took
place at night) to have certain trappings put on over
liis horrid under-vest. When the morning broke,
amid the chanting of the singers, all the principiil
men, who had been waiting below, ran witli great
swiftness up the steps of the temple ctirrying their
oflterings. Some of these princijMil men began to cover
the feet and the head of the Toci priest with the white
downy inner feathers of the eagle; others painted his
face red; others put on him a rather short shirt with
the figure of an eagle wrought or woven into the breii-st
of it, and certain {minted iK»ttic«)at8 ; others l)ehejuled
quails and offered copal. All this done quickly, thewe
men took their departure.

Then were brought forth and put on the T(x;i [)rie8t
all his rich vestures, and a kind of 8<i|uare crown very
wide above and ornamented with five little bainier8, one

in<

oth(

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the I

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enemy's

bdilt. '

the thig

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thin cere

territory,

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After t

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''ht' king

^kin and f

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*!•!

THE SKIN-BEABEBS.

in each corner, and ir. ♦!. ^^

^«n After ,hia'^Se^t'",«»"Pete ,|,e «ork M
for the ou of the latter C* J'"" «'«' t^eMeotl prfert
y there walked « Ltl „^T^ "f «.cse aK
•/««»», decorated wit'h m™*^ ""f" "Jovotees, i
'"ith twisted pBDer „„ '?^'*'*' 8"^ for breach?! .

-"«PM I«per'"CndTi;r"\''L "«''' 'l^lt"!
twisted cottoh. On .i»h "•?''"'''■ "nd tossels „T..
that sold lime" in Vh" '"'7 «"'<' «'«> thereT™, li.'""

-ving to the "ntel^ •"".""> "Si: ISeT
'•™""- Having come .„,!,*, P"'""'"«n<i the Lr "f

''" ihiJhtTf "1^ '^^^ <^'«l'dtft1h"'f '""

"«' btick of his Beat „«! !i. ^^' '""^ « tiwr-fiki,. ^

•H.. I. H t.f rood. "-" ^» 'he Preparntbu of „..i,, ,„, .

858 GODS. 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

yard of the temple of Toci ; and all who had received
presents, as above, repaired thither. This dancing, as in
the first part of the festival, consisted for the most part
in keeping time to the beat of the drum with hands filled
with flowers; so that the whole court looked like a liv-
ing garden; and there was so much gold, for the king
and all the princes were there, that the sun flashed
through all as on water. This l)egan at mid-day and
went on for two days. On tlie evening of the second
day, the priests of the goddess Chicomecoatl, clothed
with the skins of the captives that had died in a former
day, ascended a small cu called the table of Huitzilo-
pochtli and sowed maize of all kinds, white and yellow and
red, and calabash-seeds, upon the heads of the people
that were below. The people tried to gather up these as
they fell, and elbowed each other a good deal. The
damsels, called cioatlainacazque, that served the goddess
Chicomeccatl, carried each one on her shoulder, rolled in
a rich mantle, seven ears of maize, HtrijHjd with melted
ulli and wrapped in white paper; their legs and nrmH
were decorated with feathers sprinkled over with mar-
casite. These sang with the priest of their goddess.
This done, one of the priests descended from the above-
mentioned cu of Huitzilopochtii, carrying in his hund a
large basket filled with powdered chalk and feather-dowii,
which he set in a small chamber, or little cave, called com--
alpan, between the temple-stairs and the temple itself.
This cavity was reached from below by four or five steps,
and when the basket was put down there was a general
rush of the soldiers to be first to secure some of the contents.
Every one, as he got his hands filled, with much ellww-
ing, returned running to the place whence he had set
out. All this time the Toci priest had been l(X)kiiig on,
and now he pretended to chase those that ran, while they
pelted him back with the down and ]x)vv(lered chalk
they had in their hands; the king himself running; a
little way and pelting him like the rest. After this
fashion they all ran away from him and left him alone.
except some priests, who followed him to a place called

THE XttONEN FESTIVAL

Tocititlan, when he took off th. t- ' . "*

woman and hung it uVin a I tH A'"/^ *^« ««crifieed
taking care that its aL *"® ^»* *hat was thA~.

ZM'"'r'^^'^S4:t^^ -' »<> s

tli»t the head was cat off liT ""^ "« not reaH

which teminated he" i?5? ''!''r™ <"■ *« fttauS
or atreet. And C „„ IC? '."'T' «<"«»^ the S
the feaat of Ochj^nl^tir" "^ ""' "'^ *« ce"=momr:i-

«hown by the fact thatTnX i"f n' "'* CentitiS
the goddess Xilonen tt.^ ^.- '^'^'ed to resemble
>nenc«l on theelevS d»?rfth?"-^t,'.,°( Xilo„e„^„!
"hich month begins rftelBth'?''?' ,*'«*'<»» mont"
was made to resemble the ima,fi.°.f •''''^- ^e vict m
her face painted yollovtt^T '^*'' ^^'^ h having
trow red. On h'^r h:^".»<«'"Jown„ard,^„SSt?
four corners, from the „ • P"' * """wn of paner «ri.k

".any P'.™^ Itdt "nrk'*? °^ «''-^'-"*
hung strings of precioi,«.r™","'^ "''«'• her brensh,

"Tiously wrougbt^the laMer^"^!"?""'" «""'ak were

P"herleaann,visashieH ^'''l..'''''' "^ ""P^

- to^dS' r '^'-»-. l»inXl oV^?'" '•""'' ^'«
'"r to death danc nc round h^/ ,:. ^'"-' women led

'""CH men da„4l S'^',,""'' *''« prio'ts and thi

&T ?« priest »twS,^"'"« '"<*"* «-
«d on bis shoulders a bunch rf fc T "1 «*«=«"oner
the grip of an eagle's talnl^. ..^^^'hora held there in
F'ests carried thThollow ZllS'trJ' '"«'««=r of the
often mentioned. At hTf.^^.L*"*^ ""h rattles so
yter stopped in fmnt of .ITym """" "f Cent.H,tMI,*
"^nse befo., her~md '^f.^^''"""' w""'"", --"ttea^

'- "'.""He™ U:t",HrsiS, r "oi.'':,'r f"'"'

1 p. iM 60. fP- w w, Sahagun, Uiat. Oen., tom.

860

OOD8. 8UPEBNATURAL BEIN08, AND WORSHIP.

51!

altar her heart was cut out through her breast, and put
into a cup. After that there wa» more dancing, in
which the women, old and young, took part in a body by
themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red ma-
caw feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted
with marcasite. There was also a banquet of small
pies called xocotamaUi, during which to the old men and
women license was given to drink pulque ; the young,
however, being restrained from the bacchanalian part of
this enjoyment by severe and sometimes capital punish-
ment.*'

Lastly, the intimate connection or identity of Centeotl
with the earth-mother, the all-nourisher, seems clearly
symbolized in the feast of the fourth month of the Mexi-
cans, which began on the 27th of April. In it they
made a festival to the god of cereals, under the name of
Centeotl, and to the goddess of provisions, called Chico-
mecoatl. First they fasted four days, putting certain
rushes or water-flags beside the images of the gods, stain-
ing the white part of the bottom of each rush with blood
drawn from their ears or legs ; branches too, of the kind
called acxoiatl^ and a kind of bed or mattress of hay
were put before the altars. A sort of porridge of maize
called maaamorra was also made and given to the youths.
Then all walked out into the country, and through the
maize-fields, carrying stalks of maize, and other herbs
called mecoatl. With these they strewed the image of
the god of cereals that every one had in his house, and
they put papers on it and food before it of various kinds;
five chiguivites,^^ or baskets, of tortillas, and on the top
of each chiquivitl a cooked frog, a basket of chian^'^ flour,
which they call p'moUi ; " and a basket of toasted maize
mixed with beans. They cut also a joint from a green
maize-stalk, stuffed the little tube with morsels of every

'• IRngOxmnigh's Mm. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 60-1; Sahaqxm, inst.Qm., torn.

I., lib. ii.', pp. 135-9; Claviqero, Storla Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., p. 75; 3'or-

qutnutda, Alonarq. Iml., torn, ii., pp. 2G0-71.

'■ Chiquiiiitl, cesto <i canasta. Atol'via, VocalndaHo,

I" Chiiin, 6 Chia, ciurta semilla do que Hacnn azeite. Id,

11 Pinolli, la barina de mayz y ohia, antes que la deslian. Id.

HMSBWO THE tEED-mna.

o^o°{;j?k^?^?^:;^«»t./«K, and s^H^Sy
house, and in the aSnoon » 1 ,v '' T '"'' '» '■« owj
carried to Ae cu «f th^3^' *?lf*'"''^ ""''^ *^
toke who toke could • svSi,- " ' «*"«"'' scramble

commiaariat much adv<^Mlf„ *''''^"«"'<""»''«on'>I
m..sb, ™vage and civiliSd ^ "*"^ P"""™' econo-

"I-lMrently the ^" j '? l"^"". ''•>' "-^i"' to a cu^
»"ed the cu 0f"chCmSr2 ''",'p"'''* » h^^
maidens carried on their »S "^ "'^ Centeotl. The
ca;. of com apiec^/sp i;^ wTkT """^ ">'»' ^c en
and wrapped fi«t i'n ^ZTand h ''"^ °'" »" "f "'«,
'cg» and arms of these^vi? "'*'" "• » cloth. The
fcathera, and their fLf "*"* """Rented with r«?
called <%W?a d Skw"' 'T^^ ""h the Pi^
went along C this biZ«'?^".K "'•■"^"«- AsCy
*c them pass, but itTv^ tuiS!" r*"'" """ded tj
Sometimes indeed an iJ^Sbt '".r"'' «» «''«'»•
out into ivords of admiraH^r ^"'"h would break

Pitoh-besmeared f,^ b^.T. "■■ '"^^ toward someS
»ift from one oTihe llH ? »""»■«'• e»me sha™p „^d

y»""gcr, in some such flir"""'..'"" ""••"'ed the
»Pcakest,r«wco,varfr "J^hmn as this: And so thou

«■?' of performing ^mema^w'".*''*'',''"'^ «''? Thi^k
t""' of hair at the n«« „f f/""'' »'«' ««' "■i of that
coward and the go^"ff„l •"'•>' "«'' "'at marks Xe
'peak he.^, thou"^ t muchTw " '^ ""' '•" "-ee to
hast never come out fromt.! • 7"","" ■" ' am; thou

young lovers of TeZhtS^n'"'' ""^ «"=■' But the
"Pnngalls among th^m 'much T ■"" »"'»•" i"«ole„t
retorts like the fdS""'^,,f ™» «» rude gibe.,, aTd
«;« with thanks, I wfii do ".T • ""^ '*'>' ' "^'ve
- take - to'showl,tf"lla;-'J'rr ■"^''

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862 OODS. SUFEBNATUBAL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIP.

I value two cacao-beans more than you and all your
lineage; put mud on your body, and scratch yourself;
fold one leg over the other and roll in the dust; see!
here is a rough stone, knock your face against it ; and if
you want anything more take a red-hot coal and burn a
hole in your throat to spit through ; for God's sake, hold
your peace.

This the 3*oung fellows said, writes Sahagun, to show
their courage; and so it went, give and take, till the
maize was carried to the cu and blessed. Then the
folk returned to their houses and sanctified maize was
put in the bottom of every granary, and it was said
that it was the heart thereof, and it remained there till
taken out for seed. These ceremonies were specially in
honor of the goddess Chicomecoatl. She supplied pro-
visions, she it was that had made all kinds of maize and
frijoles, and whatsover vegetables could be enten, and all
sorts of chia; and for this they made her that festival
with offerings of food, and with songs and dances, and
with the blood of quails. All the ornaments of her attire
were bright red and curiously wrought, and in her
hands they put stalks of maize.*'

The Mexicans deified, under the name Cioapipilti,
all women that died in child-bed. There were ora-
tories raised to their honor in every ward that had two
streets. In such oratories, called cioatmcaUl or ciateujimn,
there were kept images of these goddesses adorned with
certain papers called arnatetevUl. The eighth movable
feast of the Mexican calendar was dedicated to them,
falling in the sign Cequiahuitl, in the first house; in this
feast were slain in their honor all lying in the jails under
pain of death. These goddesses were said to move
through the air at pleasure, and to appear to whom they
would of those that lived upon the earth, and sometimes
to enter into and possess them. They were accustomed
to hurt children with various infirmities, especially paral-

» King^HMTOuqh'a Mw. ArMq., Tol. rii., pp. 4S-4; Sahaqvm, IR»t. Otn., torn,
i., lib. ii., pp. 97-l()0; Chvi'itro, Storla Ant. del Mimko, torn, ii., p. 67; Tor-
yuontada, Mvmrq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 6U-3, UU-1, 134, 163 -a, 181, !.66-0.

THE MOTHEB-OODDESS AND WOMAN IN CHILD-BED. 863

ysis and other sudden diseases. Their favorite haunt
on earth was the cross-roads, and, on certain days of the
year, people would not go out of their houses lor fear of
meeting them. They were propitiated in their temples
and at the cross-roads by offerings of bread kneaded into
various shapes, — into figures of butter-flies and thunder-
bolts for example, — by offerings of small tamales, or
pies, and of toasted maize. Their images, besides
the papers above mentioned, were decorated by having
the face, arms, and legs painted very white; their ears
were made of gold ; their hair was dressed like that of
ladies, in little curls; the shl^t was painted over with
black waves; the petticoats were worked in divers colors;
the sandals were white.

The mother-goddess, under the form of the serpent-
woman, Cioacoatl, or Ciuacoatl, or Cihuacoatl, or, lastly,
Quilaztli, seems to have been held as the patroness of
women in child-bed generally, and, especially, of those
that died there. When the delivery of a woman was
likely to be tedious and dangerous, the midwife ad-
dressed the patient saying: Be strong, my daughter; we
can do nothing for thee. Here are present thy mother
and thy relations, but thou alone must conduct this busi-
ness to its termination. See to it, my daughter, my well-
beloved, that thou be a strong and valiant and manly
woman ; be like her who first bore children, like Cioa-
coatl, like Quilaztli. And if still after a day and a
night of labor the woman could not bring forth, the mid-
wife took her away from all other persons and brought
her into a closed room and made many prayers, calling
upon the goddess Cioacoatl, and upon the goddess Yoal-
ticitV and upon other goiddesses. If, notwithstanding

I* Yoaltlottl, another name of the mother-goddeM, of the mother of tho

?|odB, of the mother of u> all, of our grand-mother or anoeHtreHH; more pitr-
loularly that form of the mother-godcieHa deRoribed, after Hahagun (this vol.
p. 3fi3), ai being the patroneaa of medicine and of dootora and of the aweat-
Datha. Hahagun apeaka in another paaaage of Yoaltiuitl (KingiAorough'B
Mtx. Antiq., vol. v., p. 463) : La madre de loa DioaeR, que da la Dioaa de laa
medioinaa y mediooa, y i% madre de todoa noaotroa, la cual ae llama Yoalti-
oitl, la (lual tieue poder j autoridad aobre loa Temaioalea (aweat-batha) que
Human Xttohioalli, en el qual lugar eat* Dioaa y6 laaooaaa aeoretaa, y adereau

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8M OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINOS, AND WOBSHIP.

all, however, the woman died, they gave her the title,
mociaquezgui, that is ' valiant woman,' and they washed
all her body, and washed with soap her head and her
hair. Her husband lifted her on his shoulders, and,
with her long hair flowing loose behind him, carried her
to the place of burial. All the old midwives accom-
panied the body, marching with shields and swords, and
shouting as when soldiers close in the attack. They
had need of their weapons, for the body that they
escorted was a holy relic which many were eager to win;
and a party of youths fought with these Amazons to take
their treasure from them : this fight was no play but a
very bone-breaking earnest. The burial procession set
out at the setting of the sun and the corpse was interred
in the court-yard of the cu of the goddesses, or celestial
women called Cioapipilti. Four nights the husband
and his friends guarded the grave and four nights the
youths, or rawest and most inexperienced soldiers,
prowled like wolves about the little band. If, either
from the fighting midwives or from the night-watchers,
they succeeded in securing the body, they instantly cut
off the middle finger of the left hand and the hair of
the head ; either of these things being put in one's shield,
made one fierce, brave, invincible in war, and blinded
the eyes of one's enemies. There prowled also round
the sacred tomb certain wizards, called temamacpalitoti-
que, seeking to hack off and stenl the whole left arm of
the dead wife ; for tliey held it to be of mighty potency
in their enchantments, and a thing that when they went
to a house to work their malice thereon, would wholly
take away the courage of the inmates, and dismay them
so that they could neither move hand nor foot, though
they saw all that passed.

The death of this woman in child-bed was mourned
by the midwives, but her parents and relations were
joyful thereat ; for they said that she did not go to hades,
or the under-ground world, but to the western part of

\ii% OOMM deBoonoerkadas eu los ouerpot de loa hombrei, y fortifloa las ooiiaa
titraa* y blandav.

THE HOUSE OF THE SUN.

865

the House of the Sun. To the eastern part of the House of
the Sun, as the ancients said, were taken up all the
soldiers that died in war. When the sun rose in the
morning these brave men decorated themselves in their
panoply of war, and accompanied him towards the mid-
heaven, shouting and fighting, apparently in a sham or
review battle, until they reached the point of noon-
day, which was called nepantlatonatiuh. At this point
the heroines, whose home was in the west of heaven, the
mocloaquezque, the valiant women, dead in child-bed, who
ranked as equal with the heroes fallen in war, met these
heroes and relieved them of their duty as guards of
honor of the sun. From noon till night, down the
western slope of light, while the forenoon escort of war-
riors were scattered through all the fields and gardens of
heaven, sucking flowers till another day should call
them anew to their duty, the women, in panoply of war,
just as the men had been, and fighting like them with
clashing shields and shouts of joy, bore the sun
to his setting; carrying him on a litter of quetzaks, or
rich feathers, called the quetzal-apanecaiutl. At this
setting-place of the sun the women were, in their turn,
relieved by those of the under world, who here came out
to receive him. For it was reported of old by the
ancients that when night began in the upper world the
sun began to shine through hades, and that thereupon
the deaid rose up from their sleep and bore his shin-
ing litter through their domain. At this hour too the
celestial women, released from their duty in heaven,
scattered and poured down through the air upon the
earth, where, with a touch of the dear nature that makes
the world kin, they are described as looking for spindles
to spin with, and shuttles to weave with, and all the old
furniture and implements of their house-wifely pride.
This thir.g, says Sahagun, " the devil wrought to deceive
withal, for very often, in the form of those women, he
appeared to their bereaved husbands, giving them petti-
coats and shirts."
Very beautiful was the form of address before burial

866

GODS, SUPEBNATDBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

used by the midwife to the dead woman who had taken
rank among the mocioaquezqm or mocwaqueiza : woman,
strong and warlike, child well-beloved, valiant one,
beautiful and tender dove, strong hast thou been and
toil-enduring as a hero; thou hast conquered, thou hast
done as did thy mother the lady Cioacoatl, or Quilaztli.
Very valiantly hast thou fought, stoutly hast thou
handled the shield and the spear that the great mother
put in thine hand. Up with thee! break from sleep!
behold it is already day; already the red of morning
shoots through the clouds; already the swallows and all
birds are abroad. Rise, my daughter, attire thyself, go
to that good land where is the house of thy father and
mother the Sun; thither. let thy sisters, the celestial
women, carry thee, they that are always joyful and
merry and filled with delight, because of the Sun with
whom they take pleasure. My tender daughter and
lady, not without sore travail hast thou gotten the glory
of this victory ; a great pain and a hard penance hast
thou undergone. Well and fortunately hast thou pur-
chased this death. Is this, peradventure, a fruitless
death, and without great merit and honor? Nay, verily,
but one of much honor and profit. Who receives other
such great mercy, other such happy victory as thou? for
tliou hast gained with thy death eternal life, a life full
of joy and delight, with the goddesses called Cioapipilti,
the celestial goddesses. Go now, my lady, my well-
beloved ; little by little advance toward them ; be one of
them, that they may receive thee and be always with
thee, that thou mayest rejoice and be glad in our father
and mother the Sun, and accompany him whithersoever
he wish to take pleasure. my lady, my well-beloved
daughter, thou hast left us behind, us old people, un-
worthy of such glory ; thou hast torn thyself away from
thy father and mother, and departed. Not indeed of
thine own will, but thou wast called ; thou didst follow
a voice that called. We must remain orphans and for-
lorn, old and luckless and poor; mitery will glorify it-
self in U8. my lady, thou hast left us here that we

CHALCHIHUrrUCUE.

867

mfty go from door to door and through the streets in
poverty and sorrow; we pray thee to remember us
where thou art, and to provide for the poverty that
we here endure. The sun wearies us with his great
heat, the air with its coldness, and the frost with
its torment. All these things afflict and grieve our
miserable earthen bodies; hunger is lord over us, and
we can do nothing against it. My well-beloved, 1 pray
thee to visit us since thou art a valorous woman and a
lady, since thou art settled forever in the place of delight
and blessedness, there to live and be forever withj our
Lord. Thou seest him with thine eyes, thou speakest to
him with thy tongue, pray to him for us, entreat him
that he favor us, and therewith we shall be at rest."

Chalchihuitlicue or Chalchiuhcyeje is described by
Clavigero as the goddess of water and the mate of Tla-
loc. She had other names relating to water in its differ-
ent states, as Apozonallotl and Acuecuejotl, which mean
the swelling and fluctuation of water; Atlacamani, or
the storms excited thereon; Ahuic and Aiauh, or its
motion, now to one side, now to the other ; and Xixiqui-
pilihui, the alternate rising and falling of the waves.
The Tlascaltecs called her Matlulcueje, that is 'clothed
in a green robe ;' and they gave the same name to the
highest mountain of Tlascala, on whose summit are found
those stormy clouds which generally burst over the city
of Puebla. To that summit the Tlascaltecs ascended
to perform their sacrifices, and offer up their prayers.
This is the very same goddess of water to whom Tor-
quemada gives the name of Hochiquetzal, and Boturini
that of Macuilxochiquetzalli."

Of the accuracy of the assertions of this last sen-
tence I am by no means certain; Boturini and Tor-
quemada both describe their goddess of water with-
out giving any support thereto. Boturini says that

" Kingiiborow)K'$ Mas, AtMg,, vol. vii., pp. 6, 85, vol. t., pp. 450-3;
Sahagun, Hiat. Om., torn, i., lib. i., pp. 8-9, Ub. 11., pp. 78-9; torn. 11., lib.
Tl., pp. 186-191. I

li CUtvigtro, Storia Ant.d^ Mtuioo, torn. 11., p. 16.

868

aODS. SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AMD WOBSHIP.

she was metaphorically called by the Mexicans the
goddess of the Petticoat of Precious Stones, — chal-
chihuites, as it would appear from other authorities,
being meant, — and that she was represented with
large pools at her feet, and symboli/ed by certain
reeds that grow in moist places. She was par-
ticularly honored by fishermen and others whose trade
connected them with water, and great ladies were ac-
customed to dedicate to her their nuptials — probably,
as will be seen immediately, because this goddess had
much to do with certain lustral ceremonies performed
on new-born children."

Many names, writes Torquemada, were given to this
goddess, but that of Chalchihuitlicue r;as the most com-
mon and usual ; it meant to say, ' petticoat of water, of
a shade between green and blue,' that is, of the color of
the stones called chalchihuites.* She was the com-
panion, not the wife of Tlaloc, for indeed as our author
affirms, the Mexicans did not think so grossly of their
gods and goddesses as to marry them.*^

According to Sahagun, Chalchihuitlicue was the sister
of the Tlalocs. She was honored because she had power
over the ivaters of the sea and of the rivers to drown

>• Boturini, Idta, pp. 25-6.

*> ' The stones called chakhiuites by the Mexioaiia (and written varionsly
ehalehibetea, chalchihuia, and calchihuis, by the chroniolera) were esteemed of
high value by all the Central American and Mexican nations. They were
generally of green quartz, jade, or the stone known as madrt de Esmeralda
. . . .The god^as of wnter, amongst the Mexicans, bore the name of ChcUchiuU-
mtye, the woman of the (7Aa{cAuit(cs, and the name of Chalchiuihapan was
often applied to the city of Tlaxcalla, from a beaatifnl fountain of water
found near it, 'the color of which,' according to Torquemada, 'was
between blue and green.' ' Squier in Palaeio, Carta, p. 110, note 16. In
the same work p. 63, we find mention made by Falacio of an idol ap-
parently representing Chalchihuitlicue: 'Verr near here, is a little village
called Coatac, in the neighborhood of which is a lake [" This lake is distant
two leagues to the southward of the present considerabte town of Qvatepequt,
from which it takes its name, Jjoguna de Ovateput "—Guatemala], situated
on the flank of the volcano. Its water is bad; it is deep, and full of cay-
mans. In its middle there are two small islands. The Indians regard the
lake as an oracle of much authority. . . I learned that certain negroes and
mulattos of an adjacent estate had been there [on the islands], and had
found a great idol of stone, in the form of a woman, and some objeots which
had been offered in sacrifTce. Near by were found aome ttonea oalled cAa«'-
ohibitea:

*i Torquemada, Monarq. btd , torn, ii., p. 47.

'i>OL OP CHALCHlHUnXrODE.

>n4- J-

those that w^nf a . '889

-•.W«nd,"'S 'r^t'T/".™- *»"?««., and

s^wrax:^-:;!:;^^^^^

vlarto. Th^AM. • n"'* ^®' onennfar flnr «i-

mmMPMm

...»., unos fdoIoB de estns r.^„ ^* ""» pueblo de I.i i „ ' ^ *■"'"» ''ecinn
Voi,.iu. 3« **^' ''«««ic/, vol. i.,

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

points baptism among Christians. It would seem that
two of these lustrations were practiced upon every in-
fant, and the first took place immediately upon its birth.
When the midwife had cut the umbilical cord of the
child, then she washed it, and while washing it said,
varying her address according to its sex: My son, ap-
proach now thy mother, Chalchihuitlicue, the goddess of
water; may she see good to receive thee, to wash thee,
and to put away from thee the filthiness that thou takest
from thy father and mother; may she see good to purify
thine heart, to make it good and clean, and to instill
into thee good habits and manners.

Then the midwife turned to the water itself and spoke:
Most compassionate lady, Chalchihuitlicue, here has come
into the world this thy servant, sent hither by our
father and mother, whose names are Ometecutli and
Omecioatl,** who live on the ninth heaven, which is the
place of the habitation of the gods. We know not what
are the gifts that this infant brings with it ; we know
not what was given to it before the beginning of the
world ; we know not what it is, nor what mischief and
vice it brings with it taken from its father and mother.
It is now in thine hands, wash and cleanse it as thou know-
est to be necessary ; in thine hands we leave it. Purge
it from the filthiness it inherits from its father and its
mother, all spot and defilement let the water carry away
and undo. See good, our lady, to cleanse and purify
its heart and life that it may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in this world ; for indeed we leave this creature in
thine hands, who art mother and lady of the gods, and
alone worthy of the gift of cleansing that thou has held
from befor** the beginning of the world ; see good to do
as we have entreated thee to this child now in thy pre-
sence.

Then the midwife spake agiun ; I pray thee to receive
this child here brought before thee. This said, the mid-
wife took water and blew her breath upon it, and gave
to taste of it to the babe, and touched the babe with it

M 8e« this Yol., p. 68, note 16.

saic

thy

tiah

beai

wor]

and

mam

thee

from

thyf]

ing8(

it up,

stone,

shape(

that a

wert I

oati, il

hast c(

trouble

wind, 1

tears; i

than a

hold th

hast coi

thy rest

and sup

midwife

The

on the fi

gers and

not prop

good sigr

hoy, begf

arrows;

toward

were also

TWO LUSTBATIONS OB BAPTISMS

371

on the breast and on the top of the head. Then she
Raid : My well-beloved son, or daughter, approach here
thy mother and father, Ghalchihuitiicue and Chalchihui-
tlatonac ; let now this goddess take thee, for she has to
bear thee on her shoulders and in her arms through this
world. Then the midwife dipped the child into water
and said : Enter, my son, into the water that is called
mamatiac and tia^kc', let it wash thee; let him cleanse
thee that is in every place, let him see good to put away
from thee all the evil that thou hast carried with thee
from before the beginning of the world, the evil that
thy father and thy mother have joined to thee. Hav-
ing so washed the creature, the midwife then wrapped
it up, addressing it the while as follows: precious
stone, rich feather, emerald, O sapphire, thou wert
shaped where abide the great god and the great goddess
that are above the heavens; created and formed thou
wert by thy mother and father, Ometecutli and Omeci-
oatl, the celestial woman and the celestial man. Thou
hast come into this world, a place of many toils and
troubles, of intemperate heat and intemperate cold and
wind, a place of hunger and thirst, of weariness and of
tears; of a verity we cannot say that this world is other
than a place of weeping, of sadness, of vexation. Be-
hold thy lot, weariness and weeping and tears. Thou
hast come, my well-beloved, repose then and take here
thy rest; let our Lord that is in every place provide for
and support thee. And in saying all these things the
midwife spake softly, as one that prays.

The second lustration or baptism, usually took place
on the fifth day after birth, but in every case the astrolo-
gers and diviners were consulted, and if the signs were
not propitious, the baptism was postponed till a day of
good sign came. The ceremony, when the child was a
boy, began by bringing to it a little shield, bow, and
arrows; of which arrows there were four, one pointing
toward each of the four points of the world. There
were also brought a little isiiield, bow, and arrows, made
of paste or dough of wild amaranth seeds, and a pottagie

872

GODS. 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINQS. AND WORSHIP.

of beans and toasted maize, and a little breech-clout and
blanket or mantle. The poor in such cases had no more
than the little shield, bow, and arrows, tq^ether with some
tamales and toasted maize. When the child was a girl,
there were brought to it, instead of mimic weapons, cer-
tain woman's implements and tools for spinning and
weaving, the spindle and distaff, a little shirt and petti-
coats. These things being prepared, suiting the sex of
the infant, its parents and relatives assembled before
sunrise. When the sun rose the midwife asked for a
new vessel full of water; and she took the child in her
hands. Then the by-standers carried all the implements
and utensils already mentioned into the court-yard of
the house, where the midwife set the face of the child
toward the west, and spake to the child saying:
grandson of mine, O eagle, tiger, valiant man,
thou hast come into the world, sent by thy father and
mother, the great Lord and the great lady ; thou wast
created and begotten in thy house, which is the place of
the supreme gods that are above tbe nine heavens. Thou
art a gift from our son Quetzalcoatl, who is in every
place; join thyself now to thy mother, the goddess of
water, Chalchihuitlicue.

Then the midwife gave the child to taste of the water,
putting her moistened fingers in its mouth, and said :
Take this; by this thou hast to live on the earth, to
grow and to Hourish ; through this we get all things ttuit
support existence on the earth ; receive it. Then with
her moistened fingers she touched the breast of the child,
and said: Behold the pure water that washes and
cleanses thine heart, that removes oV filthiness; receive
it ; may the goddess see good to purify and cleanse thine
heart. Then the midwife poured water upon the head
of the child saying: my grandson, my son, take this
water of the Lord of the world, which is thy life, in-
vigorating and refreshing, washing and cleansing. I
pray that this celestial water, blue and light bhie, may
enter into thy body and there live ; I pray that it may
destroy in thee and put away from thee all the things

evil

ninj

are

chill

and

inti

thy8(

born

is it

of Wfl

lifted

said:

sent t

world.

tion, i

thee tl

and se

time t

mother

thee I (

spire M

give an

PBAYEB TO THE EABTH-MOTHEB.

evil and adversp f hnf ^

ning of the wo^d 27h«'T *•>«» More the beirin

ch.huitlicue. Hwii^g „;*&,»« ;r "Other Chlu
!>nd «, sMken, the midwifeS Wh "^^ ""■ «'« "hiW
n th,8 child, thou hurtfuUhL S'"*'*'r'' "«»' "rt

"•ft^'t h'eThffd'T a^t" h "If "'»''-■ *« """wife
«"d: Lord, behoMher^^thv „ .'"""'^ '""'^o" «^
«•■> o this pl^ of LwS T"*'"^ """ 'hou hat
wrid. Give it, o Q »Vf '".'A""' "^ '"*""»!', to tS
hon. fi>"«much;sthou„t?if.^^''»'> "'»'e i..»p !
"7 the great goddei TheJ thT"-/"^; "■"' ''«"' ^th

r-^ with thy virte wtt^L"^' I P™y «'ee t.^ i,^

«'-»<'toi„.iiiti;rtirc„riitx^.to

'^ See note 24 • Entra i Tk

;i'<",<H visible, e inv Hible i.,fl^,'"'\*l'"»» '"f«ncJ^ de m' ?X•''''l'^""' "'•'^•"»

-IS ineliiiacioneH nahiml!'« "^"*'" •^» t«dn.s las Ani.nn '"' -"^ '"d<> "'luWIo

•' "''icionaJes; v m o"™-T','l"« ^««>08 aver en odai i • ■''"'' ^'""»'nn t,„l„"

'" 'Jx'lio, esta nnn^claro l2 I'*'* '"" <""«8 criarfas ""iy"'''V'» '<'« oonve„i«

5''' l"s qnaies ^i v „^„„' «™» doB (convieno A s,E ' T" '*""l"e rPKmi.

874 GODS, 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINQS, AND WORSHIP.

wife stooped agaii? and set the child on the ground, and
raised it the third time toward heaven, and said : our
Lord, god and goddess celestial, that are in the heavens,
behold this creature ; see good to pour into it thy virtue
and thy breath, so that it may live upon the earth.
Then a fourth and last time the midwife set the babe
upon the ground, a fourth time she lifted it toward
heaven, and she spake to the sun and said : our Lord,
Sun, Totonametl, Tlaltecutli, that art our mother and our
father, behold this creature, which is like a bird of pre-
cious plumage, like i zaquan or a guechutl;^ thine, our
Lord the Sun, he is ; thou who art valiant in war and
painted like a tiger in black and gray, he is thy creature
and of thine estate and patrimony. For this he was
born, to serve thee and to give thee food and drink; he
is of the family of warriors and soldiers that fight on
the field of battle.

Then the midwife took the shield, and the bow and

<* (^'^quantototl, pasaro de phima amarillo y rica. Molina, Vocabulario.
Accordiiigjto Bnstamaute however, this bird is not one in any way remark-
ablo for pluuiage, but is identical with the Uacua described by Clavigero, and
is here used as an example of a vigilant and active soldier. Bustaniuute (in
a note to Sahagun, Hist. Oen., torn, ii., lib. vi., pp. 194-5) writes: Tzavm,
of this bird repeated mention has been made in this history, for the Indians
used it for a means of comparison or simile in their s^ieeches. It is nn enrly-
rising bird (madrugador), and has nothing notable in its plumage or iu its
voice, but only in its habits. This bird is one of the last to go to rest at
night and one of the first to announce the coming sun. An hour before day-
break a bird of this species, having passed the night with many of his ft'l-
lows on any branch, begins to call them, with a shrill clear note that he
keeps repeating in a glad tone till some of them reply. The ttamin is about
the size of a sparrow, and very similar in color to the bunting (culandria),
but more marvellous in its habits. It is a social bird, each tree is n tnwii uf
many nests. One ttaoua plays the part of chief and guards the rest; his post
is in the top of the tree, whence, from time to time, he flies from nest to lu'st
uttering his notes; and while he is visiting a nest all within are silent. If
he sees any bird of another species approaching the tree he sallies out U) ou
the invader and with lieak and wings compels a retreat. But if he st>es a
man or any Ltrge object advancing, he flies screaming to a neighboring
tree, and, meeting other birds of his tribe flying homeward, he obliges tliciii
to retire by changing the tone of his note. When the danger is over lie re-
turns to his tree and begins his rounds as before, from nest to nest. Tzacnas
abound in Michoacan, and to their observations regarding them the IiuliaiiH
are dcubtless indebted for many hints and comparisons applied to soldiriM
diligent in duty. The quechuH, or lldulKfuechol, is a large H(|uatie bird witli
plumage of a beautiful scarlet color, or a reddish white, except that of tlio
neok, which is black. Its home is ou the sea-shoro and by the river banks,
whore it feeds on live fish, never touching dead flesh. Bee Utaviyero, iilona
Ant. del Mesnco, torn, i,, pp. 67, 91-3.

DEDICATION OF THE CHILD TO WAB.

•7»

the dart that were there prepared, and spake to the Sun
after this sort: Behold here the instruments of war
which thou art served with, which thou delightest in ;
impart to this bahe the gift that thou art wont to give
to thy soldiers, enabling them to go to thine house of
delights, where, having fallen in battle, they rest and are
joyful and are now with thee praising thee. Will this
poor little nobody ever be one of them? Have pity upon
him, clement Lord of ours.

During all the time of these ceremonies a great torch
of candlewood was burning ; and when these ceremonies
were accomplished, a name was given to the child, that
of one of his ancestors, so that he might inherit the for-
tune or lot of him whose name was so taken. This name
was applied to the child by the midwife, or priestess,
who performed the baptism. Suppose the name given
was Yautl. Then the midwife began to shout and to
talk like a man to the child : O Yautl, valiant man,
take this shield and this dart ; these are for thy amuse-
ment, they are the delight of the sun. Then she tied
the little mantle on its shoulders and girt the breech-
clout about it. Now all the boys of the ward were as-
sembled, and at this stage of the ceremony they rushed
into the house where the baptism had taken place, and
representing soldiers and forrayers, they took food that
was there prepared for them, which was called * the
navel-string,' or 'navel,' of the child, and set out with
it into the streets, shouting and eating. They cried O
Yautl, Yautl, get thee to the field of battle, put thyself
into the thickest of the fight ; Yautl, Yautl, thine office
is to make glad the sun and the earth, to give them to
eat and to drink; uix)n thee has fallen the lot of the
soldiers that are eagles and tigers, that die in war, that
are now making merry and singing before the sun.
And they cried again : O soldiers, men of war, come
hither, come to eat of thy, navel of Yautl. Then the
midwife, or priestess, tixjk the child into the house, and
departed, the great torch of candlewood being carried

876 GODS, BUPEBNATDBAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

burning before her, and this was the last of the cere-
mony."

n iSngrsborouj/fc'a Jfeat. Anttq., vol. v., pp. 479-483, vol. vii., pp. 151-2;
Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., pp. 21&-221. According to some au-
thors, and I think Boturini for one, this baptism was suppleniented by pass-
ing the child through fire. There was such a ceremony; however, it was
not connected with that of baptism, but it took place on the last night of
every fourth year, be. jre the five unlucky days. On the last night of every
fourth year, parents chose god-parents for their children born during the
three preceding years, and these god-fathers and god-mothors passed the
children over, or near to, or about the flame of a prepared fire (rodenrlos per
las llamas del fuego que tenian aparejado para esto, que en el latin se dice
lustmre) . They also bored the children's ears, which caused no small up-
roar (Habia gran voceria de muchachos y muchachas por el nhugeramiento
de las orejas) as may well be imagined. They clasped the children by the
temples and lifted them up ' to make them grow;' wherefore they called the
feast ucaiU, 'growing.' They finished by giving the little things pulque
in tiny cups, and for this the feast was called the ' drunkenness of children.'
Sahagun, Hint. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., pp. 189-192. In the Spkgaiione delle
Tavoh del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxi., in Kingnhorovgh' « Mtx.
ArUiq., vol. v., p. 181, there is given a description of the water baptism dif-
fering somewhat from th it given in the text. It runs as follows : * They
took some flcitle; and having a large vessel of water near them, they made
the leaves of the flcitle into a bunch, and dipped it into the water, with
which they sprinkled the child; and after fumigating it with inncuHe, thoy
gave it a name, taken from the sign on which it wiis born; and they put into
its hand a shield and arrow, if it was a boy, which is what the figure of
Xiuatlatl denotes, who here represents the god of war; they also uttered
over the child certain prayers in the mimnor of deprecations, that ho
might become a brave, intrepid, and couniKoous man. The offering which
his parents carried to the temple the elder priests took and divided with the
other children who were in the temple, who ran with it through the whole
city.' Mcndteta, lllat. Eck.i., p. 107, again describes this rite, in substanco
as follows: 'They had a sort of baptism: thus when the child was a fow
days old, an old woman was called in, who took the child out into the court
of the house where it was born, and washed it a certain number of times
with the wine of the country, and as many times again with water; then
she put a name on it, and performed certain ceremonies with the umbilical
cord. These names were taken from the idols, or from the feasts that
fell about that time, or from a beast or bird.' See further Ksplicnviim
de la Volefclnn de ^fendo^a, pt iii., in Klmisborougli'ii .Ifra;. Ai)tiq., vol.
v., pp. 00-1; Torquemada, Xfonnrq. Ind., torn, ii., i)p. 415, 419-45^; (7((-
vigero, Storla Ant. del Mcsslco, tom. ii., pp. 85-9; Ihiiiilmldt, Vms drn
CordUlen'n lom. ii., pp. 311. 318; (fntna, Dos Piidras, pt ii., pp.
a9-41: rivsmU'H Mix., vol. iii., p. 385; lii-inton's Mt/lhs, pp. 122, KiO;
MiUler, Amnvlkanisvht Urreligionen, \y. (J5!!; Hiart, La Terre Tenmvree, p.
274. Mr Tylor, Rjseaking of Mexico, i his Anahunc, p. ii?!), siiys;
'Childr.ii were sprinkled with water when their names were given
to them. Tliis is certainly true, though the statement tlint tliey
beliovetl (hat the pronesi purified them from original sin is probably
a monkish ttetion.' Farther reading, however, hiis shown Mr Tylor the
injiistioo of this judgment, and in his masterly latest and greatest work (see
I'rimUhe Culture, vol. ii., pp. 4'i9-3(l), he writes as follows: ' The lust group
of rites whoHo course through religious history is to be outlined hero, tiikes
in the varied dramatic acts of ceremonial purltteation or Lustration. AVith
all the olmeurity and intricany due to age-long modifleation, the primitive
thought which underlies these ceremonies is still open to view. It is the tran-
sition from pructieal to symbolic cleansing, from removal of bodily impurity
to delivurauoe from invisible, spiritual, and nt last moral evil. (Heu'thiH vol. p.

THE AZTEC VENUS.

877

The goddess (or god, as some have it) connected by
the Mexicans with carnal love was variously called Tla-
zoltecotl, Ixcuina, Tlaclquani, with other names, and,
especially it would appear in Tlascala, Xochiquetzal.
She had no very prominent or honorable place in the
minds of the people and was much more closely allied to
the Roman Cloacina than to the Greek Aphrodite.
Camargo, the Tlascaltec, gives much the most agreeable
and pleasing account of her. Her home was in the
ninth heaven, in a pleasant garden, watered by innu-
merable fountains, where she passed her time spinning
and weaving rich .stuffs, in the midst of delights, minis-
tered to by the inferior deities. No man was able to
approach her, but she had in her service a crowd of
dwarfs, buffoons, and hunchbacks, who diverted her with
their songs and dances, and acted as messengers to such
gods as she took a fancy to. So beautiful was she painted
that no woman in the world could equal her; and the
place of her habitation was called lamotamohuanichan,
Xochitlycacan, Chitamihuany, Cicuhnauhuepaniuhcan,
and Tuhecayan, that is to say ' the place of Tamohuan,
the place of the tree of flowers Xochitlihcacan, where the
air is purest, beyond the nine heavens.' It was further
said, that whoever had been touched by one of the

119) In old Mexico, tho first net of cerrmouinl liiHtrntion took plnco nt

birth. Tho nurse wnsheil tho infnut in tlio name of tho water-godiUms, to re-
move the impurity of its birth, to cluimse its heart and give it n gooil and per-
fect life ; then blowing on water in her right hand she washed it again, warning
it of forthcoming trials and niiscrioH and labors, and praying the invisible
Deity to descend upon the water, to cleanse the child front sin and foulness,
luul to deliver it from misfortune. The second act took place some ft)ur
days later, unless tho astrologers postponed it. At n festive gathering, amid
llres kept alight from tho tlrst ceremony, tho nurse undressed tho child sent
by the gods into this sad and doleful world, bade it to receive the lift -giving
water, and washed it, driving out evil from each limb and ofiering to tho
deities appointed prayers for virtue and blessing. It was then that the toy
iiistruments of war or craft or household labor were placed in the boy's or
girl's hand (a custom singularly eorresponding with one usual in China)i
and the other children, instructed V)y their jiarents, gave the new-eonier its
cliild-naine. here again to be replaced by another nt manhood or womanhood.
There is nothing unlikely in the statement that the child was also passed
f'liu' liiiii sth.oii«h the fire, but tho authority this is given on is not sufHeient.
The ri''i„'li)us enaraetor of ablution is well shown in Mexico by its form-
ing part of the daily service of the priests. Aztee life cndiMi as it had
begun, with this ceremonial lustration; it was one of the funeral cereniouieB
to spriuklo the head of the oorpso with the lustral water of this life.'

878 OODB, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

flowers that grow in the beautiful garden of Xochiquet-
zal should love to the end, should love faithfully.^

Boturini gives a legend in which this goddess figures
in a very characteristic way. There was a man called
Ydppan, who, to win the r^ard of the gods made him-
self a hermit, leaving his wife and his relations, and re-
tiring to a desert place, there to lead a chaste and soli-
tary life. In that desert was a great stone or rock,
called Tehuehuetl, dedicated to penitential acts, which
rock Yappan aocended and took up his abode upon like
a western Simeon Stylites. The gods observed all this
with attention, but doubtful of the firmness of purpose
of the new recluse, they set a spy upon him in the per-
son of an enemy of his, named Yaotl, the word ydotl in-
deed signifying ' enemy.' Yet not even the sharpened
eye of hate and envy could find any sixjt in the austere
continent life of the anchorite, and the many women sent
by the gods to tempt him to pleasure were repulsed and
baiiied. In heaven itself the chaste victories of the
lonely saint were applauded, and it began to be thought
that he was worthy to be transformed into some highor
form of life. Then Tlazolteotl, feeling herself sliglited
and lield for nought, rose up in her evil beauty, wrath-
ful, contemptuous, and said : Think not, ye high and im-
mortal gods, that this hero of yours has tlie force to pre-
serve his resolution before me, or that he is worthy of
any very sublime transformation; I descend to earth,
behold now how strong is the vow of your devotee, how
unfeigned his continence!

That day the flowers of the gardens of Xochiquetzal
were untended by their mistress, her singing dwarfs
were silent, her messengers undisturbed by her behests,
and away in the desert, by the lonely rock, the
crouching spy Ytiotl saw a wondrous sight : one shajjcd

M Cnmarno, in JioHveHeH Annaks den Voyaiics, 1843, torn, xcix., pp. 1H2-
3. 'On (-tntibrnit ohuquo annee unr f«'to BoUnmcUo en I'lionniur (To cctto
cWesHe Xnchi(iuetznl, et uno foule do pouple ho n'lniisHnit ilnns son toniplo.
On (liHuit qu'ollo dtait In fommo do 'i.„loo lo diuu des oaux, ot quo Toxont-
lipuca la lul avail enlev^o et I'avait transporU'o an nonvlbme ciol. Met-
In iinypitti 6Uiit la Manne dos mngioienneB. Tluloo I'dpousa quand Xochi-
quetEul lui eut dtd enlevde.'

was

TLAZOLTEOTL SEDUCES YAFFAN.

879

like a woman, but fairer than eye can conceive, ad-
vancing toward the lean penance-withersd man on
the sacred height.. Ha! thrills not the hermit's mor-
tified flesh with something more than surprise, while
the sweet voice speaks: My brother Ydppan, I the god-
dess Tlazolteotl, amazed at thy constancy, and commiser-
ating thy hardships, come to comfort thee ; what way shall
I take, or what path, that I may get up to speak with
thee ? The simple one did not see the ruse, he came
down from his place and helped the goddess up. Alas,
in such a crisis, what need is there to speak further? — no
other victory of Yappan was destined to be famous in
heaven, but in a cloud of shame his chaste light went
down for ever. And thou, O shameless one, have thy
fierce red lips had their fill of kisses, is thy Paphian
soul satisfied withal, as now, flushed with victory,
tliou passest back to the tinkling fountains, and to tlie
great tree of flowers, and to the far-i-eaching gardens
where thy slaves await thee in the ninth heaven ? Do
thine eyes lower themselves at all in any heed of
the miserable disenchanted victim left crouching,
humbled on his desecrated rock, his nights and days of
fasting and weariness gone for nought, his dreams, his
hopes dissipated, scattered like dust at the trailing of thy
robes? And for thee, poor Yjippan, the troubles of this
life are soon to end ; Yiiotl, the enemy, has not seen all
these things for nothing; he, at least, has not borne
hunger and thirst and weariness, has not watched and
waited in vain. it avails nothing to lift the pleading
hands, they are warm but not with clasping in prayer,
and weary but not with waving the censer ; the flint-
edged mace beats down thy feeble guard, the neck that
Tlazolteotl clasped is smitten thiough, the lips she kissed
roll in the , beside a headless trunk.

The gods iiansformed the dead man into a scorpicm,
with the forearms (ixed lifted up as when he doriecated
the blow of his murderer; and he crawled r.nder the
stone uixm which ho had abode, llis wife, whoso name
was Tlahuitisin, that is to say ' the inflamed,' still lived.

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

The implacable Ydotl sought her out, led her to the spot
stained with her husband's blood, detailed pitilessly the
circumstances of the sin and death of the hennit, and
then smote off her head. The gods transformed the poor
woman into that species of scorpion called the alacran
encendido, and she crawled under the stone and found
her husband. And so it comes that tradition says that
all reddish colored scorpions are descended from Tlahui-
tzin, and all dusky or ash-colored scorpions from Ydp-
pan, while both keep hidden under the stones and flee
the light for shame of their disgrace and punishment.
Last of all the wrath of the gods fell on Ydotl for his
cruelty and presumption in exceeding their commands;
he was transformed into a sort of locust that the Mexicans
call aJiuacachapuUin.^

Sahagun gives a very full description of this goddess
and her connection with certain rites of confession, much
resembling those already described in speaking of Tez-
catlipoca.* The goddess had according to our author,
three names. The first was Tlazolteotl, that is to say
'the goddess of carnality.' The second name was
Yxcuina, which signifies four sisters, called respec-
tively, and in order of age, Tiacapan, Teicii, Tlaco,
Xucotsi. The third and last name of this deity was
Tlaclquani, which means ' eater of filthy things,' referring
it is said to her function of hearing and pardoning
the confessions of men and women guilty of unclean
and carnal crimes. For this goddess, or these god-
desses, had power not only to inspire and provoke to
the commission of such sins, and to aid in their accom-
plishment, but also to pardon them, if they were con-
fessed to certain priests who were also diviners and tel-
lers of fortunes and wizards generally. In this confession,
however, Tlazolteotl seems not to have been directl}'^ ad-

» IMurini, hUn, pp. 15, 03-0 : ' Pero, no mcnnn indiKnados lo8 DioBew
del pecndu di( Yiippau, (juo do la iiiobodienciii, y ittruviinitiiiti) de Yuotl, lo
ooiivirtieron eu LiiugoHtii, quo lliiinuu los ludioH AhuncachapiiUin, uinudundo
8u lluinaHHO on adoluiito Tiontecomihua, que nuiere dicir, iUirtja Culieza, y on
efeoto oHto nnimnl paroco que lli>va cargo conHiRo, propriodiid dr Ioh MnlHineH,
que Hienipre caruan laH Iionrns, que ban quitado a huh I'roxiiuoH. '

M Bee this vol. pp. '^20-6.

CONFESSION.

881

dressed, but only the supreme deity under several of his
names. Thus the person whom, by a stretch of courtesy,
we may call the penitent, having sought out a confessor
from the class above mentioned, addressed that function-
ary in these words: Sir, I wish to approach the all-
powerful god, protector of all, Yoalliehecatl, or Tezcat-
lipoca ; I wish to confess my sins in secret. To this the
wizard, or priest, replied : Welcome, my son ; the thing
thou wouldst do is for thy good and profit. This said
he searched the divining book, tonalamatl, to see what
day would be most opportune for hearing the confession.
That day come, the penitent brought a new mat, and
white incense called copalli, and wood for the fire in
which the incense was to be burned. Sometimes when
he was a very noble personage, the priest went to his
house to confess him, but as a general rule the ceremony
took place at the residence of the priest. On entering
this house the penitent swept very clean a portion of the
floor and spread the new mat there for the confessor to
seat himself upon, and kindled the wood. The priest
then threw the copal upon the fire and said: O Lord,
thou that art the father and the mother of the gods and
the most ancient god,^^ know that here is come thy
vassal and servant, weeping and with great sadness; he
is aware that he has wandered from the wav, that he
has stumbled, that he has slidden, that he is s^wtted
with certain filthy sins and grave crimes worthy of death.
Our Lord, very pitiful, since thou art the protector and
defender of all, accept the penitence, give ear to the an-
guish of this thy servant and vassal.

At this point the confessor turned to the sinner and
said: My son, thou art come into the presence of God,
favorer and protector of all ; thou art come to lay bare
thy inner rottenness and unsavoriness ; tiiou art come to
publish the secrets of thine heart; see that thou fall into
no pit by lying unto our Lord ; strip thyself, put away
all shame before him who is called Yoallieliccatl and
TezcatliiKXja. It is certain that thou art now in his pres-

" B«e this vol., pp. 313, 336.

! 1

882 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

enoe, although thou art not worthy to see him, neither
will he speak with thee, for he is invisible and impalpable.
See then to it how thou comest, and with what heart;
fear nothing to publish thy secrets in his presence, give
account of thy life, relate thine evil deeds as thou didst
perform them ; tell all with sadness to our Lord God,
who is the favorer of all, and whose arms are open and
ready to embrace and set thee on his shoulders. Be-
ware of hiding anything through shame or through weak-
ness.

Having heard these words the penitent took oath,
after the Mexican fashion, to tell the truth. He touched
the ground with his hand and licked off the earth that
adhered to it;** then he threw copal in the fire, which
was another way of swearing to tell the truth. Then
he set himself down before the priest and, inasmuch as
he held him to be th^ image and vicar of god, he, the
penitent, began to speak after this fashion : our Lord
who receivest and shelterest all, give ear to my foul
deeds; in thy presence I strip, I put away from myself
what shameful things soever I have done. Not from thee,
of a verity, are hidden my crimes, for to thee all things
are manifest and clear. Having thus said, the penitent
proceeded to relate his sins in the order in which they
had been committed, clearly and quietly, as in a slow and

gi I

11 other deacriptions of thiB rite are given vith additional details: ' Usa-
ban una ceremouia generalmente en toda esta tierra, hombres y mugeres,
niAoH y niAas, que quando entruban en algun lugar donde habia iningeues de
los idolos, una 6 muchaa, luego tocaban en la tierra con el dedo, jr lueoo
le Uegaban ft la boca rf a la lengua: & esto llamaban comer tierra, haciendolo
en reverencia de sus DioseB, y todos los que salian de sua caaaa, auuque no
■aliesen del nueblo, volviendo 4 au casa haciau lo miamo, y per Ion cauiinoa
quando pasabun deluute algun Cu u oratorio haciaii lo miaino, y en lugar de
juramento uaaban eato miamo, que para aflrmar quien decia verdad nacian
esta ceremouia, y loa quo se querian aatisfacer del que hablaba ai decia ve»
dad, demandabanle hiciese eata ceremouia, luego le creian como juramento
. . . Tenian tambien coatumbre de hacer juramento de cnmplir alguna coaa a
(jue se obligaban, y aquel a quien se obbgaban les demanaaba que hicieaeu
juramento para eatar aesuro de au palabra y el juramento que hncian era en
esta forma : I'or vida del Sol y de nuestra seAora la tierra que uo f alte en lo
que tengo dicho, y para mayor seguridad como esta tierra; y luego tocaba
eon los dedos en la tierra, Uegabalos & In booa y lamialoa; v aai comia tierra
haciendo juramento.' Kinq^orow^h'a Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 95-0, lUl;
lialMgun, Hint. Gen., tom. ii., lib. !., ap., pp. 212, 220; Ctav^o, Storia Ant.
del Meaaico, tom. ii., p. 26.

PENANCES. 868

distinctly pronounced chant, as one that walked along a
very straight way turning neither to the right hand nor
to the left. When he had done the priest answered him
as follows: My son, thou hast spoken before our Lord
God, revealing to him thine evil works; and I shall now
tell thee what thou hast to do. When the goddesses Civa-
pipilti descend to the earth, or when it is the time of
the festival of the four sister goddesses of carnality that
are called Yxcuina, thou shalt fast four days afflicting
thy stomach and thy mouth ; this feast of the Yxcuina
being come, at daybreak thou shalt do penance suitable
to thy sins.® Through a hole pierced by a maguey-thorn
through the middle of thy tongue thou shall pass certain
osier-twigs called teucahouxUl or thcoU, passing them in
front of the face and throwing them over the shoulder
one by one ; or thou mayest fasten them the one to the
other and so pull them through thy tongue like a long
cord. These twigs were sometimes passed through a
hole in the ear; and, wherever they were passed, it
would appear by our author that there were sometimes
used of them by one penitent to the number of four
hundred, or even of eight hundred.

If the sin seemed too light for such a punishment as
the preceding, the priest would say to the penitent: My
son, thou shalt fast, thou shall fatigue thy stomach with
hunger and thy mouth with thirst, and that for four
days, eating only once on each day and that at noon.
Or, the priest would say to him : Thou shalt go to offer
paper in the usual places, thou shalt make images covered
therewith in number proportionate to thy devotion, thou
shalt sing and dance before them as custom directs. Or,
again, he would say to him: Thou hast offended God,

'3 Quite different veraioug of this Bentenoe are siven by Kingsborough's
and BuBtamnnte'H editions respectively. That of Kingahorough's Mex. Antiq ,
vol. vii., p. 7, reads: ' Quatkdo deoienden a la tierra las DiosaH Txcuiuaine,
luego de maiiana 6 en amaneciendo, paraque hagas la peniteuciu conveuible
por tus pecados.' That of Bustamante, iSahagtin, Hist. Geti., torn, i., lib. i..
p. 13, reads: ' Cnando desoienden & la tierra las diosas Uamadas Civapipilli, i>
cuando se kace la fiesta de las diosas de la camalidad que se Uauian Yxtui-
name, ayuuarAs cuatro dias afligiendo tu estomago y tu booa, y llegado el
dia de la fiesta de estas diosas Ytxtuiname, luego de maftana 6 eu amaneciendo
para que hagaa la penitenoia oonvecible por tus peoados.'

384 GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF.

thou hast got drunk ; thou must expiate the matter be-
fore Totocbti, the god of wine ; and when thou goest to
do penance thou shalt go at night, naked, save only a
piece of paper hanging from thy girdle in front and an-
other behind; thou shalt repeat thy prayer and then
throw down there before the gods those two pieces of
paper, and so take thy departure.

This confession was held not to have been made to
a priest, or lo a man, but to God; and, inasmuch as it
could only be heard once in a man's life, and, as for a
relapse into sin after it there was no forgiveness, it was
generally put off till old age. The absolution given by
the priest was valuable in a double regard ; the absolved
was held shriven of every crime he had confessed, and
clear of all pains and penrlties, temporal or spiritual,
civil or ecclesiastical, due therefor. Thus was the fiery
lash of Nemesis bound up, thus were struck down alike
the staff of Minos and the sword of Themis before the
awful aegis of religion. It may be imagined with what
reluctance this last hope, this unique life-confession was
resorted to; it was the one city of refuge, the one Mexi-
can benefit of sanctuary, the sole horn of the altar, of
which a man might once take hold and live, but no
more again for ever.**

34 ' De esto bi' n se orguye que annque habian hecho muchos pecadoa en
tiempo de bu juveutud, no se confesaban de ellos hasta la vejez, por no se
ob)igiir H cesar de pecar antes de la vejez, por la opinion que tenian, que el
que tornnba a reiucidir en los pecados, al que se confesaba una vez no tenia
remedio.' Kingsboroufih's Alex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 6-8: Sahayun, Hist. Gen.,
torn.!., lib. i., pp. 10-16. Prescott writes, J/ra., vol. i., p. 68: 'It is re-
markable tbat they administered the rites of confession and absolution.
The secrets of the confessional were held inviolable, and penances were im-
posed of much the same kind as those enjoined in the lloman Catholic
Church. There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec cerenionj'.
The first was, that, as the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was
deemed inexpiable, confession was made but once in a man's life, and was
usually deferred to a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his
conscience, and settled at once, the long arrears of iniquity. Another pecu-
liarity was, that priestly absolution was received in place of the legal pniiish-
niont of offences, and authorized an acqnitnl in case of arrest.' Mention of
Tlazolteotl will be found in Oonmm, Cona. Mex., fol. 309; TorqurmaOa,
Monarq. Intl., torn. ii.. pp. 62, 7S); Herrera, That. Oen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vi.,
cap. XV.; Claniijero, Storla Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. They say that
Yxcuina, who was the goddess of shame, protected adulterers. She was the
goddess of salt, of dirt, and of immodesty, and the cause of all sins.* They
l^aiutcd her with two faces, ur with two different colors on the face. She

®0D OP PiRE.

The Mexican cod of fln« *"

was usually calledXiuhW? ""^^T ^^"^^y noticed
Barnes such as Ixcoz^ZTIL • ^^ ^^^' however otW

pni« J "' ^^ stone n« K • . "' ""^ wearinff

rapot It like flames of firoTT ^ .™^'"«s'''nK from th«

-»«., ^ther with a mt^abraVn" «Jf.«8'"-n"h

ticolarly cruel even for theMextn?^'^*'''' "*»* P«r-
Ihe assistants began bv S"""^ '*''«""'•

tt"^' ?fhrr'"« ■"' " »»™d ^1 buT'T o*^ "■«

.: ««p. Ihis tree was ih^^ j ^ ""* a few roimri

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINOS. AND WORSHIP.

bruising or spoiling it ; and the women met the entering
procession giving those that dragged cacao to drink.
The tree, which was called xocotl, was received into the
court of a cu with shouts, and there set up in a hole in
in the ground and allowed to remain for twenty days.
On the eve of the festival Xocotlvetzi, they let this large
tree or pole down gently to the ground, by means of
ropes and tressles, or rests, made of beams tied two and
two, probably in an X shape; and carpenters dressed it
perfectly smooth and straight, and, where the branches
had been left, near the top, they fastened with ropes a
kind of yard or cross-beam of five fathoms long. Then
was prepared, to be set on the very top of the pole or
tree, a statue of the god Xiuhtecutli, made like a man
out of the dough of wild amaranth seeds, and covered
and decorated with innumerable white papers. Into
the head of the image were stuck strips of paper instead
of hair; sashes of paper crossed the body from each
shoulder; on the arms were pieces of paper like wings,
painted over with figures of sparrow-h.iwks ; a max-
tle of paper covered the loins; and a kind of paper
shirt or tsibard- covered all. Great strips of paper, half a
fathom broad and ten fathoms long, floated from the
feet of the dough god half way down the tree ; and into
his head were struck three rods with a tamale or small
pie on the top of each. The tree being now prepared
with all these things, ten ropes were attached to the
middle of it, and by the help of the above-mentioned
tressles and a large crowd pulling all together, the whole
structure was reared into an upright position and there
fixed, with great shouting and stamping of feet.

Then came all those that had captives to sacrifice;
they came decorated for dancing, ah the body painted
yellow (which is the livery color of the god), and the
face vermilion. The wore a mass of the red plumage
of the parrot, arran^ i to resemble a butterfly, and
carried shields covert with white feathers and as it
were the feet of tiger or eagles walking. Each one
went dancing side by de with his captive. These

FESTIVAL OF THE FIRE GOD.

captives had the body painted white, and the face ver-
milion, save the cheeks which were black; they were
adorned with papers, much, apparently, as the dough
image was, and they had white feathers on the head and
lip-ornaments of feathers. At set of sun the dancing
ceased; the captives were shut up in the calpulli, and
watched by their owners, not being even allowed to sleep.
About midnight every owner shaved away the hair of
the top of the head of his slave, which hair, being
fastened with red thread to a little tuft of feathers, he
put in a small case of cane, and at. iched to the raf-
ters of his house, that every one might see that he was a
valiant man and had taken a captive. The knife with
which this shaving was accomplirhed was called the claw
of the sparrow-hawk. At daybreak the doomed and
shorn slaves waie arranged in order in front of the place
called Tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed were
spitted in rows. Here one of the priests went along the
row of captives taking from them certain little banners
that they carried and all their raiment or adornment,
and burning the same in a fire; for raiment or orna-
ment these unfortunates should need no more on earth.
While they were standing thus all naked and wait-
ing for death, there came another priest, carrying in
his arms the image of the god Paynal and his
ornaments; he ran up with this idol to the top
of the cu Tlacacouhcan where the victims were to
die. Down he came, then up again, and as he went
up the second time the owners took their slaves by
the hair and led them to the place called Apetlac and
there left them. Immediately there descended from the
cu those that were to execute the sacrifice, bearing bogs
of a kind of stupefying incense called yiauhtli,^ which

3*'' II Jauhtii h una pianta, il cni fusto e lungo nn culnto, le foglie somigli-
anti a quelle del Salcio, ma dentate, i iiori giulli, e la radice suttile. Cas\ i
fiori, come I'altre pnrti deL'a i^l^uta, hanuo lo stesso udore e sapore dcU'
Anice. £' aasai utile per la Medicina, ed i Medioi MesBieani I'adoperavano
coutro parecchie malattie; ma servivausi aucora d'eBsa per alciini usi super-
stizioKi.' This is the note given by (-'lavigero, Storia Ant. del Measico, torn,
ii., p. 77, in dencribing this festival, and the incense used for stupefying the
victims; see a different note however, in this vol., p. 330, in which lloliiw

888 OODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

r
f

they threw by handfuls into the faces of the victims
to deaden somewhnt their agonies in the fearful death
before them. Each captive was then bound hand and
foot and so carried up to the top of the cu where smoul-
dered a huge heap of live coal. The carriers heaved their
living burdens in; and the old narrative gives minute
details about the great hole made in the sparkling embers
by each slave, and how the ashy dust rose in a cloud as
he fell. As the dust settled the bound bodies could be
seen writhing and jerking themselves about in torment
on their soft dull-red bed, and their flesh could be heard
crackling and roasting. Now came a part of the cere-
mony requiring much experience and judgment; the
wild-eyed priests stood grappling-hook in hand biding
their time. The victims were not to die in the fire, the
instant the great blisters began to rise handsomely over
their scorched skins it was enough, they were raked
out. The poor blackened bodies were then flung on the
'tajon' and the agonized soul dismissed by the sacrificial
breast-cut (from nipple to nipple, or a little lower) ; the
heart was then torn out and cast at the feet of Xiuhte-
cutli, god of fire.

This slaughter being over, the statue of Paynal was
carried away to its own cu and every man went home to
eat. And the young men and boys, all those called
quexpakque,^ because they had a lock of hair at the nape
of the neck, came, together with all the people, the
women in order among the men, and began at mid-day
to dance and to sing in the court-yard of Xiuhtecutli ;
the place was so crowded that there was hardly room to
move. Suddenly there arose a great cry, and a rush
was made out of the court toward the place where was
raised the tall tree already described at some length.
Let us shoulder our way forward, not without risk to

dHHcribes yiauhUl as 'black maize.' In soma oaii«8, acoordiog to Mendieta,
I fist. Kclm., p. 100, there wiis ((iven to the condemned n certain drink that

Sut them beside thenmelves, 8o that they wont to the sacrifloe with a ghastly
runken merriment.
JT ' VuexiHtlll, cabello largo quo dexan a Iob mnohaohoa en el cogote, qaando
loi treitquiMn.' Molina, Kooobutorio.

CLIMBINQ FOB THE OOD.

our ribs, and see what we can see: there stands the tall
pole with streamers of paper and the ten ropes by which
it was raised dangling from it. On the top stands the
dough image of the fire god, with all his ornaments and
weapons, and with the three tamales sticking out so
oddly above his head. Ware clubs! we press too close;
shoulder to shoulder in a thick serried ring round the
foot of the pole stand the ' captains of the youths' keep-
ing the youngsters back with cudgels, till the word be
given at which all may begin to climb the said |X)le for
the great prize at the top. But the youths are wild for
fame ; old renowned heroes look on ; the eyes of all the
women of the city are fixed on the great tree where it
shoots above the hea'I of the struggling crowd ; glory to
him who first gains the cross-beam and the image.
Stand back, then, ye captains, let us pass! There is a
rush, and a trampling, and despite a rain of blows, all
the pole with its hanging ropes is aswarm with climbers,
thrusting each other down. The first youth at the top
seizes the idol of dough; he takes the shield and the
arrows and the darts and the stick atalt for throwing
the darts; he takes the tamales from the head of the
statue, crumbles them up, and throws the crumbs with
the plumes of the image down into the crowd ; the secur-
ing of which crumbs and plumes is a new occasion for
siiouting and scrambling and fisticufts among the nuilti-
tude. When the young hero comes down with the
weapons of the god which he has secui*ed, he is received
with far-roaring applause and carried up to the cu Tlaca-
couhcan, there to receive the reward of his activity and
endurance, praises and jewels and a rich mantle not law-
ful for another to wear, and the honor of being carried
by the priests to his house, amid the music of horns and
sliells. The festivity is over now ; all the jwople lay hold
on the mpes fastened to the tree, and pull it down
with a crash that breaks it to pieces, togiither, apparently,
with all that is left of the wild-amaranth-dough image
of Xiuhtecutli."

M mmjsborouffA's Mm, AnOq., toI. tU., pp. 8-9, 88, 63-«: Hahagvm, Bid.

i* 4KS in

yj^Hj I

890

GODS, 8UPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

Another feast of the god of fire was held in the month
Yzcalli, the eighteenth month ; it was called motlaxqui-
antota, that is to say * our father the fire toasts his food.'
An image of the god of fire was made, with a frame of
hoops and sticks tied together as the basis or model to be
covered with his ornaments. On the head of this image
was put a shining mask of turquoise mosaic, banded
across with rows of green chalchiuites. Upon the mask
was put a crown fitting to the head below, wide above,
and gorgeous with rich plumage as a flower; a wig of
reddish hair was attached to this crown so that the
evenly cut locks flowed from below it, behind and around
the mask, as if they were natural. A robe of costly
feathers covered all the front of the image and fell over the
ground before the feet, so light that it shivered and floated
with the least breath of air till the variegated feathers
glittered and changed color like water. The back of the
image seems to have been left unadorned, concealed by
a tlirone on which it was seated, a throne covered with
a dried tiger-skin, paws and head complete. Before this
statue now fire was produced at midnight by boring
rapidly by hand one stick u\)on another ; the spunk or
tinder so inflamed was put on the hearth and a fire lit.^
At break of day came all the boys and youths with game
and fish that they had captured on the previous day;
walking round the fire, they gave it to certain old men
that stood there, who taking it threw it into the flames
before the god, giving the youths in return certain tarn-
ales that had been made and oftered for this purj^se by
the women. To eat these tamales it was necessary to
strip oft' the maize-leavos in which they had been wrapjwd
and cooked ; these leaves were not thrown into the fire,

Gen., torn. I., lib. i , pp. 10-19, lib. ii., pp. 02-4, 141-8; ClavUiero, SInrlaAui.
del Messico, toiii. ii., pp. 10, 70; Spieiiazione delle Tavole del Codini; Mtxicano,
(Vnticano), tav. Ivi., in Kintisborouijh a Mtx. Antiq., vol. v., p. 100.

3» ' EHta cHtatua nHi adorimdo no lojos do nn lugiir ipie eataba delantr du
ella, k In inedin noche Buoalwn fuego nnuvo pnru que nrdieno en nqiii'l lugitr,
y Haonbnnlo con uuoh pnloH, uno puiHio nbajo, y Bobre i-l burreuHban con
otro pnlo, como torciendole ciitre Inti nmnoR con grun priHii, y <!on ikjihI
movimionto y culor He encendia ol tnoao, y nlli lo toniitban oon yt'Hcn y cn-
oendinn en cl bognr.' Kin(fHboinu(ih'a Altx. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 84; Sahwjv^,
mat. Um., torn. i„ lib. ii., p. 184.

FOURTH YEAB FESTIVAL.

891

but were all put together and thrown into water. After
this all the old men of the ward in which the fire was,
drank pulque and sang before the image of Xiuhtecutli
till night. This was the tenth day of the mouth and
thus finished that feast, or that part of the feast, which
wjus called vauquUamalquaUztli

On the twentieth and last day of the month was made
another stntue of the fire god, with a frame of sticks and
hoops as already described. They put on the head of it
a mask with a ground of mosaic of little bits of the shell
called tnpaztti,*'^ comjwsed below the mouth of blaek stones,
banded across the nostrils with black stones of another
sort, and the cheeks made of a still difterent stone called
tezcapiicfdll. As in the previous case there was a crown
on this mask, and over all and over the body of the
image costly and beautiful decorations of feather- work.
Before the throne on which this statue sat there was a
fire, and the youths offered game to and received cakes
from the old men with various ceremonies; the day
being closed with a great drinking of pulque by the old
people, though not to the point of intoxication. Thus
ended the eighteenth month; and with regard to the two
ceremonies just described, Sahagun says, that though
not observed in all parts of Mexico, they were oljserved
at least in Tezcuco.

It will be noticed that the festivals of this month have
been without human sacrifices; but every fourth year was
an exception to this. In such a year on tiie twentieth
and bust day of this eighteenth month, beiiig also, according
to some, the last day of the year, the five Nemonteni, or
unlucky days, being excepted, men and women were slain
as images of the god of fire. The women that had to
die carried all their apparel and ornaments on their
shoulders, and the men did the same. Arrived thus
naked where they had to die, men and women alike
were decorated to resemble the god of fire ; thuy ascended
the cu, walked round the sacrillcial stone, and then do-

«> Or ttpd •hlU t\H Bustamante apsUi it.
Molina, Vooabulario,

' TiipaoMU, oral, oonohao Y«nera.'

' ''

892 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

soended and returned tx> the place where they were to
be kept for the night. Each male victim had a rope tied
round the middle of his body which was held by his
guards. At midnight the hair of the crown of the head
of each was shaven off before the fire and kept for a
relic, and the head itself was covered with a mixture
of resin and hens' feathers. After this the doomed
ones burned or gave away to their keepers their now
useless apparel, and as the morning broke they were
decorated with papers and led in procession to die, with
singing and shouting and dancing. These festivities
went on till mid-day, when a priest of the cu, arrayed in
the ornaments of the god Paynal, came down, passed
before the victims, and then went up again. They were
led up after him, captives first and slaves after, in the
order they had to die in; they suffered in the usual
manner. There was then a grand dance of the lords,
led by the king himself; each dancer wearing a high-
fronted paper coronet, a kind of false nose of blue paper,
ear-rings of turquoise mosaic, or of wood wrought with
flowers, a blue curiously flowered jacket, and a mantle.
Hanging to the neck of each was the figure of a dog
made of paper and painted with flowers; in the right
hand was carried a stick shaped like a chopping-knife,
the lower half of which was painted red and the upper
half white ; in the kft hand was carried a little pai)er
bag of copal. This dance was oegun on the top of the
ou and finished by descending and going four times
round the court-yard of the cu ; ofter which all entered
the palace with the king. This dance took place only
once in four years, and none but the king and his lords
could take part in it. On this day the ears of all chil-
dren born during the three pieceding years were bored
with a bone awl, and the children themselves passed
near or through the flames of a fire as already relate<l."
There was a further ceremony of taking the children by
the head and lifting them up " to make them grow ;"

«> Bm this Yol., p. 370, note 27.

THE GREAT NEW FI«E FESTIVAL.

spiil a little on the edffP nf T v^ P"'^"® to first
f?er«>n began upon a X "^ • ^"'*^- '^J*' ^hen t

^ ihe most solemn o«^ •

fe«™l» «™ th^™ Ued S^^"* »f all the Mexican
*e 'the binding C of h P'''" "^ X'^hn-olpni"
two years was called a h /"""'■ '^''^V fiftv-
v™ held for cer J„1,,„? ^^I-^ "'', JT"' ""d ^t

sL^ld-'""''' ^^'"•' ">« motion of ,1™\"^ T" *»»f
"hould cease and the wor°d^ iLf """'"'•>■ ^^^
As the iwssible dav of ,w ,• *"•"« to an end
W'e oast their llii-^-^d near all The
'he water, as also the stt.i.o. . i """'^ """i stone into
»»<! bruising pepner rt ""^ "" ""e hearth for cT
houses, and lasHrai pu tuLnlf'""' "'"^-ehb-^t"
"f the new fire there w^ a nt! ""; *'"' »h« lighting
»f » mountain called Ta^",.'^'"*'' ""' "P^rt, the sSmmit
.'"m.dary line betwTen hfe^ "»• f Hnixaihtla, onZ
Ijuaean, about six Sffmnw! "".•''»1«'"P'' " "d C„l!
«'« production of thTs newZ n^ "'.'^ "*■ ^^i™- In
l»rt and the task (ell sp^ XT^ >"; Pri-^ls had any
l-oHco. On the last d*^ "ftoft"'r' "'' «>« »«i
« '"" 1|"<1 «3t, all the prielts ctl ";' T''' ■">«'
W'th the dress and insignia „f,i -"^ "'"mselves
themselves api^ar like X g^/t!^ '^'' «" "» '«

^ ««<». «»<1 set out in pro.

•in«V., vol. v., nn 19(1 7. /.i V'»"«»no), tov. l«»u 'L VS' */'"'.Wiwi« rfe/w

804

GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AMD WOBSHIP.

cession for the mountain, walking very slowly, with
much gravity and silence, as befitted the occasion and
the garb they wore, " walking," as they phrased it, "like
gods." The priest of the warr* of Oopolco, wliose office
it was to produce the fire, carried the instruments there-
of in his hand, trying them from time to time to see that
all was right. Then, a little before midnight, the mount-
ain being gained, and a cu which was there builded for
that ceremony, they began to watch the heavens and
especially the motion of the Pleiades. Now this night
always fell so that at midnight these seven stars were in
the middle of the sky with respect to the Mexican hori-
zon ; and the priests watched them to see them pass the
zenith and so give sign of the endurance of the world,
for another fifty and two years. That sign was the
signal for the production of the new fire, lit as follows.
The bravest and finest of the prisoners taken in war was
thrown down alive, and a board of very dry wood was
put upon his breast; upon this the acting priest "t the
critical moment bored with another stick, twirling it
rapidly between his palms till fire caught. Then in-
stantly the bowels of the captive were laid ojjcn, his
heart torn out, and it with all the body thrown upon and
consumed by a pile of fire. All this time an awful
anxiety and suspense held possession of the people at
large; for it was said, that if anything happened to pre-
vent the production at the proper time of t' e new fire,
there would be an end of the human race, the night and
the darkness would be perpetual, and those terrible and
ugly beings the Tzitzimitles** would descend to devour
all mankind. As the fateful hour approached, the jxsople
gathered on the flat house-tops, no one willingly remain-
ing below. All pregnant women, however, were closed
into the granaries, their faces being covered with maize-
leaves; for it was said that if the new fire could not be
produced, these women would turn into fierce animals
and devour men and women. Children also had masks

M Or liMmUta m on p. iXJ of this toI.

FEAST OF THE NEW FIBE.

806

of maize-leaf put on their faces, and they were kept
awake by cries and pushes, it being believed that if they
were allowed to sleep they would become mice.

From the crowded house-tops every eye was bent on
Vixachtlan. Suddenly a moving speck of light was
seen by those nearest, and then a great column of flame
shot up against the sky. The new fire! and a great
shout of joy went up from all the country round about.
The stars moved on in their courses; fifty and two years
more at least had the universe to exist. Every one did
penance, cutting his ear with a splinter of Hint and
scattering the blood toward the part where the fire was;
even the ears of children in the cradle were so cut.
And now from the blazing pile on the mountiiin, burn-
ing brands of pine candle-wood were carried by the
swiftest runners toward every quarter of the kingdom.
In the city of Mexico, on the temple of Huitzilopochtli,
before the altar, there was a fire-place of stone and lime
containing much copal; into this a blazing brand was
flung by the first runner, and from this place fire was
carried to all the houses of the priests, and thence again
to all the city. There soon blazed great central fires in
every ward, and it was a thing to be seen the multitude
of people that came together to get light, and the gene-
ral rejoicings.

The hearth-fires being thus lit, the inhabitants of every
house began to renew their household gods and furni-
ture, and to lay down new mats, and to put on new
raiment; they made everytliing new in sign of the new
sheaf of years; they beheaded quails, and burned in-
cense in their court-yard toward the four quarters of the
world, and on their hearths. After eating a meal of
wild amaranth seed and honey, a fiist was ordered, even
the drinking of water till noon being forbidden. Then
the eating and drinking were renewed, sacrifices of slaves
and captives were made, and the great fires renewed.
Tlie last solemn festival of the new fire wjis celebrated
in the year 1507, the Spaniards being not then in the
land ; and through their presence, there was no public

I \\

886 GODS. SUPERNATURAL 6EINOS. AND WORSHIP.

ceremony when the next sheaf of years was finished in
1559."

Mictlan, the Mexican hades, or place of the dead,
signifies either primarily, or by an acquired meaning,
* northward, or toward the north,' though many authori-
ties have located it underground or below the earth.
This region was the seat of the power of a god best
known under his title of Mictlantecutli ; his female com-
panion was called Mictlancihuatl, made identical by some
legends with Tlazolteotl, and by others apparently witii the
serpent- woman and mother goddess.** There has beendis-

« Klngsborouqh's Mex. Ardiq., vol. vii., pp. 157, 191-3; Saharjun, JRst.
Oen., torn, i., lib. iv., ap., pp. 346-7, torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 260-4; Torque-
mada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 292-5; BoUr'mi, Idea, pp. 18-21; Vlavi-
gero, Storia AiU. del Jieasico, torn, ii., pp.62, 84-); Meudieta, Hist. Ecles., p.
ioi; A".osta, HuHt. de kia Yndias, pp. 398-0. Leon y Gama, Dos Pkdras, pt
i., pp. Sl-oS, differs somewhat from the !«xt; he was unfortunate in never
having seen the works of Sahagun.

*^ This vol. p. 69. The interpretations of the codices represent this god
as peculiarly honored in their paintings: They place Michitlatecotle oppo-
site to the sun, to see if he can rescue any of those seized upon by the lords
of the dead, for Michitla signifies the dead below. These nations painted
only two of their gods with the crown called Altoiitcatecoatle, viz., the God
of heaven and of abundance and this lord of th^ dead, which kind of crown
I have seen u|)on the captains in the war of Coatle. Explicadon del Vodex
Tellenano Remensis. pt ii., lam. xv., in Kxngshorouiih's Mex. Antiq., vol. v.,
p. 149. Miquitlantecotli signifies the great lord of the dead fellow in hell
who alone after Tonacatecotle was painted with a crown, which kind of a
crown was used in war even after the arrival of the Christians in those coun-
tries, and was seen in thi war of Coatlau, as the person who copied these
faiutiugs relates, who was a brother of the Order of Saint Dominic, named
'edro de los Rios. They painted this demon near the sun; for in the same
way as they believed that the one conducted souls to heaven, so they supposed
that the other carried them to hell. He is here represented with his hands
open and stretched towird the sun, to seize on any soul which might escape
from him. Spii<iaiionedi-lle Taoole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxiv.,
in Kiiuishorouih's }fex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 182. The Vatican Codex siiys further-
that these were four gods or principal demons in the Mexican hell. Miquit-
lamtecotl or ZitzimitI; Yzpuntoque, the lame demon, who appeared in the
streets with the feet of a cock ; Nextepelma, scatterer of ashes ; and Coutemoque,
he who descends head-foremost. These four have goddesses, not as wives,
but as companions, which was the simple relation in which all the Mexican
god and god losses stood to one another, there having been— according to
most authorities— in their olympus neither marrying nor giving in marriage.
Picking our way as well as possible ncrciss the frightful spelling of the inter-
preter, the males and females seem ])aired as follows: To Miquitlamtecotl or
TzitzimitI, wasjoined as goddess, Miquitecaoigua; to Yzpu.nteque, Nexoxocho;
to Nextepelma. Micapetlacoli ; and to Gontemoque, Chalmeouciuatl Spie<,aii-
one dellf Taoole del Vodioe Meximno ( Vaticano), tav., iii., iv., in Kingshorottuh's
Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 162-3; Jinturlni, Idda. pp. 30-1; Sahwiun, Hist. Gen.,
tom. i., lib. iii., ap. pp. 260-3; Kinqi^orou(ili'.i Mrx. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 116-
i7, says ^^at this god was known by Uie further name of Tzoutemoo and Aoul-

TEOYAOMIQUE.

covered and there is now to be seen in the city of Mexico
a huge compound statue, representing various deities, the
most prominent being a certain goddess Teoyaomique,
who, it seems to me, is almost identical with or at least

naoacatl. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., pp. 6, 17. Oallatin,
Amer. Elhnol. Soc, Tmnsact., vol. i., pp. 350-1, says that * Mictlanteuotli is
specially distinguished by the interpreters as one of the crowned gods. His
representation is fonnd under the basis of the statue of Teoyaomiqui, and
Gama has published the copy. According to him, the nnnie of thiit god
means, the god of the place of the dead. He presided over the funeral of
those who died of dineases. The souls of all those killed in battle were led
by Teoyaomiqui to the dwelling of the sun. 'J'he others fell under the do-
minion of Mictantenctli.' Tiwquemada, Monarq.Ind.,iora.i.,'m.'Jl, 148,447,
torn, ii., p. 428. Brasseur de Bourbourg mentions this god and his wife,
bringing up several interesting points, for which, however, he must bear the
sole responsibility. S'il Exlsle dea Soiircfs de I'Jfist. Prm., pp. 98-9. ' Du
fond des eaux qiu couvraiont le monde, ajoute nn autre document mcxicain
(Cod. Mex. Tell-Rem., fol. 4, v.), le dieudes regions d'en has, Mivtlan-Teuct-
li fait Burgir nn monstre marin nommu Vipactli ou Capavtli {MotnUiiia, Hist.
Antig. de los Indios, part. MS. Dans ce document, au lieu de cipactli il y a
capactli, qui n'est peut-etre qu'une errenr du copiste, mais qui, peut-etre
anssi est le souvenir d'une langue perdue et qui se rattacherait au cnpac on
Manco-Capao du Perou.): de ce monstre, qui a la forme d'un caiman, il cree
la terre (^[otolinin, Ibid.). Ne serait-ce pas Ik le crocodile, image du temps,
chez les Kgyptiens, et ainsi que Tindique ChampoUion (Dans IlerapoHon, i.,
69 et 70, le crocodile est le symbole du couchant et des ti'nebres) symbole
ugalement de la R^fjion du Cotichant, de VAmenti? Dans I'Grcus t:iesi-
cain, le prince des Morts, Midlan-TevrMi, a pour compagne J/«c<fcaciAuaM,
celle qui utend les morts. Oi I'nppelle Ixcuina, on la di'esse au
visage peint ou an double visagi, parce qu'elle avait le visage de
deux conleurs, rouge avec le contour de la bouche et du nez peint en
noir {Cod. Mex. Tell-Rem., fol. 18, v.). On lui donnait aussi le nom de
TlafoUeotl, la dbesse de I'ordure, ou Tla^olquaid. la mangeuse d'ordure, parce

n'elle presidait aux amours et nux plaisirs lubriques avec ses trois muurs.

In la trouve personiftee encore avec Chantlco, quelquefois representee com-
me un chien, soit k cause de sa lubricite, soit h cause du nom de Chiucnauh'
lUcuinlli ou les Neuf-Chiens, qu'on lui donnait egalement (Cod. Mex Tell-
Rem., fol. 21, v.). C'est ainsi que dans I'ltalie ante-nelasgique, dnns la
Sicile et dans I'lle de Samothraoe, antt'rieurement aux Thraces et aux Pi'las-
ges, on adorait une Zi'rinthia, une Hecate, deesse Chienne qui nourrissait
aei trois flls, ses trois chiens, sur le meme autel, dans la demeure souterraine;
Tune et I'autre rappelaient ainsi le souvenir de ces hetaires qui veiltaient an
pied des pyramides, oil elles se prostituaient aux marins, aux marchands et
aux voyageurs, pour ramasser I'argeut nt'cessaire a I'l'rection des tombeaux des
rois. " Tout un caloul des temps, dit Eckstein {Sw les ,so«rce.s de la Comno-
fioniede SannhoniallMn, pp. 101, 197), se rattache k radoration solaire do cette
deesse et de ses flls. Le Chien, le 8iriuB, r^gne diius I'nstre de ce nnm, nu
zenith de I'ann^e, durant les jours de la canicule. On conuatt le cycle ou la
periode que preside 1 'astro du chien: on salt qn'il ne se rattache pas seule-
inent aux institutions de la vieillu Kgypte, mais encore h celles de la haute
Asie." En Amdriqne le nom de la d^es'se Iximina se rattache egalement h la
constellation dn sud, oil on la personnitie encore avec IxUacoliuhqid, autre
divinitu des ivrognes et des amours obscfenes: les astrologiies lui attribunient
un grand ponvoir sur les ^venements de la guerre, et, dans les derniers temns,
on en faisuit denendre le chAtiment dns adiiltpres et des incestueux (l^od. Mix.

Tell-Rem., fol. 16, v.),' Hee also, Rrinlon'a Myths, pp. 130-7; Leon y Oama,
Do* Pkdras, pt i., p. 12, pt ii., pp. 65-6.

iff ^^

886 GODS, SUFEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIF.

a connecting link between the mother goddess and the
companion of Mictlantecutli. Mr Gallatin says*' that
the Mexican gods " were painted in different ways ac-
cording to their various attributes and names: and the
priests were also in the habit of connecting with the
statue of a god or goddess, symbols of other deities which
partook of a similar character. Gama has adduced
several instances of both practices, in the part of his dis-
sertation which relates to the statue of the goddess of
death found buried in the great Square of Mexico of
which he, and lately Mr Nebel, have given copies.*® Her
name is Teoyaomiqui, which means, to die in sacred war,
or ' in defense of the gods,' and she is the proper com-
panion of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. The symbols
of her own attributes are found in the upper part of the
statue: but those from the waist downwards relate to
other deities connected with her or with Huitzilopochtli.
The serpents are the symbols of his mother Cohuatlycue,
and also of Cihuacohuatl, the serpent woman who begat
twins, male and female, from which mankind proceeded :
the same serpents and feathers are the symbol of Quez-
atlcohuatl, the precious stones designate Ghalchihuitlycue,
the goddess of water; the teeth and claws refer to Tlaloc
and to Tlatocaocelocelotl (the tiger king) : and together

« Amer. Elhnol. Soe., Transact., vol. i., pp. 338-9.

^ Hpeaking of the preat image in the Mexican mnsetiin of nntiqnitieB snp-
nosed by Bome to be this Mexican goddesH of war, or of death, Teoyuomiqne,
Mr Tylor says, Anahuac, pp. 222-3: ' The stone known an the statue of the
war-goddess is a huge block of basalt coveved with sculptures. The anti-
tjuaries think that the figures on it stand for diffemnt personages, and that
it is three gods, — Huitzilopochtli the god of war, Teoyaomiqui his wife, and
Mictlauteuctli the god of hell. It has necklaces of alternate nearts and dead
men's hands, with death's head for a central ornament. At the bottom of
the block is a strange sprawling figure, which one cannot see now, for it is
the base which rests on the ground; but there are two shoulders projecting
from the idol, which show plainly that it did not stand on the ground, but
was supported aloft on the tops of two pillars. The figure carved upon the
bottom represents a monster holding n skull in each hand, while others hnng
from his knees and elbows. His month is a mere oval ring, a common fea-
ture of Mexican idols, and four tusks project just above it. The new moon
laid down like a bridge forms his forehead, and a star is placed on each Hide
of it. This is thought to have been the conventional representation of Mict-
lanteuctli (Lord of the land of tho dead), the god of hell, which was a plare
of utter and eternal darkness. Probably each victim as he was led to the
altar could look up between the two pillars and see the hideous god of bell
stariug down upon him from above.'

OAHA ON THE COMPOUND IMAGE.

with her own attributes, the whole is a most horrible
figure."

Of this great compound statue of Huitzilopochtli (for
the most part under his name of Teoyaotlatohua), Teoyao-
mique, and Mictlantecutli, and of the three deities sepa-
rately Leon y Gama treats, in substance as follows,
beginning with Mictlantecutli :*" —

The Chevalier Boturini mentions another of his
names, Teoyaotlatohua, and says that as director and
chief of sacred war he was always accompanied oy
Teoyaomique, a goddess whose business it was to
collect the souls of those that died in war and of
those that were sacrificed afterward as captives. Let
these statements be put alongside of what Torquemada
says, to wit, that in the great feast of the month Huei-
miccailhuitl,* divine names were given to dead kings
and to all famous persons who had died heroically in
war, and in the power of the enemy ; idols were made
furthermore of these persons, and they were put with
the deities ; for it was said that they had gone to the place
of delights and pleasures there to be with the gods.
From all this it would appear that before this image, in
which were closely united Teoyaotlatohua and Teoyao-
mique, there were each year celebrated certain rites in
memory and honor of dead kings and lords and captains
and soldiers fiillen in battle. And not only did the
Mexicans venerate in the temple this image of many

<9 Leon y Oatna, Dos Piedras, pt i„ pp. 41-4.

M The tenth month, bo named by the Tlasoaltecs and others. See Tor-
(fueniada, ifotutrq, Ind., torn, ii., p. 298: 'Al decinio Mes del Kalendurio
Indiano llamaban bub Satrapan, Xocotlhuetzi, qne qniere decir: Quando se
cae, y acaba la Fruta, y debia de ser, per esta ra^on. de que per aqucl Tiem-
po se aciibaba, que oae en uuestro Agosto, h ik en todo eHte Mes bb pnsan laa
FrutaB en tierra fria. Fero los TlazcalteoaH, v otros lo llamaban Hueymicca-
ilhuiti, que quiere decir: La Fiesta maior de los Difuntos; y Iliimavania asi,
porque eate MeB Bolemnicaban la memoria de los DifnntoB, eon grandsB ola-
uores, y llantoB, y doblados lutes, que la primera, y se teflian los cuerpos de
color negro, y Be tiznnban toda la cara; y asi, las ceremonias, que se nacinn
de Dia, y de Noche, en todos los Templos, y fnera de ellos, erun de niucha
ti'isteqa, segnn que cada vno podia haoer su sentimiento; y en ente Mes dn-
ban nombre de Di vinos, ksus Beies difnntos, yktodaBaquellaRPersonns sen-
aladas, que havian muerto ha^attosamente en las Onerras, y en poder de sua
euemigoN, y les hacian sua Idolos, y los oolooaban, con bob DioBes. dioiendo,
que avian ido al lugar do (•an deleites, y paaatiempoB, en oompaSia de los
otrosDiosei.'

400 OODB, BUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

gods, but the judicial astrologers feigned a constellation
answering thereto and influencing persons born under
it. In depicting this constellation Teoyaotlatohua Huit-
zilopochtli was represented with only half his body, ps
it were seated on a bench, and with his mouth open as
if speaking. His head was decorated after a peculiar
fashion with feathers, his arms were made like trunks
of trees with branches, while from his girdle there issued
certain herbs that fell downwards over the bench. Op-
posite this figure was Teoyaomique, naked save a thiii
robe," and standing on a pedestal, apparently holding her
head in her hands, at any rate with her head cut off,
her eyes bandaged, and two snakes issuing from the neck
where the head should have been. Between the god
and the goddess was a flowering tree divided through the
middle, to which was attached a beam with various cross-
pieces, and over all was a bird with the head separated
from its body. There was to be seen also the head of a
bird in a cup, and the head of a serpent, together with
a pot turned upside down while the contents — water as
it would appear by the hieroglyphics attached — ran out.
In this form were painted these two gods, as one of
the twenty celestial signs, sufliciently noticed by Boturi-
ni, although as he confesses, he had not arranged them
in the proper order. Returning to notice the office at-
tributed to Teoyaomique, that of collecting the souls of
the dead, we find that Crist6bal del Castillo says that
all born under the sign which, with the god of war, this
goddess ruled, were to become at an early age valorous
soldiers; but that their career was to be short as it was

*i Ab the whole description becomes a little pnzzling here, I give the origfnal,
Leon y Gania Dos Piedras, p. 42: ' E.T>f rente (le estik tigura estti Teoyaomiqne
(lesnuda, y cubierta con hoIo nn ce))dtt\ pars da sobre una basa, u porcion de
|>ila8tra; la cabeza separnda d«>l >?)ier3io arriba del cuello, con Jos ojosven-
dados, y en sn lugnr dus v. boras o cuJc-braa, que nacen del mismo cuello.
Entre estas dos fignras estA nn (tr'r-.yX te flores partido por medio, al cual se

t'unta un madero con varioa atuivi!, .nos, y encima de el una ave, cnya ca-
leza estjl tanibicn dividida dei cuerpo. Be v^ tambien otra cabeza de ave
dentro de una j .'cara, otra de sierpe, una olla con la boca para abajo, saliendo
de eHa la materia que contenia dentro, cnya figura parece ser In que usabun
para representor el agna; y flnalmente ocupan el restodel ouadro [of the re-
presentation of the constellation above mentioned in th« textj otros gerogli-
ncos y figuraa difereutes.'

sun,
exist

MIGTEGAGIHUATL.

401

brilliant, for they were to fall in battle young. These
souls were to rise to heaven, to dwell in the house of the
sun, where were woods and groves. There they were to
exist four years, at the end of which time they were to
be converted into birds of rich and beautiful plumage,
and to go about sucking flowers both in heaven and on
earth.

To the statue mentioned above there was joined with
great propriety the image of another god, feigned to be
the god of hell, or of the place of the dead, which latter
is the literal signification of his name, Mictlantecutli.
This image was engraved in demi-relief on the lower
plane of the stone of the great compound statue ; but it
was also venerated separately in its own proper temple,
called Tlalxicco, that is to say, ' in the bowels or navel
of the earth.' Among the various offices attributed to
this deity was that of burying the corpses of the dead,
principally of those that died of natural infirmities; for
the souls of these went to hell to present themselves be-
fore this Mictlantecutli and before his wife Mictecacihu-
atl, which name Torquemada interprets as ' she that
throws into hell.' Thither indeed it was said that these
de".d went to offer themselves as vassals carrying offer-
ings, and to have pointed out to them the places that
they were to occupy according to the manner of their
death. This god of hades was further called Tzontemoc,
a term interpreted by Torquemada to mean ' he that
lowers his head;' but it would rather appear that it
should take its signification from the action indicated
by the great statue, where this deity is seen as it were
carrying down tied to himself the heads of corpses to
bury them in the ground, as Boturini says. The places
or habitations supposed to exist in hell, and to which
the souls of the dead had to go were nine ; in the last of
which, called Chicuhnauhmictlan, the said souls were f>up-
I»08ed to be annihilated and totally destroyed. There
was lastly given to this god a place in heaven, he being
joined with one of the planets and accompanied by Teo-
tlamacazqui ; irt his feet, there was painted a body that

Vol. IU. ao

402

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

was half buried, or covered with earth from the head to
the waist, while the rest stuck out uncovered. It only
rern 'ns to be mid that such was the veneration and re-
ligious feeling with which were regarded all things re-
lating to the deml, that not only there were invented fur
them tutelary gods, much honored by fre(|uent feasts and
sacrifice; but the Mexicans elevated Death itself, dedi-
cating to it a day of the calendar (the first day of the
sixth 'ti-ecena"), joining it to the number of the celes-
tial signs; and erecting to it a sumptuous temple called
Tolnahuac, within the circuit of the great temple of
Mexico, wherein it was particularly adore<l with holo-
causts and victims under the title Ce Miquiztli.'*''

>* Roturini, Id^a, pp. 27-8, mentionR tho RoddenH Teoyaotnique; on pp.
30-1, hv iioti(-(>H the ri>Mpi>ct. with which Mirthintt-cutli mid thu dcnd wcri! ic-

fnrdt'd: ' Mit roHta huIu triitnrdo Iik deciina torriii, y tiltiiiin Dviilud cxto <'h, cI
)ion del Infierno, OeroKhtico, quo explica el iiiuduHo ucto de Hepiillar Ioh
miiertoH, y i<l Kriui rfHp«4to, (iiiu ratoH iinti){nuH IiuiioH teiiiuti k Ioh m-piilrroH,
creyondo, ii iinitnciuu do otrnH NucioiiPH, no nolo qne nlli aniHtiiin Iuh nhnnR
de Ioh DifnntoH, . . Hiiio ipio tninbiuii dichoH I'liricutim eriui huh DioHrn Imli-
««()■», Ua ilwli, qHiisi imle ijeniti, iiuyoH Iiuvhhoh, y ociiixiih duliitn idli iiiduhitii-
blen, y oiortiiH himuiIoh do t>l doniiiiio, iiue tuvivron i>n uquplln iiiiKiiiH tipirii,
dondo HO hnlliil)iiii HcpultudoH, hi que havinn douindo con Ioh HUilorrn <h> la
Agricultura, y aun dcfcndiau con Ioh rcHpelon, y cl()i|urncin niuda de huh ciiiIii-

voreH NuoBtroH Indion en la HORunda Edud dcdicnron doH nitHcH ilv el

ailo llaniadoH Mkaj/lltnilt, y Ihuf/wicai/lhuUl k la roninieniorucion de Ioh
DifuntoH, y en la tcrocra exorcidu'on varioH acton do pifdud on hu nicnioria,

ftrueha constante do <|ue confoHHnron la iniinortnlidad do el alma.' Kci* fiii-
hcr Toixueiiinila, Mimnrii. Iml., toni. ii., pn. 521) -3U. Of the compound idol
dinoUHHod above, Humholdt, Vurs din ('ormUerri^, torn, ii., j p. Ifjll-T, HpcaltH
at Home louKth. He Hityn: ' On dintinKue, k la partio Hupt'rioure, Iph ti^lcHdu
doux mouHtroH accolcn et IVm trouve, k chaquo lace, deux youx ot uno larKO
Kiioule arriii'o do <|uatre dontH. ('oh tlKuroH monHtruouHOH n'indiiiuont |ii'iit-
6(ro qtio doH niaH(|uoH: car, chcK Ich KloxicaiuH, on otoit dauH I'uNaKodo uiaH-
quor loH idoloH k I'l'noquo do la nialadio d'un roi, ot dauH touto autre cala

' r)H \)rH

• «'' 4
CKjyc, ivVcDidi* df sn'i>inf, Touh coh accoHMiireH, Hurtout Ioh frauuoH on foinio

'"I"

T,OH l)ra'H ot Irn i)iedH Mont <-ach('H houh uno draporio entoitreu

d't'nornioH Horponn, ot que Ioh ^loxieainH deHiKUoiont houh Io noni do culiwilH-

niitd pulili(|ue,

de nhunoH, nont HculptoH avoii lo pluH gritnd Hoin. M. Uama, dauH un nii'-
nioire p--'!, iiiier, a rendu troH-nrobidilo <pio cotto idole roprenento le dlou <lii
la Ruerro. //m'^i/o/wc/iH/, ou Tlandnirfwiwurgvottin, rt Ha (ennuo, appelt'o
Tfoyiniiiqiil (lie kiiV/ki, niourir, ot do Iroyno, DUorro divine), |)ar(io<iu'eili'
cimduiHoit Ioh anioH don ({ueri'iorH nwirtH pour la defonHO den dioux, k la vmh
on du SoMI, lo paradiH dc h MexicaiuH, ou olio Ioh tranrfornioit en colibiJK.
liPH tt'toH do niortH et Ioh maiuH roupoi h, dont «iuatro eiitourent lo holn do la
deoHHo, rappollent Ioh horribh'H HaoriHcoH ftiOfptunhmutttJiitlU eeli bri'H daim
la quinxii>nu> periods do tniro joum, npW'H lo HolRtioe d'ole, k Ihoiinourdu
dieu do la Kuerre ot do hu eompnKne 'Itoynndtiul, Len mainn eoupeeH alltj-
noiit avec la flKure do coitainH vanon dann leHtpioln on brdloit roneen<t, Cch
vawH )'t4iiont appoU'm tip-tiiilii, luws rn /ott»i# dr e«/c'/rtwi« (do (opili, bouise
Uhhiio do Al do pito, et do xindi, oalebaHHO), Cotie idole t'tant Hculptee wir
toutca aoH (aooM, memo par duHHoiiH (tig, 5), o'l Ton voit roproHouti! Mktlun-

mXCOAtX. OOD OF HCNTINO.

408

Mixcontl in the god, — or goddess according to some
good authorities, — of hunting. The name means ' cloud-
seriicnt' and indeed seems common to a whole class of
deities or heroes somewhat resembling the Niljelungs of
northern European mythology.*" He is further sup-
|)OHcd to be connected with the thunderstorm: " Mixco-
atl, the Cloud-Serpent, or Iztac-Mixcoatl, the White or
(Heaming Cloud-Serpent," writes Brinton," "said to
have iKjen the only divinity of the ancient Chichimecs,
held in high honor by the Nahuas, Nicaroguans, and
Otomis, and identical with Taras, supreme god of the
Tarascos, and (^amaxtli, g<Kl of the Teo-Chichimecs, is
another personification of the thunder-storm. To this
(lay tills is the familiar name of the tropical tornado in
tiic Mexican language, lie wjis represented, like Jove,
with a bundle of arrows in his hand, the thunderbolts.
Uoth tiic Nahuius and Tarascos related legends in which
he figured ius father of the race of man. Like other
lords of the lightning he was worshi[)ed as the disj)enser
of riclies and the patron of traffic; and in Nicaragua
his ima^e is described as l)eing 'engraved stones' pro-
bably tiie supposed products of the thunder."

hulitli, le sriijneur du Um den mortn, on ne Minrnit doiitor qu'cUo t'toit Boutonuft
cti I'air uii nioynn dn doux colonuoH Hur IcHtinolloH rcpoHoiiiiit Ich purtioH niitr-
<l^iit'('H A <*t H, iliini* lim fl^urim 1 ei 3, D'tipri'H ccttti iliH^tuHitiou bizurro, la
ti'ti' >lo ridolii HO troiivoit vraiHiHiililAhleiiiunt ('lev<!u do riiui 2k nix mi'trcH an-
(limHiiH dii piivi! du tninplc, dn iniiiiiiNro qno It'H pn'trim fTeoitixipiiJ triihuiiunt
!<<H niiiliuMtiviiHL'H viotiinen 2k l'uut«], en Iob faiMint [mHHcr iiu-dcHituUH du 1ft
tl|{iiro do MlMtnteiihtU.'

iJ Acooidiii^ to Hi-ikHMur do Bourbourn, in AToui'ettcs Annateii df» Voynnet,
IN5H, tiiiu. v\\., pp. 'i07-H: ' LuH hi>roH ut dntui-doux iiui, hour In noni Ki'ncrique
(l«('hichiin!'(|uoH'MixoohunH, Jouuntun hI griiiid nMn duUH lu uiytlioUi){io incxf-
oiiino, nt <pii du vii* nu ix* miVlu dn notrn i'rn, obtinront la pn'pondnmuoo Hur
It) platnuu a/.ti'(iuu. . . .Lor pluH oi'lubroH dc I'vx lu-roH nunt Mixnohuutl-Mnisa-
tzin (In Hnt'ixint Ni'buluux nt lo Paiin), fm il it.'ur<l<« In royaut.'i il Tolliin (au-
joui-il' iiui Tula), TnlxRatlipona, Hpt'oinl'-iiK' it. ndon'' A TutZ(Mico, ot hou fnro
Mixcdhuall In jnunc dit ('amaxtii, nu paiMi-iili.r itdnro !l TIaxoullan, I'uu et
I'liittrn montionn.'H, houh d'aittroH nortn, juirrni Ii'k miH dn Cullumnau i>i ron-
Kidi'ri'H, ahmi quo In iimmiur, coniiuc h", ))riii<'ipaux f(iiidat<>urH dn la inon-
itrchio tolti'cpin. On luuiirn oi'i IIk >-i>(^'iii'i>iit In jour. Vn niaiiuHorit nicxicuin,
[('iidnx Cliimalpopoca], on Inn ilonntkut ixmr HIm d'lKtac-Mixcohuatl ou In
Hvrpnnt Itlauu Nnbulnux nt d'l7.tjin-<'hii.l<-liiulili(< ou It lil.tnnlio Damn
lutin'n, fait alli'^oriqiiniiinnt alluMion \\\\\ iiu,>H n ')>ulnux nt aipiatiipieH oi'i iln
nut ]ii'iH uaiHHaucn; In iiii^uui docutnnnt ajw.itn cpi'ilH vinrntit par vau nt qu'iln
dniunurnrunt uu nnrlain tcinpH on baniun. I'nul-ntm ({un lu noni d' listau ou
niauo, nKalnu»>u( donn ' ^ MixcoliuatI, d('Hi({iin auHHi uuo raoo dilTurouta do
cello doH IiidiniiH 1 1 pluM nn rappurt nvoo lu n6tro.'

" BrhOon' - it!u, p. 168.

^illl

m \'

404 OODS. SUPEBKATURAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

In the fourteenth month, called Quecholli, and begin-
ning, according to Clavigero, en the fourteenth of Novem-
ber, there was made with many obscure ceremonies, a feast
to this god. On the sixth day of t^e month all assem-
bled at the c u of Huitzilopochtli, where during four days
they made arrows and darts for use in war and for
general practice at a mark, mortifying at the same time
their tlesh by drawing blood, and by abstaining from
women and pulque. Tliis done they made, in honor of
the dead, certain little mimic darts of a hand long, of
which four seem to have been tied together with four
splinters of candle- wood pine; these were put on the
graves, and at set of sun, lit and burned, after which the
ashes were interred on the spot. There were taken a
maize-stalk of nine knots with a paper flag on the top
that hung down to the bottom, together with a shield and
dart belonging to the dead man, and his maxtle and
blanket ; the last two being attached to the maize-stalk.
The hanging flag was ornamented on either side with
red cotton thread, in the figure of an X; a piece of
twisted white thread also hung down to which was sus-
pended a dead humming-bird. Handfuls of the white
feathers of the heron were tied two and two and fastened
to the burdened maize-stalk, while all the cotton thrcadH
used were covered with white hen's feathers, stuck on
with resin. Lastly all these were burned on a stone block
called the quaulixicakalico.

In the court of the cu of Mixcoatl was scattered much
dried grass brought from the mountains, upon which the
old women-priests, or cioatlamacazqm, seated themselves,
each with a mat before her. All the women that hml
children came, each bringing her ohild and five sweet
tamalcs; and the tivmales were put on the matslx^furo
the old women, who in return took the children, tossod
them in their arms and then returned them to their
mothers.

About the middle of the month was made a special
feast to this god of the Otomfs, to Mixcoatl. In tlio
morning all prepared for a great drive-hunt, girding

DBIVE-HUNT OF MIXGOATL.

405

their blankets to their loins, and taking bows and arrows.
They wended their way to a mountain-slope, anci-
ently Zapatepec, or Yxillantonan, above the sierra of
Atlacuizoayan, or as it is now called, according to Busta-
mante, Tacubaya. There they drove deer, rabbits, hares,
coyotes, and other game together, little by little, every
one in the meantime killing what he could; few or
no animals escaping. To the most successful hunters
blankets were given, and every one brought to his house
the heads of the animals he had taken, and hanged them
up for tokens of his prowess or activity.

There were human sacrifices in honor of this hunting
god with other deities. The manufacturers of pulque
bought, apparently two slaves who were decorated with
paper and killed in honor of the gods Tlamatzincatl and
Yzquitecatl; there were also sacrificed women supposed
^> represent the wives of these two deities. The calp'iX'
itais on their part led other two slaves to the death in
honor of Mixcoatl and of Gohuatlicue his wife. On the
morning of the last day but one of the month, all the
doomed were brought out and led round the cu where
they had to die ; after mid-day they were led up the cu,
round the sacrifical block, down again, then back to the
calpuko, to be at once guarded and forced to keep awake
for the night. At midnight their heads were shaven
before the fire, and every one of them burned there
what goods he had, little paper flogs, cane tobacco-
pipes'^' and drinking- vessels; the women threw into
the flaine their raiment, their ornaments, their
spindlw liftlo baskets, vessels in which the spin-
dles v-ej\» -vwirled, warping-frames, fuller's earth,
piece i't' ^jt ne for pressing a fabric together, cords
for <uatfcn;;»g it up, maguey-thorns, measuring-rods,
«>id othtr \\uoments for weaving; and they said that
all these things had to be given to them in the other
world after their death. At daybreak these captives
were carried or assisted up, each having a paper flag

» CaAaa de hamo: Klngaborowik'a Mtx. Aniiq,, rol. vii., p. 76; Sahagun,
lliM, Otn., torn, i., Ub. ii., p. 100.

1)06

GODS, BUPEBNATtJBAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

borne before him, to the several cues of the gods they
were to die in honor of. Four that had to die, probably
before Mixcoatl, were, each by four bearers, carried up
to a temple, bound hand and foot to represent dead deer ;
while others were merely assisted up the steps by a
youth at each arm, so that they should not faint nor fail ;
two other youths trailing or letting them down the same
steps after they were dead. The preceding relates
only to the male captiv. ^ the women being slain before
the men, in a separate cu called the coatlan; it is said
that as they were forced up the steps of it some screamed
and others wept. In letting the dead bodies of these
wom^n down the steps again, it is also specially wiitten,
that they w> f. vr,i hurled down roughly, but rolled down
little by liti < t the place where the skulls of the
dead were exp ., waited two old women called teixa-
mique, having by them salt water and bread and a mess
or gruel of some kind. The carcasses of the victims
being brought to them, they dipped cane-leaves into the
salt water and sprinkled the faces of them therewith,
and into each mouth they put four morsels of bread
moistened with the gruel or mess above-mentioned.
Then the heads were cut off and spitted on poles; and so
the feast ended.**

I»i connection with the religious honors paid to the
dead, it may be here said that the Mexicans had a deity
of whom almost all we know is that he was the god of
those that died in the houses of the lords or in the
palaces of the principal men; he was called Macuilxo-

>• Kingi^rouqh'a Mn. Anilq., vol. yH., pp. 73-fl; Sahaijun, Hist. Oen., torn.
1.. lib. ii.i pn. l6>i-7; Torqutimda, Momrq. Ind., toiu. ii., pp. 148-0, 151-2,
880-1; ClniHiiero, Siorlt Ant. dtl Meiulco, torn, it., p. 79; MMer, Avierik-a-
nMf ifrrelijiimeii, pit. 483, 48'*, and elaowhere. BraBSuur, as his ouHtuui Ih,
•uheinerizeH this gua, detniliiif; the eventn of his reign, and theoi'ir.iiiK on
his polioy, KH soberly and beliovingly ns if it were a question of the ruiun of
a Lo.iiH XIV., or a Napoleon I.; see Itlnt. Ifat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 'ivi-'Mi.
Qomarii, Vnnq. iftx., fol. 88, and others, makeCainaxtle, thepriucipnlgodnf
Tliuoala, ideutionl with Mixoriatl. The Chichiineos ' had only one god onlltul
llixooatl an 1 they kept this image or statue. Thev held to another god, in-
Tisiblo, without imago, called looalliohecatl,— thatistosay, godinvislDloaud
impalpftble, favoring, sheltering, all-powerful, by whoM power all live, eta.'
Bamgun, Uiat. Oen., turn, ii., lib. vi., p. 04.

MAGUILXOCHITL.

407

chitl, ' the chief that gives flowers, or that takes care of
the giving of flowers.'" Tlie festival of this god fell
among the movable feasts and was called Xochilhuitl,
or ' the festival of flowers.' There were in it the usual
preliminary fasting (that is to say, eating but once a day,
at noon, and then only of a restricted diet), blood-letting,
and oflering of food in the temple ; though there did not
occur therein anything suggestive either of a god of
flowers or of a god of the more noble dead. The image
of this deity was in the likeness of an almost naked man,
either flayed or painted of a vermilion color; the mouth
and chin were of three tints, white, black, and light blue ;
the face was of a light reddish tinge. It had a crown of
light green color, with plumes of the same hue, and tas-
sels that hung down to the shoulders. On the back of
the idol was a device wrought in feathers, representing
a banner planted on a hill ; about the loins of it was a
bright reddish blanket, fringed with sea- shells ; curiously
wrought sandals adorned its feet; on ihe left arm of it
was a white shield, in the midst of which were set four
stones, joined two and two; it held a sceptre, shaped like
a heart and tipped with green and yellow feathers.""

" This deity must not, it would seem, bo confounded with another
mentioned by Huhagnn, viz., Coatlyace, or Contlynte, or C'ontlantonan, a
goddess of whom we know little nave the fact, incideutitlly mentioned, that
Hhe was regarded with groan devotion by the dealers in flowers. 8ee Kbiqa-
boroiufh'a Mex, Antiq,, vol. vii., p. 42, and Sahayttn, Hist. Oen., torn, i., lib. U.,
1). 06.

M Kingahnrough's Mex. Aixtiq., vol. vii., pp. 10-11, 136; Sahwjun, Hist. Om.,
torn, i., lib. i., pp. 19-22, lib. iv.. n. 305. Boturini, Idea de una IIM., im. 14-16,
speaks of a godctcss called Mitcnilxoohiquetzalli; by a comparison of tne pass-
age with note 28 of this chapter, it will 1 think be evident that the chevalier'a
Maouilxochi(iuutzulli is identical not with Macuilxochitl, but with Xochiqnet-
zal, the Azteo Venus. Sea further, on the relations of this goddess, lira*-
smr de Bourbourii, Iflst. Xnt. Civ., tom. iii , pp. 400-1: ' Matlalcui'ye, qui
donnait son nom an versant de la montagne du cote de Tlaxeallan, t'tait
regardi'e oomme la protectriue speciale des magicicnnes. I^a It'gende disait
qu'elle etait devenue Tepouse de TIaloo, aprt>H one Xorhlquetzal eut I'te en«
luvt'e k oe dieu [see this vol. p. 3781. Celle-oi, dont tile n'i'tait, apr^B tout,
qu'une personnifleatiou difT^'rente, etait appeh'o anssi Chalchiiihlycue, ou le
Jupon Kami' d'emerandes, en sa qualiti' de di'esse ties eaux. Le symbole sous
Ipqiiel on la reprt'sente, comme deesse des amours honn^tes, est celui d'uu
I'veiitiiil compost' do cinq fletirs, oe que rend encore le num qu'on liii dt>nnait
" Maouil-Xoohiquetzalli." ' Hrasseur, it is tt> be remembcrci', disliuguishea
between Xoohinuetaal aa the gtiddeu of honest love, and Tinzulteotl as the
goildesi of lubricity.

'il

406

OODS, SUPEBNATCBAL BiiUNOS, AND WORSHIP.

Ome Acatl was the god of banquets and of guests; his
name signified ' two canes.' When a man made a feast
to his friends, he had the image of this deity carried to
his house by certain of its priests; and if the host did
not do this, the deity appeared to him in a dream, re-
buking him in such words as these : Thou bad man, be-
cause thou hast withheld from me my due honor, know
that I will forsake thee and that thou shalt pay dearly
for this insult. When this god was Excessively angered,
he was accustomed to mix hairs with the food and drink
of the guests of the object of his wrath, so that the giver
of the feast should be disgraced. As in the case of
Huitzilopochtli, there was a kind of communion sacra-
ment in connection with the adoration of this god of
feasts: in each ward dough was taken and kneaded by
the principal men into the figure of a bone of about a
cubit long, called the bone of Ome Acatl. A night seems
to have been spent in eating and in drinking pulque ; then
at break of day an unfortunate person, set up as the living
image of the god, hod his belly pricked with pins, or
some such articles; being hurt thereby, as we are told.
This done the bone was divided and each one ate what
of it fell to his lot ; and when those that had insulted
this god ate, they often grew sick, and almost choked,
and went stumbling and falling. Ome Acatl was repre-
sented as a man seated on a bunch of cyperus-sedge8.
His face was painted white and black ; upon his head
was a pa^jer crown surrounded by a long and broad fillet
of divers colors, knotted up at the back of the head ; and
again round and over the fillet, was wound a string of
chalchiuite beads. His blanket was made like a net, and
had a brond border of flowers woven into if. He bore
a shield, from the lower part of which hung a kind of
fringe of broad tassels. In tlie right hand he held a
sceptre called the tlachieloHique, or ' looker,' " because it
was furnished with a round plate through which a hole

M The flra-god Xiuhteontli nied an inttrument of thii kind; see thU rol.
p. 385.

IXTLILTON, HEALEB OF OHILDBEK.

409

was pierced, and the god kept his face covered with the
plate and looked through the hole."**

Yxtliton, or Ixtlilton, — that is to say ' the little negro/
according to Sahagun, and ' the blauk-faced,' according
to Clavigero — was a god who cured children of various
diseases."^ His ' oratory' was a 'dnd of temporary build-
ing made of painted boards ; his image was neither graven
nor painted ; it was a living man decorated with certain
vestments. In this temple or oratory were kept many
pans and jars, covered with boards, and containing a
fluid which was called 'black water.' When a child
sickened, it was brought to this temple and one of these
jars was uncovered, upon which the child drank of the
black water and was healed of its disease — the cure being
probably most prompt and complete when the priests as
well as the god knew something of physic. When one
made a feast to this god — which seems to have been
when one made new pulque — the man that was the
image of Ixtlilton came to the house of the feast-giver
with music and dancing, and preceded by the smoke of

^Kingaborouqh'a Mex. Anliq., vol. vii., pp. 11-12; Sahagun, Hist. Om., torn.
i., lib. i., pp. 22-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 58, 240-1; f/«i'l-
qero, Slorla Ant. del Mesnioo, torn, ii., p. 22; Braastur ae Bourbourg, Hist.
Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 402.

61 This god, who was hIho known by the title of Tlaltecuin, is the third
Mexican god oonuected with medicine. There is flrst that unnamed goddess
described on p. 353, of this vol.; and there is then a certain Tzapntlatena,
described by Sikhatnui— KingHhorouijh'H Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 4; Sahagun,
Hist. Otn,, torn, i., lib. t., pi). 7-8— as the goddess of turpentine (see Uraaaeur
de Jiourbourg, Ilist, Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 4U4), or of some such sub-
stance, used to cure the itch in the head, irruptions on the skin, sore
throats, ch ipped feet or lips, and other such things : * Tzaputlatena fue una
niuger, Reuun s\i nombro, nacida on ol pueblo do T/niiutta, v por es'o se
llama la Mudre do Tz.ipntia, porque fuil la primeru ipio invciito la rosina quo
so llama uxitl, y es uu aoeyte saoado por artiticio do la rosina del piiio, que
uprovecha para sanar muohas enfermodados, y ])rinieramonte aprovooha con-
tra uui manora de bubas, o wtriia, que nacn en la cal)eza, que se llama Quaxo-
cncivistli ; y tambion contra otra onformi'dad es provochuBU asi misiuo, quo
naoe en la oabeza, que es como bubas, (pio so llama Chaguachicioiztli, y tam-
bien pnra la saina de la cabem. A))rov«cha tantbien contra la rnnguera <io la
L'argauta. Aproveoha tambion contra las grietas de las pios v de los labios.
Kh tambion cimtra los ompeines que nacon en la cnra o en las nianos. £b
tamliieu contra el usagre; contra muchas otms enfermedades es bueno. Y
conio esta niuger debut ser la primera que hallit este aeeyto, contaronla
cntre lus Diosas, y huoianla fteata y Baorittoioi aquellos que venden y haoen
este aeeyto que se llama Uxitl.'

I i i

^i!-!

410

OODS, BUPEBNATDBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

copal incense. The representative of the deity having
arrived, the first thing he did was to eat and drink;
there were more dances and festivities in his honor, in
which he took part, and then he entered the cellar of
the house, where were many jars of pulque that had been
covered for four days with boards or lids of some kind.
He opened one or many of these jars, a ceremony called
' the opening of the first, or of the new wine,' and him-
self with those that were with him drank thereof. This
done, he went out into the court-yard of the house,
where there were prepared certain jars of the above-
mentioned black water, which also had been kept covered
four days; these he opened, and if there was found there-
in any dirt, or piece of straw, or hair, or ash, it was
taken as a sign that the giver of the feast was a man of
evil life, an adulterer, or a thief, or a quarrelsome per-
son, and he was affronted with the charge accordingly.
When the representative of the god set out from the
house where all this occurred, he was presented with
certain blankets called yxguen, or ixquen, that is to say,
* covering of the face,' because when any fault had been
found in the black water, the giver of the feast was put
to shame.®'

Opuchtli, or Opochtli, ' the left-handed,' was venerated
by fishermen as their protector and the inventor of their
nets, fish-spears, oars, and other gear. In Cuitlahuac, an
island of lake Chalco, there was a god of fishing called
Amimitl, who, according to Clavigero, differed from the
first-mentioned only in name. Sahagun says that Opuch-
tli was counted among the number of the Tlaloques,
and that the offerings made to him were composed of
pulque, stalks of green maize, flowers, the smoking-canes,
or pi[)e8 called yietl, copal incense, the odorous herb
yiauhtli, and parched maize. These things seem to have
been strewed before him as rushes used to bo strewed
before a procession. There were used in these solenmi-

<i Kinqibormtgh'ii Mex. Anliq., vol. vii., pp. 12-13; Bnhmiun, JIM. 0*n„
torn, i., lib. i., pp. 24-5; Claviijero, Hist, Ant. del Mvnnit'o, torn, ii., p. 21.

OPUGHTLI, OOD OF FISHING.

«tl

ties certain rattles enclosed in hollow vralking-sticks.
The image of this god was like a man, almost naked,
with the face of that grey tint seen in quails' feathers;
on the head was a paper crown of divers colors, made
like a rose, as it were, of leaves overlapping each other,
topped by green feathers issuing from a yellow tassel ;
other long tassels hung from this crown to the shoulders
of the idol. Crossed over the breast was a green stole
resembling that worn by the Christian priest when say-
ing mass; on the feet were white sandals; on the ^eft
arm was '. red shield, and in the centre of its field a
white flower with four leaves disposed like a cross; and
in the lefl hand was a sceptre of a peculiar fashion."^

Xipe, or Totec, or Xipetotec, or Thipetotec, is, accord-
ing to Clavigero, a god whose name has no meaning,"
who was the deity of the goldsmiths, and who was much
venerated by the Mexicans, they being persuaded that
those that neglected his worship would be smitten with

<} ' Tenia en la mano izquierda una rodela teAida de Colorado, y en el me-
dio de este campo una flor blanca con quntro ojas d manera de cruz, y de Iob
ospacios de las ojaB salian quatro puutas que eran tambien ojas de la misma
flor. Tenia un cetro en la mano derecha como nu caliz, y de lo alto de ^1
salia comoun caHquiUodesaetaa:' ' 'jsboroxtfjh's Mex. Antiq. ,yo\.vi\., n. 13;
Sahmnin, Hint, Gen., torn, i., lib. i., . 26-7; Clavigtro, Storia Ant. del Afeasi-
CO, torn, ii., p. 20; Torque, ada, Momrq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 60-1, ' La peche
avikit, tontefois, sou genie partioulier: c'etait Opuchtli, le Oaucher, iieriionui-

ficatioit de Uuitzilopochtli : ' Brasatur de Bonrhourg, Hist. dt» Nat. Civ.,

ton), iii., p. 494.

M Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Meaaico, torn, ii., p. 22. This is evidently a
blunder, however; Boturini explains Totec to mean ' god our lord, ' nnd Xipe
(or Oxipe, as he writes it) to signify 'god of the flaying:' ' TlaxipehualUtli,
Symbolo del primer Mes, quieredecir Desholtamiento de Oenlta, porque en su
primer dia se deshollaban unos Humbres vivos dedicados al Dios TMxtn, esto
OS, Dioa Seilor nueatro, o al Dios Oxiite, J)ioa de el Deahollaniiento, syncope de
Tloxipeitca : ' Boturini, Idea de una Hist,, p. ,51. Buhnguu soys that the name
means 'the flayed one.' 'Xipetotec, que quiere decir desollado:* Kings-
orouih's Sfex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 14; Sahagun, Uiat. Gen., torn, i., lib. i., p. 27.
While Torquemada affirms that it means ' the bnld,' or 'the blackened one:'
'Teuiiin los Pliiteros otro Dios, que se Uamaba Xippe, y Toteo. . Este Do-
mouiit Xippe, que quiere decir, Calvo, (5 Ate<;ikdo: Torquemada, }[onarq.
Ind., torn, ii., p. 58. Brasseur, Ilial. X<it. Civ., tom. Hi., p. 503, partiillpr
accepts all these derivations: 'Xipe, le chauve ou I'l'corcht;, antrement dit
encore Toteo ou notre seigneur.' This god was further suruamed, according
to the interpreter of the Vatican Oodex, 'the mournful combatant,' or, ns
OiUlatin gives it, 'the disconsolate;' see S/)t>f>oii<m« deWe Tavole del " ulire
.l/«xi(,-ano (Vaticano), tav. xliii., in KingiAorough'H .Vex. Antiq,, vol, v., y,. 186;
and Anur, Ethnol. Sov., Tranaact., vol, i., pp. 345, 350.

....

432 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINOS, AND WORSHIP.

diseases; especially the boils, the itch, and pains of the
head and eyes. They excelled themselves therefore in
cruelty at his festival time, occurring ordinarily in the
second month.

Sahagun describes this god as specially honored by
dwellers on the sea-shore, and as having had his origin
at Zapotlan in Jalisco. He was supposed to afflict
people with sore eyes and with various skin-diseases,
such as small-pox, abscesses, and itch. His image was
made like a human form, one side or flank of it being
painted yellow, and the other of a tawny color; down
each side of the face from the brow to the jaw a thin
stripe was wrought; and on the head was a little cap
with hanging tassels. The upper part of the body was
clothed with the flayed skin of a man ; round the loins
was girt a kind of green skirt. It had on one arm a
yellow shield with a red border, and held in both hands
a scepter shaped like the calix of a poppy and tipped with
an arrow-head."

On the last day of the second month, — or, accord-
ing to some authors, of the flrst, — Tlocaxipehualiztli,
there was celebrated a solemn feast in honor at once
of Xipetotec and of Huitzilopochtli. It was preceded
by a very solemn dance at noon of the day before.
Ah the night of the vigil fell, the captives were shut up
and guarded ; at midnight — the time when it was usual
to draw blood from the ears — the hair of the middle of
the head of each was shaven away before a fire. When
the dawn appeared they were led by their owners to the
foot of tiie stiiirs of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, — and
if they would not ascend willingly the priests dragged
them up by the hair. The priests threw them down one
by one on the back on a stone of three quarters of a
yard or more high, and squai'e on the top something
more than a foot every way. Two assistants held the
victim down by the feet, two by the hands, and one by
the head — this last according to many accounts putting

u Kiwiaboroiufh's \fex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 14; Sahatiun, HM, Otn., torn, i.,
lib. i., pp. 27-8; Jiolurini, Idea de Nwva 1M„ p. 51. '

EATING THE BODIES OP THE SACRIFICED.

413

a yoke over the neck of the man and bo pressing it down.
Then the priest, holding with both hands a splinter
of flint, or a stone resembling flint, like a large lance-
head, struck aci^oss the breast therewith, and tore out the
heart through the gash so made; which, after oflering it
to the sun and other gods by holding it up toward the
four quarters of heaven, he threw into a wooden vessel."
The blood was collected also in a vessel and given to the
owner of the dead captive, while the body, thrown down
the temple steps, was taken to the calpule by certain
old men, called quaquacuiUin, flayed, cut into pieces, and
divided for eating ; the king receiving the flesh of the
thigh, while the rest of the carcass was eaten at the
house of the owner of the captive, though, ns will appear
by a remark hereafter,'" it is improbable that the captor
or owner himself ate any of it. With the skin of these
flayed persons, a party of youths called the tototecli
clothed themselves, and fought in sham flght with an-
other party of young men ; prisoners being taken on both
sides, wlio were not released without a ransom of some
kind or other. This sham battle was succeeded by com-
bats of a terribly real sort, the famous so-called gladia-
torial tights of Mexico. On a great round stone, like an

«« These human sncriflccB were begnn, acconling to Clnvigero, Sioria AnI.
del Mtjisico, torn, i., pp. 105-7, by the Mexicans, l>efore the fuundation of their
cit}', while yet slnveH uf the ('ulhuaa. These MexieanH had done futod ser-
vice to their rulers iii a battle nuniust the Xochiniilcus. The masters were
expected to furnish their surfs ^vith a thank-offering for the war god. Tlicy
sent a Althy ma and a rotten fowl. The Mexicans received and were silent.
The day of festival came; ond with it the Cnlhua nobles to see the sport—
the HeiotH and their vile sacrifice. But the filth did not appear, only a
coarse altnr, wreathed with a fragrant herb, lM>ai'iug a ^nat flaki- of keen-
ground obsidian. The dance began, the frenzy niountcd up, the priests
advanced to the altar, and with them they dragged four Xnohiniiica |)riHon-
ers. There is a quick struggle, and over a prisoner bruiHcd, doubled back
supine on the altar-block gleams and falls the itzli, driven with a two-handed
blow. The blood spurts like a recoil into the bent face of the high priest, who
grabbles, grasps, tears out and flings the heart to the god. Another, anoth-
er, another, and there arc four hearts beating in the lap of the grim image
There are more dances but there is no more sport for the Culhuas: with lips
considerably whitened they return to their place. After this there rouKl bo
no more mastership, nor thought of mastership over such a people; there
was too much of the wild beast in them ; tliev had already tasted blood.
And the Mexicans were allowed to leave the laud of their bondage, and jour-
ney north toward the future Tenochtitlan.

" Heo this vol., p. 416.

)■ !

4U GODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

enormous mill-stone, a captive was tied by a cord, pass
ing round his waist and through the hole of the stone
long enough to permit him freedom of motion every-
where about the block — set near or at a temple called
yopico, of the god Totec, or Xipe." With various cere-
monies, more particularly described in the preceding
volume, the bound man furnished with inferior weapons
was made to fight with a picked Mexican champion —
the latter holding up his sword and shield to the sun
before engaging. If, as sometimes happened, the desper-
ate though hampered and ill-armed captive — whose club-
sword was, by a refinement of mockery, deprived of its
jagged flint edging and set with feathers — slew his oppo-
nent, another champion was sent against him, and so
on to the number of five, at which point, according to
some, the captive was set free ; though according to other
authorities, he was not allowed so to escape, but cham-
pions were sent against him till he fell. Upon which a
priest called the yooaUaoa opened his breast, tore out his
heart, offered it to the sun, and threw it into the usual
wooden vessel ; while the ropes used for binding to the
fighting-stone were carried to the four quarters of
world, reverently with weeping and sighing. A se<
priest thrust a piece of cane into the gash in the victim s
breast and held it up stained with blood to the sun.
Then the owner of the captive came and received the
blood into a vessel bordered with feathers ; this vessel he
took with a little cane-and-feather broom or aspergillum
and went about all the temples and calpules, giving to each

68 Further notice of this stone appears in Kings^>o*'o»gh's Mex. Antiq., vol.
vii., p. 94, or Saha>itin, Hist.Oen., torn, i., lib. ii.,np., pp. 207-8: 'El sesenta
y don ediflcio se Uamabii Temalacatl. Era una piedra corao muela de luoli-
no grande, y estaba agojereada en el medio como muela de molino. Sobre
esta piedra ponian Iuh esclavos y acuehillabnnse con ellos: estaban atados
por medio de tal manera que podian Uegar hasta la circumferencia de la
piedra, y dabanles armas con que peleaseu. Era este un espectaculo muy
frequente, y doude concurria gente de todas las coniarcas a verle. Un sntra-
pa vestido de un pellejo de oso 6 Cuetlachtli, em alii el pudrino de los cnp-
tivos que alii mataban, que los Uevaba k la piedra y los ataba alii, y los dnba
las arums, y los lloraba entro tanto que peleaban, y quando caian los en-
tregaba al que les habia de sacar el corazon, que era otro satrapa vestido con
otro pellejo que se Uamaba Tooallaoan. Esta relocion queda escrita en la
fiesta de TlacaxipeoaUztli. '

«acrj^fice,--and there skinned "jl "'^^* ^^^'^ the
the house of its owner whn ^- -i^^."^ '* ^^ brought to
«[ ;t to his .'uperiors^r ladt^^^^^^ -^"^ ™«<^« Pretn^
tasting thereof himself, for li?^ f",T^'' "«* however
a« he flesh of his own bodv ^IT *^l^' " ^« ««"nted it
he took the prisoner " hTheld ^ kT *^« ^«»r tha
captive looked up to his cap t^ to'a^ ^^ T' «»d the

ihe skins of the dead Zi . * tather."
gave them again to oS« tfe^ *\their captors, who
ently twenty dajs, pSuv t ZT ^/ *^«"» ^«r appar?
persons so cloth^ cEtin J X, ^r'"^ ^^ Penanee^-X
meantime and bring ngaU^hl ^?^ "^'^''>'«»e in the
that had given him^Srskii^V?*' T^ *« *he man
skins ^vere hid away in a m /• ^^^'' ^«"« ^ith, these
«^7^ while the eXearei^1h"^T^^*^«" in a cerS
^h great rejoicingr irtheTfr^^^^^ themselves
skms there assisted numtl ? ^"""'^ ^^ay of the^
and such other S^ ^sY?^ ^^^^ ^" ^^^h the itch
to be healed of theSrm;.^'^ "j"^«*^d-hoping thus
were so cured - '''^'"'^ties, and it is said that nia„y

'I, .' (

such that few men omiM ^^* 1^? "^'^^t accidont fn« * ^^''st'altec generaJ

from the gro„ad.Vontezul^'*' '''"'"'''"'•■'' <"«woS of h"^*^ "'«''» wn«
or perhaps moved l.v.-""' *°« I^oud to „«« V„ i "v"'" Mexiciin tvnn

offlee in Mexico. BntS" ^"^^' *« "turn to TwJi ""'^ ^^'gnified w,/rril
armed with a S Jon v^^?^' foot sa.vs ClaLe" „? "i? ^''-'intoriS?
never Bmoied before tK^' '" *" *««*• ""d ^ '««tu:rh'&^^

416

GODS, SUPEENATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

The merchants of Mexico — a class of men who hawked
their goods from place to place and wandered often far
into strange countries to buy or sell — had various deities
to whom they did special honor. Among these the
chief, and often the only one mentioned, was the god
Yiacatecutli, or Jacateuctli, or lyacatecuhtli, that is ' the
lord that guides,' otherwise called Yacacoliuhqui, or
Jacacoliuhqui.™ This chi^f god of the merchants had,
however, according to Sahagun, five brothers and a sis-
ter, also reverenced by traders, the sister being called
Chalmecacioatl, and the brothers respectively Chiconqui-
avitl, Xomocuil, Nacxitl, Cochimetl, and Yacapitzaoac.
The principal image of this god was a figure represent-
ing a man walking along a road with a staff; the face
black and white ; the hair tied up in a bundle on the
middle of the top of the head with two tassels of rich
quetzal-feathers ; the ear-rings of gold ; the mantle blue,
bordered with a flowered fringe, and covered with a red
net, through wliuse meshes the blue appeared ; round the
ankles leather straps from which hung marine shells ;
curiously wrought sandals on tho feet; and on the arm
a plain unornamented yellow shield, with a spot of light
blue in the centre of its field. Practically, however,
every merchant reverenced his own stout staff — gener-
ally made of a solid, knotless piece of black cane, called
tUatl — as the representative or symbol of this god Yiaca-
tecutli; keeping it, when not in use, in the oratory or
sacred place in his house, and invariably putting food
before it preliminary to eating his own meal. When
traveling the traders were accustomed nightly to stack
up their staves in a convenient position, bind them
about, build a fire before them." and then oftering blood

Tc Thi8 last name means, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., p 67,
being foUoweJ, ' the houk-noHod;' and it is curious enough thiit this typn nf
face, BO generally connected with the Hebrew race and through them with
particular astuteness in trade, should be the characteristic of the Mexican

fod of trade: ' Los mercaderes tuvieron Dios pnrtioilitr, nl qunl llamnrnn
yacatecuhtll, y por otro nombre se lliimo Yacacoliuhqui, quo quiere dceir:
£1 que tieno la nariz nguilonu, que propriamente representn persona que
tiene vive^a, h habilidad, ]iara mofar graciosnmente, 6 engaBar, y es snbio, y
■aphz (que es propia condicion de mercaderes, V

*i Without laying any particular Btresi ou this lighting a fire before Yinon-

NAPATECUTLI.

417

and copal, pray for preservation and shelter from the
many perils to which their wandering life made them
especially subject."

Napatecutli, that is to say ' four times lord,' was the
god of the mat-makers and of all workers in water-flags
and rushes. A beneficent and helpful di\ 'nity, and one
of the Tlalocs, he was known by various names, such as
Tepahpaca Teaaltati, ' the purifier or washer;' Quitzetz-
elonua, or Tlaitlanililoni, ' he that scatters or winnows
down;' Tlanempopoloa, 'he that is lai^e and liberal;'
Teatzelhuia, ' he that sprinkles with water ; and Amo-
tenenqua, ' he that shows himself grateful.' This god
had two temples in Mexico and his festival fell in the
thirteenth month, by Clavigero's reckoning. His ima^'e
resembled a black man, the face being spotted with white
and black, with tassels hanging down behind supporting
a green plume of three feathers. Round the loins ar.d
reaching to the knees was girt a kind of white and black
skirt or petticoat, adorned with little sea-shells. The

tecutli— perhapH here neoeraary m a oamp-flre and probablv, at any rate, a
thing done before many other gods - it may be noticed that the Are god
Heemg to be particularly conuectc'l with the merchant god and indeed with
the merohanta themselves. Describing a certain coming down or arrival of
the gods amonj men, believed to take place in the twelfth Mexicitn month,
Sahagun— after describing the coming, first of TeEoat'.ipoca, who, ' being a
ya ^h, and light and strong, walked fastest,' and then the coming of all
t'j' rest (their arrival being known to the priests by the marks of their feet
on a little heap of maize flour, specially prepared fortho purjjose) — says that
a day after all the rest of the gods, cnme the god of fire and the god of the
merchants, together; they being old and unable to walk as fast as their
vounger divine brethern; ' £1 dia siguiente llegaba el dios de los Mercaderes
Ilnmado Yiaiacapitzaoac, 6 Yiitcatecntli, v otro Dios Uamado HiHcocouzqui
(Yxcooauhqui), 6 Xiveteuctli (Xiuhteoutfi), que es el Dios del fuego k quteu
los meroaderes tienon prande devocion. Estos dos llegulMtu ft lu i>o8tre un
dia despues de los otros, porque decian quo eran viejos y no andaoan tanto
como los otros:' Kiwjtftnrougha Mex. AiiUa., vol, vii,, p. 71, or Sahwum, Hint,
Gm., torn, i., lib. ii., p. 168, Bee also, for the connection of the fire god
Xiuhtecutli with business, this vol. p. 220; and for the high position of the
merchants themselves besides Tezcatlipoca see this vol., p. 228,

'* Kimisborouiih's Mtx. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 14-16; Sahmiun, Hint. Gen., torn,
i., lib. i., pp. 20-33; Cla\}i;itro, Storia A>i. iM .yftiuiio, tom. ii., p. 20. The
Nahuihcheoatli, or Naiiiehccatl, mentioned by the interpreters of the codices,
us a god honored by the merchants, is either some air god like Quetzak-oatl,
or, as Bahaguu gives it, merely the name of a sign: see Spi>tfia*ioM dtlh TVi-
vo/« Codke iVnnoano (Vaticano), tav, r.xvl! . in Kituinlorouiih'a Mm. Antiq,,
vol. v„ p, 170; also, pp, 130-40; Emplioaeion df( Cudex Ttlltriattiy-Jiimfntu,
lam. xii.; also, Sahagun, llial. (Jtn., torn, i., lib,, W., pp. 304-6, and JQngB'
horough'B Mtx. Antiq., vol, vii,, pp. 136-4.
Vol. Ill, \t

i' !

'.i

418 OOD8, 8UPEBMATDRAL BBINOS. AND WORSHIP.

sandals of this idol were white; on its left arm was a
shield made like the broad leaf of the water-lily, or ne-
nuphar; while the right hand held a sceptre like a
flowering staff, the flowers being of paper; and across)
the body, passing under the left arm, was a white scarf,
painted over with blrck flowers."

The Mexicans had several gods of wine, or rather of
pulque; of these the chief seems to have been Tezcatzon-
catl, otherwise known as Tequechmecaniani ' the stran-
gler,' and as Teatlahuiani 'the drowner;' epithets
suggested by the effects of drunkenness. The companion
deities of this Aztec Dionysus were called as a class by
the somewhat extraordinary name of Centzontotr Jitin
or ' the four hundred rabbits' ; Yiaulatecatl, Yzquitecatl,
Aooloa, Thilhoa, Pantecatl (the Patecatl of the interpre-
ters of the codices), Tultecatl, Papaztac, Tlaltecaiooa,
Ometochtli (often referred to as the principal god of
wine), Tepuztecatl, Ghimapalnecatl, were deities of this
class. The principal characteristic of the image of the
Mexican god of drunkeii;:ess was, according to Mendieta
and Motolinia, a kind of vessel carried on the head of
the idol, into which vessel wine was ceremoniously
poured. The feast of this god, like that of the precedmg
divinity, fell in the thirteenth month, Tepeilhuitl, and
in his temple in the city of Mexico there served four
hundred consecrated priests, so great was the service
done this everywhere too widely and well known god."

™ IRngnhorough'a Mex. Antiq., vol. vil., pp. 10-17; Sahagun, HM. Otn,, torn,
i., lib. i., pp. R3-5; Torqufmam, Motuirq. tnd., torn. ii.,pp. 69-4SO; Clavigtro,
Storia Ant. ^M MtHrico, toin. il., p. 32.

7« KimiHhorow/h'ii Mex. AnUq., vol. vil., pp. 7, 19, 90, 93; SaKagun, Hint.
(7m., toni. i., lib. i., pp. 14, 39-4o, lib. ii., pp. 200, 305; Torqurmadd, Mouarq.
Ind., torn, ii., pp. 68, lo'i, 184, 416; SpUiiatloM dtll« Tavolc del Cmlice MexiMno
(Vnticnno), ttiv. xxxv., and Kxplicadon dtl Codex TtUeriano'Hentensis, lain,
xvi., in mtujafiorouqh'a Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 141, 182; Onltatin, iu Amer.
Sthno. Soe., IWnaad., vol. i., pp. 344, 350; Qomam, Conq. Mex., fol. 87, 315;
Glaviqtro, Storia Ant. del Mtmlco, torn, ii., p. 21. 'Otmn tenian Agnras do
hombroR; teninn eHtoH en la cabexa nn inortem en lusar de niitra, y alK Ich
echaban viuu, por ur el dioM del vino.' MtAolinia, IliS. Indios, iu lonibalcetn,
Col. dt Doi^, , torn. i. , p. 33. ' OtroR oon nn mortero eu la oaboia, y ohU) pim^'o

3ue era el dioH del vino, y br( le eohaban vine eu aqiiel coino mortero: Men-
Ma, IRiit. Kdcii,, p. 88. ' I'aiMttIa A Papailas.'. . .Eate era nno do Ior trcH
puflbloa de doudo ra Haoaban Ior orcIkvor para el Raoriflcio que ro hacin dn
dia, al idolo Vv^UcntotonMin, Dioi del viuo en el mes aombntdo UutipaoMU, 6

THE HOUSEHOLD OODS.

4]»

The Mexicans had certain household gods called Tepi-
toton, or Tepictoton, 'the little ones,' — small statues of
which kings kept six in their houses, nobles four, and
common folks two. Whether these were a particular
class of deities or merely miniature images of the already
described greater gods it is hard to say. Similar small
idols are said to have adorned streets, cross-roads, fount-
ains and other places of public traffic and resort.^*

With these Tepitoton may be said to finish the list of
Mexican gods of any repute or any general notoriety ; so
that it seems fit to give here a condensed and arranged
resum^ of all the fixed festivals and celebrations of the
Aztec calendar, with its eighteen months of twenty
days each, and its five supplementary days at the end
of the year. There is some disagreement as to which of
the months the year began with ; but it will best suit
our present purpose to follow the arrangement of Saha-
gun, the interpreters of the Codices, Torquemada, and
Clavigero, in which the month variously called Atl-
cahualoo, or Quahuitlehua, or Cihuailhuitl, or Xilomana-
litztli, is the first.'" The name Atlchualco, or Atlaooalo,

tfpeUhuUl en in templo propio qne ea el onadragesimo onarto edifloio de los
qne 86 contenian en la area del mayor, como dice el Dr. Hemnndei: "Tem-
plntn erat dioatuin vini deo, in oujua honorem trea oaptivoR iuterdiu tanieu,
«t noiinoottt jugnlabant, quorum primum Tepnitecatl nuiioupabant aeonudura
toltecatl, tertium vero Papactao quod flebnl quotanni circa featum T(*peil-
hniltl." Apud P. Kieremoerg, png. U4.' Leon y Oama, Dot Pitdras, pt ii ,
p. 35. ' Lea buveura et lea ivro^nea avaient cependant, parmi lea Azt^quea,
pluHienra diviniti'a partiou'.iMrea: la prinoipale ^lait Iiquilecatl; maia le plus
oonnu devait 6tre TeEcationcatl, appele auaai Tequechmecaniani, on le Peu-
deur:' hrcuMur dt Bourtimarg, HIM, Nat. Civ., torn, iii., n. 493.

'* Torquetnada, Monarq, ind., turn, ii., p, 64. Vlamiero. Storia Atit. drl
ifcsaico, torn, ii., p. 9!<. Theae were what the Hpaniarda oalled 'oratoriua'
in the liouHea of the Mexicana. In or before theae orHtoriea thepeople offered
cuuked food to HUch imaKeH of the goda aa they had there. Every niornins
the good-wife of the houae woke up the memliera of her family and took
care that they made the proper ofTenng, aa above, to theae deitiea, Kinqs-
Imrmigh'H 'Mea. Aniiq., vol. vii., p. B6; Sahagtm, HM. Urn., torn, i., lib. ii.,
ap. p. 2U. •

70 It ia obvioualy of little conaequcnoe to mythology whether the Mexi-
cana oalled the mouth Atloahualco the flrat or the third month (or, uh
Hoturini haa it, the eighteenth,) ao long ai we know, with aomo accuiiicy,
to what month and day of the month it oorreaimnda in our own Qregorian
calendar. For the complete diacuaaion of thia queation of the calendar
we refer readera to the preceding volume of thia aeriea. Gama wna unfor-
tunately unacquainted with the writings of Bahagnn, and Buatamante (who

420 OODS. 8UPEBNATDBAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

or Atalc!ioplo, means 'the buying or scarcity of water;'
Quahuitlohua, or Quavitleloa, ' the sprouting of trees ;'
and Xilumanalitztli ' the offering of Xilotl (that is heads
of maize, winch were then presented to the gods to secure
their blessing on the seed time).' This first month be-
ginning on the i^iecond of February according to Sahagun,
the eighteenth according to Qama, and the twenty-
sixth according to Clavigero, was consecrated to Tlaloc
and the other gods of water, and in it great numbers of
children were sacrificed." In further honor of the Tla-
locs there were also at this time killed many captives on
the gladiatorial stone.

It was the second month, called Tlacaxiphualiztli,''"
or * the flaying of men,' that was specially famous for its
gladiatorial sacrifices, sacrifices already described and
performed to the honor of Xipe, or Xipetotec.""*

The third month called Tozoztontli, Hhe lesser fast
or penance,' was inaugurated by the sacrifice on the
mountains of children to the Tlalocs. Those also that
traded in flowers and were called Sochimanque, or Xo-
chimanqui, made a festival to their goddess, Coatlycue,
or Coatlantona, ofiering her th<t first-fruits of the flowers

edited the works both of Oama and Sahtgnn) remarks in a note to the
writinffB of the astronomer: ' Mnohns veoes he deplorado, que el sAbio 8r. D.
Antonio Leon y Onmn nu hnbiese tenido a It vista para formar esta preciosn
obra los manuscritos del P. Sahagnn, que he publicado en los afios de 1820
y 30 en la oficina de D. Alejandro Valoes, y hi lo hubiese leido la obra del P.
Torqnemada, discfpulo de D. Antonio Vnleriai o, que lo fne de dioho P. Sa-
hagun; pucH la lectuni del texto de este, qui' acaso trnnoiS, d no entendiu
bien, podrian haberle dejado dudatt en hochos inuy interesantes a esta his-
toria.' See Z,eun v Gitina, Don PieJins, pt i, np. 45-89; Kingiiborough's
Mex. Anti<}., vol. vii., pp. 30-34, or Sahagun, litt>\ Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp.
4tf-7G; Torqutmada, Mfnarq. Jnd., tom. ii., pp :i51-86; Aconta, Hist, de
l(U Km/., p. 307; Clavhitro, Stcn'ia Ant. dH JiinMiO, torn, ii., pp. 58-84;
MepliiHtdon dtl I'oilex TeUfrianoHttnenuiit, pt i., anii Spitgatione arm TawAt
(W Codiit Mtxicano (Vaticuno), tav. Ivii-lxxiv, in hlMi.Hborowjh'H Mtx. Antiq.,
vol. v., pp. 129-34, 190-7; Boturini, Idta d» vnn Uiit.. pp. 47-63; Ootnara,
Cong. Mtx., foj. 294; MMtr, Anvtrikanincht Urrtliijioni'i, pp. 640-M; Braamir
dt Bourbouni, Hint. Nal. i'io , tom. iii., pp. 602-37; Gaihitin, in Amer, Ethno.
Hoc., Tranmd., vol. i., pp. 67-114.

n See this vol., pp. 332-4.

^* It is altio Hurnamed CohnailhuitI, 'fenst of the snuko:' see above.

n There SKenis to bo some confusion with regard to whether or not there
were gladiatorial sacriHcos in each of the first two monthh . Sahagun, how-
ever, appears to describe sacriAoes of this kind, as ocourrin;{ in both periwls;
those uf the first month being in honor of the Tlaloos and thime of the Hcoond
n honor of Xipe. For a descripUou of these rite* we this vol. pp. 414-5.

THE CEBEMONIAL CALENDAB.

421

of the year, cf these that had grown in the precincts of
the cu yapieo, a cu as we have seen, consecrated to Tlaloc.
Into a cave belonging to this temple there were also at
this time cast the now rotten skins of the human beings
that had been flayed in the preceding month. Thither,
" stinking like dead dogs," as Sahagun phrases it, marched
in procession the persons that wore these skins and there
they put them off, washing themselves with many cere-
monies; and sick folk troubled with certain skin-diseases
followed and looked on, hoping by the sight of all these
things to be healed of their infirmities. The ownersof the
captives that had been slain had also been doing penance
for twenty days, neither washing nor bathing during
that time; and they now, when they had seen the
skins deposited in the cave, washed and gave a banquet to
all their friends and relatives, performing many cere-
monies with the bones of the dead captives. All the
twenty days of this month singing exercises, praising
the god, were carried on in the houses called Cuicacalli,
the performers not dancing but remaining seated.

The fourth month was called, in contradistinction to
the third, Veitozoztli, or Hueytozoztli, that is to say,
' the greater penance or letting of blood ;' because in it
not only the priests but also the populace and nobility
did penance, drawing blood from their ears, shins, and
other parts of the body, and exposing at their doors
leaves of sword-grass stained therewith. After this they
performed certain already described ceremonies,* and
and then made, out of the dough known as ttmiUi*^ an
image of the goddess Chicomecoatl, in the court-yard of
her temple, ollering before it all kinds of maize, beans,
and chian, because she was the miJc^r and giver of these
things and the sustainer of tho ixH)plt'. In this month,
08 well as in the three months preceding, little children
were sacrificed, a cruelty which was suppoi>icd to please

•• Bee thia vol., pp 360-9.

■> ' Le TtohwtW, etnit un oompoa^ de gnines l^anminenMS iMrtiouliirea
nu Mexiqnc, qu'on lunngenit do diveraei muiibrea." Bnumir dt Jimtrbovry,
.(lal, Nat. Viv., torn, ii., p. 613.

422 QODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

the water gods, and which was kept up till the rains
began to fall abundantly.

The fifth month, called Toxcatl and sometimes Tepo-
pochuiliztli,"* was b^n by the most solemn and famous
feast of the year, in honor of the principal Mexican god,
a god known by a multitude of names and epithets,
among which were Tezcatlipoca, Titlacaoan, Yautl, Tel-
puchtli, and Tlamatzincatl. A year before this feast,
one of the most distinguished of the captives reserved
for sacrifice was chosen out for superior grace and per-
sonal appearance from among all his fellows, and given
in charge to the priestly functionaries called calpixques.
These instructed him with great diligence in all the arts
pertaining to good breeding, according to the Mexican
idea: such as playing on the flute, walking, speaking,
saluting those he happened to meet, the use and carry-
ing about of straight cane tobacco-pipes and of flowers,
with the dexterous smoking of the one, and the graceful
inhalation of the odor of the other. He was attended
upon by eight pages, who were clad in the livery of
of the palace, and had perfect liberty to go where he
pleased night and day; while his food was so rich that
to guard against his growing too fat, it was at times
necessary to vary the diet by a purge of salt and water.
Everywhere honored and adored as the living image
and accredited representative of Tezcatlipoca, he went
about playing on a small shrill clay flute, or fife, and
adorned with rich and curious raiment furnisheid by
the king, while all he met did him reverence kissing
the earth. All his body and face was painted — black,
it would appear; his long hair flowed to the waist; his
head was covered with white hens' feathers stuck on

MThe luine * Tepopoohnilistli' BlniiileB 'iiinoke or VHpor.' Ah to the
meaning of ' Toxcatl writers are divided, Botnrini interpreting it to menu
'effort, and Torqnemoda 'a slippery plHoe.' Acosta, Hahagnn, and Gamu
agree, however, in accepting it as an epithet applied to a string of ^.i.rohed ur
or toasted niuize used in ceremonies to be immediately described, and Acoh-
Ui further gives as its root siguifloation 'a dried thing.' Consult, in addi-
tion to the references giYen in the note at the beginning of these desoriptionn
of the feasts, Aooitfu, HtM, d» ku Ynd., p. 883; Ktnn^wrottgh'H Mr*. Antiq., vol.
vii., pp. 46-0; Suhagun, HM. Gtn., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 100-11.

THE MONTH TOXOATL.

438

with resin, and covered with a garland of the flowers
called yzguisuchitl; while two strings of the same flowers
crossed his body in the fashion of cross-belts. Ear-
rings of gold, a necklace of precious stones with a
great dependent gem hanging to the breast, a lip-orna-
ment (barbote) of sea-shell, bracelets of gold above
the elbow on each arm, and strings of gems called
macuextli winding from wrist almost to elbow, glit-
tered and flashed back the light as the doomed man-
god moved. He was covered with a rich beautifully
fringed mantle of netting, and bore on his shoulders
something like a purse made of white cloth of a span
square, ornamented with tassels and fringe. A white
maxtle of a span broad went about his loins, the two
ends, curiously wrought, falling in front almost to the
knee. Little bells of gold kept time with every motion
of his feet, which were shod with painted sandals called
ocelunacace.

All this was the attire he wore from the beginning
of his ^ear of preparation; but twenty days before the
coming of the festival, they changed his vestments,
washed away the paint or dye from his skin, and cut
down his long hair to the length, and arranged it after
the fashion, of the hair of the captains, tying it up on the
crown of the head with feathers and fringe and two gold-
buttoned tassels. At the same time they married to him
four damsels, who had been pampered and educated for
this purpose, and who were surnamed respectively after
the four goddesses, Xochiquetzal, Xilonen, Athitonun,
and Vixtocioatl.** Five days before the great day of

■> With three of these goddem we are tolerably familiar, knowing them to
be intimately cnnueoted with each other nud concerned in the prodnction,

1>re8ervation, or support of life and of life-Kiving food. Of Atl" '■> <tn little ia
mown, but she aeenia to belong to the same clum, lM*ing penemlly mentioned
in connection with Cinteotl. Her name means, accomiug to Tor(|ueinada,
' she that shines in the water.' ' Otra Capilla, it Teniplo avia, que se llaniaba
Xiuhoaloo, dedioado al Dioa Cinteutl, en cnia flesta sacriftosban dos Vnroues
Esclavos, V una Muger, ii los qnales unnian el nombre de su Dios, Al vno
llamaban Istaocinteutl, Dioa Tlatlauhquioiutentlt Dios de las Mieses encen-
didas, <N ooloradas; v k la Muger Atlautoua, que auiere deoir, que resulan-
deoe en el Agua, k la qual desollaban, ouio pellejo, y ouero, 'm vestia vn
Suoerdote, luego que aoababa el Saorifloio, que era de noohe.' Torqutntada,

494 QODS. SUPEBMATURAL BEINas. AND WOBSHIP.

I I

Ihe feast,^ the day of the feast being counted one, all
the people, high and low, the king it would appear being
alone excepted, went out to celebrate with the man-god
a solemn kinquet and dance, in the ward called Tecan-
man ; the fourth day before the feast, the same was done
in the ward in which was guarded the statue of Tezcat-
lipoca. The little hill, or island, called Tepetzinco, ris-
ing out of the waters of the lake of Mexico, was the
scene of the next day's solemnities; solemnities renewed
for the last time on the next day, or that immediately
preceding the great day, on another like island called
Tepelpulco, or Tepepulco. There, with the four women
that had been given him for his consolation, the hon-
ored victim was put into a covered canoe usually re-
served for the sole use of the king; and he was carried
across the lake to a place called Tlapitzaoayan, near
the road that goes from Yztapalapan to Chalco, at a

Monarq. Ind.. torn, ii., p. 156; Bee also, Kingaborough'a Mex. Antiq., vol, vii.,
p. M; or Saliagun, Hist. Oen., torn, i., lib. ii., ap., p. 209.

M .Vcosta, ii'iM. de las Ynd., pp. 382-3, gives an account of various other
ceremonies which took place ten days before the great feast day, which ac-
count has been followed by Tor(jueniuda, Clavigero, and Inter writers,- and
which we reproduce from the quiunt but in this case at least full and accurate
translation of E.G., — a translation which, however, makes this chapter the
29th of the fifth book instead of the 28th as in the original : * Then came forth
one of the chiefe of the temple, attired like to the idoll, carrying flowers in
his hand, and a flute of earth, having a very shurpe sound, and turning to-
wards the east, he sounded it, iind then looking to the west, north and south
he did the like. And after he had thus sounded towards the foure parts of the
world (shewing thiit both they that were present and absent did heare him)
hee put his finger into the aire, and then gathered vp earth, which he put in
his month, and did eate it in signe of adoration. The like did all they that
were prenent, and weeping, they fell flat to the ground, invocating the dark-
nesse of the night, and the windes, iutreating them not to leave them, nor to
forget them, or else to take away their lives, and free them from the labors
they indured therein. Theeves, adulterers, and murtherers, and all others
offendors had great feare and heavinesse, whilest this flute sounded; so as
■ome could not dissemble nor hide their offences. By this meancs they all
demanded no other thing of their god, but to have their offences concealed,
powriug foorth many teares, with great repentaunce and sorrow, offering great
store of incense to appease their gods. The couragious and valiant men,
and all the olde snuldiers, that followed the Arte of Warre, heariug this flute,
demaunded with great devotion of God the Creator, of the Lordo for whonie
wee live, of the sunne, iind of other their gods, that they would give them
viotorie against their ennemies, and strength to take many captives, .herewith
■o honour their sacrifices. This ceremonie was doone ten aayes before the
feast: During which tenne dayes the Priest did sound this flute, to the end
that all might do this worship in eating of earth, und demannd of their idol
what they pleased : they ev( ry day ma le their praiers, with their eyes lift vp
to heaven, and with sighi aod gioeniuga, as men that were grievea for their
■ianet and offences.'

THE FEAST OF TOXCATL.

425

place where was a little hill called Acaciiilpan, or
Oabaltepec. Here left him the four beautiful girls,
whose society for twenty days he had enjoyed, they
returning to the capital with all the people ; there ac-
companying the hero of this terrible tragedy only those
eight attendants that had been with him all the year.
Almost alone, done with the joys of beauty, banquet,
and dance, bearing a bundle of his flutes, he walked to
a little ill-built cu, some distance from the road men-
tioned above, and about a league removed from the city.
He marched up the temple steps, not dragged, not
bound, not carried like a common slave or captive; and
as he ascended he dashed down and broke on every
step one of the flutes that he had been accustomed to
play on in the days of his prosperity. He reached the
top ; — by sickening repetition we have learned to know the
rest; one thing only, from tlie sacrificial stone his body
was not hurled down the steps, but was carried by four
men down to the Tzompontli, to the place of the spitting
of heads.

And the chroniclers say that all this signified that
those who enjoyed riches, delights in this life, should at
the end come to poverty and sorrow — so determined are
these same chroniclers to let nothing escape without its
moral.

In this feast of Toxcatl, in the cu called Huitznahuoc,
where the image of Huitzilopochtli was always kept, the
priests made a bust of this god out of tzoalli dough, with
pieces of mizquitl-wood inserted by way of bones. They
decorated it with his ornaments; putting on a jacket
wrought over with human bones, a mantle of very thin
nequen, and another mantle called the tlaquaqtutUo,
covered with rich feathers, fitting the head ImjIow and
widening out above ; in the middle of this stood up a
little rod, also decorated with feathers and sticking into
the top of the rod was a flint knife half covered with
blood. The iniiige was set on a platform made of pieces
of wood resembling snakes and so arranged that heads
and tails alternated all the way round ; tlie whole borno

496 OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEIKOS, AND W0B8HIP.

i
5 I

by many captains and men of war. Before this image
and platform a number of strong youths carried an
enormous sheet of paper resembling pasteboard, twenty
fathoms long, one fathom broad, and a little less than an
inch thick ; it was supported by spear-shafts arranged in
pairs of one shaft above and one below the paper, while
persons on either side of the paper held each one of
these pairs in one hand. When the procession, with
dancing and singing, reached the cu to be ascended, the
snaky platform was carefully and cautiously hoisted up
by cords attached to its four corners, the image was set
on a seat, and those that carried the paper rolled it up
and set down the roll before the bust of the god. It was
sunset when the image was so set up; and the following
morning every one offered food in his own house before
the image of Huitzilopochtli there, incensing also such
images of other gods as he had, and then went to offer
quails' blood before the bust set up on the cu. The king
began, wringing off the heads of four quails; the priests
offered next, then all the people; the whole multitude
carrying clay fire-pans and burning copal incense of
every kind, after which every one threw his live coals upon
a great hearth in the temple-yard. The virgins painted
their faces, put on their heads garlands of parched maize
with strings of the same across their breasts, decorated
their arms and legs with red feathers, and carried black
paper flags stuck into split canes. The flags of the
daughters of nobles were not of paper but of a thin cloth
called canaoac, painted with vertical bl'^ick stripes. These
girls joining hands danced round the great hearth, ti[x)ii
or over which on an elevated place of some kind there
danced, giving the time and step, two men, having each
a kind of pine cage covered with paper flags on hi.s
shoulders, the strap supporting which passed, not across
the forehead, — the usual way for men to carry a burden,
— but across the chest as was the fashion with women.
The priests of the temple, dancing on this ix:cti.sion with
the women, bore shields of paper, crumpled up like great
flowers; their heads were adorned with white feathers,

a
d«

DEATH OF THE TXTEUCALLI.

437

their lips and part of the face were smeared with sugar-
cane juice which produced a peculiar effect over the black
with which their faces were always painted. They
carried in their hands pieces of paper called amaxmaxUi,
and sceptres of palm-wood tipped with a black flower
and having in the lower part a ball of black feathers.
In dancing they used this sceptre like a staff, and the
part by which they grasped it was wrapped round with
a paper painted with black lines. The music for the
dancers was supplied by a party of unseen musicians,
who occupied one of the temple buildings, where they sat,
he that played on the drum in the centre, and the per-
formers on the other instruments about him. The men
and women danced on till night, but the strictest order
and decency were preserved, and any lewd word or
look brought down swift punishment from the ap-
pointed overseers.

This feast was closed by the death of a youth who
had been during the past year dedicated to and taken
care of for Huitzilopochtli, resembling in this the vic-
tim of Tezcatlipoca, whose companion he had indeed
been, but without receiving such high honors. This
Huitzilopochtli youth was entitled Yxteucalli, or Tla-
cabepan, or Teicauhtzin, and was held to be the image
and representative of the god. When the day of his
death came, the priests decorated him with pajiers
painted over with black circles, and put a mitre of
eagles' feathers on his head, in the midst of whose
plumes was stuck a flint knife, stained half way up
with blood and adorned with red feathers. Tied to his
shoiildors, by strings passing across the breast, was a
piece of very thin cloth about a span square, and over
it hung a little bag. Over one of his arms was thrown
a wild beast's skin, arranged somewhat like a maniple ;
bells of gold jingled at his legs as he walked or danced.
There were two peculiar things connected with the
death of this youth; first he had absolute liberty of
choice regarding the hour in which he was to die; and
second, he was not extended upon any block or altar.

428

aODS, SUPEBMATURAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

but when he wished he threw himself into the arms of
the priests, and had his heart so cut out. His head
was then hacked off and spitted alongside of that of
the Tezcatlipoca youth, of whom we have spoken al-
ready. In this same day the priests made little marks
on children, cutting them, with thin stone knives, in
the breast, stomach, wrists, and fleshy part of the arms;
marks, as the Spanish priests considered, by which the
devil should know his own sheep." The ceremonies of
the ensuing monthly festivals have already been de-
scribed at length."

There were, besides, a number of movable feasts in
honor of the higher gods, the celestial bodies, and the
patron deities of the various trades and professions.
Sahagun gives an account of sixteen movable feasts,
many of which, however, contained no religious ele-
ment." The first was dedicated to the sun, to whom a
ghostly deputation of eighteen souls was sent to make
known the wants of the people, and implore future
favors. The selected victims were ranged in order at
the place of sacrifice, and addressed by the priest, who
exhorted them to bear in mind the sacred nature of
their mission, and the glory "^-^hich would be theirs
upon its proper fulfillment. The music now strikes up;
amid the crash and din the victims one after another
are stretched upon the altar; a few flashes of the iztli-
knife in the practiced hand of the slayer, and the em-
bassy has set out for the presence of tbe sun."

The sixth, seventh, and eleventh festivals were cele-
brated to Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Huitzilopochtli
respectively. The public and household idols of these

« Sahagun, Hist. Oen., torn. i.. lib. ii., pp. 100-11; Torquemtida, Morutrq.
Ind; torn, ii., pp. 263-6; Clari/jero, Storia Ant. dd Meaaico, torn, ii., pp. 70-a.

K For the month Etzalqa iliztli. Hee this volume, pp. 334-43; for tho
m-^nths Tecuilhuit^iatli, HneytecnilhnitI, and Thaochiuiaco. see vol ii. if
this work, pp. 225^; for Xocotlhuetziu nnd Ochpiini/.tli, thiH volui . pp.
385-9, 351-9; f or Teotleco. vol. ii., pp. 332-4; forTepeilhnitl. ( h' Pan-

3netzaliztli, and Atemoztli, this volume, pp. 343-4,404-' ^"<. );23-4,

10-8; for Tititl, vol. ii., pp. 337-8; for Itzcalli, this v. p. 390-3.

« /fW. Oen., torn, i., lib. li., pp. 194-7, 216. There u . i soattnred

notioes of these movable fettsts, which will be referred to ar. v appen?
»» Lot Caxu, Hist. Apohjdtica, MS., cap. duvi.

MiSCElXANEOra FEASTS

.rjy grand Lqtte'^J* "^^ elected, «,.d a^^^
fiwt of bread and water' Z' ^!'^ ,'^'»«¥'alizll or
*e most important nf VL' ^"'' •" have h4e„ „,' °J

Z '"'^'* ^^ a pond alive wffh f-^"^' ^^^^^^ stood in
dancers whirled%ontin7Jlv'*n^"^^'« and «nakes, the
ceremonies for a number of ^ "^T » P«rt of the
devour the reptiles "nt^e IH.^"^^ ^e<LzZ
«eiziMg a snake or a fro' in T^/ *^" *% did by each

"rher than upon orf?n, '*="'''*« «"• ^«t* k,'
^enesof festivairmayT S rT'™'" Th^t,«re

2-r and ..drrz CnartrtK*^^-

CHAPTER X.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

BiTiNnn or the Hkzioan Tbhplu— Vast huhbkb or tbk Pbirbtb— Hbsi-
CAW Saobbdotai. Ststbii— PBiKSTBnBB— Tub Obdbxs or Tlamaxcaoat-

OTL AMD TbLPOOHTIUBTLI — BBLIOIO0B DeYOTBBS— BAniBM— GlRCDU-
CniON — GOHMUMION — FABTB AMD PbMANOB — BlOOD-DBAWINO — HCHAN

SACBinoBB— Thb Gods or tbr Tabasoob— Pmum and Tbiiplb Seb-

TIOB or MiOBOAOAM — WOBEHIP IN JaUBOO AND OaJAOA — VoTAN AMD

QCETZALOOATL — ^Tbatblb or VoTAN — Thk Apobtl^ Wixbpbcocha — Cave

MEAB XUBTr^BUAOA — TbB PbINOBBB PiMOPIAA— ^v OBSBIP Or COBTABDM-

xoz— Tbbi Wobsbip.

We have seen in the preceding volume that the num-
ber of religious edifices was very great; that in addition
to the temples in the cities — and Mexico alone is said
to have contained two thousand sacred buildings — there
were "on every isolated hill, along the roads, and in
the fields, substantial structures consecrated to some
deity." Torquemada estimates the whole number at
eif;hty thousand.

The vast revenues needed for the support and repair
of the temples, and for the maintenance of the immense
army of priests that officiated in them, were derived
from various sources. The greatest part was supplied
from large tracts of land which were the property of
the church, and were held by vassals under certain
conditions, or worked by slaves. Besides this, tavus of
wine and grain, esjecially Rnt fruits, were leviej upon

(MO)

ever,

. » *^

communities, and ste«wi • ^^

P-^pa-e it Ita fte [•'"^""« 'J«™«' w^e^ «^"°''

^«h tor''h J«!' WWld."*™ " ''^» f«»n her

hftcn, &Coa^ „1S;^ „(•';'/•• torn T: Tp'^VfiiL^'A- P 305.

433 aODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEmaS. AND W0B8HIP.

of permanent members; some were merely engaged fbr
a certain number of years, in fuifiUment of a vow made
by themselves or their parents; others were obliged to
attend at intervals only, or at oertain festivals, the i-est
of their time being passed in the pursuit of some pro-
fession, usually that of arms.*

The vast number of the priests, their enormous wealth,
and the blind zeal of the people, all combined to render
the sacerdotal power extremely formidable. The king
himself performed the functions of high-priest on cer-
tain occasions, and frequently held some sacred office
before succeeding to the throne. The heads of Church
and State seem to have worked amicably together, and
to have united their power to keep the masses in sub-
jection. The sovereign took no step of importance
without first consulting the high-priests to learn whether
the gods were favorable to the project. The people were
guided in the same manner by the inferior ministers, and
this influence was not likely to decrease, for the priests
as the possessors of all learning, the historians and poets
of the nation, were intrusted with the education of
the youth, whom they took care to mold to their
purposes.

At the head of the Mexican priesthood were two
supreme ministers; the TeottKiuhtU or 'divine lord/
who seems to have attended more particularly to secular
matters, and the Uuciteopixqui, who chiefly sujierin-
tended religious affairs. These ministers were elected,
ostensibly from among the priests most distinguished in
point of birth, piety, and learning ; but as the king and
principal nobles were the electors, the preference was
doubtless given to those who were most devoted to their
interests, or to members of the royal family." They

i Sahagun, IBM. Otn., torn. {., lib. ii., p. 113; Chvigero, Storta Atil. iM
Measko, torn, ii., pp. 30-7.

• Torqutinada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pn, 17R-7; Vlavtgtro, Storta Av
(M Memii-o, totn. ii., p. 37. Buhagiin onlU ttiem Qnetinlooatl TeoteitUmu-
oaiqni, who wan aliio hlKh-prieat of Huitillopoohtli, mikI Tl«lootlRiiiHOita()nl,
who wan Tlalno'H chief prient; th«y were euunla, and elected from the inoHt
Lerfeot, without reference to birth. MM. Um., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 'i7(V-7.
fihere are two inoonaiittenoieit in thia, the only atronn oontrudiotion of the
•tatement of th« above, aa well aa aeveral other autbora, who form tha an-

MEXICAN PBIESTHOOD.

488

were distinguished by a tuft of cotton, falling down
upon the breast. Their robes of ceremony varied with
the nature of the god whose festival they celebrated.
In Tezcuco and Tlacopan, the pontifical dignity was
always conferred upon the second son of the king. The
Totonacs elected their pontiff from among the six chief
priests, who seem to have risen from the ranks of the
Centeotl monks ; the ointment used at his consecration
was composed partly of children's blood. High as was
li'a high-priest's rank, he was not by any means ex-
empt from punishment ; in Ichatlan, for instance, where
he was elected by his fellow-priests, if he violated his
vow of celibacy he was cut in pieces, and the bloody
limbs were given as a warning to his successor.^

Next in rank to the two Mexican high-priests was
the Mexicatlteohuatzin, who was appointed by them,
and seems to have been a kind of Vicar General. His
duties were to see that the worship of the gods was prop-
erly observed throughout the kingdom, and to supervise
the priesthood, monasteries, and schools. His badge of
office was a bag of incense of peculiar shape. Two
coadjutors assisted him in the discharge of his duties;
the Huitzuahuacteohuatzin, who acted in his place when
necessary, and the Tepanteohuatzin, who attended
chiefly to the schools." Conquered provinces retained

thority of my text: flrat, Sahagun calls the flrat high-prieit Quetialooatl
Teotootlaniaoazqiii, a name which aoarouly accordH with the title of Huitid-
lopochtli'H high-pricHt; Hccondly, he ignorea the almoat uuauimoua evidence
o( old writerH, who Htato that the latter utilce was hereditary in a certain
diMtrict. ' Al Hunirno I'ont\floe llatnabiknou lit lengua nioxicanaTehuateoolt.'
Ijtut (Uuaa, jtlM. Anoloy^liat, MH., cap. cxxxiii. 'El uiuvor de todoH que e«
Hupmlado, Achoiuilitli. ' Uomum, Conq. Mit.,to\.'ii3. uiit this waa thu title

of the 'riaaoiilteo liiuh-prieHt. ' A lot aupreiuoH SaoerdoteK llaiiiauan on

811 iiutiKiia lougua Papas.' Aoosia, IM, </« Ian yml., p. IlJfl. Hee aUu Cha-
VM, Hiipitort, in Trmawc-<!ompan», Voy,, sdrie ii., torn, v., pp. :i()U-4.

1 Torotu-.matia, Monara. Ind,, torn, li., pp. 177,1 SO; ('UtvintrtK Storia Aut.
del Metuilco, toin. ii., p. 41; Herrtra, llim. Utn., dec. iii., hb. iii., cap. xv.;
Iau CaiHU, Hint. Apolng^tioa, MS., can. cxxxiii.

» Sahmiun, Hist. Ihn., torn, i., lib. ii., pp. 218-19. llrasHenr dc Honr-
bourg. Hint, ffal. Civ., torn, iii., pp. 54l)-5i, whoHc chief authority is Her-
iiandes, and who is not very dear in his deaoription, holds that the Mi-xi-
oatlteohnatsin was the sunreine priest, and that he alao buro the title of
Teotecuhtli, the rank of chief priest of Kuil/.ilo|i()(ihtli, and was the right
hand minister of the king. (4<«'t2'*''^<>'''''''* hiKh<pri<mt he places next i'l
rank, hut outside of the political sphere, On one page ho states that the
high-priest was elected by the two c>iot men in the hierarohy, and on uu-
TOL. in. w

■I

434

OODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINOS, AND WORSHIP.

control over their own religious affairs." Among other
dignitaries of the church may be mentioned the Topil-
tzin, who held the hereditary office of socrificer, in
which he wiis aided by five assistants;^" the Tlalqui-
miloltecuhtU, keeper of relics and ornaments ; the Ome-
tochtli, comix)8er of hymns; the Tlapixcatzin, musical
director; the Epcooquocuiltzin, master of ceremonies;
the treasurer; the master of temple properties; and a
immber of leaders of special celebrations. Iksides these,
every ward, or parish, had its rector, who performed
divine service in the temple, assisted by a number of in-
ferior priests and school-children. The nobles kept i)ri-
vate chaplains to attend to the worship of the household
gods, which everyone was required to liave in his dwell-
ing." The statement of some writers indicate that the
body of priests attached to the stirvice of each god, was
to a certain extent independent, and governed by its
own rules. Thus in some wards the service of liuitzi-
lopochtli wiis hereditary, and held in higher estimation
than any other.

other he (listiuoll;) implies that tho king mado tho higher itppointmontH in
order to control the ohiiroh. The Haoritteing priest, whom he oviiioutly
holds to be the Riuue iis the high-priest, ho iuvvHts with the rnnk of geiiiraf-
issinio, nud heir to tho throne.

* Citrbnjnl sttttos thnt ii temple bearing the name of the people, or their
chief town, was erected iu the metropolis, and attended by a body of pricHts
brought from tho oroviiice. Dincurao, p. 110. This may, however, l)e n niiH-
iuterpretation of 'lorquenmda, who gives a description of a building attnchi'd
to t)ie chief temple at Mexico, in which the idols of Bubjugatcd people were
kept iniprisoned, to prevent them from aiding their worshipers to regain
their liliorty.

1* Homo authors seem to nssooiate this office with that of tho pontiff, bnt
it appears that the high-priest merely inauguratid the sacriflces on special
occasions. ' Era esbi vna dignidad sniiremu, y entre ellos tenida on inucho,
la qual se hercdaita conio cosit do muyoraEgo. £1 niinistro qne tenia oHcio
de niatar . . .era teuido y reuereuoiado como supreme Hacerdote, o I'ontiflvc'
AaoMit, Iflst, <h /(to Vna., p. 36'i. * Era oomo dooir, el Humo Hacerdote, al
qiial, y no k otro, era dado este oflcio de abrir los Hombres por Ioh peclios,
. . . .sieiido comunmente los hcredcrnH, de este Patrinionio, y suorte Eclcsi-
antioa, his primogenitos.' Torquemmla, Monara. Ind., tom, ii., p. 117. It is
diitteult to decide upon the intflr)tretation of tnose aentenoes. The exprcs-
■ion of his being 'held or reverenced as pontiff' certainly indicates that an-
other priest held the office, so does the sentenoe, * it was inherited by the
flmt-born ' of certain families. But the phrase, ' el Humo Hacerdote, nl qual
T no k otro, era dado eate ofloio,' points very directly to the high-priest as
the holder of the post.

i> Tttrtitumaila, Mttnarq, Ind., tom. ii- pp. 178-0; ClavUitro, Stnria Ant,
del Mtmdtm, tom. ii., pp. 37-0; Sahamm, HIM. Utn., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 911-
86; Bramwr tfa Jiourboury, Ukt, N«i. Vlo., tom. hi., p. 561.

MEXICAN PBIESTEBSES.

486

The difltinguishing dress of the ordinary priests was a
black cotton cloth, from five to six feet square, which
hUiig from the bock of the head like a veil. Their hair,
which was never cut and frequently reached to the
knoes, was painted black and braided with cord ; during
many of their long fasts it was left unwashed, and it
was a rule with some of tho more ascetic orders never
to cleanse their heads." Reed sandals protected their
feet. They frequently dyed their bodies with a black
mixture made of ocotl-ront, and ^minted themselves
with ochre and cinnabar. They bathed every night in
ponds set apart for the purpose within the temple en-
closure. When they went out into the mountains to
sacrifice, or do penance, they anointed their bodies with
a mixture called teopctdi, which consisted of the ashes of
poisonous insects, snakes, and worms, mixed with ocotl-
soot, tobacco, ololiuhqui, and sacred water. This filthy
comix)und was supposed to be a safeguard against snake-
bites, and the attack of wild beasts.*"*

Sjicred offices were not occupied by males only; fe-
males held positions in the temples, though they were
excluded from the sacrifical and higher offices. The
manner in which they were dedicated to the temple
school has Ijeen already described." Like the Roman
vestals, their chief duty seems to have been to tend the
sacred fires, though they were also required to place the
meat offerings upon the altar, and to make sacerdotal
vestments. The punishment inflicted u|)on those who
violated their vow of chastity was death. Tliey were
divided into watches, and during the [xjrformance of

>< Gomara, Conq. Mtx., fol. 323-4. Ho deRortbon the dresH as 'vim ropa
do itlKodou blnnca estruoha, y larga, y enoiuiu vna iiiauta por capa aAudaua
nl lumiliro. . . .Tiznauusa loa dioa featiualuH, y quaudu gn rt^gla nuaudann do
uvgto las piernaa, ' eta.

" Claviiftm, Storia Ant. (W Mtaaico, toin. ii., pp. 30-40; Acost<i, llisl. d«
Ian Vnil , pp. 300-71. Urawtcur de lioiirlKiiirK IliinkH tliut tho teopatii was
till' oiiitiiifiiit naeA at the conaevration of the high-prieHt, iiut it is uut likely
thiit a nnparatitm which aervt'd luoiika and invalida aa Xnuly piiiiit, would ue
Bpplica to the heada and of high-prieata and kinga. lliM, Sat. ('it>., toiu. iii.,
)i. Ti'iH. Every prieatly adornment had, doubtleaa, ita luyatie uieiming. The
cuHtoin of piiinting tho body black wua flrat done in lioiior of the god ol
Hitdea. HotnrM, fdra, p. 117.

>« Bee vol. U., pp. Ma, et aeq.

486 GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS, AKD WORSHIP.

their duties were required to keep at a proper distance
from the male assistants, at whom they did not even dare
to glance."

Of the several religious orders the most renowned for
its sanctity was the llamaxcacayotl, which was conse-
crated to the service of Quetzalcoatl. The suijerior of
this order, who was named after the god, never deigned
to issue from his seclusion except to confer with the king.
Its members, called tlamaccxqui, led a very ascetic life,
living on coarse fare, dressing in simple black rol)eH/*
and performing all manner of hard work. They bathed
at midnight, and kept watch until an hour or two before
dawn, singing hymns to Quetzalcoatl ; on occasions some
of them would retire into the desert to lead a life of
prayer and penance in solitude. Children dedicated to
this order were distinguished by a collar called yanvati,
which they wore till their fourth year, the earliest age
at which they were admitted as novices. The females
who joined these orders were not necessarily virgins, for
it seems that married women were admitted."

The order of Telpochtiliztli, 'congregation of young
men,' was comjiosed of youths who lived with their pa-
rents, but met at sunset in a house set apart for them,
to dance and chant hymns in honor of their patron god,
Tezcatlipoca. Females also attended these meetings,
and, according to report, strict decorum was maintained,
at least while the services lasted.*"

Acosta makes mention of certain ascetics who dedi-
cated themselves for a year to the most austere life;

1* Torquemada, Monarq. Tnd., torn. H., pp. 189-91; Sahagun, TTiat. Om.,
1. ii., lib. vi.. |)p. 2V!3-31; Mutolinin. IIM. It,

torn

dio», in JnathaloeUi, Col. tie

' HuBtentAlmiiHe del trabajo de bu« mauos 6 por mis

MendkUi, Htat. AWm., p. 107.

Doe., torn. {., pp. 63-4.
dres y parienlea.' JUi
■* ' Trahinn en las cabe^aa corona* como fraylea, pooo onbello, aunquo

orezido hnHta media oreja, y mas larxu iwt el oolodrillo haata Ian eapaldnH, y
a manera de trenqado le atauan.' Ihrrtra, Hint. Otn., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap.
xtI.

>T Clavigero aaserta that at the asn of two the boy %aB oonaoorated to tho
order of tlamamtoayoU by a cnt in the breaat, and at seven ho was adniittcd.
Storia Ant. del MtaHeo, torn, ii., p. 44; MoUMnia, Hid, Indioa, in JcaiMctta,
Cd. d« Doe., torn, i., p. B3.

I* Torq\umadn, Momrq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 9flO-4. Whether thia deconiin
wan prenorved after the ailioumment of the meeting, ia a point which nome
writen are iuoliued to doubt.

BELIOIOUS DEVOTEES.

487

they assisted the priests at the hours of incensing, and
dr'iw much blood from their bodies in sacrifice. They
dressed in white robes and lived by begging." Camargo
refers to a similar class of penitents in Tlascala, who
called themselvoH tltimaceufique, and sought to obtain
divine favor by passing from temple to temple at night,
carrying pans of fire U}X)n their heads; this they kept
up for a year or two, during which time they led a very
;itrict life.* The Totonacs had a very strict sect, limited
in number, devoted to Centeotl, to which none were
admitted but widowers of irreproachable character, who
had passed the age of sixty. It was they who made
the historical and other paintings from which the high-
priest drew his discourses. They were much res|)ected
by the jxiople, and were applied to by all classes for ad-
vice, which they gave gravely, squatted upon their
haiuiches and with lowered eyes. They dressed in
skins, and ate no meat."

The children, who were all required, says Las Cassis,
to attend school between the ages of six and nine, ren-
dered valuable assistance to the priests by performing
tile minor duties about the temple. Those of the lower
Nch(K)l performed much of the outside lal)or, such as
currying wood and drawing water, while the sons of the
nobility were assigned higher tasks in the interior of
the building.*'

The daily routine of temple duties was performed by
iKMlies of priests, who relieved each other at intervals
of a few hours or days. The service, which chiefly
coiiHisted of hymn-chanting and incense- burning, was
porfonnod four times each day, at dawn, noon, sunset,
and midnight. At the midnight service the [iriests
(h'fw blood from their IxMlies and bathed themselves.
The sun received offerings of quails four times during

"» IM. dt ha Fnd., pp. 341-9.

«> ll'mt. Ttax., in Xoumllts AnnalM d«a Voy., 1843, torn. soiz,. pp. 134-5.

*> Lis Cuub, Hist. Apolotj^Hoa, MS., cap. oxxxii.; MmdUht, Iliat. KeleH., p.
uo*

M lM»Camu, IRat. Apoloy^Uea, MB., cap. oxxsix.; Tonmtmada, Momtr.j.
/>i(I., toiu. il., pp. IHG-ir.

438 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEIN08, AND WOBSHIP.

the day, and five times during the night.^ The priests
of Quetzalcoatl sounded the hours of these watches
with shell-trumpets and drums. Thrice every morning
the Totonac pontiff wafted incense toward the sun;
after which the elder priests, who followed him in a
file, according to rank, waved their censers three times
before the principal idols, and once before the others;
finally, incense was burned in honor of the pontitl'
himself. The copal that remained was distributed in
heaps upon the various altars. Later in the day, the
high-priest delivered a lecture before the priests and
and nobles." Their prayers were standard composi-
tions, learned by rote at school;* while reciting them,
they assumed a squatting posture," usually with the
face toward the east; on occasions of great solemnity
they prostrated themselves. A test was sometimes ap-
plied to ascertain whether the deity was disposed to
respond to the prayers of the nation, when offered for
a particular purpose. This was done by sprinkling
snuff upon the altar, and if, shortly afterwards, the
foot-print of an animal, particularly that of an eagle,
was found impressed in the snuff, it was regarded a.s a
mark of divine favor, and great was the shouting when
the priest announced the augury."

Many rites and ceremonies were found to exist.

*3 Clavlgero, Storta Ant, del Mesaico, torn, ii., p. 39. According to Torque-
nuida, the night Hervice was partly devoted to the god of night. Monarq.
Ind., torn, ii., p. 227.

w HLit. ApotmiiiHca, MS., cap. clxxv.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn. i.. lib. ii.,
p. 224-6, 275; Acoata, Hist, de kta Ynd., pp. 336. 343; llerrera. Hist. Gen.,
eo. iii., lib. ii., cap. xt.

«i This was the answer given by Juan de Tovar, in his Hist. Ind., MS.,
to the doubts expressed by Acosta as to the antheuticity of tht; long-wiudcd
prayers of the Mexicans, whose imperfect writiug was not well adapted to
reproduce orations. Uelpn' Span, t'onq., vol. i., p. 282.

«« Afendifta, Hist. Ems., p. 93. Clavigero, atoria Ant. del Messico, torn.
ii., p. 24, certainly says: 'Taceano le lore preghiere coiuunemente ingiiioe-
oliione,' but we are told by Sahagun and others, that when they approaclxil
the deity with most humility, namely, at the confession, a squatting position
wiis assumed; the same was done when they delivered orations. The grent-
eKt sign of adoration, according to Camargo, was to take ii handful of earth
and grass and eat it; very similar to the manner of taking an oath or ^lut-
ing a snuerior, which consisted in touching the hand to the ground and tin n
))uttiiig It to the lips. Hist. Ttax., in Nouvellea Atniales dea Voy., 1843, t m.
xoix., <). 168.

«' lb.

BAITISM AND CIEC0HCI8I0S

t'ms in the old world ^J^^ ^^ -'""" »»<i ChriZ
»n the origin of trlrfli^!, ■?»''™?™''''' «P«""«to«
"'"■W, or at le„3t on the^otinfH^'}^ "^ 'he new

«^;r ^If-inflicted wouVs^ u^^^^^^^ '".^^"^gh*' with
P?«I within the temple iLln'^^'J^^^ the icy
view; there is therefore nn '^' ^"^ *^^« ^^d i^
baphs^ developed i^to 4 ^l^f"f\*«. wonder that
that infants were h«nf ^ • ^^'''^^ "te. The Piwt
proves that tC i^S J^r^^^«*«^>^ after bir^'

tjans and Jews, fhat'^f.^tS *'' ''^''^'■

thinking at lea^t. does nnf '"'*^"ted: but this, to n,^

^nmunication or ^, n^lr^^"'-^ «^«^ that ^^
Pl««e or existed be^ee^ ^ fnhT. ^'"^ ^^^'^ t«ok
world and those of the new rf "^^*«"ts of the old
«ot all happiness; they «L l^f/ ««w that life was
begins at his birth thev wpI K-"" '"^"'« «"ftering
every misfortune a^ a d^,^t ^C' ^"''^^^"Pt to regarf
gods, whose anger they coSulnfi''^^ ^^ *^^ «««»ded
and sacrifice; how th^n ^^^ Jy '^^P'^^ted by praver
the inherenci of^i„l!r' JP»^d they help but beliel^fn
fathers upon^the Sen^i;'^^^^ *^^ *''« «"« of the
upon i'-msfK,nsibIernflTcyi;r^^^^^^^^ «»ff-ing entailed
^. i'he rite of circumcision hrh^""f'->' '^^*^«'-« them?
the numerous theorists whnh ^" *^® main-stay of
that the native Ai^ri^' „,p ^''^ '\"*^'"Pted to p^ve
hut with the «amreSrther„?^'t'^"^-*^«^^^^^^
descended from the Caffirs the So..?h% "^ .^^^^^ to be
Ethiopians, the Egypt™n ' nr f ^"^ ^^'"nders, the

people, who all eiSZleVSj''^ Mohamm;jan
tice circumcision * BrintonThT. l^iu"' ^« "«w prac-

„ »:''At«hepr...e„t,Wtheri; ? . "'^^ ^^""^ the rite W«IS

-b.o.e„ n.. ,,., cttoti-'roTss^;^^^^ ♦-^ «w :::

440 OODS, SUPBBNATUBAL BEINOS. AND WOBSHIP.

probably a symbolic renunciation of the lusts of the
flesh;* but, as it would be difficult to find a more li-
centious race than the American, this supposition is
unsatisfactory. After all, why need we grope amop^
the recosses of an obscure cult for the meaning and
origin of a custom which may have had no religious
ideas connected with it? We know that several of the
nations of the old world practiced circumcision merely
for purposes of cleanliness and convenience, why not
also the Americans?

A rite, analogous in ime aspects to the Christian
communion, was observed on certain occasions. Thus,
in the fifteenth month, a dough statue of Huitzilo-
pochtli was broken up and distributed among the men ;
this ceremony was called teoquah, meaning 'the god is
eaten.' At other times, sacred cakes of amaranth-seeds
and honey, were stuck upon maguey-thorns and dis-
tributed. Mendieta states that tobacco was eaten in
honor of Cihuocoatl. The Totonacs made a dough of
first-fruits from the temple garden, uUi, and the blood
of three infants sacrificed at a certain festival; of this
the men above twenty-five years of age, and the women
above sixteen, partook every six months; as the dough
became stale, it was moistened with the heart's blood of
ordinary victims.* The rite of confession has been
already described.'^

Fasting was observed as an atonement for sin, as well
as a preparation for solemn festivals. An ordinary fast
consisted in abstaining from meat for a period of from
one to ten days, and taking but one meal a day, at
noon; at no other how might so much as a drop of
water be touched. In the 'divine year' a fnwt of eighty
days was- observed. Some of the fasts held by the
priests lasted one hundred and sixty days, and, owing
to the insufficient food allowed and terrible mutilations

» Myths, p. 147.

u Torqtumada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., p. 83; Mendieta, Hist. Edes., pp.
108-9; Laa Canas, Hist. Apologdtitn, M8., cap. vlxxv. ; Emplicaoion de< 6'odeae
Tdleriano-RemenMia, in Kimishorowjh'a Mtx. AnlUi„ vol. v., p. 133.

" See thii volume, pp. 380-4.

FASTS AMD PENANCE.

441

practiced, these long feasts not unfrequently resulted
itttally to the devotees. The high-priest sometimes set
a shining example to his subordinates by going into the
mountains and there passing several months, in perfect
solitude, praying, burning incense, drawing blood from
his body, and supporting life upon uncooked maize.^

In Teotihuacan. four priests undertook a four years'
penance, which, if strictly observed, entitled them to be
regarded as saints forever after. A thin mantle and a
breech-clout were all the dress allowed them, no matter
what the weather might be; the bare ground was their
only bread, a stone their softest pillow; their noonday
and only meal was a two-ounce cake, and a small bowl
of porridge made of meal and honey, except on the
first of each month, when they were allowed to take
part in the general banquets. Two of them watched
every alternate night, drawing blood and praying.
Every twentieth day they passed twenty sticks through
the upper part of the ear; and these, Gomara solemnly
assures us, were allowed to accumulate from month to
month, so that at the end of the four years, the ear
held four thousand three hundred and twenty sticks,
which were burned in honor of the gods at the expira-
tion of the time of penance.^

Blood-drawing was the favorite and most common
mode of expiating sin and showing devotion. Chaves
says that the people of Meztitlan drew blood every five
days, staining pieces of paper with it, and offering them
to the god.** The instruments used in ordinary scarifi-
cation were maguey-thorns, which were offered to the
idol, and afterwards burned, but for more severe dis-

>* Torqmmadtt, Afimarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 212-13; Acosla, Hist, de laa
Ynd., p. 343; .SaAavun, Hist. Oen., toin. i., lib. iii., pp. 275-15.

33 Conq. Mex., fol. 'A'M. Some of these sticks were thicker than a fln^er,
' y largos, coiuo el tamaiio de vn bra^o.' ' Eran en nnmero de auatrocien-
tas.' Torqntmada, Mowirq, Ind., torn, ii., pp. lUii-3; Motolinia, Jliat. Indioa,
in IcatbiilceUi, Col. de Doc., torn, i., pp. 51-2.

'♦ Htpporl, in Trrnnux-Compana, Voy., nine ii., torn, v., p. 305. The
Mexican priesta performed this sacriftce every Ave days. Explanation of the
Codex Vfitiminus, in Kiwjsbormi'ih's Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 225, 'De lasan-
Kro ■]«(> Haoaban de latt p-irtes del Cnerpo en cada provincia tesnian diferente
costumbre.' Liu Vaaaa, HiM. Apolog^lica, MS., cap. olxx.

411 GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINOS, ASD WOBSHIP.

cipUne iztli knives were used, and cords or sticks were
passed through the tongue, ears, or genitals.

The offering most acceptable to the Nahua divinities
was human life, and without this no festival of any
importance was complete. The origin of the rite of
human sacrifice, as connected with sun-worship at least,
dates back to the earliest times. It is mentioned in the
story of the first appearance of the sun to the Mexicans,
which relates how that luininary refused to proceed
upon its daily circuit until appeased by the sacrifice of
certain heroes who had offended it." Some affirm that
human sacrifice was first introduced by Tezcatliix)ea ;
others again say that it was practiced before Quetzal-
coatVs time, which is likely enough, if, as we are told,
that prophet not only preached against it as an abomi-
nation, but shut his ears with both hands when it was
even mentioned. Written, or painted, records show it.s
existence in 1091, though some native writers assert
that it was not practiced until after this date. The
nations that encompass the Aztecs ascribe the intro-
duction of human sacrifice to the latter people ; a state-
ment accepted by most of the early historians, who
relate that the first human victims were four Xochi-
milcos, with whose blood the newly erected altar of
Huitzilopochtli was consecrated.**

The number of human victims sacrificed annually in
Mexico is not exactly known. Las Casas, the champion
of the natives, places it at an insignificantly low figure,
while Zumarraga states that twenty thousand were sacri-

» See this volume, p. 61.

M VUtviijero, Storia Ant. dd Meuico, torn, i., pp. 165-7. Torquemadn,
however, mentions one earlier sacrifice of some refractory MozicanH, \vL<>
desired to leave their wandering conntryraen and settle at Tula, contrary to
the command of the god. Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. Ilo-IG, 50. ' On pre-
tend que cet usage viut de la province de Cbnlco dans celle de Tlaxcallau.'
Camargo, Hist, flax., in Nouwlks Annates dea Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p.
199; Jirasaeur de Bowbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 343. ' Quetzalcoatle was the
first inventor of sacrifices of human blood.' Ejcplitnation o/ Codex Vutkaniui,
in Kimiaborough'a Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 201. It is conceded, however, by
other writers, that Qnetzalcoatl was opposed to all bloodshed. 8ee this vul-
ome, p. 278. MfiUer, Amerikxtnische Lrreligionen, p. <i28, thinks that the .Az-
tecs introdaced certain rites of human aacriflce, which they connected with
others already existing in Mexico.

HUMAN 8A0IUFICE8.

443

ficed in the capital alone every year. That the number
was immense we can readily believe, when we read in Tor-
quemada, Ixtlilxochitl, Boturini, and Acosta, that from
seventy to eighty thousand human beings were slaugh-
tered at the inauguration of the temple of Huitziloixjchtli,
and a proportionately large number at the other celebra-
tions of the kind.*'

The victims were mostly captives of war, and for the
sole purpose of obtaining these wars were often made ; a
large proportion of the sacrificed, however, were of
slaves and children, either bought or presented fur the
purpose, and condemned criminals. Moreover, instances
are not wanting of devout people offering themselves
voluntarily for the good of the people and the honor of
the god." The greater part of the victims died under
the knife, in the manner so often described;^ some,
however, were, as we have seen in the preceding
volume, burned alive; children were often buried, or
immured alive, or drowned; in some cases criminals
were crushed between stones. The Tlascaltecs frequently
bound the doomed one to a pole and made his body a
target for their spears and arrows.

It is difficult to determine what religious ideas were
connected with the almost universal practice of anthro-
pophagy. We have seen that several of the savage
tribes ate portions of slain heroes, thinking thereby to
inherit a portion of the dead mar. s good qualities ; the
same reason might be assigned for the cannibp.lism of
the Aztecs, were it not for the fact that they ate the
flesh of sacrificed slaves and children as well as thai of

f Torqueinada, ^fon^lrq. Jnd., torn, i., p. 186. 'Eran eada aSo estns
Nifios aacrittcados niaH de veinte mil por oaenta.' /ii., torn, ii., p. 121), A
misconstruction of Zumnrraga, who does not H|)«icify them as children, f 7a-
vigero, Sloria Ant. <hl Messiao, torn, ii., p. 49, torn, i., p. 257; IxtlxlxoihM,
Hial. Chich., in Kiw/ahorough's Mtx. Aniiq., vol. ix., p. 268; Hoturini, Idea,

S. 28. ' Aflrman que aula vez ({ue passauan de oinco mil, y diii vuo niie en
iuersas partes fneron nssi sacriflcaaos mas de veynta mil.' Amsia, liiit. de
las Vnd., p. 356. Oomara states that the conquerors counted 136,(X)U skulls
in one skull-yard alone. Cotx^. Mex., fol. 122.

** ' Non furuno uiai vuduti i Messicani sacriilcare i propj lor Nazionali, se
non coloro, che per Ii loro delitti erano rei di morte.' Glavigtro, Storia Ant.
del Ateaaico, torn, iv., p. 299. A rather hasty assertion.
» See vol. ii., p. ivfj.

it
ii-

444 OODB, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINQS. AND W0B8HIP.

warriors and notable persons. Whatever may have
been the original significance of the rite, it is most prob-
able that finally the body, the essence of which served
to regale the god, was regarded merely as the remains
of a divine fea.st, and, therefore, as sacred food. It is
quite possible, however, that religious anthropophagy
gradually' degenerated into an unnatural appetite for
human flesit and nothing more.

I here close the review of the Aztec gods. Like most
of its branches, this great centre '»f North American
mythology restH on natural phenomena and anthojx)-
morphic creations, with an occasional eueraeristic devel-
opment or a[H)theosis, but is attended by a worship so
saii<2;uinary and monstrous that it stands out an isolated
spectacle of the extreme to wliich fanatical zeal and
blind superstition can go. A glance at the Greek and
Roman mythology is sufficient to show how much purer
was the Nahua conception of divine character. The
Nahua gods did not, like thase of Greece, play with
vice, but rather abhorred it. Tezcatlipoca is the only
deity that can be fairly compared with the fitful Zeus of
Homer, — now moved with extreme passion, now gov-
erned by a noble impulse, now swayed by brutal lust,
now drawn on by a vein of humor. l)ut the poiisiied
Greek, poetic, refined, full of ideas, exulting in hia
stroiij;, iMMiiitiful, immoral gods, and making his art im-
mortal by his sublime representations of them, presents
a picture very different from the Aztw^, plilegmatic,
bl(HMly-min<l('(l, fenM-ioiis, broken in body and in spirit
by tlu! (!X(!eHHos ol' hi,s worship, overshadowed by count-
less terrors of the imagination, quaking; continually
bcrorc {rods who feast (m his Hesh am.^ bl<H)(l. Neverthe-
less thi're was one bright s[K)t. set afar off on tiie horizon,
uiKm which tlie A /.tec might l<K)k and ho|M}. Like the
Hrahmans, the Hiiddhists, ar.d the Jews, he looked for-
ward to a new era under a great leiuler, even (^uetzal-
eoatl, who had pn>mised to return from the glowing
east, bringing with him all the prosjAMity, jK'ace, and

WORSHIP IN HICHOACAN.

446

happinesR of his former reign. The Totonacs, also,
knew of one in heaven who pleaded unccaHingly for them
with the great god, and who was ultimately to bring
about a gentler era.

Worship in Michoacan, though on a smaller scale, was
very similar to that in Mexico. The misty form of a
Supreme Iking that hovers through the latter, here
assumes a more distinct outline, however, A First
Cause, a (/rcp-tor of All, a Ruler of the World, who
liestows existence, and regulates the seasons, is re-
cognized in the god Tucapachfj. an invisible l)eing
whose abode is in the heaven above, an inconceiva-
ble being whom no image can represent, a merciful
being to whom the people; may ho|)efully pray.*" But
the very beauty and simplicity of the conception of
this god seem to have o[)erated ngainst the jK)pularity
of his worship. The people needed a less shadowy jKir-
sonification of their ideajs and this they found in Curi-
cancri, originally the patron divinity of the (^hichimec
rulers of the (!onntry, and by them exalted over Xara-
tanga, the former head god of the Tarascos. lirasseur
de B()urlK)iu'g thinks Ouricaneri to Iw identical with the
sun, and gives as his reason that the ChiehinuHJs pre-
sented their oflferings first to that luminary and then to
the inferior deities. There is another iKiint that seems
to favor this view. The insignia of Curicaneri and
Xaratanga were carried by the priests in the van of
the army to ii^Mlrf coiwage and confi<lenct! of vic-
tory. Befoii; sei ing out on the mar(;h a fire was
lighted Ix'fore ihe idol, and as the inci'nse n)He to
heaven, tiio priest addreswd the go<l of fire, imploring
him to accept the rift'cring and fiivor the exjx'dition.*'
The image of ('uriisaneri was profus<'ly adorned with
jewels, emrh one of which represented a human sticrifice
made in honor of the gcxi.

<» Salntnr y Oliirtf. Ilisl. Ctmrj. Mnc., p. 71; Ilrrrrra. lliai. <lm., deo. iU..
lib iii., i!itp. X.

>i HfiSHfur ,lr HimrUfuni, IHhI. \(U. Viv., torn. Ul., pp. 70-»a. Tliii au-
thor givoH tL(> nitmt) uh Curionwori.

446 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINOS, AND WORSHIP.

The giKldess Xaratnnga, though second in rank, seems
to liavo occuj)ied the first place in the aft'etlions of the
TaroHCos. in spite of the myth which aHwwiates her
name with the downfall of the native dynasty, saying
that hIio transformed their princes into snakes, lx;cause
they apjH'ared drunk at her fe»«tivals, and thus alforded
the Cliichimecs an op|X)rtunity to seize the sceptre.
The priests did their utmost, besides, to maintain her
prestige, and they were successful, as we have seen from
the position of the gixldess by the side of Curicaneri, in
the van of the army.

Among the inferior gods were Manovapa, son of
Xaratanga, and Taras, from whom, says Hahagun.
the Tarascos took their name, and who corresixnided
to the Mexican Mixcoatl. The Matlaltzincas wor-
shiiHjd Coltzin, suffocating l)efore his image tiie few
human Ixungs ollered to him. The> revercnoeil very
highly, also, a great reformer, Surites. a high-prie.Mt,
who preached morality, and inspired by a prophetic
spirit, is said to have prepared th(! |)eople for a better
faith, which was to come from the din'ctiou of tin-
rising sun. The festivals of the I'enin.si'iuiro. which
corre,s|H)n(k'd to our ('hristmH#«, and tb«' /itiKMrnniKUJiro.
or 'resurrection,' were institut^^d by Surites The*'
itleas, liowever, bear traces of b»vmg Ixjeii 'iinpnive*!
by the padres.

The priests of Mi<;hoacan exercis<*d even a gr<(ater in-
fluence over the jK'ople than thos»« of .Vlexico. In order
to retain this |x)wer they appealed to the leligious side
of the |K»ople's character by thun<lering sermons and
wtlenni rites, arid U> their aflections by pnuticiugcliarity
at every opixirtunity. The king himwlf. wbcu he juiid
his annual visit to the high-priest to inaugurate the oiler>
ing of first-fruits, set an example of hinnilit\ by kneel-
ing Uifore the ])ontiif and reverently kissiug his hand
The priests of Michoa(;an formed a distinct cliiss. com-
l)ostHl of three orders, at the heiwl of which stoo«l the
high priest of Curicaneri." Thofie who served the g<Kl-

** '£1 Suiuu Snctrdute Cnrinaoanory.' Jitnumont, Cn'm. Mtchfacon, MB.,
p. 62.

WORSHIP IN JALISCO.

447

dess Xaratanga were called watarecha, and were dis-
tinguinhed by their shaven crowns, long black hair, and
tunics horderefl with red fringe.** Marriage was one of
their i)rivilegeH.

The temple-service of Michoacan was much the name
as in Mexico. Human sacrifices, which seem to have
l)een introduc^cd at a late jxiriod, were probably very
numerous, since hundreds of human victims were im-
molated at the funeral of a monarch. The hearts of the
H5U3ri(iced were eaten by the priests, says Beaumont, and
this is not unlikely since the Otomi population of Micho-
acan sold ilesh in the pul)lic market. During seasons
of drought the Otomi's sought to propitiate the rain gods
by sacrificing a vii*gin on the top of a hill."

In .Jalisco, several forms of Morship apixiar, each with
its sjKscial divinities. These were mostly genii of natu-
ral features. Thus, the towns alx)ut ( Miapala i)aid divine
honors to the spirit of the lake, who was represented by
a niis-shai)en inuvge with a miniatui-e lake before it.
The people of other i)laces had idols mounted on rocks,
or :'epi'ew!nted in the Jict of fighting with a wild auiuutl
or i/MHister. In Zentipac and Acaixineta the stars were
hoKored with offerings of the choicest fruit aud flowers.
K<|ually iniKX'cnt were the offerings brought to Tiltzin-
teojli, the ' cliild gorl," whost! youthful form was reared
in wveral piiM-es. An jjistance of aiMitheosis occurred
in Niiyarit. where the skeleton of a king, enthroned in a
cave. I'eceivinl divine honors.

Aiuongthe temples eousecrated to the various idols,
may Im- uieutioned one iu Jalisco, which was a square
pyramid, decorated with bretutt-work and turrets, to

:l|

" ' QnlrnnldiM dp flnecoB colorndf >B, • naya Ilfrmm, Wrf. Om., dec, iii.,
li>i. iii . nip. X.

♦• l/irri'm, lt\d. (irn., (li'O. iii.. lili. iii., CHp. x.; liniumo'it, Cron Mrrhi^i-
Wi. MS , |i|i. iVi-ll, 75; Alfi/rf, Hiitl. I'miip. <le ./ciiik, Itmi. i . iiii. !tl -'2; llinn-
tf'ir lie ll'iurlhiHiy, lliM, Mat. ("n>., inm. iii., jij).f)!), (ll 5, 7'.t ^'i; Viin/ci )n<iW<i,
Miiii'ii-ij. III.) . tdtn. ii., |>. 0'jr>; CikrUtjiil K.M|iiii(>Hii, IIUI. Mix., tom. i., |ip,
tillll 2, tliiiikH thtkt th>< HHcriftofH wi>ri' iiitrtxliuoil by Htirrouiiiliii^ triticH, and
Unit i-itiiiiiluilihtii wiiM nnkii'iwn to tli)> 'riUMNcim. 'Kit('ritli'iil>,in iMili-))riiH,
nvi'M y i'(in«>jiiH, y no Iom L<Miilir<<M, Hnn(|ni< fui-Hcii (■iiiilivim, jmiiiiiic hc moI'<
viiiii ill' t'lloH, ('OHIO du I'Ni'likviiH,' Sithi'iiiii. IIM. (Jen,, tuiu. iii., lib. x., p.
l^<. .^«i' iiUu vul, il., pp. 621>-1, ot UiiH work.

448 aODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINQS. AND W0B8HIP.

which access was had by a staircase sixty feet in height.
At each of the four corners was a hearth so arranged that
the smoke from the sacred lire spread in a dense cloud
over the temple. Another, at Teul, consisted of a stone
building, five fathoms in length, by three in breadth,
and gradually widening towards the top. Two entrances,
one at the north corner, the other at the south, each
with five steps, gave admission to the interior; close by
were several piles, formed of the bones of the sacrificed,

The festivals which took place seem to have been dis-
graced not only by excesses of the most infamous charac-
ter, but by the most horrible cruelties, if we are to
believe Oviedo, who writes of furnaces filled with charred
human remains. These sacrifices, however, if sacrifices
they were, which were common in the north-eastern
parts, where intercourse with Mexico had produced
many changes, do not appear as we advance southward.
Not only do they entirely vanish, but the chroniclers
state that in Colima, which was reputed to have been
at one time governed by a very wise prince, no outward
worship of any kind could be found; moreover, they
hint at an atheism having existed there, restricted only
by moral precepts. But the reality of an oasis of this
character, in the midst of the most degraded superstitions
and the wildest fanaticism, is at the least, doubtful, atid
the work of the Fathers seems to be once more apparent."

The worship of Oajoca bore even a stronger resem-
blance to that of Mexico than did that of Michoacan, and
the assertion of some modern writers that both nations
have a comm(m origin seems fully borne out by the
records of the old chroniclers. The array of g(xls was,
if ix)s.sible, greater, for almost every feature of the grand,
wild scenery, every want, every virtue, even every vice,

4> Beanmont, CrAn. ifeokoaean, MS., p. 933, tells of a Supreme Being
in hnnvf^n, and with liini nn ever young virgin from wlioni nil men tlesound;
a helinf which the ohild-gud ia sitid U> have |iruniulgated; but Uie uoooiint
■eeniH Hoinewbat confuHuit botit aH to place and authority. Alegre, Hist. Coiiip.
df Jmis, torn, iii., p. Itt7, and I'adilla, donq. N. Oalieia, MS., p. 8, men-
tion additional gods, but give no description. VUla-Sertor y ^anche*, Thta-
tro, torn, ii., pp. 369-70; Alo«do, Dknionario, torn, iii., p. 39l»; Ttllo, in Icit'
balcriii, r'ol. </e Dne., torn, ii., p. 30:); Ovir.do, 1[M. Oen., torn, iii., p. 000;
Oil, ill Soo. Mex. Utoij., IMeiin, torn, viii., pp. 4U6-8.

WOBSHIP IK OAJAOA.

says Bursoa haA ^

be d;«v.«l J .. "*"®* have vent Tk . " * supersti-

i"? many title,, .uT^'fe'"'" S'-P-^me :

gnome, bMrfThor"'"' «"-«"ri""L«'rj'"»"

»nd lawgiver, we„?'tth*r™''»"". "'« Toltec «rf
terto preach hi, doctrine, L^* "*"""»"'' "f the^ml!^
their wttv »o r>_' ^'"nes, wme are sniVI t„ k """"

of woS " r"' "■'"'"> tlioy foun^^ ''"'■* "ended
PJ^of the ttw-: %;^'-«ed in lie'^^r ,?;^-

»'.S, h^Etj f »'<''7nto. ™:!:u j;-"-. «- «

nnpv 'PL- i^"'^^^ toward a UttL^ i • i .^ ** «nako

' ""-g^J- tl.o «nukeand /hebi d. TTi ^^'' •""'^>^''n
^o 'Le, die,.v -, " ' >^'^ ''"^v mutilated

1 .1

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

the original myth, how much of its beautiful significance
gone! Biirgoa invests the relic with another attribute
in making it the supporter of the earth, another Atlas in
fact, whose movements produce earthquakes. This also
accords with the character of Quetzalcoatl, who, under the
name of Hucmac, was supposed to produce earthquakes.
The Zapotecs, besides, prayed to it for victory and wealth,
and Quetzalcoatl as the ' peace god,' could doubtless in-
fluence the former, while the latter gift was always in his
power.*' In several other places were i<lo'. ..Ith the
same name, as at Yangiiistlun, Chalcatongo, and Coatlan,
where the temples were caves, a fact worthy of note
when we consider that Quetzalcoatl is stated by the
myth to have erected temples to Mictlantecutli, the
Mexican Pluto."

The few authors, however, who have referred to this
relic, nearly all hold it to represent Votan; the old
writers doubtless because the name signifies 'heart'"'
in the Tzendal dialect of Chiapas, where he was the
most prominent deity, the modern, because its attributes
accord with those of this god. But Votan has so much
in common with Quetzalcoatl that some writers are in-
clined to consider them identical, or at least related.
Mlillcr, however, declares him to be an original Maya
snake-god, one of the thirteen chief snakes, to whom the
bird attribute was given at a late period, lM)rrowed, jier-
haps, from Quetzalcoatl. He is gradually anthropomor-
phized into one <jf the many leaders whose names have
been given to the days of the month, Votan taking the
third of the four names that designated days as well as
years. Yet Professor Milller concedes that the god was

** Bitrgoa f^iveH the relio in thiM inittance n title wliich vnrieH Hoinnwhiit in
th« wording. Hltlioiiuii thn forinur Hnimn reiiiniiiH: 'El Alimi, y (uirn^on <!< I
Beyno.' (/<■»'/. Itescnp., toin. ii., |)t ii.. fol. 30€. Davila I'mlilla, IHiit. Ftml.
iffete.. p. n:).), inoiitioiiH an iilol among the Zapotecs in Hhapo of a h.ind,
whioii niiky have ropreHimtttil Iliieniao,

M TIm! /apotHOH had other toinpioH aUo, faHhioned liko tlioRe of Mrxioo in
■npcrinipoHod t)'n°a<'<'N of Htoiin-caHed uarth. Bnr^oa dHHciilii'H ont^ whirh
mnaHurHil 'i(MM) pucoH in ciri-nrnfcrenro, and rono to a hi^iuht of HH-IH) foet
on each torraco Htood an ailnhn chapi*! with a woll attitchml for tlie utoruKn <if
water. On tlio orraiiiitn of a ^rcat victory anotlii>r terrace wu« added to (he
pU«. (/•■Of/. />i.«<ri;* , toni. i.. pt ii., fol. Iim.

*• t '(i6rfr<i, TmIi'o, in Hio'ii DtnorlpUnn, p. ^7.

▼OTAN AND QUETZALCOATL.

461

brought from Cholula, and that certain special attributes
of Quetzalcoatl may be recognized in the figures on the
Palenque ruins, which probably refer to Votan ; and fur-
ther, that a phase of the myth seems to point to him as
the grandson of Quetzalooatl.** Brosseur de Bourbourg,
while accepting his identity with the ' heart of the peo-
ple,' considers that the double aspect of the tradition
allows us to suppose that there were several Yotans, or
that this name was accorded to deserving men who came
after him. At times he seems to be a mythic creation,
the mediator between man and God, the representation
of wisdom and power; at times a prince and l^slator
who introduced a higher culture among his people. The
analogy presented by traditions between Votan, Gucu-
matz, Cukulcan, and Quetzalcoatl, would lead us to believe
that one individual united in his person all these appel-
lations. Nevertheless, a comparison of the different tra-
ditions admits of two, Vutan and Quetzalcoatl, the other
names having the same signification as the latter.

It is certain, however, that from them, whether heroes,
priests, rulers, or wurriors. Central America received
the culture which their successors brought to such per-
fection. Tiie knowledge of one supreme l)eing appears
to have been among the first dogmas instilled into the
minds of their people; but in the tradition presented to
U.S. till' hero's name is oflen confounded with that of the
divinities.** Like Quetzalcoatl, Votan was the first histo-
rian of his {leople, and wrote a book on the origin of the
race, in which he declares himself a snake, a descendant
of Inios, of the line of Chan, of the race of Chiviin."

>> Hfl alHO cnllB him the Miztec Cultur Kotl. AmerilcaniscKi Urrfligiomn,
pp. 48G-IK).

» HiM. Mj<. Civ., torn. i.. pp. 44-5.

'M Chun, 'uuike,' wiiH the iiiiiiu* of a tribe of Lanandnnea, near Palen-
<ine, kiiiiwu also as rolhuon, (;hiui»'H, or Qninain< s HmsMnir <le lliiHrlMmrtj,
hopol \'hI>, I). 100. The b<H»k re(«'rr«'(l to or u "opy of it, written iu the
T/.uiKlal or Qnich^t languaue. whh in the powtfNHion of NuAes ilu In Vi^ka.
Itishop of ChiapiiR, who pnbhHiied Hhurt eitrw-ta of it iu hiH ( onutitnt. IHw-
ivH. but HeritiH tn hiivf had it liurncd, together with otiier native lelicM, in
1(11)1, nt HiM-huetan. rreviouH tothia. however, OnloAt-i y ARuiar had nb-
tniued it cofn' of it. written in Latin characten, and u'^\e a rt-annii< of Iho
odutentR in h.M IM ild Citlo, MH. Thia author oantraditta himaelf by utiit-
ing, iu out' piurt uf liia US., that the original wbh written by a deaeendMnt

■i

462 OODS, 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINGS. AMD W0B8HIP.

One of his titles was ' lord of the hollow tree/ the tepop
huaste, or teponaztli."

From the confused tradition of the Tzendals, as ren-
dered by Nufiez de la Vega and Ordoftez y Aguiar, it
seems that Yotan, proceeded by divine command to
America and there portioned out the land." He accord-
ingly departed from Valum Chivim, passed by the 'dwel-
ling of the thirteen snakes/ and arrived in Valum Yo-
tan," where he took with him several of his family to
form the nucleus of the settlement. With them he
passed through the island-strewn Laguna de Terminos,
ascended the Usumacinta, and here, on one of its tribu-
taries founded Nachan,'" or Palenque, the future metrop-
olis of a mighty kingdom, and one of the reputed cra-
dles of American civilization. The Tzendal inhabitants
bestowed upon the strange-looking new-comers the name
Tssequiles, ' men with petticoats,' on account of their long

of Votan. liraaMur de nourhowih Popol Vwh, pp. Ixxzvii., oriii.; Tschudi'a
PerurUm AntU/., p. 13; Cahrtra, Ttniro, in /?*»'« Dnmrip., pp. 33-4. ('nbrera,
who boaes biH aouoiint of the myth ou Urdonea' reuderiug, which h« nt timts
■eeiiiH to h'lvu misiiiulorHlood and iuutilatt>d, thiuks tliat Chiviiu rofcrH to
Tripoli, and it in the nnnio kh Hivim or Givim, the I'hcnnician word for
anake, which, auain, referH to HivitoH, the descendants of Ueth, son of
Oauaan. Votan h oxprtiittdon, nH ^Uow in his bonlc, ' I nin a anake, a ('liivim,'
•igniflea ' I am a Hivite from Tripoli.' Ttatro, in UUt'H Dtncrip., p. 34, et aea.

i^ Ui>turli)i, Idea, p. 113. It may be of iutennt to compare hia name witn
Odon in tho Michoacan calendar, and Oton, the Otnnif goiX and chief.
Hnmboldt waa iiartionlarly struck with its reaomhlance to Odin, tho Hoau-
din iviin god>hero. Viiea, torn, i., p. 308; Hrwueur de Jiourbounj, I'opnl Vuh,
p. Ixxvi.

M Equivalent to laying the foundation for oiviliEation. According to Or-
dotiez he waa aont tn pe.ipio the continttnt; a vinw also tiikun by (lavigKro,
Sloriii Attt. del MfMino, t >m. i., pp. 150-1. Torqnemada'a acconnt of the
■Dreading of the Tolteca a xithwaru, may throw some light on this subject.
Monarq. tnd., tom. i., p. 25(1, et acq.

" Valum Chivim, Valum Votan, land of Chivim and Votnn. Sec note 16.
Oabrora considers two marble columns found at Tangior, uitii iMtmniuiiin
insiiriptions, a trace of hia route; the dwellinga of tho thirteen anukea aro
thirtuen islaiuta of the ('unary group, and Valum Votan, tho Island of
Biinto Domingo. Tealro, in Hli'!> D-Hcrip., p. 31, t>t seq. MQller, Amerlkxi-
ni$nhi^ Urrelijiiottm, p. 489, hints aiuniticantly at the worship of the anake-

Sod Votan, on Hanto Domingo Island, under the name of Vaudonx. Braaaour
e Kourbourg's ideas on this point have already been made pretty evident
in the account of QuetzalcoatI a myth. Tho thirteen snakes mav mean thir-
teen chiefs of Xibidba. There is a r\iin beuring the name of Valum Votitn
nboiit nino leagues fn>m (Jiudad Ked, Chiapas. Popol Vuh, p. Ixxxviii. Or-
duiloz holds Valum Votan to be ('uba, whenKu he takes seven familiea with
him. Cubrera, nbi aup.

M Ordoftea aaya the original Na-ohan nioana 'place of makes.' Uraauur
it Bourbowy, IM. Nat. iHv., tom. i., p. ( U.

11ATEIJ3 OF TOTiK.

"I*", but aoon exch«n~j m *"

?'.bmitted to therruK''^ "^ «""»"• ««■ them

'"'"^ty Ordonez mBDoS.L^ '" """^eof erection
«n edifice which Z'^.'°,^i«'r'?»''''«"«t^«M

finally he was aUowed tanZ.. """fUMon of tonmies-

PD^ to the ™ot ofleave^""^'* t. " .""'"»^"'" ^n'
^"6, Votan found thtit «««« i " returning to Palpn

made secure, and he «>»« «7i„ . " ?" ""premacy «■»,
fo monument, left 5^ ^ ''P»'''««i»<I.'' I„^

I uehuetan Kiver, oallLi 'hii^o^*^ \'""P'« <»• thf
»"bterranean chambera, wheiTtt. '"'»*"«*. Item it,

-^t-^redi-i^^i-^K^^:^^^^^^^^

tJiatthe latter eilifloJi» h« 1^ *" '"' l*"""". hut hJ^IZ'!!' /^""' '>""•'•</»
™'«ntryin..i, „r VoLU Th^ new-«oineM nre seven T««„„u

>4M

00D8. 8UPEBMATUBAL BEINGS, AMD W0B8HIP.

male members. Here were also kept a number of tapirs,
a sacred animal among the people.*'

The clums of Votan to be considered as the ' heart of the
people,' are supported, according to the above accounts,
chiefly by his name, which means 'heart,' and by the fact
that a chalchiuite, of which stone the relic was made, was
placed by the Mexicans and other peoples between the
lips of deceased. The other attributes accord more with
the character of Quetzalcoatl, as we have seen, and the
tradition is very similar; its confusion goes to show that
it is a mutilated version of the Toltec myth. If we
accept Votan as a grandson of Quetzalcoatl we may also
suppose that he was one of the disciples sent out by the

Erophet to spread his doctrines, and that his own name
as been substituted for that of his master. This view
is favored by the fact that Quetzalcoatl is identified with
the snake-heroes of Yucatan and Guatemala, countries
that lie beside and beyond Chiapas. Then, again, we
find that Yotan's worship was known in Cholula, and
that he landed in the very region where the former hero
disappeared. However doubtful the preceding tradition
may be, there is one among the Oajocans, which to me
has all the appearance of a mutilated version of the
myth of Quetzalcoatl, deformed still more by the ortho-
dox Fathers. In very remote times, about the era of
the apostles, according to the padres, an old white man,
with long hair and beard, appeared suddenly at Huatul-
oo, coming from the south-west by sea, and preached tu
the natives in their own tongue, but of things beyond
their understanding. He lived a strict life, posHing the
greater part of the night in a kneeling p(J8ture, and eat-
ing but little. He disappeared shortly after a» mysteri-
ously as he had come, but left as a memento of his viisit

u The rains of Hnehaetan, ' city of
teur de Bourhourg, IJM. Nat. Civ., torn, i
pp. lt-15; Domtnteh'$ Dtsetia, vol. i.,
Teopiicn in OhiapM he found several
and claimed to be deaoendantH of hiH.
know that prieata aaaomed the nuino
heroea have had deaoendanta, as Zeus,
p. 116.

old men,' are still to be seen. Bras-
,, pp. 73-4; Tachudi's Peruvian Anti<i.,

?>p. 10-21. Vega mentions that nt
amilies who bore the hero's nanm
This has little value, however, for wo
of their god, nnd nearlv all m^'thicul
Heraklea, and others. Itoturim, Idta,

THE APOSTLE WIXEPECOOHA.

lat-

iisit

ran-
nt

rwn

kcui

Mna,

a crass, which he planted with his own hand, and ad-
monished the people to preserve it sacredly, for one day
they would be taught its significance.'^ Some authors
describe a personage of the same appearance and charac-
ter, coming from the same quarter, and appearing in the
country shortly after, but it is doubtless the same old
man, who, on leaving Huatulco, may have turned his
steps to the interior. His voice is next heard in Mict-
lan,** inveighing in gentle but firm accents against the
pleasures of this world, and enjoining repentance and
expiation. His life was in strict accordance with hio
doctrines, and never, except at confession, did he ap-
proach a woman. But the lot of Wixepecocha, as the
Zapotecs call him, was that of most reformern. Perse-
cuted by those whose vice and superstitions he attacked,
he was driven from one province to another, and sA lost
took refuge on Mount Cempoaltepec. Even here his
pursuers followed him, climbing its craggy sides to lay
hands upon the prophet. Just as they reached the sum-
mit, he vanished like a shadow, leaving only the print
of his feet upon the rock.**

Among the points in this myth that correspond to the
character of Quetzalcoatl may be noticed the appearance
of the prophet from the south-west, which agrees with
the direction of the moisture-bearing winds, the chief
attribute of the Toltec god ; the cross, which indicates
not only the four winds, but the rain of which they are
the bearers, attributes recognized by the Mexicans who
decorated the tnantle of the god with ciX)Hses ; the long
beard, the white face, and the dress, which all accord
with the Toltec Quetzalcoatl. Like him Wixepecocha
taught gentle doctrines of reform, like him he was perse-

o A portion of this relio wm Mnt to Pope Paul V., in 1613; the remainrler
was deposited in the cathedral for safe keeping. Burgoa, Oeoij. JJtaerijt., torn,
ii., ptii., foL 350-2.

** The place of the dead, or hades, also called Yopaa, land of tombs.
Brammr de Bowbowrg, Hitt. Nal Civ., torn, iii., p. 9.

u Fray Jasn de Ojedo saw and felt the indentation of two feet upon the
rook, the muscles and toes as distinctly marked as if they hitd been pressed
upon soft wax. The Mijes hiul this tradition written in 'characters on skin.
Hurijoa, Ueoy. Dtaertp., torn, i ., pt ii., ful. ilUtt.

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456 GODS, SUPEBNATUSAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

cuted and forced to wander from place to place, and at
last disj-ppeared, leaving his followers the hope of a better
future. The doctrine of Wixepecocha, took root and
flourished in the land he had consecrated with his toils
and prayers, and, according to Brasseur de Bourboui^,
Wiyatao, the pontiff of Zapotecapan, was vicar and suc-
cessor of the 'prophet of Monapostiac.'®"

The early padres saw in this personage none other
than St. Thomas, the apostle, who had walked across
to plant the cross and prepare the way for Christianity.
There is, or was until recently, a statue of him in the
village of Magdalena, four leagues from Tehuantepec,
which represented him with long white beard, and
mufled up in a long robe with a hood, secured by a cord
round the waist; he was seated in a reflective attitude,
listening to the confession of a woman kneeling by his
side.**^ A similar statue is mentioned by Burgoa, as
having existed in a cave not far from Xustlahuaca. in
Mistecapan,^ where it stood near the entrance, on a mar-
ble monolith eleven feet in height. Tlie approach to the
cavern appears to have formerly led through a beautiful
garden; within were masses of stalactite of the most
fantastic and varied forms, many of which the people
had fashioned into images of different kinds, and of the
most artistic execution, says the padre, whose fancy was
doubtless aided by the twilight within. Here lay the
embalmed bodies of kings and pontiffs, surrounded by treas-
ures, for this was a supposed entrance to the flowered
fields of heaven. The temple cave at Mictlan bore a
similar reputation, and served as a sepulchre for the
Zapotec grandees. It consisted of four chief divisions,
the largest forming the sanctuary proper, the second and

<* A name olTen to Wlxepeoocha by the tradition, which adds that he wiis
wen on the ialanil of Muuapostiao, near Tehnantepeo, previous to his final
disappearance. Jirasneur de Jiourbourti, liUt. Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 411.
Qnetzalooatl also disappeared seaward.

<T He debarked near Tehuantepec, bearing a orom in his hand; Oondra,
Rcunos y aeiialeg de la ptiniera preMcacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. ; Carriedo,
Eatudioa, Hist, del Eatado Oatcaqueflo, torn, i., cap. i.; Bnuaiur dt Bowrbourg,
nut. Nat. C<u., torn, iii., pp. 9-10.

** Brasseur de Bourbourg seems to place it at GhaIcaton({o. Hiat. Xat.
Civ., toui. iii., p. 10; Bouryoa, Qtog, Deacrlp., torn, ii., pt i,, fol. 170.

GODS OF OAJAGA.

467

third the tombs of kings and pontiffs, and the fourth a
vestibule to an immense labyrinthine grotto, in which
brave warriors were occasionally buried. Into this, the
very ante-room of paradise, frenzied devotees would at
times enter, and seek in its dark mazes for the abode of
the gods ; none ever returned from this dread quest, for
the entrance was closed with a great stone, and doubt-
less many a poor wretch as he touched in his last feeble
gropings the bones of those who had preceded him, felt
the light come in upon his soul in spite of the thick
darkness, and knew he had been deluded, but the
mighty stone at the mouth of the cave told no secrets *

The prominence of the Plutonic element in the wor-
ship of Oajaca is shown by the fact that Pezelao, whose
character corresponded to that of the Mexican Mictlan-
tecutli, received high honors. The other conspicuous
gods, as enumerated by Brasseur de Bourbourg, were
Pitao-Cocobi, god of abundance, or of the harvest ; Cociyo,
the rain god ; Cozaana, patron of hunters and fishermen ;
and Pitao-Xoo, god of earthquakes. Other deities con-
trolled riches, misfortunes, auguries, poetic inspiration
— even the hens had their patron divinity. As might be
expected of a people who regarded even living kings and
priests with adoration, apotheosis was common. Thus,
Petela, an ancient Zapotec cacique whose name signified
dog, was wor«hii)ed in the cavern of Coatlan. At one
end of this subterranean temple a yawning abyss re-
ceived the foaming waters of a mountain torrent, and
into this slaves and captives, gaily dressed and adorned
with flowers, were cast on certain occasions.'"*

At another phice was a white stone shaped like a nine-
pin, supposed to be the embodiment of Pinopiaa, a saintly
princess of Zapotecapan, whose corpse had been miracu-
lously conveyed to heaven and returned in this form for
the benefit of the devout.''*

<* Eacalera and Uana, MfJ. Hiat, Dtacrip., p. 330.

TO ' Le teniau enterrado, seco, y embnlsamado en sa proporoion.' The
cave was supposed to oonneot with the city of Chiapas, 200 leagues distant.
Herrera, Jllat. Oen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

Ti ' Piedra blanoa, labrada al modo de vn aoho de bolos . . , tu gniesHO
taladro.' Burjoa, Gtog. Deaortp., torn, ii., pt ii., fol. 362.

468 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

In Chiapas they worshiped Costahuntox, who was rep-
resented with ram's horns on his head, and sat on a
throne surrounded by thirteen grandees. In the district
of Llanos, Yabalan, or Yahalan, and Canamlum were
the chief gods. Even living beings held the position of
deities, according to Diaz, who states that a fat old
woman, dressed in richly decorated robes, whom the
natives venerated as a goddess, led them against the
Spanish invaders, but was killed." Among the Mijes a
green flat stone, with blood-red, lustrous rays, was held
in much veneration. Although this is the only reference
made by the chroniclers that may be connected with sun
worship, — which, by the way, could scarcely have claimed
a very high position here, since the founder of the Miz-
tec royal family is stated to have been victorious in a
contest with the sun, — it is worthy of note that the Zapo-
tec word nuhu^ fire, also denotes divinity, idol, everything
sacred, the earth itself.'" The household idols had their
names, history, and worship depicted on bark, and
smoked or painted hides, in order to keep them always
before the people, and insure to the youth a knowledge
of their god. How firmly rooted idolatry was, and how
slow the work of eradicating it must have been,
to the padres, notwithstanding they destroyed every
idol they could lay hands on, is shown by the fact
that among the Guechecoros a statue of Cortes served
as an object of worship.''* Nagualism is one of the
ancient forms of worship which still flourish, and consists
in choosing an animal as the tulelary divinity of child,
whose existence will be so closely connected with it, that

" JJemaJ Diat, Illst. Conq., (ol. 170; Salaxar y OlaHe, IliaL Conq. Mex., p.
197. There were muny among the padrcb 'vhu held Yubulan to have been un
immediate desoendunt of Noah's son Unsii, k)ecauae the name sionitled ' oliief
black man, or negro.' I'iileda, in Soc. Mex Geog., lioMin, tom. lii., p. 419.

1^ Braamir de Botirbmrg, JIM. Nat. ' iu., torn, iii., p. 17; DdvUa PadUkt,
Hist. Fund. Mex., pp. G38-9. In Chiap..fi are found a number of representa-
tions of heavenly bodiex, scnlptured, or drawn and at Palenque a sun tem-
ple is supposed to huve existed. Pineda, in Soc, Mex. Geog., Boktin, tom,
iii., p. 419.

"<* They ' worship his image in their own peculiar way, sometimes by cut-
ting off a turkey's head.' ' 'Ihe natives are about as far advanced in Christi-
anity as they were at the tiaie of the conquest.' Hutohiruf's Cat. Mag., vol. ii.,
p. 542.

TBEE WORSHIP.

469

the life of one depends on that of the other. Burgoa
states that the priest selected the animal by divination ;
when the boy grew up he was directed to proceed to a
mountain to offer sacrifice, and there the animal would
appear to him. Others say that at the hour of the
mother's confinement, the father and friends drew on
the floor of the hut the outline of various animals, effac-
ing each figure as soon as they began the next, and the
figure that remained at the moment of delivery repre-
sented the guardian of the infant ; or, that the bird or
beast first seen by the watchers after the confinement
was accepted as the nagual. The bestowal of the sign of
the day upon tlie infant as its name may perhaps be con-
sidered as a species of nagualism, since the name of ani-
mals often formed these signs.'"

A form of worship particularly marked in this country
was the veneration accorded to trees, op may be judged
from the myth which attributes the origin of the Miztec,
as well as a portion at least of the Zapotec people to two
trees. This cult existed also in other parts of Mexico
and Central America, where cypresses and palms grow-
ing near the temples, generally in groups of three, were
tended with great care, and often received offerings of
incense and other gifts. They do not, however, seem
to have been dedicated to any particular god, as among
the Romans, where Pluto claimed the cypress, andVic-
tory the palm. One of the most sacred of these relics is
a cypress standing at Santa Marfa de Tule, the v*;iierable
trunk of which measures ninety feet in circumference, at
a height of six feet from the ground.™

One of the chief offerings of the Zaix)tecs was the blood
of the, to them sacred, turkey; straws and feathers
smeared with blood from the bock of the ear, and from
beneath the tongue of persons, also constituted a large por-

T> Burgoa, Otog. Dtscrip., iota, ii., pt ii., fol. 393; Ferry, Costal L'lnditti,
pp. 6-7.

">* Some oonsider it to be composed o( tbree tmnka which have nrown to*
gather, and the deep indentations certainly ^ive it that appeamuee; out trees
of thin species generally present irreKulnr fnrnis. Escalra and JJana, Mij,
Hid. Dtscrip., pp. '221-5; Ckirnay, liuiws Ainer., phot, xviii.

I.,

460 GODS, SUPEBNATUIUL BEIKOS, AND WORSHIP.

tion of the sacred offerings, and were presented in spec-
ial grass vessels. Human sacrifices were not common with
the Oajacan people, but in case of emei^ency, captives
and slaves were generally the victims. The usual mode
of offering them was to tear out the heart, but in some
places, as at Coatlan, they were cast into an abyss.
Herrera states that men were offered to the gods, women
to goddesses, and children to inferior deities, and that
their bodies were eaten, but the latter statement is doubt-
ful."

n Hist. Otn., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ziv.; Burgoa, Otog. Deaerip., torn, ii.,
ptii., fol. 282; MtMenpfordt, JUHico, torn, ii., p. 194. Pontelli, who olaimB
to have paid a visit to the forbidden retreats of the moantain Lacandones,
a few years ago, mentions, among other pecoliaritieB, a stone of sacrifice,
interlaced by serpents, and covered with hieroglyphics, on which the heart
of human beinea were torn oat. Corrtode Ultramar, Paris 1860 1 Cal. Farmer,
Nov. 7. 1862.

CHAPTER XI.

GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, ANP WORSHIP.
IIata Pamthkom— ZiJiNA— CtTKCiiOAN— Thb Gods of Yucatan— Thb 8th-

BOL OF THR GrOSB IN AMERICA — HuMAN SaCBIFIC£8 IN YuCATAN —

Priests of Ydcatan— Guatemalan Pantheon— Tbpeu and Hubaxan —
Atilix and Hacayitz— The Heroes of the Sacbed Book— Quich^
Gods — Worship of the Cbolxs, Manchbs, Itzas, Laoandonks, and
others— Tradition of CoMizAHUAii — ^Fasts — Pbibsts of Guatemala —
Gods, Worship, and Priests of Nicabaoua — Wobship on the Mo»>
QUITO Coast — Gods and Wobship of the Isthmians — Fhaluo Wob-
ship IN America.

The religion of the Mayas was fundamentally the same
as that of the Nahuas, though it differed somerhat in
outward forms. Most of the gods were deified heroes,
brought more or less prominently to the front by their
importance. Occasionally we find very distinct traces
of an older sun-worship, which has succumbed to later
forms, introduced, according to vague tradition, from
Anahuac. The generality of this cult is testified to by
the numerous representations of sun- plates and sun-pil-
lars found among the ruins of Central America.^

> * Toda esta Tierro, con estotra, . . tenia vna misma manera de religion,
y ritoB, y si en nlgo difereuciuba, era, en nini poco. ' ' Lo inismo fue de las
Pruvincias de Quntiniala, Nicaragua, y Honduras.' Torquemada, Monarq.
Inl., torn, ii., pp. 61, 191. Tylor thinks ttiat ' the civilizations of Mexico
and Central America were originally independent, but that they came much
ill contact, and thus modified one another to no small extent.' Annliuao, p.
191. ' On reconnntt fncilement que le oulte y etait pnrtf)ut bust* sur le ritnel
tolt^ne, et que les formes m6ines ne differaient guere les uues des autres.'
JirasiKur de Hourhourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 559.
(461)

462 OOD», SUPERNATURAL BEINOS, AND WORSHIP.

In Yucatan, Hunab Ku, 'the only god', called also
Kinehahau, 'the mouth or eyes of the sun','* is repre-
sented m the Supreme Iteing, the Creator, the Invisible
one, whom no image can represent." His spouse Ixazal-
uoh was honored as the inventor of weaving, and their
sun Zamnd, or Yaxcocahmut, one of the culture-heroes
of the people, is supposed to have been the inventor of
the art of writing.* The inquiries instituted by Las
Casas revealed the existence of a trinity, the first per-
son of which was Izona, the Great Father; the second
was the Son of the Great Father, Bacab, born of the
virgin Chibirijus,* scourged and crucified, he descended
into the realms of the dead, rose again the third day,
and ascended into heaven; the third person of the trin-
ity was Bchuah, or Ekchuah, the Holy Ghost.' Now, to
accuse the reverend Fathers of deliberately concocting
this and other statements of a similar character is to ac-
cuse them of acts of charlatanism which no religious
zeal could justify. On the other hand, that this mys-
terious trinity, this Maya Christ-myth, had any real ex-
istence in the original belief of the natives, is so improb-
able as to be almost impossible. It may be, however,
that the natives, when questioned concerning their re-
ligion, endeavored to make it conform as nearly as pos-
sible to that of their conquerors, hoping by this means
to gain the good will of their masters, and to lull suspi-
cions of lurking idolatry.

Bacab, stated above to mean the Son of the Great
Father, was in reality the name of four spirits who sup-

> Brasseor de Boarbonrg, Hial. N(U. Civ,, torn, ii., p. 42, calls him the
son.

3 RepreRontations of the snn, with whom he ReemR to be identified, are
not iinpoHsible to these peoples if we may jndae from the sun-plates with
lapping tongues and other representations ifouud on the ruins in Mexico and
Central America.

* ' Porque k este le llamabon tambien Ytzamnk.' CogoUudo, Hisi. Yuc,
pp. 196. 192.

A The daughter of Ixohel, the Ynoatec medicine goddess. Brasseur de
Bourborg, JIM. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., p. 43. He writes the virgin's name as
Ghiribias. Ixohel seems to be the same as the Guatemalan Xmuoan^, mother
of the gods.' Id., Qmtre Lettres, p. 243.

< i^« Caacu, HuU. Apologitlcn. MS., oap. cxxiii. ; CogoUudo, Ilist. Yuc., p. .
190; BememU, Jliat. Chyapa, p. 2(6; Tor^uemad't, Mondrq. Ind., torn, iii., p.
133.

ZAMNA.

ported the firmament; while Echuah, or the Holy
Ghost, was the patron god of merchants and travelers.
The goddess Ixcanleox was held to be the mother of
the gods, but as Cogolludo states that she had several
names, she may possibly be identical with Ixazaluoh,
the wife of Hunab Ku, whose name implies generation/
The Mayas were not behind their neighbors in the num-
ber of their lesser and special divinities, so that there
was scarcely an animal or imaginary creature which they
did not represent by sacred images. These idols, or
aemes,** as they were called, were generally made of terra
cotta, though sometimes they were of stone, gold, or
wood. In the front rank of the circle of gods, known
by the name of ku, were the deified kings and heroes,
whom we often find credited with attributes so closely
connected as to imply identity, or representation of
varied phases of the same element." The most popular
names were Zamna and Cukulcan, both culture-heroes,
and considered by some to be identical ; a very probable
supposition when we consider that Quetzalcoatl, who is
admitted to be the same as Cukulcan, had the attribute
of the strong hand, as well as Ziimna. The tradition
relates that some time after the fall of the Quinamean
Empire, Zamnd appeared in Yucatan, coming from the
west, and was received with great respect wherever he
stayed. Hcsides being the inventor of the alphabet, he
is said to have named all |X)ints and places in the
country. Over his grave rose a city called Izamal
or Itzamat Ul, which soon became one of the chief cen-
tres of pilgrimage in the peninsula, especially for the
afflicted, who sincerely believed that their prayers when
accompanied by suitable presents would not fail to obtain

1 ' Celle de I'eau matrice d'embryon, ix-a-znl-uoh,' Brasseur de Bonrbourg,
MS. Troano, torn, ii., p. 258.

8 'Idolo, u Zeini.' ViUaqutlerre, Hint Gonq. lUa, p. 33. ' Zemes which
are the Images of their familiar and doinesticall spirites.' Pekr Martyr, dec.
iv., lib. vi.

B ' Lea dienx de I'Ynoatan, diaent Liznna et Cogolludo, ^talent presane
tons des rois pins on nioins bons qne In gnititude on la terreur avnit fnit
plaoer an ntng des divinitus.' liroHMur de Hnurbourg, llisl. Nat. Civ., torn, ii ,
p. 20; Landa, Rtkicion, p. 168; CogoUado, Ulst. Yuc, p. 198.

4M OODS, 8UPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

a hearing. This class of devotees generally resorted to
the temple where he was represented in the form of a
hand, Kab U!, or working hand, whose touch was suf-
ficient to restore health.*"

Professor Miiller thinks it very uncertain whether the
creating or working hand referred to the sun, as was the
case among the northern tribes, but the account given
of the following idol seems to me to make this not im-
probable. In the same city was an image of Kinich
Kakmo, 'face or eye of the sun', whom Landa represents
to be the offspring of the sun, but who subsequently be-
came identified with that luminary and received divine
honors in the very temple that he had erected to his
father. He is represented in the act of sacrifice, point-
ing the finger toward a ray from the midday sun, as if
to draw a spark wherewith to kindle the sacred fire. To
this idol the people resorted in times of calamity and
sickness, bringing offerings to induce oracular advice."
There are many things which seem to me to identify
this personage with Zamna, although other writers hold
them to be distinct. Cogolludo, for instance, implies
that Zamna was the only son of the sun, or Supreme
Peing, while Landa and others declare Kinich Kakmo
to be the son of that luminary : both are placed on or
about the same level and considered as healers, and the
uplifted hand of the latter reminds us strongly of the
Kab Ul. Another form in which we may recc^nize

10 Xbana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 356; Cogolludo, Hist. Tuc, p. 197; Brin-
ton, Myths, p. 188, speaks of ' Zamna, or Cukuloan, lord of the dawu and four
winds,' and connects him with Votan also. 'Ilyntonte npparence qu'il
^tait de la raeme race (as Votan) et que sou arrivee eut lieu peu d'ann^es
aprfes la fondation de la monarchie palenque>.uue.' Brussfur (h Bourbourg,
Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 76, et seq. The hand in picture-writing signifies
strength, power, mastery, and is frequently met witn on Central American
ruins, impressed in red color. Among the North American savages it was
the symbol of supplication. Their doctors sometimes smeared the hand
with pnint and daubed it over the patient. Schoolcraft, in Skphens' Yuca-
tan, vol. ii., pp. 476-8.

11 Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 360, translates the name as ' Sol con
tostro que bus rayos eran de fuego,' Cogolludo, Hist. Yws., pp. 198, 178;
Brassettr de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, p. 270; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., pp.
6-6; MMer, Amerikanische Urrtligionen, p. 475. In the syllable mo of the
hero's name is found another reference to the sun, for *nc»> is the Maya term
for the bird ara, the symbol of the sun.

CUKULCAN.

466

Zamnd is the image of Itzamat Ul, or ' the dew of heaven',
who is said to have been a great ruler, the son of god,
and who cured diseases, raised the dead, and pronounced
oracles. When asked his name, he replied, ytzencaan,
ytzenmuyal}^

The other culture-hero, Cukulcan, appeared in Yuca-
tan from the west, with nineteen followers, two of whom
were gods of fishes, two gods of farms, and one of thun-
der, all wearing full beard, long robes, and sandals, but
no head-covering. This event is supposed to have oc-
curred at the very time that Quetzalcoatl disappeared in
the neighboring province of Goazacoalco, a conjecture
which, in addition to the similarity of the names,
character, and work of the heroes, forms the basis for
their almost generally accepted identity. Cukulcan
stopped at several places in Yucatan, but at last settled
in Chichen Itza, where he governed for ten years, and
framed laws. At the expiration of this period, he left
without apparent reason to return to the country whence
he had come. A grateful people erected temples at
Mayapan and Chichen, to which pilgrims resorted from
all quarters to worship him as a god, and to drink of
the waters in which he had bathed. His worship, al-
though pretty general throughout Yucatan at one time,
was later on conlined chiefly to the immediate scenes of
his labors."

"'El que recibe, ypossee la gracia, 5 rozio del Cielo,' 'Noconocian
otro Dios Autor de la vida, sino k este.' CogoUudo, Hist. Yuc., p, 179. ' Ce-
lui qui demande ou obtient la rosee on la glace, ou rempli de I'eau eu bras de
glace, iU-tn-a-tul.' Brasseur Je Bourbourg, MS. Troano, torn, ii., p. 257; Landa,
Relacion, pp. 284-5.

13 After Btayins a short time at Potouchan, he embarked and nothing
more was heard of him. The Codex Chimalpopoca states, however, that he
died in Tlapallau, four days after his return. Brasseur ile Bourbourg, Hist.
Nat. Cw., tom. ii., p. 18. In another plnce this writer refers to three broth-
ers, ttzaob, ' saintly man,' who were probably sent by Quetzalcoatl to spread
his doctrines, but who ultimately founucil n monarchy. They also seem to
throw a doubt on the identity of Cukulcan with Quetzalcoatl. ' II n'y a pas
h douter, tontefois, que, s'il est le meme que Quetzalcohuatl, la doctrine aura
6t6 la m^me.' Id., pp. 10-1, 43. Torquemada, Motutrq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 52,
states that the Cocomes were his descendants, but as tne hero never married,
his disciples must rather be accepted as their ancestors. Landa, Relacion, pp.
35-9, 300-1: Htrrtra, Hist. Oen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Veytia connects
him with St. Thomas. Hist. Antig. Mej., tom. i., pp. 195-8. Speaking of
Cukulcan and his companions Las Casaa says: ' A este Uamaron Dies de las
Vol. III. 30

466

GODS, SUPSBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOESHIP.

Besides Izamal and Chiehen, there was a third great
centre of worship in Yucatan, namely, the temple of
Ahulneb, on Cozumel Island, said by some writers to
have been the chief sanctuary, Chiehen being second in
importance. It consisted of a square tower of consider-
able size, within which was the gigantic terra-cotta statue
of Ahulneb, dressed as a warrior, and holding an arrow
in his hand. The statue was hollow and set up close
against an aperture in the wall, by which the priest en-
tered the figure to deliver the oracle ; should the predic-
tion not be fulfilled, which was scarcely likely as it was
generally so worded that it might mean anything or
nothing, the failure was ascribed to insufficient sacrifice
or unatoned sin. So famous did this oracle become,
and so great was the multitude of pilgrims continually
flocking to it, that it was found necessary to construct
roads leading from the chief cities of Yucatan, and even
from Tabasco and Guatemala, to Pole, a town on the
continent opposite the island. Before embarking, the
genius of the sea was always propitiated by the sacrifice
of a dog, which was slain with arrows amid music and
dancing."

The Bacabs were four brothers who supported the
four corners of the firmament; they were also regarded
as air gods. CogoUudo speaks of them as Zacal Bacab,
Canal Bacab, Chacal Bacab, and Ekel Bacab, but they
were also known by other names. Echuah was the
patron-god of merchants and of roads; to him the trav-
eler erected every night a rude altar of six stones, three
laid flat, and three set upright, upon which he burned
incense while he invoked the protection of the god. It

fiebres 6 Calenturas — Los cnales mandaban qtiese confeaaaen las gentes y
ayunaRen; y que algunos ayunaban el viemes porqne hnbia muerto aquet
dia Bacab; y tieue por nombre aquel dia Hitnis.' hist. Apdogetica, MS.,
cap. csiiii. ^Kukulcan, vient de kulc, oisean qui parait &tre le inline que le
quetzal; son di'terminatif est kulcul qui uni k can, serpent, fait exactemeut le
m^iue mot aue Quetzal Cohuatl, serpent aux plumes rertes, ou de Quetzal. '
Brasatur de Bourbourg, in Landa, RekuAon, p. 35.

'* Qomara, Vonq. Mex., fol. 22; Landa, Nelacion, p. 158; Cogolludo, Hist.
Yue., p. SI02; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pi). 46-7. ' 8e
tenian por santificados los que alia anian estado,' Herrera, Htat. Gen., dec.
iv., lib. X., oap. iv.

YUGATEO DEITIES.

407

was considered a religious duty by Yucatec wayfarers,
when passing some prominent point on the road or spot
where an image of Echuah stood, to add a stone or two
to the heap already accumulated there, an act of devo-
tion similar to that performed by the Romans in honor
of Mercury. Yunc^mil was Lord of Death, or, perhaps,
the personification of death itself; this dread deity was
propitiated with offerings of food." Acat was God of
Life ; he it was that formed the infant in the womb. At
Tihoo, the present M6rida, stood the magnificent temple
of Yahau Kuna in which Baklum Chaam, the Priapus
of the Mayas and their most ancient god was worshiped.
Chac, or Chaac, a former king of Izamal, was honored
as the god of fields, and fertility, and the inventor of
agriculture. Some distance south-west of this city was
the temple of Hunpictok, 'commander of eight thousand
lances', a title given also to the general of the army."
Abchuy Kak was another apoiu .1 ized warrior-prince,
whose statue, dressed in royal robes, was borne in the
van of the army by four oi the most illustrious captains,
and received an ovation all along the route. Yxchebel-
yax is mentioned as the inventor of the art of inter-
weaving figures in cloth, and of painting. Xibalba, ' he
who disappears,' was the name of the evil spirit. Ex-
quemelin relates that nagualism obtained on the coast.
The naked child was placed on a bed of ashes in the
temple, and the animal whose footprint was noticed in
the ashes, was adopted as the nagual, and to it the child
offered incense as it grew up."

One of the most remarkable emblems of Maya

I* Brassenr de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., p. 50, calls the god of
death Rakalkn. Baeza, in Registro Yuc, torn, i., pp. 168-9, mentions a
transparent stone called tatztm, by means of which hidden things and causes
of diseases could be discovered.

•6 ' Cette divinitti piiratt 6tre la m6me que le Tihax des Quiches et Cakchi-
qnels, le Tecpatl des Mexicains, la lance ou la fleche.' Brasseur de Bourbourg,
in Landa, Rdacion, p. 363.

"Zee-Rovers, p. 64; Cogolludo, Illst. rue, pp. 178, 190-1, 196-7; iMnda,
Relacion, pp. 20iS-8; Lizana, in Id., pp. 356-64; Ternaux-Co-inpans, in Nmi-
veUes Annaks des Voy., 1843, torn, xcvii., pp. 40-4; Domenech's Deserts, vol.
i., pp. 17, 32; Reniesal, Hid. Chyapa, pp. 245-6; Braaseur de Bourbourg,
Hiat. Nca, Civ., torn, ii., pp. 4-10, 20, 42-60.

468

GODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

worship, in the estimation of the conquerors, was the
cross, which has also been noticed in other parts of Cen-
tral America and in Mexico," although less prominently
than here. Among the many conjectures as to its origin it
is supposed that it was received from Spaniards who
were wrecked on the coast before Cordova discovered
Yucatan, as, for instance, the pious Aguilar, Cortes' in-
terpreter; but this would not account for the crosses that
existed in other parts of Central America. The natives
had a tradition, however, which placed the introduction
of the cross a few years before the conquest. Among
the many prophets who arose at that time was one who
predicted the coming; of a strange people from the di-
rection of the rising sun, who would bring with them
a monotheistic faith having the cross for its emblem.
He admonished them to accept the new religion, and
erected a cross as a token of his prophecy.** Another
tradition states that a very handsome man passed through
the country and left the cross as a memento, and this
many of the padres readily believed, declaring this per-
sonage to be none other than the wanderer St Thomas.**
The opinion that it was introduced by early Christians,
or old-world pagans, is, however, opposed by the argu-
ment that other more practical features of their culture

1^ ' Tra le Croci sono celebri quelle di Jucatan, della Mizteca, di Queretaro,
di Tepique, e di Tianquiztepec.' Clavigero, Stoiia Ant. del Messico, torn. ii..
p. 14. There were also crosHes at Palenque, on San Juan de UUoi!. at Cupnn,
in Nicaragua, and other places. ' Die Tolteken haben nfiml'ch die Veroh-
rung des Kreuzes mit dnrchaiis bewusster Beziehung desselben nuf den
Begen, von der alten Urbevolkerung aufgenommeu.' SiMer, Avurikanische
Urrelinionen, pp. 498-5); Palacio, Carta, p. 88.

>' This and other prophecies, which, if not mere fabrications, bear at
least uHnrks of mutilation and addition, may be found in Torquemada,
Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., pp. 132-3; Hemesat, Itist. Chyapa, y>p. 2^5-6; Coijol-
tudo, Uisi. Yuc, pp. 99-100; Brasaeur de Bourhouni, flint, Nat. Civ., tom. ii.,
pp. C03-6. Briuton thinks that they ma' refer to ' the return of Zamnia, or
Kuckulcan, lord of the dawn and the ^)ur winds, worshipped at Cozuniel
...under the sign of the cross.' Myths, p. 188. The report circulated by
Aguilar of his people and of the cross, may have given the prophets a clue.

«s 'The formation of such an opinion by the St>aniards eeems to shew
ftlmost conclusively, that the aborigin:<s of the country did not retain auy
traditional history on the subject that would justify the simple belief, tliat
Catholic Europeans had ever possessed influence enough among them to
have established so important a feature in their superstitious observanccH.'
McVulloh, Researches in Amer., p. 327. 'Aflrmaban que por que habia rauei-
to en ella un hombre mas replandeciente que el sol.' Laa Caaaa, Uial. Apolo^
gitiaa, MS., cap. czxiii; Peter Martyr, deo. iv., lib. i.

THE SYMBOL OF THE GBOSS.

469

would have left their mark at the same time. The sym-
bol itself is so simple and suggestive of so many ideas
that it seems to me most reasonable to suppose that the
natives adopted it without foreign aid. At all events,
as the cross was in use both as a religious emblem and
an instrument of punishment long before the Christian
era, it is surely unnecessary to account for its presence
in America by Christ-myths invented for the occasion,
or, in fact, in any way to connect it with Christianity.
The most common signification attributed to the symbol
is fertility or generation. A piece of wood fastened
horizontally to an upright beam indicated the height of
the overflow of the Nile. If the flood rejiched this mark,
the crops flourished ; should it fail to do so, famine was
the result; thus, we are told, in Egypt the cross came to
bo worshipped as a symbol of life and generation, or
feared as an image of decay and death. By other peo-
ples and for other reasons it was closely connected with
phallic rites, of which I shall speak elsewhere, or was
connected with the worship of that great fertilizer and
life-giver, the sun. Among the Chinese the cross signi-
fies conception. The cross of Thor may possibly be
an exception, and refer merely to his hammer or thun-
derbolt."

With the Mexicans the cross was a symbol of rain,
the fertilizing element, or rather of the four winds, the
bearers of rain, and as such it was one of Quetzalcoatl's
emblems. Chalchiuitlicue, the sister of the rain-gods,
bore in her hands a cross-shajxid vessel. The cross is to
be found in Mexican MSS., and appears in that of Fe-

si Mr Godfrey Higgins, in his Celtic Druids, p. 126, says: 'Fow cnuses
hitvo bueu inure puwert'iil iu prodiu'iii^ inisUtkes iu uucifiit hiHtury, thim
the idea, hastily ttikeii up by Christians in all ages, thM evi ry monument of
antiquity marked with 'a oross, or with any of those symbols wliich they
conceived to be monograms of Christ, were of CMiriatian orijjin. . . The cross
is as common in India as iu Egypt, and Europe,' Mr Maurice, in his Iiulinn
Anliquilies, vol. ii., p. 3(51, writes: ' Let not the piety of t);<> Catholic ihiis-
tian be offended at the preceding assertion that the cross was one of the
most usual symbols amoug the hieroglvphics of Egypt and India.' The
emblem of universal nature is etimilly honored in the Gentile and Chris-
tian world. ' In the cave at Elephanta, in India, over the head of the
in-inuipal fignre, again may be seen this figure (the cross), and a little in
the front the huge Liugbam' (phalluB).

470 GODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

jervary with a bird, which, as an inhabitant of the air,
may be said to accord with the character of the symbol.
The Mexican name of the cross, tonacaquahuitl, ' tree of
one life, or flesh,' certainly conveys the idea of fertility.
It is nevertheless regarded by som : writers merely as an
astronomical sign.*" The first cross noticed by the Span-
iards stood within the turreted courtyard of a temple
on Cozumel Island ; it was composed of lime and stone,
and was ten spans (palmos) in height. To this cross the
natives prayed for rain, and in times of drought went in
procession to offer vahomche, as they called the symbol,
quails and other propitiatory gifts. Another cross stood
within the precincts of the Spanish cloister at Merida,
whither the pious monks had most likely brought it from
Cozumel; it was about three feet high, six inches thick,
and had another cross sculptured on its face.*^ The
sculptured cross at Palenque has the latin form ; a bird
is perched on its apex, and on either side stands a human
figure, apparently priests, one of whom offers it a child.^

w Constftntio holds it to be a Bymbol of the BolstioeB. Malte-Brun, Precis
de la iiiiotj., torn, vi., pp. 464-5; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., torn, ii., pp. ^54-6;
WaUeck, Voy. Pill., p. 24; Miiller, Amerikanische Uneliriinnen, pp. 497-500;
Torqueniada,^ Monarq. Ind., torn, iii., pp.133, aoO-O, '299; M'Vulloh's lie-
searches, pp. 331-6; Klemm, Cidlur-Gescldchte, toni. v., p. 143; Ganiara, IM.
In'L, fol. 03. Brinton refers to a statement that the Mexicans had cruciform
graves, and supposes that this referred to four spirits of the world who were
<() curry the deceased to heaven, but there seems to be a mistake on both of
these points. Myths, pp. 95-8; Oimld's Curious Myths, vol. ii., p. 79, et seq,;
Cox's Mytholoijy of Aryan Nations, vol. ii., pp. 369-72. Some of the cnmses
referred to lack tlie head piece, and being of this shape, T. resemble, some-
what, a Mexican coin.

" ' No solo se hall6 vna Cruz, sino algunas.' Cogolludo, Hist. Ytw., pn.
199-302; liernal Diaz, Uisi. Conq., fol. 3; Hercrra, Hisl. Oen., dec. ii., lib.
ii»., cap, i.; Ifomara, Cotiq. Mex., fol. 24. iStephens found a cross at the
church of Mejorada, iiv Merida. which an old monk had dug out of tlie ruins
of a church on Cozumel Island. ' The connecting of the " Tozumel Cross"
with the ruined church on the island completely invalidates the strongest
proof offered at this day that the cross was ever "recognized by the Indians
BH a symbol of worship. Yueatan, vol. ii., pp. 377-8. Rather a hasty asser-
tion when made in the face of so many old authorities.

»i This seems to confirm the idea that it was worshiped, yet Constantio
regards it as a representation of the birth of the sun in the winter solsficp,
and holds the nun to which the cross belongs to be a sun temple. Malh-
lirun. Precis de la Odog., torn, vi., pp. 464-5; MMer, Amerikanische Urrrli-
gionen, p. 498; SUphen's Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 345-8. Sqnier. who donies
that the Tonacaquahuitl was intended to represent a cross, thinks that the
Palenqno cross merely represents one of these trees with the brandies
placed oroBSwise. Palacio, Carta, pp. 120-1; Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 141),
et seq, who identides almost every feature of Oeatral American worship)

HUMAN SACEIFICES IN YUCATAN.

471

The Yucatecs were as careful as the Mexicans to pre-
pare for their numerous festivals by fasts marked by
strict chastity and absence from salt and pepper.** Scar-
ification could not be omitted by the pious on these oc-
casions, although women were not called uix)n to draw
blood.'" Yet their gods were not by any means so blood-
thirsty as the Mexican, being generally appeased by the
blood of animals, and human sacrifices were called for
only on extraordinary occasions. Cukulcan, like his
prototype Quetzalcoatl, doubtless opjwsed the shedding
of human blood, but after his departure the practice
certainly existed, and the pit at Chichen Itza, whose
waters he had consecrated with his person, was among
the first places to be polluted. The victims here were
generally young virgins, who were charged when they
should come into the presence of the gods to entreat them
for the needed blessings. Medel relates that on one oc-
casion the victim threatened to involve the most terrible
evils upon the people, instead of blessings, if they sac-
rificed her against her will; the perplexed priests
thought it prudent to let the girl go, and select another
and more tractable sacrifice in her place. The victims
who died under the knife, or were tied to a tree and
shot, were usually enslaved captives, especially those of
rank, but when these failed, criminals and even children
were substituted. All contributed to these sacrifices,
either by presenting slaves and children, or by subscrib-
ing to the purchase money. While awaiting this doom
the victims were well treated, and conducted from town
to town amid great rejoicings; care was taken, however,
that no sinful act should detract from their purity or

vrith the Phrenicinn, aBserts that the Palenque cross provcB the Tyrian origin
of the nborigiiiuM.

^ Oogolludo RayH, however: ' Solian nyunar doB, y tres diaa, sin comer
ooBAalguna.' Iluit. Yuc, p. 194.

*^ These mutilations were at times very severe. ' Otrns vozes hazian nn
fluzio y penoso saoriUcio aAndandose los que lo hazian en el t(>ni])lo, donde
puestiis en rengla, se hazian sendos aguzcros en Ins niiunibros viriles al son
luyo por el lado, y hechos passavan toda la mas oantidad do hiio que podian,
quedando assi todos asidos.' Landa, lielacion, p|). K'i-'i, This author thinks
that the practice of slitting the prepuce gave rise to the idea that ciroumci-
Biou existed in Yucatan.

472 OODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

value." Sometimes the body was eaten, says Landa,
the feet, hands and head being given to tlie priests, the
rest to the chiefs and others ; but Cogolludo and Gomara
insist that cannibalism was not practiced. Tlie latter
statement can not apply to the whole of the peninsula,
however, for on a preceding page Cogolludo relates that
Aguilar's shipwrecked companions were sacrificed and
eaten by the natives.^

Confession, which Cukulcan is said to have introduced,
was much resorted to, the more so as death and disease
were thought to be direct punishments for sin commit-
ted. Married priests were the regular confessors, but
these were not always applied to for spiritual aid ; the
wife would often confess to her husband, or a husband
to his wife, or sometimes a public avowal was made. Men-
tal sins however, says Landa, were not confessed.'®

The priesthood of Yucatan wore divided into different
factions, some of which regarded Zamna and Cukulcan
as their res2)ective founders, while others remained true
to more ancient leaders. According to Landa the high-
priest was termed Ahkin Mai, or Ahau (^an Mai, and
held in great veneration, as one whose advice was fol-
lowed by the kings and grandees. The revenues of the
office, which passed as an inheritimce to the son or near-
est relative, consisted of presents from the king and of
tributes collected by the priests. The ordinary priests
bore the title of ahhin,^ and were divided into several

w TMndrt, Jielacion, nn. 161-8; Cogolludo, Hist, Yuc., pp. 193-4; Medel, in

mvellvs Awi(de8 dea I oy., 1H43, torn, xcvii., p. 43; vol. ii., pp. 704-5, of

this work. ' For want of' chiKlrt'n they sacriflee doggos." Peter Mar iyi; doc.

iv., lib. vi. ' El nmuero de hi geiite siicrittcada era iimcho: y esta coHtuuibio
fne iiitrodiizida en Yucntnn, por Ioh MexicnuoH.' ' Floelmnun alguniih vozcb
nl Hacrittcado. . . . deHoUuunulos, vestiuse el sacordoto t'l pcllijo, y baylauo, y
euterrauan ul euerpo on el patio del templo.' llenrra, Hist. Oiin., doc.
iv., lib. X., cap. iii., iv. Tradition relates that in n cave near Uxmal existed
a well like that of Chichen, guarded by an old woman, tho builder of the
dwarf palace in that city, who Hold the water for infantn, and these she caat
before the nnake at her Bide. Stcphena' Cent. Amer., vol ii., p. 425.

M jMula, liiUicion, p. 165: Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc, pp. 25, 180; c. ftara,
//is/. /mi., fol. 62.

S9 Reliiciim, p. 154; Ihrrera, Jlist. Oen,, dec. Iv., lib. x., cap. iv. For des-
cription of baptismal rites, see Vul. ii., pp. 682-4, of this work.

"• ' Que He deriva de tin verbo kinifith, que signifloa " sortoar 6 echar
Buertea." ' Litana, in JAinda, llelacion, p. 362.

PRIESTS OF YUCATAN.

478

classes. Some of them preached, mode offerings, kept
records, and instructed the sons of nobles and those des-
tined lor the priesthood in the various branches of edu-
cation. The chilaries who construed the oracles of the
gods, and accordingly exercised great influence, held the
highest place in the estimation of the jieople, before
whom they aj^ jared in state, borne in litters. The sor-
cerers and medicine men foretold fortunes and cured
diseases. The cfuics were four old men elected at every
celebration to assist the priests, from which it would
seem that the priesthood was not a very numerous body.
micori was the title of the sacrificer, an office held
for life, but little esteemed ; this title was also borne by
the general of the army, who assisted at certain festi-
vals. Marriage seems to have Ijeen permitted to all,
and confessors were actually required to have wives, yet
there were doubtless a large number who lived in a state
of celibacy, devoted to their sacred duties. Their dress
varied according to their rank, the high-priest being dis-
tinguished by a mitre in addition to his i)eculiar robe;
the most usual dress was, however, a large white cotton
robe^^ and a turban formed by wreathing the unwashed
hair round the head, and keeping it pasted in that
position with bUxxl. Connected with the sun wor-
ship was an order of vestals, formed by princess Zu-
hui Kak, 'fire virgin,' the daughter of Kinich Kakmo,
superioress of the vestals. Tlie members were all vol-
unteers, who generally enrolled themselves for a certain
ti«ne, at the expiration of which they were allowed to
leave and enter the married state; some, however, re-
mained for ever in the service of the temple, and were
apotheosized. Their duty wus to tend the sacr..l fire,
the emblem of the sun, t vO keep strictly chaste;
those who broke their vows were shot to death with

arrows

" ' Longnes robcB noircs.' Morelet, Voyage, torn. 1., p. 168.

3' Cogolhido, IIM. Yur.., p. 1U8; lirasseur rfe Bourbonrg, Hint. Nat. Civ.,
lota, ii., p. (i; Tirnaust-Cunipann, in XounllrH Aiwatrs dm Tcj/., 1843, torn,
xuvii., pp. 3i)-41. Teiupleg are dencribed iu vul. li., pp. 71)1-3, uf this work.

474 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

The chief account of Guatemalan worship is derived
from the sacred book of the Quiches, the Popol Vuh^ to
which I have already referred in the opening pages of
this volume, but the description given in it is so con-
fused, the names and attributes of the gods so mixed,
that no very reliable conclusions can be derived there-
from. This very confusion seems, however, to indicate
that the imported names of Hurakan, Gucumatz, and
others, were with their attributes attached to native he-
roes, who undergo the most varying fortunes and charac-
ter, amid which now and then a glance is obtained at
their original form.

The most ancient of the gods are two jHU'sons called
Hun Ahpu Vuch and HunAhpu Ufin, or Xpiyjiccx; and
Xmucane, Creatorand Protector, Grandfather and Grand-
mother of the sun and moon, who are ol'ti'n confounded
under either gender and represented with big noses, like
tapirs, an animal sacred to these people. Brasseiu* iden-
tifies them with the Mexican Oxomoco and Cipactonal,'"
Tonacatlecutli and Tonacatepetl, Ometecutli and Oineci-
huatl, the female also with Centeotl and Toci, and places
her in the Quichd calendar as Hun Ahpu, while the male
heads the list of months under the name of Imox.*" Con-

s' ' C<SlfebreB dans toutes les traditions d'oriRino tolt^^ue, commo lus iwrcs
dn Boleil otde la magio.' Jtraaseur de liourbounj, Jlisl. Nat. t"u\, toni. i., p.
120.

'* ' Hun-Ahpu' V%wh nn Tirour de Sftrbacano nn Sarigiio ot Hun-Ahpn- Utiu
un Tireur de Hiirbacano iiii Chiicul.' Hnmseur de Jiourbouri), I'opl Vnli, p\>.
ozviii., cxix, pp. '2-5. Thoy are nlHo ruferrud to m conjurevH. Id., Hist. Sut.
Civ., torn, i., p. 64. Ximenez HpelU the latter naiiio Uuii-ahpii-uhi'i, and
states that they are held an oraoles. Hist, Ind. Uunl., i)p. 4, 15(i-8, 82. I, an
Oasas, Uid. Apoloijltiva, M8., cap. oxxiv, rtifurH to tlu'He IxMiigH aH hiiviiiK
been adored under the name of grandfathor and Kraiidniother beforo the
deluge, but later ou a woman appeared who taught thcni to call th« ^ods liy
other names. This woman, liraHHeur do Bourbourg holdH to bo tho tradi-
tional and celebrated cpieen Atit, from whom Atitlan volcano obtained itn
name, and from whom tho princely families of Guateuiala have descended.
The natives still recall her name, but as that of a phantom. lfi.sl. Nat. Cir.,
torn, ii., pp. 74-5. He further finds considerable similarity between her and
Aditi of the Veda. In his solution of the Antilles cataclysm he identifies
Xmucane as tho South American part of the continent and Xpiyacoc as
North America. Quntre Leltres, pp. '223-4, 2;i5-8. Garcia, Orhifn de Ion Ind.,
pp. 329-30, calls these first beings Xohmol and Xtmana, and gives them threo
sons, who create all things. In the younger of these we recognize the two
legitimate sons of Huuhuu Ahpu, who will be described later ou us the patrons
of the fine arts.

TEPEU AND HUBAKAN.

476

nected with them stands Tepeu, termed by the sacred
book Dominator, He who Begets, and whose name means
grand, majestic. Ximenez, by translating his name as
buboes, or syphilis, connects Jiim with Nanahuatxin, the
Nahua hero who threw himself into the fire and rose as
the sun."* Tepeu is more generally known under the
name of Gucumatz, 'feathen 1 snake,' which is univer-
sally identified with Quetzalcoatl, the Nahua air god. In
this character he is said to transform himself every
seven days into four forms, snake, eagle, tiger, a mass
of coagulated blood, one after the other, and every
seven (lays he visits heaven and hell alternately. He
is also held to be the introducer of culture in Guatemala,
though more as one who directs man in his search for
improvement, than as a culture-hero.*' These two gods
blending into one, often form a trinity with Hun Ahpu
Vuch and Hun Ahpu Ufiu, under the one name of Gu-
cumatz, the Heart of Heaven. The assuuiption by this
god of four forms may have reference tt) the divine quar-
tette, and in the expression "they are enveloped in a
mist of green and azure," Brasseur de Bourl)ourg sees a
reference to the sacred bundle containing the four first
men and sacrifices, transformed into gods."^

Hurakan,'" although connected with the above quar-
tette in the enumeration of titles of the supreme deity,
keeps aloof from the lower sphere in which these move
at times, and is even invoked by Gucumatz, who calls

S) To bo nflicted with buboes implied the poHHOHHion of mnny women und
conHcquently Wfmlth nnd grandour. Hist. Ind. Ouat., ji. 157; two this vol. p.
fil); Hnniseur de Hintrbimrii, I'opiil Vuli., p. U.

"■' HrasHniir do lioiirbonrg, I'opol Vtifi., p. 315, dooH not niidurstniid why
Xiineno/., Ifist. Ind. Ouat., p. 125, traiiHlatim hoiivon luid Xilmlbu uh hiMivnn
mid lit^U, but iix both terms doul)tl(!HH refer to provinces, or towns, it is bettor
to retain the tlKurativo name. Xibalbn is, besides, derived from the sumo
source as the Xibilba 'demon' of the Yucateos. Brnssour translates: ' Cha-

3U0 8oi)t (jours) il montait au ciel et en sept (jours) il faisait lo elioniin pour
escendro i\ Xiballm,' while Xinieni^/. with more apparent enrrectnch. renders:
'Hieto dias se subia al cielo y siete dias se iba al infleruo.' In (^mttn' l.et-
tren, p. '2'iH, the Abbe explains Xibalba as heil. 8eo also vol. ii., p]>. 715- 7,
of this work.

■t' I'npol Vuli., p. cxvii.-oxx., 7, 9; see this vol., pp. 48-54. The occur
fence of the number 4 in mythical and historical accounts of Mexico und
Central America is very frequent.

38 ' Parait vonir dos Antilles, on il d^sisnnit la tempdte et Ic grondement
do I'orage.' Jirasseur d« Jiourbourn, I'opol Vuh,, p. 8.

476 GODS, SUPEBNATUBIL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.

him, among other names, Creator, he who begets and
gives being. That he was held to be distinct, and wor-
shiped as such by the Quiches, may be seen from the
fact that they had one high-priest for Gucumatz, and an-
other for Tohil, another name of Hurakan, who seems to
have ranked a degree above the former.** He repre-
sented the thunder and lightning, and his particular title
seems to have been Heart of Heaven, under which were
included the three phases of his attribute, the thunder,
the lightning, and the thunderbolt, or, as stated in an-
other place, the flash, the track of the lightning, and the
thunderbolt,*" another conception of a trinity. He is
also called Centre of the Earth and is represented with
thunder in his hand. The bird Voc was his messenger.
Miiller considers him a sun god, probably because of his
title 'Heart of Heaven,' which determines nothing,
while others hold him to be identical with the
Tlalocs, the Mexican rain gods. He is doubtless the
same as Tohil, the leader of the Quiche gods, who is
represented by the sign of water, but whose name sig-
nifies rumble, clash." In him are also found united the
three symbols of Quiche trinity, as will be seen shortly,
and his priests address him: "Hail, Beauty of the
Day, Hurakan, Heart of Heaven and of Earth ! Thou
who givest glory, riches and children ! Thou Tohil,
Avilix, Gagavitz, Bowels of Heaven, Bowels of Earth !
Thou who dost constitute the four ends of Heaven !""
He was also god of fire, and as such gave his people fire
by shaking his sandals.*' According to the version of

39 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Kat. Civ,, torn, ii., p. 496.

<" Garcilaso says: 'C'est eucore I'id^e du Tonnerre, de I'Eclair etdolti
Fondre, contenus dans un oeul Hurakan, le centre, le ooeur du ciel, la tem-
p6te, le vent, le Houffle.' Gomentarios Reales, lib. ii., cap. xxiii., lib. iii., cap.
xxi., lib. iii.; Braaseur de Bourbourg, Popoi Vuh., p. ocxxxv., 9; Id., Hist.
Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 51.

*i Ximenez dit qu'il signifle Pluie, Averse: mais il confond ici le uom dtt

dieu aveo le Bigne. Toh est rendu par le mot paga, paie, pagar, payer.

Mais le MS. Calcehiqml dit que les Quichds recurent celui de Tohohil,

qui signitle grondemeut, bruit," etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popd Vuh, p.
214. He seems identical with the Maya Hunpictok.

** BrcuMtur de Bourbourg, Hvit- Nat. Civ., torn, ii., p, 553, torn, i., p. 128.

*' Brinton, Myths, pp. 150-7, who holds Hurakan to be the Tlaloc, con-
nects Tohil with Qnetzalcoatl— ideas taken most likely from Brasseur tie
Bourbourg— states that he was represented by a flint. This must refer

HAVALITZ AND HACAVITZ.

477

Brasseur de Bourbourg, his temple dt Utatlan, where ho
seems to have taken the phice of an ancient god, was a
truncated pyramid with extremely steep steps in the fa-
cade. On its summit was a temple of great height,
built of cut stone, and with a roof of precious woods; the
walls within and without were covered with fine, bril-
liant stucco of extreme hardness. In the midst of the
most splendid surroundings sat the idol, on a throne set
with precious stones. His priests perpetually prayed and
burnt precious incense before him, relieving each other
in bands of thirteen, so that while some attended to his
service, the others fasted to prepare for it. The chief
men of the kingdom also attended in b.andsof eighteen,
to invoke his blessing for them and their provinces, nine
fasting, while nine oftered incense." Tohil, and the
other members of the trinity, Avilix and Hacavitz, or
Gagavitz, who also represent the thunder, the lightning,
and the thunderbolt, were the family gods given by the
Creator to the founders of the Quichd race, and though
they afterwards became stone, they could still assume
other shapes in conformity with the supreme will. As
family gods they had special temples in the palace of
the princes, where their regular service was conducted,
and three mountain peaks bearing their names, served to
keep them before the people.*^ The flint with which
Brinton identifies Tohil may, perhaps, be the black stone
brought from the far east, and venerated in the temple

to his triiditionnl trnnsformation into a Btone, for the Abbt- declares, that vo
description of his idol is given by the chroniclers. IlLst, Nat. Civ., toni. ii.,
p. 532. Now, although the Abbu declares Tohil to be the same as Quet/nl-
coutl, in the I'ohol Vuh, p. 211, and other places, he acknowledges tlmt
the tradition positively identiflos him with Hurakan, and confirms this
by explaining on p. cclsvii., that Tohil, sometimes in himself, sometimes iu
connection with the two other members of the trinity, combines the attri-
butes of th mdor, flash, and thunderbolt; farther, he gives a prayer by the
Tohil priests in which this god is addressed as Hurakan. Jlist. Aa/. C'ic,
torn, ii., p. 553. Gucumatz, the acknowledged representative of Quetzalco-
atl, is, besides, shown to he distinct from Tohil. Every point, therefore,
tradition, name, attributes, connect Tohil and Hurakan, and identity tbem
with Tlaloc.

" 1114. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., pp. 552-3.

*i Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cclxvii., 235; Id., Hist Nat. Civ.,
torn, ii., p. 554. The turning into stone ' veut dire que les trois principaux
volcaus s'^teignirent ou oess&rent de lanoer lears feux.' Id., Quatre Letlrts.
p. 331.

I'! ,.
U il

! !

478 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

of Kahba, 'house of sacrifice,' at Utatlan. but there is
no confirmation by the chroniclers. It is, besides, stated
that the worship of Kahba had greatly declined, but
was again restored to something like its former glory by
Gucumatz; Tohil, on the other hand, always stood
high, and his high-priest belonged toa diflferent family/*
A similar stone existed in a temple situated in a deep
ravine near Iximche, in whose pcilished face the gods
made known tiieir will. This stone was often used to
determine the fate of those accused of crime; if the
judges perceived no change in the stone the prisoner
went free.*'

We now come to the heroes with whose adventures the
Popd Vuh is chiefly occupied. From the union r T the
Grandfather and Grandmother who head the list of
Quiche deities, proceeded two sons, Hunhun Ahpu and
Vukab Hun Ahpu.*^ They incur the suspicion and
hatred of the princes of Xibalba, who plan their down-
fall and for this purpose invite them to their court, under
the pretence of playing a game of ball with them. On
their arrival they are subjected to various indignities
and finally condemned to lose their heads. The head
of Hunhun Ahpu is placed between the withered
branches of a calabash-tree; but lo! a miracle takes
place; the tree immediately becouios laden with fruit
and tlie head turns into a calabash. Henceforth the tree
is held sacred and the king commands that none shall
touch it. Xquiq, however, a royal princess, Eve-like,
disregards the injunction, and approaches to pluck the
fruit. As she stretches forth her arm, Hunhun Ahpu
spits into her hand, and Xquiq finds herself pregnant.
Her father soon perceives her condition, and in a fury
condemns her to death, telling the executioners to bring
him the heart of his daughter to prove that they have

« Brassmr de Bourbourg, Hist,
Vuh, p. cclxii. ; see note 7.
« Id., Hilt. Nat.Viv., torn. ii.

Nat. Civ., torn, ii., p. 497, 75; Id., Popol

p. 521; Jmrros' Hist. Gmt., p. 38i.
^ ' Hunhtm' Ahpu aigni&e Chaque Tireur de Sarbacane; Vukub-Hun-Ahpu,
Sept un Tireur de Saroacane.' Jiraaseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cxxxt.
Tlieir chief name Ahpu 'd^signe la puissanoe Tolcanique.' Id., Quatre Let-
trea, p. 225.

ADVENTUBE8 OF XQUIQ. HUN AHPU. AND XBALANQUE. 479

done their duty. While being led to the wood Xquiq
pleads earnestly for her life, and finally prevails upon
her executioners to deceive her father by substituting for
her heart the jelly-like resin of a tree, which she pro-
cures. Xquiq proceeds to Utatlan, to the Grandmother,
Xmucane, and gives birth to the twins Hun Ahpu and
Xbalanque,*" who develop rapidly; their superior talents
soon make their elder brothers jealous, and they attempt
their destruction, but the twins anticipate their designs
and transform them into apes. These brothers Hun
Batz and Hun Chouen, were the sons of Hunhun Ahpu
by Xbakiyalo, and were invoked as the patrons of the
fine arts'". Brasseur de Bourlx)urg explains this myth by
saying that Hunhun Ahpu denotes the Nahua immi-
grants who by their superiority gain the women of the
country, and whose children carry on a successful strug-
gle with the aboriginal race. The continuance of the
contest and the triumph of the Nahuas is described in
the adventures of Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque. A rat
reveals to them their origin, and the place where the
ball-game implements of their father are hidden. They
play a match with the Xibalba princes who had chal-
lenged their father, and are successful in th. , as well as
several herculean tasks assigned to them, but are never-
theless burned.'^ The ashes, thrown into the water, are
transformed into two handsome young men, and then
into man-fishes, a reference, perhaps, to the arrival by
sea of allies to help them. Again they make their ap-
pearance in Xibalba, this time as conjurers, and lay

<9 Hun Ahpu, a sarbacan shooter. ' Xbalenque, de balani, tigre, jagnar; le
que final est un signe plnriel, et le x qui precede, prononcez sh (anglais), est
altemativement un diminutif on nu signe feminiu.' Brasanir de Umirbourg,
Popol Vuh, p. cxxxv. Ximenez, Hist. Ind, Ouat., pp. 14G-7, 156, remarks the
similarity of these personages to the Ood son and virgin of the Christians.

5' 'Ifun-liaU, Un Singe (ou un Fileur); Hun-Chouen, un qm se blanchit,
on s'embellit.' They seem to correspond to the Mexiciin Ozomatli and Pilt-
zintecntli. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxxxv., 69, 117. The ha in
Hun-Batz refers to something underground, or deep down, and Hun-Chouen
' " Une Souris cachee" ou " un loc en sentinelle." ' Both names indicate
the disordered condition and movement of a region (the Antilles). Id,,
Quatre Lettres, pp. 227-9.

'I'Les deux freres, s'etant embrasses, s'elancent dans les flammes.'
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hi^. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 137.

480 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS. AND W0B8HIP.

their plans so skillfully as to overthrow the Prince Vu-
kub Cakix with his adherents, and obtain the apoth-
eosis of their father and his adherents as sun, moon,
and stars. Vukub Cakix, who represents the sun,
may be taken as the representative of an older
sun-worship replaced by the newer cult introduced by
Hun Ahpu.'" The burning of this hero agrees with
that of the Mexican Nanahuatzin who by this act be-
came a sun. In fact, Brasseur de Bourbourg considers
the whole as a version of the Nahua myth. From an-
other point of view Hun Ahpu, whose name, signifying
'sarbacan-blower or air-shooter,' suits the attribute of
the air-god, may be considered as the morning wind
dispersing the clouds and disclosing the splendors of the
sun.*"

In the Qiiatre Lettres, the Abbd takes another view
of the myth, and sees in it but a version of the con-
vulsions that take place in the Antilles, the Seven Grot-
tos of the Mexican myth, of which I have spoken in
a preceding chapter. Hunhun Ahpu, Vukub Hun
Ahpu, and the two legitimate sons of the former are
volcanoes, and their plays, death, and transformation,
are earthquakes, extinction, and upheavals. The burn-
ing of Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque and the scattering of
their ashes upon the waters is the final catastrophe, the
sinking of the Atlantides, or the seven islands ; and as
the brothers rise again in the form of beautiful young
men, so do new islands take the place of those de-

*• Vukub Cakix, 'seven aras,' a type of the sun, although declared in
one place to linve usurped the solar attribute, seems to have been worshiped
as the sun; his two sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, represent respectively
the creator of the earth and the earthquake, which contirms their father's
high position. lirasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vvh, pp. 31-9, c-iv., ccliii.

*' The allegorical account of these events is related on pj 31 to 192 of
Popol Vuh, and Brasseur's remarks are given on pages csxxit. '^ cxl. Juar-
ros. Hist. GwiL, p. 164, states that Hun Ahpu discovered the . e of cacao
and cotton, which is but another indication of the introdnc i of cul-
ture. Accoi-ding to Las Gasas, Xbalanque descends into he Xibalba,
where he captures Satan and his chief men, and when ths devi 'raplores
the hero not to bring him to the light, he Icicks him back with te curse
that all things rotten and abhorrent may cling to him. When he re
people do not receive him with due honor, and he acoordinglv 1<
other parts. Hint. Apo>og^Hca, ^H., cap. 07a.iv,i Torquemada, Motu
torn, ii., pp. 53-4,

ns, his
res for
/. Ind.,

QUIGH6 OOD8.

stroyed. The confirmatiun of this he finds in a tradition
current on the islandH, which speaks of certain upheavals
similar to the above."

The Quiches had a multitude of other gods and genii,
who controlled the elements and exercised their influence
upon the destinies of man. The places where they most
loved to linger were dark quiet spots, in the undis*
turbed silence of the grotto, at the foot of some steep
precipice, beneath the shade of mighty trees, especially
where a spring trickled forth between its roots, and on
the summit of the mountains; and here the simple native
came to pour out his sorrow, and to offer his sacrifice.
In some places this idea of seclusion was carried to such
an extent that idols were kept hidden in subterranean
chapels, that they might not be disturbed or the people
become too familiar with them; another reason, however,
was to prevent their being stolen by other villagers. The
god of the road had sanctuaries, called mumah, all along
the highways, especially at the junctions, and the trav-
eler in passing never failed to rub his legs with a hand-
ful of grass, upon which he afterwards spat with great
respect, and deposited it upon the altar together with a
small stone, believing that this act of piety would give
him renewed strength. He als) left a small tribute
from his stock of food or merchandise, which remained
to decay before the idol, for none dared to remove it.
This custom was also observed in Nicaragua.

The household gods were termed chahalha, 'guardian
of the house,' and to them incense was burned and sac-
rifice made during the erection of a building; when
finished, a corner in the interior was consecrated to their
use. They seem to have been identified with the spirit
of departed friends, for occasionally a corpse was buried
beneath the house to insui^ their presence.**

Among the more superstitious highlanders, the ancient
worship has retained its hold upon the population to a

M Quatre Letlrea, pp. 225-53; see this vol. 261-4.

" On one occasion the people ' egorg^rent ohacan nn de lenra flls, dont
ils mirent les oadsTreH duns lea (ondations. ' Brrustur de Bourbourg, IPti.
Nat. Civ., torn, ii., pp. 501-4.
Vol.. III. 31

482 OODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINQS, AND WOBSHIF.

great extent, in spite of the effoiis of the padres. Scher-
sser tells us that the peojj^e of Istlavacan reverenced gods
of reason, health, sowing, and others, under the names
of Noj, Ajmak, Kanil, and Ik, who were generally
embodied in natural features, as mountains, or big
trees. They recognized an Ormuzd and an Ahriman in
Kij, the god of light and good principle, opposed by
Juiup, the god of earth and evil principle, who was rep-
resented by a rock, three feet high and one foot thick,
supposed to be a distorted human face. The native
priests generally took the horoscope, and appointed a
nagual, or guardian spirit for their children, before
the padres were allowed to baptize them. They are
said to have sacrificed infants, scattering their heart's
blood upon a stone before the idol, and burying the body
in the woods to avoid detection.*

The Choles and Manches of Vera Paz, impressed with
the wild features of their country, venerated the mount-
ains, and on one called Escurruchan, which stood at the
junction of several branches of their principal river, they
kept up a perpetual fire to which passers-by added fuel,
and at which sacrifices were oiOTered. At another place
the padres found a rough altar of stone and clay sur-
rounded by a fence, where they burned torches of black
wax and resinous wood, and offered fowls, and blood
fl^m their bodies, to mountains, cross-roads and pools in
the river, whence came all means of existence and all
increase."

The cl^ief idol of the Itzas was Hubo, who was
represented by a hollow metal figure with an opening
between the shoulders, through which human beings
were passed, charged to implore the favors of the gods.
A fire was then lighted )jeneath the figure, and while
the victims were roasting alive, their friends joined in

!• Tndianer von latldimran, pp. 11-3. The nativeii believed that they
would have to share all the Hiifleringa and emotions of tlieir uaguuls. Oagi-'n
NttB Stirvey, p. 384; 'Herreni, HM. Otn., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv., also rf-
feni to nagunlM, and states thnt the Honduras proteg^ made his compact with
it in the mountains by offerings and blood-letting.

" EHolnoaa, Chron. Apoat., pp, 841-5; Kemaal, H(at. Chyapa, p. 720;
VillagutUrre, Hist. Conq. Jtro, pp. 161-3.

WOBSHIP OF A HOBSE.

488

are

was

7£(i;

a dance around it, drowning the cries of the viotims
with shouts and rattling of drums. No women were
allowed to join in the temple ceremonies. On the chief
island in the lake of Peten, the con(|uerors found twenty-
one stone temples with stone roofs, the chief of which
formed a kind of pyramid of nine steps. In this waf
found a large chalchiuite, representing one of their two
battle-gods, Pakoc and Hunchunchan, who gave oracles
and were supposed to join the people in their danoe^.
This familiarity evidently brfed contempt, however, for
it is related that when a prediction of the oracle wfw
not fulfilled, the priest without hesitation castigate^
the idol. In the same temple stood a gypsum imogip
in the form of the sun, adorned with rays, inlaid with
nacar, and having a gaping mouth set with human
teeth. The bones of a horse, which hung frpm the
rafters, were adored as sacred relics. These were th^
remains of a wounded horse left by Cortes among the
natives when on his way to Honduras. Having seen
the Spaniards fire from its back, they believed tliat
the animal produced the flash and repo^, and henqe
adored it as Tziminchac, god of thunder, and brought
it flowers, flesh, and incense ; but such offerings di^
not sustain life, and it was not long before tl^e bones
of the apotbeosized charger were all t|iat remained to
his worsUiiKirs. In another place was a stonp and lime
imitation of this horse, seated on the floor on itsliaunches,
which tbe natives adored in the snme manner. This
animal-worship was the more readily oxlmkted, since
their gods was supposed to assun>e such fornis.'^ ,

Their idols were so nuinerous, say the conquerors,
that it took over a hundred men a, whole day to destmy
those existing on the chief island alone; Cogolludo
affirms that the priests had charge of all the idols.'^ The
chief god of the Cakchiquels, Chamalcan, or Chimala-

M 'Tenian nor bub DioBCH k Iob Venadoa.' ViUagutierre, Hiitt. Cdnq. lUa,
p. 43.

»> JM. rue, pp. 690, 4S9-93, 699; VUlagutierrt, Hist. Cmq. lUa, pp.
100-a, 182, SOU 2; Mor^tt, Voyage, toui. ii.,' p. 32; itf'C'uJioA'* JUaiarchtH
inAiiter., p. 318.

481

GODS. SUPEBNATURAL BEINOS, AKD W0B8HIP.

can,** had many of the attributes of Tohil, but took the
form of a bat, the 83rmbol of the royal house of Zotisil.
Every seventh and thirteenth day of the month the
priests placed before him bloodstained thorns, fresh white
resin, bark and branches of pine, and a cat, the emblem
of night, which were burned in his honw.*^

The purest form of sun-worship appears among the
Lacandones, who adored the luminary without the
intervention of an image, and sacrificed before it in
the Mexican fashion. They had temples, however, the
walls of which were decorated with hieroglyphs of the
sun and moon, and with a figure in the act of praying
to the sun.** The Nahua tribe of the Pipiles also wor-
shiped the sun, before which they prostrated themselves
while offering incense and muttering invocations. Quet-
zalcoatl and the goddess Itzcueye were honored in the
sacrifice,*' which generally consisted of a deer. The
relative importance of Quetzalcoatl and Itzcueye, may
be seen from the statement that the festival held
in honor of the former on certain occasions lasted
fifteen days, while that in honor of the latter was but
of five days duration. The chief centre of worship
was at Mictlan, near Huixa Lake, where now is the
village of Santa Maria Mita, founded, according to tra-
dition, by an old man, who in company with an ex-
ceedingly beautiful girl issued from the lake, both dressed
in long blue robes, the man also wearing a mitre.
He seated himself upon a stone on the hill, while the
girl pursued her way and disappeared, and here, by his
order, was built the temple of Mictlan, round which
stately palaces afterwards arose ; he also organized the
government of the place.**

•• ' Cha-mtdoan Mrait done Flfeohe ou Dard frott^ d'oore Jaune,' etc. JBnu-
MW dt Bmtrbourtf, Popol Vuh, pp. 248-9.

•I Id., IJist. A'al. Civ., tom.U, p. 173.

** MiUler, Anierikunm-he UrreWitotien, p. 476. In their want of idols they
oontnated strongly with their neighbors. ViUagutUm, HM. Vonq. llta, p.
74; MortM, Voyagt, torn, ii., p. 79.

*> 'G'eat k eox qn'ellea omnient preaque toua leura aacrifloea.' Brti$»tur
dt Bourbowrg, Hint. Nut. Viu., torn, ii., p. 566; Palado, Carta, pp. 66-70.

** ' L'^poqne qae lea ^v^nementa paraiaaent aaaigner k eette legende
coincide aTcc U piSriode de la grande Emigration tolwque et la fondation

TBADITION OF COMUAMVAL.

Among the vestiges of older worship we find the na-
tives of Gerquin in Honduras,*" venerating and praying
for health to two idols, called respectively Great Father
and Great Mother, which probably refer to the Grand-
father and Grandmother of the Quiches. A faint idea
of a Supreme Being, says Torquemada, was mixed up
with the worship of the sun and stars, to which sacrifices
were made. Their culture-tradition speaks of a beauti-
ful white woman, called Comizahual, or ' flying tigress,'
a reputed sorceress, as the introducer of civilizatioix in
Gerquin. She is aaXd to have descended from heaven
and to have been transported by an invisible hand to
the city of Gealcoquin, where she built a palace adorned
with monstrous figures of men and animals, and placed
in the chief temple a stone having on each of its three
sides three faces of strange and hideous aspect ; by aid
of this stone she conquered her enemies. She remained
a virgin, yet three sons were born to her," among whom
she divided the kingdom when she grew old. After
arranging her afliiirs, she commanded her attendants to
carry her on her bed to the highest part of the palace,
whence she suddenly disappeared amid thunder and
lightning, doubtless to resume her place among the gods;
directly afterwards a beautiful bird was seen to fly up-
wards and disappear. The people erected a temple in
her honor, where the priest delivered her oracles, and
celebrated every year the anniversary of her disappear-
ance with great feasts. Palacio refers to a stone, like
the one with three faces, named Icelaca, in Gezori, whi^h
disclosed things past, present, and future, and before
which the people sacrificed fowls, rabbits and various

des diven roranmes ffoat^maliens.' Bnuimur de Bourbourg, HM, Nat, Civ.,
torn, ii., p. 81; Id,, Popol FuA, p. oxxviii. Near the villaRe of Goatan
was a Hinall lake which tney r«Knrded as oracular, into which none dared
to peer least he should be sniitteu with dumbnetis and death. Palacio, Carta,
p. GO.

** ' Aujourd'hui de OraeUu II y a encore aujourd'hui un Tillage dn

mime nom, paroisse k 12 1. de Cumayagna.* BrasMW de Bourbourg, UM, Nat,
Civ., toi9. ii., p. 106.

*< ' Annque otroH dioeu, que eran aus Hermanos.' Ttirquemada, Uonarq,
Ii\d,, torn, r, p, 3a6.

OODS, BUPEBNATUBAL BEINOS, AND WOBSHIP.

kinds of food, and smeared the face with blood drawn
from the generative organs.*^

The religious fervor of the people is shown by the fact
that whatever work they undertook they commenced by
sanctifying it with prayers and offerings and by incens-
ing their implements that they might acquire more
efficacy; thus, before commencing to sow, the laborers
killed a turkey whose blood tney scattered over the
field, and performed other ceremonies.*" Simple in their
mode of life, they did not importune the gods for vain
luxuries: their prayers were for long life, health, child-
fen, and the necessaries of life. The first they hoped
to obtain by scarifications and penances; to guard
against disease, they sent the priest a bird, generally a
quail, to sacrifice. When actually attacked by sickness
confession was resorted to as a powerful means of pro-
pitiation, as was also the case on all important occasions
to secure divine blessings and avert immediate danger.
It is related by an old chronicler that when a party of
travelers met a jaguar or puma, each one immediately
commended himself to the gods and confessed in a loud
voice the sins he had committed, imploring pardon. If
the object of their terror still advanced upon them, they
cried, "we huve committed as many more sins, do not
kill us!" and sat down, saying one to another, "one of
us has done some grievous deed, and him the wild beast
will kill !"«•

In their scarifications, those who drew the most blood,
especially from the secret organs, were held to be the
most pious. Among the Pipiles the women joined in
drawing blood from the ears and tongue, and smearing

" Carta, pp. 82-4. As an instnnoe of the reiipeot entertained for the
idols, la?. OaiiaB relatea that on the Spaniards onoe profaning them with
their touch. »Ve nutives brought oenserswith which they incensed them, and
then carried them back to their altar with great respect, shedding their
blood UDon the road traversed by the idols. Hitt. Apoloyetica, MS., cap.
olxxx.; Torqutmada, JUonarq. Ind., torn, i., 326; Htrrera, Hiat. (Ten., deo.
It., lib. viii., cap. iv.

•• Bee vol. ii. of this work, pp. 719-30.

*• Roman, HepubUoa dt loa titdion, in Xitnmu, HM. Ind, Ouat., pp. 176-
81; ttranseur de Bourbourfi, Hint. Nat.Viv., torn, ii., pp. 564-506; La$ Caaas,
UM. Apologitioa, MS., cap. olxsix.j JuarroB, Uial. Ouut,, p. 196.

SPECIAL FASTS.

487

it on cotton, offered it to Quetzalcoatl, and then to
Itzcueye.''** On extraordinary occasions, as in the event
of a public calamity, the priests and chief men held a
council to determine the propitiatory penance to be im-
posed on the people, and the kind of sacrifice to be
offered ; the Ahgih were called upon to trace magic circleH
and figures, and to cast grains, so as to determine the
time when it should be made. The esteemed task of
collecting the fuel for this celebration devolved upon a
royal prince, who formed the boys of the district into
bands to forage for the wood. The efforts of the people
alone were not considered sufficient at such times to
propitiate the gods ; it required the sanctified presence
and powerful influence of the high priest to secure
remission of sins. This personage, whether king or
pontiff, subjected himself to a very severe fast and
penance during the twenty, or even hundred days de-
termined upon. He removed to an arbor near the hid-
den sanctuary of the idols, and lived in entire solitude,
subsisting on grains and fruit, touching no food pre-
pared by fire, sacrificing the offerings brought him
during the day, and drawing blood. The fast over, with
its attendant separation of man and wife, bathing, paint-
ing in red, and other acts of penance, the nobles went
in a body to the retreat of the idols, and having adorned
them in the most splendid manner, conducted them in
procession to the town, attended by the high priest and
victims. In places where the idols were kept in the
temples of the town, they marched with them round
the city. The various rites closed with games of ball,
played under the supervision of the idols, and with
feasting and reveling."

The Pupol Yuh ascribes the introduction of human
sacrifices to Tohil, who exacted this offering from the
first four men in return for the fire given to the Qui-
ches, while Las Casas states that Xbalanque initiated

T* The ancient Qnich^ii ' recueillirent leur sang ayeo den eponges,' Ilran-
$eur tie liourbourg, Popol r»(/4,jp. '2.'>9.

71 Jinunkur di Bmirbourg, Imt. iVial. Civ., torn, ii., pp. 659-63; Lot Caaas,
IIM. Apoloqetioa, MB., cap. olxxvii.; toI. ii. o( thia work, pp. tt8S.

488 GODS, SUPERNATUBAL BEINCH9. AND WORSHIP.

them. Their knives of sacrifice, he says, had fallen
from heaven, and were accordingly adored as 'hands of
God,' and set in rich handles of gold or silver, omr,-
mented with turquoises and emeralds. The ordina/y
sacrifices occurred several times a month, and among the
Pipiles, the number and quality were indicated by the
calendar and consisted chiefly of bastard boys from six
to twelve years of ngc. Their most solemn offerings
were made at the commencement and end of the rains,
and were attended by the chief men only. Juarros
states that human sacrifices were not offered by the
Pipiles and that the attempt of caciques to introduce them
resulted in an insurrection; and, although this will
scarcely apply to later times, it seems that formerly
the sacrifices were very few in number. The Cakchi-
quels are, however, said to have abstained from the
rite. Cortes relates that at Acald the fairest girls to
be found were selected by the priests and brought up,
in strict chastity, to be sacrificed, at the proper time, to
the goddess of the place. The Itziis, who when captives
failed took the fattest of ..heir young men for victims,
had several modes of immolation, as roasting the vic-
tims alive in the metal image ; dispatching them with
the knife on the stone of sacrifice, a large one of which
was found at Taysal ; impalement, followed by extraction
of the heart, as at Prospero ; and in earlier times shoot-
ing, OS was done by their Yucatec ancestors. According
to Cogolludo, three persons assisted at the sacrifices,
the adkulel, master of ceremonies, the ddkayom, and a
virgin who must be the daughter of one of these; but
Yiliugutierre mentions that the stone of sacrifice at the
chief temple at Taysal, was surrounded by twelve seats
iur the attendant priests; and assistants to hold the vic-
tims were certainly required. Cannibalism seems to
have attended all these sacrifloes, the flesh being boiled
and seasoned, and the choice bits reserved for the high
priests and chiefs.'''

'i JJowbourg, Popet Vuh, pp. 296-7; Las Catda, HM. Apoh'
iz-tiv., clzxvii.; Juatroi" HUt. Onat., p. 226; Tirrqutmada,

THE PBD»TS OF GUATEMALA.

Each of the numeroiu tribes of Guatemala had a dis-
tinct and separate body of priests, who by means of their
oracles exercised a decided influence on the state, and
some, the Quiches for instance, were spiritually governed
by independent pontiffs. The high priests, of Tohil and
Gucumatz, Ahau Ah Tohil and Ahau Ah Gucumatz,
belonged to the royal house of Cawek, and held the fourth
and fifth rank respectively among the grandees of the
Empire; Ahau-Avilix, the high-priest of Avilix, was a
member of the Nihaib family; Ahau Gagavitz came of
the Ahau Quiche house; and the two high-priests of the
Kahba temple in Utatlan were of the Zakik house, and
each had a province allotted him for his support. The
Tohil priests were vowed to perpetual continence and
austere penitence, and were not permitted to taste meat
or bread.''' The pontiff at Mictlan, in Salvador, who stood
on nearly the same level as the king, bore the title of
Teoti, 'divine' ''* and was distinguished by a long blue
robe, a diadem, and a baton like an episcopal cross; on
solemn occasions he substituted a mitre of beautiful
feathers for the diadem. Next to him came an ecclesi-
astical council composed of the Tehuamatlini chief of the
astrologers and learned priests, who acted as lieuten-
ant of the high priest, and superintended the writings
and divinations, and four other priests, teopixqtdj who
dressed in different colors. These ruled the rest of the
priesthood, composed of keepers of properties, sacrificers,
watchers, and the ordinary priests, termed teupas, who
were all appointed by the high-priests from the sons of

Monarq. Jnd,, torn, ii., p. 64; Palaeh, Carta, p. 66; Sqttier, in Id., pp. 116-7;
Cortes, Cartas, pp. 417-8; CogoUudo, Hint, rue, p. 699; ViUagutUrrt, Hist.
Conq. lUa, pp. 3!>2, 502; Goimra, Hist. Ind., fol. 268; Waldec'k, Voy. Pitt.,
p. 40; Bee also, this vol. pp. 688-9, 706-10, 735; Stephen's Cent. Amer., vol.
ii., pp. 184-5. Ximeiiez, Hist. Ind. Gnat., p. 210, states, thnt in case of a
severu illness, a father would not hesitate to sacrifice his son to obtain relief.
The very (act of such a tale passing current, shows how little human life wa«
valued.

^> 'lis n'avaient pour tonte nourriture aue des fruits.' M8., Quiche dt
Chiehietulenango, in Brassettr de Bourbourg, llist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., pp. 652-
653, 4'J6-7; Jam Cdsas, Hist. Apolo<)d(ica, MS., cap. czzxiii.

^* Ternaux.>Go iinans renders it tuti, "RecueU de Doc., p. 29, while Squier
Rives it as (red. Paiacio, Carta, p. 62. But as an Aztec vord, it ought to be
writ.eii ttidi.

490

OODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

the ministers. When the high-priest died, the body
was embalmed and placed in a crypt beneath the palace.
After fifteen days of mourning, attended by fa^, the
king and Tehuaraatlini drew lots for his successor from
among the four teopixqui, the vacancy in their ranks
being filled by a son of the pontiff, or one of their own
sons. The elected purified himself for the office by
blood-letting and other observances, while the people
celebrated his accession with feasting and dancing, in
Vera Paz the chief priest was elected according to merit
from a certain family by the people, and ranked next
to the king.'" As an instance of the lasting influence
passessed by the priesthood over the people, Scherzer
relates that at Istldvacan there were a few years ago
as many as sixty priests, diviners, and medicine-men,
Ahgih, Ahqixb, and Ahqahb, as they used to be termed,
who exercised their offices among them. At Cobun,
says Yillagutierre, a priest was so highly respected that
the person who presumed to touch him was expected to
fall dead immediately.'"

The Nahua impress, noticeable in the langui^es and
customs of Nicaragua, is still more strongly marked in
the mythology of that country." Instead of obliterating
the older forms of worship, however, as it seems to have
done in the northern part of Central America, it has
here and there passed by many of the distinct beliefs
held by ditierent tribes, and blended with the chief ele-
ment of a system which is traced to the Muyscas in
South America. The inquiries instituted by a Spaniuli
friar among different classes of pieople in the Nt^rando
district go to prove that Tamagostat''^ and Cipattonal,

w PatacU), Carta, fip. 62-6; Herrera, ITuit. Otn., dee. iv., lib. viii., cap. % ;
XimentM, Hist. Inil. Guat,, pp. '2(iU-l; lirasMur de liourbourg, Hint. A'at. tie.,
torn. U.. pp. 105, 655-6; Salntar y Olarte, Hial. t'onq. Mex.,'po. 316-6.

'6 Hist. Conq. Itta, p. 01; Urasaeur de bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxviii.,
oolxvi.; Schtrter, Imliaiur von htldiacan, p. 10.

7? Gtomara saya with regard to this: ' Beligion de Nicaragua qne oasi es la
meama Mexicaun' HM. Ind., tol. 63.

1* The Himilitrity of the name of tanuichiu and tamoijaat, names given to
angels and priests, is atrilcing. The ending tat might also be regnnled as a
ooutruction of the Aztec laUi, father. Jiuachmann, Ortanamen, pp. 161-5.

GODS OF THE NICABAOUANS.

male and female deities who inhabit the reffxma of the
rising sun, were the supreme beings. They created all
things, stars as well as mortals, and re-created what
had been destroyed by the flood, in which work they
were aided by Ecalchot, surnamed Uuehue, ' the aged,'
and Ciagat Hh( little.' In Tamagostat Miiller at once
recognizes Fomagata, the ancient sun-god of the Muyscas,
who after his dethronement by a newer solar deity be-
came more particularly the fire-god of that people, but
retained more of his original preeminence in the
countries to which his worship spread, as in Nicaragua.
This view is supported by the statement that he in-
habited the heavens above, or rather the region of sun-
rise. His consort Cipattonal, Miiller, judging from
their relationship, holds to Ije the moon; her name seems
however, to be derived 'from a Mexican source, probably
from xipaUij 'dark blue color,' and totiaUi, 'sun,'^* which
may be construed as referring to the sun in its blue
element, or, as the fainter sun, to the moon. In either
case the connection of the two is perfectly legitimate.
Ecalchot, who is represented as a young man, yet is
surnamed 'the aged,' seems to be the same as the Mexi-
can Ehecatl, 'wind, air,' an element ever young, yet ever
old, and Ciagat may mean 'moisture;'* both forming with
the sun the lertiiizing forces that create." Oviedo gives
the names of these deities as Tamagostat or Tamagostad,
Zipattoval or Zipattonal, Calchithuehue, and Chicozi-
flgat,^^ 'father.' He further names Chiquinaut and Hecat
as gods of the winds, which seems to be merely another
version of Ohicoziagat and Ehecatl."

™ Btuehmann, Ortmamen, p. 163.

M ' Ich bringe eH in VcrbindiinK mit dem Stammworte dahua oder ciyahua
befeuchten, bewiHHem.' lb. It in to be noticed that the Aztec h frequently
chnngPH into fi, in these countries.

«< MUlltr, Anifrikanisehe Urreli<tionen, pp. 435-8, 503; Sguier'g Nicaragua,
(Ed. 1856), vol. ii., pp. 349-60; iiroHseur de Bourbauni, JIM. Xut. Viv., torn,
ii., p. 112— this author identifies Tamagostat and Cipnltona with the solar
deities Oxomoc and Cipactonal of the Tolteos, but places them in rather
an inferior position.

*< Oxoinogo is also introduced, which tends to throw doubt on BrnsHenr's
identification of Jamagostad with this personage.

»• Ehecatl oder verlcQrzt Eoatl ist die Berichtigung fttr OTiedo's

Hecat.' Buachmann, Ortatiatnen, p. 163; Oviedo, Uiat. ihn., Una. iv,, pp. 40-5,
53.

4Km OOD8, SUPXBRATUBAL BEIHOS, AND WOBSHIP.

The Guatemalan trinity reappears in the character of
Omeyateite and Omeyatezigoat^ — easily recognizable
in the Mexican Ometecutli and Omecihuatl — and their
son Kuiatcot, the rain god," who sends forth thunder,
lightning and rain. They are also supposed to live
where the sun rises, doubtless because that seems the
abode of bliss, and as fertilizing forces they are regarded
as creators, but not connected with the two before men-
tioned. Quiateot was the most prominent, if not the
supreme, member of the trinity, for the other two, as
representing the thunder and ligliting, the forerunners,
or parents, of the showers, do not seem to have been in-
voked when rain was wanted, or to have participated in
the sacrifices of young boys and girls offered on such
occasions.*

The Nicaraguans had other deities presiding over the
elements, seasons, and necessaries of life. Thus, Macat
and Toste, also written Mazat and Teotost," the deer
and rabbit, were gods of the chase. When a deer was
killed, the hunter placed the head in a basket in his
house, and regarded it as the representation of the god.*"
Mixcoa was the god invoked by the traders, and those
about to make purchases; Cacaguat was the patron of
cacao-culture; Miquetanteot, god of hades, was evidently
the same as Mictlantecutli of Mexico; there were, besides,
others whose names have been given to the days of the
month. In Martiari the chief deity was called Tipotani.
In Nicaragua proper, they adored Tomaoteot, ' the
great god,' whose son Teotbilche was sent down to man-
kind. This looks like another Christ-myth, especially
when we read of attendant angels who had wings and

** In Temaux-Compans, Voy., B^rie ii., torn, iii., p. 40, they are written
Homey-Atellte aii'l Homey-Atecignat, but the above spelling correspondH
better with other similar Aztec names in Nicaragua. Otnedo, Hist. Gm., torn,
iv., p. 46.

8^ ' Von quiahui oder quiyahni regnen: mit leoU Oott verbunden.' JJusc/t-
maim, Qrlsnamm, p. 167.

■K OoUdo, Hid. Oen., torn, iv., p. 46.

n Br<U8eur de Bourbourtf, hint. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., p. 113. The latter
seems to be the same as the Mexican TeotoohtU, * rabbit god.'

■* ' Y esio tenemo* por el dios de los venadoa.' OvUao, HM. 6m., torn.
It., p. 55.

THE GODDESS OF THE YOLOANO.

flew about in heaven. The names oi the two chief
angels were Taraacazcati and TamacaEtobal." The Di-
rans revered in particular the goddess of the volcano
Masaya; for her they placed food on the brink of the
crater, into which they cast human beings, especially
when she manifested her anger by earthquakes. On
such occasions the chiefs and priests, who alone were
permitted to look into the seething abyss, went to the
summit and called upon the genius, who issued from the
lake of fire in the form of an old woman and instructed
them what to do. She is described as a naked, dark-
skinned hag, with hanging breasts, scanty hair, long,
sharp teeth, and sunken glaring eyeballs. The gods
were invested with all the peculiarities of humanity,
formed of flesh and blood, and lived on the food pro-
vided for man, besides blood and incense. They also
appeared on earth dressed like the natives, but since the
death of the cacique Xostoval these visits ceased."** They
were personified by idols of stone, clay, or wood, called
teobat,^^ whose fonns their forefathers had transmitted ;
to them were brought offerings of food and other things,
which were taken in at the door of the temple by boys
serving there, for none except the consecrated were
allowed to enter the sanctuary." To encourage the piety
that prompted these offerings, the priests never failed to
remind the people of the punishment inflicted on the in-
habitants of the ancient capital of Nagrando, who hav-
ing given themselves up to the pursuit of pleasure, and
n^lected the gods, were one night swallowed up, not a
vestige of their city being left."" The most acceptable
offering was, of course, human blood. At certain times

^ All probably derived from Uamacatqui, priest Brasaeur d« Bourbourg,
Hi8t, Nat. Civ., torn. u.,i)p. 112-4. Tbiti antbor, following OvUdo, HUl.
Nic, npella the names somewbat differently. J^tuc/iniami, OrUrnamtn, pp. 165-
8; OcUdo, Uist. Gen., torn, iv., pi. 48, 52, 101.

*o Tbese remarks nppenr iucunHisteut witb ibe statement tbat the spirit
only of men ascended to heaven. Id., pp. 41-2.

91 ' Teobat vient problement de Teohuaii, 6tre divine.' Braateur de Sour-
bmirq. Hist. Nat. do, torn, il., p. 113.

M < £ti toda la placa, ni en el templo donda estan, entran alK hombre ni
mnger en tanto que atli est&n, sine solamente los mnohaohos peqnellos que
les Uevan 6 dan de comer.' Oviedo, Hli4. Otn. lorn, iv., p. 47.

1 I'orgwtnada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., p. 330.

4M OOD8, SUPEBNATU&AL BEINQS. AND WORSHIP.

the favorite idol was set on a spear and planted in an
open place amid gorgeously adorned attendants holding
Imnners, and flowers. Here the priests gashed their
tongues, and other parts, smearing the face of the image
with the blood that flowed, while the devout approached
to whisper their desires into the ear of the idol. Songs,
dances, and games attended these ceremonies.

Before each temple was a conic or pyramidal mound
of adobe, called teacuU, or tezarit, ascended by an interior
staircase.** From its summit, upon which there was
room for about ten men to stand, the priest proclaimed
the nature of the approaching festival, and the kind of
sacrifice to be made, and here, upon a stone block, the
victims, generally captives and slaves, had their hearts
cut out, after which they were decapitated, the body to
be cut up and prepared for the grand banquets, while
the head, if that of a captive, was hung on a tree near the
temple, a particular tree being reserved for each tribe
from whom the victims were captured. The most prisMid
victims were young boys and girls, who were brought
up by the chiefs for the purpose and treated with great
care and respect wherever they went, for they were sup-
posed to become deified after death and to exercise great
influence over the affairs of life. Women, who were
held to be unworthy to perform any duty in connection
with the temples, were immolated outside the temple
ground of the lai^e sanctuaries, and even their flesh was
unclean food for the high-priest, who accordingly ate
only of the flesh of males.**

Fasts and baptism.al rites, so prominent hitherto, do
not appear to have been practiced in Nicaragua. A
kind of sacrament was administered, however, by means
of maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the generative

organs,

and confession was a recognized institutioii.

Tho

M Peter Martyr describes this e<1itice as follows: 'Withiu tht<%ier.8of
of their Temples there nre diners Buses or Fillers like the Pulpittes. .
which Bases consist of eight steppes or stayres iu some places twelae, and
in another flfteene.' Deo. vi., lib. vi.

M Oi'iedo, Hint. Om., torn, iv., pp. 46-7, 53, 50, 93-4, 98, 101; PeUr Mar-
tyr, dec. vi., lib. vii.; Qomara, Am. Ind., fol. 266-6; lierrera, Hiat.Otn.,
dec., iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; vol. ii., pp. 708-10, 715, o| this work.

PBIE8T8 OF NIOABAOUA.

196

confessor was chosen from among the most aged and
respected citizens; a calabash suspended from the neck
was his badge of office. He was required to be a man
of blameless life, unmarried, and not connected with the
temple. Those who wished to confess went to his
house, and there standing with humility before him un-
burdened their conscience. The confessor was forbid-
den to reveal any secret confided to him in his official
capacity, under pain of punishment. The penance he
imposed was generally some kind of labor to be per-
formed for the benefit of the temple.. Boys did not
confess, but seem to have reserved the avowal of their
peccadillos for niaturer age.***

The office of high-priest was held by the caciques, who
each in his turn left home and occupation and reniuved
to the chief temple, there to remain for a year attending
to religious matters and praying for the people. At the
expiration of the term he received the honorable distinc-
tion of having his nose perforated. Subordinate duties
were performed by boys. In the inferior temples other
classes entered for a year's penance, living like the chief
in strict seclusion, except at festivals perhaps, seeing
none but the boys 'vho brought food from their homes.
The ordinary priests were called tamagasf and lived
on the offerings made to the idols, and perhaps by their
own exertions, for the temples had no fixed revenues.^
They had sorcerers, texoxes, who sometimes caused the

*i Ooiedo, Hilt. Om., torn, iv., pp. 55-6; Herrera, HUt. Gen., dec. iii.,
lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii. ; Oomara, Uiat. Jnd., fol. 250.

^ Brasseur de Uourbouru nays: ' Tamagoz, c'est eucore une autre corrup-
tion da mot Uamacaiqul' Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii., p. tl4.

s> Oviedo, Uiat. Om., torn, iv., pp. 46-7, 53; Atxdagoya, in Navatrtit, Col.
de Viaqes, torn, iii., p. 414; vol. ii., p. 728, of this work. Gomara, Hist. ItuL,
fol. 26&, states that the priests were all married, while Herrera, Hist, (Jen.,
dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., asserts the contrary. Tlie latter view seems more
correct when we consider that women were net permitted to enter the tem-
ples, and that the hiKh priest and devotees were obliaed to leave their wives
wlieii they passed into the sanctuary. It is even probable that there was iiu
distinct priesthoo I, since the temples had no revenues, and the temple ser-
vice was performed in part at least bv volunteers; to this must be added the
faet, that although the confessor might not be connected with the temple, yet
he ordered penance for its beuetit. It must be considered, however, that
without regular ministers it would have been difficulty to keep up thn routine
of feasts and ceremonies, write the books of records, teach the child: en, and
maintain discipline.

m 60DB, SUPERNATUBAL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIP.

death of children by merely looking at them, and who
could assume animal forms, for which reasons they were
much feared by the people. To strengthen this belief
they at times dbguised themselves in skins of beasts.*"
In Honduras the idea of a Supreme Being and Creator
was connected with a worship of the sun, moon, and
>stars, to which the people made sacrifices.^*" Near
Truxillo were three chief temples*"^ in one of which was
a chalchiuite in the form of a woman, to which the peo-
ple prayed, and which answered them through the priests.
Preparatory to any important undertaking, cocks, dogs,
or even men, were sacrificed to secure the favor of the
gods. In each of the sanctuaries presided a ^pa, or
chief priest, to whom the education of the sons of the
nobles was entrusted. These were unmarried men, dis-
tinguished by long hair reaching to the waist, though in
some places they wound it round the head in plaits.
Their sanctity and superior knowledge gave them great
influence, and their advice was sought on all affairs of
importance by the principal men, for none else dared to
approach them. There were also sorcerers who could
assume animal forms, in which guise they went about
devouring men and spreading diseases.^"*.

Among the barbarians of the Mosquito Coast, we find,
of course, a much lower order of belief, and one which
calls to mind the ghouls and ghosts of Californian
mythology. The natives acknowledged a good spirit or
principle, to which they gave no definite name*"' and
rendered no homage, for there was no necessity, they
said, to pray to one who always did good ; as for thank-
ing him for mercies received, such an idea seems never

M ArrloivUa, CrSnioa Serdfica, p. 57; Ooiedo, HUt. Oen., torn, iv., pp. 101,
107. ' SouB le nom de " Texoxu on deaignnit lea nagnals, lea g^niea mau-
viiiH de toate eap^e, ainai qae lea aoroiera.' Bnuaeur de Bourbourg, UUt. \at.
Ciu., torn, ii., p. 113.

■M Tormuniada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., n. 63.

t<» At Gape Hondnraa they conaiated of long, narrow hoaaea, raiaed above
the ground, containing idola with heada of animala. Htrrtra, Hist. Oen., deo.
iv., lib. viii., cap. ▼.

>*> Id., and dec. It., lib. i , cap. vi.; aee toL i., p. 740, of thia work.

i<» 'Ea iat dafQr daa Wort Ood ana dem Engliacben anfgenommen.' Mot-
quiMand, BericM, p. 142.

THE MOSQUITO PANTHEON.

to have occurred to them. In fact, they had neither
temples nor idols, and the only ceremonies that partook
of a religious character were the conjurations of their
sukiaa, or sorceresses, who were constantly engaged in
breaking the spells of evil spirits, with which the people's
fancy, excited by grewsome stories told round the camp-
fire, had filled every dark and dismal place, every stream
and mountain top. These gnomes were known by the
name of Wulasha,^"* and were supposed to issue from
their hiding-places, especially at night, to do all manner
of evil; they were espeoially addicted to carrying oflf
solitary wanderers; it was, therefore, say the chroniclers,
almost impossible to induce a native to go out alone after
dark.

Amid the underwood and fallen trees about the
sources of rivers, big snakes were thought to dwell.
These monsters were assisted by a resistless upward cur-
rent and a strong wind which swept the unwary boat-
man within the reach of the red jaws and slimy folds.
Patook, among other rivers, had this bad reputation,
and a white man who despite the warnings of the
natives started to explore its mysteries, returned in a
few days with the story that his progress had been op-
posed by a big white cock. Leewa'"* was the name of
the water spirit, who sucked the bather into pools and
eddies and sent forth devastating waterspouts and hurri-
canes. Wihwin, a spirit having the appearance of a
hor»3,*°" with tremendous teeth to devour human prey,
haunted the hills during the summer, but retired with
the winter to the sea, whence he originally issued. In
mountain caves, guarded by fierce white bvmrs, li« ed the
patron deity of the xoarrees, the wild pigs of the c(mntry,
of childish form but immense strength, who directed the
movements of the droves. There were, besides, certain

iM Bard'a Waikna, p. 243. ' Devils, the chief of whom thoy call the
Wciolsttw, or ovil prinotple, witchcraft. ' Ulrangewaya' Mosquito (S.'^onv p. 331.
Young writeH Oulasser. Narrative, p. 72.

'0^ Bell, in Lond. Qcoij. Soo., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 254.

"X A Hbane which assigns the atory a oumparativeiy recent date, nnleuH a
deer was originnlly meant.
Vol. III. 33

M8 00D9, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND VTORSHIP.

venomous lizards, who after biting a man ran im^
mediately to tlie nearest water: if the wounded person
did the same and succeeded in reaching the water first,
he was saved, and the lizard died ; otherwise the man
was doomed.^*" The Sukias whc were called uix)n to
exorcise these malignant Seings on every occasion of
sickness, or misfortune, were generally old hags, supposed
to have a compact with the evil one, in whose name
they exacted half their fee before commencing their en-
chantments. The Caribs held regular meetings or festi-
vals to propitiate these spirits, and the Woolwas, who
seem to have had many religious forms in common with
the Nicaraguans, had "dances with the gods."**

Among the Isthmians several forms of worship appear,
that in the vicinity of Panama resembling tiie system
prevalent in Hayti and Cuba, says Gomara.*"" The
heavenly bodies seem to have been very generally
adored, esiKJcially in the northern part of the Isthmus,
were all good things were thought to come from the sun
and moon, which were considered as man and wife; but
no accounts are given of temples, or forms of worship,
except that prayers were addressed to the sun.""

The most prominent personage in the Isthmian pan-
theon was Dabaiba,a goddess who controlled the thunder
and lightning, and with their aid devastated the lands
of those who displeased her. In Scith America, thunder
and lightning were held to be the instruments used by
the sun to inflict punishment ii[)on its enemies, which
makes it probable that Dabaiba was a transformed sun-
goddess. Pilgrims resorted from afar to her temple at
Urabd, bringing costly presents and human victims, who
were first killed and then burned, that the savory odors
of roasting flesh might be grateful in the delicate nostrils
of the goddess. Some describe her as a native princess,

•or Bfll, in Lond Otog. Soe., Jour,, vol. xxxii., pp. 253-4 1 I'mw/'a Narro'
liiM, p. 79.

i<M Fi-oebel'B Cent. Amer., p. 137; tee alao vol. i., pp. 740-1, of this work.

l« mit. hvl., fol. 253.

110 Id., fol. 80; Oviedo, Ittat. Otn., torn, iii., pp. 30, 135.

OODS OF THE ISTHMIANS.

48»

name

who

m pan-
under
lands
lunder
sed by
which
sun-
nple at
, who
odors
lostrils

inccss

whose reign was marked by great wisdom and many mira-
cles, and who was apotheosized after death. She was also
honored as the mother of the Creator, the maker of the
sun, the moon, and all invisible things, and the sender
of blessings, who seems to have acted as mediator be-
tween the people and his mother, for their prayers for
rain were aiddressed to him, although she is described as
controlling the showers, and once when her worship
was ne^ xsted she inflicted a severe drouth upon the
country.

When the needs of the people were very ui^ent, the
chiefs and priests remained in the temple fasting and
praying with uplifted hands; the jieople meanwhile ob-
served a four-days fast, lacerating their bodies and wash-
ing their facei?. which were at other times covered with
paint. So sir' ♦; vus this fast that no meat or drink
was to be t )r )h.'( atil the fourth day, and then only a
soup made iron- maize-flour. The priests themselves
were sworn to perpetual chastity and abstinence, and
those who went astray in these matters were burned or
stoned to death. Their temples were encompassed with
walls and kept scrupulously clean ; golden trumpets, and
bells with bone clappers summoned the people to wor-
8hip."»

In the province of Pocorosa the existence of a rain-
god called Chipiripe was recognized, who inhabited the
heaven above, whence lie regulated celestial movements;
with him lived a beautliul woman with one child.
Nothing else was known re-rjt^ting this divine family.
This ignorance of the u oily "as further manifested by
the absence of any form «;?* worship; the moral laws were
well dcflned, however, no ll.»\t udultery and even lying
were regarded as siniul

iia

cune

the

jw i^ iisas states that (Jiii-
who lived in heaven.

beginning oi .ui
was the one being to whom the people of Darien
addressed their invocations and sacrifices, though a

in Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x.; Irving'a Columbus, vol. iil., pp. 173-4;
MMtr, AmerlkxtniMhe UrrtUgUmtn, p. 431.

»* Andagoya, in Navamle, Col. at Viagf*, torn, iii., p. 401; Htrrtra, UiM.
Qtn,, deo. iy., lib. i., cap. xi., c^ec. ii., lib. iii., oap. t.

OODS. SUFEBKATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

certain sect, or tribe, among them worshiped the water.
In another chapter he declares that the Isthmians
had little or no religion, for they had no temples
and few or no gods or idols.""* According to Peter
Martyr, the embalmed and bejeweled bodies of ances-
tors were worshiped in Comagre, and in Veragua gold
was invested with divine qualities, so that the gathering
of it was attended with fasting and penance."* Tuira,
whom the Spanish writers declared to ha^^^ been the
devil himself, was a widely known being who communed
with his servants, tequina, ' masters,'*" in roofless huts
kept for this purpose. Here the tequinas entered at
night, and spoke in different voices, to induce the
belief that the spirits were actua^'v answering their ques-
tions; the result of the inter viev» ^ ommunicated to
their patrons. At times the evil u ippeared in the
guise of a handsome boy without iiiinds"" and with
three-toed feet, and accompanied the sorcerers upon their
expeditions to work mischief, and supplied them with a
protecting ointment. Among the evil deeds imputed to
these sorcerers was that of sucking the navel of sleeping
people until they died."^ These men naturally took
care to foster ideas that tended to sustain or increase their
influence, and circulated, besides, most extravagant stories
of supernatural events and beings. Once a terrible hurri-
cane, blowing from the east, devasted the country and
brought with it two birds with maiden faces, one of
which wtis of a size so great that it seized upon men and
carried them off to its mountain nest. No tree could
support it, and where it alighted upon the rocks, the
imprint of its talons were left. The other bird was
smaller and supposed to be the offspring of the first.

113 Hiat. Apolog^tioa, MS., cap. oxxiy., ooxUi.; Torquemadf., Monarq, Ind.,
torn, ii., p. 63.

»4 Dec. iU., lib. iv., dec. ii., lib. iii.

»> A name applied in Cueba to all who excelled in an art. Ovtedo, JHsl.
0«n., torn, iii., pp. 120-7.

■IS < Las manoB no se las vian.' Andagoya, in Navarrtit, Col, dt Viages,
torn, iii., p. 400.

i>7 For further account of sorcerers, see vol. i., pp. 779-80. Qomarn
writes: 'Tauira, que es el Diablo.' Hist. Ind., fol. 36o; Herrera, Ifist. Gen.,
dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x., lib. iii., cap. v., deo. iv., lib. i., cap. x.

PHALLIC WOBSHlf . M

After trying several plans to kill these man-eating har-
pies, they hit upon the device of fixing a large beam in
the ground, near the place where they usually alighted,
leaving only one end exposed, on which was carved the
image of a man. With the dawn of day the larger
bird came swooping down upon the decoy and imbedded
its claws so firmly in the beam that it could not with-
draw them, and thus the people were enabled to kill it.*^
The knowledge that the human mind, no matter
how low its condition, can be capable of such puerile
conceptions, must bring with it a sense of humiliation to
the thinking man; and well were it for him could he
comfort himself with the belief that such debasing super-
stitions were at least confined to humanity in its first and
lowest stages; but this he cannot do. It is true that the
belief of the civilized Aztec was far higher and nobler
than that of the uncivilized Carib, but can he who has
read the evidence upon which old women and young
maidens were convicted of riding upon broomsticks to
witches' Sabbaths, by the most learned judges of the
most learned law-courts of modern Europe, deny that
the coarsest superstition and the highest civilization have
hitherto gone hand in hand.

Before leaving this division it will be well to say a
few words concerning the existence of Phallic Worship
in America

One of the first problems of the primitive man is crea-
tion. If analogies lead him to conceive it as allied to a
birth, and the joint result of some unknown male and
female energy, then the symbolization of this power is
liable to take the gross form of phallic worship. Thus
it is that among the earliest nations of which we pos-
sess any knowledge, the life-giving and vivifying
principle of nature has been always symbolized by the
human organs of generation. The Lingham of India,
the Phallus of Greece, the Priapus of Rome, the Baal-
Peor of the Hebrew records, and the Peor-Apis of Egypt,

118 Peler Martyr, dec. vil., lib. x.

802 OODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINaS. AND W0B8HIP.

all have plainly the same significance. In most mythol-
ogies the sun, the principle of fire, the moon, and the
earth, were connected with this belief; the sun and moon
as the celestial emblems of the generative and product-
ive powers of nature, fire and the earth as the terrestial
emblems. These were the Father and the Mother, and
their most obvious symbols, as already stated, were the
phallus and kteis, or the lingham and yoni of Hin-
dustan.

It is unnecessary to multiply quotations respecting the
basal though often veiled idea of One, underlying the
polytheistic systems. The difficulty to the human mind
of considering anything in another than human aspect,
and our natural delight in analogies, leads, however, in
many cases to the consideration in certain aspects of this
deity as a duality or joint essence of the masculine and
the feminine. Take the learned Cory's summary of
ancient mythology: "It recog/iizes, as the primary ele-
ments of all things, two independent principles, of the
nature of male and female; md these, in mystic union,
as the soul and body, constitute the Great Hermaphro-
dite Deity, The One, the universe itself, consisting still
of the two separate elements of its composition, modified
though combined in one individual .... If we investigate
the Pantheons of the ancient nations, we shall find that
each, notwithstanding the variety of names, acknowl-
edged the same deities and the same «ystem of Theology;
and, however humble any of the deities may appear,
each who has any claim to antiquity will be found ulti-
inately, if not immediately, resolvable into one or other
of the Primeval Principles, the Great God and Goddess
of the Gentiles.""'

>i* Ancle)U Fragments, introduction, p. 34. M. Piotet says of the primitiya
Celtic religion: "From a primitive dvality, constituting the fuudninentttl
forces of the universe, there arises a double progression of cosmical (lowe i-h,
which, after having crossed each other by a mutual transition, at last uro-
oeed to blend in One Supreme Unity, as in their essential principles." Says
Bir William Jones: " We must not be surprised at finding, on a close exami-
nation, that the charnctera of all the Pagan deities, male and female, melt
into each othttr, aud at last into one or two, fur it seems a well-fouiide<l
opinion that the whole crowd of gods and goddesses in ancient Kome nud
modern ViHines, mean only the Powers of Nature, and principally those of

BATIONALE OF PHALLIC WOBSHIP.

608

To the moral ideal of the present age, an ideal de-
rived from acquired habit, not from nature, phallic wor-
ship will doubtless appear repulsive and indelicate in
the extreme. It was, neverthless, the most natural form
of worship that the primitive man could adopt ; for him
the symbol had no impure meaning, and was associated
with none of the di^usting excesses by means of ^vhich,
as he became more sophisticated, he converted his rever-
ence of Nature into a worship of Lust.

What could be more natural than that he should sym-
bolize the fecundating principle, the creative power, by
the immediate cawte of reproduction, or as he doubtless
took it, of creation, the phallus. He recognized no
impurity or licentiousness in the moderate and regular
gratificacion of any natural appetite; nor did it seem to
him that the organs of one species of enjoyment were
naturally to be considered as subjects of shame and con-
cr;alment more than those of another. As Payne Knight
remarks of the ancient nations of the old world : '' In
an age, therefore, when no prejudices of artificial de-
cency existed, what more just and natural image could
they find, by which to express their idea of the benefi-
cent power of the great Creator than that organ which
endowed them with the power of procreation, and made
them partakers, not only of the felicity of the Deity,
but of his great characteristic attribute, that of mul-
tiplying his own image, communicating his blessings, and
extending them to the generations yet unborn." Noth-
ing natural was to them offensively obscene. When the
Egyptian matrons touched the phallus they did so with
the pure wish of obtaining ofl'spring. The gold ling-
ham on the neck of the Hindoo wives was not an object
of shame to them.

That the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature
was recognized and practiced in America, there is in my
mind no doubt. The almost universal prevalence of sun-
worship, which is, as I liave already intimated, closely

the Son, expreRsed in a variety of ways, and by a multitude of fanciful
uameii." Onthe Oodt ofOrteot, Italy, and India, p. 273.

504

OODS, SUPERNATUEAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP.

connected with phallic rites, would alone go far to prove
this, but an account of certain material relics and well
known customs is still more satisfactory evidence.

In Yucatan, according to Stephens, "the ornaments
upon the external cornice of several large buildings
actually consisted of membra conjuncta in coitu, too
plainly sculptured to be misunderstood. And, if this
were not sufficient testimony, more was found in the
isolated and scattered representations of the membrum
virile, so accurate that even the Indians recognised the
object, and invited the attention of Mr Catherwood to
the originals of some of his drawings as 3'et unpub-
lished."

The sculptured pillars to be seen at Copan and other
ruins in Central America, which are acknowledged to
be connected with sun worship, are very similar to
the sculptured phallus-pillars of the East.*" Mr. Squier

in *ThiH sngKeRtinn wan flrat pnblicly made in a commnnication road,'
■ayHHqiiier, Serpenl iiymbot, )>. 4i), 'before the American Ethnological Uuciety,
by a (liHtiuguiHhud member of that body; from wliich the following paHHagcH
are extructed. After noticing Hoveral lactH tending to show the former ex-
istence of Phnllio worHhip in Amurica, the author of the paper prucccdH
as follows: — "We come now to Central America. Upon a pcruHal
of the tinit journey of our fellow-members, Messrs. Htephens and
Catherwood, nito Guatemala and the central territories of the Con-
tinent, I was forcibly struck with the monolithic idols of Copan.
We knew nothing before, save of Mexican, Falcnqao, and Uxnial
remains; and those of Copun aupcarod to me to be unlike them ull,
and probably of an older date. My reading furnishes me with but one par-
allel to those singular monolithic sculptures, and that was seen in Ceylon, in
17'J(), by Captain Colin McKenzie, and described in the 6th volume of the
Asiatic Itiisearches. As the description is short, I transcribe it: "The figure
is cut out of sttme in relievo; but the whole is sunk in a hollow, scooped out,
HO that it is defended from injury on the sides. It maybe about fourteen foet
h'gh, the countenance wild, a full round visage, the eyes large, the nose
i-ound and long; it has no beard; nor the usual distinguishing marks of the
Genloo casts. He holds up both bis hands with the foreHngers and thuml)s
lient; the head-dress is high, and seems ornamented with jewels; on the little
lini<er of the left hand is a ring; on the arms bracelets; a belt high about the
waist; the lower dress or drapery fixed with a girdle much lower than the
Gentoo dress, from which something like tassels depend; a collar and orna-
ments on the neck and ithoulders; and fings seem to hang low from the cars.
No appearance of any arms or weapons. " This was the nearest approximation
I could make to the ('o;ian idols; for idols I took them to be, from the fikct
that an altar was invariably placed before them. From a close inspection of
Mr. Cittherwood's drawings, I found that though no single figure presented
all the foregoing ch'traoteristics, yet in the various figures I could find every
particular enumerated in the Ceylou sculpture. It then ooourred to me that
one of the most usual symbols of the Phallus was an ereot stone, often in its
rough state, sometimes sculptured, and that no other object of heathen wor-
ship was HO often shadowed forth by a lingle stono placed on end, as the

RELICS OF PHALLIO WOBOHIP.

806

is of the opinion that they may be considered as such,
and the Abb6 Brasscur takes the same view in making
the plain cyHndrical pillar found in so many pliu^s
the representation of the volcano, the goddess of love,
and whence it issues as the symbol of new life.
On another page he terms the phallus the Crescent,
the land whence the Nahuas originated, and the con-
tinent of America the body."' Some of the pillars
appear without ornament, as the picote at Uxmal, a
round stone of irregular form, which stood in front of
one of the ruins, but the worshipers of Priapus at
Thespia and other places were content with a rude stone
for an image in early times. In Mexico according to
Gama, the presiding god of spring, Xopancalehuey
Tlalloc, was often represented without a human body,
having instead a pilaster or square column, upon a
pedestal covered with various sculptured designs."^ In
Panuco images of the gtsnerative organs were kept in the
temples as objects of worship, and statues representing
men and women performing the sexual act in various
l)()sture8 stood in the temple-courts.'*' Near Laguna de
Terminos, on the coast of Yucattm, Grijalva found im-
ages of men committing acts of indescribable Itciistliness,
while close by lay the bodies of victims re<.* tly sacri-
ficed in their honor.'** The united symbols of the sexual

Phallus. That tho wovBliip of tho Priapus. fTiinRhnm] existed in Ceylon,
hax long Hinca been HiitiHf.u-torily CHiulil.Hlifd; iiiul hence I wan led to HUHpeot
that thoHo nioniunonts iit Ciipiin, might bu veHtiKOH of a Hiinilar idolutry. A
further innpectiun eontlrnied my HUHpioionx; for, uh I HUppoHod, I found
Heulptured on the American ruinn the orgauH of fionerntion, bnd on the back
of one of the eiublemH 'rehitivo to uterine exiHtence, parturition, etc. I
Hhould, however, have wanted entire confidence in tlie corroctueHH of my
H\iK|>icioiiH, hud the matter rested hero. On the return of MoHHrs. Htephens
uiid Oatherwood from their H(!cr)nd expedition, every doubt of the existence
of Phallic worship, ngpocially in Yucatan, was removed.

'" Ourttre fjettres, pp. 2'JO, 301; St/uier'a )Serj)ent Symbol, jip. 47-50.

'** Jjeon y Gama, Dos Pie.dras, part i. , j). 40.

'*' In I'iVnuco and other provinces ' adornno il membro che portano
U,\i Iniomini fra le i^ambo, & lo tengono nella meschita, &. jmsto similmente
Hopra la piazza insiemo con le imagini de rilieuo di tutti modi di ]>iacure che
ixiHsono ossere frai'huomo & la donna, & n\\ hanno di ritralto cuu le kaui-
1)11 di alisate in diuersi modi.' Uelatione falla per vn nmtil'huomo del Signor
Ftrnando Corid/te, in Hamuaio, Naiityationi, lorn, iii., fol. 'M7.

>'< ' Hallaroii eutre vnos arboles vn idolillo do oro y muchos de barro, dos
hombres de palo, cauulf{ando vno sobre otro, a fuer Sodoma, y otro de tierrn
cozida con anibas manos alo suyo, que lo tenia retajado, oomu sun oasi todos
ios Indios de Yucatan.' Ootnara, Imt. Ind., fol. 68.

606

GODS, SUPEBNATUaAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP.

oi^ns were publicly worshiped in Tlascala, and in the
month of Quecholli a grand festival was held in honor of
Xochiquetzal, Xochitecatl, and Tlazolteotl, goddesses of
sensual delights, when the prostitutes and young men
addicted to sodomy were allowed to solicit custom on the
public streets.™ On Zapatero Island, around Lake
Nicaragua, and in Costa Rica, a number of idols have
been found of which the disproportionately large mem-
hrum generationis virile in eredione was the most prominent
feature. Palacio relates that at Cezori, in Honduras,
the natives offered blood drawn from the organs of gene-
ration and circumcised boys before an idol called Icela-
ca, which was simply a round stone,*" with two faces
and a number of eyes, and was supposed to know all
things, past, present, and future.**' The frequent occur-
rence of the cross, which has served in so many and
such widely separated parts of the earth as the symbol of
the life-giving, creative, and fertilizing principle in na-
ture, is, perhaps, one of the most striking evidences of
the former recognition of the reciprocal principles of
nature by the Americans ; especially when we remember
that the Mexican name for the emblem, tonacaquahuitl,
signifies ' tree of one life, or llesh.' *** Of two terra-
cotta relics found at Ococingo, in the state of Cliiapas,
one would certainly attract the attention of any one who
had investigated the subject of phallic worship or had
seen the phallic amulets and ornaments of the old
world.** In the Museum at Mexico are two small
images which were evidently used as ornaments. Each
of these represents a human figure in a crouching pos-
ture, clasping with both hands an enormous phallus.
Col. Brantz Mayer kindly showed me drawings of these
made by himself. One of these figures is reproduced in
another volume of this work.

it5 gee vol. ii., pp. 336-7, oonoerning this fesdval.

>^ * Un idolo de piedra redondo,' which mny mean a 'oylindrioal stone,'
as the translator of Palacio 's Carta has rendered it.
1" Palacio, Carta, p. 84.

>K Concerning the cross in America, see this vol. pp.
>** I refer to the left hand figure in the cut on p. 348, vol. iv., of this

PHALUO BITES.

fi07

The Pipiles abstained from their wives for four days
previous to sowing, in order to indulge in the marital
act to the fullest extent on the eve of that day, evidently
with a view to initiate or urge the fecundating powers of
nature. It is even said that certain persons were ap-
pointed to perfonn the sexual act at the moment of
planting the first seed. During the bitter cold nights
of the Hyperborean winter, the Aleuts, both men and
women, joined hands in the open air and whirled per-
fectly naked round certain idols, lighted only by the
pale moon. The spirit was supposed to hallow the dance
with his presence. There certainly could have been
no licentious element in this ceremony, for setting aside
the discomfort of dancing naked with the thermometer
at zero, tve read that the dancers were blindfolded, and
that decorum was strictly enforced. In Nicaragua,
maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the genitals was
regarded as sacred food.*" The custom of drawing blood
from this part of the body was observed as a religious
rite by almost every tribe from Mexico to Panama,
though this, of course, does not prove that it was in all
cases connected with phallic worship. Circumcision is
regarded by Squier as a phallic rite, but there is not
sufiicient testimony to support this view. Tezcatlipoca,
the chief god of the Nahuas, who has been frequently
identified with the sun, was adored as a love-god, accord-
ing to Boturini, who adds th.at the Nahua Lotharios held
disorderly festivals in his honor, to induce him to favor
their designs."* Orgies, characterized by the grossest
licentiousness are met with at different places along the
coast, as among the Nootkas, the Upper and Lower Cali-
fornians, in Sinaloa, Nicaragua, and especially in Yuca-
tan, where every festival ended in a debauch. During
a certain annual festival held in Nicaragua, women, of
whatever condition, could abandon themselves to the

work. For examples of the amulets mentioned, see illuHtrntions in Payne
Knight's Worship of Priapus.

1^0 See vol. i., of this work, p. 93; Ovkdo, Hid. Oen., torn, iv., p. 48;
See vol. ii., of this work, pp. 719-20.

'31 Boturini, Idea, p. 13; see also this volume, pp. 213-4.

■

BOe GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP.

embrace of whomever they pleased, without incurring
any disgrace."*

The feast of the Mexican month Xocotlhuetzin, ' fall,
or maturity of fruit/ is to me a most striking evidence
of the former existence of phallic worship, or at least
recognition of the fecundating principle in nature. I
will, however, leave the reader to draw his own conclu-
sions. This feast of the 'maturity of fruit' was dedi-
cated to Xiuhtecutli, god of fire, and, therefore, of fertil-
ity, or fecundity. The principal feature of the feast
was a tall, straight tree, which was stripped of all its

<M See Tol. i., of this work, pp. 200, 414, 666-6; vol. ii., p> 676, and ao-
oount of Yucateo feasts in chap. xxii. In citing these brutish orgies I do not
presume, or wish to assert, that they were in any way connected with phallus
worship, or indeed, that there was anything of a religious nature in them.
Still, as they certainly were indulged in during, or iuimediately after the great
religious feHtivuIs, and as we know how the phallic cult degenerated from its
originitl purity into just such bestiality in Greece and Borne, I have thonght
it well to mention them. There is much truth in the following remarks on
this point, by Mr. Brinton, though with his statement that the proofs of a
reooguition of the fecundating principle in Nature by the Americans are 'alto-
gether wanting,' I cannot agree. He sa^s: ' There is no ground whatever to
invest these debauches with any recondite meaning. They are sim])ly indi-
cations of the thorough and utter immorality which prevailed throughout
the race. And a still more disgusting proof of it is seen in the frequent ap-
pearance among diverse tribes of men dressed as women and yielding them-
selves to indescribable vices. There was at first nothing of a religious nature
in such exhibitions. Lascivious priests chose at times to invest them with
some such meaning for their own sensual gratification, just as in Brazil they
still claim the jus priniae noctia. The pretended phallic worship of the Nat-
chez and of Culhuacan, cited by the Abb^ Brasseur, rests on no good au-
thority, and if true, is like that of the Huastecs of Pauuco, nothing but an
unrestrained and boundless profligacy which it were an absurdity to call a
religion. That which Mr. Stephens attempts to show existed once in Yuca-
tan, rests entirely by his own statement on a fancied resemblance of no value
whatever, and the arguments of Lafitau to the same e£fect are quite insufficient.
There is a decided indecency in the remains of ancient American art, especi-
ally in Peru, (Meyen) and great lubricitv in manjr ceremonies, but the proof
is altogether wanting to bind these with the recognition of fecundating princi-
ple throughout nature, or, indeed, to suppose for them any other origin than
the promptings of an impure fancy. I even doubt whether they often re-
ferred to fire as the deity of sexual love. By a flight of fancy inspired by a
siudy of oriental mythology, the worsMp of the reciprocal principle in Ame-
rica has been connected with that of the sun and moon, as the primitive
pair from wliose fecund union all creatures proceeded. It is sufficient to
say if such a myth exists among the Indians— which is questionable — it jus-
tifies no such deduction ; that the moon is often mentioned in their languages
merely as the "night sun; " and that in such important stocks as the Iro-
quois, Athapascas, Cherokees, and Tupis, the sun is said to be a feminine
noun; while the myths represent them more frequently as brother and sister
than as man and wife; nor did at least the northern tribes regard the sun as
the cause of fecundity in nature at all, but solely as giving light and warmth. '
JUytlis, pp. 14'J-50; Sclioolcraft'a Arch., vol. v., pp. 416-17.

PHALLIC BITES.

609

|»ya
le-

ive
to

U8-

ges
ro-
ine
iter

J BR

|h.'

bra* ' (is except those close to the top and set up in the
001 tt' the temple. Within a few feet of its top a cross-
yam thirty feet long was fastened ; thus a perfect cross
was formed. Above all, a dough image of the god of
fire curiously dressed was fixed. After certain horrible
sacrifices had been made to the deity of the day, the
people assembled about the pole, and the youth scram-
bled lip for the image, which they broke in pieces and
scattered upon the ground.*^ A great number of simi-
lar analogies may be detected in the rites and customs of
the people, and it is almost reluctantly that I refrain from
giving my views in full. I have mode it my aim, how-
ever, to deal with facts, and leave speculation to others.
Those who wish to thoroughly investigate this most in-
teresting subject, cannot do better than study Mr Squier's
learned and exhaustive treatise on the Serpent Symbol.

t^ For a full account of this feast oee vol. iL, of this work, pp. 32d-30.

CHAPTER XII.

FUTURE STATE.

Abobioinaii Idxas c« Fdtcbb — Genxbaii CoKCKpnoMs or Sottl — Fctcbb
Statb or THK Aleuts, '^hkpewvams, Natives at Mii.banx Sound, and
Okanaoanb — Happt Lani.< or the Salish and Cbinookb— Conceptions
or Heaven and Hell op thk Nkz Pebc^s, Flatheads, and Haidahs
— ^The Reauis or Quawteaht anl~ Cbathrb — Belikps or the Sonobies,

CliALLAMS, AND PeND d'ObEIIXES — ThE FUTUBf StaTE Or THE CaU-
roBNUN AND NEVADA TbIBBS, GoUANCHfcs, PUEBLOS, NaVAJOS, ApAOHES,

MoQDiB, Maricopas, Yumas, and others — The Sum House or the Mun-
OANs— T1.AL0CAN AND MicTLAN— Condition op the Dead — Joubnby o>'
the Dead — Futubb or the Tlasoaltecs and otheb Nations.

The hope, or at least the expectation of immortality, is
universal among men. The mind instinctively shrinks
from the thought of utter annihilation, and ever clings
to the hope of a future which shall be better than
the present. But as man's ideal of supreme happiness
depends upon his culture, tastes, and condition in this
life, we find among different people widely diflering con-
ceptions of a future. The intellectual Greek looked for-
ward to the enjoyment of less gross and more varied
pleasure's in his Elysian Fields, than the sensual Mussul-
man, whose paradise was merely a place where bright-
eyed houris could administer to his every want, or the
fierce Viking whose Valhalla was a scene of continual
gluttony and strife, of alternate hewing in pieces and
swilling of mead.

^t has been supposed by some that the idea of future

(610)

IDEAS OP FUTURE.

511

punishment and reward was unknown to the Americans.*
This is certainly an error, for some of the Pacific Coast
tribes had very definite ideas of future retribution, and
almost all, in supposing that the manner of death in-
fluenced the future state of the deceased, implied a belief
in future reward, at least The slave, too, who wae»
sacrificed on the grave of his master, was thought to earn
by his devotion, enforced though it might be, a passport
to the realms of eternal joy; had there been no less
blissful bourne this pro8j)ective reward for fidelity would
have been manifestly superfluous.

The future life of these people was sharply defined,
and was of the earth, earthy. In its most common
forms it was merely earth-life, more or less free from
mortal ills. The soul was subject to the same wants as
the body, and must be supplied by the same means. In
fact, the pagan's conception of heaven was much more
clearly defined than the christian's, and the former must
have anticipated a removal thither with a far less won-
dering and troubled mind than the latter.

In the Mexican heaven there were various degrees of
happiness, and each wjis appointed to his pl.'ice accord-
ing to his rank and deserts in this life. Tlie high-born
warrior who fell gloriously in battle did not meet on
equal terms the base-born rustic who died in his bed.
Even in the House of the Sun, the most blissful abode of
the brave, the ordi' ary avocations of life were not entire-
ly disi)ensed with, and after their singing and dancing,
the man took up his bow again, and the woman her spin-
dle. The lower heavens possessed a less degree of splen-
dor and happiness until the abode of the great mass of
those who had lived an obscure life and died a natu-
ral death was reached. Tliese pursued their avocations

• 'The preconceived opinions,' B.tys Brinlnn, thit bhw \n the meteorolo-
gical niytliM of Uie Indiuii a conflict between the Spirit of OoocI nnd the
i^pirit of Evil, have with like unoonscionfl error fulHitled his doctrine of a
future life, and iilnioHt witliout an exceptions drawn it more or leHB in the
likencHs of a ('hriHtiun heiivcii, hell, and purgatory Nowhere waH any well-
defined doctrine that moral tuipitiido waH judged and punished in the neit
M'orld. No contradt is dl8coveral)le between a place of tornieiitit and a realm
of joy; at th" worst, but a nei;ative caitigation awaited the linr, the coward,
ur the niggard.' Myllia, p. 212.

512

FUTURE STATE.

by twilight, or passed their time in a dreamy condition,
or state of torpor. As slaves were often sacrificed over
their master's grave that they might serve in the next
world, we must suppose that differences of rank were
maintained there. The Tlascaltecs supposed that the
common people were after death transforme<l into beetles
and disgusting objects, while the nobler bv^'ame stars
and beautiful birds. But this condition was also influ-
enced by the acts and conduct of friends of the deceased.

Sir John Lubbock" does not believe with Wilson ond
other archaBologists that the burial of implements with
the deud was because of any belief that they would be
of use to the deceased in a future state ; but solely as a
tribute of affection, an outburst of that spirit of sacrifice
and offering so noticeable in all, from the most savage to
the most civilized, in the presence of lost brotherhood,
friendship, or love. In the first place the outfit in a
great majority of cases is wholly unfit and inadequate,
viewed in any rational scale of utility; they are not
such as the dead warrior would procure, if by any
means he were again restored to earth and to his friends.
In the second place it was and is usual to so effectually
mutilate the devoted arms and utensils, as to render
them a mere mockery if they are intended for the future
use of the deed. It is easy to classify this phenomenon
in the same category with the deserting or destroying of
the house of the deceased, the refusal to mention his
name, and all the other rude contrivances by which the
memory of their sorrow may be buried out of their sight.

This subject may be viewed in another light, how-
ever, by considering that these Indians sometimes impute
spirits even to inaminate objects, and when the wife or
the slave is slain, tli' ir spirits mei^t the chief in the
future land. I)o they not also break the bow and the
spear that the ghostly weapons may seek above the
hands of their sometime owner, not leaving him de-
fenceless among the awful shades. The mutilation of

Prehlatoria Timta, p. 139.

THE EOAD TO HEAVEN.

618

the articles may perhaps be regarded as a symbolic kill-
ing, to release the soul of the object ; the inadequacy of
the supply may indicate that they were to be used only
during the journey, or preparatory state, more perfect
articles being given to the soul, or prepared by it, on
entering the heaven projier.

The slaves sacrificed at the grave by the Aztecs and
Tarascos were selected from ■ iirious trades and profes-
sions and took with them the most cherished articles of
the master, and the implements of their trade, wherewith
to supply his wants. Passports were given for the differ-
ent points along the road, and a dog as guide. Thus the
souls of animals are shown to have entered heaven with
man, and this is also implied by the belief that men
were there transformed into birds and insects, and that
they followed the chase. Another instance which seems
to indicate that the souls of these earthly objects were
used merely during the preparatory state, was the yearly
feast given to departed souls during the period that this
condition endured. After that they were left to ob-
livion. The Miztecs had the custom of inviting the
spirits to enter and partake of the repast spread for them,
and this food, the essence of which had been consumed
by the unseen visitors, was regarded as sacred.'

The road to paradise was represented to be full of
dangers — an idea probably suggested to them by the
awful mystery of death. In the idea of this jierilous
journey, this road beset with many dangers — storms,
monsters, deep waters, and whirlix)ols — we may trace a
belief in future retribution, for though the majority of
travelers manage to reach their destination having
only suffered more or less maltreatment by the way,
yet many a solitary, ill-provided wanderer is over-
whelmed and prevented from doing so. In exceptional
cases, the perils of this valley of the shadow of death
are avoided by the intervention of a friendly deity who,
Hermes-like, bears the weary soul straight to its rest.
Among the Mexicans Teoyaomique, the consort of tlie

a See vol. ii., pp. G18, 633.
Vol. III. S3

FUTUEE STATE.

V'l

war-god, performed this good office for the fallen war-
rior.

With the alternative of this not very attractive future
before them, it is natural that the theory of metempsycho-
sis should have found wide and ready acceptance, for
with these people it did not mean purification from sin,
as among the Brahmans; it was simply the return of the
soul to the world, to live once more the old life, although
at times in a different and superior sphere. The human
form was, therefore, assumed more often than that of
animals. The soul generally entered the body of a
female relative to form the soul of the unborn infant; the
likeness of the child to a deceased friend in features or
peculiarities lent great weight to this belief Tiiis reem-
bodiment was not limited to individuals; the Nootkas,
for instance, accounted for the existence of a distant
tribe, speaking the same language as themselves, by
declaring them to be the incarnated spirits of their dead.
The preservation of the bones of the dead, seems in some
cases to be connected with a belief in a resurrection of
the body. The opinion underlying the various customs
of preservation of remains, says Brinton, '"was, that a
part of the soul, or one of the souls, dwelt in the bones ;
that these were the seeds which, planted in the earth,
or preserved unbroken in safe places, would, in time,
put on once again a garb of flesh, and germinate into
living human beings."* Indeed, a Mexican creation-
myth relates that man sprang from dead bones," and in
Goatzacoalco the bones were actually deposited in a con-
venient place, that the soul might resume them.

The most general idea of a soul seems to have been
that of a double self, possessing all the essence and attri-
butes of the individual, except the carnal embodiment,
and independent of the body in so far as it was able to
leave it, and revel in other scenes or spheres. It would
accordingly appear to another person, by day or night, as
a phantom, with recognizable form and features, and

* Myths, p. 257.

) iiee p. 69, this volume.

IDEAS OF SOUL.

515

!^ave the impression of its visits in ideas, remembrances,
or dreams. Every misty outline, every rustle, was liable
to be regarded by the undiscriminating aborigine as a
soul on its wanderings, and the ideas of air, wind, breath,
shadow, soul, were often represented by the same word.
The Eskimo word siUa, signifies air, wind, and conveys
the idea of world, mind; tarnak, means soul, shadow.
The Yakima word for wind and life contains the same
root; the Aztec ehecatl signifies wind, uir, life, soul,
shadow ; in Quich(5 the soul bears the name of natiib,
shadow; the Nicaraguans think that it is yulia, the
breath, which goes to heaven.* Some hold that man
has several souls, one of which goes to hea\on,
the others remain with the body, and hover about
their former home. The Mexicans and Quiches re-
ceived a soul after death from a stone placed between
the lips for that purpose, which also served for heart,
the seat of the soul;'' this was buried with the re-
mains. The custom of eating the flesh of brave ene-
mies in order to inherit their virtues, points to a belief
in the existence of another soul or vital quality in the
corpse. Some Oregon tribes gave a soul to every mem-
ber of the body. A plurality of souls is also implied by
the belief in soul- wandering during sleep, for is not the
body animate though the soul be separated from it ? yet
the soul proper could not remain away from the body
lH3youd a certain time, lest the weaker soul that remained
should i) sustain life.

With the many contradictions and vague statements
befo-r us, it must be admitted that the phrase " immor-
tBLu '' the soul " is often misleading. Tylor even con-
sidi doubtful *' how far the lower psychology enter-
tains at ail an absolute conception of immortality, for past
and future fade soon into utter vagueness as tl\e savage
mind quits the present to explore them."*

^Ovledo, Hist. Nic, in Ternaiix-Compaiu, Voy., serie ii., torn. iii. p. 38;
Biischmann, Spuren der Attec, Spr,, p. 74; Id., Ortgman, p. 159; Jinuseur «/«
Boitrliourg, Oram. QuicM, p. 196; BritUon'a Myths, p. 49-6'i, 235.

^ Vol. ii., pp. 60(t, 799, of this work.

8Prtm. Cutt., vol. il., p. 22.

616

FUTURE STATE.

i I

Some tribes among the Hyperboreans actually dis-
believed in a future existence, while others held the
doctrine of a future reward and punishment. The con-
ceptions of a soul were well defined however ; the Thlin-
keets supposed it to enter the spirit- world, among the
yeks, on being released from the body. The braves who
had fallen in battle, or had been murdered, Ijecame kee-
yeks, ' upper ones, ' and went to dwell in the north, where
the aurora borealis, omen of war, flashes in reflection from
the lights which illuminate their dances; so at least the
Eskimos regard it." Those who died a natural death
became tdkeeyeks, land-spirits, and t^keeyeks, sea-spirits,
and dwelt in takankon , doubtless situated in the centre
of the earth,'" the road to which was watered, and made
smc*'^ by the tears of relatives, but if too much crying
was indulged in, it became swampy and difficult to travel.
The takeeyeks and tekeeyeks appear to have attached
themselves as guardian spirits to the living, and were
under the control of the shamans, before wIk^'u they
came in the form of land and sea animals, to do their
bidding and reveal the past and future." The keeyeks
were evidently above the conjuration of the sorcerers.
The comforts of heaven, like the road to it, depended on
earthly conditions; thus, the body was burned in order
that it might be warm in its new home. Slaves, how-
ever, who were buried, were condemned to freeze, but
the shamans whose bodies were also left to moulder, had
doubtless power to avoid such misery. All lived in
heaven as on earth, earning their living in the same
manner, to which end the implements and other articles
burnt with them were brought into use ; wealthy i)eople
appointed two slaves to be sacrificed at the pyre, u\xm
whom devolved the duty of attending to their wants.

» Dall'.i AloKka, pp. 145, 422.

>o Bnrrett-Lennard miyH, however: 'Those that die a natural death are
condemned to dwell for ages among the branches of tall trees. ' Trav., p. 54.
' Ciireciese de algunas ideas religiosiis, y viviese persuadido de la total aui-
qnilacion del hombre con la muerte. ' SutU y Mtximna, Viaqt, p. cxviii. It
is doubtful whether the latter class is composed of the spirits of men, or
merely of marine animals. See this vol., p. 148.

i> The Tiunehs do not regard these as the spirits of men. DaWa Alaska,
p. 88.

METEMPSYCHOSIS.

617

le
In

The slaves carried their long-pending doom very philo-
sophically, it is said." It appears, however, that the
soul had the option of returning to this life, and as I
have said, generally entered the body of a female relative
to form the soul of a coming infant. If the child resembled
a deceased friend or relation, this reombodiment was at
once recognized, and the name of the dead i)erson was
given to it. Metempsychosis does not apiiear to have
been restricted to relatives only, for the Thlinkeets were
often heard to express a desire to be born again into fami-
lies distinguished for wealth and position, and even to
wish to die soon in order to att^iin this bliss the earlier.'*
This belief in the transmigration of souls was widely
spread, and accounts to some extent for the fearlessness
with which the Hyperboreans contemplated death."
The TacuUies and Sicannis asked the deceased whether
he would return to life or not, and the shaman who put
the question decided the matter by looking at the naked
breast of tlie body through his fingers; he then raised
his hand toward heaven, and blew the soul, which had
apparently entered his fingers, into the air, that it might
seek a body to take possession of; or the shamsin placed
his hands ujwn the head of one of the mourners and
sent the spirit into him, to be embodied in his next off-
spring. The relative thus favored added the name of
the deceased to his own. If these things ware not done
the deceased was supposed to depart to the centre of the
earth to enjoy happiness, according to their estimate of it.
The Kenai supposed that a soft twilight reigned per-
petually in this place, and that its inhabitants pursued
their avocations; while the living slept they worked.
The soul did not, however, attain perfect rest until a
feast had been given in its honor, attended by a distri-
bution of skins.'*

'« Koltebw's New Vov.. vol. ii., p. 54. "They have a confused notion of
immortality.' Id,, p. 58. The Kouiagas also used to kill a slave on the
grave of wealthy men. Dall'a Alojika, p. 403.

" Dall's Alanka, pp. 422-3; Jlolmberg, Elhno. Skit., jip. 03-5.

1* The Chenewyans also held this theory, though they believed in a heav-
en of bliss and a state of punishment. Afackemie's V<>y., p. cxix.

" Ricfiardaon'a Jour., vol. i., pp. 409-10; Jiaer, aiai, u, Etkno., pp. 107-8,

518

FUTURE STATE.

Dall, in speaking of the Tinnehs, to which family the
Tacullies and Kenai belong, states that he found few who
believed in the immortality of the soul, and none in
future reward and punishment; any contrary assertion
he characterizes as proceeding from ignorance or exagger-
ation. Other authors, however, in treating of tribes
situated both in the extreme north, and in the center of
this family, as the Loucheux and Chejiewyans, declare
that good and wicked were treated according to their
deserts, the poor and rich often changing lots in the
other life. Terrible punishment was sometimes inflicted
upon the wicked in this world ; thus, in Htickeen River
stand several stone pillars, which are said to be the re-
mains of an evil-doing chief and his family, whom divine
anger placed there as a warning to others. According
to Kennicott, the soul, whether good or bad, was received
by Chutsain, the spirit of death, who was, for this
reason probably, called the bad spirit." The Eskimos
seem to have believed in a future state, for Richardson
relates that a dying man whom he saw at Cumberland
Inlet declared his joy at the ])ro.spect of meeting his
children in the other world and there living in bliss. It
is also a suggestive fact that implements and clothes
were buried with the body, care being taken that noth-
ing should press heavily upon it. The large destruction
of property practiced by some Rocky Mountain tribes
was for the pur^wse of obliterating the memory of the
deceased." The Aleuts believed that the spirits of their
relatives attended them as good genii, and invoked them
on all trying occasions, especially in cases of venddta.^^
The CheiJewyan story relates that the soul arrives after

111; ITiirmon's Jour., pp. 2»9-300; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv.,
p. 482.

V'yVhymper'sAlasha,p.M5; 3Iackemit's Voy., p. cxxviii.; Hardiaiy, in
Smilhmnian liept., 1800, p. 318. ' Nnch domTodo wtirde imch ihren (Koiiin-
((as) Begriffeu jvder MeiiHoh ein Tenfel; bisweilen zeigto er sich den Ver-
wandten, und daw hutte OlQok zu bedenten.' Holmbenj, Ethno. SkU., p. 122;
Afwfie's Vane. IsL, pp. 457-8.

I'f Vol. i., pp. 126-7, of this work; Dunn's Oregon, p. 83; Silliman's Jour.,
vol. xvi., p. 147; Seenutn's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67; Richardson's Pol. lie;/.,
p. 322. The EskimoB had no idea of ' future reward and punishment. ' Dall's
Alasha, p. 145.

l» D'Orbigny'B Voy., p. 50.

FUTUBE OF THE COLUMBIAN TBIBE8.

619

IV.,

death at a river upon which floats a stone canoe. In
this it embarks and is borne by the gentle current to an
extensive lake in the midst of which is an enchanted
island. While the soul is drifting toward it, the actions
of its life are examined, and if the gocxl predominate, the
canoe lands it on the shore, where the senses revel in
never-ending pleasures. But if the evil of its past life
out-weigh the good, the stone canoe sinks, leavinJi; the
spirit-occupant immersed up to the chin, there eternally
to float and struggle, ever beholding but never realizing
the happiness of the good." This pronounced beliefin a
future reward and ptniishment obtained among several
of the Columbian tribes. The natives of Millbank
Sound picture it as two rivers guarded by huge gates,
and flowing out of a dark lake — the gloom of death.
The good enter the stream to the right, which sparkles
in constant sunshine, and supplies tliem with an abun-
dance of salmon and berries; the wicked puss in to the
left and suffer cold and starvation on its bleak, snow-
clad banks.** The Okamigans call paradise, or the
abode of the good spirit, ekmehumkiUanwaist, and hell,
where those who kill and steal go, kishtsanuih. The
torments of the latter place are increased by an evil
spirit in human form, but with tail and ears like a horse,
who jumps al)()ijt from tree to tree with a stick in his
hand and belalx>rs the condemned."

Some among the Salish and Chinooks describe the
happy state as a bright land, called tamath by the latter,
evidently situated in the direction of the sunny south,
and aboiniding in all good things. Here the soul can
revel in enjoyments, which, however, dejMjnd on its
own exertions ; the wealthy, therefore, take slaves with
them to i^erform the menial duties. The wicked on the
other hand are consigned to a desolate region under the
control of an evil spirit, known as the Black Chief, there
to be constantly tantalized by the sight of game, water

" MackentWi Voy., p. cxix; Dunn's Oregon, p. 104,

M Dunn's Oregon, pp. 27'2-3,

•' Roaa' Adven., p, 288; Cox's Adcen., vol. ii., p. 158.

620

FUTUBE STATE.

and fire, which they can never reach. Some held that
tamath was gained by a difficult road called otuihuti,
which lay along the Milky Way, while others believed
that a canoe took the soul across the water that was sup-
posed to separate it from the land of the living.""

The Nez Percys, Flatheads, and some of the Haidah
tribes believed that the wicked, after expiating their
crimes by a longer or shorter sojourn in the land of deso-
lation, were admitted to the abode of bliss. The Hai-
dahs called the latter place keewuck, 'above,' within
which seems to have been a still brighter 8ix)t termed
keewuckkow, ' life above,' the abode of perennial youth,
whither the spirit of the fallen brave took its flight.
Those who died a natural death were consigned with
the wicked to seeumkkow, the purgatorial department,
situated in the forest, there to be purified before enter-
ing the happy keewuck.*^ The Queen Charlotte Island-
ers termed paradise ' the happy hunting-ground, ' a
rather strange idea when we consider that their almost
sole avocation was fishing.^* The Nez Percos believed
also in a purgatory for the living, and that the beavers
were men condemned to atone their sins before they
could resume the human form.** It seems to have been
undecided whether the wives and young children shared
the fate of the head of the family ; the Flatheads ex-
pressed a belief in reunion, but that may have been after
one or all had been purified in the intermediate state.
Those who sacrificed slaves on the grave, sent them
alike with the nmster that died gloriously on the battle-
field, or obscurely in his bed.

The Ahts hold that the soul inhabits at once the heart
and the head of man. Some say that after death it will

M Parker' a Explor. Tour, pp. 235, 246-7; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex.,
vol. v., p. 124; Dunn's Oregon, p. I'iO. The Baliflh and Fend d'Oreilles
believed that the brave vent to the sun, while the bad remained nrar
earth to trouble the living, or ceased to exist. Lord's Nat,, vol. ii., pp. 239-
40. But this is contradicted by other accounts.

*3 Macfle's de8c-rii>tion leaves a doubt whether the keewuck and keewnok-
kow are names for the same heaven, or separate. Vane. M., p. 457.

M Poole's q. Char. lal., p. 320.

u Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 252; Dnnn, Oregon, p. 318, says, ' beavers are a
fallen race of Indians.'

QUAWTEAHT AND CHAYHEB.

521

return to the animal form from which its owner can trace
his descent ; others that, according to rank, disembodied
souls will go to live with Quawteaht or with Chayher.
Quawteaht inhabits a beautiful country somewhere up
in the heavens, though not directly over the earth; a
goodly land flowing with all manner of Indian milk and
honey ; no storms there, no snow nor frost to bind the
rivers, but only warmth and sunshine and abundant
game and fish. Here the chiefs live in the very man-
sion of Quawteaht, and the slain in battle live in
a neighboring lodge, enjoying also in their degree, all
the amenities of the place. And these are the only
doors to this Valhalla of the Ahts ; only lofty birth or a
glorious death in battle can confer the right of entry
here. The souls of those that die a woman's death, in
their bed, go down to the land of Chayher. Chayher
is a figure of flesh without bones — thus reversing our
pictorial idea of the grisly king of terrors — who is in the
form of an old gray-bearded man. He wjinders about
in the night stealing men's souls, when, unless the doc-
tors can recover the soul, the man dies. The country of
Chayher is also called chayher. It resembles a sub-
terranean earth but is every way an inferior country:
there are no salmon there and the deer are wretchedly
small, while the blankets are so thin and narrow as to
be almost useless for either warmth or decoration. This
is why jxjople burn blankets when burying their friends;
they cannot bear that their friend be sent shivering to
the world below. The dead Aht seems to have been
allowed in some cases to roam about on earth in the
form of a jxirson or animal, doing both good and evil, a
belief which induced many to make conciliatory offerings
of food to the dccecised. Some Chinook tribes were
afraid to pronounce the names of their dead lest they
should be attracted and carry off souls. This was es-
pecially feared at the sick-bed, and the medicine-man
had to be constantly on guard with his familiars to frus-
trate such attempts.'^" The Aht sorcerer even sent his

«« Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. vi., p. 619; vol. i., p. 248, of this work.

522

FUTURE STATE.

own soul down to chayher to recover the truant, in
which he generally succeeded, unless the spirit of the
sick man had entered a house." Some amonc the tribes
believed that the soul issued from animals, esixjcially sea-
gulls and partridges, and would return to its original
form. The Songhies said the hunter was transformed
into a deer, the fisherman into a fish ; and the Nootkas,
that the spirit could reassume a human form if the celes-
tial abode were not to its taste.'*

In striking contrast to the preceding beliefs in fu-
turity, and to that of the Clallams, who with universal-
istic feeling believe that the good spirit will receive all,
without exception, in his happy hunting-ground, we are
told that the Pend d'Oreilles had no conceptions what-
ever of soul or immortality, so that the missionaries found
it difficult to explain these matters to them. It is cer-
tainly strange that a tribe surrounded by and in con-
stant contact with others who held these ideas should
have remained uninHuenced by them, especially as they
were extremely superstitious and believed in guardian
spirits and dreams.^ Disbelief in a future state is
assigned to many tribes, which upon closer examina-
tion are shown to possess ideas of a life after this;
such statements must, therefore, be accepted with cau-
tion. Among the Californians who are said to iden-
tify death with annihilation, are the Meewocs and the
tribes of the Sacramento Valley, yet the latter are afraid
to pronounce the name of a deceased person, lest he
should rise from dark oblivion.* But these may be re-
garded as exceptions, the remainder had pretty definite
ideas of futurity, heaven being generally placed in the
west, whither the glorious sun speeds to rest. The

*7 The sorcerer is stated by one native to have brought the soul on ii
small stick and thrown it back into the head of its body. Sprout's Scenes, p.
214. 'The natives often imagine that a bad spirit, which loves to vex and
torment, takes the place of the truant soul during its absence.' Id., pp. 173-
4; IMchings' Cal. Mag., vol. v.. j.. 225.

*8 Mayne's B.C., p. 181; StUil y .^fexl;a)^a, Viage, p. 136; Meares' Voy., p.
270; Ma'cfie's Vane, IsL, p. 457; Sproal's Scenes, pp. 212-3.

» SUvens, in Ind. Aff. Kept., 1854, p. 212; BritUon'a Myths, pp. 233-4; see
note 2.

3<* Johnston, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol., iv., p. 225.

It i

FUTURE OF THE CALIF0RNIAN8.

Northern Californian regarded it as a great camping-
ground, under the charge of the good spirit, wiiere all
meet after death, to enjoy a hfe free from want. But
there were dangers ujwn the road which led to this bliss;
for Omaha, the evil fipirit, hovered near the dying man,
ready to snatch and carry off the soul as soon as ii should
leave its earthly tenement. To prevent such a calamity,
the friends who attended the burning of the bo(iy
shouted and gesticulated to distract the Evil One's ation-
tion and enable the heart, in which the soul resided, to
leap out of the flames and escape to heaven. If the
body was interred, they thought the devil would have
more chance of capturing the heart, which would then \ye
sent back to earth to annoy the living.^^ The natives
near the mouth of Russian River burned their dead to
prevent th jr becoming grizzlies, while those alxjut Clear
Lake supposed that the wicked alone were thus meta-
morphosed, or condemned to wander as spirits.*" Others,
however, who adhered to interment, sought to complete
the cert^mony Itefore night, when the coyote, in which
form the evil spirit probably api^eared, begins to howl,
and for three days they kept up noisy demonstrations
ai d fires at the graves; after that the fate of the soul
was no longci' loubtful. If captured, the good spirit
could redccii: i. with a big knife. It was the belief in
some parts that the deceased remained in the grave dur-
ing the three days, and then proceeded to heaven, where
eartli and sky meet, to become stars, chiefs assuming the
most brilliant forms.^

The bright rivers, sunny slopes, and green forests of
the Euroc paradise are separated from the earth by a
deep chasm, which good and wicked alike must cross on
a thin, slipi^ry pole. The former soon reach the goal,
aided, doubtless, by the good spirit, as well as by the fire
lighted on the grave by mourning friends, but the wicked
man '•!!« to falter unaided along the shivering bridge;

see

31 IMchimjn' Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 438-9; Maefit's Vam. lal., p. 448.

3« I'ow Porno, MS.

3' Ib.i I. .lbs, iu Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 140.

634

FUTUBE STATE.

1 !

and many are the nights that pass before his friends
venture to 'dispense with the beacon, lest the sou) miss
the path, d,nd fall into the dark abyss. Nor does retri-
bution end with the peril \nd anxiety of the passage,
for many are liable to return to the earth as birds, beasts,
and insects. When a Kailta dies, a little bird carries
the soul to spirit-land, but its flight is impeded by the
s'ns of the wicked, which enable? a watching hawk to
overtake and devour the soul.^

The Cahrocs have ti more distinct conception of future
reward and punishment, and suppose that the spirit on
its journey comes to two roads, one strewn with flowers
and leading to the bright western land beyond the great
waters, across which good Chareya doubtless aids it;
the other, bristling with thorns and briars, leading
to a p^ace full of deadly seriients, where the wicked
liinst wander for ever.** The Tolewahs place heaven
behind the sun, wherever that is, and picture hell as a
dark place where souls shiver for ever before the cold
winds, and are harassed by fiends.* The Modocs be-
lieve in a spirit-land, evidently situated in the air above
the earthly home, where souls hover about inciting the
living to good or evil. Merit appears to be measured
by bodily stature, for contemptible woman becomes so
small here that tlie warrior, whose stature is in propor-
tion to his powers, requires quite a number of females to
supply his wants."

Tlie Ukiahs, San61s, and others sprinkle food about the
favorite haunts of the dead. The mother, for instance,
while chanting her mournful ditty over the grave of her
dead babe sprinkles the nourishing milk in the air.*

Many of the Nevada tribes thought that several heav-
ens await the soul, each with a degree of bliss in propor-
tion to the merits of the dead person ; but this Ijelief was
not well defined ; nor was that of the Snakes, who killed

M Poteen' Porno, MS.; Miller'aHfe atnonqgt the Modocs, pp. 241, 249.
'» Powers, in Oi-eWand MontlUy, vol. viii., pp. 43(^1.
M Id., Porno, MS.; thiH vol.," p. 177.
" .\feacham, Relliion of Indiana,
'••• Poteera' Potno, MS.

) friends
sou) miss
oes retri-
passage,
{», beasts,
d curries
td by the
huwk to

of future
spirit on
h flowers
the great

aids it;

leading
i wicked
B heaven
hell as a

the cold
adocs be-
lli r above
iiting the
neasured
comes so
propor-

males to

bout the
nstance,
e of her
»iir»
1 heav-
propor-
blief was
ko killed

1, 349.

METEMPSYCHOSIS IK CALIFORNIA.

the favorite horse, and even wife, for the deceased, that
he might not be lonely.* The Allequas supposed that
before the soul could enter the ever-green prairies to live
its second life, free from want and sorrow, it had expiated
its sins in the form of some animal, weak, or strong, bad
or good, often passing from a lower to a higher grade,
ajiording to the earthly conduct of the deceased. By
eating prairie-dogs and other game, some sought to gather
souls, apparently with a view to increase the purity of
their own and shorten the preparatory term.*" The
San Diego tribes, on the other hand, who considered
large game as the embodied spirits of certain genei'a-
tions, abstained from their flesh, evidently fearing that
such fare would hasten their metamorphosis; but old
men, whose term of life was nearly run, were not de-
terred by these fears.

Ideas of metempsychosis also appear in one of the
songs of a Southern Californian trilje, which runs: As
the moon dies to be relwrn, so the soul of man will be re-
newed. Yet this people professed no belief in a future
reward, or punishment. It is doubtless the same people,
living near Monterey, of whom Marmier says, they sup-
ix)sed that the dead retired to certain verdant isles in
the sea, while awaiting the birth of the infants whose
souls they were to form. Others regarded tbese islands
iis paradise, and placed hell in a mountain chasm.*^

Among the Acagchemems we meet with a peculiar
pantheistic notion. Death was regarded as an invisible
entity constituting the air, which also formed the soul
of man, or his breath, whose particular seat was the
heart. As man became decrepit, his soul was gradually
absorbetl in the element which had originated it, until it
finally became mei'ged and lost therein. But this was
the belief of some only among the tribe. Others sup-

's Vol. 1., pp. 43P-I0, this work; Broiene'a L. Col., p. 188.

- " r,Na-

215-6. '

« Meyer, ffach liem Savmnienlo, pp. 228-9; Set :olcraft'» Arch., vol. T,, pp.

*' ut Perokiae, Voy., torn, ii., p. 307; Martnier, Notke, in Bryant, Vt>y. en
O.I., n. 23H; Mif/M, in Nouvelka AnmUea dea Voy., 1844, toni. ci., pp. 335-
6; jfo/nw. Explor., torn, ii., p. 379-8U.

526

FUTUBE STATE.

'■

i'lii

posed that they would go to tolmec, the abode of the great
Chinigchinich, situated below the earth, abounding in
sensual pleusures, unembittered by sorrow, and where
food and other wants were supplied without labor. Still
others held that Chinigchinich sent the soul, or the
heart, as they expressed it, to different places, according
to the station in life and manner of death of the deceased.
Thus, chiefs and medicine-men, whom Tacu, the eater of
human tlesh, honored by devouring, became heavenly
bodies, while those who died by drowning, or in captiv-
ity, and could not be eaten by Tacu, went elsewhere.
Souls of common people were consigned to some unde-
fined, though evidently happy, place, since they were
obliged to pass a probationary term on the borders of the
sea, on mountains, in valleys, or forests, whence they
came to commune with, or among, their widows or rela-
tives, who often burned or razed the house to be saved
from such visits."

The Mojaves have more liberal ideas and admit all to
sliare the joys of heaven. With the smoke, curling up-
wards from the pyre, the soul rises and floats eastward to
the regions of the rising sun, whither Matevil has gone
before, and where a second earth-life awaits it, free from
want and sorrow. But if its purity be sullied by crime,
or stained with human blood, the soul is trunsfbrmed
into a rat and must remain for four days in a rat-hole
to be purified before Matevil can receive it. According
to some, Matevil dwells in a certain lot\y mountain lying
in the Mojave territory.**

The Pimas also believe that the soul" goes to the east,
to the sun-house perhaps, there to live with Sehuiab,

« Boseam, in linlilnnon'it Life in CcU., pp. 316-24.

*' 'Ives legtti d»m (iebirge ilen Namen: " Berg der TocUen " bei.' J/o/^
houatn, lieinen in dk Felsemjeh., torn, i., pp. 357-H. ' All cowardly IiKlimiM
(nud brnverv wiia the good with them) were tormented with hardHliipa and
fnilureH, sicicneHit nud defentH. This hill, or hndeH, they never daretl viHit.'
Strutton'B Vupt. Oatman (firh, p. 233; Dmlt, in Ind. .\ff. Rept., 1870, p. 129;
Whipple, EuAank, ami TunierH Itept., in Pao. R. R. Rept., vol. iii„ p. 43.

** Estupec, the soul or henrt, may be connected with eep, breatn. Wal-
ker's Pimaa, M8. In Schiiolcraft'a Arch., vol. iii., p. 461, occurs the terr:
angel, bnt the Pima chiofa whom I have questioned stiUe that the term
angel was not known to theos.

FUTUBE OF MABICOPAS, YUMAS, APACHES, MOQUIS. 527

the son of the creator, but this Elysion is not perfect,
for a devil called Chiawat is admitted there, and he
greatly plagues the inmates.** The Maricopaa are stated
in one account to believe in a future state exactly similar
to the life on earth, with all its social distinctions and
wants, so that in order to enable the soul to assume its
proper jxisition among the spirits, all the pro|)erty of the
deceased, as well as a great part of that of his relatives,
is offered up at the grave. But jiccording to Bartlett
they think the dead will return to their ancient home
on the banks of the Colorado, and live on the sand hills.
Here the different pit'-^ of the body will 1^ transformed
into animals, the head, for instance, becoming an owl,
tlie hands, bats, the feet, wolves, and in these forms con-
tiime their ancient feuds with tlu> Yumas, who exi^elled
tliem from that country.*" The Yumas, however, do not
conform to these views, but expect that the good soul
will leave worldly strife for a pleasant valley hidden in
one of the canons of the Colorado, and that the wicked
will be shut up in a dark cavern to be tantalized by the
view of the bliss beyond their reach.*^

The Apjwhes believe in metempsychosis and consider
the rattlesnake as the form to be assimied by the wieked
after death. The owl, the eagle, and jierfectly white birds,
were regarded as j)oss«;ssing souls of divine origin, and
tiie bear was not less sacivd in their estimation, for the
very daughter of Montezuma, whom it had carried off
from her father's houie, was the mother of its race.**
Tlie Motjuis, went so far as to supjwse that they would
return to the primeval condition of animals, plants, and
inanimate objects.*" Tlie faith of the other Pueblo tribes
in New Mexico was more in jiccordance with their cul-
tured condition, namely, that the soul would be judged

« Walker'n Pimas, MS.

*« /Vr.'t. iViir., vol. ii., p. 222; Ciemonu'n Apaches, pi). 104-5. ' Cnnmlo
nuiore vil I'l vivir su uornzou por el niiir liAciit t'l poiiifiitr: (pui al^uiKJH ilea-
piU'H (|iin luuereu vivvn cotno ti>ui>lot»H, v liitiiniinii'iitu dijiToii quo elios uo
.iub«n bieu estiia ooiMii. ' Oarces, Diario, fu Doc. JIM. Alex., iterie ii., tout, i.,
p. 23!'

♦' hay, iu Ikyiperian, vol. iii., p. 482.

** Hmru, iu Schookraft'n Arch., vol. t., p. 200.

« Tvn Urotck, iu Id., vol. Iv., p. 86.

FUTUBE STATE.

immediately after death according to its deeds. Food
ivas placed with the dead, and stones were thrown upon
the body to drive out the evil spirit. On a certain night,
in August it seems, the soul haunted the hills near its
former home to receive the tributes of food and drink
which affectionate friends hastened to offer. Scoffers
connected the disapjiearance of the choice viands with
the rotund form of the priests."

The Navajos expected to return to their place whence
they originated, below the earth, where all kinds of
fruits and cereals, germinated from the seeds lost
above, grow in unrivaled luxuriance. Released from
their earthly bonds the spirits proceed to an extensive
marsh in which many a soul is bemired through re-
lying too much on its own efforts, and failing to ask
the aid of the great spirit; or, perhaps the outfit of
live stock and implements offered at the grave has
been inadequate to the journey. After wandering
about for four days the more , fortunate souls come to
a ladder conducting to the under world; this they
descend and are gliuldened by the sight of two great
spirits, male and female, who sit combing their hair.
After looking on for a few suns imbibing lessons of
cleanliness, jDcrhaps, they climb up to the swamp again
to be purified, and then return to the abode of the
spirits to live in peace and plenty for ever. Some
believe that the bad become coyotes, and that women
turn into fishes, and then into other forms."*

Among the Comanches we find the orthodox Ameri-'
can paradise, in its full glory. In the direction of the
setting sun lie the happy prairies, where the buffalo lead
the hunter in the glorious chase, and where the horse
of the piUe-face aids those who have excelled in scalping
and horse-stealing, to attain supreme felicity. At night
they are permitted to revisit the earth, but must re-
s' Td, p. 78; Domenech's Deatrla, vol. ii., p. 402; Whipple's Rept., in Pm.
R. R. Rrpt., vol. iii., p. GO.

" Ikadle, in Cro/utt's Western World, AuR., 1878, p. 27: BrMd, in Ind.
Aft. Rept., 18C7, p. 358; Eaton, in Schoolcraft's Arch., yoI. iii., p. 218; Davia'
Kl Griwfo, p. 418.

THE BBALM OF HUOCHITA.

turn before the break of day.** In striking contrast
to this idea stands the curious belief said to have been
held by the Periciiis of Lower California. Their great
spirit Niparaya hated war, and to deter his people from
engaging therein, consigned all those slain in battle to
Tuparan or "Wac, a spirit who rising in rebellion against
the peace-loving Niparaya was deprived of all luxu-
ries, and imprisoned in a cave by the sea, guarded by
whales. Yet a number openly professed themselves
adherents of this personage. The Cochimfs, who appear
to have had nearly the same belief, declare that it was
the bad spirits who twught to secure the soul and hold
it captive in the cave. Whatever may be the correct
version, their belief in a future state, says Baegert, is
evident from the custom of putting sandals on the feet
of the dead.**

The souls of the Sonera Indians dwell in the caves
and among the rocks of the cliiTs, and the echoes heard
there are their clamoring voices." ^Ribas declares that
in one part of Sinaloa a future state was ignored, yet
he says that they acknowledged a supreme mother and
her son, who was the first man." In Nayarit we
come upon the Mexican idea of different heavens, de-
teruiined by the mode of death. Thus, children and
those who were carried off by disease went to one place;
those who died a violent death, to the air regions, where
they became shooting stars. The others went to mucchita,
placed somewhere in the district of Rosario, where they
lived under the care of men with shaven heads. During
the day they were allowed to consort with the living,
in the form of flies, to seek food; but at night they
returned to the mucchita to assume the human form

Pao.

In Ind,
iDavia'

M Marcy's Army Hfe, p. 57; Si'hookrnft'H Arch., vo!. v., pp. 54, 086.
Food ia left at the grave for a certain tiiiie;'thiB wonld iudioate that the houI
proiHir, or itit second form, remains with tlie body for a white, fd., pp. 78-9.

>:• Smilhsonian Hept., 1866, p. 387; Chiitiero, Sioria della Cal., torn, i.,
pp. 13G-7, 139.

** Alger's Future TAfe, p. 208. * Lo lli'viin d enterrar Rentado y eon bub
mejorea veHtidoH, iHinienao 4 bu lado compctt nte porciou de bus ordiuarios
alimentos.' Alf/re, Hist. V»mp, d« Juua, torn, ii., p. 218.

u HM. de hs THumphos, p. 18.
Vol. III. M

680

FUTURE STATS.

and pass the time in dancing. At one time they could be
released from this abode, but owing to the imprudence
of one man, this privilege was lost. This person one
day made a trip to the coast to procure salt, leaving
his wife to take care of the house. After a short
absence he returned, in time only to see her disappear
in the mucchita, whither the spirits had beckoned her.
His sorrow was boundless, for he loved his wife dearly.
At last his tears and sighs touched the heart of the
keeper of the souls, who told him to watch for his
wife one night when she appeared in the dance, and
wound her with an arrow: she would then recognize
him and return home; but he warned him not to speak
a loud word, or she would disappear forever. The
man did as he was told, wounded his wife on the leg,
and had the joy to see her return home. Musicians
and singers were called in, and a grand feast was held
to celebrate the event; but, overcome with excitement,
the husband gave vent to a shout of joy. The next
moment the warnmg of the keeper was verified — a
ghastly corpse had taken the place of the wife. Since
then no other soul has been allowed to rejoin the
living."* It is curious to note in how many countries
the doctrine of a future life has been connected with the
legend of some hero who has died, descended into the
under-world, and again risen to life. How closely does
this American legend resemble the old story of Orpheus
and Eurydice; the death and resurrection of the Egyp-
tian Osiris; the Mithraic Mysteries of Persia, in which
the initiated, in dumb show, died and rose again from
the coffin ; the Indian Mahadeva searching for the life-
less Sita, and made glad by his resuscitation ; the re-
covery of Atys by Cybele among the Phrygians ; the re-
turn of Kore to Demeter for half of every year in the
Elusinian Mysteries ; the mock murder and new birth of
the impersonated Zagreus, in the Bacchic Mysteries; the
Metamorphoses in the Celtic and Druidic Mysteries

1* ApoiloHcoa A/ants, pp. 22-1.

EICUT AND YOATOTOWEE.

practiced in Gaul and Britain ; all are different forms of

but one idea.

An equally devoted husband was the Neeahenam

whose story is told by Mr Powers in the following
: — " First of all things existed the moon. The
created man, some say in the form of a stone,

legend
moon

•>

others say in the form of a simple, straight, hairless,
limbless m.issof flewh, lii<e an enormous earth-worm, from
wliich he gradually developed into his present shape.
The first man thus created was called Eicut; his wife,
Yodtotowee. In process of time Yoatotowee fell sick,
and though Eicut nursed her tenderly, she gradually
faded away before his eyes and died. He loved her
with a love passing the love of brothers, and now hia
heart was broken with grief. He dug a grave for her
close beside his camp-fire ( for the Neeshenams did not
burn the dead then), that he might daily and hourly
weep above her silent dust. His grief knew no bounds.
His life became a burden to him ; all the light was gone
out of his eyes, and all this world was black and drenry.
He wished to die, that he might follow his beloved
Yoatotowee. In the greatness of his grief he fell into a
trance, there was a rumbling in the gn)ini(l, and the
spirit of the dead Yoatotowee arose out of her giave and
came and stood bewide him. When he awoke out of his
trance and beheld his wife, he would have spoken to her,
but she forbade him, for in what moment an Indian
Hjxjaks to a ghost he dies. She turned away and set out
to seek the spirit-land { (xjshicooshe koom, literally, 'the
dance-house of ghosts.') Eicut followed her, but tho
ghost turned and said, * why do you follow me ? you tire
not dead.' They journeyed on through a great country
and a darksome — a land that no man has seen and re<
turned to report — until they came to a river that sepa-
rated them from the spirit-land. Over this river thui*e
was a bridge of one small rope, so very narrtw that a
Hpider could hardly cross over it. Here the spirit of
Yoatotowee must bid farewell to her husband and go
over alone into the spirit-land. But the great unspcak-

FUTUBE 81ATE.

able grief of Eicut at beholding his wife leaving him for-
ever overcame his love of life, and he called aloud after
her. In that self-same instant he died — for no Indian
can speak to a ghost and live — and together they entered
the land of spirits. Thus Eicut passed away from the
realm of earth, and in the invisible world became a good
and quiet spirit, who constantly watches over and be-
friends his posterity still living on earth. But he and
his wife left behind them two children, a brother and a
sister ; and to prevent incest the moon created another
pair and from these two pairs are descended all the
Neeshenams of to-day.""

The future abode of the Mexicans had three divisions
to which the dead were admitted according to their rank
in life and manner of death. Glorious as was the fate
of the warrior who died in the cause of his country, on
the battle-field, or in the hands of the enemy's priests,
still more glorious was the destiny that awaited his soul.
The fallen Viking was carried by radiant Valkyries to
Valhalla, but the Aztec hero was borne in the arms of
Teoyaomique herself, the consort of Huitzilopochtli, to
the bright plains of the sun-house, in the eastern part of
the heavens, where shady groves, trees loaded with
luscious fruit, and dowers steeped in honey, vied with
the attractions of vast hunting-jmrks, to make his time
pass happily. Here also awaited him the presents sent
by affectionate friends belevy. — E"Dry Bioiiiiiig wlicii llie
sun set out upon his journey, these bright strong war-
riors seized their weapons'^ and marched before him,
shouting and fighting sham battles. This continued un-
til they reached the zenith, where the sun was trans-
ferred to the charge of the Celestial Women, after which
the warriors dispersed to the chase or the shady grove.

" Thia legend is taken from a MS kindly pregented to me hj Mr. Ste-
phen PowetK, mill in ii correoted yersiuu of the leKeud entitled ' Hilpnieoone
and Olegnnoe ' contributed by the same gentleman to the Ocerkmd Monthly,
January, 1874. pp. 30-1.

M ' El que tenia rodeln horadada de saetaH no podia mirar al sol.' Sahagun,
Hiat. Om., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 265. This mav perhapa mean that the hum-
bler warrior, whose inferior shield was more likely to be pierced, could not
look upon the majestic face of the sun, just as he had been interdicted from
regarding the face of his king.

THE SUN HOUSE AMD TLALOGAM.

688

The members of the new escort were women who had
died in war or child-bed, and livdd in the western pnrt
of the Sun House. Dressed like the warriors in martial
accoutrement,*" they conducted the sun to his home,
some carrying the litter of quetzal feathers in which he
reclined, while others went in front shouting and fighting
gaily. Arrived at the extreme west they transferred
the sun to' the dead of Mictlan, and went in quest of
their spindles, shuttles, baslcets, and other implements
necessary for weaving or household worlc.* The only
other persons who are mentioned as being admitted to
the Sun House, were merchants who died on their jour-
ney. After four years of this life the souls of the war-
riors pass into birds of beautiful plumage, which live on
the honey of flowers growing in the celestial gardens
or seek their sustenance on earth."

The second place of bliss was Tlalocan, the abode of
Tlaloc, a terrestrial paradise, the source of the rivers
and all the nourishment of the earth, where joy reigns
and sorrow is unknown,"' where every imaginable pro-
duct of the field and garden grows in profusion beneath
a perpetual summer sky. This paradise appears to
have been erected on the ideal reminiscences of the
happy Tollan, the cradle of the race, where their fathers

M 'When tho midwife speakn to q woman nuu has died in childbed, she
refers to tho noble manner in which Hhe han used the hwuuI ami Kliield, a
f gure of apeecli which in probably intended to repregeut t.ie high eHtimation
in which they held her.' Id., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 189.

^ ' DcHcendian ac4 A la tierrn.' lb. But it ih iuHt as likely that they used
the weaving implements supplied to them at the grave, as those of the
living. Brasseur do Bourbourg says that the inhabitants of this region had
day when the inhabitiiuts of the earth slept; but since the women resumed
their work after the netting of the sun, it is more likely that they always had
light up there, and that they never slept, llisl. Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 497.

■> The humming-bird, the emblem and attribute of the war-god, offered
on the grave in the month of QuechoUi, probably referred to this transfor-
mation. Sahagun, Hist. Gtn., tom. i., lib., ii., p. 164, lib. iv., pp. 264-5, torn,
ii., lib. vi., pp. 18S-9, lib, ix.. p. 358; Torquemada, Monarq, Ind., tom. ii., p.
530. ' Nachner wenien sio theils in Wolken verwandelt, theils in Kolibris.'
JftU/fr, Amerikanisolie Urreiifiionen, p. 661. The transformation into cloads
seems to refer to the Tlascaitecs.

*' Tlaloenn is the name given by some old writers to the country between
Chiapas and O.ijaca. Hraaseur de liourbmtrg. Hint. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 49C;
Brinton'H .Mi/lhK, pp. 88-9. It may also be the place referred to under the
names of lamoancha, Xuchitlyoa^an. Explanation of the Codtx TtlleHana-
Bemmaia, in Kingaborowjh's Mt». AKtiq. , vol. vi., p. 127.

584

FDTDBE STATE.

reveled in richess and splendor. To this place went
those who had been killed by lightning, the drowned,
those suffering from itch, gout, tumors, dropsy, leprosy
and other incurable diseases. Children nltso, at least
those who were sacrificed to the Tlalocs, played about
in its gardens, and once a year they descended among
the living in an invisible form to join in their festi-
vals." It is doubtful, however, whether this paradise
was perpetual, for according to some authors the dis-
eased stayed here but a short time, and then passed
on toMictlan; while the children, balked of their life
by death or sacrifice, were allowed to essay it again.**
The third destination of the dead, provided for those
who died of ordinary diseases or old age, and, accord-
ingly, for the great majority, was Mictlan, ' the place of
the dead,' which is described as a vast, pathless place, a
land of darkness and desolation, where the dead after
their time of probation are sunk in a sleep that knows
no waking. In addressing the corpse they spoke of this
phicc of Mictlan as a 'most ob.«icure land, where light
Cometh not. and whence none can ever return.'*" There
are several points, however, given by Sahagun, as well
as other writers, which tend to modify this aspect of
Mictlan. The lords and nobles seem even here to have
kept up the barriers which separated them from the con-
taminating touch of inferiors, and doubtless the good
and respectable were classed apart from low miscreants
and criminals, fur there were nine divisions in Mictlan,
of which Chicohnahuimictlan or Ninth-Mictlan, was the

« Vol. ii., p. 336, this work.

•♦ MemlieUt, Illst. Edes., p. 97; Torquemada, Monnrq. 2nd., torn, il., pp.
82, 52tf . The remarkd of the above anthers with referenc/ to those who Aw
of diseases mav, however, refer to sufferers from ordinary afflictions, who
were from all doomed to Mictlan. In Explanut'um of the Codex Vativanva, in
Kim/aborough'a Mfx. Aniiq., vol. vi., pp. 169-71, nil who die of diseases and
a violent death are consigned to Mictlan. Brinton's Mytha, pp. 246-7; Alger's
Future Life, pp. 475-6. ('hevalier, Mex. Ancien el Mod., p. 91, who regards
the sun as heaven, and Mictlan na hell, considers this an intermediate and
incomplete paradise. Saha^n, Hist. (Jen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 264; Clavigero,
Storia AnI. del MeasUso, tom. ii., p. 5.

» Sahanun, Jlia. Oen., tom. i.. lib. iii., pp. 260-1, tom. ii.. lib. vi., p. 176;
Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 529; Jiranncur de BouVhmtrg, Hisl.
N<U. Civ., tom. iii., p. 671; Tetotomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. av:9, 331.

MIOTLAN.

535

Abode of the Aztec Pluto and his Proserpine. This name
seems also to have been applied to the whole region,
meaning then the nine Mictltins."' The different idol-
mantles in which the dead person was attired, deter-
mi>^ed by his profession and by his manner of death,
wculd imply that different gods hiul control of these
divisions.*' Whatever distinction there may have been
wjvs kept up by the humbler or richer offerings of food,
clothing, implements, and slaves, made at the time of the
burial, at the end of eighty days, and on the first, second
third, and fourth anniversary of the death ; all of which
went before Mictlantecutli before being turned over to
the use of the person for whom they were destined.*" In
one place Sahagun states that four years were passed in
traveling before the soul reached Mictlan, and on another
page he distinctly implies that this term was passed
within that region, when he says that the dead awoke
from their sleep as the sun reached the western horizon,
and rose to escort it through their land; Torquemada
says that four days were occupied in the journey.'" The
only way to reconcile these statements is by sup[)osing
that the soul passed from one division to another, until
it fnially, at the end of the four years, reached Mictlan
proper, or Ninth-Mictlan, and attained reix)se. Their
duties during this term consisting in escorting the sun,
and working like their happier brethren in the Sun
House, besides passing a certain time in sleep. The fact
that the people besought the dead to visit them during
the festival in their honor, implies that they were within
Mictlan, though their liberty there, at that season,

^ Id., p. 320. ' Le plus commnn est Chiucnauh-Micllan, les Neuf Bejonrs
(Ics Mort8.' Jiriisseurde Jiourbiiurti, //uf(. iV(/(. Cii:., toiu. iii., p. 495; Mendiela,
Hint. Kcka, p. 1(7; Sahuiivn, /llst.Ofn., toiii. i., lib. iii., p. 263.

*' This st'eins aUotobo theidcaof GomarA, f'oii*/. Mex. fol. 308-9, although
he makes the heavens distinct from one another, and includes the Sun House
and Tlalocan in the list.

<» Sahaqun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., p. 106, lib. iii., p. 263.

<» Mondrg. 7m/., torn, ii., p. 622. The fact thnt ottcrings and prayers
were kept np for four dnys by the mourners, contiruis this stittoment. Saha-
(jun. Hist. Uen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 203, torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 189. 'Until
koiiIh had arrived at the destined i)lace »t the ex])iratiou of thiso four years,
thny had to encounter much hardship, cold, and toil.' Explanation of the Codex
TiUerianO'Iiementna, in Kingaborough'a Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 96.

! I

686

FUTUBB STATE

at least, was not so very restricted. 'As they helped to
escort the sun, we must suppose that they also enjoyed
the blessings of sunshine while terrcntrial 1km ngs slept,
and the expression of Tezozomoc, a place where none
knows whether it be night or day, a place of eternal
rest,' must refer to those only who have passed the time
of probation, and lapsed into the final sleep. It may be
however, that the sun was lustreless at night, for Ca-
margo states that it slept after its journey.''*' If so, the
dim twilight noticed among the northern people, or the
moon, the deity of the night, must have replaced the
obscured brightness of the sun, if lights indeed were
needed, for the escort and the workers could scarcely
have used artificial illumination. The route of the sun
further indicates that Mictlan was situated in the anti-
podean regions, or rather in the centre of the earth, to
which the term ' dark and pathless regions' also applies.
This is the supposition of Clavigero, who bases it on the
fact that Tlalxicco, the name of Mictlantecutli's temple,
signifies center or bowels of the earth.' " But Sahogun
and others place it in the north, and support this asser-
tion by showing that Midlampa signified north.'* The
fiict that the people turned the iace to the north when call-
ing upon the dead," is strongly in favor of this theory ;
the north is also the dark quarter. These apparently con-
tradictory statements may be reconciled by supposing
that Mictlan was situated in the northern part of the
subterranean regions, as the home of the heroes was in
the eastern part of the heavens.

As the warrior in the Sun House passes after four

w Hist. Vnx, in Nmtvelles Annales dea Voy., 1843, toiii. xcviii., p. 193;
Tetotomoc, Hist. Mex., torn, i., p. 331. 'When the snn fiets, it goes to give
light to the dead.' Explanation of (he Codex TtUeriano-Iiemensia, in KiiujH-
borough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 128.

71 Storia Ant. dvl Mensico. tuui. ii., p. 6. Tlalxicco may be considered aa
hell proper, and dixthict from Mictlan, and may have been ruled over by
Tzontemoc who mast then be regarded as distinct from Mictlantecutli. Kinya-
borough's Mux. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 219.

T< Mictlampaehecatl, the north-wind, is said to come from hell. Sahaijun,
H\M. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 263, 256-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn,
ii., p. 81.

" Explanation of the Codex VtUioanua, in Kingrhorough'g Mex. Antiq., vol.
vi., pp. 218-9.

THE JOUBNEY OF THB DEAD.

587

four

p. 193;
to give
Kiivjs-

ered as

>ver by

Kinya-

jhaijun,
., torn.

\q., vol.

years of perfect enjoyment into a seemingly less happy
state, so the Mictlan probationer appears to have aban-
doned his work for a condition of everlasting repose."
This condition is already indicated by the very signifi-
cation of the name Mictlan, ' place of the dead,' and by
the preceding statements; it also implied by the myth of
the creation of man, wherein the god-heroes say to
Xolotl : Go beg of Mictlantecutli, Lord of Hades, that he
may give the a bone or some ashes of the dead that are
with him."

I will now revert to the terrible four days' jour-
ney,™ which those who were unfortunate enough to
die a peaceful death had to perform before they could
attain their negative happiness. Fully impressed with
the idea of its hardships, the friends of the deceased
held it to be a religious duty to provide him with a full
outfit of food, clothing, implements, and even slaves, to
enable him to pass safely through the ordeal. Idols were
also deposited by his side, and if the dead man were a
lord, his chaplain was sent to n**«»nd to their service.
This maintenance of worship during the journey is also
implied by the sprinkling of water upon the ashes with
the words: Let the dead wash himself." The officiating
priests, laid, besides, passports with the body, which
which were to serve for various points along the road.
The first papers passed him by two mountains, which,
like the symplegades, threatened to meet and crush him
in their embrace. The second was a pass for the road
guarded by a big snake; the other papers took him by
the green crocodile, Xochitonal, across eight deserts, and
over eight hills. Then came the freezing itzehecaya,

'>* 'Despnes de pasftdos cvatro anos, el difunto He sal fa y se iba A log

nueve iufiernos en este lugar del infiemo que se llaniaba ChicunaviirUa,

KB acubaban y feneciau los difuntos.' Sahanun, illst. Oen., torn, i., lib. iii., p.
2(i3; Bee also note K. At the end of four years the houIm came to a place
where they enjoyed a certain degree of repose. Explanation of the Codex Vati-
cunus, in Kinfisboroiigh's .Vex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 218.

7i This vol., p. 5'J: soe aUo, pp. 296-402.

n Bee not 1'2. Fonr was the most sacred nnmber among the Mexicans as
well as the other nations of America, and is derived from the adoration of
the cardinal points. Brinton's Myths, p. 67. The Central Americans bulieveU
that the soul arrived at its destination in four days after death.

ii Hahiigun, Uiat. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 263.

FUTUBE STATE.

* wind of knives,' which hurls stones and knives upon
the traveler, who now more than *jver finds the oiferings
of his friends of service. How the poor houI escaped this
ordeal is not stated. Lastly he came to the broad river
Chiconahuapan 'nine water?,' which could be crossed
only upon the back of a dog of reddish color, which was
killed for this purposes by thruMting an arrow down its
throat, and was burnt with the corp^^e. ^Vccording to
Gomara, the dog served for a gaide to Mictlan, but other
authors state that it preceded its master, and when he
arrived at the river, he foiuid it on the opjwsite bank,
waiting with a number of cithers for their owners. A»
soon as the dog recognized its master, it swam over, and
bore him safely across the rushing current. A cotton
string tied round its neck when placed uj)on the pyre
may have served to distinguish it from other dogs, or as
a passiwrt.™ The traveler was now taken before Miot-
lantecutli, to whom he presented the passports together
with gifts consisting of candlewood, perfume-canes, soft
threads of plain and colored cotton, a piece of cloth, a
mantle and other articles of clothing, and was thereupon
assigned to his sphere. Women underwent the same
ordeal.™ Camargo mentions a paradise above the nine
heavens, occupied by the goddess of love, where dwarfs,
fools, and hunchbiicks danced nnd sang for her amuse-
ment, but whether these beings were of human or divine
origin is not Htsited.* At times the old chroniclers con-
sider Mictlan as a place of punishment,"*' but the priests

" ' I'oiir qn'il no filt \m» ontratne en travmant le Styx indion.' Jiiarl,
Ti'ire 7'eMi/K'VnV, p. 'JHO; Oomtirn, Com]. Mfx.. fol. 'MYd. 'Lim purn's do pclo
blimco y negro, no podiikn nmlar y puHor «1 rio, poniii«di/.(|ii(> dcciii il purro
do j)elo nef{ro: "yo mt> liiht' " yd pcrro do pclo hYuico dfoiit: " yo m»i he
iniinchndo du color prieto, y por <'ho no piiedo pitHiti'im" Molitnixnto el ]>erru
du pelo verinojo potiiii piHir. ' Saliaiiiiii, Hist. Oeii., toni. i., lili. iii., p. 2(iU.

19 Suhwiun, II'imI. den., toni. i., lib. iii., pp. '2(i(>-4; Tnrqueimuln, Monart/.
Iiiil., torn, ii., pp. r>28-;j(); Cluriii'ro, Storia Ant. del JUensico, torn, ii., pp. 5-ti;
vol. ii., jip. (M):i r.», of tliiH work.

•« Hist. Tlux., i" ■.'■nireUrs Aunales des Voy., ISIS. torn, xrix., pp. 192-3.

*! 'Tcnian por eierio, tj\ii! en el inflerno hubiiin do iiudi'cer diversuH penan
conforine A In calidnd de Ioh delitoH.' Mt^«lMn, Hist, kihs., j). M;t. ' Entitn-
cnn todoH HcrAn riMtigndoH ccmforine h 81ih obniH.' .Sahw/un, IHkI. (iVn., toin.
ii., lib. vii., pp. ;i«>-7; Torq\i>-m<ul(i. Moiutrq. /»»/., toni. ii., p.8(». ' 11h I'tiiient
plongeH dunH nne obMnurito profondc, livri'ii & leurs reinordH.' t'ltrnalier.
Mux. Ancitn ft Hod, p. 91.

-f

THE FUTURE OP THE TLASCALTECS.

880

in their homilies never appear to have urged rejientance
for the purpose of escaping future punishment, but merely
to avoid earthly inflictions, visited upon them or their
children.** The philanthropist whose whole life had
been one continuous act of benevolence, the wise prince
who had lived but for his country s good, the saintly her-
mit, the pious priest who had passed his days in per-
petual fasts, penance, and self-torture, all were consigned
to Mictlan, together with the drunkard, the mur-
derer, the thief, and none were exempt from the terrible
journey, or from the long probation which ends in eternal
sleep. They may have accounted to themselves for the
manifest unfairness of this system by means of their
belief in predestination, which taught that the sign under
which a man was born detormined to a great extent, if
not entirely, his character, career, and consequently his
future.** Mictlan cannot, therefore, be regarded as a hell ;
it is but a place of negative punishment, a Nirvana, in
which the soul is at last blown out and lost.**

The Tlascaltecs sup[x>Ked that the souls of f^jople of
rank entered aflcr death into the bodies of the higher
animals, or even into clouds and gems, while common

M 'Pndeeen por Ioh pecadost de sws padren.' Sah'i<nw, TIM- Oen., torn, ii.,
lib., vi., p. 3(i. Their prayers iind peuanceit, Hayit Aoimtii, were merely on
account of cornoriil inflictions, for ttier certiiiuly feared ud inuiiHlinient in
the world to come, but expected that all would rcHt there. //tit(. dt tits Ynd.,
p. 3H3. * In the dentiuy they asMigned to the wicked, we diHcern Hiniilar
tracea of reflnement; Hinct! the almconce of all physical torture foruiM a strik-
ing contraat to the nchenieH of Hufftiring no ingeniouttly devised by (he fancies
of the moat enlightened natioua. In all this, s<> contrary to tlm natural
Buggestiona of the ferocious Aztec, we aeu the cvidtiices of a higher civiliza-
tion, inlierited from their predeceaBora in th< land.' I'rtitcoU'ii JJex., vol. i.,
pp. 62-3.

M Saltagun, //J.i< <fen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. •.■(>7, et i. q.

^ The reader who thinks u{)on the subject ui ail, cai 'ot help being struck
by the remarkable resemblance in some pointK Ix (wi'm thvMi future abo<lea
of the Mexicans and those of the ancient (ji-ccks and Komana. The I rem-
bliiig soul lias^o pass over the same dreadf. 1 vivcr, firiicd by u brute Charon.
In Hades ua in Mictlan, the condition of the tleml was a Hhudowy sort of ap-
parent life, in which, mere ghosts «if tiieir fnnner selvs, they coiitiiiued
dreamily to perform the labors and carry on the occuitalioiiH to which tliey
had been accustomed on earth. In (ire<'<;e aw in Me\ici>, the shades of the
dead were o<'casionaily permitted to visit their fi lends on earth, summoned
bv a sacrifice and religious ritea. Neither Elysion nor the glorioua Knn
House was the reward <>f the purely good an much as of tlie favorites of the
gods. Such points of resemblance as thette are, how.'ver, unnoticed by those
who theorize concerning the origin of the Amerii.'uim; they go further for
analogies, and perhaps fare worac.

540

FUTUBE STATE.

I It

souls passed into lower animal forms." With the Mexi-
cans they believed that little children who died were
given another trial of eai th-life." In Goatzacoalco the
bones of the dead were ho placed that the soul might
have no difficulty in finding them." In the Aztec crea-
tion-myth we have seen that out of bone man was
formed, and Brinton considers this, together with in-
stances of the careful preservation of reuiains to be
noticed in different parts of America, evidence of a wide-
spread belief that tlie soid resided in the bones. This
receives further confirmation in the Quiche legend which
relates that the bones of certain heroes were ground to
powder to prevent their removal.'* Yet the idea does not
accord with the Mexican custom of placing « stone
between the lips of the dead to serve as heart, and,
doubtless, to hold the soul as the Quiches supposed.
Either instance, however, implies a belief in .several
souls, although no reference is made to such plurality.
The TlasaltecH had guardian spirits which were em-
bodied in the idols called tepicfoton, and (^unargo iimmi-
tions angels who inhabited the air and intiuenccd thun-
der, winds, and other phenomena, and who wpi"« doubt-
less the children of Tlalocan.™ A devil tliey could
scai-cely have had, for evil mingled too liberally in thr
nature of most of the Mexican gods to admit of its |>f>r-
sonification by one alone. The nearest appixMich to (hmt
Satan was to lie found in a phantom called Tlacate(!<>l<jtl,
the 'owlish one'"" who roame<l alx>ut doing mischief;
to see an owl was accordingly held to be an evil sign,
and much drejuled. Will o' the wisps were regarde«l as
transformed wiztirds and witches, or animals.'*' The
Tlascaltecs sup[x>.sed that the sparks which s^xtd away

** Ciavii/ero, Slnria Ani. dtl Metsieo, torn, il., p. 0; Mftuliftu, UUi. Eclm.,
p. 97.

•« Ali/fr's Ftdwr lAff, pp. 475-fl.

« Utrrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ir., I'b. ix., can. tII.

•• Mifthn, p. 25M; iinixiwiir nV Rimrbouni, I'opol Vuh, p. 176.

« Hint. Tliix., in MwieWM AnntUm den Voy., 1843, torn, xoviii., p. 192;
Torq^temadii . Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., P. M-

*> Ttripinmda, Monarq. Ind., p. 81. ' TlHoateoolotl, demonio o dinblo.'
Molina. Diiftionario.

.

FUTTTBE OF THE OTOIUB, IIIZTEGS, AND MATAS.

541

from the craters of volcanoes were the souls of tyrants
sent forth by the gods to torment the people."

The Otomfs believed that the soul died with the
body,®^ while the Tarascos, according to Herrera, admit-
ted a future judgment, with its accompaniments of
heaven and hell, but to judge from their burial customs,
with immolation of attendants, term of mourning, and so
forth, it would appear that tliey had the same belief as
the Aztecs.®*

The Miztecs placed the gates of paradise within the
cavern of Chalcatungo, and the grandees of the kingdom
were therefore eager to be buried within its precincts,
in order to be near tlje aljode of bliss. The Zapotecs
placed the heavenly portals within the cave of Mictlan.
Their heaven must accordingly have been situated with-
in the earth, although the custom of placing the dead
with their feet towards the east indicates that it lay to-
ward the sunny morning land. The common people at
least seem, like the Aztecs, to have been required to pass
a probationary term Ix^fore entering the holy place, and
during this * "''mI they weiH? jiermitted to visit their
I'riends on e jnce a year, and partake of the repast

spread for them. The Zapotecs gave as a reason for in-
terring the dt'jid, that tliose who were burned failed to

rear-b beavt'n.

The Mayas iK'ln-ved in a plaee of everlasting de-
light, wluM'e the gcxxl should recline in voluptuous rejwse
beneath the sluwle of the yaxch^,^ indulging in dainty

" 'The itihftbitnntu Huppow*- kinf^en (who, whn(> they MnoA. (fnunrned
amifwp) to hitue ii teiiipornry tibondft there Wing conip«niuuH with diut^lH
iiiuiiiiXf those flttnieH, where they inB> purge the f'>ule HputH of their wicked-
uexH*'.' /V/er Murtyr, dec. v., Hb. ii.

'" I'laii'jcro, Stor'ut Ani lei Messico, Um\. ii., p. 4: MtntiMa, Hist. Erks.,
p. sm.

'•" Hint. Hen., dec. iii., h»/ iii.,eap. x.; V<ifh<ijnl Knpinom Hkt. Mtx., ioui.
i., p. 'i^i; vol. ii., pp. O'iO i. of thiH work.

»> Hufiim, Groq. Ihsciip., toin il., fol. 230-1, toiii. i., fol 159-61; Claii-
ijero, StnrUt Ant. ild .Iffiwico, toiii. ii., p. fi; Kxplanation of the <'itdtx TelkrUino-
Hemfimla, in h'iiii/sliorninih's Sfrx Aniui,, vol. vi., p. iki; Id., Codex yaticmtUH,
]>. '21H; vol. ii.. p;i. (i'2'2 t, of tliiH wurK.

*• ' Le KiLr'Ac'. cpii HJ^nille nrbre vert, ent probnbletiieut l« niAme jne le
timaraitte ou lonaiKuquahuUI, urW an troue puiiMiint et eleve. an fenilltvxe
imuieuae, maiH menu et uerre, dout la b«aut«' et roxtrAuie fratuheur hii out

64a

FUTURE STATE.

food and delicious drinks. Those who died by hanging
were especially sure of admittance to this paradise, for
their ^xldess Ixtab carried them thither herself, and
many enthusiasts committed suicide with this cx|K>cta-
tion. The wicked, on the other hand, descended into
Mitnal," a sphere below this, where hunger and other
torments awaited them. Cacao money was laid with
the body to pay its way, and frequent offerings of food
were made, but the funeral was not proceeded with un-
til the fifth day, when tiie houI had entered its sphere.
A trace of metempsychosis may be noticed in the suixjr-
stitious belief that sorcerers transformed people into ani-
mals."

Whether the Quichc^s believed in a future reward and
punishment is uncertain, for on the one hand we are
told that Xibalba, which implies a place of terror, was
theii hell, where ruled two princes l)earing the sugges-
tive names of One Death and Seven Deaths; while, on
the other hand, the sacrifice of slaves and other objects,
implies a negative punishment. A gentle, unwnrlike
tribe of Guateuiala is said to have had a belief similar
to that of the Pericuis, namely that a future life was ac-
corded to those only who died a natural death, and,
therefore, they left the Ixxlies of the slain to l)ea.sts and
vultures."* The Pipiles ap^Hiar to have looke»l forward to
the same future alxxles as the Mexicans, and to the
same dreadful journey after death. During the four
days and four nights that the soul was on the roiul, the
mourners wailed <leeply, probably with fear for its
safety, but on the fifth day, when the priest announced
that it had reached the goal, the lamentation ceased.
During this time also, the mother whose infant had de-

fait (lonner le noin d'arbru dc lit vie.' UrasMur ik Bourbounj, in Landa, livla-
eion, p. 'i.M.

*7 An evident corrnpti m of Mictlun,

** ' Desian Re lo (i>l dif unto ) iivin llcvado cl diablo pnrqno del pcnxavan
lei venian Ioh malvR todim y expecial \,\ niucrto.' Ijdmla, llflnrUm. p. l'.NI,,
108-202; Cof/olludo, IliM. Y'w., p. 1 1'2; Hraimur de Bmr'ntHnj, llisl. Sat.
Viv., torn, ii., pp. 62-3; CarrUto, in Aftx. Sttc. UetHi., Jioletin, 'Jda upoca, torn,
iii., pn. tKiS-O.

*> Brinlon'a Mijtkn, p. 240; RrMMur d« Himrf>ourij, Popol I'^ik, pp. Ixxlx.-
Ixxx., oxxviii.-oxxs; yoI. ii., p. 79)), of tbiii work.

FUTUBE OF THE NIOABAOUANS.

543

nnd,
t.s and
v'jvrd to
to the
e four
ul, the
or its
unccd

de-

I, Itela-

hcnxnvun

p. liHI,.

tint. Sat.

|ca, torn.

Uxiz.-

parted withheld the milk from all other children, lest
the thirsty little wanderer should he angry, and smite
the usurper.** The probationary routine of the spirits
appears to have called them to the earth at intervals, for
a legend of the isles of Lake Ilopango recounts that at
certain times of the year spectre barks glide in silence
over the tranquil waters of the lake, anointing every
island from the least to the greatest, offering U[)on each
to some bloody divinity of past times a human victim,
an infant chosen by lot.*"

The same view of futurity was taken by the Nicara-
guans, who thought that the souls**" of slain warriors
wont to the sunrise regions,* the abode of Tamagostat
and ('ipattonal, who welcomed them with the title of
'our children.' Jiut all the good, that is those who had
obeyed and reverenced the gods, were admitted here,
whether warriors or not, and strong must have been
their faith in the bliss that awaited them, for the
virgins, says Andagoya, who were cast as ofterings into
the seething lava streams of the volcano met their fate
without fear.*"* The wicked were doomed to annihila-
tion in the abode of Miquetanteot.*"* Infants who died
before they were weaned returned to the house of their
parents to Ije cared for, evidently in spirit Ibrm.** The
Mosquitos l)elieve in one heaven only, and this is ojx»n to
all; for it they prepare at the very beginning of life by
tying a little bag of seeds round the neck of the infant,
wherewith to pay the ferriage across the groat river l)o-
yond whicli paradise lies.**' In and alx)ut Veragua death

>o« ralrtcio, Carta, pp. 76-8.

"•' IhiUfus itml Mont'Serral, Voy. ffc'o/o ,1711c, p. 12.

>M Viitiit or yi(/i(i durived from yoli, tu livi! iti diHtinct from heart, yoVntli.
limchmnnn, Ortniuimen, p. 150. Yi-t the hciirt wim ovidi'iitly couhidcrtil im
tlio Ht>ut of tliu Niiul, fur Home IndiaiiH Htitcd that 'I'l conicoii vi\ iirriba,'
whilootbcra exiilainud that by thU wau meant the bruulh. Ociedu, Ilinl. (Jen.,
torn. iv.. pp. Ai'H.

iw Attoarref ', ('<tl. de Viaijeg, tom, iii., n. 415.

*M (lorreHpondiiiK to the kitvo Mictlaiitocutli. It is not qviito clear
whether all ii^rccd upon total annihilation in thiH place.

"•' ' Hin do reHn^'ilar d tornar ii eaHa du sus padr«>H, e »us padri's Ioh co-
noRoqran t'oriarAn.' Ovirdo, ll'ml. (?>»., torn, iv., pp. 41, 43 9; Hrinlnn s .)/y(/ui,
pp. 145, 235; flcfwuenr </« Hourbounj, Hist. Sot i"n\. t«>ni. ii , pp. li:i 4.

«^' Dell adds that thU ferriase money wan (irovided limt the cnild ' ahould
dieyouns.' Offurin)^ are aUo placed ui)Outh«({rav«. Ijjnd. Oeoij. Soc., Jour.,
vol. xzxii., pp. '254-5.

FUTUBE STATE.

means annihilation, and no food is left for the dead. In
some places the dying are carried out to the woods and
abandoned to wild beasts.'" In Costa Rica and Darien
slaves and even wives arc sacrificed that their souls
may serve their lords in heaven.**

Writing on the customs of Dabaiba, Peter Martyr
says: ' They are such simpje men, that they know not
how to call the soule, nor vnderstand the power thereof:
whereupon, they often talk among themselues with ad-
miration what that inuisible and not intelligible essence
might bee, whereby the members of men and brute
beastes should be moued : I know not what secret thing
they say, should Hue after the corporall life. That ( 1
know not what ) they beleeue that after this peregrina-
tion, if it liued without spott, and reserued that masse
committed vnto it without iniury done to any, it shoulde
goe to a certayne soternall felicity : contrary, if it shall
suffer the same to be corrupted with any filthy lust,
violent rapine, or raging furie, they say, it shall finde a
thousande tortures in rough and vnpleasant places vnder
the Center: and speaking these things, lifting vpp their
the handes they shewe the heauens, and after that casting
right hand down, they poynt to the wombe of the
earth ' ! Their belief in a future punishment he further
illustrates by relating that * the thicke spott scene in the
globe of the Moone, at the full, is a mann, and they be-
leeue hee was cast out to the moyst, and colde Circle of
tlie Moone, that hee might perpetually bee tormented
betweene those two passions, in suffering colde, and moys-
ture, for incest committed with his sister.'"*

The following myths, for which I am indebted to the
kindness and industrious investigation of Mr Powers,
having come to hand too late for insertion in their

107 < They sappom tbat men do naturally line and die aa other beastea do.'
Peier Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv.

108 ' Aquel humo ibn donde eataba el ituima de aquel defunto .... en el oielo,
y que en el humo iba allA.' Andagttya, in Xavarrttt, Vol. de Viagea, torn, iii.,
p. 402; Herrera, Ilial. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap.
T.; Oomara, IKal. Ind., fol. 866; Oviedo, Mat, Gen., torn, iii., p. 143.

io» Dec. vii,, lib. x.

THE COYOTE'S ELOPEMENT.

6tf

proper places I avail myself of the opportunity to give
them here: — There dwells, say the Neeshenams, upon the
hills and in the forests, a ghost named Bohem Ciilleh,
which is at once man and woman. It is a bad spirit, but
nevertheless a useful one to those who seek its aid, and
these are mostly bad people. Sometimes in the night its
wierd eldritch cry is heard m the forest, and then some
woman about to be overtaken in dishonest childbirth goes
out into the woods alone, with her shame and her pmgs
upon her, and having brought forth, presently returiin,
crying and lamenting that the wicked ghost met and
overcame her and that she has conceived of the spirit.
Or perhaps it is a man who has wrought an evil thing
who makes this bad spirit responsible for his wickedness.
Either a man or a woman wandering alone in the forest
is exposed to the enticements of the ghost Bohem Ciilleh,
to commit fornication with it.

'The Coyote's Elopement ' forms the subject of another
Neeshenam tale. It is as follows — The coyote and the
bat were one day gathering the sofl-slielled nuts of the
sugar pine, when there came along two women-deer
(the only way they have of expressing ' female deer ' ),
who were the wives of pigeons. The coyote, upon this,
took a handful of pitch and besmeared the bat's eyes so
that it could not see. The p(X)r bat was totally blinded,
but it called upon the wind to blow, and its eyes were
opened a little, as we sei^ them to-day. Meantime the
rascally coyote eloped with the two women-deer. Hut
it was not long before they came to a bridge so extremely
narrow that they could not pass over it. Just then there
came along a quail, and he took the two women-deer
and led them across, leaving the bigamous coyote in the
lurch. No sooner had they crossed than the sister of
the pigeons took the quail away to his mother's camp,
and thus the women-deer were set at liberty, and re-
covered by their husbands, the pigeons.

"In this story," says Mr Powers, " Jis in many others,
we hare something analogous to the were-wolves and
swan-maidens of the medieval legends. It also illustrates

Vol. UI. W

FUTUBE STATE.

the Indian belief in the common origin of all animals.
Their favorite theory is, that the man originated from the
coyote, and the woman from the deer. Wherefore this
story probably gives us a glimpse of the first courtship
recorded of the human race, when the animals had so
developed, strictly in accordance with the Darwinian
programme, that man was about to appear upon the
scene. The failure of the coyote's elopement delayed
that auspicious event a little while."

Another Neeshenam legend relates that there was
once a medicine-man who possessed the wonderful faculty
of turning himself into a bear for a brief season. When
one of his patients was extremely ill, and, according to
custom, he sucked him to extract the injurious matter,
he would presently be seized with a spanm. Falling
upon all fours, he would find his hands and feet sprawled
along the ground in plantigrade fashion, his nails would
grow long and sharp, a short tail would sprout forth,
hair would spring up all over his body, in short he would
become a raging, roaring bear. When the spasm had
passed away, he would return to the human form.

According to yet another Neeshenam tradition, there
lived long, long ago a very terrible old man, whose chief
delight it was to kill and devour Indians. He had stone
mortars in which he pounded the flesh to make it tender
for eating. Far down on the Sacramento plains, thirty or
forty miles away, he and his wife lived together, and
Around their wigwam the blood of Indians lay a foot
deep. The Indians all made war on them and tried to
kill them, but they could do nothing against them.
Then at last the Old Coyote took pity dn the Indians
whom he had created, and he determined to kill this
old man. He was accustomed to go into the great round
dance-house when the Indians were assembled within
it, and slay the chief. So the Old Coyote dug a deep
hole just outside the door, and hid himself in it, armed
with a big knife. The knife was just on a level with the
ground, and when the old man came along, going into
the dance-house, he saw it, and gave a kick at it, but

SHASTA LEGENDS.

limals.
om the
ire this
iirtship
had so
•winian
)on the
ielayed

ire was
L faculty

When
•ding to

matter,

Falling
jprawled
Is would
lit forth,
lie would
asm had

m, there
ose chief
ad stone
it tender
hirty or
ler, and
a foot
tried to
it them.
Indians
ill this
it round
within
^ a deep
, armed
ith the
|ing into
it it, but

did not notice the Coyote, who immediately jumped out
of his hole, ran into Uie dance-house, and killed the old
man.

This story, Mr Powers thinks probably refers to some
long extinct race of cannibals who were superior in
power to the present race. "To them," he says, ''may
be assigned the stone mortars found in so many parts of
California, which the Indians now living here confes-
sedly did not make. Others account for these stone
mortars by saying they were made by the chief of the
spirits, Haylin Kakeeny, and his subordinates."

The following queer l^nds are, on the indisputable
authority of Mr Powers, of Shasta origin : The world
was created by Old Groundmole, ididoc, a huge animal
that heaved creation into existence on its back, by
rooting underneath somewhere. When the flood came
it destroyed all animals except a squirrel, as large as a
bear, which exists to this day on a mountain called by
the Shastas, Wakwaynuma, near Happy Camp.

A long time ago there was a fire-stone in the distant
east, white and glistening, like the purest quartz; and the
coyote journeyed east, brought this flre-stone and
gave it to the Indians, and that was the origin of
fire.

Originally the sun had nine brothers, all, like him-
self, flaming hot with Are, so that the world was
like to perish; but the coyote slew nine of the broth-
ers, and thus saved mankind from burning up. The
moon also had nine brothers, all like to himself,
made of the coldest ice, so that in the night people
went near to freeze to death. But the coyote went
away out on the eastern edge of the world with a
mighty big knife of flint stone, heated stones to keep his
hands warm, then laid hold of the nine moons, one after
another, and slew them likewise, and thus men got warm
again.

When it rains, there is some Indian sick in heaven,
weeping. Long, long ago there was a good young Indian
on earth, and when he died all the Indians cried so much

648

FUTUBB BTATB.

that a flood came on the earth and rose up to heaven,
and drowned all people except one couple.

The Chenposels reliite that there wa8 once a man
who loved two women, and wished to marry them.
Now, these two women were magpies, atchatch, and they
loved him not, but laughed his wooing to scorn. Then
he fell into a rage and cursed these two women that
were magpies and went far away to the north, and there
he set the world on fire, made for himself a tule boat
in which he escaped to sea, and was never heard of
more. But the fire which he had kindled burned with
a mighty burning. It ate its way south with terrible
swiftness, licking up all things that are on earth — men,
trees, rocks, animals, water, and even the ground itself.
But the Old Coyote saw the burning and smoke from
his place far in the south, and he ran with all his might
to put it out. He took two little boys in a sock on
his bock, and ran north like the wind. So fast did
he run that he gave out just as he got to the fire, and
dropped the two little boys. But lie took Indian sugar
(honey dew) in his mouth, chewed it up, spat it on the
fire and put it out. Now the fire was out, but the Coyote
was very thirsty, but there was no water, so he
took Indian sugar again, chewed it up, dug a hole in
the bottom of the creek, covered up the sugar in it, and
it turned to water, and the earth thus had water again.
But the two little boys cried Ijocause they were lonely
for there was nobody on enrth. Then the Coyote made
a sweat-house, and split up a great number of little
sticks, which he laid in the sweat-house over night; in
the morning they were all turned into men and women,
so the two little boys had company, and the earth was
repeopled.""

I conclude with a sun-myth of the Pallawonaps, who
lived on Kern River in Sjouthern California: — Pokbh

>i* " It i» pomible" conolndM Mr Powen, " that tbia legend hns dim re-
fo-cncc! to that great ancient oatoclytiin, or overflow of lava from the north,
whicli hnii been demonstrated by Professor le C'onte, in a paper read before
Iks Ualifomian Academy of Boience.

8UN-MTTH OF THE PALLAW0NAP8.

made all things. Long ago the sun was a man. The sun
is bad and wishes to kill all things, but the moon is good.
The sun's rays are arrows, and he gives a bundle to every
creature, more to the lion, fewer to the coyote, etc. ; but to
none does he give an arrow that will slay a man. The coyo-
te wished to go to the sun, and he asked Pokbh the rcmd.
Pok6h pointed out to him a good road, and the coyote
traveled on it all day, but the sun turned round, so he
traveled in a circle, and came back at night to the place
whence he had started in the morning. A second time
he asked Pok6h, and a second time he came back
in a circle. Then Pokbh told him to go straight to the
eastern edge of the earth, and wait there until the sun
came up. So the coyote went and sat down on the hole
where the sun came up, with his back turned to the east,
and kept pointing with his arrow in very dii.'ection, pre-
tending he was going to shoot. The sun cane up under him,
and told him to get out of the way. P'Ut the coyote sat
there until it became so warm that he was obliged to coil
up his tail imder him. Then he began to get th:r«ty, and
asked the sun for water. The sun gave him an acorn-
cup full, but this did not satisfy the coyote's great thirst.
Next his shoulders began to get warm, so he spat on his
paws and rubljed his back with them. Then he said to
the sun, Why do you come up here, meddling with
me? Hut the sun siiid, lam not meddling with you;
I am traveling where I have a right to travel. The
cuyute told him to go round some other way, that that
was his road, but the sun insisted on going straight up.
Then the coyote wanted to go up with him, so tlie good
natured sun took him along. Presently they came to a
path with steps like a ladder, and as the sun went up he
counted tlie steps; when they got up above the world,
the coyote found it getting hot and wanted to jump down,
but the distance was too great. By noon the sun was
very hot and bright, and he told the coyote to shut his
eyes. He did so, but he opened them (piickly again, an<l
so kept opening rnd shutting them all the afternoon, to
see how fast the sun was sliding down. When the sun

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FUTUBE STATE.

came down to the earth in the west, the coyote jumped
o£f on to a tree, and so clambered down to the ground."^

Such are the Myths of the Farthest West, such
the endeavors of these men unenlightened, according
to our ideas of enlightenment, to define the indefinable,
such the result of their 'yearning after the gods.' Most
of their myths and beliefs are extravagant, childish,
meaningless, to our understanding of them, but doubt-
less our myths would be the same to ihem. From the
beginning of time men have grappled with shadows,
have accounted for material certainties by immaterial
uncertainties. Let us be content to gather and preserve
these perishable phantoms now ; they will be very curi-
ous relics in the day of the triumph of substance.

Ill This myth, Mr Powers thinks, has been belittled or corrupted from
the ancient myth of the zodiac, and, in his opinion, argues for the Americans
a civilized, or at least semi-civilized, Asiatic origin, — a very far-fetched con-
clusion I should say.

THE NATIVE KACES

PACIFIC STATES.

LAifGUAGES.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL REMARKS.

NATin Lanouaou nr Adtamoi or Sooui. CuaTom— Ohabaotkbdrio Imdi-
TiDUAiiiTx OF Amkuoam Tonquks— Fskquknt Oooubbemck or LONO
Words— BsDUPUCATioNs, Fbequkntatitkb, and Doau — Intkbtbibal
LANonAoiB — Gbbtdbx-Lanouaoe- -Slate and Chinook Ja boons— PAoinc
States Lanouaqbs — The Timneh, Aztec, and Mata Tongues— The
Laboeb Fauiueb INI.ANO— Lanouaoe as a Test or Orioin— Simi-
LABmn IN UnbUiAtid Lamouaom— PiiAM or this Imtxstioation.

In nothing, perhaps, do the Native Races of the Pacific
States show signs of nge, and of progress from absolute
primevalisin, more than in their languages. Indeed,
throughout the length and breadth of the two Americas
aboriginal tongues display greater richness, more deli-
cate gradations, and a wider scope, than from the uncul-
tured condition in which the people were found, one
would be led to suppose. Until recently, no attention
has been given by scholars to these languages ; now it is
admitted that the more they are studied the more do new
beauties appear, and that in their speech these nations
are in advance of what their general rudeness in other

(Ml)

5B3

OENLBAL BEMABKS.

respeciiB would imply. Nor is there that difTerence in
the construction of words and the scope of vocabularies
between nations which we call civilized and those called
savage, which, from the difference in their customs, in-
dustries, and polities we should expect to find; from
which it is safe to infer that in progress, after the essen-
tial corporeal requirements are satisfied, the necessities
of the intellect, of which speech is the very first, are
not only met, but are developed and gratified beyond
what the actual necessities of the body demand. That
is, speech or no speech the body must be fed or the
animal dies, but with tlie absolute necessities of the
body supplied, the intellect and its supernumeraries shoot
forward beyond their relative primeval state, leaving
bodily comforts far behind. Hence, in the very outset
of what we call progress, we see the intellect assert-
ing its independence and developing those organs only
which in their turn assist its own development.
Again, under certain conditions, two nations having ad-
vanced materially and intellectually side by side up to a
certain point, may from extrinsic or incidental causes
become widely separate ; one may go forward intellectu-
ally while the two remain together substantially ; one
may go forward materially while mentally there is no
apparent difference. The causes which give rise to these
strange inequalities we cannot fathom until we can
minutely retrace the progress of the people for thousands
of ages in their history; we only see, in the many ex-
amples round us, that such is the fact. A people well
advanced in art and language may, from war or famine,
become reduced to primeval penury and yet retain traces
of its former culture in its speech, but by no possibility
can rude and barbaric speech suddenly assume depth
and richness from .vuiterial prosperity; from all of which
it is safe to conclude that language is the surest test of
the age of a people, for the mind cannot expand with-
out an improvement in speech, and speech improves
only as it is forced slowly to develop under pressure of
the mind.

RELATIONSHIP OF AMEBIOAN LANOUAQES.

668

one
18 no
these

The researches of the few philologists who have given
American languages their study have brought to light
the following facts. First, that a relationship exists
among all the tongues of the northern and southern con-
tinents; and that while certain characteristics are found
in common throughout all the languages of America,
these languages are as a whole sufficiently peculiar to be
distinguishable from the speech of all the oth^^r races of
the world. Although some of these characteristics, as
a matter of course, are found in some of the languages
of the old world — more of them in the Turanian family
than in any other, — ^yet nowhere on the globe are uni-
formities of speech carried over vast areas and through
innumerable and diversified races with such persistency,
as in America; nowhere are tongues so dissimilar and
yet so alike as here. In this general similarity would
be a strong ground-work for a theory of common ori^n,
either indigenous or foreign, but for the fact that while
the languages of America appear distinct from all other
languages of the world, and do indeed in certain respects
bear a general resemblance one to another throughout,
yet at the same time I may safely assert that on no other
continent can there be found such a multitude of distinct
languages which definitely approach one another in
scarcely a single word or syllable as in America. It is
as easy to prove from language that the nations of the
New World were originally thrown together fmm differ-
ent parts, and that by intermigrations, uniformity in
customs and climate, and the lapse of long ages the
people have become approximately brethren in speech,
while their incessant wars have at the same time held
them asunder and prevented a more particular uniform-
ity, as it would be to prove a common origin and subse-
quent dispersion; without further light both theories are
alike insusceptible of proof, as are, indeed, all hypoth-
eses concerning the origin of the native races of this con-
tinent. Another fact which naturally becomes more
apparent the more we investigate the subject, particularly
as regards the nations inhabiting the western half of

664

OENESAL MBMARITR

North America, ia, that the innumerable divermties of
speech found among these tribes constantly tend to dis-
appear, tend to range themselves under broad divisions,
coalescing into groups and families, thereby establishing
more intimate relationship between some, and widening
the distance between others. The numbers of tongues
and dialects, which at the first appeared to be legion,
by comparison and classification are constantly being re-
duced. Could we go back, even for a few thousand years,
and follow these peoples through the turnings and twist-
ings of their nomadic existence, we should be surprised
at the rapid and complete changes constantly taking place ;
we should see throughout this broad continent the tide of
human life ebbing and flowing like a mighty ocean, surg-
ing to and fro in a perpetual unrest, huge billows of
humanity rolling over forest, plain, and mountain, nations
driving out nations, absorbing, or annihilating, only to be
themselves inevitably driven out, absorbed, or annihilated ;
we should see as a result of this interminable mixture,
languages con&timtly being modified, some wholly or in
part disappearing, some changing in a lesser degree, hardly
one remaining the same for any considerable length of
time. Even within the short period of our own obser-
vation, between the time of the first arrival of Europeans
and the disappearance of the natives, many changes are
apparent; while we are gazing upon them we see their
boundaries oscillate, like the play of the threads in net-
work. On the buffalo-hunting inland plains I have seen
aggregations of tribes driven out from their old camping-
ground, in some instances a thousand miles away, and
their places occupied by others ; in the narrower limits
of the north-western mountains I have seen numerous
tribes extirpated by their neighbors, a remnant only
being kept as slaves. While such was the normal con-
dition of the aborigines it is not difficult to perceive in
some degree at least, the effect upon languages. Yet
while American languages are indeed, as Whitney terms
them," the most changeful human forms of speech " there
are yet found indestructible characteristic elements, afiil-

LONG WOBDS IN AHEBICAN LANOUAaSS.

666

iations which no circumstances of time or place can
wholly obliterate.

One of these characteristic elements is the frequent
occurrence of long words. Even the Otomf, the only
language in America whfch can be called monosyllabic,
consisting as it does, for the most part, of etymons of one
syllable, contains some comparatively long words. This
frequency of long words, the methoid of their construc-
tion, and the ease with which they are manufactured
constitute a striking feature in the system of unity that
pervades all American languages. The native of the
New World expresses in a single word, accompanied
perhaps by a grunt or a gesture, what a European would
employ a whole sentence to elucidate. He crowds the
greatest possible number of ideas into the most compact
form possible, as though in a multitude of words he
found weakness rather than strength, — taking their sev-
eral ideas by their monosyllabic equivalents, and joining
them in one single expression. This rule is universal;
and so these languages become as Humboldt expresses
it "like dififerent substances in analogous forms," in
which, as Gallatin observes, there is "an universal ten-
dency to express in the same word, not only all that
modifies or relates to the same object or action but both
the action and the object, thus concentrating in a single
expression a complex idea or several ideas, among which
there is a natural connection." This linguistic pecul-
iarity is called by various names. Duponceau terms it
the polysynthetic stage or system, Wilhelm von Hum-
boldt the agglutinative, Lieber the holophrastic ; others
the aggregative, the incorporative, and so on. As an
illustration of this peculiarity, take the Aztec word for
letter-postage, amaUacuilolUquitcatiaxitlahuiUi, which in-
terpreted literally signifies, 'the payment received for
carrying a paper on which something is written.' The
Cherokees go yet further and express a whole sen-
tence in a single word — a long one it is true, but yet
one word — winitaiotigegiimliskawlungtanavmelUisesti which
translated forms the sentence, 'they will by that time

GENERAL BEMABK8.

have nearly finished granting favors from a distance to
thee and me.' Other peculiarities common to all Amer-
ican languages might be mentioned, such as reduplica-
tions, or a repetition of the same syllable to express
plurals; the use of frequentatives and duals; the appli-
cation of gender to the third person of the verb; the
direct conversion of nouns, substantive and adjective,
into verbs, and their conjugation as such ; peculiar gen-
eric distinctions arising from a separation of animate
from inanimate beings, and the like.

The multiplicity of tongues, even within compar-
atively narrow areas, rendered the adoption of some sort
of universal language absolutely necessary. This in-
ternational language in America is for the most part
confined to gestures, and nowhere has gesture-language
attained a higher degree of perfection than here; and
what is most remarkable, the same representatives are
employed from Alaska to Mexico and even in South
America. Thus each tribe has a certain gesture to in-
dicate its name, which is understood by all others. A
Flatbead will make his tribe known by placing his hand
upon his head ; a Crow by imitating the flapping of the
wings of a bird ; a Nez Perc6 by pointing with his finger
through his nose, and so on. Fire is generally indicated
by blowing followed by a pretended warming of the
hands, water by a pretended scooping up and drinking,
trade or exchange by crossing the fore fingers, a certain
gesture being fixed for everything necessary to carry on
a conversation. Besides this natural gesture-language
there is found in various parts an intertribal jargon
composed of words chosen to fit emergencies, from the
speech of the several neighboring nations; the words
being altered, if necessary, in construction or pronuncia-
tion to suit all. Thus in the valley of the Yukon we find
the 31av6 jargon, and in the valley of the Columbia the
Chinook jargon, which latter arose originally, not as is
generally supposed conventionally between the French-
Canadian and English trappers and the natives of the
north-west solely for purpoees of trade, but which origi-

LANGUAOES OF THE PAOIflO STATES.

S67

nated among the tribes themselves spontaneously and
before the advent of Europeans, though greatly modified
and extended by subsequent European intercourse.
Thus has been laid, no doubt, the foundation of many
permanent languages and dialects; and thus we may
easily perceive the powerful and continued effect of one
language upon another.

As to the number of languages in America much dif-
ference of opinion exists. Hervds, before half the
country was discovered, felt justified in classifying them
all under seven families, while others find, on the Pacific
side of the northern continent alone, over six hundred
languages which thus far refuse to affiliate. The differ-
ent dialects are countless; and yet, notwithstanding the
formidable array of names which I have gathered at the
end of this chapter, probably not one-fourth of their real
number are or ever will be known to us.

umcia-
e find
)ia the
)t as is
rench-
of the
origi-

Many of the Pacific States' languages bear resem-
blances to one another, and may therefore be brought
more or less under groups and classes. These languages,
however, resemble one another too slightly to be called
dialects, and in the majority of cases no affiliations of
any kind can be traced. But four great langutiges are
found within our territory, or, if we exclude the Eskimo,
which is not properly an American language, there re-
main but three, the Tinneh, the Aztec, and the Maya.
Of the lesser tongues there are many more, as will ap-
pear further on. The Eskimos skirt the shores of the
north polar ocean and belong more to the old world than
to the new. The Tinneh, Athabasca, or Chepewyan family
covers the northern end of the Rocky Mountain range,
sending its branches in every direction, into Alaska,
British Columbia, British America, Washington, Or^on,
California, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. The Aztec
language, whose seat is Central Mexico, is found also in
Nicaragua and other parts of Central America. Traces
moreover appear in some parts of Sonora, Sinaloa,
Durango, Chihuahua, Texas, Arizona, California, Utah,

568

OBNEBAL BEMABK8.

Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon. The Maya is the
chief Central American tongue, but traces of it may be
found as well in Mexico. Thus we see that while the
cradle of the Tinneh tongue appears to be in the centre of
British North America, its dialects extend westward and
southward, lessening in intensity the further they are re-
moved from the hypothetical original centre, suddenly
dying out in some directions, fading gradually away in
others, and breaking out at disconnected intervals in
others. So with the Aztec language, whose primitive
centre, so far as present appearances go, was the valley of
Mexico; we find it extending south along the shores of
the Pacific as far as Nicaragua, while northward its traces
grow fainter and fainter until it disappears. And so it
is with the Maya, which, covering as it does a less extent
of territory, is more distinctly marked and consequently
more easily followed.

In classifying the languages of the Pacific States,
the marks of identification vary with different families.
Thus the linguistic affiliations of the Tinneh family are
founded not so much on certain recurring grammatical
rules, as on the number of important words occurring
under the same or slightly altered form. In the Aztec
language the reverse of this is true ; for although to some
extent, in the establishing of relationships, we are
governed by verbal similarities, yet we also find positive
grammatical rules which carry with them much more
weight than mere word likenesses.

For example, in the north, wherever Aztec traces are
found, the Aztec substantive endings ti and tli are either
abreviatcd or changed according to a regular sytem into
<i, te, t, de, re, ki, ke, m, la, ri. Aztec numerals are used
by these northern nations, but in greatly modified forms;
personal pronouns are there found but little changed,
while demonstrative, interrogative, and indefinite pro-
nouns likewise show signs of Aztec origin. The ending
ame, which, attached to the verb, designates the person
acting, can be plainly traced ; while among these same
northern nations of which I am speaking, is found that

IKLAKD AKD COAST LANOUAOE8.

569

forms;

certain system of LavJtverschi^ng or sound-shunting,
originally discovered by Grimm in the Indo-Germanic
family, and by Professor Max Miiller called Grimm's
law.

In the pursuance of this investigation I noticed a
two-fold curiosity which may be worthy of mention.
Throughout the great Northwest, as well in most of the
many Tinneh vocabularies as elsewhere, is found the
Aztec word for stone, tetl, sometimes slightly changed
but always recognizable, and to which the same meaning
is invariably attached; while on the other hand the
Tinneh word for fire, cmw, or coon, appears in like manner
in several of the Mexican languages, and I even noticed
it in the vocabulary of a Honduras nation. This
may be purely accidental, but both being important
words I thought best to draw attention to the fact.

The larger linguistic families are for the most part
found inland, while along the sea-shore the speech of the
people is broken into innumerable fragments. Particu-
larly is this the case along the shores of the Northwest.
South of Acapulco, as we have seen, the Aztec tongue
holds the seaboard for some distance; but again farther
south, as well as on the gulf coast, there is found a
great diversity in languages and dialects. In California
the confusion becomes interminable ; as if Babel-builders
from every quarter of the earth had here met to the
eternal confounding of all; yet there are linguistic
families even in California, principally in the northern
part. It is not at all improbable that Malays, Chinese,
or Japanese, or all of them, did at some time appear in
what is now North America, in such numbers as materially
to influence langut^e, but hitherto no Asiatic nor European
tongue, excepting always the Eskimo, has been found
in America; nor have affinities with any other language
of the world been discovered sufficiently marked to
warrant the claim of relationship. Theorizers enough
there have been and will be ; for centuries to come half-
fledged scientists, ignorant of what others have done or
rather have failed to do, will not cease to bring forward

6i0

QBNBBAL BBICABKB.

wonderful conceptions, striking analogies; will not cease
to speculate, linguistically, ethnologically, cosmograph>
ically and otherwise to their own satisfaction and to the
confusion of their readers. The absurdity of these spec-
ulations is apparent to all but the speculator. No
sooner is a monosyllabic language, the Otomi, discovered
in America than up rises a champion, Sefior Najera,
claiming the distinction for the Chinese, and with no
other result than to establish both as monosyllabic, v/hich
was well enough known before. So the Abb^ Brasseur
de Bourbourg, who has given the subject more years of
study and more pages of printed matter than any other
writer, unless it be the half-crazed Lord Kingsborough,
first attempts to prove that the Maya languages are de-
rived from the Latin, Greek, English, German, Scandi-
navian, or other Aryan tongues; then that all these
languages are but ofishoots from the Maya itself, which
is the only true primeval language. So much for in-
temperate speculation, which, whether learned or cjhallow,
too often originates in doubt and ends in obscurity. In
all these hypotheses, argument assumes the form of
analogies drawn between the peoples with whom a re-
lationship is attempted to be established, — no difficult
matter, truly, when we consider that all mankind are
formed on one model, and that innumerable similarities
must of necessity exist among all the races of the globe.
To show the futility of such attempts, let me give a
few words, analogous both in signification and sound,
selected from American, European, Asiatic, and other
languages, between which it is now well established that
no relationship exists. For the German ja v ; have the
Shasta ya; for komm, the Comanche kini] for Ko^ff, the
Cahita coba; for weinen, the Cora vyeine; for thun, the
Tepehuana duni; for nichts, nein, the Chinook mxt, nix.
For the Greek xopa^, there is the Tarahumara colatschi;
for ifia^ov^ piaS^eiv, the Cora rmuUS ; for yvrtj, the Cahita
cuna. For the Latm hie, vaa, we have the Tepehuana
hie, vase; for muoor, the Cora mueuare', for liTtgiui, the
Moqui linga', for vaXUs, the Kalapooya loaUdh; for toga,

ACCIDENTAL WOBD-SIMILABJTIES.

the
nix.

manu8, the Kenni togaai, man. For the French cas^, wo
find the Tarahumara caasn'okr-, for tdtonner. the Tepe:
huana tatame. For the Spanish hueco, the Tarahumara
hooo; for tit^tano, the Cora t/itana. For the Italian cosi,
the Tarahumara coaai; for the Arabic itchar,the Tarahu-
mara ajare; for the Hawaiian j90, the Sekumne po (night),

For the Sanscrit da, there is the Cora ta (give) ; ibr ekSj
the Miztec ec (one) ; for md, the Tepehuana mai (not) and
the Maya ma (no); for masd (month), the Pima mahsa
(moon) ; for tschandra (moon), the Kenai tschane (moon) ;
for pcida (foot), the Sekumne joodo (leg); for kamd
(love), the Shoshone kamakh (to love); for^, the Kizh
paa (to drink). For the Malay tdiia, we have the
Tepehuana tani (to ask) ; for hurip, tabah, the Cora kuri
(to \i\e),tabd (to beat); for A^maA, the Shasta oma
(house), and so on. —

These examples I could increase indefinitely and show
striking similarities in some few words between almost
any two languages of luc v. orld. When there are enough
of them similar <n sound and signification in any two
tongues to constitute a rule rather than exceptions, such
languages are said to be related ; but where, as in the
above-cited instances, these similarities are merely ac-
cidental, to prove them related would prove too much,
for then all the languages of the earth might be said to
be related.

In treating of the languages of the Pacific States,^
commencing with those of the north inind proceeding south-
ward, I make it a rule to follow them wherever they
lead, without restricting myself to place or nation. One
nation may speak two languages; the same language
may be spoken by a dozen nations, and if the evidence
is such as to imply the existence of the same language,
or traces of it, in Alaska and in Sonora, I can do no
less than step from one place to the other in speaking of
it. Besides the names and localities of languages and
linguistic families, I shall endeavor to give some idea of
their several peculiar characteristics, their grammatical
construction, with such specimens of each as will enable

Vol. III. 3G

i ;

wBt

662

CLASSIFICATION OF LANOUAOES.

the student to make comparisons and draw inferences.
In the following tabk I have attempted a classification
of these languages; but in some instances, from the lack
of vocabularies taken before the intermixtures that
followed the advent of Europeans, any classification can
be but approximative.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ABORIOINAL LANGUAGES OF
THE PACIFIC STATES.

Eskimo

Northern
Eskimo

Alent

Thlinkeet.

Tinneh

Eastern
Division

Naggeuktormnte

Kittear

Kangmali-Innnin

Nuwangmeun

Nunatangmeun

Kitegne

Malemnte
Aniygmute
Chungmute
Pashtolik

Southern
Eskimo

or
Koniagan

( Knskoquigmnte.
( Kwichpagmute.

Kangjulit

Magemnte

Agulmute

Keiataigmute

Aglegmnte

Chu^atsch

Kadiak

fUnalaska
Atkha

f Yakntat
Chilknt
Hoodsinoo
Takoo
Auk
Kaka
Sitka
Eeliknoo
Stikeen
Tungitss

Sawessaw-tinneh or Chepevyan

Tantsawhoot-tinneh or Coppermine Bivcr

Horn Mountain

Beaver

Thlingohn-tinneh or Dog-Bib

Kawcho-tinneh or Hare

Ambawtawhoot-tiuneh or Sheep

Snrsis or Sursees

Tsillawdawh.oot-tinneh or Brush-wood

Nagailer

SlnnacnsR-tinneh

Rocky Mountain

Edchawtawoot-tiiineh

inferences,
issification
n the lack
tures that
cation can

lOes of

CLASSIPrOATION OP LANQUA0E8
f

Western
Division

Kutchin

Degothi-kntohinorLoodieiix

Vanta-kntchin !

Natohe-kntehin '

Knkath-katchin f

ITntohoneJratchin i
Tathzey-kntohin
Han-kntchin

Kenai

gmnte.
mute.

Tinneb

Tacolly

or
Carrier

Cent"^
Division

I Artez-kntohii;
I Kntcha-ktitofain
i Tenan-katchin

f Junakachotana

Jugelnat

Ingalik
! Inlalit

Kenai

Ugalens

Atnah or Nehanne
. Koltschane

r Taatin or Talkotin

iTsilkotinor Ohilkotin
Kaskotin
Thetliotin
Tsatsnotin
Nulaautin
Ntshaantin
Natliautin
Nikozliautin
Tatshiautin
Babine
(Sicanni

Iran

irrnine Bivcr

eep
QHh-wood

TIatskanai

Qualhioqua

Umpqna

(

f Lassies
I Wilaoki

" wn«^
, -Jlewnh
I Tahahteen
tSiah

Hoopah JTofew'l?

Southern
Division

Apaches

f ApMhe proper
Tonto
Chiricaeui
GileRo
Mimbreito
Faraon
Mescalero
Llanero
Lipan
Vaquero
Xioarilla
Natage
PiSafeno
Coyotero
Tejua

Coppermine
Navajo

CLASSIFICATION OF LANGDAOES.

Haicbth.

Nmb.

Belloooola
Chimigran

'I
I

NooUca ...

t \

Haidah
Kaiganie

Nau

Sebana
Hailtza

Nootka

QaaokoU

Cowichin

Tiaoqaateh

Udena

Qnano

Qaactoe

KoHkiemo

Qnatsino

K^cueut

Aitizzaht

Chioklezahk

Abaztiht

Eshqnaht

Klaizzaht

Nitinaht

Toquftbt

BeHhaht

Clayoqnot

Patcbeena

Boke

Nimkish

Vriokinainish

Songbie

Sanetcb

Comux

NooHdalum

Kwantlum

Teet

Nnnaimo

Taculta

Ucleta

Neculta

Queehnnioulta

Newittee

Snnkaulutuok

Makab

Mewchemaas

Sbiminhmoo

Nooksak

HiimiRb

Skagit

Buohoinifih

Cbiraitkum

nnlliim

Toanboooh

Soliah.

CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES.

Sahsh proper or Flmthead

Lommf

Clallam

Kullespelm or Pend d'Oreillei

Banahwup

«P<»-e- ...te«

Soaiatlpi ISyfeariini

Okttuagaa g* u;l^-.

BkiteuiHh, or Coeor d'AMna " "

Pisquouse

Cowlitz

Nsietshaw

iS65

ChohalU JSSJu^"^'

Kootenai

Sahaptin .

I Niaqnally

^WaWalT*"'"'''"^*"'
Palonse
Yakima
Kliketat
TairUa

(Qdenlaoia

^•^^p" jsa

(Chinook
Wakiakum
Cfai'or*
Multnomah
Skilloot
I Wathtla

Yamkally
Calapooya
Chinook Jargon

Tototin
Yakon

Klamath |SjSr*°'^^*^

(Copuh

(Shasta
otMtU. JPalaik

( Watsahewah

Enroo

Cahroo

Oppegach

OLASSmOATION OF LAMOUAOEB.

i '

I I

P»tow»7 or
Wcitopeek

Patew»]r
Yeeard
Weeyot
WidKMk

Ehnek or Pehtaik

Howteteoh

NabUtM

Patawat

Ohillnlah

Wheeloatta

KaUto

Chimalaqnid

Tnln.

Porno..

Casbnft

Kinkla

Yuba

Sonoma

Oleepa

Y0I07 or Yolo

NemBhoua

Goinu

Baahoneo

Yeshanaok

lleidoo

NMthenam

Sanainento

Talley
Langnagea

(Ynka

.{Tahtoo

( Wapo or Ashoehemio

UUah

Oallinomero

Maaallamagoon

Ooalala

Matole

Kolanapo

San^l

Yonioa

Ghoweshak

Batemdakaie

Choouyem

Olamentke

Kainamare

Ghwaohamaja

Eastern
Dialeota

Ooheeamne

Seronskumno

Chupamna

Omochnmno

Seoumne

Walagumno

Coram ne

Solofnmne

Turealnmno

Saywamin

Newichumno

Matohemne

Sagayayomna

CLASSIFICATION OP LANOUAOES.

Sacramento

Valley
Languages

Eastern
Dialects

Western
Dialects

Napobatin

Napa.

Mustitnl

Tulkoy

Snisan

Karquines

Tomales

Lekatuit

Petainma

Guiluco

Tnlare

Hawhnw

Coconoon

Yociit

Matalan

Salse

Quirote

Olhone

Runsien

Eslene

Isninracan

Agpianaque

Sakhone

Chalone

Katlendamca

Poytoqui

Mutsnn

Thamien

Chowchilla

Meewoo

Tatoh^

San Mignel

Santa Cniz

Shoshone ,

MnthelemBe

Hopotatumnb

Talatia

Pozlumne

Yasumne

Pnjani

Sekumna

Kisky

Yalesumne '

Huk

Ynkal

Tsamak

Nemshaw

f Napa
j Myacoma

Calayomaha

Caymus

Uloca
.Suscol

Shoshone
Wihinasht
Bannaok
. Shoshokee

OtASSiFlGATlOK OF LiKQUAGES.

Utah.

Utah

Uintafite

Ooshnte

Piute

Pahnte

Painlee

Washoe

Sarapitche

Mono

Comanche

Moqni

Kizh

Netela

Kechi

Chemehnevi

Cahaillo

•

Qaeres

|Kiwomi

■{Cochitemi

(Acoma

Tegna orTeznqne

Picons

Jemez

ZniU

Ytuna..

Chevet

Cajaencbe .
Tiimajab

Benem^

Covaji
Noche

Yuma
Maricopa
Cuchitn
i Mojave
Diegeno
Yampais
.Yavipais

I Cajuenche
jJaUiquamai

ITecnicho
Teniqtfecha

Cochiin( ,

Ooaicnri .

PericA

fLaymoQ
lieu

Cora

Monqui

Didiii

Liyiie

Edh

LUehitio

■4

CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES.

Pima Alto.... if *P«»«o

j Bobaiporis

Pima Bajo

668

6pata

Cahita.,

Endeve
Teguis
Tegnima
Cogninachie
i Batnca

IHahnaripa
Himeri
Guazaba
[ Jova

(Mayo
< Yaqui
(Tehueco

Zoo

Guazave

Batucik

Albino

Ocoroni

Vocaregui

Zuaque

Comoporis

Abome

Mocorito

Petatlan

Huite

Ore

Mucoyahai

Tauro

Troes

Nio

Cahuimeto

Tepave

Ohuero

('hicorata

Basopa

Tarahuraara.... JGuazapare
( Pachera

Concho

Toboso

Julima

Piro

Suma

Chinarra

Irritilia

Tejano

Tubar

Tepehuana

CLASSIFICATION OF LANOUAGES.

Aoax^e

(Topia

■TSnbaibo

(Xixime

Zacateo

Cazcane

Kazapile

Huitcole

Ouachichilo

Colotlan

TIaxomulteo

Tecaexe

Tepeoano

(Uantzicat

Com •{ leakualitzigti

( Cora, or Ateakari

Azt«o, Mexican, or Nahtiatl

Otomf jOto^f

(Mazahua

Fame

Meco, or Serrano

Yu6

Yeme

Olive

Xanambre

Pisone

Tamaulipeo

Tarasco

Matlaltziuca

Ocuilteo

Tepazoalano
YangaiBtlan
Mizteo baja
Miztec alta
Cuixlahuac

Mizteo i TIaxiaco

Gnilapa
Mictlantongo
Tamazulapa
Xaltepeo
[ Nochiztlan

Chooho, or Chuchone

AmuB^o

Mazateo

Cuicateo

Ghatiuo

TIapaneo

Ghinnntec

Fopoluca

Zapoteo.

(Zaachilla
Ocotlan
Etla
NeUicho

Zapoteo.

OLASBIWCATION OF LANODAOES.

! Serrano de Itztep«o
Serrano de Cajonoa
Beni Xono
Serrano de Miahuatlan

Hije
Hoaya

Hoasteo ,

[TeUkilhati
I Ohakalmati
J Ipapana

ITatimolo, orNaolingo

Totonao
Chiapaneo
Tloqne
Zotzil

Zeldal^uelen
Vebetlateoa
Mam
Aohie

Ooatenialteo

Cuettao

Hhirichota

Pokonohi

CnechicolchI

Tlacaoebaatla

Apay

Poton

Taulepa

Ulua

Quiche

Cakchiqael

Zutugil

Chorti

Alaguilao

Gaiohi

Ixil

Zoqne

Cozoh

ChaSabal

Choi

Uzpanteo

Aguacateo

Quechi

Maya

Carib

MoBqnito

Poya

Towka

Seco

Valiente

Bama

Cookra

Woolwa

Toonglaa

Bra

CLA8BIFI0ATI0N OF LANOUAaES.

u I

Lene*

Kmoo

Teguca

Aloatuina

Jan

Toa

Qaula

Motuca

FansaBina

Bambo

Goribici
Chorotega
Chontal
OrotiAa

Blnnoo

Tiribi

Tnlamanca

Ghiripo

Ooataso

Nioova

Cereoaro

Chiriqui

Burica

Veragaa

Paris

Eacoria

Bimqaeta

Nata

Urraoa

Chini

Chame

Ghioacotra

Sangana

Ouarara

Gutara

Panama

Ghnchura

Chagre

Ghepo

Gaetta

Qanrecaa

Ghiape

Ponca

Pocora

Zamanama

Goiba

Ponca

Ghitarraga

Ada

Gareta

Darien

Abieiba

Abenamechey

Dabaibii

Bird

CLASSIFICATION OP LANOCAOES.

Tnle

Cholo

Bonioho

Cimarrou

Baynno

Ciinarrou

Aianzanillo. or Saa Bias

Mundiugo

Gnna

Cunacuna

Choco

Caomane

Urnbil

Idibu

Paya

Ooajiro •

MotiloUe

Gnaineta

CooiiM

678

CHAPTER II.

HTPERBOREAN LANGUAGES.

DlJTINOnON BKTWEKN EsKmo AND AUEBIOAN — EsKIHO PrONVHCIATION AND

Declension — Dlaleots op the Koniaoas and Alectb — Lanocags of
THE Tblinxeets— Hypothetical Afpinities — The Tinneh Fahilt and

na DlALKOTS— EasTKBN, WESTEaN, CENTBAIi, AND SoCTHEBN DlTISIOHB—

Chepewtan Declension — Obatobioal Display in the Speech of the
KuTCHiNs— Dialects op the Atnaus and Uoalenzes Compabed — Spe-
cimen OF the KoLTSBANK ToNQUK — ^TaCULLY GuTTUBALS — HOOPAH

VocABULABY— Apache Dialects— Lipan Lord's Pbayeb — Navajo Wobdb

— COMPABATIVE VoCABULABY OF THE TiNNEH FAMILY.

The national and tribal distinctions given in the first
volume of this work will; for the most part, serve as
divisions for languages and dialects; I shall not therefore
repeat here the names and boundaries before mentioned,
except so far as may be necessary in speaking of lan-
guages alone. As a rule those physical and social dis-
tinctions which indicate severalness among peoples, are
followed, if indeed they are not governed by the several-
ness of dialects, that is, the diversities of language operate
as powerfully as the aspects of nature or any other causes,
in separating mankind into tribes and nations; hence it
is that in the different divisions o humanity are found
different dialects, and between v* dects physical and
geographical divisions.*

As I have said in another plac the Eskimos are
the anomalous race of the New Wo d»; and this is no

1 See YoL i., p. 42 et saq. of this work.
(5W<

LANOUAQES ON THE ABCTIC SEABOABD.

675

less true in their language than in their physical charac-
teristics. Obviously they are a polar people rather than
an American or an Asiatic people.' They cling to the
seaboard; and while the distinction between them and
the inland American is clearly drawn, as we descend the
strait and sea of Bering, cross the Alaskan peninsula
and follow the shores of the Pacific eastward and south-
ward, gradually the Arctic dialect merges into that of
the American proper. In our Hyperborean group, whose
southern bound is the fifty-fifth parallel, the northern
seaboard part is occupied wholly by Eskimos, the southern
by a people called by some Eskimos and by others Koni-
agas, while further on the graduation is so complete and
the transition from one to the other so imperceptible that
it is often difficult to determine which are Indians and
which Eskimos. In treating of their manners and
customs, I separated the littoral Alaskans into two di-
visions, calling them Eskimos and Koniagas, but in their
languages and dialects I shall speak of them as one.
No philologist familiar with the whole territory has
attempted to classify these Hyperborean tongues; differ-
out writers refer the languages of all to such particular
parts as they happen to be familiar with. Thus the
Russian priest Yeninminoff divides the Eskimo language
into six dialects, all belonging to the Koniagas, on the

* ' Ceg deux langnes sont absolntnent la meme que celle des Vogules,

habitants de la Tartitrie, et la mcine que celle des Lupous.' Mumiluct, in
Atdiq. Mex., torn. i.,div. i., p. 65. 'Les Usquimitux d'Amt'rique et len Tchoutchis

de Textreraitj nord de I'Asie orientale il est aisu de reconnuitre qn'ils

appiirtienueut & une mime fiimille.' Mofrnn, Explor., torn, ii., p. 33'J. 'The
wliole arctic shore of North America is possessed by the Esquimaux and Green-
landers, who speak au original tongue called Kar.ilit.' McVuUocK's lieacarUcH
in /liner., p 36. ' The Arctic region is mainly covered by dialects of a single
language— the Eskimo.' LaUtam's Vomp. PhH.,\o\.\iii., p. 384. 'Der.^nieri-
kanische Sprachtypus, die EsKimo-Spraehe, reicht hinaber nach Asicn.'
JiuniilwMnn, Spuren der Atlek Spr., p. 711. ' .\lle Eskimos sprechen im
WHsentlichen diese'be Spraohe.' Jiaer, Stft. u. Elhno., p. 280. ' The language
of the Western Esquimaux so nearly resembles that of the tribes to the
eastward.' Beecltey'a Voyage, vol., ii., p. Ml. Sauer's BUlings' Ex.,p.2A5.
Kolzp.bM'8 Voifag?, vol. lii., p. 314; FraiUcUn's Nar., vol. i., p. 30; Dease and
Simpson, in Land. Oeog. Soc, Jour., vol. viii., p. 222. Seemann's Voy. Herald,
vol. ii., p. 6% But Vater does not believe that the language extends across
to Asia. ' Dass sich wohl ein Einfluss der Eskimo-Spniche, aber nicht
diese selbst ttbar die zwischen Asien and Amerika liegenden Inseln erstreckt.'
MllhrUatis, torn, iii., pt iii., pp. 458, 42j.

076

HYFEBBOBEAN LANGUAGES.

%'fi

Eodink Islands and the adjacent territory. The fact
is YeniaminofT dwelt in southern Alaska and in the
Aleutian Isles, and knew nothing of the great inland
nations to the north amd west. To the people of Kadiak
he gives two dialects, a northern and a southern, and
carries the same language over to the main land adjacent.'
The Russian explorer Sagoskin, to the Chnagmute
dialect of VeniaminofT, unites the Kwichpagmute and
Kuskoquigmute under the collective name of Kangjulit,
of which with the Kadiak he makes a comparative vocabu-
lary establishing their identity.* In like manner Baer
classifies these northern languages, but confines himself
almost exclusively to the coast above Kadiak Island."

Kotzebue says that a dialect of this same language is
spoken by the natives of St Lawrence Island." Yet if
we may believe Mr Seemann, all these dialects are essen-
tially different. The Eskimo language, he v/rites, "is
divided into many dialects, which often vary so much
that those who s|)eak one are unable to understand the
others. The natives of Kotzebue Sound for instance
have to use an interpreter in conversing with their
countrymen in Norton Sound; towards Point Barrow
another dialect prevails, which however is not sufficiently
distinct to be unintelligible to the Kotzebue people."^

According to Vater and Richardson the Eskimo
language as S[X)ken cast of the Mackenzie River appears
to have a softer sound, as for instance, for the western
ending tch the eastern tribes mostly use s and some-
times h. The German sound ch, guttural, is frequently
heard among the western people. Nouns have six cases,
the changes of which are expressed by affixed syllables.

' Veni3mlnQ(t, Uiber dii Spraelitn dea russ, Amer,, in Erman, Archiu., torn,
vii., No. 1, p. 12G ct seq.

* Sijoskin, Tugj'juch, in Russ. Oeog. Oesell., Denkschr., torn, i., p. 359
et seq.

i ' Alio dieBO Vulkerschafien reden eine Sprache and oehGren zii cinem und
demselbou Htarnmc. der mch anck wetter udrdlich Lings der KUste....
aUHdehnt.' Uaer, !<tal. u. Etimo., p. 122.

' Kotttbtui'a Voyof/e, vol. ii., p. 175.

1 Of the similarity between the Kadiak and Alaska idiom Langsdorff
says: ' In a great degree the clothing nnd language of the Alalisaus, are tho
same as those of the people of Kodiuk.' Voy., vol. ii., p. 'i'M. Seemann'a
Voy, Ileruld, vol. ii., i>p. C3-C0.

EXAMPLES OF TEE ESKIMO OBAMMAB.

677

re essen-

These are in the singular mut, mik, mit, me, and hd, and,
in the plural nui, nik, nit, ne, and gut. Ga, go, ne, aitj
anga, ara, etc., affixed to the nominative, denote a pos-
sessive case. As: — kivgah, a servant; kivganga, my
eervant; kivgane, his servant; etc. Arsu and arsuii are
diminutive endings and soak,8uds€t, and sudsek augment-
atives. Adjectives are also declinable. Nouns can br;
transposed into verbs by affixing &jok and ovok, and the
adjective is altered in the same manner.

The third person singular of the indicative is taken
as the root of the verb, and by changing its termination
it may be used as a noun. The infinitive is formed by
the postposition mk. The verb has numerous inflections.

'To be' or * to have,' both possessing a similar signifi-
cation, are expressed by gi or vi — as nunagiva, it is his
land.

Richardson gives the following declension of a noun,
transitively and intransitively (?) :

TUPEK,

A TENT.

BIMaCI.AB

D0AZ.

PLUBAI.

Nom.

tr.
intr.

tapok )
turkib f

tuppak

turket

Oen.

turkib

tnppak

tnrket

Dat.

tr.

tnppek

tuppak

turket

intr.

tuppermnt

tuppangnnt

tnppemnt

Aoo.

tr.

tuppak

turlvinut

intr.

tuppemik

tnppangnit

turkit

Abl.

tr.

tuppermit

tuppangnit

tuppermit
turkinnut •

intr.

tuppermnt

tuppangnnt

Some claim that the languages of Eadiak and the
Aleutian Islands are cognate, otliers deny any relation-
ship. Stephen Glottoff, one of the first to visit Kadiak
Island, states positively that the inhabitants of Unalaska
and particularly a boy from the western Aleutian Isles
could not understand the people of Kadiak." Captain
Cook thought there existed a phonetic similarity between.

I Richardaon's Jour., vol. ii., p. 364 et ieq ; Veniaminoff, in Ennan, Archio,
torn, iii., No. i., pp. Ii2-A3;jieecluy'a Voyage,\oL ii., p. 3C6 ; i'ater, MiihriJales,
torn, iii., pt iii., p. 458 et seq ; notes ott the CLuaatsh dialect nt Prince.,
William Bound inUook'aVoy. toPae., vol. ii., pp. 37l-(i, and PorUock'a Voy.,^
pp. 254-6.

*'£r konnte die Spraohe dieser IftBulaner nicht.. ..ventehen.' JVcw,
Nachrichttn, p. 106.

Vol. III. 37

878

HYPERBOREAN LANOUAaES.

the speech of the Unaloskas and the people of Norton
Sound, which opinion appears to be correct.^" So
disarranged have the aboriginal tongues in this vicinity
become since the advent of the Russians that little de-
pendence can be placed on latter-day investigations.
Dall admits the speech of the two peoples to be dissimilar
yet their language he believes to be one." Vatcr, more
cautious, thinks that there is perhaps some Eskimo in-
fluence noticeable among the Koniagas." Baer gives
Admiral von Wrangell's opinion, which also inclines
towards such a connection, but he himself expresses the
opposite belief, citing in support of this that the physical
appearance of the Koningas differs entirely from that of
the Eskimo race." Buschmann gives, as the result of
careful investigations and comparisons, the opinion that
the language of Unalaska is distinct fix)m that of Kadiak,
and supports it by the statements of travelers, as
for instance that of the mate Saikoflf, given in the Nem
Nbrdlsche Beitruge, tom. iii., p. 284, who says that the
two are totally difterent.

Throughout the whole Aleutian Archipelago there are
but two dialects, one of which is spoken on the peninsula,
on Unalaska, and a few islands contiguous, while the
other — by Veuiaminoff called the Atkha dialect — ex-
tends thence over all the other Aleutian Isles. In neither
dialect is there any distinction of gender ; but to make
up for this deficiency, besides the plural, a dual is
used. Substantives have three cases: — adakch, the father;
adam or adaganili/<tk,of the father ; mfe/>irtH, to the father;
adakik or adukin, both fathers ; orfan, the fathers; adanik,
to the fathers. Verbs are conjugated by means of ter-
minals. They are divided into three classes, active,
medium, and passive. Negation is expressed b}' the sylla-
ble oljuk added to the root of the verb; sometimes also by

" Vook'a Voy. to Pac, vol. ii., p. 522.

«« DitU's Alaska, pp. 377-8.

>* * DasH Hich w )hl ein Einfluss dcr Enkimo-Spriohe abor nicht diese
■elbat Qbar die swig then Asien iiiid Amerika liajouden luiielu erstreolit.' Voter,
MUhridalen. torn, iii., pt iii., 458.

iJ * Dor D jwnhner von Unalitsohka knnn deu v ju KaiUaok gar nicht ver-
■tehen.' Baer, Slat. u. Ethno,, pp. 123-288-0.

ATKHA AND UNALA8KA DIALB0T8.

679

Ijaka, Ijaga, or gana. Sjvhdng, I take ; ^unakching, I took ;
sjtUjakakching, I take not; sjunag'bljuting, I took not;
sjvda, take ; sjvljagada, or yiiganachtchin, take not.

The eafltern Aleuts enunciate very rapidly, without
dividing their words distinctly, making it very difficult
for a stranger to understand them. In Unalaska their
speech is more drawling, while on Atkha Island the
natives pronounce each word very distinctly. The
western Aleuts and the people on Umnak also speak
rather slowly — drawling." Dall states that the chief
difference between the Atkha and Unalaska dialeclB
consists in the formation of the plural of nouns. The
former for this purpose employ the terminal letters a,
sh, or ng. For diminutives the Atkhas use the ending
kutshak and the Unalaskas dak"

On the next page I insert a vocabulary of Eskimo,
Kuskoquigmute, Malemute, Aleut, and Kadiak tongues.

Turn now to the Thlinkeets, who extend along the
coast southward from Mount St Elias, as Holmberg says,
to the Columbia River;" Chlebnikoff, to the forty-first
parallel ; Vater, to Queen Charlotte Island ;" and Venia-
minoif, to the Stikeen River; the latter affirming, at the
same time, that there is but one dialect spoken among
them all." The nations mentioned by Captain Bryant as
speaking this language are the Chilkats, Bitkas, Hood-
sinoos, Auks, Kakas, Elikinoos, Stikeens, and Tungass."

From all accounts the Thlinkeets possess the most

1* * DasB. . . .sioh daa alentiache Idiom . . .i.ls ein eigner, von dera groMen
eskimoisohen gimz ver8ohiedener SpntchtypuH erweiHt.' Jiuachmanu, Spurtn
derAzlek. Spr., p.70'i et Heq. VeuiikiuinoflTH examples nre as follows: active,
he took; medium, he took rao; pansive, ho was born, In Krman, Avchlo., tow.
iii., No. 1, pp. 130-8: Vtniamltwff, Sapliki ob Odtrouach OoncUaskuiskacho
Otjela, tom. li., pp. 2(!4-71.

11 Doll's Al<juka, p. 38U: Vater, MithridtUes, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 400-460.

>o ' Von St Eliosberge bia hinunter sum Columbiu-stromo. Holmberg,
Ethno. Skit., p. 9.

" ' Sic eratrecken aioh von lakntat Httdlich bia 2u den Oharlotten-Inaeln.'
rater, WthridateH, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 21!).

■* 'Von Ltn bia Stachin, und hat faat nur oinen Dialect.' Veniaminoff,
in Erman, AreMv., tom. vii., No. i., p. 1'2R.

'» llrytmVa Jour., in Amer. AntSa. Soe., Tranmet., vol. ii., p. 302.

Sie Tungnaa language ' as Mr. Tolniio cunjoclnred, ia nearly the aama «a
at apoken »( Bitga.' Scouler, in Land. Qtog. Soc., Jow,, vol. zi., p. 218.

580

HTPEBBOBBAK LANaUAOES.

GOMPABATIVE VOOABULABY.

Kunfo.

If an
Woman

tnak

Fire

Fresh

Water

Bait

Water

Earth

Bione

Dbg

Knife

Bun

ignik or
ignuck

emik
tarreoke

Thou

Eat I'
Yes

No
One

angniak
keuma or
kooneook
Bequetiit
baitts:iac!h
moisak or
ueiya
woonga

Two

Three

Foot

Fire
Six

BeTen

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

ashadlooik or

ishntllooweet

naga, nan,

tnum, nao,

aunga

tegara or

adaitsuk

milleit-

Bungnet

pingettsat-

Mungnot or

pingeyook

tsetumniat or

aetutnet

tadgiemat

adreyeet or

taleema

arkbunna

aghwinnak

akkaooin-

elget

aitpa

acbwinnigh-

ipaghn

mullaroonik

or bolriik

penayua

penmyooik

pegesset

Bcetntnna

teeidiinniik

tadlootna or

kdlit

KDSKOQUIO-
IIUTB.

yugnt
agnak

knik

enuk
okanok

iknik

inik
nuui

immik
nuneh

annakbukkta
chivichttk

akbtah

hwihka
Ipit

neega

you

chashituk

atauohik
inalkhok

palnalvak

t'chamik
talimik

akhvinok

ainaftkhTa-
nam

pinaiviak

chtainiak-
vunam

kullnuk

iiAi.iMirri(.

toioch
aiyagar

kignak

tnangak
tshekak

kiyukmuk
chowik

shnkeenyuk

wunga
illewit

nagemnger

wah

peechnk

atowsik
malrnk

pinyuBut

setomat
telemat

aghwinuleot

mahlnditagh'
winuleet

liuynsuni-
iighwinuleel

koolinotyluk
kooleet

ALEDT.

sewk

nikuk

omgazsbiz-

Bhik

akathak

keen
ingaan

kaangen

aang

maselikan

attakon
allnk

kankoon

shitshin
tshang

uttoon

olnng

kamtshing

sitohing

hasnk

attakatha-

matkioh

XAOUK.

knok

tanngak
uoonii

pewatit
tshangielk

madzBhak

chooi
chlput

pittoooga

aang

pedok

alcheluk
malogh

pingaion

ntamen
taliman

Agovinligin

malohongun

inglulgin

kollomgaien

kollcn
alchtoch M

HABSHNE8S OF THE THLINEEET TOKOUE.

581

barbarous speech found anywhercf in the Pacific States.
Whether this arises from the huge block of wood with
which the Thlinkeet matrons grace their under lip,
which drives the sound from the throat through the
teeth and nose before it reaches the ear of the listener, I
do not pretend to say; but that it is hard, guttural,
clucking, hissing, in short everything but labial, there is
no doubt. All who have visited them, whether German,
English, French, or Spanish, agree in this particular.
Marchand describes it as excessively rude and wild;
Most of their articulations are accompanied by a
strong nasal aspiration, with strenuous efforts of the
throat; particularly in producing the sound of a double
r, which is heavy and hard. Many of their words com-
mence with a strongly guttural k sound and this same
sound is frequently heard three times in one word. Dr
Roblet who accompanied Marchand, says that, notwith-
standing all this, the language is very complete, possess-
ing a multitude of words, the natives being at no loss to
give a name to everything.'^ La Perouse, who makes a
similar report, gives as an example of its harshness the
word kMrkies, hair.'" In VeniaminolTs vocabulary are
found such words as thlHunuk,\ieii\i\\y, and katlhth, ashes,
literally unpronounceable. The frequently occurring
sound tl has led several authors to suppose a relationship
with the Aztec tongue ; as for example Vater, who made
a small comparative table which I insert to show directly
the contrary to what he wished to prove.

Setting aside the tetl, te, stone, of which I have mode
previous mention, had the words been selected to prove
a want of affinity between the two languages they could
not have been more to the ix)int. Buschmann asserts,
moreover, that several of tho Mexican words are mis-

n Taken from Bteehty's Voyage, vol. ii.; Jkur, Stat. v. Ethno.; Dall'a Alaska',
and Smur'H HHUtuiit' Ex.

<> Mariihtmd, Viwagt, torn, ii., pp. 109-1I0.

n 7x1 PdrouM,Voy., torn, ii., p. 238. ' Their langaage is hanb and nn-
pleanaiit to tho oar.' PorUock'a Voy.,Tp. '2))3. ' It appears barbarous, uncouth,
ond diffloult to pronounce.' Dixon'H Voy., p. 172. ' La diflcil nronunciacion
do BUS voces . . . pues las forman do la uarganta con un movlmiento de 1*
longna contra el paladar.' Bodtga y Quadra, Nav., MS., pp. 46-47.

682

HTPBBBOBEAH LANOUAaBS.

Mother

Brother

Face

Forehead

Strong

Depth

Stone

Earth

Duck

Star

aantU

teachcanh

xayacatl

yzijaatl

Tebtilizcotl

Tecatlyotl

tetl

tlalli

cananhtii

dthtti

attli

achaik or achonoik

krga

liak

idzin

kattljan

tljaknok or tiatka

kanchn

tiaachztt »

quoted.^ A few instances have been discovered by the
same writer, where the Thlinkeet tongue appears to be
verging towards the Tinneh. Among others he mentions
the Thlinkeet words te, stone, zyyn, muskrat, comparing the
latter with the Dogrib tern; the Thlinkeet achschat^
woman, wife, with theUmpqua sch'at; the Thlinkeet tje,
teik, road, with the Tacully tee.'^ La Perouse pretends
that they do not use and can hardly pronounce the
letters b, f, j, d, p, and v. Most words commence with
k, t, n,8, or m, the first named being the most frequently
used; no word commences with an r.""^ Veniaminoff
again says that it would take thirty-eight letters or com-
binations to write the distinct sounds which are expressed
in the Thlinkeet language. The personal pronouns are
Mat, or khatah, I ; bae, he, or belch, thou ; b or bch, he ; ban
or bantch, we; ■iban or ibarUch, you; aa or astch or youias
or youastch, they. The verb 'to do* is conjugated as
follows:

PBESKNT INDIOATITK'

etakhani

IHPKBFECrr

etakhanegin

nBST FimTM

ekbkazyani

BBCOMD TVTUSE

enkbzini

PEBFECT

ekhbzinf or ekhbzinnigin '>

n Vaier, MUhridaUs, torn, iii., pt iii., pp. 212-13; Ilohriberg, Ethno. Skis.,
p. 16.

M *Von der ganzen Liste bleibt alleiu The, Stein nis fihnlich.' Buseh-
mann, Pima u. Koloachen Spradu!, p. 386. ' Zwischen ihuen und der mezi-
eanischen in Wdrtem ina QrAminatik keine Verwandtschaft existirt . . .
gftnzlich vom Max. ve:.^.}iieden siud.' Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. G9. 'Je
n'ai tronv^ nucune ressemblance entre les mots de cette langue et celle des
... .Mexionins.' La Piroust, Voy„ torn, ii., p. 240.

«i Buschmann, Pima u. KoloHcben .SpracAe, p. 388.

M La PerouM, Voy., torn, ii., pp. 238-9.

IT Veniaminoff, Sapitki ob Ostrovach Oonakuhkitukaoho Oijela, torn, iii., pp.
U9-51. No translation is given.

THLIMKEET LOBD'B PBAYEB.

Vater has a Lord's prayer communicated by Baranoff,
director of the late Russian possessions in America. It
reads as follows:

Ais waan, wet wwetu tikeu; ikukastii itssag^

Father our, who art in the cloudB; honored be

name

bae; faa atkwakut ikustigi ibee; atkwakut attuitugati

thine; let come kingdom thine, be done will

bee ikachtekin linkitani zu tlekw. Katuachawat

thine as we in heaven and on earth. Food

uaan zuikwulkinichat akech uaan itat; tamil udan

needful give us to-day; absolve

our

tschaniktschak aagi zu udan akut tugati ajat; ilil

debts ours as also we give debtors ours; not lead

uan zulkikagatii tdat anachut uan akall^elchwetach.

us into temptation but deliver xu from the evil Spirit.

Tu.

So."

Next come the Tinneh, a people whose diffusion is
only equaled by that of the Aryan or Semitic nations
of the old world. The dialects of the Tinneh language
are by no means confined within the limits of the Hy-
perborean division. Stretching from the northern in-
terior of Alaska down into Sonora and Chihuahua, we
have here a linguistic line of more than four thousand
miles in length extending diagonally over forty-two
degrees of latitude ; like a great tree whose trunk is the
Rocky Mountain range, whose roots encompass the
deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, and whose branches
touch the borders of Hudson Bay* and of the Arctic

M Voter, mthridates, torn, iii., pt iii., p. 225.

*> ' Dimensionen, in welohen er ein ungeheures Qebiet im Innem det
nfirdlichen Continents einniramt, nahe nn das Eismeer reicht, und queer
das nordamerikaniBche Festland dnrchzieht: indem er im Osten die Had-
Honsbai, im Siidwesten in abgestossenen Mtttmmen am Umpqua-Flusse das
Btille Meer bertthrt.' Buaehmann, Spurm derAttek. Spr., p. 3'23. ' This great
family includes a large number of North American tribes, extending, from
near the mouth of the Mackenzie, south to the borders of Mexico.' Datt'B
Alaakxt, p. 428. ' There are outlyers of the stock as far as the soathetn

664

HYPEBBOBEAN LANOUAQES.

and Pacific oceans.^ In the north immense compact
areas are covered by these dialects; towards the south
the line holds its course steadily in one direction, while
at the same time on either side are isolated spots, broken
fragments as it were, of the Tinneh tongue, at wide dis-
tances in some cases from the central line. A refer-
ence to the classification given at the end of the preced-
ing chapter, will show the separation of the Tinneh
family into four divisions, — the eastern, western, central
and southern. The eastern division embraces the di-
alects spoken between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie
River; the western, those of the Kutchins and Eenai of
interior Alaska and the Pacific Coast in the vicinity of
Mount St Elias and Copper River; the central, those of
the Tacullies of New Caledonia, the Umpquas of Oregon,
and the Hoopahs of California; the southern, those of
the Apaches of New Mexico, Arizona, and Northern
Mexico.

Near the sources of a branch of the Saskatchewan
River are the Sursees, who have been frequently classed
with the Blackfeet, but Mackenzie had before this stated
that they speak a dialect of the Tinneh.*' Umfreville
who visited these people, compares their language to the
cackling of hens, and says that it is very difficult for their
neighbors to learn it.**

Glance first at the dialects round Hudson Bay, and

eof Oregon. More than thiH, there are Athabascans in California,
Mexico and Honora.' Latham's (7omp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 393.
'Dosser in seinem HanptgQrtel von der nfirdlichen Hudsonsbai aus fast die
gnnzo lireite des Continents durchl&uft; und dass er in abgesonderten, in
die Feme geschleuderten Qliedern, gen SQden nicht allein unter dem
46ten (Tlatskanni und Kwalhioqua) und 43ten Ontde ndrdlicher Breite ( Ump-

toa) das stille Meer bertthrt, sondem nuch tiof im Inneen in don Navnjos
en 36ten Orad trifft wfthrend er im Norden und Nordwesten den

66ten Grad und beinahe die Oestade des I'olarmecrs erreioht.' Jiuachmann,
AUupaiik. Sprac.luilamm, p. 313. Bee also vol. i., pp. 114, 143-0.

» Oibba, in SmUhsonian Kept., 186G, p. 303.
! ** ' The Sarsees who are but few in number, appear from their language,
to oome on the contrary from the North- Westward, and are of the same people
as the Rocky-Mountain Indians . . .who are a tribe of the Chepevvyaua.'
MoekentU'a Vnyagen, pp. Izxi.-lxxii.

n VaUr, MitkrUkOea, torn, iii., pt iii., p. 252; OtUlatin, in .^mer. Antiq. Soe.,
Tmtuael., vol. ii., p. 19. The Sarsi, Hussees ' speak a dialect of the Chip-

Swyan (Athapascan), aUied to the Tahkali.' HaU'a Ethnog., in U. 3. Ex.
t., vol. vi., p. 219.

DIALECTS OF THE TINNEH FAHILT.

686

thence towards the west. The northern dialects are ex-
ceedingly difficult to pronounce, being composed largely
of gutturals. Richardson compares some of the sounds
to the Hottentot cluck, and Isbister calls them "harsh
and guttural, difficult of enunciation and unpleasant to
the ear.'^ They differ mainly in accentuation and
pronunciation, and it therefore does not require that
philological research which is necessary with tlie farther
outlying branches of the family to establish their con-
nection. Richardson says that the Hare and Dog-rib
dialects diifer scarcely at all even in their accents ; and
(^ain that the Sheep dialect is well understood by the
Hare Indians. Latham affirms that the '' Beaver Ind-
ian is transitional to the Slav^ and Chepewyan proper."
Of the Coppermine people, Franklin writes that their
language is "essentially the same with those of the
Chipewyans." Ross Cox says that the language of the
Slowacuss and Nascud "bears a close affinity to that
spoken by the Chepewyans and Beavor Indians."^

From a paper in the collection of M. Du Ponceau,
cited by Mr Gallatin, there appears to be in the grammar
of these northern dialects a dual as well as a plural.
Thus dinnd, a person ; dinn^ you, a man ; dinn^ you keh,
two men ; dinne you tlUang, many men. Again we have
sick keh, my foot ; aick keh keh, my feet. The Chepewyan
declension is as follows:

My two hats, sit sackhciM keh; thy two hats, nit
sackhaUi keh; his two hats, hit sackhake keh, or rioneh bid
tmkhaUe keh; their two hats, hoot sackhaUe keh; two
pieces of wood, teitchin keh; much, or many pieces of
wood, teitchin thlang; my son, see az^; my two sons, see
azd keh; thy two sons, nee az^ keh; his two sons, bee
az6 keh; their two sons, hoo bee az^ keli; my children,

33 * They Bpeak n copious language, which is very difficult to be attained.'
Muc.keiule's Voymftit, p. 114. 'Ah a language it is exceedingly meagre and

imperfect.' Rxchardnon's Jour., vol. ii., pp. 3, 28.

" pp. 3, 7; Pranldin's Nar., vol. ii., p, 76.
' Hare Indians, who alim speak a dialect of the ('hipewyan languiiKc Id.,

5* RlclMrdson'n Jour., vol. ii., pp

p. 83. Rooky Mountain Indians difTer but little from the Strongbow,
Jioaver, eto. Id., p. 85. Latham's Cotnp. Fhil., vol. viii., pp. 388, 301; Id.,
vol. iii., p. 303; Cox'b Adven., p. 323.

B66

HTPEBBOBEAN LANQUAGES.

see az^ keh thlang, or mkain^. Thus we see that the
dual ending is leeh (which also means foot), and that of
the plural, ^Min^. Possessive pronouns are: first person,
»i, sU or nee; second person, nit or nee; third person,
his or their, hit, bee, noot, or hoo.

CONJUGATION OF THE VEBB I SPEAK. YAWS'THEE.

PBESXNT. nfPKBnCT.

I speak, yawB'thee

Thou speokest, yawnelt'hee
He speaks, yawlt'bee
We speak, yawoult'h^e

You speak, tayoult'h^e

They speak, tayathee

I spoke,
Thou spakest.
He spoke.
We spoke.
You spoke.
They spoke.

yawaylt'bee

yavolt'hee

yalthee

tayaolthee

tayahelthee

tayolthee u

At the end of this chapter may be found a compara-
tive vocabulary, comprising words selected from these
and other dialects, belonging to this family.

Crossing over to the country drained by the Yukon,
we find the great Kutchin nation and to their north-east
the Kenai. The Kutchins, according to Jones, are
"divided into about twenty-two different tribes, each
speaking a dialect of the same language." Hardisty
afiirms that " the Loucheux proper is spoken by the
Indians of Peels River, thence traversing the mountains,
westward down Rat River, the Tuk-kuth, and Van-tah-
koo-chin, which extend to the Tran-jik-koo-chin, Na-
tsik-koo-chin, and Koo-cha-koo-chin of the Youcon." *
The connection of the Kutchin language with the Tinneh
has been, by early travelers, denied, and this denial re-
echoed by writers following them f but later philological
investigations have established the relationship beyond a

31 OaUatin, in Anwr. AtUiq. Soe., TranBad.,yol. ii., pp. 215-16, 269.

36 Richardion'a Jour., pp. 377-413; Xof/iam's Notice Races, pp. 293-4;
Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 320; Hardisty, in Id., p. 311.

37 • They speak a language distinct from the Ghipewyan. FranMin's Nar.,
vol. ii., p. 83. 'The similarity of language amongst all the tribes (Athabas-
cans) that have been enumerated under this head (the Loucheux excepted) is
fully established. It does not appear to have any distinct affinities with
any other than that of the Kinai. OaUaiin, in Amer. Antiq. Soe., Transact.,
vol. ii.,p. 20. 'The language of the latter (Loucheux) is entirely different
from that of the other known tribes who possess the ^ast region to the north-
ward of a line drawn from Churchill, on Hudson's Bay, across the Rocky
Monnttins, to New Caledonia.' Simpson's Nar., p, 157. 'The Degothees
or Loucheux, called Quarrellers by the English, speak a different language.'
Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 642.

THE KUTOHIN DIALBCT8 OF THE YUKON.

687

question. Furthermore, to corroborate this fact there
are persons, well acquainted with these people and their
language, having lived in their country and traded with
them for years, who are positive that the Kutchin is a
dialect of the Tinneh. Some of them even affirm that
the eastern Kutchin dialect bears a closer relationship
to that of their neighbors, the Hares and Slaves, than do
some of the dialects of the western Kutchins to each
other, yet it is certain that all the Kutchin tribes of the
Yukon and its tributaries understand one another, ac-
centuation being the principal distinction between them.

A greater divergence from the stock language is
observable in the dialect of the Tutchone Kutchin, which,
with those of the Han Kutchin, the Slav^ of Francis
Lake and Fort Halkett, the Sicannis, the Abbato-tinneh
of the Felly and Macmillan Rivers, and the Nehanne
of forts Liard and Simpson, might almost be called a
dialectic division of the Tinneh language.'*

Richardson, following Murray, cautiously traces these
relationships in the following words: " More resem-
blances, he thinks, might be traced through the Mountain
Indian speech (Naha-'tdinn^ or Dtche-ta-ut-'tinnfe) than
directly between the Kutchin and Dog-rib tongues. The
Han-Kutchi of the sources of the Yukon, speak a dialect
of the Kutcha-Kutchi language, yet they understand and
are readily understood by the Indians of Frances Lake
and the banks of the Pelly. Now these converse freely
with the Naha- or Dtche-ta-ut 'tinn^, and other Rocky
Mountain tribes, whose language resembles the Dog-rib
tongue, and who are, in fact, acknowledged members of
the Chei)ewyan nation. Again, the Frances Lake In-
dians understand the Netsilley, or Wild Nation, who
trade at Fort Halkett, on the River of the Mountains;
these again are understood by the Sikanis ; and the Sik-
anis by the Beaver Indians, whose dialect varies little
from that of the Athabascans, the longest-known mem-
ber of the 'Tmnh nation.""

38 Hardialy, in Smithsonian Kept., lSo6, p. 311.

39 Richardson's Jour., vol. i., pp. ■lOO-l; Hooper's Tuski, p. 270.

688

HTPEBBOBEAK LANOUAaEB.

The Kutchins pride themselves on their oratorical
powers, making long, windy, and allegorical speeches re-
markable alike for native wit and eloquence. In
public speaking their delivery is unique and effective;
commencing in a low monotonous tone the voice slowly
rises to a crescendo, then increases to a forte, and
finally rolls forth in grand fortissimo, at which point,
accompanied by striking gestures, it continues until sheer
exhaustion compels the orator to pause for breath. The
speech closes with a "most infernal screech," as Har-
disty calls it, which is supposed to be a clincher to the
most abstruse argument.

It was among these people, in the vicinity of the junc-
tion of the Tananah with the Yukon River that the
before-mentioned broken Slav6 jai^n originated. Be-
fore the arrival of foreigners, the necessity of a trade, or
intertribal, language was felt and met, the dialect spoken
on the Liard River forming the basis. With the arrival
of Russians, French, and English successively, each one
of these nationalities contributed of its words to form the
general jargon. Dall says that it is in use among all
western Eskimos who have intercourse with the Tinneh.
The European element in their jargon is very slight,
much less than in the Chinook jargon, from the fact that
but few Europeans have ever come in contact with the
inland tribes of Alaska even in an indirect way.

Following the Tinneh tongue southward from Central
Alaska, we strike the Pacific seaboard at Cook's Inlet
and Prince William Sound, where we find the Kenai,
with six or more dialects, stretching along the shores of
the Ocean as far as Copper River. The word Kenai, or
as they are sometimes called the Tbnainu,^ meaning
men, in signification and sound is nlmoi : identical with
the word Tinneh, Dinneh, Tinne, Diriay, Tinna, with
many other variations applied to tbis family." Ac-

« Holmberg, Ethno. S««., pp. 6-7; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 97; Voter, Mth-
ridatts, torn, iii., pt iii., p. 228; DaU's AUuka, p. 430; Latham's Nat. Baces,
p. 292.

*' Busehmann, Athapask. Sprachttamm, p. 223 iKruaentem, Wotrter-Satnm-
lunrj, p. xi.

KBNAI LINOniBTIO AFFILUTIONS.

560

cording to Sagoskin the Ingaliks, Unakatanas, and others
of the Yukon and Nulato rivers call themselves Ttynai-
chotana." Veniaminoff, a high authority on matters
coming under his immediate observation, draws erroneous
conclusions from his comparisons of Kenai dialects.
The Kenai language, he says, is divided into four dialects;
the Kenai proper, the Atnah spoken by the Koltshanes
and the people of Copper River, the Kuskoquim, and the
Kwichpak." Baron von Wrangell is of the opinion that
the Kenai are of Thlinkeet stock, affirming that although
their idiom is diflerent yet it comes from the same root;**
but Dall believes that it might be "more properly
grouped with the Tinneh."*" The dialect of the Uga-
lenzes, Buschmann confidently asserts, belongs to the
Tinneh family, although its connection with the Kenai
is not strongly marked, while slight traces of the Thlin-
keet tongue are found in it, but not the least shadow of
the Aztec as Vater imagined/'' Long words are of fre-
quent occurrence in the speech of the Ugalenzes; as
for example, chaJdjtachejakga, work; tekasekonachakkf
enemy; kafeujaslia^na, to divide; aukatschetohatk, to
take away.

The Atnah dialect has also been classed with the
Thlinkeet by Baer, who inserts a small comparative
vocabulary to show the similarity, but in it few similar
words are found, while between the Atnah and the

<> * So nennen die Seekastenbewohner Ulukag Mjuten Inkiliken, and-
dieseletzten nennen sicih selbst eutweder nach dem Dorfe, oder im allge
meineuTtynaUCliotana.' Scujoakin, Tagtbuch, in Rusa. Oeog. Ueaell., Dtnkschr.,
p. 321.

« Veniaminaf, in Erman, Archin, torn, vii., No. i., p. 128.

*' ' Ihre Spriiche ist zwar von der der Koloscheu verschiedon, atammt aber
von derselben Wurzel ab.' Baer, Ntat. u. Ethno., p. 97.

«» DaWs Alaskxi, p. 430.

*<> ' Ich bleide dabei stehn Bie f iir oine athapaskisohe Spraohe za er-
kliiren.' Bimihmann, Spuren der Atlek Siir., p. C37. 'Two tribes are fonnd,
on the Paoiflo Ocean, whose kindred lan^uitgeg, though exhibiting some
affinities both with that of the Western Eskimaux and with that of the Atha- .
pascas, we shall, for the present, oousider as forming a distinct family.
They are the Kinai, in or near Cook's Inlet or River, and the Ugaljnchmutzi
I OancUuohmioutt^) of Prino-> William's Sound.' QallaUn, in Amer. Antiq. Soo.,
Transact., vol. ii., p. 14.

590

HYPEBBOBEAN LANGUAGES.

1 -k

> I
1 >;

«1 I

Ugalenze the oonnection is quite prominent, as for
instance;

ATNAB

raALBMZB

Heaven

jaat

jaa

Ice

ttdn

ttetz

Stone

ttzesrh

ttza

Fox

nakattze

* nakattze

Eagle

ttschkulSk

tkotsohkalak

Blood

tell

tedlch

Fat

chch£

chche

Come here

any

anatdchtja *'

In like manner the Kenai dialect has been classed
with the Thliiikeet;*^ but here the preponderance of
evidence is with the Tinneh. Buschmann claims it
as his discovery that the Kenai belong to the Tinneh
famil}'.*' The Kenai dialect is very difficult to pronounce,
so much so that even the neighboring people with their
harsh, nasal, and grttural idioms, find great trouble in
enunciating it clearly. Some of the combinations of
consonants are really very curious,*" — aljtnjan, earth;
kyssynj, woman; mljchny^ to drink; keljkcUjj to eat;
ktaaltatlni, to shoot; kijdykntjassniasj, I hear; tscJuUschee-
intschichku, do not be afraid ; kazikatejityssny, I know not.

Baer makes the Ingalik cognate with Kenai, Atnah,
and Tlilinkeet;" an affinity is also detected between the
Inkalit and the Kenai, Atnah, and Unalaska dialects ;"

*' 'Dieses Volk gehfirt gleich den Ugalenzen zu einem und demselben
Stammo tuit den Koluschen . . . Auch in der Spraclie giebt es melirere Worter,
dienuf cine gemeinschaftliche Wurzel hindetiten.' Baer, Stat. u. Kthno., p. 99.

** 'Oob'iit zu dianselben Stamiue wie die Galzunen oder KoltBclianen,
Atnner nnd Koloschen. Dieses bezeufiit nicht nur die noch vorhaudeuo
Aehnli.'hkeiteiniger Worter in ilen Spracheu dieser Volker (eine Aihnlich-
keit, wcl.^lte freilich in der Kprnche der Koluschen kanm noch merkbar uud
fast g:lnzlieh verschwiniden ipt).' liaer, Stat. «. Ethno., p. 103.

*' ' Dio Kinai, Kenai oder Kenaizen wurdenbisher sbon ols ein Hanptvolk
und ihro Spnche aU eine hauptsauhliche des russichen Nordnmerika's
betrachtet. Sie r u^iehpn in ihren Wohnungen an jeuer Kdste die grosse
Kinai-B;icht o:ler den sogenannten Cooks-Fhiss. Ihr Idiom gait bisher aU
eine se.bststilndige und ursprdngliehe Spraclie, Trfigerinn mehrerer anderer.
Nach ra< iuen Euti1eckiin.':;en ist eti ein Giied des grossen athapuskischen
SpracliHtamines, und seine Vei'wandteu im russischeii Nord-westen sind an-
dei-e Ol eder desselben.' Buschmann, Atliamulc. Spruchstamm, p. 223.

*• 'Die Ken d-S;)raohe ist, wegen der Menge ihrer Giirgellaute, von alien
Idionieii des russichen Amerika's am schwierigsten anszusprechen. iSelbst
die Nachbam der Kenajer, deren Spracheu schon ein sehr geschmeidiges
Or(;an erfo dem, siud nicht im Stande, WOrter des Kenaiisehen rein
wiedor/.ugeben.' Venlnminoff, in Erman, Archiv, torn, vii., No. i., p. 128.

*' Birr, Stat. «. Ethno., p. 110.

** ' Sie gpreohen eine Spraohe, die ganzverBchieden ist von der an der See-

CENTRAL TINNEH DIVISION.

591

while Sa^skin numbers both the Ingalik and the Inka-
lit among the members of the Tinneh family." Like
those of their neighbors these two dialects are harsh and
difficult of pronunciation, as for instance in the Inkalit,
tschugljkchuja, a fox.

From the earliest times it has been known that the
Koltshanes conld converse freely with the Atnahs and
Kenai, and the relationship existing between these dia-
lects has long been recognized." As a specimen of the
Koltshane tongue, I present the following: tschiljkaje,
eagle; nynkj,kit, earth; ssyljtschUan, cold; astscheljssUjj
warm; tschilje, man.

To the TaculUes of our central Tinneh division, whose
language Hale separates into eleven dialects, Latham
adds the Sicannis, and other writers the Umpquos and
the Hoopahs.^' The northern dialects of this division are
represented as composed of words harsh and difficult to
pronounce, while the southern dialects are softer and
more sonorous, yet robust and emphatic. Mr Hale felt
the necessity of adopting a peculiar style of orthography
to represent the sounds of these words. The Greek
chi he employed to reproduce the TacuUy gutturals,
which he says are somewhat deejier than the Spanish
jota, probably nearly akin to the German ch in acht und
achtzig. With t chi I he aims to convey a sound which " is

kilste Rebranchli'-hen Sprnche der Alcuten von Kndjnci; ; der Dialect der In-
kaliten ist eiu Geiiiigeh uits dt u Hjirachfin dor Keim^vc, UnuliiHclikeu und

Atimer nnch die Anwigmikten uud MugimUteu Hiud lukiiliteu.' Jiaer,

Stat. u. Etiino., pp. i:0-l.

^3 ' Der zwei >->Umme des Volke8 Ttynai, hanptsftcblioh der Inkiliken nnd
dBrInk;iliteu-jag-elnut.' Sainskiu, Tajthxiah, in liuss. Utog. Oestll., Denkscbr.,
torn. i.. p. 352; iVhymper'n Alanka, p. 175.

'* ' Die uftber wohueuden gehuren ku demselbi a istainmc wie die Atnaer
nnd Keuiiyer und kuunen Bich init ihnen, obgleicb nie einci;. anderen Dia-
lect spreclieu, verHtiindlgeu.' Baer, Stat. t;. Eiuuo., p. 101.

5* D.)in!\neah'8 Denrts, vol. ii , p. 6i; Afach mie'x Voyages, p. 284. 'Their
liinsjiirt ;o is very Himilur to thut of the Chipew yanri, nml has ii great affinity
to the toni^nes spoken by the Beaver Indians iind the Sicaunes. Hetween
all the diflforcnt villages of the Carriers, t'lere prevaiUu difference of diulett,
to such an extent, that they often give different umies to the most common
utensils.' Ilnrmnn's Jimr., pp. 285-6, 370, 103, 1U«; Lwhwufs Ab. Lang,, p.
178. ' Les Indiensde lac6te ou de la Nouvellc ''dednnie, les Tokalis, les
Ch irsfenrs (Cmrlrs), les Schoucbonaps, les Atnns, npoartlonnent tons k la
nitiond3sChii»euhi»lf:ins.' A[o/ra.i, Exp'or.. lom.v., p. 337; Oallutin. in Amer,
Ardiq. SfK., Tmiinirt., vol. ii.,'p. 20. 'A branch of the great Chippewyan
(Athapusoau) itock.' ".<*(> Elhnog., iu U. S. Ex, Ex,, vol. vi., p. 202.

HTPEBBOREAN LANGUAQES.

|! 'r

! i

a combination uttered by forcing out the breath at the
side of the mouth between the tongue and the palate.""
In the following words instead of the Greek chi, I write
M, and for t chil, ach. Schling, dog ; schJuk, fish ; sutschon,
good; kwun, fire; ku^ih, house; schhell, mountain; tse,
stone; kuschkai, run.

Hale is the only author who gives any information of
the two tribes Tlatskanai and Kwalhioqua. The Kwal-
hioquas dwell on the north bank of the Columbia, near
its mouth ; but between them and the river there runs a
wedge of Chinook territory. The former are to be found
south of the river, on a narrow strip extending north
and south. Being nearly related to the Tacully, these
languages also belong to the Tinneh family. The only
vocabulary obtainable is given by Mr Hale. Round the
headwaters of the river Umpqua live the people of that
name, sjxjaking a language related to the two last men-
tioned, but which, if we may believe Mr Hale, is "much
softer than the others."

Scouler, who has made a curious classification of the
languages of north-western America, places theUmpqua in
the same family with the Calapooya and Yamkally under
the general name of Cathlascon." The southernmost
dialect of this division is that of the Hoopahs, on Trinity
River. Upon the authority of Mr Powers, "the Hoopa
language is worthy of the jieople who speak it — copious
in its vocabulary ; robust, sonorous, and strong in utter-
ance; of a martial simplicity and rudeness in con-
struction." Again he writes, "as the Hoopas remind
one of the Romans among savages, so is their language
something akin to the Latin in its phonetic characteris-
tics: the idiom of camps — rude, strong, laconic. Let a
grave and decorous Indian speak it deliberately, and
every word comes out Uke the thud of a battering-ram
against a wall. For instance let the reader take the
words for 'devil' and 'death' — kedoandiwa a.\v\ cficschwU
— and note the robust strength with which they can be

» IMt'ft Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. B33.

" Sooultr, iu Lond. Utog. Hoc., Jour., vol. 'zi., p. 225; IRium' Voy., p. 117.

VOCABULARY OP HOOPAH DIALECTS.

608

at the

late.""
I write
itschon^
in; tee,

ition of
I Kwal-
ia, near
> runs a
e found
g north
y, these
'lie only
lund the
of that
ist inen-
j "much

uttered. What a grand roll of drums there is in that
long, strong word, conchvnkhioil.^' Mr Powers gives
the following declension: I, htoe; father, hoota; my
father, hwdioota; you, nine; your father, nineta; mother,
nec^; death, cheeckwU; your mother's death, nincho cheech-

On the western slope of Mount Shasta, there is the
Wi-Lackee language, which bears a close likeness to the
Uoopah : on Mad River is the Lassie and on Eel River
the Siah, both probably Hoopah dialects, and on Smith
River in Del Norte County, the Haynaggi, Tolewah and
Tahahtesn, also presumably Hoopah and Wi-Lackee dia-
lects. The following comparative table of the numerals
in the Tolewah, Hoopah, and Wi-Lackee dialects, will
serve to illustrate their relationship.

Thre^

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

TOLXWAB.

BOOPAB.

WI-LAOni.

ohla

clyhy

naoheh

niioh

nooka

taoheh

tach

took

tencheh

tinckh

tenckha

Bwoila

ohwola

tuBcnlla

ost&neh

hostan

ouosluo

tsayieh
lanesh tnata

ochkit

ooosnao

oahnem

COOBtllO

ohla ntuoh

noocista

coostunckha

neh snn

minchla

kwang enta

Im con-
remind
mguage
racteris-
Let a
kly, and
|ng-ram
ike the

can be

ly- p<

117.

In the southern and last division of the Tinneh family
are found the great Apache and Navajo nations, with
their many dialects. The Apjuihes may be said to in-
habit or rather to roam over the country, commencing
at the Colorado d rscrfc and extending east to the Rio
Pecos, or fro-n abjut 103° to 114° west long., and from
Utah Territ'>ry Vito the states of Sonora, Chihuahua,
Coahuila, Ni "V; i/; .n, and Texas, or from about 38° to
30° north lut H; rdlv iwo authors agree in stating the
number .md name,:; ct" the different tribes belonging to
this nation.* The names by which they are known

M Powers, in Omrland MonlMy, vol. ix., pp. 157-8; Oibba, in School-
cr<{ft'a Arch., vol. iil., p. 432; Turner, in Pan. H. R. liepL, vol. iii., pp. 87-5.
' loh habe Bpttter die Hoopuh Hprache wirklioh f(ir oiiiu athnpuHkigcho ange-
notninen.' Buschmann, Spurtn der Aitek. Spr., p. 570.

*> HarUeU'a Ptrs. Nar., vol. i., P- 325. • Dendo el Real de ChiguuKua,
cruzando al Poni<<ato, haita el rioOila, y subieudo al Norto, baata ol Moqui,
Vol. ITT 8S

694

H7PEBB0BEAM LANQUAOES.

among themselves are, according to Orozco y Berra:
Vinni ettinen-ne, Segatajen-ne, Tjukcujen-iie, Iccujen-ne,
YiUajen-ne, Sejen-ne, Cuelcajen-ne, lApajen-ne, for which
the Mexicans have substituted, such words as Apaches,
Tontos, Chiricaguis, Gileiios, Mimbrefios, Faraones,
Mescaleros, Llaneros, Lipanes, and Navajos.*" The na-
tions that make up this great people are the Chiricaguis
in north-eastern Sonora; Coyoteras in the Gila country;
Faraones, west of New Mexico in the Sierras del Diablo,
Chanate, and Pilares; Gilefias at the eastern base of the
Sierra de los Mimbres south of the Rio Gila; the people
of the copper mines on both banks of the Rio Grande,
ranging west, to the Coyoteros and Pinaleilos, and also
into Chihuahua an f" - '"•!**, and at Lake Guzman west
of Paso del Norte; L panes, or Ipandes, in Texas;

y Nnevo Mexico, y Provincias de Texas y Quahniln; y revolviendo al Sur
remata en el sobredicho Real.' ArriclvHa, Crdnioa Serdfica, p. 338; Vaitr,
MUhridaUs, torn, iii., pt iii., p. 177; Miihlenpfnrdt, JUijico, torn, i., pp. 212-3;
' Extend from the black mountains in New Mexico to the frontiera of Cog-
quillii.' Pikx'a Explor. Trav., (Phil, 1810,) appendix, p. 10; Tumer,m I'ac.
It. R. RepL, vol. iii., p. 83; Afalte-linm, Precis de la Oeog., torn, vi., p.
446; Pope, in Pita. K. It. Rept., vol. ii., p. 13; Hwtchmann, Spurtn der Atteic.
8pr., p. 298; Ludeuoij'a Ah. Lanf/., p. 8. * Be extienden en el vnoto ehpacio
do dicho cmtinente, que comprendeu los griidos 30 a 38 de latitud Norte,
y 264 & 277 de lougitnd de Tencrife.' Cordero, in Orotco y Btrra, Utoijrafia,
p. 369; ViUa-Seilor y Sanchet, Thttatro, tom. ii., pp. 393, et seq. ' Totii hiBO
regio, quain Novam Moxicanam vocant, nb omnibus pene lateribus ambitur
ab Apai)hibua.' Lift, Novuh Orbis, p. 3IG; Venegas, Noticia de lu Vol., tom.
ii., 553; Orotco y litrra, OtogrnfUi, p. 40.

** Orotco y lierra, Oeogriifia, p. 369. • La nncion npacho es nna minma
aunque con las denominaciones do QilcAon, Carlnues, Chilpaines, Xicaiillus,
Faraones, Mesoileros, Natales, Lipanes, etc. vuriu pooo en su idiomit.' Doc.
Wal. MfX; sJrie iv., tom. iii., p. 10. *Los Apaches se dividen en cinco
parcialidadcs como son: Tontos 6 Coyoteros, Chiricnhues, Uileiios, Fara-
ones, Mescaleros, Llanoros, Lipanes, Xicarillas y otras.' Jiarrtiro, Ojeada,
appendix, p. 7. Browne mentions the (Hla Apaches, and as belonging to
them Mimbrenas, Chiricahuis, Uierra Bliincus, Pinal llanos, Coyoteros,
Cominos, Tonto3, nnl Mogallones.' Apnche Country, p. 290; Vaitr, Milhri-
dates, tom. iii., pt iii., np. 177-8; 3WUenpfordt, Afejico, tom. i., p. 211. ' The
Apache; from which oranch the Navajos, Apaches, CoyoteroH, Mescaleros,
Ifoquis, Yabipias, Maricopas, Chiricaq.iis, Chciiiegunbas, Yuniayas (the
last two tribes of the Moqui), and the Nijorns, a small tribe on the Qila.'
Ruxlon'a Advrn. Mn., p. 194; Ind. Aft. PxfiA., 1857, p. 29S; 1858. i)p. 205-6;
1861, p. 18.1; 1861, p. 122; 1862, p. '238; 186.1, p. 108; 1864, p. 15G; 1865, p.
6UC; 1869, p. 234; Humboldt. Esani Pol., tom. i., p. 289. 'Los apaches
Bs dividr'n en niieve parcialidades 6 tribus.' Plmrnttl, Cuadro, torn, ii., p.
251. ' Since acquiring the Apache linguago, I have discovered that they
(Lipans) are a branch of that great tribe, speaking identically the same Ian-
gnage, with the exoeiition of n few terms and mimes of things existing in
their region and not generally known to those branches which inhabit Ari-
lona and New Mexico.' Crentony'a Apaclita, p. 21.

i i;

SPEECH OF THE APACHS TBIBES.

685

the Llaneros, north-east of Santa F^, and northerly of
the Rio Rojo de Natchitoches or Rio Pecos; Mescaleros,
in the Sierras del Diablo, Chanate, Pilares, and on
both banks of the Rio Tuerco, above its confluence with
the Rio Grande; the Natage8,or Natajes, in Texas near
the Lipanes; the Pelones, in Coahuila; the Pinaleilos,
in the Sierras del Pinal and Blanca; the Tejuas, east
of the Rio Grande, in the Gila country ; the Tontos, in
north-eastern Sonora, in the north-east near the Seris in
the Pimeria Alta, and south of the Maricopas and
the Rio Gila; the Yaqueros in the eastern part of New
Mexico; the Mimbrefios, in the Sierra de los Mimbres,
west of Paso del Norte, and in the south-western end of
New Mexico, on the northern boundary of Chihuahua."
The Xicarillas, whose dialect forms the principal con-
necting link between the Apache language and the
Tinneh family, live on the Rio de los Osos, west of the
Rio Grande ; also in the Moro Mountains and a^' ng the
Cimarron.**' All the Apache tribes speak dialects but
slightly varying from one another, and all can converse
easily together. Different accentuations and some pecul-
iar vocal appellations are, for the most part, all that
constitute severalness in these dialects. Don Jos^ Cort^z
states that "the utterance of the language is very violent,
but it is not so difficult to speak as the first impression

*> Bwtchmann, Spuren der Attek. Spr., p. 303, et aeq. 'El intcrmeilio
del Colorado y Gila, ocupan los yavipuistcjua, y otros yavipais; al 8ur del
Moqni son todos yavipais, que ea lo miamo qne apaches, donde se conoofl
el p;ran terrene que ooupa esta naoion.' Oarces, Diarlo, in Doc. Ifist. Mt*.,
Burie ii., torn, i., p. 352; San FnincLico Emning Ihdldin, Feb. 18, 18(14. Padilla
meutiuns the following nations with the Apaches: ' Apaches, Phnraonea,
Natagees, Gilas, Mescaleros, (^oHninas, Quartelejos, Polomas, Xicarillaa,
Yutas, Moquinns.' Conq. N. Oalic'M, MS., p. 785; Cortet, Hist. Apache No-
Hons, in Pau. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 118-20. 'The Apaches, the Nava-
hoes, and the Li^mns, of Texas, speak dialects of the same language.
The Jioarillas, (Hio-ah-rce-ahs) MtRculerofl, Tontos, and CoyoteuH, are all
blinds of Apaches; and I am induced to think the Garoteros are also an oif-
Mbont from the Apache tribe.' Lane, in Schoolcraft'a Arch., vol. v., p. G80.

<<! 'A distancia de ciuco leguus, al mesmo ruinuo (north of Taos), esta un*
Nacion do Indios, que Uaman Xicarillas.' VUla-Senory Samihet, Theatro, torn,
ii., p. 420; Davia, in Ind. Aff. Rtpt., 186!), p. 255. Xicarillas, Apache
Indians of northern New Mexico, 'rheir language ahows ai&nitv witn the
groat Athabasoan stock of languages. UuBchmann, Spr. N. Mtx. u. dm
WtsiatUt dta B. Nordamtr., p. 274; Id., Spuren der AtUk, 8pr., pp. 318-9;
Sehoolcn{ft'a Arch., vol. v., p. 203.

!■

696

HYPEBBOBEAN L/JIGUAOES.

of it would lead one to suppose ; for the ear, becoming
accustomed to the sound, discovers a cadence in the
words." "It has great poverty, both of expression and
words." It appears as well that the harsh gutturals so
constantly heard among the northern members of the
Tinneh family, frequently occur in the Apache dialects.®*
Bartlett writes, "it sounds like a combination of Polish,
Chinese, Choctaw, and Dutch. Grunts and gutturals
abound, and there is a strong resemblance to the Hot-
tentot click. Now blend these together, and as you
utter the word, swallow it, and the sound will be a fair
specimen of an Apache word."** Apache affiliations
have been surmised by different writers, with nearly all
their neighbors, and even with more distant nations.
Arricivita hints at a possible relationship with the Otomf ,
because an Otomf muleteer told him that he could con-
verse with the Apaohes." The Shoshone and Comanche
dialects have also been referred to the Tinneh trunk, but
in reality they 'telong to the Sonora vernacular, a dis-
covery first made by Turner, and proved by Buschmann.
Col. Cremony, who was interpreter for the United
States Mexican boundary commission, and hence convers-
ant with the Apache language, gives some valuable
grammatical notes. "Their verbs" he says "express the
past, present and future with much regularity, and have
the infinitive, indicative, subjunctive and imperative
moods, together with the first, second and third persons,
and the singular, dual and plural numbers. Many of

M Gortez, Mst. Apache Xaliona. in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 120. ' Hab-
lan an mismo idioma, y aunque varia el acento y til ouul voz provincial, no
inflaye esta diferencia que dejen do entenderse reofprooamente.' Oroico y
Berra, Oeoqrafia, p. 369.

«« Barlleh'a Letter, in LiUrary World, April 24, 1852, pp. 298-9. ' It
abounds equally with RUtti.ral, hianing and indistinctly uttered mixed in-
tonations. ... It abounds in the sound of tt, so common in the Sheniitic lan-
guages, of rl of d and the rough rr It may be suggested that its proper

affinities aie to be found in the Athpasoa.' Sohooloraft's Arch., vol. v., pp.

0^ ' Le pregnntd que si acaso entendia la lengua de los Apaches, y satis-
flzo con que era la misma Otomite ^ne i-l hablia)a, y solo con la diferencia
de que ellos variaban la signiftcaoion de mnohos vocablos que en la suya
qnerian deoir otras oosas; pero por el contexto de las otras palabras, facil-
mente ae eatendian.' ArricivUa, CrAnioa atr({fioa, p. 339.

APACHE GRAMMAB.

697

them are very irregular, and depend upon auxiliaries
which are few. In all that relates to special individuality
the language is exacting; thus, shee means I, or me;
hut shee-ddh means I myself, or me myself ; dee means
thee or thou ; hut dee-dah means you yourself especially
and personally, without reference to anv other being.
When an Apache is relating his own personal adventures
he never says ahee for I, because that word, in some
sense, includes all who were present and took any part
in the affair but he nsps the word sJiee-dah, to show that the
act was wholly his own. The pronouns are: shee — I;
ahee-dah — I myself; dee — thee or thou; det>dah, thee
thyself; cighan — ^it, he, her, or they. The word to-dah
means no, and all their affirmatives are negatived by
dividing this word so as to place the first syllable in
front and the second in the rear of the verb to be nega-
tived. For example, ink-tah means, sit down, but to
say, do not sit down, we must express it to-ink-tah-dah]
nuest-chee-shee, come here; to-nuest-chee-shee-dah, do not
come here ; anah-zont-tee, begone ; to-anah-zont-tee-dah, do
not begone."**

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO BE. AH GHONTAY.

PBISKIIT INDIOATITK.

I am, tak-8he

We are, tan-ah-hee-ah-aht-tee

Thou art, tan-doe-ah-aht-tee

You are, nah-liee-ah-aht-tee

They are, agbon-day-aht-tee

niPiRrKOT.

I was,

tash-ee-ah-ash-ee

Thou wast,

dee-tth-alt-een

He was.

tah-annah-kah-on-yah,

We were.

akannah sin-kah

You were.

uah-hee-dah-a-kan nah-dash-shosh

They were,

agban-do-doh-ah-kah-gah-kah

pinsTi

i-DTURB.

I shall be, she-ah-dosh-'n-dahl
Thou wilt be, det-ay-goh-ay-dahl
He will be, ando-ay-gah-ee-dahl

We shall be, nah-he-do-p;ont-ee dnhl
You will be, nah-he-nah-hut-han-dahl
They will be, nah-hayt-han-dahl

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO DO, AH GOSH LAH.

I do, she-ash-lah

Thou dost, tan-dee^tgbon-lah
He does tah-peo-ay-il-loh

PBISBNT INDICATIVB.

We do,
You drt,
They do,

tah-nnh-hee-nb-ghont-lah

iiith-bee-ah-ghast-Iah

tah-goh-pee-ah-goh-luh

•so Cremony's Apaehes, p. 239; Id., ia Oinrland Monthly, Sept. 1868, pp.
3 iC-7.

HTFEBBOBEAN LANOUAOES.

I did, tah-she-aah-lah

Thon didit> dee-and-lah
He did, pee-ind-lah

I Bhall do,
Thoa wilt do,
He will do,
We shall do,
Ton will do,
They will do,

We did.
You did,
They did,

tah-nah-kee-and-Ukh

uab-hee-alt-lah

goh-pee-ah<^oh-nind-l«h

ran woTotM.
taah-ee-ah-dosh-leel
dee-ah-goh-dont-leel
tah-pee-aye-dabl-teel
tah-nah-he-ah-go-dont-Ieel
nah-be-ah-daBh-leel
go-pee-ah-guill-dah-leel

PBBBEMT SUBJUNOTTTK.

If I do,
If thou do,
Hhedo,

she-ash-lah-nah-ah

dee^lt-in-dahl

tah-pee-ayilt-in-dahl

If we do,
If yoa do,
If they do,

tah-nah-hee^nt-lah

nah-hee-alt-lah

go-pee-ah-wilt-ee

nfPUUTm.
Do thon, eah-and-lah

PBESEMT PABTICIPLI,

Doing, ah-whee-lah
CONJUGATION OF THE TEBB TO EAT. ISH SHAN.

I eat, she-ish-shan

Thoneateet, deah-in-nah
He eats, aghan-iz-yan

PBBSEKT INDIOATTVI.

I We eat,
Yoa eat,
They eat,

tah-nah-de-hit-tahn
nah-he-Daloh-in-da;f
goh-pee-goo-iz-yau

PSBnOT.

I have eaten, she-ohz-yan

Thou hast eaten, dee-schlee-ohn-nah

He has eaten, aghan-ohnz-yan

We have eaten, tah-nah-hee-al-ke-dah-ohn-tan

You have eaten, nah-he-ahz-yan

They have eaten, goh-pee-go-yohnz-yaa

I shall eat,
Thou wilt eat.
He will eat,
We shall eat,
You will eat.
They will eat,

Eat thon, tan-dee-in-nah

FIBST PUTUBI.

she-go-isb-shan

dee-doh-in-mahdahl

aghandoh-iz-yan

tah-nah-hee-hin-tahn-dahl

nah-he-goh - an-shan

gob-pee-goh-iz-yan-dahl

ZBIFEBATIYE.

I Let them eat, tah-goh-pee-niz-yan

OONJUQATION OF THE YEBB TO SLEEP. Hi HOOSH.

PBISKtiT niDIOATITB.

I deep.
Thou steepest,
He sleeps,

she-ish-hoosh

dee-ilt-hoosh

aghan-it-hoosh

We sleep,
You sleep.
They sleep.

tah-nab -he-il-boosh

nab-be-il-hooRb

go-pee-will-hoosh

I have slept,
Thou hast slept,
He has slept,
We have slept,
Ton have slept.
They hare slept,

PIBPIOT.

she-al-kee-dah-ish-hash

dee-al-kee-dah-ish-hash

aghando-iBh-hash

tab-nab-be-al-kee-dah-il-gash

nah-he-al-kee-dah-al-boosh

go-pee-al-kee-dah-go-il-gash

OBAMlfAB OF THE APACHE MESCALEBO.

609

I shall sleep,
Thou wilt sleep,
He will sleep,
We shall sleep.
You will sleep,
They will sleep.

Bleep thon.
Sleep yoQ,
Sleep they,

nBST fUl'UKK.

she^o-i sh -hoosht-tahl

dee-do^ohl-goosh

aghando-il-hoosht-dahl

t^-nah-be-do-il-goosh-tahl

nah-he-doh-al-hoosh-tahl

go-pee-go-will-booah-tahl

mPEBATIYK.

dee-ilh-hoosh

nah-hee-doh-al-hoosh

go-pee-go-il-hoosh

OONJUaATION OF THE VEBB TO LOVE, IN KAY GO ISHT LEE.

I love, sheah-in-kay-go-isht-lee

Thou lovest, deah-vick-kay>go-int-lee
He loves, aghan-ee-kay-g >-it-lee

PBISKNT INDICATITI.

We love, tan-ah-hee-in-kay-go-it-lea
Yon love, uah-he-vick-kny-at-lee
They love, goh-pee-vick-kay-go-it-Iao

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

8ix

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

I loved,
Thou lovedst,
He loved.
We loved.
You loved.
They loved,

Thou wilt love,
He will love,
I shall love,
We shall love.
You will love.
They will love,

IHPKBFECT.

she-in-kay-go-isht-leeth-lay

dee-vick-kav-gu-int-leeth-lee

aghan-vick-kav-go-it-leelth-lee

tan-ah-hee-vick-kay-iiit-leelth-lee

nah-he-vick-kay-at-Ieelth-lee

go-pee-vick-kay-go-leelth-lee

dee-vick-kay-go-isht-1ee^ahl

aghan-vick-kay-go-it-lee-dahl

she-in-kay-go-isht-lee-dahl

tah-nah-he-vick-kay-go-it-tlee-dahl

nah-he-vick-kay-at-tlee-dahl

goh-pee-vick-kay-go-it-tlee-dahl

nfPXBnOT POTKIfTIAI..

I should love,
Thou shonldst love.
He should love,
We should love,
You should love.
They should love,

she 'dn-vick-kay-go-isht-leel-dahl
dee 'dn-vick-kajr-BO-isht-leel-dahl
aghan-vick-kny-icn-klee^ahl
tah-nah-he- '-kay-go-in-klee-dahl
nah-he-vick y-gd-in-klee-diihl
gon-pee-vick-kay-go-iu-klee-dahl

Love thon.
Love you.
Let them love,

tash-ay-ay

nah-kee

kah-yay

in-yeh

Bsht-lay

host-kon-nay

host-ee-day

hah-pee

'n-ghost-ay

go-nay-nan-nay

klata-ah-tah

nah-kee-sah-tah

kah-yay-sah-tah

tin-sah-tah-hay

asht-lay-sah-tab-

UfPEBATIVI.

vick-kay-go-it-lee

nah-he-vick-kay-at-lee

goh-pee-vick-kay-go-it-lee

NtTHEBALS.

Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Thirty
Forty
Fifty
Sixty
Seventy
Eighty
Ninety
One hundred
One thousand
hay Two thousand

host-kon-sah-tah-hay
host-ee-sah-tah-hay
tan-pee-sah-tah-hav
'n ghost-ah-sah-tah-hay
natin-yay
kah-tin-yay
tinsh-tin-yay
asht-lah-tiu-yay
host-kon-tin-yuy
host-ee-tin-yay
san-vee-tin-yny
'n-ghost-ah-tiu-yay
tah-Ien-too-ooh
go-na^-nan-too-ooh
nah-tin-ee-too-ooh

600

HYPEBBOBEAN LANGUAOES.

The following sentences will serve as specimens to show
the construction of this language.

Whence come you? hash-ee-ohn-daM?

I come from afar, an-dah-she-oh-thal.

I am a friend, tak-in-joon-ay-ish-ke.

What do you want? ee-ya-aUhe-ee 'n?

There are wood, water, and grass, tooh-th-chee-gon-ke.

Gto and watch the enemy, nifl-doMin-naht-hah-aden-Jie.

Take notice of them, gon-joon-ay-go-hah-den-ee.

Of what nation are they? yah-indah-aht-ee?

Where is their camp? hah-ay-vee-goat-hah?

Note well their position, gon-joon-ay-go-nd-he-hayagch
ah-tay-na-ke.

They are near by, goh-pee-ach-han-nay-she-go.

I do not believe it, too-vah-oaht-lah-dah.

Show me the road, in-tin-dee-she-chee-toh-goU-chee.

Mine, shee.

It is mine, es-ah^.

Thine, dee.

It is his or hers, ah-Jcoon-pee.

It is not mine, too-sJie-dah.

It is not thine, too-in-dee-dah.

It is not his or hers, too-pee-dah.

These, tee-hay-ah.

Those, ah'Wayh-hay-yah.

As a further illustration, I give a speech made by
General Carleton during an interview with the Mesca-
leros, which was translated and written down at the
time by Col. Cremony.

Nah-heedn day nah goodnltay; toogo take headah

Your people are bad; they have not kept faith;

bayay geah gontay; schlee nahhah goh inay een

they are treacherous; they have stolen our horses;

nahgah godilt say ; nahhannah gwinheay endah ah tay

they have murdered our people; they must make amends;

too nahhan neet ee dab ; tab nakee ahendah adenh dee

they must cease troubling us; they must obey our orders;

SPEECH IN THE MESCALEBO DIALECT.

601

nah schleen nahhannah weedah ayl; han eganday

they most restore our aaimala; they must

nahhannah goee dalt yeal; enday nahhah hitjash

give np the murderers; they must give us

toohayago andadah ; alkeedah Uaynah ildee ; eschlanay

hostages; let them remember past times; they were

vaygo daht eel ; saylth lee goh-pee ; taat hooay takee

nnmerous and powerful; they held all the sierras; they occupied all

anah goh kah; tah golkahay takay ikay goon lee;

the water-holes; they were masters of the plains;

tash lainah too nelchedah. Ako ahn day hahdah?

noue made them afraid. Where are they now?

Eeyah veeahkah tsay nogoshee 'n nilt ee? Nakay eeah

Why do they hide behind rooks? Where is their

heddah? Bahyay kay 'n nilt ee? She aghan iltisch

poisession? Way do they hide like coyotes? I will tell

in dee. taykay indah nash lee; taykay ay

them why; they have been enemies to all other people; they have made

veeakah nah hindah; tahnahhe elchindah nah hee;

all other people their enemies; they have made enemies of each other;

tannahee eedaltsay ayveeahkah hee nahindah ; too nah

they have lived by robbery and murder; they have

yah seedah; tah nalkoneeay vickoygo tee en nahseego;

not worked; idleness breeds wunt;

tee en nahseego chin nah hilt yeeay; chevilheeaygo

want breeds hunger; hanger

vilkonyeago takhoogo ont yeal; yont hooaygo anaht eel;

and idleness breed crime; they have committed crimes;

takhoogo ninis yah; aghon ahltay koohaygo naht lee;

the punishment has fallen on them ; their thousands have become hundreds ;

elchinalcheego vickeah golt seel; nahee vah ahtee

we speak harsh truths; we speak so only for

elchinahtee; naschayhay too ahnah lahdah;

their good; we have no vengeance in our hearts;

Elchinalcheego inklees andah 'n June; nah kashee

Our talk is hard but good; let them

vanan bn keeays; anahtay kahdayah too wakhahdah ;

reflect upon it; let them change their ways;

innee nahl ash lah ; ilk jeel eego andah 'n June."

let them cultivate the earth; let them be a strong but a good people.

" Prepared at Fort Sumner, Bosqne Bedondo, on the Pecos River, New
Mexico, in 1863, as certified by Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton, U. S. A., and

«»

HTPERBOBEAN LANOUAOES.

Mr Dorr, writing in the Overland Monthly, makes an
erroneous assertion that the Apache and Zufli languages
are the same, "(lifTering only in accent, intonation, and
cadence, they understand each other without difficulty.
The Zufli, or Apache language is very flexible and
suave, and may at some time have been the Court lan-
guage of the ancient races. It is often as expressive of
fine shades of distinction as even the Greek itself. It
preserves — in the adyta of its wonderful radicals — the
traditional duality of the human race: its dual, as well
as singular and plural, forms of speech.""

Vater intimates a relationship between the Apaches
and the Pawnees, and that chiefly on the ground of a
similarity in the names Pawnees and Lipanes.*®

Pimentel gives a Lord's Prayer in the Lipan dialect,
which will serve as a specimen of the language :

' Cutall nezUu ezlla anel ti qui Llata ; setezdanela net
agd nautela; nosesene nda tendajd He agd tandd:
tanzanenda agd atanclaju, senegui ti ezllza glezi, aj ullu
ti lie lata; Lie tulatan nezUe ja lag^ tatichi anizan^
tatichi en gucecen de joulle vandaezh^ lenegui ajuUu
da y6 nachezonll6 tenag(5 vandaezhec en ne zto agatenjd
tendd tlez ti tezchupanen da glic6a genechi te najacengli
Gaache lyo net.'™

The Navajos, or Apache Navajos, of New Mexico,
like the northern Tinneh, call themselves Tennai, men.
Their dialect approaches the Xicarilla Apache, and Mr
Eaton even asserts that it is about the same.'* Pike
mentions the Nanahaws, which name is probably intended
for Navajos, as no other account can be found of such
a people.

the only Apache grammar known to exist at this date. Crenumy's Vocabu-
lary ami Orammar of the Mescalero Apache Language, MS.

M Dorr's Riile with the Apaches, in Overland Monthly, vol. vi., p. 343.

o Vater, MUhridates, torn, iii., pt. iii., p. 179.

TO Pimentel, (Jwulro, torn, ii., p. 251, and in 6'o/eccion Polxdi6mica Mt^cana
que eonliene la Oracton Dominical; par la Sociedad Mtx. Oeog. y Estad.,
Jtixico I860.

Ti 'The Apaches call the Navajoes Yd-tah-kah. The Navajoes call
themselves, as a tribe, Tenuai (man.) The appellation N&vajo, was unques-
tioniibly f^ven them by the Spaniards.' Eaton, in Schoolcraft's Arch,, vol.
iv., pp. 217-8; MoUhaustn, Tugebuch, p.929. ' Oehfirt ebenfalls zar Familie
der Apaches.' Id., Btisen, torn, ii., p. 236.

TINNEH VOCABULARY.

and

Mexicana
y Estad.,

joes call
I unques-
Ircfc., vol.
r Familie

"JiilwiU II h *

1-i I'lllllt-
^1 t%mlt

5| „a aa« g

.a 43

i1^
PI

I II

§"9 'S*

?|-^l|||^^|l III

•a S o o a a

I-

,.i4J4

«8 ^'S?

5 _

las

•a

-a
I"

2 f' .a 3 u

■i

|5I|5^

o
o

(J U

o c..a'3'g-S

13 rj

8 I

115

,a a E3^
c •-»*• o

•2^

-a

l|s«l

: .9 ; : a : . : : : g : g.M fl : : ; ;-a j : g : g

SicLo £ ^ I

111

CHAPTER III.

COLUMBIAN LANGUAGES.

ThK HaIDAK, its CoKSTBUOnoN AMD GONJTOATION— ThI NaW LaMOVAOK AHD

ITS DiAUiTTs — Bkllacoola and Chihstan CoifPABiBOire— Ths Nootxa
LANauAau of VAMOObTER Island— Namaimo Ten Couhandmbnts and
Lord's Pbayeb — Acteo Analooies — Fbaseb and Thoufson Biteb Lan-
OTTAORS — The Neetl^kapahuck Gbamhab and Lobd's Pbateb — Sound
Lanouaoes — The Saush Tamilt -Ft atesap Gbaiihab and Lobd's
Pbateb— The Kootenai — The Sahaptin Family — Nkt Pebce Gbammab
— Yakiua Lobd's Pbateb— Sahaptin State and Slvte LANacAOEs —
The Chinook Family — Gbammab of the Chinook Lanouaos — Aztec
Affinitibs — ^Thb Cuincox Jabqon.

Returned from the south, whither we were led by the
Apache branch of the Tinneh family, let us examine
the languages of our Columbian group. Next along
the sea-board, south of the Thlinkeets, are the Haidahs
and Kaiganies, whose language is spoken on the southern
part of the Prince of Wales Archipelago, and on Queen
Charlotte Island. This language is sometimes called
Haidah, and sometimes Kaiganie,* and although many
tribes belong to these nations, I find among them no
dialectic difference, except that between the Haidahs of
Queen Charlotte Island and the Kaiganies of the
Prince of Wales Archipelago.

Marchand claims that this language is understood by

^ * Die Kaigan-Sprsohe wird anf der Insel Kaisan nnd den Charlotten

Inseln gesprcohen.' Vtniuminnff, in Errnan, Arehiv, torn, vii., No. i,

p. 128.

(AMI

THE HAIDAH AND KAIOAITIE.

605

the Thlinkeets and other eastern tribes;' Capt. Dixon
thinks it is a distinct and separate tongue f Scouler
makes one large northern family, which he says spreads
" from the Arctic Circle to the northern extremity of
Quadra and Vancouver's Island ; " * Radloff 's comparative
researches incline him to the opinion that, although
there may be a few similarities in words between this
and other idioms, as, for example, the Thlinkeet. they
are yet insufficient to prove identity."

Some of those who have heard the Haidahs speak, say
that their language is uncouth and difficult to articulate,
abounding in consonants, and with a labial and dental
pronunciation ;* others affirm that it does not possess the
hard aspirated consonants so frequently found in the
Thlinkeet language, that it is richer in vowels and
softer, though, like the Thlinkeet, it is wanting in labials,
in the dental r, and in the guttural I, while the Haidah
has the clear V The Haidah language lacks the letters
b,p,f, and the dental r; neither its substantives nor
adjectives have any gender, and to express the feminine

* 'En parlant da langage de TchinkttAM, j'ai rapports d'avance les
termea numi'riquea employes aux ilea de Queen-Charlotte, tela que le
capitaine Chaivd a pii les rooueillir d Cloak-Bay; il observe que qnelquea-
nna de ces termea aont coininnns aux autiea parties de ces Isles qu'il a
visitees, ainsi que quelques autrcs termes qu'il a pu saisir, et par lesquela

les Katurels exnrinient lnn objets suivanes Cette siiuilitiule des termes

numeriques ^t d'autres termea, employes egrlement par lea diverses Tribus,
Bt'pareea le» inea des autres, qui occupent la partie de ootes des ties da
Queen-Cliaf'it<te que le Capitiiine Chanal a viaitt'e, me semble dt'montrer,
contre ropinion haxardi'e du Iledactear dn Journal de Dixon, que cea
Tribus communiquent hubituellement eutre ellca: cotte identity du langage
pourroit encore prouvcr one les Feuplades qui habitent ces ilea ont una
origine commune,' Marchand, Voyaye, torn, li., p. 216.

3 ' There are at least two or three different lauDuagcs spoken on the coast,
and yet prob:ibly they are nil pretty generftlly understood; though if we may
credit the old Chief at Quoou Ohiirlotte's Islands, his people were totally
ignorant of that spoken by the inhabitants to the Eastward. Dixon's Voy.,
p. 240.

* ScmUer, in Land. Oeof/. Snc., Jtmr., vol. il,, pp. 218, 220.

* Radloff, Spraehe der Kahianen, in 3tel. Hussar, torn, iii., liv. v., p. 575;
Oreen, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., transact., vol. iii., p. 302.

* Dixon's Voy., p. 240.

T 'Es fehlen dem Knigdni (Haidah) jeno harten ospirirten Consonnnten,
die dem Thliukft so gelauAg sind, es ist vooiilreicher und weicher. Dagegen
thoilt est mit dem Thlinki't den Mangel der Lnbialcn, des dentalen r, wia
auch der Verbindung des 1 mit Dcntulen, Otitturalen und Bibilanten,
wfihrend Jenem, dagegen das reino 1 des Kaigar.i giu:-/. fremd i^i.' Radloff,
Spraehe der Kaiganen, in M^l. Russts, torn iii., liv. v., pp. 57t>-G.

eo6

COLUMBIAN LANQUAaES.

the word dsheita, woman, is added. Mc dshetta, wife
of the chief; Aa, dog; ha dshetta, slut. Neither is
there any particular expression for the plural. K/eganei,
my house; kjeganei Ujorad Idgun, my three houses are
good; t'Jn dsha, thy wife; ton dsha s'tong hdna, thy two
wives are both pretty. Two exceptions have been men-
tioned; — qject, mast; feeing hUiUuhl^ three masts; MUi^
man (homo) ; hUei, men. Substantives are not declined,
but remain unchanged in all cases. Hmitl, water; hall
hantl, bring water; tin, boat; Uu ton gistam, I give thee
a boat; katt, deer; katt hiUsu zlggin, I have a small deer;
del, hand; hall tJn ski, give thy hand. Pronouns are
either distinct words, or are prefixes to substantives
and verbs. Prefixes also denote the possessive case.
To the former class belong Met, I; and tonga, thou.
To the latter belong te, ti, de, di, zi, kje, tern, tl, t, mine,
all of which are used in the first person singular. Sec-
ond person singular, Uing, ton, ten, thine; second person
plural, toUbng, yours.

Of the conjugation of the veih the following may
serve as example: Present indicative — I am hungry,
tekutke; thou art hungry, tling khiittus; he is hungry,
law khuttung; we are hungry, itl khiittitng; you are
hungry, toUong kh>ittm; they are hungry, ilmias khuttung.
Root words are not of great length. The larger part are
words of one or two syllables; some are of thi-ee or four,
but these are rare ; nevertheless, words may be agglutin-
ated to any length."

The Noss language is epoken with very slight differ-
ences by the Niuss, Hailtzas, and Sebassas, who dwell
around Observatory Inlet, Millbank Sound, and the
islands o<" Pitt Archipelago, res[)ectively. Harsh sounds
and gutturals predominate.' The personal pronouns are,
— noohva, I ; cusho, thou ; tieaho, mine ; cu«ho, thine ; nook-
wirUok, we ; kycusko, ye ; caigh ^la, he ; dee caigh jfua, they

• 7(1., pp. 5C9-«07.

» Gnen, iu Amer. Anilq. Soe., Tranaaet., vol. H., p. 302. 'NfiM... in
cuBtoni aud Irtiigiiage, resemble the f>nbMiia.' Dunn'H Orerjon, p. S7tt.
JiiiHchmnm, Spr. iV. Mex., u. dtr M'tidaeUe dea b. Nordamtr., y^. 898, ot Mq.

1* Suonler, iu Land. Geog. Soe., Jour,, vol ix., p. 234.

BELLACOOLA AND CHIMSYAN.

Dunn gives a few sentences, which I insert as speci-
mens: wheaky lowels kusaii, where are you going?
howniUMem pooquiaUa iUsouk, do you understand our
language? loioels, cah ciinter cah miUah, go shoot deer."

In the immediate vicinity of the Nass are two other
languages, the Bellacoola and Chimsyan, of which hardly
anything is known. Tolmie supposes the Chimsyan to
he related to the ^acully language, but Buschmann, on
comparing the vocabularies, could not find the affinity.
The Rev. Mr Good informs me that the Chimsyan
tongue extends inland as far as Fraser and Stuart
Lake." Compare the following words:

BGUiACOOLA.

CHIMBTAir.

nntsh

newyo

Thou

eno

nooue

Mine

uutshil

nawhawae

nnshto

neuhnmi

enooh

neumi

teechtil taigh

qua

They

teeoh til tin no mo taisht

queet

Mail

tlimsdAh

tzib

Wotnan

chinash

unnaeh

Knife

teech tah

ilth-a-pees

Water

kull ah

nse

Btone

quils tolomiok

loap

Sim

Bikin nuch

kium uk

Moon

tlooki

kium ugun

Good

teeah

aam

Bud

ushee

atuchk >

The Hailtzas and the Bellacoolas have the following
words in common; — watz, dog; poe, halibut; tlah, black
bear; nun^ grizzly bear."

On Vancouver Island a multitude of dialects are spok-
en, and various and contradictory classifications have
been mivde, none of which, in my opinion, are correct.
From the evidence, dialetic diversity prevails to such an
extent that almost every petty tribe has its idiom ; so
that, even if affinities do exist, sufficient to justify
a classification into languages and dialects, so meagre
is our knowledge that it is im|o()ssible in many instances
to say wliich are languages and which dialects. Hence

«• Dunn'a Orttjrm, p. .158.

I* Seoultr, ill Lona. Otog. 800., Jour., toI. ix., p. 321.

" Id., p. 230, et aeq.

606

COLUMBIAN LANOnAGES.

in my classification I cannot do better than to make of
the Nootka one language, and give a list of the dialects
on the island, with all the information concerning them
at my command. Four languages of the island, — the
QuackoU in the north, the Cowichin on the east, the
Clallam at the south, and the Makah on the west, are
said to be "totally distinct from each other, both in
sound, formation, and modes of expression." The one
last mentioned is said to bear some affinity to the lan-
guage spoken at the mouth of the Columbia River," and
is called by Sproat the Aht language, for which he
claims in like manner that it " can be traced through
all the tribes on the ocean coast, as far south as the
mouth of the Columbia." The Cumux, which people he
locates on the east coast between the Cowichins and
Quackolls, migrated thither, he says, from the main
land, and the tribes "do not readily understand one
another's language;" from all of which we may infer
that in reality there is only one language, of which
these four are the chief dialects." Yet this is partially
contradicted by Grant, who affirms that the Cowichins
and Clallams can communicate with each other, though
not very easily, but that the Makahs and Quackolls can-
not converse with each other or with any of the other
nations." Another authority, who certainly ought to be
entitled to an opinion, having been a captive among
these nations for some years, also intimates that in re-
ality there was only one language dominant on the
island. After enumerating the different tribes he con-
cludes; "all of whom speak the same language. But
the Newchemass who come from a great way Northward,
and from some distance inland, speak quite a different
language, although it is well understood by thoi^e of
Nootka." "

1* Orant's Vane. M., In Land. Oeog. Soe., Jour., yol. ixvii., pp. 205-6.

li Sproal'a Scenes, p. 311.

W Granl'a Vane. M., in Tjond. Oeog. Soc, Jrur., \ol. xxvii., p. 205.

" 'The inhabitnnta of Nootka Houud and the Tlaoqniitch, who occupy the
■outh-wnstern pointn of the inland, speak the Hanie lungiiuge.' Snotiler. in
LonJ. Oeog, Soo., Jour., vol. xi., p. 224; JttoUt'a Nar., pp. 74-77; Hal 'a

LANGUAGES OF VANCOUVER ISLAND.

609

National differences appear to consist more in pro-
nunciation than in grammatical construction. Thus
the articulation of the Klaizzalits is hoarser and more
guttural than that of the people of Nootka Sound."
Dialectic differences sometimes go so far that the several
bands of the same tribe find difficulty in making
themselves understood; as for instance the Nitinaht
tribes when conversing with one another, have fre-
quently to repeat their sentences differently accented to
make them intelligible. The chief peculiarity of the
Nitinaht dialect is the transmutation of the letters m
and n, which are in universal use throughout the island,
for which it substitutes b and d. Thus for mamook, to
work, the Nitinahts say baboik; nismah, country, they
pronounce dissihach, and so on."

As compared with that of the Thlinkeets, the Nootka
language is neither harsh nor disagreeable. Its most
curious feature is the predominance of labials and dentals
over gutturals. The Nootkas possess fine oratorical
powers, lending assistance to their words by shaking
their head, gesticulating forcibly, and even jumping at
each other. A singular sound, and one which it is
hardly possible to express by any combination of letters,
happens in many of their words. Spreading the corners
of the mouth to their widest extent, and raising the
iwint of the tongue against the palate, they exi^el the
n'v f»'om the sides of the mouth, at the same time bring-

Er,.,iog., in U. .<?. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 220; Mmres' Voy., pp. 229-32; Dourjlaa'
Report, in Lor,d. Geofi, Soc, Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 240. At Point Discovery,
Vancouver met people Home of whom ' understood a few words of the Noot-
'i-\ Inngunge.' ( oyage, vol. i., p. 228. ' The distinct languages s]Joken by the
>dia:is ure few in number, but the dialects emploj'cd by the various tribes are
. many, that, although the inhubitants of any particular district have no
great difficulty in communicating with each other, . . . . ' Manw's li.C, ]). 244;
SprnaVs Sceiuts, p. 311. The Kev. Mr (tood divides and locivu-h 'lie languages
of Vancouver Island and the oppositH shore on themninl.ind, as fd'ows. The
ttrst language, he says, r;in8 along the coast from Nitinalit to N()otk;;S(Mnid;
tho second prevails from Sooke to Nanainio, and across the Sound up to
Bird Inlet on the main land, thenco following up the Fraser IJiver as fur a.'
Yale; this he names the Cowichiu. On th" island north of Cowichin he
locates the Comux and adjoining it the Ucleta; finally stiirting at Fort
Hupert and following the north ooust ' f the island and also on the opposite
shore of the main land is the Qiir.okoll.

18 .fetBiU's Nnr., p. 75.

'9 Spro'iV: S'-eiirs. p. 132.
Vol. III. itu

610

COLUMBIAN LANOUAOES.

ing the tongue down strongly, which obviously produces
a sound altogether foreign to the English vocabulary.
Captain Cook says of this sound, " it is formed, in a
particular manner, by clashing the tongue partly against
the roof of the mouth, with considerable force; and may
be compared to a very coarse or harsh method of lisp-
ing," and he attempts to give the sound by the letters
IsztJd. Many words end with this sound, and also with
a U, z, or ss ; — as optilszthl, sun ; onukzthl, moon ; kahsheetl,
dead; teeshcheetl, to throw a stone; kooomitz, a human
skull ; guahmiss, fish-roe. Captain Cook further remarks
upon their language that it "can only be inferred, from
their method of speaking, which is very slow and dis-
tinct, that it has few prepositions or conjunctions; and, as
far as we could discover, is destitute of even a single in-
terjection, to express admiration or surprize.'"'"*

Furthermore, I may add, there is no case, nor gender,
nor tense, and number is expres8> d only in the personal
pronoun and in the inflection of verbs. In the first
persons singular and plural, verbs end in a or mah ; in
the second persons, huk or ayta; and in the third
persons, in mah, win, or utlma. Sometimes these
endings go over to the adverb which accompanies
the verb, and they are subject to phonetic rules,
according to which syllables are sometimes changed or
left out altogether. We have wik, not; and hurtvoUrp, to
understand; wikahkumotop or mmmutomah, 1 do
not understand; the latter mode being a change for
the sake of euphony. Plurals, and particularly fre-
quentative plurals, are expressed by duplication: as
mahte or mahs, house ; mahtnuihs, all the houses. Dif-
ferent classes of words appear to have difterent terminals:
for example, instruments end with ik, — hukkaik, a
knife ; himk, a saw. Colors end in uk or ook, — eyyoh-

» * El idioma dn entnci nntnTAles es tnl vez el mnn Anpero y dnra de loa cono-
oidos. Abiuuliin luuulio en (A lits consonanteB, y Iuh t«r:niuaciuneH eu U y (t,
eonstando el iiiterinediu y el priuoipio de lo8 vocnblos du nH|iiracioncH mnv
fnei-tes.' Sulily .\rexicaiia, Vxage, p. 147. 'Their Inii<{Uit^« \h very guttural,
and if it were pnsHiblo to reduce it to onr orthogrnpliy, it would very much
Abound with oonHoniints.' Sparks' Lift of Ltdyard, p. 72; Vook'a Voy. to
Pae., vol. ii., pp. 334-U.

NANAIHO COMMANDMENTS.

611

guk, green; Mstokkuk, blue; Jdayhook, purple; kkeaookf
white ; toopkook, black. Hissit, red, forms an exception.
Trees and plants end in^, — kowwhipt, aeewhipt, ootmiupt,
Mikkupt, etc. Verbs end in shitl, shetl, and chitl, although
some exceptions occur. Another distinctive ending is
up, — chdtayup, to cut off with a knife; kddsup, to
hurt or wound ; hyyusatyup, to diminish ; ashmp, to break
a string or cord ; quoyup, to break a stick, etc.'^ As a
specimen of the language, I give the first three of the
Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer, in the
dialect of the Nanaimos."

NUTSA.

Owa tonowaquinet ta eesaila tseetsel seeam, ohi tanca
tseetsel seeam.

EESAILA.

Owa tanowa seeise ta seeathl sta ta stem nay quo
tseetsel, sta ta stem aitna tomuck, e sta ta stem nay ta
ka, kokoo taswa tseetsel seeam owa tanowa cappausom e
stayweeil ta sta, ohi tanca tseetsel seeam. Towhat oyas
kullstuck, tanca ouseete tanca quaquat e towhat ighstuck
tanca e oyos shatlm tanswan squell oseete tanca igh
lalamat.

TLEEUGH.

Owa tanowa heewaulim ta squish quo tseetsel seeam
oseete tseetsel seeam quaquosaum towhat oyas sta.

TA KALHEH TA JESUKIT.

Saulth man nay quo tseetsel igh telneemelth oyas
stlay stuck ta statsn squish. Tel-neemelth ohi stlay
tanowa sthee seeam nay toumuck tomuck. Igh taswa
mestiu shatlm ta squell aitna tomuck sta ta tseetsel
mestiu. Tana quial e muck squial mistook ta saulth
saulthan. Igh tanowa nahi tataeuk whawa telneemelth
c ta gaulth kuU squioxits sta telneemelth nahi tataeuk

*i Sproat'B Semea, p. 124, et aeq.

** For a copy of which I am indebted to Mr J. H. Oarmany of the
Overland Monthly.

612

COLUMBIAN LANOUAOES.

whunem toumuck mestiu kull squiaxits whawa telnee-
melth. Igh telneemelth owanam ethlkalth ta kull, igh
tanowa awistuck etha igh. Ohi tanowa oonans ethee
seeam, tanowa ohi sthee quamqum telneemelth ohi cap-
pausom high quo tanowa oyas oyas. Amen.

From certain interpretations placed upon the ancient
Aztec manuscripts, it was by some inferred that the origin
of that people must be sought in the north; hence
speculative philologists have, from time to time, discov-
ered many fancied resemblances between the language of
the aboriginal Mexicans and those of various northern
nations. Thus, in the speech of the Nootkas, a dis-
tinct phonetic resemblance, and the frequent occurrence
of the ending tl were sufficient evidence to Vater and
others that a relationship exists between the Aztecs and
the Nootkas. Prescott, following his predecessors, fell
into the same error. Humboldt, although struck with the
similarities mentioned, yet pronounced them different
tongues,^* while Buschmann, who has examined the sub-
ject more than all others combined, denies all such
relationship.'"

Coming over to the main land we find, for the most
part, in each of the many inlets and canals a separate
language. Between these languages, from perpetual inter-
tribal intercourse, it is impossible to determine, in some

^ ' En examinant aveo Boin des vocnbulaires formes k Noiitka et a Mon-
terey, j'ai et^ frappe de rhomotonie st des dt'siuences mexicaines de plu-

sieursmots, comme, parexemple.danslalangnedesNoutkieuB Cepeuduut,

en general, leg langues de la Nonvelle-Californie et de I'ile de Quiidra,
different essentielteinent de I'azt^que.' Humboldt, Ensai. Pol., torn, i., p.

321 . ' Sprachfihnlichkeiten hut man, wie auch nachher bey der Bctrach-

tnng der Mexikanischen Sprache aus einander gesetzt werden soil, an dieser
Nordwest-KUste am Nutka-Huiide und bey den Volkeru in der Nahe der
Bussischen Colonieu gefunden.' Vater, Mithridi.tts. torn, iii., pt iii., P- 76.
' In the neighborhood of Nootka, tribes still exist wIiokc dialects, both in the
termination and general sound of the words, bear cousideruble resemblance
to the Mexican.' Prescotl's Mex., vol. iii., p. 3'J9.

*■• ' So gewiniit die Nntka-Sprache, durch eine reiche Zahl von Wortern
und durch grosse Ziige ihres Lautwesens, eiiizig vpr alien anderen fremden
... .in einem bedeutenden Theile eine tauschende Ahnlichkeit mit der azte-
kischen Oder mexicanischen ; und so wird die ihr schon friiher gewidmete
Aufmerksamkeit vollstAndig gerechtfertigt. Ihrer mexicanishen Erscheinung
fehlt aber, wie ich von meiner Seite hier ausspreche, jede Wirklichkeit. '
Buschmann, Spr, N, Mtx. u, dtr Westkusit dea b, Nordamer., p. 371.

LANGUAGES OF BBTTISH COLUMBIA

618

instances, what relationship, if any, exists. Several of
the languages of the island we find also on the main land
adjacent. The Glallams are found on both sides of Juan
de Fuca Straits ; and nearly related to the Cowichins,
who are found as well on the main land near the mouth
of Fraser River as on the island, are the Noosdalums of
Hood Canal, one language being but a dialect of the
other.

Respecting the languages spoken in the interior of
British Columbia, the Rev. Mr Good, who has spent
fifteen years among the inland nations, and who is fully
conversant with their languiiges, gives me the fol-
lowing information: From Yale to Lilloet, on the
Fraser River, thence from Bonaparte to Nicola River,
the Neetlakapamuch, or Thompson River, languttge
is spoken. From Douglas, along the Harrison River
and lake, to its confluence with the Fraser, as far
as Chilicothe, and again from Lillooet northward to
Clinton, the Stlatelemuck, or Lillooet, language prevails.
Next, from Bonaparte River northward to William Lake,
to Shushwap Lake, around Lake Kamloops, and for some
distance on the Thompson River, the Suwapamuck, or
Shushwap, tongue prevails ; and finally, from Nicola Lake
to Kamloops, and southward as far as Columbia River, the
Chitwout, or Similkameen, language is used. Mr Good
further asserts that, although there are four distinct
languages, they are nevertheless in some degree affiliated.
From the same gentleman, I also obtained the following
grammatical notes and specimens of the Neetlakopamuch

tongue.

Personal
he, cheneelt; we,
chinkoast.

pronouns
mmeemult ;

are.

-I.

ens;

you,

thou, awee;
aweepeeaps ; they,

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO GIVE.

PBB8ENT INDICATIVE.

I give, ens nahktinna

Thon givest, awee nahktatta
He gives, oheneelt nahktasn

We give, nemeemult nahktam
You give, aweepeeiipB nahktattose
They give, chiukvaat uahkteeika

IMPBRFEOT.

I gave, hninahktlam

614

COLUMBIAN LANGUAOES.

WlWn FIJTITXB.

I shall give, hninahkchin

OWe me, nohkohams

XimBATITB.

I Qive ni,

nahkteea

Mamans inserted in a word, signifies a desire to do a
thing; thus, winaskin means to go; and winasmamankin,
I am wishing to go. The syllable toeltin, affixed to a
word, expresses that a thing has been done effectively ; —
Uokhtinnmoeltin, I have fastened it well, or thoroughly.
Ihta is a negative preposition.

THE LORDS PRAYER.

Takamote

nil

Axseeas chutam clas squest awee. Eyah

Good to be done the name thine. Good

nemeemult skatzazact whohakn

Oar Father who art

kakhtomew.

heaven.

huntohs stakums asait cunamah axclahaks swonakum

make haste all men come tmly

eah tuksmite Jesu Cree huntoseamal. Awee kaseah

good children of Jesus Christ make haste. Thy will

eah ah chuwo naanatomew, clah seeatahah L' angels

good done on earth, as the angels

archkhwamo incheah nilkahtomew. Takamose nuk

do there heaven. All and

stakum a tseetlekut nahkteea nemeemult stakums

every day give us all

skhlayans. Altla quonquonstyea nemeenult takamote

food. And forgive us all

nemeemult outkest, tseeah nemeemult quonquonstama

our evil, as we forgive

takamote tooal saitcunama aks weetsikteese tekest whoa

all of men who accomplish any evil to

nemeemult. Atahmose tah hoshaman as masteel

us. Never let the evil one lead

nemeemult axkhokestumtum a quonteese akest. Kamult

us to wish to lay hold of any evil. But

akklokpistyip nemeemult takamote too a kest wilkakow.

deliver us all that is evil far from us.

Shutenmeenwa-

Thine

our

Shutenmeenwawee takamose atomew.

Thine all the world.

PUOET SOUND DIALKCTS.

616

wee takamose azozoht. Shutenmeenwawee takamose

all strength. Thine all

asyameet. Taeah asklakameemus

worship. Gkx>d evermore

asklakameemus astinansouse. Axseahs.

ostinaiisouse,

to come,

eTermore

to come.

Amen.

Proceeding southward to Puget Sound, we have
the Shimiahmoo, Nooksak, Lummi, Samish, Snohomish,
and others; and around Cape Flattery, the Classet.
The Makah, Classet, or Klaizzaht, I have spoken of
already, in connection with the language of Vancouver
Island, and it also appears that the Clallam, S'klalum,
or as they call themselves, Nusklaiyum, is also connected
with the Vancouver Island language.** It is probably
the same which Dr Scouler has called the Noosdalum.
The liummi, or Nukhlumi, and the Shimiahmoo have
also some affinity with the Sanetch dialect of Vancouver
Island, and the languages of the Skagits and Samish
approach that of the Nisquallies. Yet while the Clallam
and Lummi show certain affinities to the Nootka dialect,
they nevertheless clearly belong to the Salish, or Flat-
head family.**

We now come to the great interior Salish family,
although I shall have occasion again to refer to the coast
language in this vicinity. The northernmost Salish
language is the Shushwap, or Atnah, which approaches
near to its neighbor the Salish proper;" then tfiere are
the Kullespelm, or Pend d' Oreille, the Spokane, the

>i They spoke the mtuie language as the Nootkas. Vancouver's Voy.,
vol. i., p. 218.

'<> ' The affiuities of the Clnllnm and Lummi are too obvious to require
demonstration.' Gibbn' Clallain and Lummi Vocnh.. p. vii. 'The THihiiili-
Selish languages reach the sea in the part oppusite Vancouver's Island . Per-
haps they touch it to the north also.' Latham's Comp. riiil., vol. viii., p.
401; Gamlner, in lAtnd. (reofj. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255.

<7 ' Les Indiens de la cote on de la Noiivelle Cali'donie, les Tokalis, les
Chargcurs (Carriers), les SchoiichonapH, les Atnus appartiennent tous k la
nation des Chipeouatnns.' Mofran, Exphr., torn, ii., p. 3H7. 'The Atnah
laiiguiige has no affinity to any with which I am ucqiminted.' MackentWa
Voyages, p. '.58.

ei6

COLUMBIAN LANOUAOES.

Soaiatlpi, and the Okanagan, which with others spoken on
the Columbia show close affinities.

The Salish praper, or Flathead, is harsh and guttural.
The letters b, d, f, r, v, do not exist in this language. The
plural of substantives is formed in different ways : first,
hy duplicating the root — skoi, mother; akoikoi, mothers:
second by duplicating and dropping a vowel from the
root — skaltmigu, man ; skUcaUmigu, men ; esmdck, mountain ;
esnidhnck, mountains: third, by duplicating a consonant
in the middle of the word — akhkhemiis, eyelid ; skokhmnr
mils, eyelids: fourth, by prefixing the syllable ul — nackoe-
men, thief; ulnakoemen, thieves: and lastly there are
divers formations, as es'schUe, tree; sddll, trees, forest;
s'm'enij woman (mulier) ; pelplgui, women. Diminutives
are expressed by placing / before the root, as, (inHem^
woman ; slmem, small woman ; luk, wood ; Uiirik, a small
piece of wood. Augmentatives are formed by prefixing
the syllable kutn, or kuti, when the word commences
with an s or /, thus, skagae, horse ; kuti-skagae, a great horse ;
sm'ot, smoke ; kuti-sm'ot, a great smoke. There are pro-
nouns, personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative, in-
terrogative, and indefinite. According to Mengarini the
personal pronoun has two forms, absolute and copulative,
the exact meaning attached to these terms no: being ex-
plained.

ABBOLUTK.

copui^nvi.

koie

Thou

aniii

zuilz

kaempile

kae

You

mpilepstemp

p, or mp

They

zni'ilz

As examples of the others there are possessives, — mine,
in; thine, an; his, — ^s; ours, kao; yours, — mp; theirs, — s:
demonstratives, — this, ik ; that, zi : interrogative, — who,
suet: and indefinite, — some one, chndksi.

CONJUGATION OF THE VEEB TO BE ANGBY.

PUtSIMT IMDIOATITB.

I am angry, tnes aim(-i

Thon art angry, kues aimt-i
He is angry, es aimt-i

We are angry,
You are angry,
Thoy are angry,

kaea aimt-i
pea aimt-i
es a(imti

SAUSH DIALECTS.

617

iA A r*j

-who,

PIBFICr.

I haye been angry, tu-aimt or tnes aimt

riBST rCTUBB.

I sLall be angry, nem tn aimt

Be angry,

If I be angry,
If thon be angry.
If he be angry.

IHPKIUTITE.

aimt sch

PBISENT BUBJUNCmrR.

tika aimt-i
kaks aimt-i
ks aimt-i

If wb be angry.
If you be angry,
If they be angry.

kaeka aimt-i
pka nimt-i
kg a(imt-i

IMPERFKCr 8UBJVNCTIVK.

If I were angry, k nen tn aimt

OPTATIVK.

If I might be angry, komi tn aimt

Following is a Lord's Prayer, the nationality not
given:

Kae I'eu rs'chichmdskat u ku I'zii, fisku bst kuks

Oar father in heaven who liveth, thy name of thee

gamenchltm; ku kl ci Mtich s esiii, sp'us; oszntMs ks

be loved; thou be Lord of all hearts; thy will

k611i i^ 1 stoligu, ezgail Ta'chichmaskat. Kae guizlilt

be done this on earth, as in heaven. Us give to-day

i^ tlgoa lu kaesiapzfnm. Kaelkolgoellilt lu kae gulguilt

what we need. Us forgive our debts,

ezgail lu tkaempilb kaes kolgoelltm, lu e dpi gulguilt 1

an we forgive (those) who have debts with

kii'^tnpi c. Kae olkschililt ta ka kesku^stm lu tuie; u kai

Usi. Uh assist not at any time receive evil; but us

gulguillilt lu tel teid.

preserve uninjured from evil.

Komi ezgail.

Be it 80.28

The above is taken from the grammar of Mengarini,
written in Latin; following is a Lord's Prayer of the
Pend d'Oreilles, from Father De Smet, who wrote in
French :

Kyleeyou, Itchitchemask, askwees kowaask.shamen-

Our father of heaven, that your name be respected

shem ailetzemilkou yeelskyloog ; ntziezie telletzia sixx)

by all the earth; reign in all the

oez. Assinteels astskole, yelstoloe^ etiijigeel

hearts. That your will be done on earth as also

» Mengarini, Sdish Oram.

618

COLUMBUN LANOUAOES.

Itchlchemask. Hoogwitzilt yettilgwa lokaitssia petzim.

in heaven. Give us now »'! onr neoessaries.

Knwaaskgmeemil em klotayie kloitskeyen etzageel

Forgive us the evil which we have done, as

kaitsskolgwelem klotoiye kloitskwen klielskyloog.

we forgive (the evU) to thoae who ns have offended.

Eoaxalock shitem takaakskwentem klotaiye;

Accord to UB assiBtance to evade evil;

kowaaksgweeltem klota'ye. Eomieetzegeel.

but dcLlvdr c<> from evil. So be it."

Also belon;^ing to this family are the languages spoken
by the Skitsuish, Pisquouse, Nsietshaws, Nisquallies, and
Chehalis. The Nsietshaw differs more than the others
from the Salish proper, which is the stock language of
this family, and particularly in not possessing any
labials; the letters m and h being changed to w, and^
to h. Thus, in the Chehalis and Nisqually languages,
we have, numan, son; tomokh, earth; pansototsi, winter;
which, in the Nsietshaw, are pi*onounced respectively,
nuwon, tawbkh and hansoMsi. The Chehalis is spoken in
three dialects, the Chehalis proper, the Quaiantl, and the
Queniauitl.**

The languages of the Salish Family, particularly that
of the Chehalis, are rich in words, by means of which

I* ' Xntiones qne radioaliter lin^am Selicam loqunntur sunt ;«altem
decern: CaliBpelm. (vulgo) Fends d'orcUlta du Lac It\ferimr. Slkafkomlohi,
Penda d'oreilles du Lac Superitur. Selssh, 7V(es Platttt. R/igominei,
Sni)oil8chi, Szk'eszilni, Spokantg. S'chi;:ni, Camrs d'aUne. Sgoifelpi,
Chaudiirtt. Okinakein, Stlakam OAmnai/an. ' Mcniiarini, SeU»hOram.,p.lW,
' Their language is the same as the Bpokeius' and F1ather.d8'.' Parker's
Explor. Tour, p. 307. ' The Spokanes speak the same dialect as the Flat-
heads and Fend d'Oreilles.' Clutpman, in Ind. Aff. liept., 1866, p. 201; De
Smel, Vol)., p. 237. ' The Flathends are divided into numerous tribes, each
having its own r jouliar locality, and differing more or less from the others
in language, crstoms, and manners.' 'The Hpokan Indians are a small
tribe, aifferinf^ very little from the Indians at Colville either in their ap-

Searauce, habits, or language.' Kane's Wand., pp. 173,307. 'The Fend'
'Orcilles are generally called the Flatheads, the two clans, in fact, being
united Still, the two races nre entirely distinct, iheir languages being fun-
damentally different. The varietv of tc ngues on the west siue of the (Rocky)
mountains is almost infinite, so that scurcely any two tribes nuderstaud each
other perfectly. They have all, however, the common character of being
very guttural; and, iu fact, the sentences often appear to be were juniblea
of grunts and croaks, such as no alphabet could express iu writing.' Simp-
«on « OtHirlond Jour., vol. i., p. 146.

M iMe's Ethnog., in U. 8. Ex. Ex., vol. vl., 17. C3l*-7.

8ALIBH LANOUAOE8.

italtem
omlohi,
oniinei,

p. 120.

'arker'a

eFlat-

201; Dt

n, each

others

small

everything coming within their knowledge may find
expression; they are not easily acquired by strangers;
it is difficult for the different nations and tribes to make
themselves understood to one another. This is owing
principally to the many localisms in vogue among them,
of which there is a good specimen in the Ohehalis lan-
guage. Thus, tdneuch means west-wind, off shore, to-
ward the sea, or to the west. Now, if the Chehalis are
leaving the shore in a canoe, and one of them wants to
tell his mate to put her head off shore, he will say
tolneuch, but if in a hurry, neuch much. ClacUhlum sig-
nifies east-wind, also ashore ; this they transpose into
dath clath.^ The Clallum and Lummi langunges have
another peculiarity, which is a certain nasal sound at
the commencement and ending of words like a strong
nasal ns; also a broad a sound as in far, path. The
sounds of the letters v, r, z, are wanting." The fre-
quently occurring ending tl has also led to speculation,
and to a search for Aztec affinities among these lan-
guages, but nothing except this phonetic similarity has
been discovered. This tl ending is very common. Swan
says that, "sometimes they will, as if for amusement,
end all their words with tl] and the effect is ludicrous
to hear three or four talking at the same time, with this
singular sound, like so many sitting hens.'^ East of
the Salish, the Kitunaha, Kootenai, or Coutanie language
is spoken. Authorities differ widely in describing this
language. Parker calls it " open and sonorous, and free
from gutturals, which are common in the language of the
surrounding tribes;" while Capt. Palliser aflinnsthat it
is " most guttural and unpronounceable by a European,
every word appearing to be brought from their lowest

« Swan'B N. W. Coast, p. 315.

» Oibba' Clattam and Aummi Voeab., p. 7.

>> 'In the northern difitricts of the great chain of Rooky Honntaina
which were viHited by Hir Alexander MaokenKie, there are Beveral uationa oi
unknown langitiige and origin. The Atnnh nation in one of them. Their dia-
lect apneara, from the short vocabulary given by that traveller, to be one of
thoHC faugnagen which, in tlio frequent recmrrvnce of peculiar consonants,
bearna certain resemblance to the Mexican.' PrioAaru'* Nat. UM. Man,
vol. ii., p. 65t); Swan's X. W. Cwtst, pp. 315-0.

Itw

COLUMBIAN LANOUAOES.

extremities with difficulty.'"* The following Lord's
Prayer, taken by a Frenchman will give a better idea of
the language than any description:

Katitoe naitle naite, akiklenais zedabitskinne

Our father, vrho art in heaven, may thy name be great

wilkane. Ninshalinne oshemake kapaik akaitlainam.

and honored. Be thon the master of all hearts.

Inshazetluit^ younoamake yekakaekinaitte.

May thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Koranakaike logtmie niggenawaishne naiosaem miait^ke.

Grant ns this day all our wants.

Kekepaime nekoetjekoetleaitle ixzeai, iyakaikakaaike

Forgive us all the evil we have done, as we forgive

iyasseaikinawaah kokakipaimenaitle. Amatikezawes

all the evil done unto us. Strengthen us

itchkestshimmekakkowelle akatakzen. Shaeykia-

against all evil, and deliver us from it. May it

kakaaike.

be so.'*

The languages t)f the Sahaptin family are spoken
along the Lewis and Snake Rivers and their tributaries,
as far as the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The Walla
Walla, Palouse, Yakima, Kliketat, and Sahaptin
proper, some of them widely divergent from the mother
tongue, are of this family.^ The Walla Walla differs

^ ' Der Prinz bezengt (Bd. ii, Gil) daHs der behauptete Mangel an Gur-
sellanten ein Irrthum ist; er bemerkt: dtiHH die Bi)rache duroh den ihr eignen
*' Zungeu-Bchnak " filr das Aussprechen schwierig werde, und dass sie eine
Menge von Guttoraltdneu habe. Man sproche die WOrter leise und
nndentlioh aus; dabei gebe es daiin viele schnalsende T6ne, indem man
mit der Zungenspitze anstflsst; auch gebe es darin viele dnmpfe Kehllante.'
Prince Max tu \Vted, in Buschmann, Spuren der Attek. Spr., p. 601. ' Their
1 tnguage bean no affinity whatever to that of any of tne western nations.
It is infinitely softer and more free from those unpronounceable gutturals
so common among the lower tribes.' Cox'a Advm., p. 233; BlakUton'ii Itept,,
in PcUllacr'a Explor., p. 73; I'arker'a Explar. Tour, p. 307.

u De Smet'a Oregon 1/tM., p. 4U0.

M Tribes speaking the Kliketat language: Whulwhypnm, Tait-innpum,
Yakima, Wnlla Wallapum, Kyoose, Umaulla, Peloose, Wvampam; the Yaki-

mas and Kliketiits or Whulwnypum speaking the Waila-Wulla language,

otherwise known as the Kliketat. Zord's Aal., vol. ii., pp. 344, 233. "rhe
Kyeuse resemble the Walla- Wallas very much . . . Their langnasre and customs
•re almost identical. ' Acme's TFand., p. 380. The Fend d'Oreilles ' speak
the same language' (Nei Perc^.) Hulchtna, in Ind. Aff. Kept., 18A3, p. 466,
The Palouse Indiaiw 'speak the same language.' Cain, in Id., 1860, p. 210.

SAHAPTIN LANGUAGES.

from the Sahaptin proper not more than the Portuguese
from the Spanish. Father Pandosy made a grammar
of the Yakima language, under which he ranges the
whole Sahaptin family, dividing it into dialects, as the
Walla Walla, the Tairtla, the Roilroilpam, or Kliketat,
and the Palouse.''

In the Nez Perc^ language, the following letters only
are found : A, k, I, m, n, p, 8, t, w, a, e, i, o, u, but the
missionaries having introduced some new words, it was
found necessary to add b, d, /, g, v, z. Agglutination is
carried to ". great length, and long words are very fre-
quent. In fact, wherever a sentence can be expressed
by joining one word to anotiier, it is done, leaving out
letters in places, for the sake of euphony. The following
is a fair illustration : MtatUiuihtffUi'mnkauna, he traveled
past in a rainy night. Analysed, hi expresses the third
person singular; tau, a thing done at night; tuala, some-
thing done in the rain; tvihnan, to travel on foot;
kau is derived from the verb kokauna, to pass by;
na expresses the indicative mood, aorist tense, direc-
tion from the speaker. The plural of substantives is
formed by duplicating the first syllable: jntin, girl;
pipUin, girls. Or when the word commences with a
vowel, the vowel is sometimes repeated: atwai, old
woman; aatioai, old women. Exceptions to this rule
are mode in words expressing family relations, the prefix
ma being employed in such coses, as pika, mother;
pikania, mothers. If p terminates the word, it is
omitted, as askap, plural askama. To express gender,
the words hama, male, and aiat, female, are employed,

'The Wnllah-Wnllahn, whose Inngniige belonfta to the name fnmily.'
'The Wallah- Wallahs and Nez Perces speak dialects of a coiniuun lan-^
guftge, and the Guynses have abandoned their own for that of the latter.'*
Olbba, in Pac. R. ii. Rfpt., vol. i., pp. 416, 425; Hale'a Klhnog., in U. S. Ex.
Ex., vol. vi., pp. 213, 642. 'The nation among which we now are call them-
selves Sokulks; and with them are united nfew of another nation, who reside
on a western branob, emptying itself into the ('olnmbia a few miles above tlie
mouth of the latter river, and whose name is Chimnapnm. The lanouaKe
of both these nations differs but little from each otiier, or from that of the
Chopunuisb who inhabit the Kooskooskee and Lewis's river.' LtwiH and
Clarlt'a Trav., p. 12. 'The language of the Walla- Wallas diflTem from the
Nes Peroes'. Parktr'a Explor. Tmtr, p. 137.
>^ Pandoiy'a Yakama Lang., p. 0.

COLUMBIAN LANQUAOES.

but the substantive remains unchanged. Nouns are
declined either by changing their terminals, or by
affixes:

Nom.

Am.

Ist Dat.
2dDat.

l8t Abl.
2d Abl.
3d Abl.

a home
of A honae
hoase

init

ininm

inina

to or for a honae initph

in on, or npon a honae ini^

with a honsa initki

from a honae initpkinih

for the pnrpoae of a honae initain

Comparison, — tahs, good; tahs kanmakanm, better;
tahsni, best. Personal prounouns, — 1», I; iw, thou;
ipi, he, or she; nun, v/e; ima, ye; tmma, they. Of the
verb numerous variations are made. They are divided
into three classes, neuter, active transitive, and active
intransitive. The two neuter verbs are uxish, to be ; and
witsof^f to become. Active intransitive verbs cannot
be followed by any accusative.

C0NJI70ATI0N OF THE VERB TO BE.

PBEBKUT IMDIOATXTI.

DIBKCnON FBOK.

Inm,

in wash

Thou art,

im a wash

ima warn

Heis, itiahia,

ipi hiwash, tpnim nah

ipi hiwam

We are,

nnn waahih

You are,

ima ath woshih

ima ath waahinm

Theyare,itistheirH,

imma hiushih, imman anahih inuna hinahinm

RBcniT PAST Tmaa.

I have jnBt been,

waka

wamka

Thou boat just been,

a waka

a wamka

He has jnst been,

it hoH just been hia,

hiwaka, awaka

hi wamka

We have just been.

waaheka

waahinmka

You hftve ju»t been.

ath waaheka

ath wasbinmka

They have just been.

it haa jnat been theira.

kinaheka, anaheka

hiuahinmka "

The following gramatical notes will serve to illustrate

the Yakima and

some of the other languages of the Sa-

haptin family.

aiNGni.AB.

xiooi*

thehorae

kniai-nan

Oen.

of the horae

knaai-nmi

Dat.

to the horae

knsai-ow

Ago.

the horae

knaai-nan

Vo«.

horae

na-knaai

Abl.

fur the hotaa

knaai-ei

M Jfola'a Elhnog., in U. 8. S». Xk.. vol. vi., p. Mi, •i aeq.

TAKIMA. WALLA WALLA, AND PALOUSE.

628

»CBAI<.

Norn.

thehonea

Iraasi-ma

Q«n.

of the horaei

knssi-ma mi

Dak.

to the hoiMS

kossi-mamiow

Aoo.

the hones

knasi ma-man

Voo.

hones

nnknsiii-ma

AU.

for the hones

kuBsi-mu-oiiei

In the Falouse and Walla Walla languages the affix
nan is changed into na. Personal pronouns, — I, ink, nes,
nesh, or sh ; of me, enmi ; to me, enmiow ; me, inak ; for me,
enmiei) we, namak, ncMs, nanam, aatda, or namtk; of us,
ndemi; touaneemiow] ua, nemanak; for us, n^emici. The
Walla Wallas leaves off the k from the affix ak; thus,
instead of inak, me, they say ina, and instead of namak,
we, nama.

Of him
Toliim
Him
For him
They
Of them
To them
Them
For them

TAxnu.

penk

pin-mink

pin-miwk

pin-nim

pin-mikaiei

pmak

pe-mink

pe-miwk

pe-minak

pe-mikaiei

truXA WALLA AMD PAIAUII.

penk

pinmin

pinmiov

pinminnan

pinmiei

pma

pamin

pamiwk

pamanak

pnmikaiei

In one dialect the terminal ak is changed into e>.

CONJUGATION OF THE TEBB TO HAVE.

PBEUMT INDICATITB.

I have, ncsh wu, or wash nesh

Thou hast, mesh wa, or wash mesh

He has, penk awa, or pinmink awa

We have, natesh wa, cr wanh iiatesh

You have, matesli wa, or wash matedi

They have, pa wa, or pemink awa

PKBnCT AKO PLUPKBFrOT.

I had, or have had, nesh wacha

I shall have,

nBBT Fcrnai.
nesh wata

As a specimen of agglutination there is the word
ipinashapataujtrahliktamawarBha, he himself makes night
disagreeably tiresome long wait; that is, he keeps one
long waiting for him at night.

TAKIMA LORD S PRAYER.

Neemi Psht, imk nam wamsh Roiemich-nik ;

Oar Father thoa who art high on the side (heaven);

624

COLUMBIAN lANOUAQES.

Bhir nam 'manak p'a t-maknani tamei wanicht; shir

veil thoa they (indef.) ahoold respect the name; well

ewianawitarnei emink miawarwit ; shir nammanak pa

should arriTO thy chieftainship; well thee they

twanenitamei, ichinak techampa, tenma, prw,

should follow here earth (on) inhabitants (the) will

amakwsrimmanak pa twanenishamsh roiemipama

thou as thyself they follow high of the (heaven)

tenma. Nemanak nim t-kwatak kwalissim maisr

inhabitants (the). Oar (ns) give us food always to-morrow

maisr. Nemanak laknanim ch^lwitit: aateskwsri

to-mori-ow. Our (us) forget sins: us as

namak t'normaman lakndnisha ch^lwitit anakwnkink

we others forget sins have by which

ne^miow pa chelwitia. R-t-to anianim nemanak

us have offended. Strong make our (us)

temna; t-kraw krial. Nemanak eikrenkem chelwit-

heart; that it fall not. Us snatch bad from

knik. Ekws iwa neemi temna.

the side. So it is our heart.^

The Nez Percys make use of two languages, one the
native language proper, or, as a European might say,
the court language, and the other a slave language, or
jargon. They differ so much, that a stranger fully con-
versant with one cannot understand the other. This
jargon originated, probably, from intermixing prisoners
of war of different nationalities who were enslaved, and
their languages mingled with each other, and with that
that of their conquerors. The pure-blooded Nez Percys
all understand the jargon, learning it when children,
together with their own proper language. Nor is this
all. The jai^on is more or less modified by each of the
several languages, or dialects, in which it is spoken. The
employes of the fur companies, who first came in con-
tact with the Sahaptins, were greatly annoyed by this
multiformity; as, for example, one Nez Perc6 coming
to sell a beaver skin would say, tammecesa taxpod^ I wish
to sell a beaver; another would say, towbyou vxespoose, I

*• Pindoity'a Yakama Lang,

COUBT LANQDAOE OF THE BAHAFTINS.

lers
and
^hat

ren,
this
I the
rhe
fcon-

ung

wish to trade a beaver; and a third would say, e'towpa
e'yecha, I wich to trade a beaver.

The following short vocabulary will show some of the
differences between the Nez Perc4 language and the
jargon:

MIZ PKBOK

JABOON.

Man

kewas

winch

Woman

eyatt

tealncky

Boy

tachnataem

tnchnoot

Oirl

tochanough

peten
»ya

waatown,

Kn.fe

walta

whapnllmeh,

Hone

she came

kooBy

Hair

tootaniok

kookoo

Eyes

■helaw

Atchait8.«i>

Professor Rafinesque, out of twenty-four Sahaptin
words, claims to have found six bearing close affinities
to the English, but Buschmann says that of these,
twenty-four, many are not Sahaptin at all." The
Waiilatpu language, conterminous with the Sahaptin, is
spoken in two dialects, the Cayuse and MoUale. The
Cayuses mingle frequently with the Sahaptins, and there-
fore many words of the latter have been adopted into
their tongue. They mostly understand and speak the
Sahaptin, and frequently the Walla Walla, and this not
from any relationship in the several languages, but
from intercourse.**

Like their neighbors, the Cayuses employ two lan-
guages; one in the transaction of the common affairs of
life, and the other on high state occasions, such as when
making speeches round the council fire, to determine
questions of war and peace, as well as all other inter-
tribal affairs. That is to say, the Sahaptins use their
court language on all ordinary, as well as extraordinary
occasions, keeping the jargon for their servants, while
the Cayuses employ the baser tongue for common, and
the higher for state occasions.

4* Bom' Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 313, et seq.
ntia Jour., p. 133, quote
Athk Spr., p. 616. ' loh habe diese W6rter Bafinesque'a eu einem Theil

01 Ik^ntKiM, Atlantio Jour., p. 133, quoted in Buschmann, Spuren dtr
thk Spr., p. 615. 'Ich habe dieae W6rter Bafine "" "

ganz Yeraohuxlen von den ^'aAapton gefunden.' lb.

«'i Hale's Eihtwg., in U. 8. Ex. Ex., rol yi., p. 661.
Vol. III. 40

OULUMIIIAN LANdUAaKN.

Tliu OiiyiiMw wont ol<N|iiMiit ii|Mtak«iri4; tholi* liutf<iii^(<i
mImiuiiiIihI ill ««lugiuit oKpiHtMNioiiN, iui«l tli«\y wull know
how to iimko tlio iiioNi of it. WIiimi (Iriit. known to
l<}uiHi|MMini(, it wiM I'liMt t'mlinfii; away, ami MiiliMM|noittly
tnorgod Into tlio Hahaptin; no Ihutting aiHt tlu^Ntmatlvo
iilioinK.*"

Tlio ('liintNik langiiag;o Im NjN>k(<n liy tin* dilVonmt
ti'ilH«N inlialilting tlio iHuikx of liio Lowim' (Columbia anil
iuljiMii«nt iHiuiitry. TliiN liunily in divMlnl into many
(liaUHitd, wliioli ilivorgo n*om tim motlitu* tongiio m wo
awHMitl tim rivor; in liu^t, tlio np|MU' irih^N liavo moHtiy
(o omploy an int4M*pii«t«M*, wlion tlioy iMiinmimioato witli
tliom^ on tlio lowor |Hirl of tin* I'ivor. TlMuiliioi'ilivorNi-
iiort ol'tliin langiiii^it aiH) tlioi'liiniHtk piH)|N«i', tiio Wakia-
kimi, ('atlilaniot, ami (/lalNop, ami tlio varioiiH «iiali*ot^
niontioiKMi l»y liOwiNiuiil (Marko liN iMtiongiiigtotliowt in-
lialiitiiig tliiH ivgion at tlio tiino ol'tlioii* «*X|M«(lition, lint
wliioli oannot now \w iNwitivoly iilontiliiMi witli any of
tlio lan^iiagoM known to iin, Two oI' tlio laNt-m«uitioiioil
ilialiH^tN, (lio Miiltnoiimli ami tlio SkilliHit, tlio oxpiurorn
liowu'ilMMiN iH^ion^iiiK to tlitt (MiliKMik/* Among all tlio
iangiiim;oN of nortli-woNturn Anit^'itMi, oxoupt |)ui'l)apM that

*) "V\w HkyiiHfl httvn IwimIUiIiu'I luiiKtinR**M; lii«i niin iin«i1 In onllniiry
(Miitr«<iiiirMi, lliii ii||ii>r on PilnionlliMiry iHKitiNloiiH; hn in wiir ouiiiiNnlit,
Alt,' ^^intViMiM YVhm-Wn, |t. IMI, 'i'liii rwyiiNxM Imvn mImiiiiIoiiimI lliolr own
(urllml of IIM> Nt'R l*i>ri<«>M,' UlMm, In /'<i<<. It. /^ U>l., vol. I,, pp. 4111,
41ift. 'Thi'lr ItuiMimK** l>**nrN NOI110 MiMiiliy In IImi Hnltniitlii iir Ni'M-IVrnA
lniiMiiA((i>.' /,tit(ii<ij/'M Ml. /,<i(i|/., p, lUU; i okt'ii liookp Sih., p \IW>; Ahm*'*
H'omr, p. U7U. 'i'liolr orlKliml Iniiuiitiuo, now nliniml fxllntl liiivlnii
Hfttnily lolliiktof llindHrrlcrN, of Norliil'iui'ilonU. Hnillli<) lliHp<|iiH hiillnnN
u( Hoiilluii-n Ot-i<Kon.' /.dm/'o ,V>iI., vol, U,, pp. 1I4U Till.

<* "I'lio iMnuntkKn of tli«> lwnr oiikn ttntihl not
lmv«« tuiiloiii^MHl (lin ollixrN without lui hili<i'pr<>li<r.' HHihn' Chimmit' I'lHVih.,
p, 4, ''I'liit votinlttiliiry xlvm by Or. KiioJiUir iin "rh«niiok" U Hlniiwl iillo-
IP^Uinr i'IiIIihIU. IIIm "CiillilikMuon", . , U ('liinook.' /<(., 11, ft. * Ihm VWi(-
niNiA'M, il'oti out hoHIk Ilk IniiKiiN-nWirii «ln con Mniivn)(«H.' 4SiitH|.,4miMif, Toy-
iMi'M, p, ilNI. * ('ullilitnmliN N|Mink llm HMUin liinunitKn km Ihn riiliinookM niiil
< iMUopM.' /xiiri« iiiiiH '/<ii'A<ii'ii YViiiw/n, p. 4U4 ClilnookN 'In InnHuniii) , , . ,
rraninlilK llm ('IntMiiiw, CnthlHinHliH, unit Inilunil nil llm ptinpln nnnr ilm
niimlliof llml'oluniliiii.' M., p. 4M. 'Tlmriilnookit, ClnUopN, wnliklnnunm
Mini I'liililiiniiilm , . . r«<MinuliliHl nnoli nllior In ptiriton, iIiuhm, InnKnitun.'
fi'i'tiiij'ii Anlovin. iip. NA. :i:M). ChlniMikii. (lliidtopN, rHllilnniiii, Wnklitiinm,

WiioiuttiniiM, ('iitll«i|iulliiH, (UkliHiiinliiM, Kllliiiink, MoltniintnH, OliliikKlU

r«tM«n>lili« mm Hnollior in Imiumok'*- '<''*'"'' Ail><rH., pp. HI nn. 'Tim CM-
HiHtk UniiiiuKii Im Npoknn Ity itirtim nutiuua (rum (ho muutli u( th« OoliiinbU
to the tM».' tVaneMit'B Nar., p. 'illli.

iMKirioni/rtnM or tiih nniifooK,

liitvliiK
1 1 mil Aim

of ilin ThlinkttniN, i\w (^liintNik Im iiDnNidniwd in itn mn-
Mtniotioii llio iiMMt iiiirioiiUi; iumI in itM pniniinciiition tint
uumi (lillioiilt, No wonlN an< to Ini (ouihI in t lid Kiigliiih
vouiiliiiliiiry wliioli mn iui»iimt(«lv ilcwu'ilN* it. To wiy
tliiiii ii ix giitiiiral, uliiokin^, pipiiittorin^, luiil ilin likti
(Mtnvi\VN ImiI. II liiliit. nMKioptlon of ilii< wmiihI iiiinIikmnI
l>y It OliiiKNik in IiIn IViuitio dVort to iinlHirilttn iiiN mind
oi'iui iiliMi. Il«^ «loMN not a|i|N*iu' (o liitvfi yd iliwroviM'itd
tlio \mi ol'tlio lipM mill t4)ngiio in N|Nnikinp:, Ixit' Mtrii)(gl««M
witli tlio lowtM' part ol* tlio tliroat to pi'iNliiiuf wmiiiiIn
I'oi' tlin (iKpniNNion of liiN tlioiiglitN. MonuMitK^larit that
tlin HpiHMiJi oC tlio TlilinktHilM, whumi iangiiitgo liktt
tliat ol* tlio Oliinook (MintaiiiM no lahialn, \h niiiiiNiy in
(UMiipariNon to thn iM'oakiii^.tN oi' tlio ( lliiniNikN. \Umn nnyn
tliat " t4> H|H*ak tlio(!|iin(Nik tlialtMit, yon niiiNt Im« a ('lii-
nook."*^ liitl«><Mi, tli(\y iip|N*ar t^i liaVM JN'oonu^ timi of
tJKMi' own lan^iiago and to liavr voluntarily alMUidonitd
it, lor, to-day, tlio yonthriil ('liiniHik M|HMikN aliiioNt
wholly (MichaliM and tho jargon. Tlu« (•ntployi'tN ol' Iho
I'lir coinpaiiioN, voyitgiMirn, trapiM^i'M and triuiorH, who
'vtM'o lUMMiNloinod to iiiahliM' with littlo difliciilty tho alio-
rigliial tongiii*M wliirli tli«\v (*n(M>iint4U*(*d, W4*r(M*4iinpl<*t«<lv
iioiipliiNHcd hy tlio ('hiiHNtk. A (<ana«lian of AntorM
«H»iupany ih tlni only |M<rMon known to havn luupiircd
it HO iiH to HjMMik it lliivntly. I hiring a long illii«*N ho
wiiN niirwMi l»y thu OhinookN, and during Iiin nvali*M-

*'' 'Tim liinftnilito npnliAti tiy IhnM pAitpIn In ||tiHnriil, vnry tllfltnult for li
forKluiixr l<) li'iuii, iiimI •ii|iiiiny liitril tii jii'DiKiiiiirii,' Him*' Aihvn , n, lOl.
' Ufti'lilKilly tliit iiiimt iiiiprdiiiMitiriinliln «i>iii|ioiiihI of KiilliirnU «ivi>r Kiriiu'it
l<ir llin i<oiMiiiiiiiliinlliiii of hinimii iliotiKlitM, or tlin «ii|ir«iNNloii <■( hiiiiiikii

WlllllN,' ril4''ll A<ll<rn,, Vlll. II,, p. lllil. 'I WiMllll Mllllliuly ((Ivii It Npl'lilllH'll l(f

lliit iHtrlmniiiN litii^Uikut* of IIiIm ptiopli*, wi<r<i li |HtwilliMi t<t rtiprcHxiii liy niiv
t'omltliiikUiMi III iMir iklpliHlii'l llio linrrllilx, liitrNlt, NpliilUirlitK nimiimIn wIiIcii
proiMinil from Uinir tliionl* nppnr«ntly iiiiuiililnil nlilmr liy tlin totiKiin or Up.'
Kitnr'H iriiHi(., p. iH'i, ' li In iinni hikI ilifflntili to itrotiouiK^n, for NtriiiiK«rNi
lining full of utitiiiralM, llkn (Im (IimiIIo. 'rim luiiiiltliintloiiN (hi, or H, iitiil H,
nrii liN frKipmiii in llm ('liliiook mm In tim Mniimin.' haiwh^rif'n Niir., p, 'i(\i.
'Aftor ilm Mofi InnuiinK"" i»i<l rtplil «innmlitilon of ilm InIiiiiiIki'ii, llm ('III-
noiilm prominintl it iiinKiilitr ooninmi In (Im hIow, ilxlllNirndi niiinnnr In wliiuli
(liDV Nnnniml (o olioliii out ilmir wonU; ulvlni( ultoritnnii (o moiuhIn, wonin of
whloli could Noiirtwiy Iw rriiriiNKniMi liy (lonililnullotm of known IfilifiH.'
l'ink*Htni'ii Unmm, In (/. S. Kjk. Kji., vol. li., ii. -i:!. • li nlNiunilN with KOt-
luritla Mui " alttuklnK" Hounilii, nlinoHi m tlllBaiiti io nnulyiM an lo uiier.'
UUibM' VhiHook Voeab., p. 6.

OOLUMBIAH LAROUAOBB.

oense devoted his entire time to perfecting himself in
their tongue.^

Here the flornids of the letters /, r, v, and z do not
exist, the pronunciation is generally very indistinct, and
f and 8, k and g, d and t, are almost always confounded.

In the first person of the dual and plural of pronouns,
the person present and addressed is either included or
excluded according to the form used.

Personal pronouns in the Watlala dialect are:

■IKOVLiB.

than maika
He iakUa

DUAX..

We (two) (exo.)
We (two) Cind.)
You (two)
They (two)

ndaika
tkhaika
mdaika
i^takhka

PLCBAL

We (ex.)
We (incl.)
Yoa
They

nctaika
oikhaika
m^ika
tkhlaitqka

Of the possessive pronouns the following will serve as
examples. They are joined to the noun Uukutkhie, or itu-
humtkhk, house.

My house
Thy house
His house

smotTLAB.

kokwntkhl

meokwitkhl

iakwitkhl

Our house (exo.)
Our house (incl.)
Your house
Their house

DUAL.

ndakwitkhl
tkhakwitkhl
radakwitkhl
iqtakwitkhl

PLVBAIi.

nt^akwitkhl (exo.)
olkhakwitkhl (incl.)
m^akwitkhl
tkUakwitkhl

OONJUOATION OF THE VEBB TO BE GOLD.

PBISIMT IMDIOATITB, SntOOIiAB.

I am cold, naika tqinokhkeakh

Thou art cold, maika V;icomkeakh

He is cold, iakhka t9ikeakh

DtTAIi.

We (two) are cold (exo.).
We (two) are cold (inol.).
Ton (two) are cold,
They (two) are cold,

We are cold (exc).
We are cold (incl.),
You are cold,
They are cold,

PLCBAL.

ndaika t^^ontkeakh
tkhaika t^iqtkeakh
mdtika t^imokeakh
iotokuha tfi^tkeakh

nt^aika tdcontf keakh
oikhnika t<;iIokeakh
mcaika t^iqomqkeakh
tkhlait^ka tf^^otkhlkeakh

4* ' The ancient Chenook is such a guttural, diiBcnlt tongue, that many
of the young Chenook Indians can not speak it, but have Men taught by
their parents the Chehalis language and the Jargon.' Saan'g N. W. Coaal, p.
806; Hale's Eihnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ▼{.. p. 662. * The Tery difficult
pronunciation and excessively complicated form of the Chinook has effeotu-
ally prevented its acquisition, eren by missionaries and for traden.' Oibbs'
Chmook Vocab., p. 6.

0AL4P00TA PBOMOUNS.

nmancT.
Tetteiday I wu cold, takotkhl n»iift t^notkaakh

miST FUTUVB.

By and bye I shaU be cold, atkhlke naika t^i^onkhatk*
I ahttll b« oold, naika on^khatka t^if

THE YEBB TO KILL.

I kill thee, aminowagna

I kill him, tqiuowagua

Ikillyou (dnal), omtkinowagua

I kill them (daal), omtkinowagua

I kill yon (pl.)i omckinowagua

I kill them, otkhlkinowngoa

Yon kill him, om^kiwagna

Yoa kill them, otkhUdwagoa

Dialectic difTerenoes particularly among the upper
Chinookfl, or Watlalas, are found principally in words;
grammatical forms being alike in both/^ Kane remarks
as a peculiarity that this language contains " no oathf,
or any words conveying gratitude or thanks." *"

Moving again southward to the Willamette Valley, I
find the Calapooya language, and for the first time a
soft and harmonious idiom. Although the guttural kh
sometimes occurs, it is more frequently softened to h.
The consonants are f , or «, f,j, k^ I, m, w, ng, p, or 6, t, or d,
q, and to. Unlike the Sahaptin and Chinook there are
neither dual nor plural forms in the Calapooya lan-
guage.

The personal pronouns are:

* tsi. or tsQ

Thou

maha, or maa

koka, or kak

W«

soto

Ton

miii

They

kinuk

My father

tai aimna

Thy father

maha k^bum

His father

kok inifam

Our father

Boto tufam

Your father

miti tifam

Their father

kinuk inifam

My mother

tsisinnl

Thy mother

maha kanni

His mother

kok ininnim

Onr mother

eoto tnnnim

Your mother

miti tinnim

Their mother

kinuk ininnim

ft HaW$ Ethnog., in U. 8. Ex. Ex., vol., vi., p. 662, et aea.
««ane'« »Fand., p. 183.

680

COLUMBIAN LANOUAOB8.

CONJUGATION OF THE YEBB TO BE 8IGK. ILFATIN.

PBnmr mbutib.
I »m dok, tai ilfatin

Thoa art siok,
He ia siok,
We an riok,
Ton are aiok,
They are aieki

NKOATITI.

I am not dok,

mpiBnoT.
I was siok yesterday,
Thou wast siok yesterday,
He was sick yesterday,

niwr ruTCBi.
To-morrow I shaU be aiok, mi<yi tallfit t^I

intsi ilfatin
ilfatin
tsiti ilfaf
intsip ilfitf
kinnk in ilfaf

wangk tsik ilfatit

Ufatin tsi kayi
imkn ilfatin
ha ilfatin

The following example will serve to illustrate the
great changes verbs undergo in their conjugations; —
ksitapatsitup maha, I love thee ; tsUapmlmo kok, 1 love him ;
himtapintsivxUa tsii kak, he loves me : hintsiUymtsiuxUa tsii,
dost thou love me?*

The Yamkally is spoken at the sources of the Willa-
mette River. A comparison of the Yamkally and
Calapooya vocabularies shows a certain relationship
between them."

I have said that certain afhuities are discovered be-
tween the Waiilatpu and Mollale, and also between the
Watlala and Chinook ; in these, as well as in the Cala-
pooya and Yamkally, Buschmai^n discovers faint traces
of 'the Aztec language.' Others have discovered a
fancied relationship between the language of the
Mexicans and those of more northern nations, but Mr
Buschmann believes that, descending from the north,
the peoples mentioned, whose lands are drained by
the Columbia, are the first in which the Aztec, in
dim shadows, makes its appearance. These similaritie,
he discovered not alone by direct comparisons with the
Aztec, but also by detecting resemblances between these
Columbian dialects and those of certain nations which

« Hak's Elhnog., in U. 8. Ex. Ex., toI. vl., p. 566, et seq.

M • Yumkallie, Kallapniah. Oregon Indians of the plains of the Walla-
mette, speaking a langnage related to that of the Gathlascons and Haeeltznk.'
JAidewlga Ab. Lang., p. SiU2. ' Gross die Verwandtsohaft der Kalapnya nnd
des Yamkallie; aber an versohiedenen W6rtem fehlt es nioht.' Bmrnmann,
Spurm der AtUk. Spr., p. 628.

OOLUMBUN AHD MEXIOAN 00UPABIS0N8.

681

he calls his Sotunra group and its affiliations, all of which
contain elements of the Aztec tongue. Yet Mr Busch-
mann does not therefrom claim any relationship between
the Aztecs and Columbians, but only notices these few
slight assimilations."

Herewith is a comparative table, containing a few
similar words:

OoKPASATmC TaBLI, IHOWIMO 8lini.ABITUn BRWBBH XBI OoLVlIBUM AHD

Mbxioan Tomoubs.

IRO-

WAn-

HOT^

WATLAI.A.

OHIHOOX.

CAX.A-

ASRO.

aONOBA

I.IBH.

I.ATP0.

LALX.

POOTA.

FAMILT.

Yea

he, aw

e, ha

Tooth

tenif

tanU

tlantli

Bed
Wind

tkblpal
ikkhal*

tkUpolpol
itakhakh

ikhaU

tlapalli
ehecutl

beicala

Black

tkblol

tkblalokh

tliUi

Water

wematkbl webatkhl

naika

n«e

Chief iatoiang iakant

iont, ianta

The Chinook jargon is employed by the white
people in their intercourc' '^'Jth the natives, as well as
by the natives among themselves. It is spoken through-
out Oregon, Washington Territory, on Vancouver Island,
and extends inland into Idaho and some parts of Mon-
tana. It is more than probable that, like other languages
de convenance, it formed itself gradually, first among the
natives themselves, and that in the course of tin*?, in
order to facilitate their intercourse with the aborigines,
trappers and traders adopted and improved it, until it
was finally brought into its present state. Indeed, so
great was the diversity of languages in this vicinity, and
so intricate were thev, that without something of this
kind there could have been but little intercourse between
the people.

A somewhat similar mixture I have already men-
tioned as existing in Alaska. Father Paul Le Jeune
gives a short account of a jargon in use between the

i> 'HtebBtmerkwfirdigsind einselne nnlftngbareaztekiaobennd zweitena
einaelne aonoriache WOrter, velobe iob in dicHen Spracken aafgefundeu
babe.' Bugchmann, Spuren dtr AMtk. 8pr., p. 629.

GOLUMBIAN LANOUAOES.

French and the Indiana, in the north-eastern part of
America, as early as the year 1633." In Euroiie »i simi-
lar mixture, or patois, prevails to this day, the lingua
franca, used by the many nationalities that con-
gregate ujx)n the shoi-es of the Mediterranean. In
(Jhina, and in the East Indies, the so-called pigeon
English occup:L>is the sitme place; and in various parts
of Central and Southern America, neutral languages
may be found. To show how languages spring up and
grow, Vancouver, when visiting the coast in 1702,
found ill various places along tlie shoixis of Oregon,
Washington, and Vancouver Island, nation, that now
and then understtx>d words and sentences of the Xootka
and other tongues, some of which had l»een adopted
into their own language.

When Lewis and Clarke, in 1800, reivliod the coast,
the jri^on seems to have alreiuly as.sumed a fixed shai)e,
as may lie seen from the sentenct?s (pioted by the explorers.
Itut not until the arrival of the X;x[)edition sent out by
.John .Iiu*ol) Astor does it ap[x»ar that either English or
French words, of which it ccmtains a large jHircentage,
were incorix)rated. Very few, if any, of the words of
which the jargon is composed, retain their original shape.
The harsh, guttural, and unpnjnounceable native cackling
was st)ltened or omitted, thus forming a sjjeech suited
to all. In the same manner, some of the English sounds,
like/ and r, unpn>nounceable by the native, were
dro{)|XHl, or transferred into p and I, while all grammati-
cal lorins were reduced to the fewest and plainest ndes
po.ssiliU'.'" But even in this jargon, there are what

i* ' TluH MyHtcm of jar((()ii8 be({itn v^ry rarly, aiul liitH, (linibtloHx, Icil to
many cnois. An curly an Killll, tht' .li'suit Fathfr I'anl Le Jeiino wrotf: "I
havo rc'iimrKfd, in th<^ hIU'Iv of their luiiKiiaf;*', tliiit theru is a certuiis jargon
liotwffii till' Fnui'h iiiiil In lians, whii'li is inithcr Frcncli nor Iiiilian; and yi>j,
whrn the French nse it, they think they are Hpeakin(;IntHan, and the IndituiH
n;;iii|.; it, think they speak ^(kmI Fr'.fnch."* H'mt. Miti/., vol. v., p. 345.

i' Uih'm' Clihiiiiik' IH<\, \i. (i; Sim VranrUi-o Eieninii HHilctin, Juno
15, IHtifi. '(^hinook in njirKon which wan invent«<l by the HiulHon'H
liuy Company for tlio ]ir.r|ioHe of facilitatii'K coniniunication witli the dif-
ferent Iiidiiin tribes, rheso Were ho niiiiieroiiH, and their hkn^inigeH 8i>
varioiiH, (liat tlie trailerH found it imiMiHRible to Iparii them all, and adopted
the device of a jndiciouH mixture of F.n);UHh, French, RuHmau, and Heveral
Indian tuugiuiit, which has a very limited vocabulary; but which, by tho

ANALYSIS OF THE CHINOOK JABOON.

may be called dialectic differences; for instance, many
words used at the Dalles, are quite unintelligible at the
mouth of the Columbia and at Puget Sound. It has
often been asserted that the jargon was invented or
originated by the Hudson's Bay Coni{)any, but ultbuugh
the fur company undoubtedly greatly aided it>< develop-
ment, and assisted in perfecting it, it is well known,
first, that this jargon existed before the advent of
Europeans, and secondly, that languages ai-e not made
in this way.

Mr Gibbs states the nuuilRT of words to Ik> nearly
five hundii'd, and after a careful analysis of the 1 mguagc,
has arrived at the following conclusion ic< to thi- 'lUmber
contributed by the several nationalities:

Chinook and Clntfiop 200 words

Cbiuouk, ImviiiK atialof^efl with other lauguages '21 "

IntvriectioiiH coiiiiiion to geveral 8 "

Nootkii, iuchidinK dialects '24 "

Chehiilitt, 3*2, and Nisquuily, 7 3'J "

Kliket4tt and Ybkima 2

Cree '2

Chii)ppw«y (Ojibwftjrj 1 "

Wanco (probnbly) 4 "

Cala^KMiyH ({irobnbly^ 4 "

By dir«'ct on<>niittii|)(piii C> "

Dcrivntion unknown, or undetermined 18 "

French. IK), Cuniulian, 4 91

EugliBh 67 " i*

As before mentioned, foreign words adopted into the
jargon vocabulary are changed to suit the taste of the

help of HifpiR, Ih readily nnderstood by all the nativeH, and HerveH ax a com-
mon InnKuagu.' MiltiiH iinil ( liKtiUv's .V. U'. J'uKsiiiie, p. 'M\. ' Tln' jui'^ou
Ro much iu uhd nil over tliu North PacitU' CouKt, aniunt; both vvliitcH und
Indiana, aa a verbal medium of coninuiiiii-alinK with i-acli iitli> r, wan oritfiu-
ally invented by the KiuUon'H Hay Cii'ni'uiiy, m urdii- to fai'ilitate the pro-
KreHHof theircomnien-e with Indiai»<. ' ^ ni's liiitioiniri/ nt t liinnol,- Jityiinn,

E. 161. '('hinook ix a jar^^on. lonsiHtiu >if not nmrc than three or ifour
undred woiiIh, drawn irom the Fnnel Ku^'htth, Spaiiinh, Indian, and thu
faney of the inventor. It wu-^ loiitrivcd by the Hudson's Hay t'oiupany for
tl con venienco of trade.' h,-<i\<>l. ii\ /;»/. .l/f. AVp/.. 1n71, p. I'i4. Kproat
dtspiiteM the invention of the jargon, and says; ' Siieli an arhD-vi'Mient as the
invention of a lau^'ua^'e, is iieyond the ea|iid)ilitifs i.f evi n a ehief fuetor.'
Sri'iiBH, p. 13<J, 'I tliink that. amoU); the Coast Indians iu parlieular, the
Indian |)art of tlie languia'e has been in use for years ' Smiu'a A. H'. I'oant,
p 3()7. Iliilf'i Klhiuxi, in U.S. Ex. I'.jr.. vol. vi., |> (III.*!, ft He<|.

^ GVihit' Chinook IHc, pp. vii. viil. 'Ail tlie w<»r<is thna broUKht
together and eombined in tins HiuKulnrly eoUHtruetfil speei-li are about two
hundred and fifty in number* Ihl's KtUwH., in V. >. h-t- Ex., vol. vi.. p.
6:<6. 'Words nndoiibtedl'' of JapaneHe orifiiu are atill used in thujari;ou
Hpokon on tlie coast callol Cbiuook.' Lordu Sni., vol. ii., p, 217.

634

COLUMBIAN LANOUAOES.

speaker, as in the word Fran9aiB, being unable to pro-
nounce the/, r, and n, for Frenchman they say jktmivJes,
and for French, pami. The few words formed by
onomatopoeia, are after this fashion ; — tumtuniy heart, an
imitation of its beating; iivtin, bell; iiktik, watcli; lij)lip,
to boil, from the sound of boiling water, and so on.

Neither article nor inflections are employed. Okok,
this, at tiuies tai<ea the place of the English the. As a
rule, plurals arc not distinguished, but sometimes the
word hfiiu, many, is used. Adjectives precede nouns, as
in English, — liisuai hakatshum, silk handkerchief ; masatsi
tUikum, bad jieople. The comparative is expressed, for
example, in the sentence, I am stronger than thou, by wek
nuiiku skukum kakwa tiaika, thou not strong as 1.
Sujierlative, — haias oluman okok kanem, very old that
cancje. There are only two conjunctions, pi, derived
from the French 7)1/ is, which denotes and, or then; and
joos, from suppose, meaning if, in case that, provided
that. The particle na is at times used as an interroga-
tive.*"

The Lord's Prayer in the Chinook jargon is as
follows:

Nesika papa klaksta mitlite kopa saghalie, kloslie

Our Father who staycth in t\\f ubovo. good

kopa nesika tumtum mika nem; kloslt*; mika tyee

in our bfurto (bt>) Uiy iiuine; good th<Mi vhiff

kopa konoway tilikum; kloshe mika tiinitum kopa

iiinong all proplo: good thy will up m

illnhic, kahkwe kopa saghalie. Potlatch konaway huu

earth, uh in the above. Oivo every day

nesika muckamuck. Bpose nesika mamook niasahchie,

our food. If we do ill,

wake mika hvafl solleks, pe spose klaksta masahchio

(be) not then ■ iry anxry, and if any one evil

kopa nesika. wake nesika solleks kopa klaska. Mahxli

towardn ii s not we angry towttrdH them. Bend awii}'

siah kopa nesaika konaway masahchie. Kloshe kahkwa.

far from ub all evil.M

" Hrt/f'n Ellmnq., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 63"., et Beq.
i« ttibbs' t hinuuk JHr., p. 44.

CHAPTER IV.

CALIFORNIAN LANGUAGES.

18 08

MULTIPLICITT OP ToNOUBS— YaKON, Kr.AKATH, AND PaLAIK CoMPABmON8 —

Pnr RivKR AND WiNTooN VocAB0LABiK8— Wrkyot, Wwhosk, Writhpkk,

AND El.-.rK CoMP.iBIS0N8~LANaU.tOEM OF HiTMBOLUT UaY - PuTTKB

Vallrv, Ruhhian AND Ebl liivKit Lanquaoks— PoMo Lanouaorh —
r ..Li.iNOMBRO Grammar — TBANs-PACirio Comparisonh — Chocuykm
Lord'h Pravkb — Lanouaukh op thx Sacramknto, Ban Joaqdin, Napa
>Nn HoNOMA Vallbyb — Thk Olhonb and oTBxa Lanouaubs op San
t'i cim;o Bat— Rcnbien and Edlbnb op Monterrt — Santa Claba
] ' d'8 Pbayicr- MuTsnN Grammar — Lanodaoks op the Missions Santa
Cruz, San A«tokio dk Padua, Solkdad, and San Miuckl— Tatchb
Grammar— Thb Dialbcts op Santa Crcz and other Iblandb.

tyee

fhi»-f

kopa

lip >u

NcKwitliMtainling the great diversity of tongues en-
couiitcn"! ill the regi<jn.s of tho north, the confusion
incrcjiso.s ten -fold on entering (.'alifornia. Probahly
nowhen; in Aniericji is there a greater multiformity of
languages and dialects than here. Until quite recently,
no attempt has Ijeen miwle to })ring onier out of this
linguistic cIuum, owing nuiinly to a hu^k of gramnuirs
and vo<'»>»idai ies. Within the last few years this want
has. in u measure, \nHm supprunl. and I iioixi to Im» able
to present some broailerclassincati<ms than have hitherto
l)een attem|)t«Hl. Through the rest aivhes of Mr Powers,
who has kindly pliiced his materials at iuydis[X)8al, and
the valuable information couununicated l>y Judge J{ose-
lK)rough, the dialects of northern Ciiliforuia have l)een
reduced to some sort of system, ^et there remains the

686

CALIFOBNIAN LANGUAOES.

fiict that, in central and southern California, hundreds
of dialects have been permitted to die out, without
leaving us so much as their name.^

In attempting the classification of Californian tongues,
no little difficulty arises from the ambiguity of tribal
names. So far as appearances go, some jjeoples have no
distinctive name; others are known by the name of their
chief alone, or their rancheria ; the affiliation of chief,
rancheria, and tribe being identical or distinct, as* the
case may be. Some writers have a common name for
all tribes speaking the same, or dialects of the same, lan-
guage ; others name a people from eacli dialect. Last
of all, there are nations and tribes that call themselves
by one name, while their neighbors call them by another,
so that the classifier, ethnologic or philologic, is apt to
enumerate one people under two names, while omitting
many.'

We have seen in the Columbian languages, as we
approach the south, that they become softer and less
guttural ; this is yet more observable among Californians,
whose speech, for the most part, is harmonious, pro-
nounceable, and rich in vowels; and this feature becomes
more and more marked as we proceed from northern to
southern California. On this point, Mr Powers writes:
"Not only are the California languages distinguished for
that affluence of vowel sounds, which is more or less
characteristic of all tongues spoken in warm climates;

» BosfhorowjK'B Letter to the Author, MS. ; The Shaatas and their Nelrihbon,
MB. ' Thn diversity of lnngua:.je w Hn (j^rent, in (. 'iiliforiiia, that at almost every
16 or 20 leagueH, von And a cliMtinot dialect.' Jhi>eana, in UiMmion'ii Life
ill Col., p. 240. ' h n'cHt peut-etre aucim pays oil lus difft'rena idiumeH Huieiit
auBsi inultipliuH que dans la Galifurnie Heptentrionate.' La Perouae, V'oy.,
toiu. ii., p. 323. ' One might spend years with diligence in acquiring an In-
diiin tongue, then journey a tliroc-hours' space, and Hnd himself adrift a^ain,
so multitudinous are the' languages and dialects of California.' Powrm'
North. Cat. Intl., in Oi)erlaud Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. 'The diversity is
Biioh lis to preclude almost entirely all verbal communication.' Jlutchiiv:s'
Cat. Mfiij., vol. iii., p. 150. ' Languages vary from tribe to tribe.' 7'icA--
trinii'a Jiuces, in U. .S. Ex, Ex., vol.ix., p. 106. ' In California, there appears
to be spoken two or more distinct languages.' McCuHoh'a liesearchra in
Amtr., p. 37; Koltebue'a Voy'if/e, vol. iii., p. 48; Id., New Voy., vol. ii., p.
08; Tayhr, in liancrofVa Hnndttook Almanui; 1804, ». 20

« See vol 1., p. H25; lioMthorou'jh'a letter to the Author, MS.; The iShasttis
and thtir NtUjhbvt. , MS.; JMchlmjs' Cat. Ma>j., vol. iii., p. 160.

BULES OF EUPHONT TN CALIFORNIA.

697

but most of them are also remarkable for their special
striving after liarmony. There are a few languages found
in the northern mountains which are harsh and sesqui-
pedalian, and sqme on the coast that are guttural beyond
the compass of our American organs of speech ; but with
these few exceptions, the numerous languages of the
state are beautiful above all their neighbors for their
simplicity, the brevity of their words, their melody, and
their harmonious sequences."^

Throughout California, much attention is paid to the
euphony of words; and if, in the inevitable manufacturing
process, a syllable does not sound well, or does not ex-
actly harmonize according to the native ear, it is ruth-
lessly sacrificed. In many languages the.se elisions are
made in accordance with fixed rules, while others, again,
obey no other mandate but harmony.

Concerning the languages of northern California,
Judge Roseborough writes: "In an ethnological view,
the language of these various tribes is a subject of great
interest. They seem lo be governed by the geographical
nature of the country, which has had much influence
in directing the migrations and settlement of the various
tribes in this state, where they have been found by the
whites; and there have been in remote times at least three
currents, or lines of migration, namely, — first, one along
the coast southward, dispersing more or less towards the
interior as the nature of the country and hastile tribes per-
mitted. In so broken and rough a country the migrations
must have been slow, and the eddies numerous, leav-
ing many fragments of aboriginal tribes here and there
with language and customs wholly dissimilar. Second,
that along the Willamette Valley, over the passes of
the Cala|)ooya, across the ojien lands of the Umix|ua,
southward tlirongh Kogue River Valley into Shasta and
Scott valleys. As an evidence of this trace I may
mention that all the trilx's on this line, from theCalapooya
mountains southward to the head of Shasta and Scott
valleys, speak the same language, and were confederate

' I'owera' Porno, MS.

CALIFORNIA^ LANGUAGES.

in their wars with the tribes on Pitt River, who seem
to have arrested their progress southward. In this con-
nection I may mention two facts worthy of remark,
namely, first, in this cataclysm of tribes, there have been
some singular displacements; for instance, the similarity
of language and customs of the Oumbatwas and other
cognate tribes on Pitt River denotes a common origin
with a small tribe found on Smith River, on the north-
west coast: and secondly, the traditions of the Shastas
settled in Shasta and Scott valleys, the advance of this
line of migrations, show that a former tribe had Ijeen
found in possession of those valleys and mountains, and
had been driven out. The remains of their ancient
villages, and the arrangements still visible in their
excavations confirm the fact, and also the further fact
that the expelled tribes were the sauic, or cognate to
those which the whites found in occu^mtion of the Sac-
ramento Valley. For instance, in all of these ancient
villages, there was one house of very large dimensions,
used for feasts, ceremonious dances, etc., just as we
found on the settlement of California, in the valley of
Sacramento. The existing tribes in those mountains
have no such domicil and no public houses. Tbev say,
when asked, that the villages were built and inhabited
by a trilie that lived there before they came, and that
those ancient dwellers worshiped the great snowy Muimt
Shasta, and always built their villages in places from
which they could l)ehold that mounttiin. Thirdly,
another wave of migration evidently came muthward
along the Des C'hutes River, upon the great plateau of
the lakes, which conclusion is lK)rne out by a similarity
of languages and customs, as well as by traditions."*

In support of this theory Judge Roseborough states,
that the languages sjiokon on Smith River, and extending
thence forty miles along the coast, are radically anil
wholly different from those of the neighboring tril)es.
The former are harsh, guttural, irn»gular, and ap|)arently
monosyllabic, while on the other hand, the neighlwring

* ltose'ioroti:ih'» Lettfi- to ihc Author, M8.

LANOUAOES OF NORTHERN GAUFORNIA.

639

tribes inhabiting the coast southward to Humboldt Bay,
and along the Klamath as far up as the mouth of the
Trinity, speak a language very regular in its structure;
copious in its capacity for expressing ideas and shades of
thought, and not unpleasing to the ear, being free from
harsh and guttural sounds. Of all the languages spoken
in this part, that which prevails along the Klamath
River, as far up as Happy Camp, and along the Salmon
to its sources, is by far the most regular and muHical.
In fact, for its regular and musical accents it occupies
among the Indian tongues of the continent the same
preeminence that the Spanish docs among the Cauca-
sian languages. For instance, their proper nouns for
persons and places are very euphoneoiis, as, eiiph'qypa,
escassiisoo, names of jxirsons, and tafiasoofcu, cheenich, pa-
mimna, chimicanee, tooyook, savonimj names of noted lo-
calities along the river.

As an example of the copiousness and richness of
the coiist languages above llumiMildt Bay, Judge Hose-
borough cites the following, for one, two, three, four,
they say, ^»r, nihhi, rtaxU, chohruih; so for to-morrow they
say, kohchanwl; for the day nfter to-morrow, mihamohl]
three days hence, iMxamoJd] four days hence, chohiuih-
amol. Nor do they stop here; nuire, being live, and
marttnimir/in, fifteen; tho fifteenth day from the present
is, mamnimUhnhamohl.

Mr George Bancroft; in his Indianology erroneously
asserts tliat the wnmd of our letter r does not occur in
any of tln^ aboriginal languages of America. A similar
assertion has l)een made with regard to Asiatic tongues,
that there is not a })eopIe froui the peninsula of llindoi'i-
tan to Kamchatka who make use of this sound. Althougli
this idea is now expUxJed, evidence g(K«s to show tlio
rarity of the use of the letter r in these ii-gi >!is; 3et,
Judge Roselwrough assures me that in these northern
Californian dialects the sound of this letter is not only
frequent, but is uttered with its most rolling, whirring
emphasis; thut such words as arr<irr<(, Indian; camM:,
or cahroc, up; eurttok^ or mroc. down; tsemrrook, across

4M0

CALIFOBNIAN LANOUAOE8.

and up; micarra, the name of a village; tahaaoqfcarrah,
that is to say the village of upper Tahasoofca, are
brought forth with an intensity that a Frenchman oould
not exceed.

On both sides of the Oregon and Califomian boundary
line is spoken the Klamath language; adjoining it on
the north is the Yakon, and on the south the Shastti and
the Palaik. A dialect of the Klamath is also spoken by
the Modocs. Herewith I give a short comparative table,
and although no relationship between them is claimed,
yet many of the words which I have selected are not
without a similarity."

Han

Woman
Mouth

Water

Klood

Earth

Btone

Wood

Beaver

Dog

Bird

Hnlmon

Great

Along Pitt River and its tributaries are the Pitt River
Indians and the Wintucms, of which languages short
vocabularies are given.

PITT BITKB.

teee

OMa

ynine

yanona

eteajk

H«y&

mallia

* ' The Lutnami, ShaHti and Palaik are thrown by Gallntin into three sepa-
rate clitmeH. They are without doubt mutually unint('lligil):<). Nevt!rthvl('H^«
they cannot be very widely Heparated.' lAitltam'a Vomp. I'liiL, vol. viii., p.
407. The T-ka, Id-<lo-o, Ho-te-day, We-o-how, or Bhasta Indiann, speak
the same laii|i<U)tge. Steele, in Iml. .■\^'. liepl., 1HG4, p. I'iO. The Modocs speak
the saint! liinguage as the Klainaths. Palmer, in Id., 1854, p. 202; iia/e'n
Ethnon; in If. S, Ex., Ex., vol. vi., p. 218; Berghatu, Oeograpbischen Jahrtmeh,
torn, iii., p. 4S; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. 'A branch of the
latter (Hlioshone) is the tribe of Tlainath Indians.' Ruxton't i4(it'eti. Mtx., p.
244.

TAXOM.

KLAMATB.

IHASTA.

PALAIS.

kalt

hisaatsoa

awatikoa

yalin

tkhlaka

snawuts

taritsi

omtewitsen

sura

au, or aof ,

tsoks

halaway, or hatis,

atetewa

kilo

ampo

poits

kaela

atsa

pouts

ime

abati

onitstoh

tarak

keU

kelih

kotai

iUa

olisti

knkh

anko

awa

han

kaiitHilawa

pnm

tawai

pom

tskekh

watsak

hapHO

watsaqa

kokoaia

lalak

tararakh

lauitsa

tHiitais

tsialus

kititri

tsiulas

haibaiat

modnis

kcinpe

whwa

PTTT BIVBB.

Man

t'elyou

Hair

Woman

emmetowchan

Eyes
Nose

House

teooniehee

Tree (inne)

OHWOO

Month

Water

OHH

Teeth

Btone

alliste

LegH

Bon

taool

Fire

THE WINTOON, EUBOG. AND CAHBOC.

641

Ifoon

tchool

Big

walswa

Crow

owwichu

Little

ohowkootoha

Dog

ohahoom

Dead

deoome

Deer

doshBhe

Mountain

akoo

Bear

loehta

WINTOON.

Fish

oil •

Yes

nmmina

Warm

pela

Woman

darcna

Eyes
Nose

toomb

House

boss

Bono

I, or me

net

Mouth

all

Water

mem

Teeth

see

Bain

Inhay

Talk

teene

San

sash

TokiU

kloma

Moon

ohamitta

Large
To fight
Dead

bohama

Night

kcnavina,

or peno

cluckapooda

Dog

BUCO

menil

Deer

nope
chuch, or

North

Bear

weemer,

Houth

nora ">

On the lower Klamath, the Euroc language prevails.
As compared with the dialects of southern California,
it is guttural; there heing apparently in some of its
words, or rather grunts, a total absence of vowels, —
mrprh, nose; chlh, earth; yrix, child. Among other
sounds peculiar to it, there is that of the U, so frequent
in the Welsh language. Mr Powers says that, "in
conversation they terminate many words with an aspi-
ration which is imperfectly indicated by the letter h, a
sort of catching of the sound, immediately followed by
the letting out of the residue of breath, with a quick
little grunt. This makes their speech liarsh and halting ;
the voice often comes to a dead stop in the middle of a
sentence." lie further adds that "the language seems
to have had a monosyllabic origin, and, in fact, they
pronounce many dissyllables as if they were two mono-
syllables."

Along the upper Klamath, the Cahroc language is
spoken, which is entirely distinct from that of the
Eurocs. It is sonorous, and its intonation has even
been compared with that of the Spanish, lx;ing not
at all guttural like the Eunxj. The r, when it oc-
curs in such words as chdreya, and cahroc, is strangely
rolled. The language is copious; the people speaking it
having a name for everything, and on seeing any article

• The Shasta* and their Neighbors, MS.

T Jackson's Vocab. of the Wintoon Lamjuaije, MS, ; Powers' Vocabularies, MS.
Vob. m. 41

042

GALIFORNIAN LANOUAQES.

new to them, if a proper dcHignntion is not immediately
at hand, they forthwith proceed to manufacture one.

Another guttural language is the Pataway, wpoken on
Trinity River. Its pronunciation is like the Kuroc, and
it has the same curious, abrupt sbjpping of the voice at
the end of syllables terminating with a vowel, as Mr
Powers describes it. Related to it is the Veeard of
lower Humboldt Bay. The numerals in the latter lan-
guage are: koh-tseh, one; dee-teh, two; dee-keh, three;
deeh-oh, four; loeh-mh, five; ckiMkeh, six; awthh, seven;
oim<, eight; serdkeh, nine; lokelicn.*

The language known as the Weitsjiek, spoken at the
junction of the Trinity and Klamath rivers, is probably
the same which Mr Powers has named the Pataway.
It is also said to have the frequently occurring rolling r.
The/, as in the Oregon languages, is wanting. Dia-
lects of the Weitspek are the Weeyot and Wishosk, on
Eel and Mad rivers. I^his language is understood from
the coast range down to the coast between Oaiie Mendo-
cino and Mtul River.' The Ehnek, or Pehtsik, language
is H[X)ken on Salmon River; thence in the region of the
Klamath, are the Watsahewah, Ilowteteoh, and Nabiltse
languages.*"

COMPARISONS.

KHMRK.

ah wnuHh
kha-witth
isH Hhah
Btecn
chiuu ee
ab
koHh rah

iHHUh

itch hok
kiii rahk
poohB
ti rah o

« Powera' Pomo, MS.

» Gibbn, in Scliooltraft'8 Arch., vol. iii., p. 422. ' The jnnntion of the rivers
Klamath, or Trinitv, giv«H uh the locality of the Weitspf^k. ItH ilialuctH, the
Weyot and WiKlumk, extend far into Hnuiboldt county, whore they are ))rol)-
ably the prevailing form of gpeech, being UHed on the Mnd Kiver, and the
parts about Gape Mendocino. From the WeitHpek they differ much more
than they do from each other.' Latham's C'omp, Phil., vol. viii., p. 40.
'Weeyot nnd Wish-osk. nuter einander verwandt.' Jiuachtitann, Spurtn der
Attek. Spr., p. G7fi.

ro Gwba, in Schoolcrufl'a Arch., vol. iii., pp. 422-3.

WKKTOT.

WI8U08K.

WErrsPEK.

Man

ko ('h

ko-.'h

pagehk

Arrow

HAhpo

tsahpo

nah qut

Water

merali tche

mcr ah ch^

pa ha

Earth

lot kuk

let knk

chahk

Dog

wyets

wy'tg

chishu

Fire

mitHH

mess

mota

Sun

taum

tahm

wi'i noush loh

One

koh tse

kohtHa

spinekoh

Two

er ce ta

ritta

nuh chr

Three

or ce ka

rihk

nak aa

Four

re aw wa

ri yah

toh hun no

Five

wessa

wehsah

mahr o turn

THE POMO FAMILY AND ITS DIALECTS.

648

ke riven
IctH, tho
Ve jirob-
Mud the
|h more

. P- 40.

\trtn der

The Chillultth, Wheelcutta, and Kailta were 8ix)ken
on lle{lw(Mj<l Creek, but before the extinction of these
people, their hinguiigeH were merged into that of the
Hoopuhs by whom they were subjugated. The hinguage
of the Chimalquays of New River luw also l)ueu ab-
sorbed by the Iloopah. Of the ChimaUpiays Powers
hyperbolically remarks " their language wjw like the
mountain city of California, beautiful in its simplicity,
but frail.""

At Humboldt Bay a language called Patawat is men-
tioned, and in Round Valley tlie Yuka. The numerals
in the latter tongue are — -jpomjim, one ; qpe/t, two ; malmeh,
three; and oiiiehet, four. In Potter Valley is the Tahtoo
language which Mr Powers thinks may belong to the
Pomo or the Yuka." In the Eel River and Russian
River valleys as far as the mouth of Russian River and
in Potter Valley, the different tribes known by the
names of Ukiahs or Yokias, San^ls, Galliiiomeros, Ma-
sallamaga^ns, Gualalas, and Matoles, speak various dia-
lects of the Pomo language, which obtains in Potter
Valley and the dialects of which become more and more
estranged according to the distance from the aboriginal
centre. The Poino men are good linguists; they readily
]ic(|uire all the different dialects of their language, which
in places differ to such an extent, that unless they are
previously learned they cannot be understood. Pomo
women are not allowed to learn any dialect but their
own.

The following comparative table of numerals will
illustrate the relationship of these tribes, among which
I include the Kulanajx) s|K>ken near Clear Lake, and of
which Mr Oibbs has also noticed an affinity to the Rus-
sian River and Eel River languages; also, the language
spoken by the natives of the Yonios Rancheria in Marin
County."

" Powers' Pomo, MS.

n Roneborowih'n Letter to tht Auikor, MS. ; Powers' Pomo, MS.
"Oibbs, in Srhiolcnift's Arch., vol. iii., pp. 421-2; Powers' Pomo, MS.;
Taylor, ia C<U. Farmer, March 30, 180J.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

IIM

3.2

1.25 1.4 |i.6

►

fliotographic

Sciences

Corporation

V. WIST MAIN STRUT

WBR<iTIR, NY. '<4<I0

(716) «8:;.-4503

•N?

'<>

V '^,

•« ^%^

<'^^^

644

GALIFOBNIAN LANGUAGES.

POMO UKIAH.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

oha

tare

can

Bibbo

tack

duhan

Bhal

native

padeh

tsadeh

copah

hoyneit

cowal

cogodol

shalshal n^mgoBham

sala

nempoteo

BAXltL.

tate

sibboo

dncho

mato

taadeh

c6€mar

cogodol

ndmoshnm

n&vacoteo

OAUMO-
MEBO.

oha

aco

mesibbo