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1 2 3

WORKS BY DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D.

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS. A study in the
Native Religions of the Western Continent. 8vo,
"^"'*^- Price ei.75

THE MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD.

^ A Treutise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the
Red Race of America. 8vo, cloth. Price $2.00

THE RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. A Contri-
bution to the Science and Philosophy of Religion.
^^''' '^«^''- Price $2.00

THE MAYA CHRONICLES. The Original
Texts of the Pre-Columbian Annals of Yucatan,
with translation and notes. 8vo, paper. Price $3.00

THE NAMES OF THE GODS IN THE
KICHE MYTHS. A Monograph on Central
American Mythology. 8vo. paper. Price 50 cts.

FOR S A Lx:; BY

H. C. WATTS & CO.. 506 Minor St.,

PHILADELPHIA.

c 0^u/jiu4.

AMEKICAN

HEKO-MYTHS.

A STUDY IN THE NATIVE RELIGIONS
OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT.

DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.I).,

MKMHKR OK THIO AMKKICAN' PHII.OSOPIIICAI, SOCIKTY ; THK AMERKAN
ANTIQUARIAX SOCIETY ; THE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN
SOCIETY OF I'HILA., ETC.; AUTHOR OF '' THE MYTHS OF
THE NEW WORLD;" "tHE REMfilOUS SENTI-
MENT," ETC.
• ••• \ a^a"- " " vv <r

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■.•*»t o°f* ""''"; "u ago
o I • • • « . «-; , ■ ^ ^■.—

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PHILADELPHIA :

H. C. WATTS et CO.,

506 Minor Street.
1882.

Kutend accordiiig to act of CorigroBB, in the year 1882, by

D. G. BniNTON, M.T).,

1 II thu Office of tlie Librarian of Cougresd, nt Wiwliingtou, I), 0.

• • • • I

a • • • • •

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ELI K. PRICE, E8Q.,

I'KKSIDKNT OK THK NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARFAX
SOCIETY OF I'lIILAnKI.lMlIA,

WHOSE ENMOIITENKP INTKIIKHT HAS FOH MANY YEAKH,

ANI> IN MANY WAYS,

n I!T1IK.1IKI> THE I'UOOIIEHS OF KNOWI.EIXIE,

THIS VOLUME

IS nESPEOTFULLV DEmCATEl* BY

THE AUTIKiU.

38382

PREFACE.

This little volunie is a contribution to the com-
parative study of religions. It is an endeavor to
present in a critically correct light some of the
fundamental concei)tions which are found in the
native beliefs of the tribes of America.

So little has heretofore been done in this field
that it has yielded a very scanty harvest for pur-
poses of general study. It has not yet even passed
the stage where the distinction between myth and
tradition has been recognized. Nearly all histo-
rians continue to write about some of the Ameri-
can hero-gods as if they had been chiefs of tribes
at some undetermined epoch, and the effort to trace
the migrations and affiliations of nations by simi-
larities in such stories is of almost daily occurrence.
How baseless and misleading all such arguments
must be, it is one of my objects to set forth.

At the same time I have endeavored to be tem-
perate in applying the interpretations of mytholo-

• • •

VIII I'UEKACK.

giHtH. I am aware of the risk one runs in lookin**; at
every legend as a li<;lit or storm myth. My guiding
])riii(*ii>h; has been tluit when th(^ same, and thai a
very extraordinary, story is tokl by several tribes
wholly apart in language and location, then the
probabilities are enormous that it is not a legend
but a myth, and must be ex[)lained as such. It Is
a 8[)ontaneous production of the mind, not a remi-
niscence of an historic event.

The importance of the study of myths has been
abundantlv shown of recent vears, and the methods
of analyzing them have been establislied with satis-
factory clearness.

The time has long since passetl, at least among
thinking men, when the religious legends of the
lower races were looked upon as trivial fables, or
as the inventions of the Father of Lies. They are
neither the one nor the other. They express, in
image and incident, the opinions of these races on
the mightiest topics of human thought, on the
origin and destiny of man, his motives for duty
and his gnmnds of hope, and the source, history
and fate of all external nature. Certainly the
sincere expressions on these subjects of even hum-
ble members of the human race deserve our most

PUKFACE. •*

ivs|)octful IuhmI, iind it may be tliat we shall dis-
cover in thoir crude or coarse narralions <,dcainH
of a mental lij-ht which their i)rond Aryan brothers
hsive been long in coming to, or have not yet
reached.

The pnfjudice againnt all the lower faiths in-
spired by th(^ claim of (^iristianity to a monopoly
of religious truth — a claim nowise set up by its
founder— has led to extreme injustice tovvard
the so-called lieathen religions. Little effort
has been made to distinguish between their good
and evil tendencies, or even to understand them.
I do not know of a single instance on this conti-
nent of a thorough and intelligent study of a native
religion made by a Protestant missionary.

So little real work has been done in American
mythology that very diverse opinions as to its in-
terpretation prevail among writers. Too many of
them apply to it facile generalizations, such as
" heliolatry," "animism," "ancestral worship,"
"primitive philosophizing," and think that such a
sesame will unloose all its mysteries. The result
has been that while each satisfies himself, he con-
vinces no one else.

I have tried to avoid any such bias, and have

I'WKKAJi:.

H(Mi«!jlit to discover thv Hoiircc of tlic niyllis F have
HcU'clcd, l)y dose attention to two points: first,
tliat 1 should ol)tain the precise original form of
tlie inytli by a rigid scrutiny of autliorities ; and,
secondly, tliat 1 sliouid hring to hear upon it
UKuh'rn nietlKKls of mythological and linguistic
analysis.

The iirstof tliest' reijuireuients lias given nie no
small troubh'. The sources of American history
not only dift'er vastly in merit, but many of them
are almost inaccessible. I still have by me a list
of books of the lirst order of importance for these
studies, Avhich 1 have n^A been able to find in any
])ublic or private library in the United States.

T have been free in giving references for the
statements in the text. The growing custom among
historians of omitting to do this nuist be deplored
in the interests of sound learning. It is better to
risk the charge of jiedantry than to leave at fault
those who wish to test an author's accuracy or fol-
' low up the line of investigaticm he indicates.

On the other hand, I have exercised moderation
in drawing comparisons with Aryan, KSemitic,
Egyptian and other Old World mythologies. It
would have been easy to have noted a])parent simi-

I'UKFACE. «i

hirities to u niMch «,n(!iitcr fxtcnt. But T luivo
preferred to leave tliiw tor tliose who write iipoii
geneni! coiui>arutive mytlioloj^'y. Sueh pi-rnllel-
iHiTiH, to reaeli HatiHtiietory reHults, should be at-
tempted only by thono who have Htudied rhe
Oriental religions in their original sourees, and
thuH are not to be deeeived by snperlicial reseni-
blunees.

The term "comparative mythology" reaches
hiirdly far enough to covei' all that 1 have aimed
at. The protessiouid mythologist thinks he luis
completed his task when lie has traced a myth
through its transformations in story ajid language
back to the natural plienomena of which it was the
expression. This external history is essential.
But deeper than that lies the study of the influence
of t 3 myth on the individual and national mind,
on the progress and destiny of those who believed
it, in other words, its true relujlom import. J
have endeavored, also, to take some accoui. of
this.

The usual statement is that tribes in the intellec-
tual condition of those I am dealing with rest their
religion on a worship of external plienomena. In
contradiction to this, I advance various arguments

xii PREFACE.

to show tliiit their chief god was not identified with
any ol)jeetive natura.1 process, hut was liiinian in
iiiiiure, benignant in cliaracter, loved rather than
feared, and that his worship carried with it the
germs of the development of benevolent emotions
and sound ethical principles.

3Icdia, Pa., Oct., 1882.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

INTUODUCTOKY.

HACK

Some Kind of lleli£?ion Found Jimoiii,' all Men— Classlflca-
lioiis of EeliKions— The Purpose of Religions— Rdif,nons
of Rite and of Creed— The Myth Grows in the First
of these— Intent and Meaning of the Myth. . . . 17

Processes of Myth Building in Anu'rica— Personification,
Paronyms and Homonyms— Otosis—Polyonomy—Iie-
notheism— Borrowing — Rhetorical Figures— Abstract
Expressions— Esoteric Teachings. .... 21

Outlines of the Fundamental American Myth— The White
Culture-hero and the Four Brothers— Interpretation of
the Myth— Comparison with tlie Aryan Hernu's Myth—
—Willi the Aryo-Semitic Cadmus Myth— With Osirian
Myths— The Myth of the Virgin Mother— Tiie Interpreta-
tion thus Supported ' ^'

CHxVPTER II.

THE HERO-GODS OF THE ALGONKIN8 AND IROQUOIS.

§ 1. The Algonkin Myth of Mlchabo.

The Myth of the Giant Rabbit— The Rabbit Creates the ^
World— He Marries the Muskrat— Becomes the All-
Father— Derivation of Michabo-of Wajashk, the Musk-
rat— The Myth Explained— The Light-God as God of the
East— The Four Divine Brothers— Myth of the lluaro-
( hiris— The Day-Makers— Michabo's Contests with His
Father and Brother-Explanation of These-The Sym-
bolic Flint Stone— Michabo Destroys the Serpent King-
Meaning of this Myth— Relations of the Eight-God avid
Wind-God— Michabo as God of Waters and Fertility-
Represented as a Bearded Man 37

xiii

XIV COXTENTS.

§ 2. The Iroquois Mj/fh of lodrha. paok

Tlic Creation of tlio Eiirtli-The Miraculous Birth of los-
I<»'liii — lie Overcomes his Brother Tiiwifcani— Creiites
and Teaches Manliind — Visits his People— His Grand-
mother Ataensic — loskeha as Father of his Mother —
Similar Conceptions in Egyptian Myths — Derivation of
loskeha and Ata(>nsic— loskeh-i as Tharonhiawakon, the
Sky Supporter— His Brother Tawiscara or Tehotennhia-
ron Identified — Similarity to Algonkin Myths. . . 53

CHAPTER III.

THE HERO-GO!) OF THE AZTEC TRIBES.

§ 1. The Two Antagoniats.

The Contest of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca— Quetzal-
coatl the Light-God— Derivation of His Xame— Titles of
Tezcatlipoca — Identified with Darkness, Night and
Gloom 63

§ 2. Quetzalcoatl the God.

^[yth of the Four Brothers— The Four Suns and the Ele-
mental Con diet— Names of the Four Brothers. . . 73

§ 3. Quetzalcoatl the Hero of Ttda.

Tula, the City of the Sun— Who were the Toltecs ?— Tlap-
allan and Xalac — The Birth of the Hero God — His Virgin
Mother Cliimalmatl — His Miraculous Conception —
Aztlan, the Land of Seven Caves, and Colhuacan, the
Bended Moimt— The Maid Xochitl and the Kose Garden
of the Gods — (Quetzalcoatl as the White and Bearded
Stranger 82

The Glory of the Lord of Tula— The Subtlety of the Sorcerer
Tezcatlipoca— The Magic Mirror and the Mystic Draught
— The Myth Explained- -The Promise of Rejuvenation —
TheToveyo.... ' the Mui<leu -The Juggleriesof Tezcatli-
poca — Departure oi'(^uetzalcoatl from Tula — Quetzalcoatl
at Cholula— His Death or Dei>arture--The CelChtial
Game of Ball and Ti},'er Skin— (Quetzalcoatl as the Planet
Venus 92

CONTENTS. XV

§ 4. Qnvttdlcotdl as Lord of the Winds. i-aok

The Lord of the Four Winds— His Symbols, tlio WIh'oI of
the Winds, tlio Pentiij^on and the Cross — Close Keliition
to tlie Gods of Rain and Waters — Inventor of the Calen-
dar — God of Fertility and Conecsption — lleconiniends
Sexual Austerity — Pliallic 8ynd)ols— God of Merchants —
The Patron of Tliieves — His Pictographic Representa-
tions. . . 120

§ 5. The Return of Quetzalcoatl.

His Expected Re-appeai'ance — The Anxiety of Montezuma
— His Address to Cortes — The General Expecta >n —
Explanation of his Predicted Return 133

CHAPTER IV.

THE HERO-GODS OF THE MAYAS.

Civilization of the Mayas — Whence it Originated — Dupli-
cate Traditions 143

f 1. The Culture Hero Itzamna.

Itzamna as Ruler, Priest and Teacher — As Chief God and
Creator of the World — Las ('asas' Suppos^ed Christ Myth
— The Four Bacabs— Itzamna as Lord of the AVinds and
Rains— The Symbol of tiu^ Cross— As Lord of the Light
and Day— Derivation of his Various Names . . . 140

§ 2. The Culture Hero Kukulcan.

Kuculcan as Connected with the Calendar— Meaning of
the Name— The Myth of the Four Brothers— Kukulcan 's
Happy Rule and Miraculous Disai)pearance— Relation to
Quetzalcoatl- Aztec and Maya Mythology— Kukulcan a
Maya Divinity— The Expected Return of the Hero-god
—The Maya Prophecies— Their Explanation. . . .159

XVI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

THE QQIOHUA IIERO-OOD VIUACOCJIIA.

PAOE

Vininochii as the Tint Cause— His name Ilia Ticci — Qqui-
cliua Prayers — Other Xaines and Titles of Yiracoelia—
His Worship a True Monotheism— The Myth of the Four
Hrothers — Myth of tlie Twin Brothers 169

Viraco'iha i»s Tunapa, lie who Perfects— Various Incidents
ill Ilis Life— Relation to Manco Capac — lie Disappears
in the West. 182

\'iracocha Rises from Lake Titicaea and Journeys to the
West— Derivation of Ilis Xame— He was Represented as
White and Bearded— The Mytli of Con and Pachacamac
— Contiee Viracocha — Prophecies of the Peruvian Seers
The White Men Called Viracochas— Similarities to Aztec
Myths 189

CHAPTER VI.

THE EXTEX;»ION AND IXKLUKNCK OF THE TYPICAL HERO-

jMVTir.

The Typical Myth fourjd in many parts of the Continent —
Difficulties in Tracing it — Religious Evolution in Amer-
ica Similar to tiiat in the Old World — Failure of C'lrisii-
anity in the Red Race . 203

The Culture Myth of the Tarascosof Mechoacan — Tii of
the Kiches of Guatemala — The Yotan Myth of tlie Tzen-
dals of Cliiapas — A Fragment of a Mixe Myth — The
Hero-God of the Muyscas of New Gramida — Of the
Tupi-Guaranay Stem of Paragur.y and Brazil — Myths
of the Dene of Jiritish America 208

Sun Worship in America— Germs of Progress in Amer-
ican Religions — Relation of Religion and Morality —
The Light-God a Moral and Beneficent Creation— His
Worsiiip was Elevating— Moral Condition of Native
Societies before the Conquest — Progress in the Definition
of the Idea of God in Peru, Mexico and Yucatan — Erro-
neous Statem'^nts about t!ie Morals of the Natives — Evo-
lution of their Ethical Principles 230

Index, .241

AMERICAN

HEEO-MYTHS.

CHAPTER I.

INTIIODUCTORY.

Some kin'd of RKr.iriioN- rouND amoncj am- men— Clas^sifications of
llEi.KiioNs— TnK Pnu'osF. ov Ri:i,U!i()NS— llKi.inoNS OK Rite and
Ob' C.iEED — The Myth Gkowh ix the fikst of these — Intent and
Meamm! op the Myth.

Pkooesseh of MYTH-«rn,DTNo IN America — Pehsonification.
Pauoxyms axi) Homonyms— Otosis — Poi.yoxomy — Hexotheism —
Boiiuowix'; — RnrToRK'Ai. Fkjukes — Aiistract ExruEssioxs.
Esoteric Teaciiincs.

Outlines of the Fundamental American Myth — The White Cul-
ture-hero AND THE Four Brothers — Txterimiktatiox of thh
Myth — Comuarisox wnii the Aryax Hermes Myth — With the
Aryo-Semitic Cadmus Myth — With Osirian Myths — The Myth
of the Virgin Mother — The Interpretation thus Suitorted.

The time was, and that not so v^ory long ago, wlien it
was contended by some that tliere are tribes of men with-
out any sort of religion; nowadays the effort is to show
that the feeling which prompts to it is common, even
among brutes.

This change of opinion has come about partly through
an extension of the definition of religion. It is now held
to mean any kind of belief in spiritual or extra-natural
agencies. Some learned men say that we had better droj)
the word "religion," lest we be misunderstood. They
would rather use "daimonism," or "supernaturalism," or

18 AMKUICAN IIKUO-MYTHS.

other such new term ; but none of these seems to me so
wide and so exactly significant of what I mean as
"reh'jrion."

All now agree that In this very broad sense some kind
of religion exists in every luunan comnnmity.'

The attempt has often been made to classify these various
faiths under some few general headings. The scheme of
Auguste Comte still has supporters, lie taught that man
begins with fetiehism, advances to polytheism, and at last
rises to monotheism. More in vogue at present is the
theory that the simplest and lowest form of religion is
individual ; above it are the national religions ; and at the
summit the universal or world religions.

Comte's scheme has not borne examination. It is arti-
ficial and sterile. Look at Christianity. It is the highest
of all religions, but it is not monotheism. Look at Buddh-
ism. In its pure form it is not even theism. The second
classification is more fruitful for historical pur[)oses.

The psychologist, however, inquires as to the essence,
the real purpose of religions. This has been differently
defined by the two great schools of thought.

All religions, says the idealist, arc the efforts, poor or
noble, conscious or blind, to develop the Idea of God in
the soul of man.

^ I suppose T am not going too far in saying " all agroe ; " for I think
that the lutost study of this subject, by Qustav lloskoff, disposes of Sir
John Lubbock's doubi , as well as the crude statements of the author
of Kraft und Stojf, and such like compilations. Gustav RoskofF,
Das Reliijionswescn der liuhesten Naturvolker, Leipzig, 1H80.

Tin: RSSKXCK OK KKI.KilOX. ' 10

No^ replies tlio rational ist, it is simply the oflPort of the
human miiul to IVa 'it' a Theory of Thinjr.s ; a^ first, reli-
gion is an early svi-tem of natural philosophy; later it
becomes moral phi osophy. Explain the Universe hy
physical laws, point out thi»t the origin and aim of ethies
arc the relations cf men, anil wu shall hav'c no more
religions, nor need any.

"'lie first answer is too intangible, the second too narrow.
The rude savage docs not philosophize on phenomena; the
enlightened student sees in them hut interacting forces ;
yet both may be profoundly religious. Nor can nKU'ality
be accepted as a criterion of religions. The bloody s(;enes
in the Mexican teocalli were merciful compared with those
in the torture rooms of the Inquisition. Vet the religion
of Jesus was far above that of lluit/ilojtochtii.

What I think is the essence, the princi[)le of vitality, in
religion, and in all religions, is their supp ^scd control over
the destiny of the individual, his weal or woe, his good or
bad luq here or hereafter, as it may be. Rooted infinitely
deep in the sense of personality, religion was recognized at
fhe beginning, it will be recognized at the end, as the one
indestructible ally in the struggle for individual existence.
At heart, all prayers are for preservation, the burden of
all litanies is a begging for Life.

This end, these benefits, have been sought by the cults
of the world through one of two theories.

The one, that which characterizes the earliest and the
crudest religions, teaches that man escapes dangers and

20 AAfF.UICAN HKIIO-MVTH.S.

secures .safety by the jK'rfoiinaMce or avoidance of certain
actions. He may credit tli;> i.v thai niytli, Ik; may hold to
Olio or many gods; this is unim|)ortant ; but he must not
fail in tiie penance or the sa<!red dance, lu; must not touch
that which is taboo, or lie is in peril. 'J'lic lif<' of these
cidts'is th',' Deed, their expressfon is the Kite.

(lij^dier relijrioi.s dis<^ani the inefTicacy of the mere Act.
They rest tlieir claim on Belief. They establish dogmas,
the mental aciceptance of which is the one thing needful
In them mythology passes into theology ; the act is mea-
sured by its motive, the formula by the faith back of it.
Their life is the Creed,

The jNIyth finds vigorous and congenial growth only in
the first of these forms. There alone the imauination of
the votary is free, there alone it is not fettered by a symbol
already defined.

To the student of religions tlu; interest of the ^fyth is
n(jt that of an infantile attemjjt to philosoj)liize, but as it
illustrates the intimate and immediate relations which the
religion in which it grew bore to the individual life. Thus
examined, it reveals the inevi'd)le destinies of men and of
nations as bound up with their forms of worship.

These general considerations appear to me to be needed
for the proper understanding of the study I am about to
make. It concerns itself with some of the religions which
were developed on the American continent before its dis-
covery. My object is to present from them a series of
myths curiously similar in features, and to see if one simple
and general explanation of them can be found.

MYTfr-IMTM.DINO. 21

Tho processes of inyth-lmiMiii;; ainoiijjj Anicrican tribes
'vero much ihv same a? <'l.se\vhor('. 'riicse are now too
{;oueri»lly fumiliar to need H{KH;lti(!ution luM'e, lu»yomI a few
whi(!li I hav(! foiuul partieularly noticeable.

At the foiuiihition of all tnyths lies the mental profess of
pcrsoriijicdtlon, which liiids expression in tlu! rhetorical
figure of proaopopeia. The definition of this, howevoi ,
must be exter. sd from the mere rej)resentation of innni-
mate things as animate, to include also the representation of
irrational beings as rational, tis in the " animal ujyths," a
most common form of religious story among primitive
j)eople.

Some languages Hivor these forms of personification nuicli
more than others, and most of the American languages (h)
so in a marked manner, by tiie broad grammatical distinc-
tions they draw between animate and inanimate objects,
Avhich distinctious must invariably l)e observed. They
cannot say " the boat moves" without specifying whether
the boat is an animate object or not, or whether it is to be
considered animate, for rhetorical purposes, at the time of
speaking.

The sounds of words have aided ^jreatly in myth build-
ing. Names and words which are somewhat alike in sound,
paronyms, as they are called by grammarians, may be taken
or mistaken one for the other. Again, many myths spring
from homonymy, that is, the sameness in sound of words
with difference in signification. Thus contl, m the Aztec
tongue, is a word frequently appearing in the names of

22 A>fi:ia<'AN- itimio-mvtfim.

<liviiiiti(N. Tt li!i.s throe entirely dilTerent meanings, to wit,
a H(!r|»eiit, Ji mu'st Mild twiiiH. Now, wliij-liever one of
those WHS originally nieatit, it wonhl Im' quite <'ertain to !«'
niisniiderstood, more (}r io-s, l)y later jreneration.s, and myths
woidil arise tocx|)lain the scsvoral possible intcrprctJitious of
the word — as, in fact, wo find was the case.

( 'lonely allied to this is what has boon ealled oIohIk. This
is the substitution of a familiar word for an arehai(! or
foreijrn one of similar sound but wholly diverse mtniuinu;.
This is a very (iommou occurrence and easily leads to mvth
makinn;. For example, there is a cave, near Chattanoo(;a,
which has the ( *herokeo name Nik-a-jak. This the white
s(!ttlerH have transformed into Nigi^er Jack, and are prepared
with a narrative of some runaway slave to explain the
cognomen. It may also occur in the sanjo language. In
!ui Algonkin dial(>ct m'Hfii wabu means "the great light of
the dawn;" and a common large rabbit was called ?/t<«.sfl/>o;
at souKi period the precise mciuiing of the former words
was lost, and a variety of interesting myths of the day-
break were transferred to a supposwl huge rabbit ! Rarely
(hK'-! there occur a more striking example of how the
deteriorations of language; allect mythology.

Aztlan, the mythical land whence the A/.tec speaking
tribes were said to have come, and from Avliich they
derived their name, means "the place of whiteness;" but
the word was similar to Aztaildn, which would mean "the
place of heronr,," some spot where these birds would love
to congregate, from aztatl, the heron, and in after ages, this

PTlorKSSEfi OP MYTir-IUTILniNO. 2.1

latter, as the plaiiirc and more concrete significiitioii, eaiiK
to prevail, ami was adopted by the njyth-inaUerM.

I'o/i/OHOini/ is another procedure often seen in these
myths. A divinity has several or many titles; one oi
another of those beeonjes |»rominent,aiid at hist ohsciires ii
a particnliir myth or locality the original personality of th<
hero of the tale. In America this is most obvious in P<'ru

Akin to this is what Prof. Max Miiller has tcrmei
henotheinm. In this m«!ntal process one <^o(l or one forii
of a i^od is exalted beyond all others, and ev(!n addressee
as the one, ordy, absolute and supreme deity. Such ex-
pressions are not to be construed literally as evidences o
a monotheism, l)ut simply tiiat at that particular tim*
the worshiper's mind wiis so lilled with the power :in(
majesty of the divinity to whom he iip[)ealed, tliiit Ik
applied to him these superlatives, very nmch as he wouh
to a great ruler. The next day he might a])i»ly them U
another deity, without any hy|)oerisy or sense >f logica
contradiction. Instances of this are comma. i in the Aztet
prayers which have been |)reserved.

One di(ti(ndtv encountered in Arvan mvtholoiiv is ex-
tremely ran; in Ameriea, ixwA that is, the adoption of for-
eign names. A proper name without a definite concrete sig-
nitieaiK^e in the tongue of the people who useil it is almost
unexampled in the red race. A word without a meaning*
was something quite foreign to 1 heir mode of thought. One
ofourmosteminentstudents'hasjustly said : " Every Indian

1 J. Hiunrniind Tniinhull, On the Composifion of Indian O'eo-
graphiatl Names, p. 3 (Lliirtfonl, 1870).

24 AMKUICAN IIKUo-MYTIIH.

Hynthcs'iM — iiiiriuHof |K>rF4on.s and |>Iiii'os not oxcoptcl — must
pro.sorvi! (Ih* conHcionsncMs of itw roots, an<l rnu.st not only
httvo 11 nicaiiin!;, l>Mt he so iViunc«l us to I'onvov timt mean-
\\:^ with precision, to all who speak tin; lan^na;^o to which
it l>clon;jfs." Hj'Iicc, 1 .c> names of their divinities can nearly
always \n' interprc^teij, (hou;^h for tin; reasons al)ov(! j;iven
the most obvions an<l current interpretation is not in every
<aHc the correct one.

Ah forcif^n names were not adojitcd, so the mythidogy
of one tribe very rarely influenced that of another. A« a
rule, all thr; reli<j;ionH W(!rc tribal or national, an<l tlicir
votaries had no desire to extend them. There was little;
of the pnwilytizinj^ spirit amonj; the red race. Some ex-
fcptions can be pointed out to this statenjent, in the Aztec
and Peruvian monarchies. Some borrowinj^SiMMus to have
been done cither by <»r frmn the Mayas; and th(! hero-
myth of the Iroquois has »o mimy of the lineaments of
that of the Al^^onhiiis that it is dillicult to believe that it
was wholly indcp(>ndcnt of it. Jiiit, on the whole, the iden-
tities often found in American myths are more justly
attributable to a sin. ilarity of surroundings and impressions
than to any other (^ause.

The (liversity and intricacy <»f American mytholo<j;y
have been greatly fostered by the delight the more de-
veloped nations took in rhetorical figures, in metaphor and
simile, and in expressions of amplification and hyperbole.
Those who imagine that there wjis a poverty of resources
ill these languages, or that their concrete form hemmed in

ATWTRACr KXrUKHHIONH. 26

tlic iniiid froin th. tnly of the iihHtnict, M|i('!ik witlioiit
knowlrd^e. One Iiuh but tn look iit tiio incxliiiiistihlo
synoiiyiny of the Aztct^, m it is sot fortli by Olmos or
SMlmjrim, or ut itw power to render «'orreetIy tlie retine-
meiits of selioliHtie tlieolojry, to see how wide of tiie facit
is any siieh o|»ini(tn. And what is true of the Aztec, is
not h'ss HO of th(! <i<|uiehua and other ton^nes.

I wjll give an (!xani[de, wjjcre the Englisli hmgnago
itself falls short of the niecty of the Q(|niehim in hand-
ling a nictfiphys* "al tenet. Caif in Qqnielma expresses the
real being of ^l.'- ijs, the cHucntta ; as, runnp ('<i\j7\in, the
l)eing of the himjan race, humanity in the abstract; but to
convey the idea of actual being, the exiMtcntia as united to
the CMMentia, ve must add tin; prefix aiscan, un<l thus have
runnp-cascan-cai/niii, which stri(;tly means "the essence
of being in general, as existent in humanity."' I doubt if
the dial((ct of (rcrman metaphysics itself, after all its elabo-
ration, could j)roduee in equal conipass a term for this con-
ception. In (icpiichua, moreover, there is nothirig strained
and nothing foreign in this example ; it is perfectly pure,
and in thorough accord vvitli the genius of the tongue.

I take some pains to impress this fact, for it is an im-
portant one in estimating the religious ideas of the race.
We must not think we liave grounds for skepticism if we
occasionally come across some that astonisli us by their

^ "El ser oxl.-^tcnto do lioinhrc, que as ol inodo do cstar ol prinior
ser que es liv ossoiitiii ((uo on Dios y Ioh Angeles y el hoirihro es modo
personal." Diogo Oonziilez lloiguin, Vocabvlario de la Lengva
Qqichua, o del Inca ; aub voce, Cat/. (Ciudad do los Reyes, 10U8.)

20 AMKIMCAN IIKKO-MVTIIS.

siihtlt'ty. Such an! quite iii kccpin;^ with tlio i)sych(»h)gy
juhI hm^uii^cs of tho race wo are studying.

Yot, throughout Aniurica, m- in njost other parts of <ho
worKl, th(! ti'aehiug of religious tenets was twofold, tho
ono popular, th(* other for the uiltiated, an esoterie and an
exoteric (hx-trinc;. A dillerou<!0 in dialect was assiduously
cidtivatc!d, a sort of " sacred language;" l)C!Ug employed to
conceal while it conveyed tlu; mysteries of faith. . Some
linguists thiidc that these dialeiits are archaic forms of the
language, the memory of which was retained in cercmotiial
o')servan(!os ; others maintain that th<y were simply alVecta-
tions (ff expression, and I'orm a sort of slang, based on the
(fvery <lay language, and currentamongtli(! initiated. T am
inclincid to the latter as the correct opinion, in many cases.

Whichever it was, siush a sacretl dialect is found in almost
all trihes. There are fragments of it from the cultivated
riiees of Mexico, Yuc^atan and ]*eru ; and at the other end
of th<! scale mc may instance the (Juaymis, of Darien,
naked savages, bnt whose " chiefs of the law," we arc told,
taught '* the doctrines of their religion in a jn'culiar idiom,
invented for the purpose, and very dill'erent from tho com-
mon language."

This hccionies an added dilficulty in the analysis of myths,
as uot only were the nanu;s of the divinities and of localities
expressed in terms in the highest degree melapliorii'al, hut

^ Franco, Notina de los Indios Gutymles y de sus CostiDtibrcH, p.
20, in Pinart, Culeccioii- dc LiiKjiiisfica 1/ Eliwtjrajia Americana.
Tom. IV.

THE TYPKATi AMEUKAX MYTH. 27

tlu'V were at times obHOiinul by an afte<;te(I proiimiciiitioii,
devised toecuieeid tlieir exact derivation.

'I'Ik! native tribes of this Continent had many myths,
and among- them tii(;re was one whieh was so prominent,
and re(!nrred with sucli strangely simihir featunss in locali-
ties widely asnnchtr, that it has for years attracted my at-
tention, and r have been led to present it as it occurs among
several nations far ai)art, both gcog;raphi(!alIy and in point
of cnltnre. This myth is that of the national hero, their
mythical civilizer and teacher of the tribe, who, at the same
time, was often idcntilicd with the supremo deity and the
creator of the world. It is the fundamental myth of a very
large n»ind)er )f American tribes, and on its recognition
and intci'prctation dep(Mids the correct understanding of
ijiost of their mythology and religions life.

The outlines of this legend are to the effect that in some
exceedingly nMuote time this divinity took an active p:;rt
in creating the world and in fitting it to be the abode of
man, and may himself have formed or called forth the
race. At any rate, his interest in its advancement W'as such
that h(! personally appeared among the ancestors of the
nation, and taught them the useful arts, gave them the
p->aize or other food plants, initiate<l them into the mysteries
of their n^ligious rites, framed the laws which governed
their social nsl tions, and having thus started thcuj on the
road to self development, he !((ft them, net sulVering death,
but disappearing in some way from their view. Hence it was
nigh universally expected that at some time ho would return.

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

The circumstances attending the birtli of these hero-gods
have great siniihirity. As a rule, eacli is a twin or one of
four brotliers born at one birth ; very generally at the cost
of their mother's life, who is a virgin, or at least had never
been impregnated by mortal man. The hero is apt to come
into conflict with his brother, or one of his brotnors,and the
long and desperate struggle resulting, which often involved
the universe in repeated destructions, constitutes one of
the leading top.os of the myth-makers. The duel is not
generally — not at all, I believe, when we can get at the
genuine native form of the myth — between a morally good
and an evil spirit, though, undoubtedly, the one is more
friendly and favorable to the welfare of man than the
other.

The better of the two, the true hero-god, is in the end
triumphant, thougii the national tem[)erament represented
this variously. At any rate, his people are not deserted by
him, and though absent, and perhaps for a while driven
away by his potent adversary, he is sure to come back some
time or other.

The place of his birth is nearly always located in the
East ; from that quarter he first came when he appeared as
a man among men ; toward that point he returned when
he disappeared; and there he still lives, awaiting the
appointed time for his reappearance.

Whenever the personal appearance of this hero-god is
described, it is, strangely enough, represented to be that of
one of the white race, a man of fair complexion, with long.

THE LIGHT AS GOD. 29

flowing beard, with abundant hair, and clothed in ample
and loose robes. This extraordinary fact naturally suggests
the gravest sus2)i(!ion that these stories wure made up
after the M'hites had reached the Aniei-ican shores, and
nearly all historiiins have summarily rejected their authen-
ticity, on this account. IJut a most careful scrutiny of their
sources positively refutes this opinion. There is irrefrag-
able evidence that these myths ?;nd this ideal of the hero-
god, were intimately known and widely current in
America long before any one of its millions of inhabitants
had ever seen a white man. Nor is there any difficulty in
explaining this, when we divest these figures of the fanci-
ful garbs in which they have been clothed by the religious
imagination, and recognize what are the phenomena on
which the) based, and the physical processes whose his-
tories they embody. To show this I will offer, in the most .
concise terms, my interpretation of their main details.

The most important of all things to life is Lujht. This
the primitive savage felt, and, personifying it, he made
Light his chief god. The beginning of the day served, by
analogy, for the beginning of the world. Light comes be-
fore the sun, brings it forth, creates it, as it were. Hence
the Light-God is not the Sun-God, but his Antecedent and
Ci'eator.

The light appears in the East, and thus defines that car-
dinal point, and by it the others are located. These points,
as indispensable guides to the wandering hordes, became,
from earliest times, personified as important deities, and were

30 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

ick'iitifit'd with tlie winds tliiit blew iVoin tlicni, as wind and
rain gods. This oxphiins the four brothers, who were no-
thing else than the tbnreardinal j)()iuts,andtheir mother, who
dies in prodncingthem, is the eastern light, which issoon lost
in the growing day. The East, as their leader, was also the
supposed ruler of the winds, and thus god of the air and rain.
As more immediately connected with the advent and depar-
ture of light, the East and West are twins, the one of which
sends forth the glorious day-orb, which the other lies in
wait to conquer. Yet the light-god is not slain. The sun
shall rise again in undiminished glory, and he lives, though
absent.

By sight and light we see and learn. Nothing, there-
fore, is more natural than to attribnte to the light-god the
early progress in the arts of domestic and social life. Thus
light came to be personified as the embodiment of culture
and knowledge, of N'isdom, and of the peace and pros-
perity which are necessary for the growth of learning.
' The fair comi)lexion of these heroes is nothing but a
reference to the white light of the dawn. Their ample
hair and beard are the rays of the sun that flow from his
radiant visage. Their loose and large robes typify the en-
folvling of the firmament by the light and the winds.

T!us interpretation is nowise strained, but is simply that
which, in Aryan mythology, is now universally accepted for
similar mytholoijical creations. Thus, in the Greek Phcebus
and Perseus, in the Teutonic Lif, and in the ?^orseBaldur,
we have also beneficent hero-gods, distinguished by their

THE IIEUMES MYTH. 31

fair com ploxion and ample ji^oMon looks. "Amongst the
(lurk as well as amongst tlio fair races, amongst those who
are marked by black hair and dark eyes, they exhibit the
same unfailing type of blue-eyed heroes whose golden locks
flow over their shoulders, and whose faces gleam as with
the light of the new risen sun."^

Everywhere, too, the history of these heroes is that of a
struggle against some potent enemy, some dark demon or
dragon, but as often against some member of their own
household, a brother or a father.

The identification of the I.ight-God with the deity of the
winds is also seen in Aryan mythology. Hermes, to the
Greek, was the inventor of the alphabet, music, the cultiva-
tion of the olive, weights and measures, and such humane
arts. He was also the messenger of the gods, in other
words, the breezes, the winds, the air i?i motion. His
name Hermes, Hermeias, is but a transliteration of the
Sanscrit Sarameyas, under which lie appear-, in the Vedic
songs, as the son of Sarama, the Dawn. Even his charac-
ter as the master thief and patron saint of the light-fin-
gered gentry, drawn fi\,ni the way the winds and breezes
penetrate every cr.ack and cranny of the house, is abso-
lutely repeated in the Mexican hero-god Quetzalcoatl, who
was also the patron of thieves. I might carry the com-
parison yet further, for as Sarameyas is derived from the
root sar, to creej), whence serpo, serpent, the creeper, so

^ Sir G(M)riro W. Cox, An Introdurtion to the Science of Compara-
iice Mj/Utologi/ and Folk-Lore, p. 17.

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

the name Quetzalcoatl can he aceurately trunshited, " the
wonderful serpent." In name, history and functions the
parallelism is maintained throughout.

Or we can find another familiar myth, partly Aryan,
partly Semitic, vvliere many of the same outlines present
themselves. The Arrive Thebans attributed the founding of
their city and state to Cadmus, lie collected their ances-
tors into a community, gave tliern laws, inventc' thealj)ha-
bet of sixteen letters, taught them the art c, smelting
metals, established oracles, and introduced the Dyonisiae
worship, or that of the reproductive principle. He subse-
quently left them and lived for a time with other nations,
and at last did not die, but was changed into a dragon and
carried by Zeus to Elysion.

The birthplace of this culture hero was somewhere far to
the eastward of Greece, somewhere in " the purple land "
(Phoenicia) j his mother was " the far gleaming one" (Tele-
phassa); he was one of four children, and his sister was
Europe, the Dawn, who was seized and carried westward
by Zeus, in the shape of a white bull. Cadmus seeks to
recover her, and sets out, following the westward course of
the sun. " There can be no rest until the lost one is found
again. The sun must journey westward until he sees again
the beautiful tints which greeted his eyes in the morning."^
Therefore Cadmus leaves the purple land to pursue his
quest. It is one of toil and struggle. He has to fight the
dragon offspring of Ares and the bands of armed men who
^ Sir George W, Cox, Ibid., p. 76.

THE CADMl.S ^fVTFr. 33

spriii^^ from the dragon's tectli which were sown, that is,
the chnids and j^looni of the overcast sky. He conquers,
and is rewarded, but (h)es not recover his sister.

When we find that the name Cachnns is simply the
'^.cmitic word hedem, the east, and notice all this mythical
cntonrajre, we see that this legend is but a lightly veiled
account of the local source and progress of the light of day,
ami of the advantages men derive from it. Cadmus brings
the letters of the alphabet from the east to Greece, for the
same reason that in ancient Maya myth Itzamna, "son of
the mother of the morning," brought the hieroglyphs of
the Maya script also from the east to Yucatan— because
both re])resent the light by which we see and learn.

Egyptian mythology offers quite as many analogies to
snpj)ort this interpretation of American myths as do the
Aryan god-stories.

Thelieavenly light impreirnates the virgin from whom is
born tlie sun-god, whose life is a long ccritest with his
twin brother. The latter wins, but his victory is transient,
for the light, though conquered and banished by the dark-
ness, cannot be slain, and is sure to return with the dawn,
to the great joy of the sons of men. This story the Egyp-
tians delighted to repeat under numberless disguises. The
groundwork and meaning are the same, whether the actors
are Osiris, Isis and Set, Ptah, Ilapi and the A^irgin Cow, or
the many other actors of this drania. There, too, among a
brown race of men, the light-god was deemed to be not of
their own hue, but 'Might colored, white or yellow," of

.'{4

AMKKICAX IIKUO-MYTIIH.

comely (•omitcniaiicc, bright cyoH niid goldrn liair. Afjuin,
lie in the one who invc'n(»'<l tlie caK-'iKlar, tan^^lit tlic arts,
estahlisiii'd tin; rituals, rcvcalod the inedical vii'tiics of
j)laiits, ri'('oinmeiidc'<l ju-acc, and aj^aiii was identified as one
of the brothers of the cardinal points.'

The Htorv of the virgin-mother points^ in America as it
did in the old world, to the notion of the dawn hrinjiinj;'
forth the sun. It was one of the commonest myths in both
continents, and in a i)eriod of humaii thoui^ht when mira-
cles went supposed to he part of the order of thinji;s had in
it nothing dillieult of credence. The Peruvians, for in-
stance, had large establishments where were kept in I'igid
seclusion the " virgins of the sun." Did one of these violate
her vow of chastity, s!ie and her fcillow criminal wore at
once put to death ; but did she claim that the child she
bore was of divine parentage, and the contrary (!ould not
be shown, then she was l^ted as a(iueen,and the product of
her womb was classed among princes, as a son of the sun.
So, in the inscription at Thebes, in the temple of the virgin
goddess Mat, we read where she says of lierself: "My
garment no man has lifted u[); the fruit that I have borne
was begotten of the sun."^

I do not venture too much in saying that it were easy to
parallel every event in these American hero-mvths, every

1 See Dr. C. P. Tiele, Ilinlori/ of the Eiiijptian Jieligion, pp. 98,95.
99, ot ill.

rjX'.iK; eyi-yerii." Proclus, (pioted by Tiele, ubi supra, ]>. 204, note.

MVTFfS \nV. NOT IIISTOIJY. .1."*

|»lmse of oliaractor of the pcrsoiiaj'.'s tlu'v rcpn-Hoiit, with
otiit'r.sdniwn from Aryan and Ki^vptian Icwiids Ion"- familiar
to students, and which now are-fidly r('('o;j^niz('d as havintr
in (hem nothin;^ of tho substance of history, hnt as pure
creations of tho religions imagination working on tho pro-
cesses of nature brought into rchition totheho|)es and fears
of men.

If this is so, is it not time that wo dismiss, once for all,
these American myths from blie domain of historiivil tradi-
tions? Wliy should wo try to make a king of Itzamoa, an
enlightened ruler of (iuetzalcoati, a cultm-cd nation ot the
Toltecs, when the j)roof is of the strongest, that every unc
of these is an absolutely baseless fiction of mythology?
Let it be understood, hereafter, that whoever uses these
names in an historical sense betrays an ignorance of tlu; sub-
ject he handles, which, were it in the better known lield of
Aryan or Egyptian lore, W(.uhl at once cor /ict him of not
meriting the name of scholar.

In European history the day has j)asscd when it was
allowable to construct primitive chronicles out of fairy
tales and natm-e myths. The science of comparative
mythology has assigned to these venerable stories a
different, though not less noble, interpretation. How-
much longer nuist we wait t(> see the sanie caufuis of
criticism applied to the products of tho religious fancy
of the red race?

Furthermore, if the myths of the American nations are
shown to be capable of a consistent interpretation by the

A M i:iM( A N II Kin (-M VTIIS.

|)riii('i))Io.s of coinnarativr mvtlifdonrv, let it bo rccuxrul/cd
tliat tlioy urc iicitlicr to bo disoardod bccauHo thoy roHcnblo
somo tumiliar to their European eoii(|iiororH, nor does that
simihirity mean that they are hist(»rieally derived, the
Olio t'ruin the other. Each is an iiKh'peiKh'iit growth, but
as eaeli is the reHox in a coiiinion psyohieal nature of iho
same phenomena, tlio same forms of expression were adopted
to convey them.

CHAPTER ir.

TIIK IIi:U0-(}01).S OF TIIK Af.OUNKIN.S AND IHotirolS.

I 1. The Alijonkin Myth of Mivhaho.

TlIK MVTII ()!•• TIIK (ilANT HaIIHIT— TlIK UaIIIUT CkKATFS TIIK WoKl.li
— Hk MaUIIIKS TIIK Mi'HKIlAT — i^KC'OMKS TIIK All. KvTHKR — DkRIVA-
TIO.V OK MkIIAHII— Ml" Wa.IASIIK, THK MrSKItAT— TlIK MVTII Kx
ri.AINKD— TlIK Iil(iUT(}(>l) AH (i()l» OK TIIK HaST— TlIK Foiru DiVINK

IJiioTiiKiiH- Myth ok tiik HrAiiociiiitis— Tiik Day-Makkiis— Mi-

• IIAIIO'S ('ONTKHTS WITH HIS FaTIIKII AND DllOTilKIt — KxiM,A\ATIOX OK
TIIKSK— TlIK SvMltOI.K! Fl.INT StONK- NflcHAHO DkstKOVS TIIK SkII
I'KN'i' lvr»! — MKAM\(i OKTIIM MvTii Kki.ations iikthi: LiOIIT-(iOI)

AM) Ww>i)-Oon— MuiiAiio AS (lOKoK Wateiisaxk Fkutii.itv— 1{ki'-

HKMKXTKI) AS A BkAKDKI) MaN.

^ 2. The InxjUnin Mijth of loah'ha.

TlIK CllKATlOX OK TIIK FaKTII— TlIK MlllAl'UI/JlS BlUTII OK loSKKIIA

— Hk Ovkhcomks his IJunTiiKit. Tawiscaka -Chkatks a.vdTkaiiiks
Manivimi— Visits his Pkoim.k -His CJkaxdmutiiku, Atakxsh —

lOHKEHA AS FaTHKII OK HIS MoTIIKR— SlMII.AH CoNCKniOXS IX

EoYPTiAN Myths— Dkkivation ok Ioskkiia axd Atakxsu— Ioskkha

AS Tl>AKONIIIA\VAIvON-. TIIK SkY SiI'I'OUTKI!— His UuoTIIKU TaWIS
CAIIA OK TkHOTKXXHI.VKOX I DKXTI KI KI) — Si M I I.AIUTV to AUiOXKlX

Myths.

Nearly all thiit vast area which lios between iludscHi
liay and the Savannah river, and tlie Mississippi river
and tiio Atlantic coast, was peopled at the epoch of the
discovery by the members of two lingnistic families — the
Aigonkins and the Iroquois. They were on about the same
plane of cultnre, bnt dilfered much in temperament an'd
radically in language. Yet their religions notions were
not dissimilar.

.•IS

AMKUICAN MKIto-MYTIIH.

ii I. The A/t/oiiLin Mijtii of MIr/itiho.

Xi\un\\r n\\ tin- Ahntiikiii trilK-s ulmsc myths Ijmv*' Uwx
|M'('s«'i'\»'(l wo IIikI miicli is Slid tiltoiit a ccrlaiii (Jiaiit
Ital)l)it, to \vlu)m all sorts of powcrM were nttril)nt(«l. lie
was the master of all animals; he wiiHthc ten<'her who first
instlMK'tiHJ riicii ill the arts of fishing and hunting; h)>
imparted to the Alpaikins the mysteries of their religions
rites; he taught them pietnre writing and the interpretation
of dreams; nay, far more than that, he was the original
ancestor, not only of their nation, but of the whoh; race
of man, an<l, in fact, was non(> other than the |)rimal
i 'reator himself, who fashi(tned the «Mrth and giiv«? lift; t ■
all that thereon is.

Ilcaiin;; all this said ahoiit sneh an ignoble and weak
animal as the rabbit, no wonder ihat the early missionaries
and travelers 8p»»ke of sneh fables with iiiidisgiiis«'d eon-
tempt, and in!ver mentioned them without excuses for putting
on record trivialities so utter.

Yet it appeju's to me that under these seemingly weak
stories lay a profound truth, the appreciation of which was
lost in great measure to the natives themselves, but which
can be shown to have been in its origin a noble myth,
setting forth in not unworthy images the ceaseless and
mighty rhythm of nature in the alternations of day and
uight, summer and winter, storm and sunshine.

I shall (jUote a few of these stories us told by early
authorities, not adding anything to relieve their crude sim-
plicity, and then I will see whether, when submitted to the

MVTM <U' < WKATION. 3M

test of lin^^iiistit' aiuily.^iH, tliin iin|>roinHinj^ oro dm's not
yi<'l«l i\u' |»iir»' ji;t)l(l of jjcmunc iiiytlioloi;y.

riic l)(';!jiiiiiiii;^ of tliin^H, iic'(!onlin;^ to the OHawiH and
odii'i' tioi'tlicni AI<^oiikiii><, \vi\H at a prriod wiirii ImmiikIUhs
Wiitcrn covered the face of (Ik; caitli. On this iiifmitu
ocean (loateil a raft, upon which were many Hpcciis of ani-
mals, the captain and chief of whom wjis Michaho, thcCiiant
Ral)lMt. They anh'ntly desired hind on which to live, so
this inii^hty ral>l)it onh-red the heaver to dive and brinj;-
him n|» ever ho little a piece of mud. The heaver obeyed,
and remained down Ion*;, even ko that ho eame up uttt^rly
exhausted, hut reported that he had not reachc(l hottouj.
TluMi the Uabhit sent down the otter, imt he also returned
marly dead and without success. Great was the disap-
pointment of the (jomjiany on the raft, for what better divers
had thev than tlie l uaver and the otter?

In the midst <tf their distress tin; (female) muskrat eame
f(M'ward and announced her willini^ness to njake the attumpt.
Her proposal was received with derision, but as poor help
is better than none in an emerj^eney, the Ivabbit ^ave her
permission, an<l down she dived. SIk; too remained lon^-,
very lonj^, a whole day and nij^ht, and they j^ave her up for
lost. But at leni^th slu; floated to the stirfacH', unconseioiis,
her belly up, jus if dead. They hastily hauled her on the
raft and examined her paws one by one. In the last one
of the four they found a small speck of mud. Victory!
That was all that was needed. The muskrat wan soon
restored, and the Giant Rabbit, exerting his creative power.

AMKIUf'AN IIKRO-MYTHS.

iiiouKletl the little fViiginent ol soil, iind us ho moulded it,
it grew and grew, into an ' iid, into a mountain, into a
oountry, into this great ej th that we all dwell upon. As
it grew the Kal)bit walked round and round it, to see how
big it was ; and the story added that he is not yet satisfied ;
still he eontinues his journey and his labor, walking forever
around and around the earth and ever inereasiny; it more
and more.

The animals on the raft soon found homes on the new
earth. ]>ut it had yet to be eovered with forests, antl nuai
were not born. The (liant Rabbit formed the trees by
shooting his arrows into the soil, which became tree trunks,
and, translixing them with other arrows, these beeame
branches; and as for men, some said i.o formed them from
the dead bodies of certain animals, which in time became
the "totems" of the Algonkiu tribes; but another and
probably an older ain! truer story was that he married the
muskrat which had been of such service to him, and from
this union were born the ancestors of the various races of
mankind which people the earth.

Nor did he ney;lect the children he Jiad thus brouy;ht into
the world of his creation. Having closely studied how
the spider s|)reads her web to catch flies, he invented the
art of knitting nets for fish, and taught it to his descend-
ants ; the pieces of native copper Ibund along the shores
of Lake Superior he took from his treasure house inside
the earth, where he sometimes lives. It is lu; who is the
Master of Life, and if he aj>pears in a dream to a person

DERIVATION OF MICHABO. 41

ill (lan<j:cr, it is a certain si^n of a lucky escape. He con-
fers fortune in the chase, and therefore the hunters invoke
him, and oiler him tobacco and other dainties, j)lacin<; them
in the clefts of ro(!ks or on isolated boulders. Though
called the (Jiant Rabbit, he is always referred to as a man,
a jiiant or demigod perhaps, but distinctly as of liinuan
nature, the mighty father or elder brother of the race.'

8uch 's the national mvtii of creation of the Algoukiii
tribes, as it has been handed down to us in fragments l)y
those who first heard it. Has it any meaning? Is it more
than the puerile fable of savages?

Let us see whether some of those unconscious tricks of
speech to which I referred in the introductory cha[)ter
have not disfigured a true nature myth. Perhaps those
common processes of language, personification and otosis,
duly taken into account, will enable us to restore this
narrative to its original sense.

In the Algonkin tongue the word for Giant Rabbit is
Minsabos, com[)ounded from mUchi or //tvVs/, great, large,
and u-abox, a rabbit. Jint there is a whole class of related
words, referring to widely dili'ercnt j)erceptions, which sound
very much like vabos. They are from a general root imib,
which goes to form such words of related signifieation as
icabi, he sees, icaban, the east, the Orient, tcabish, white,

' Tlu' writrrs tVoiu wlioiii I luive lakiMi tl "s myth arn Nicolas Purrot.
MriHoire sur les Mctirs, Coitstiimrs ct hclliijion des S(iiira<fes ih
I'AiiK^rif/ue Septenirifluale, written liy an intollijrcnt layman who lived
aiiuni^j: the natives from 11)05 to lO'.tlt; and the various Jiclalions cles
Jesnitets, especially for the years 1667 and 1670.

AMEIMCAX IIKltO-MVTirS.

blduhnn [hid-waban), tlie dawn, waban, daylight, tcasseia,
the li'ijlit, and many others. Hero i.s wlicro wo are to h)ok
for the H'al nieanino; of the name MisKctbos. It orii^inally
meant the Great Lij;lit, tlie Mii^hty Seer, the Orient, the
Dawn — whieh you i)lease, as all distinetly refer to the one
orijrinal idea, the Bringc- of Lij^ht and Sight, of knowledge
and life. In time this meaning became obsenred, and the
idea of the rabbit, whose name was drawn probably from
the same root, as in the northern winters its fur becomes
white, was substituted, and so the myth of light degene-
rated into an animal fable.

I believe that a similar analysis will explain the part
whieh the muskrat plays in the story. She it is who brings
up the s|)eck of mud from the bottom of the |)rimal ocean,
and from this speck *^he world is formed by him whom we
now see was the Ijord of the Light and the Day, and sub-
sequently she becomes the mother of his sons. The word
for muskrat in Algonkin is wajashk, the first letter of
which often suffers elision, as in nin nod-ajaslikwe, I hunt
muskrats. But this is almost the word for mud, wet earth,
soil, ajialikl. There is no reasonable doubt but that here
again otosis and personification came in and gave the
form and name of an animal to the original simple
statement.

That statement was that from wet mud dried by the sun-
light, the solid earth wjis formed ; and again, that this damp
soil was warmed and fertilized by the sunlight, so that from
it sprang organic life, even man himself, who in so many

THE SACKED EAST. 43

niytljolojrios is "the earth born," homo at) hiiino, homo
cham.ai(jena*}

This, then, is the interpretation I have to offer ot'the cos-
nio^onical niytii ot'the Algonkins. Does some one oUject
that it is too refined for tliose rncU; savages, or that it
sniaeks too mucli of reininiseenees of old-world teachings?
My answer is that neither the early travelers who wrote it
down, nor probably the natives who told them, nnderstood
its meaning, and that not until it is here approached by
modern methoils of analysis, has it ever been explained.
Therefore it is impossible to assign to it other than an in-
digenous and spontaneous origin in some remote period of
Algonkin tribal history.

After the darkness of the night, man lirst learns his
whereabouts by the light kindling in the Orient; wander-
ing, as did the primitive man, through pathless forests,
without a guide, the East became to him the first and most
important of the fixed points in space; by it were located
the West, the North, the South ; from it spread the wel-
come dawn ; in it was born the glorious sun ; it was full of
promise and of instruction ; hence it became to him the
home of the gods of life and light and wisdom.

As the four cardinal points arc determined by fixed

^ Mr. J. Iliunmond Trumbull has pointed out that in Algonkin the
words for iather, onh, nioth(>r, okas, and eartli, nhke (Xurraganset
dialect), can all be dtn-ived, according to the regular rules of Algonkin
gnunmar, from the same verbal root, signifying "'to come (uit of, or
from." (Note to Roger Williams' Ke)f into the Tianguage of America,
p. 56). Thus the earth was, in tlu/ir htnguage, tiie parent of the; race,
and what more natural than tluit it should become so in the myth also?

AMERICA^f HERO MYTHS.

physical rcliitioriH, common to man every wliero, and are
closely associated with hi.s daily motions and well heinji;,
they became prominent fii^nres in almost all early myths,
and were personified as divinities. The winds were classi-
fied as coming from them, and in many tongues the names
of the cardinal points are the same as those of the winds
that blow from them. The East, however, has, in regard
to the others, a pre-eminence, for it is not merely the home
of the east wind, but of the light and the dawn as well.
Hence it attained a marked preponderance in the myths ; it
was either the greatest, w'isest and oldest of the four brothers,
who, by person itication, represented the cardinal points and
the four winds, or else the Light-God was separated from
the (piadruplet and appears as a fifth personage governing
the other four, and being, in fact, the supreme ruler of both
the spiritual and human worlds.

Such wn the mental processes which took place in the
Algonkin mind, and gave rise to two cycles of myths, the
one representing Wabun or Michabo as one of four brothers,
whose names are those of the cardinal points, the second
placing him above them all.

The four brothers are prominent characters in Algonkin
legend, and we shall find that they recur with extraordinary
frequency in the mythology of all American nations.
Indeed, I could easily point them out also in the early
religious conceptions of Egypt and India, Greece and
China, and many other old-world lands, but I leave these
comparisons to those wdio wish to treat of the principles
of general mythology.

THE FOUR RROTIT'iW. 45

According to the most generally received legend these
four brothers were (|niidni|)lets — born at one birth — and
their mother died in bringing them into life. Their names
are given differently by the various tribes, but aie usually
identical with the f )ur points of the compass, or something
relating to them. Wabun the East, Kabun the West,
Kabibo.iokka the North, an<l Shawano the South, are, in
the ordinary language of the interpreters, the names ap-
plied to them. Wabun was tlie t;hief and leader, and
assigned to his brothers their various duties, especially to
blow the winds.

These were the primitive and chief divinities of the
Algonkin race in all parts of the territory they inhabited.
When, as early as 1610, Captain Argoll visited the tribes
who then possessed the banks of the river Potomac, and
inquired concerning their religion, they replied, ''We have
five gods in all ; our chief god often appears to us in the
form of a mighty great hare; the other four have no
visible shape, but are indeed the four winds, which keep
the four corners of the earth." ^

Here we see that Wabun, the East, was distinguished
from JMichabo {mlssl-wubun), and by a natural and trans-
parent process, the eastern light being separated from the
eastern wind, the original number four was increased to
five. Precisely the same differentiation occurred, as I shall
show, in IMexico, in the case of Quetzalcoatl, as shown in
his Yoel, or Wheel of the Winds, which was his sacred
pentagram.

1 AVilliaiu Strachey, Historie of Travaile into Virginia, p. 98.

AMKUICAN HKHO-MYTILS.

Or 1 will f'lirtlifr illustrate this flevoloj)niont by a
myth of the lluarochiri Indians, of the coast of Peru.
Tiiey related that in the be;j:;iunin<i; of things there were
five eggs on the mountain Condoreoto. In due course of
time these eggs opened and from them came forth live fal-
cons, who were none other than the (^rcator of all things,
Pariacaca, and his brothers, the four winds. Jiy their
magic power they transformed themseS'cs into men and
went about the world performing miracles, and in time
became the gods of that people.^

Th.ese striking similarities show with 'vhat singular
uniformity the religious sense developes itself in localities
the furthest asunder.

Returning to Michabo, the duplicate nature thus assigned
him as the Liglit-God, and also the God of the Winds and
the storms and rains they bring, led to the production of
two cycles of myths which present him in these two diifer-
ent aspects. In the one he is, as the god of light, the
power that conquers the darkness, who brings warmth and
sunlight to the earth and knowledge to men. He was the
patron of hunters, as these require the light to guide them
on their way, and must always direct their course by the
cardinal |)oints.

The morning star, which at certain seasons heralds the

dawn, was sacred to him, and its name in Ojibway is M\iha-

^ Doctor Francisco dc Avila, Narrath'c of ihc Errors and False
Gods of the Indinns of lluarochiri (1G08). This iiitorostiiig docu-
ment has been partly translated by Mr. C. ]i. Markliani, and ]iul)-
lished in onu of the volumes of the Hackluyt Society's series.

Till-: mum <jf MRiiAno. 47

navf/, from Waban, tlic cast. Tlu; rays of light arc liis
sorvants and mcssfiigers. Seated at the extreme east, " at
the |)Iace where the earth is cut off," watehiii»:[: in his niedi-
eiiie lodge, or j)assing his time li.^hing in the endless ocean
which on every side surrounds the land, INIichaho sends
forth those messengers, who, in tiie myth, are called Oiji-
f/oudi, wiiich means " those who nv*Vv the day," and they
light the world. Jleis never idcntilioJ, with the sun, nor
was he supposed to dwell in it, but he is distinctly the
impersonation of light.'

In one form of the myth he is the grandson of the Moon,
his father is the West Wind, and his mother, a maiden who
has been fecundated miraculously by the passing breeze, dies
at the moment of giving him birth. But he did not nccil
tlie fostering care of a parent, for he was born mighty of
limb and with all knowledge that it is })ossibIe to attain.'
Immediately he attacked his father, and along and des-
perate struggle took place. " It began on the mountains.
The West was forced to give ground. His son drove him
across rivers and over mountains and lakes, and at last, he
came to the brink of tiie world. * Mold ! ' cried he, ' my
sou, you know my power, and that it is impossible to kill

iSce II. li. .Sfhoolcnitt. Itidiaii Tribes, Vol. v. pp. 418,419. Re-
lafiuiiH dcs Jesiiites, 1GH4, i». 14, 10B7, p. 46.

* Intlie Ojibwiiy dijiloct of the AlgonkiiiH, tlie word for day, sky or
hciivon. is gijiff. Tliissame word as u verb means to bi; an ailult, to
be ri))o (of fruits), to be finislicd, coinitlcti'. Ri.'v. Fredmick Baraga, A
JJictioiuin/ oft/ie Olc/iipirc Lani/iiajje, Cincinnati, 18o3. This soems
to correspond with the statenionl in tiie myth.

AMKUICAN IIEHO-MYTIIH.

'I 1

mc' " The combat censed, tlie West ackno\vle(l<i;in<5 the
Hiij)r('iiia('y of Iiis iniji^lity .son.'

It is sciircely poHsible to err in iTcoo;nizin<^ under this
thin veil of inm<;cry a description of the daily strnj:;gU!
lu'tween li^ht and (hirkness, day and ni<;lit. The maiden is
the dawn from whose virjifin womb rises the sun in the
fidhussof his gh^ry and might, but with his advent the
dawn it'^elf disappears and dies. The battU; hists all day,
beginning when the earliest rays ;j,ild the mountain tops,
and eontiiuies until the West is driven to the edge
of the world. As the evening precedes the morning,
so the West, by a figure of speech, may be said to fertilize the
Dawn.

In another form of the story the West was tyi)ifiod as a
Hint stone, and the twin brother of Michabo. The foud
between tliem was bitter, and the contest long and dreadful.
The face of the land was seamed and torn by the wrestling
of the migiity combatants, and the Indians pointed out the
huge boulders on the prairies as the weapons hurled at
each other by the enraged brothers. At length Michabo
mastered his fellow twin and broke him into pieces. He
scattered the fragments over the earth, and from them
grew fruitfid vines.

A myth which, like this, introduces the flint stone as in

some way connected with the early creative forces of nature,

recurs at other localities on the American continent very

remote from the home of the Algonkins. In the calendar

^H. R. Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, vol. i, pi). 135, ct seq.

THE FMNT-HTONE. 411

of tho Aztoos the day and god Tocpatl, the Flint-Stone,
held ii proiiiinont po.sition. Awiorilinjjj to tlicir myths such
u Htone fell from lieavon at the lH'ginnin<« of things and
broke into sixteen linndred |)ieees, each of \\lii<'li became a
<;od. The Ilnn-pie-toU, Ki<rlit Thousand Flints, of tiie
Mayas, and the Toh of the Kiehes, point to the same asso-
ciation.'

Probably the association of ideas was not with the flint
as a fire-stone, though the fact that a pie(;e of flint struck
with a nodule of pyrites will emit a spark was not un-
known. JJut the flint was everywhere employed for arrow
and lance heads. The flashes of light, the lightning, any-
thing that darted swiftly and struck violently, was com-
pared to tne hurtling arrow or the whiz/ing lance. Espe-
cially did this apply to the phenomenon of the lightnin<r.
The belief that a stone is shot from the sky with each
thunderclap is shown in our word "thunderbolt," and even
yet the vulgar in many countries point out certain forms of
stones as derived from this source. As the refreshino- rain
which accompanies the thunder gust instills new life into
vegetiition, and covers the ground parched by summer
droughts with leaves and grass, so the statement in the
myth that the fragments of the flint-stone grew into fruit-
ful vines is an obvious figure of speech which at first
expressed the fertilizing effects of the summer showers.
In this myth Michabo, the Light-God, was rcprcsentrd

> Brasseur do Boui-bourg, Dissertation sur hn Mythes de V Antiquite
Amerirainc, § vn.
4

AMKUICAN IIKIJO-MYTHH.

to the imtlvc inin<l its still ll^litliij^^ with tho poworw of
Darkru'HS, n(»t now tlic (hirkncss of ni;j:ht, hut that of the
heavy and ;»;loiuny ('K)iul.s which roll up the sky and hliiul
the eye of diy. His wcanous are the lighttiiii^ and the
tlmndcrholt, and the victory he aehieves is turned to the
good of the world he has created.

This is still more elearly sot forth in an Ojihway myth.
It relates that in early days there was a mi;;hty serpent,
kinj^ of all serpents, whose home was in the Great Lakes.
Increasin<; the waters hy his mnj^ie powers, he began to
flood tho land, and threatened its total suhmcTgence. Then
Michaho rose from his coucih at the sun-rising, attacked
the huge reptile and slew it hy a cast of his dart, lie
strip[)ed it of its skin, and clothing hiinself in this trophy
of con(piest, drove all the other serpents to the south.* As
it is in the south that, in the country of the Ojibways, the
lightning is last seeu in the autunui, and as the Algonkins,
both in their language an<l pictography, were accustomed to
assimilate the liy-htning in its zig/ig course to the sinuous
motion of the serpent,''^ the meteorological character of this
myth is very luanifest.

1 H. R. Schoolcraft, Akjic Researches, Vol. i, p. 170, Vol. ii,
p, 117. TIk! word animikiy in Ojibway moans " ittliundors andlii^ht-
nings;" in tlunr myths this tribe says that the West Wind is created
by Animiki, the Thunder. (Ibid. Indian Tribes, Vol. v, p. 420.)

2 When Father Huteux was among the Algonkins. in 10;^7, they ex-
plained to him the lightning as "a great serpent which the Manito
vomits up." {Relation de la Nouvelle France, An. 1037, p. 53.)
According to John Tanner, the symbol for the lightning in Ojibway
pictography was a rattlesnake. {Narrative, p. 351.)

TUANSFOUMATI0N8 OF 1>P:ITII>*. 51

TliuH we 8(!0 that ^^i('lllll)(», the hcro-jj^od of the Alpm-
kins, was both the goil of Iij;ht iiiul (hiy, of the winds mikI
ranis, and the erccitor, instructor and teacher (tf inanUind.
Th(! derivation of his name shows nnniistaUai)!)' that the
earliest form under which he was a mytholoirical existtmce
was as the liirht-u'od. Lntcr he hccame more familiar as
«:;o(l ol' tlnj winds ,nd storms, the her) of the celestial war-
fare of the air-currents.

This is precisely the same chanj^e which we are enahlcMl
to trace in the early transformations of Aryan religion.
There, also, the older god of the sky and light, Dyilns, once
common to all members of the Indo-P^uropean family,
gave way to the more active deities, Intlra, Zeus and Odin,
divinities of the storm and the wind, but which, after all,
are nierely other aspects of the ancient deity, and occupied
his [)laco to the religious sense.^ It is essential, for the
comprehension of early mythology, to understand this two-
fold character, and to appreciate how naturally the one
merge» ';ito and s[)riiigs out of the other.

^ This tninsformation is wuU set forth in Mr. CharU^s Francis Iveary's
OtiUines of Primitive Ihlii'f Amoncf the Indo- European Races ( London,
18^*2), ciiaps. IV, VII. Ho observes: "Tliewind isa tar more piiysicul
ami li-ss alistract conception than the sky or heaven ; it is also a more
varial)le i)iienoineuon ; and by reason of botli these rceoniiucMdations
the wind-god superseded tiie older Dyilus. * * * Justas ihi; cliief
god of (freec((, iiaving descended to be a ilivinity of storn\. was not
content to remain only that, but grew again to some likeness of the
older Dytius, so Odhinu came to absorb almost all the nnalities which
belong of right to a higher god. Yet he did this without putting off his
j)roi)er nature. lie was the heaven as well as the wind ; he was the
All-father, embracing all the earth and looking down upon mankind."

'i'2

AMKUU AN Ili;i{(>-MVTIIH.

Ill iiliiKHt vvi'vy kixiwii rt'lij^ion tho bird in taken an a
.tyiiil)ol of tli«' sky, the cIoikIs iitul tlic winds. It is not
Htii|>i'isiiii;, tlicrcloiT, to liml that by the Al^^onkiiis hinis
were coiisidcivd, csjK'cJally slnjjiiij; l)ird.M, us pccidiarly
sjifrcd to Mii'lialio. He was tluiir father and protector.
He himself sent forth tho east wind from his home at the
sini-risinu: ; Imt he appointed an owl to eroate the north
wind, which l>h)ws from the reahns of darkness and eold ;
whih' that wliieh is wafted from the snnnv south is sent l)y
the butterfly.'

Mieiiahi) was flins at times the j^od of li^^iit, at others of
th(> winds, and as these are the rain-l)rin<»;ers, he was also at
times spoken of as the god of waters. He was said to have
seoo[)ed out tiie basins of the lakes an<l to have built the
(jataraets in the rivers, so that there shotdd be fish preserves
and beaver dams."

In his eaj>aeity as teacher an<l instructor, it was he who
liiid pointed out to the ancestors of the Indians the roots
and plants which are Ht for food, and which are of value
as medicine; he gave th(;m fire, and recommended them
never to allow it to become wholly extinguished in t'.eir
villages; the sacred rites of what is called the mcdai/ ov
ordinary religious ceremonial were defined and taught by
him ; the maize wis his gift, and the [)leasant art of smok-
ing was his inv(5ution.''

^ H. R. Schoolcraft, Alf/ic Researches, Vol. i, p. 21(5. Indian
Trihi's, Vol. v, p. 420.

^ •• Mi('iml)()ii. If l)i '■' Eaiix," etc. Charlevoix, Journal His-
toviquiu p. '-'Si {Viw')'

' .lohn Tunnf ire of Captirity and Adventure, p. 851.

Schoolcraft. / .w.y, Vol. v, p. 420, etc.

TiiK iii:AUi>Ki> iir.uo. 53

A rnrionH tuldilioii J<» the .story wiw told tlio oarly Swtd-
Uli settlors on tlio riv«'r Di-hiwani l)y the Alv:oiikiii trilx-
wliicli iiilial)it('«l itsslions. Tlu's*; rolad'tl fliat their vari<nis
arts of tloiiicftie lilt' uiul the «hasi' \v«'ro taiij^ht thmi
h)ng aj;o by u vt'UcrahU' and chxiuent man who nunc In
them tVom a distance, and having instruiicil liicm in what
was ih'siruhU; for them to know, he dc|)artc(|, iioi to another
rc'i^ion or by the natural course «>f death, hnt hy a.scendin^
into the sky. They adtled that this ancient and beneficent
teacher wore nlouij beanl.^ We mi<ijht suspect that this hot
trait was thoii^fht of after the benrded Knropeans had lieeii
seen, diti it not uccnr so ot'teii in myths elsewhere on the
continent, and in relics of art linished lon^ befort' the dis-
covery, that another explanation must i>e iuund for it.
What this is I shall discnss when I come to speak of the
mor(.' Soiitheni myths, whose heroes were often "white and
bearded men fron> the lOast."

55 2. The Irofjiioin Miffh of los/irhar
The most ancient myth of th(; Iroi|iiois re|>rcsents this
earth as covered with water, in wiiicli dwelt ai[natie ani-
mals and monsters of the deep. I'\ir above it wen; the

' TlioiiiHs Cain]i!inius (Ilulmi. IffscripfiDH of (he, I'roi'imr nf AV«i
Sirc<lcii, \n.ok iii. cli. xi. (!am|)iiiiiii« ilocs imt j^ivc the iiaiiit; of the
licni-goil. l»iit •licin can lie no doubt that it was the "Great Hare."'

* The source: "rom which [ draw the elenieiits of the Iro'ino' ; hero-
myth of Foskoha .ire mainly till' followiiiL'' : HelnHnns tie hi Xonrvtle.
France, UllJii. lt>40, KlTl, etc. Sudani, Histoirv ilii (Jaiitida, j|i. 4")1.
452 (Paris, 1H!3(;) ; Daviil Cusiclt, Anrient Histun/ of the Six haiions,
uiid iiianusciipt material kindly furnished me l)y Horatio Hah', H)8q.,
wlio has made u thoroujfli study of tlic rroi|uois liistory and diah'cts.

A M E R ICA N 1 1 E RO- M Y T I IS.

Iioavens, |)coj)l('(l by supornatural boiiifj^s. At a certain
time one of tiiese, a woman, by namt; Ataen.sic, threw her-
self through a rift in the sky and fell toward the earth.
What led her to this act was varionsly re(!or(led. Some
said that it was to recover her dog which had fal!??i thronj^h
wh:I(! (phasing a bear. Others related that those who dwelt
in the world ab' ve lived off the frnit of a certain tree;
that the husband of Atacnsic, being sick, dreamed that to
restore him this tree must be cut down; and that when
Ataensic dealt it a blow with her stone axe, the tree sud-
denly sank through the floor of the sky, and she precipi-
tated herself after it.

However the ev(;nt occurred, she fell from luiaven
dow'" the [)rimevai waters. There a turtle offered her
hi:i broad back as a resting-place until, from a little mud
V . ch was brought her, either by a frog, a beaver or some
')ther animal, she, by magic power, formed dry land on
which to reside.

At the time she fell from the sky she was pregnant, and
in due time was delivered of a daughter, whose name, un-
fortunately, the legend does not record. This daughter grew
to womaidiood and conceived without having seen a man,
for none was as yet created. The product of her womb was
twins, and even before birth one of them betrayed his rest-
less and evil ntiture, by refusing to be born in the usual
m;nnier, but insisting on breaking through his parent's side
(or armpit). He did so, but it cost his mother her life.
Her body was buried, and from it sprang the various vcge-

THE TWIN' IMJOTIIKUS. 55

tabic prodiK'tlons which the new earth required to fit it for
the habitation of man. From her head j^rew the pumpkin
vine; from iier breast, the maize; from lier limbs, the bean
and other useful oscr.lents.

Meanwhile the two brothers grew up. The one was
named losUeha. lie went about the earth, which at that
time was arid and waterh^ss, and called forth the trings
and lakes, and formed the s[)arkling brooks ano broad
rivers. But his brother, the troublesome Tawiscara, he
whose obstinacy had caused their mother's death, created
an immense frog which swallowed all the water and left the
earth as dry as before. loskeha was informed of this by
the partridge^ and immediately set out for his brother's
country, for they had divided the earth between them.

Soon became to the gigantic frog, and piercing it in the
side (or armpit), the waters flowed out once more in their
accustomed ways. Then it was revealed to loskeha by his
mother's spirit that Tawiscara intended to slay him by
treachery. Therefore, when the brothers met, as they soon
did, it was evident that a mortal combat was to bojxin.

Now, they were not men, but gods, whom it was impos-
sible really to kill, nor even could either be seemingly slain,
except by one particular substance, a secret which eaci had
in his own keej)ing. As therefore a contest with ordinary
weapons would have been vain and unavailing, they agreed
to tell each other what to each was the fatal im[)lemeut of
war. loskeha acknowledged that to him a branch of the
wild rose (or, according to another version, a bag tilled

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

with ni:ii/e) was more cliingorous tlmii anything else;
and Tawiscara (lis(!U)se(l that the horu of a deer eoiihl ah)ne
reach his vital j)art.

They laid off the lists, and Tawiscara, having the first
chance, attacke<l his brother violently with a branch of the
wild rose, and beat hiiu till he lay as one dead ; but (juickly
reviving, loskeha assaulted Tawiscara with the antler of a
deer, and dealing him a blow in the side, the blood flowed
from the wound in streams. The unlucky combatant fled
from the field, hastening toward the west, and as he ran
the drops of liis blood which fell upon the earth turned into
flint stones. loskeha did not spare him, but hastening
jifter, finally slew him. He did not, however, actually kill
him, for, as I have said, these were beings who could not
die; and, in fact, Tawiscara was merely driven from the
earth and forced to reside in the far west, wlmre he became
rule'' of the spirits of the dead. These go there to dwoU
when they leave the bodies behind them here.

loskeha, returning, peaceably devoted himself to peo-
pling the land. He opened a cave which existed in the
earth and allowed to come forth from it all the varieties of
animals with which the woods and prairies are peopled. In
oitler that they might be more easily caught by men, he
wounded everyone in the foot except the wolf, whicih dodged
his bk)w ; for that reason this beast is one of the most diflieult
to catch. He then formed men and gave them life, and
instructed them in the art of making fire, whitih he himself
had learned from the great tortoise. Furthermore he taught

lliiir

THE KINDLY lOSKEHA. 57

thorn how to raise maize, and it is, in fuft, loskelia himself
who itnjKirts fertility to tiio soil, and thi'ongh his bounty
and kindness the grain returns a hundred fold.

Nor did they su})pose that lie was a distant, invisible, un-
approachable god. Xo, he was ever at hand with instruction
and assistance. Wi;s thereto be a failure in the harvest, he
would be seen early in the season, thin with anxiety about
his peo))le, holding in his hand a blighted ear of corn. Did
a hunter go out after game, he asked the aid of loskeha,
who would put fat animals in the way, were he so minded.
At their village festivals ho was present and partook of
the cheer.

Once, in 1040, when the smallpox was desolating the
village^ ij? the Hurons, we are told by Father Lalemant
that an Indian said there had appeared to him a beautiful
youth, of imposing stature, and addressed him with these
words: "Have no fear; I am the master of the earth,
whom you Hurons adore under the name loskcha. The
French wrongly call me Jesus, because they do not know
me. It grieves me to see the pest'l^uce that is destroying
my people, and I come to teach you its cause and its rem-
edy. Its cause is the presence of these strangers ; audits
remedy is to drive out these black robes (the missionaries),
to drink of a certain water which I shall tell you of, and
to hold a festival in my honor, whicJi nuist be kept up all
night, until the dawn of day."

The home of loskeha is in the far East, at that part of
the horizon where the sun rises. There he has his cabin.

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

Iffln

and tlicro lie dwells with lii^ firaiidiiiotlior, the . isc Ataen-
sic. She is a woman of inarvolons magical power, and is
(Capable of assuming any shape siic })leases. Ln her hands
is the fate of all men's lives, and while loskeha looks after
the things of life, it is she who appoints the time of death,
and coiuiorns herself with all that relates to the close of ex-
istence. Hence she was feared, not exactly as a maleficent
deity, but as one whose business is with what is most
dreaded and gloomy.

It was said that on a certain occasion four bold young
men determined to journey to the sun-rising and visit the
great loskeha. They reached his cabin and found him
there alone. He received them alKibly and they con-
versed I ieasantly, but at a certain moment he bade them
hide themselves for their life, as his grandmother was
coming. They hastily concealed themselves, and immedi-
ately Ataensic entered. Her magic insight had warned her
of the presence of guests, and she had assumed the form of a
beautiful girl, dressed in gay raiment, her neck and arms
resplendent with collars and bracelets of wampum. She
inquired for the guests, but loskeha, anxious to save them,
dissembled, and replied that he knew not wliat she meant.
She went forth to search for them, when he called them
forth from their hiding place and bade them flee, and thus
they escaped.

It was said of loskeha that he acted the part of husband
to his grandmother. In other words, the myth presents
the germ of that conception which the priests of ancient

THE SELF-HEN EWIN'Ci GOD. 59

Eii:y|)t endeavored to express when tlicv taiiglit that
Osiris was " his own fatlier and his own son," that he was
the "self-srcncratinfT one," even that he was "the I'atlier of
his own mother." These are grossly materialistic expres-
sions, bnt they are perfectly clear to the stndent of myth-
ology. They are meant to convey to the mind the self-
renewing [)owcr of life in nature, which is exemplified in
the sowing and the seeding, the winter and the snmme*-,
the dry and the rainy seasons, and especially the sunset and
sunrise. They are echoes in the soul of man of the cease-
less rhythm in the operations of nature, and they become the
only guarantors of his hopes for immortal life.^

Let us look at the names in the myth before ns, for con-
firmation of this. loskeha is in the Oneida dialect of the
Iro(juois an imjiersonal verbal form of the third person
singular, and means literally, " it is about to grow white,"
that is, to become light, to dawn. Alaensio is from the
root aouea, water, and moans literally, "she wbo is in the
water."" Plainly expressed, the sense of the story is that
the orb of light rises daily out of the boundless waters

^ Such cpitliots were common, in the Egyptian religion, to most of the
gods of fertility. Amun, called in some of the inscriptions " the soul
of Osiris," derives liis name from the root men, to impregnate, to
beget, [n the Karnak inscri])tions he is also termed " lh(! liusl)an(l of
his mother." This, too, was the favorite appellation of Chein, who
was a form of Horos. See Dr. C. P. Tiele, Histori/ of the Egijpiiati
Religion, pp. 124, 146, 140, 150, etc.

^ I have analyzed these words in a note to another work, and need
not repeat the matter here, the less so, as I am not aware that the
etymology has been questioned. See Myths of the New World, 2d
Ed., p. 183, note.

AMEIirCAN HKUO-.MVTIIS.

which are stijjposcd to surroiiiid the huul, preceded by the
dawn, which fades away as soon as the sun has risen. Ea<'h
(hiy the sun disapjjcars in these waters, to rise a^ain from
them the succcedinf^ morninj^. As the approach of the sun
causes tlie <hi\\'i, it was merely a «;ross wny of statiuji' this
to say that the sohu god was the father of iiis own mother,
the husband of his grandmother.

The position of loskelia in mythoh>gy is also shown by
the other name under which he was, ])erhaps, even more
familiar to most of the Iroquois. This is TharonJi'm-
wakon, wdiich is also a verbal form of the third jierson, with
the dual sign, and literally means, "Jle holds (or holds up)
the sky with his two arms."^ In other words, he is nearly
allied to the ancient Aryan Dyaus, the Sky, the I[eavens,
especially the Sky in the daytime.

The signification of the conflict with his twin brother is
also clearly seen in the two names vvliich the latter likewise

' A cjireful uniilysis of tliis iiaino is j^iven \)y Father .F. A. Cuoq,
probably the l)est liviiij; authority on the Ir()(jU()iH, in iiis Lc.vi(/ne dein
LniKjne Iroqnoise, p. 180 (Montreal, 1882). Here also the Iroiniois
followed precisely the line o}'thou<j;ht of the ancient Egyptians Sim,
in the religion of Htjliopolis-, represented the cosmic light and warmth,
the (jniekening, creative \ ri leiple. It is lie who, as it is stated in the
inseripiions. "holds up the leavens," and he is depicted on thenionu-
nieiits as a man with uplifted arms who supports the vault of heaven,
because it is the intermeiiute light that separates the earth from the
sky. Shu was also god of the winds ; in a passage of the Book of the
Dead, he is made to say : " f am SIui, who drives the winds onward to
the confines of heaven, to the confines of the earth, even to the confines
of space." Again, likeloskeha, Slui is said to have begotten himself in
tln> womb of IMs mother. Nu or Nun, who was, like Ataeiisic, the
goddess of water, the heavenly ocean, the primal sea. Tiele, Hhtury
of the Egyptian Religion, pp. 84-86.

TIIK FLINT-HTONK, AGAIN.

bears in the IcfxeiKls. Owe of these is that which I have
given, Tuwincara, wh'u'h, there is little doiiht, is allied t<»
the root, f/oA'am«, it grows (lark. Tlu' other is Tehotenn-
hiiiron, the root word of which is kann/i'a, the Hint stone.
This name he received heeanse, in his battle with his
brother, the <lrops of blood which fell from his wounds
were changed into Hints.* Here the Hint had the same
meaning which I have already pointed out in Algonkin
myth, and we Hnd, therefore, an absolute idcmtity of mytho-
logical conception and symbolism between the two nations.

Could these myths have been historically identical ? It
is hard to disbelieve it. Yet the nations were bitter
enemies. Their languages are totallv unlike. These
same similarities present themselves over such wide areas
and between nations so remote and of such different culture,
that the theory of a })arallelism of dcveloi)ment is after all
the more credible ex[)lanation.

The impressions which natural occurrences make on
minds of equal stages of culture are very much alike.
The same thoughts are evoked, and the same expressions
suggest themselves as a})propriate to convey these thoughts
in spoken language. This is often exhibited in the identity
of expression between master-poets of the same generation,
and between cotemporaueous thinkers in all branches of
knowledge. Still more likely is it to occur in primitive
and uncultivated conditions, where the most obvious forms

^ Cuoij, Le.rqine de la Lanijue Iroqnoise, p. 180, who gives a lull
tuialy.si:? oi' tho name.

AMKUICAN HKIIO-MYTHH.

of expression are at once adopted, and the resonrecs of tlie
mind are necessarily litnited. This is a simple and reason-
able ex|)hination for the remarkahle sanicness whic^h pn;-
vails in the mental prodncts of the h)\ver stages of civiliza-
tion, and does away with the necessity of snpi)()sing a
liistori(! derivation one from the other or both from a
common stock.

' ill

■I

iiiiif

CIIA PTKR III.

THE IllOlKMJOD OF TllK A/TKC TIMMKS.

§ 1. The Two Antagonists.
The Contest op Quetzai.coati, and TK/.cATi.irocA— Qietzai.coatl

THE Ll(JHT-(l0I) — DeIUVATION OF HIH NaME— TlTLES OF TeZCAT-
UPOC'A — IiiENTIEIEI) with DaKKNEHH, NkJHT AM) Ol.OOM,

^ 2. Quetzalcoatl the God.
MvTii OF THE Font Brotiiek.s— The Foi k Sins and the Ele-
mental Conflict— Xames of the Foiii Uuothekh.

§ 3. Quetzalcoatl the Hero of Tula,

Tula the City of the Sun— Who were the Toltecs? — Tlapallan
AND Xalac;— The JJihth of the IIeho-Ood— Hls Viiumn Mothek,
Chimalmatl — Hls ^riiiAcnLous Conception— A/.tlan, the Land
OF Seven Caves, and Colhuacan, the Kended Moint — The
Maid Xochitl and' the Rose Garden of the Gods— Quetzal-
coatl AH the White and Bearded Stuan(jer.

The Glory of the Lord of Tula— The Suhtlety of the Sor-
cerer, Tezcatlii'oca — The Maoic Mirror and the Mystio
Draught— Tin; Myth Exi'lained— The Promise of Rejuvena-
tion— Tin; Tovevo and the Maiden— The Juooleries of Tez-
catlipoca— Dei'arture of Quetzalcoatl from Tula— Quetzal-
coatl at Cholula— His Death or Departure— The Celestial
Game of Ball and Tioer Skin— Quetzalcoatl as the Pi^anet
Venus.

? 4. Quetzalcoatl as Lord of the Winds.

The Loud of the Four Winds— His Symbols the Wheel of the
Winds, the Pentagon and the Cross— Close Relation to the
Gods of IJain and Waters— Inventor of the Calendar— God
OF Fertility and Conception — Recommends Sexual Austerity
— Phallic Symbols- God of Merchants— The Patron of
Thieves— His Pictooraphiu Representations.
'i 5. The Jteturn of Quetzalcoatl.

His Expected Re-appearance— The Anxiety of Montezuma—
His Address to Cortes— The General Expectation— Expla-
nation of His Predicted Return.

AMEUICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

I now turn from tlu; wil<l Imtiting triln's \vlu> pcoplctl
tlic .slioriw of tlio (Jroat I/ikt-s and tlio fastiu'MHOH of the
nortluTii forests to tlmtcultivatcd race wliose capital city wan
in tliu Valley of Mexico, and whose scattcreti colonies wero
found on the shores of hoth oceans from the mouths of the
Kio (irande and the (iila, south, almost to the Isthmus of
I'anama. They are familiarly known as Aztecs or M(!xi-
cans, and the languaj^jt! conuiion to them all was the
Ntihuall, a word of their own, meaning " the pleasant
sounding."

Their mythology has been preserved in greater fullness
than that of any other American people, antl for this reason
I am enabled to set forth In am[)ler detail the (ilements of
their hero-myth, which, indeed, may he taken as the most
perfect type of those I have collected in this volmne.

^5 1. The Two Antftfjoiusttii.

The culture hero of the Aztecs was (iuetzalcoatl, and
the leading drama, the central myth, in all the extensive
and intricate theology of the Nahuatl s[)eaking tribes was
his long contest with Tezcatlipoca, "a contest," observes an
eminent Mexican antiquary, " which came to be the main
element in the Nahuatl religion and the cause of its modi-
Hcations, and which materially influenced the destinies of
that race from its earliest epochs to the tinu; of its destruc-
tion.'"

The ex|)lauations which have been offered of this strug-

' AHVedo Cliavcro, La Piedra del Sol, in tlio Awdes del Museo
Nacional de Mexico, Tom. ii, p. 247.

"lir

TriK OOI) OF THE EAHT.

kI<' Imvo varie<l with the tlicoricsof tlicwritPi'M propnimdin^
tlirm. It luw l)t'oii rt'pir«l«Ml as ii Minipl(( liistoiioal fact ; as
a ligiiru of spt'ccli to rcprofent tlio stnii;jj;l(^ for Hiipririiacy
iM'twcen two ra(!t'H; ao an aHtroiioiiiical statcincnt rcftrrin^
to tlic relative po.silion.s of tlie planet N'enns and the Moon ;
as a oonfliit l)etweon Christianity, introdueed Uy Saint
Thomas, and the native heathenism; and as havinjr otju'r
meanings not less unsatisfactory or ahsnrd.

Placing it side by side with otiier American hero-myths,
we shall see that it presents essentially tin; same traits, an<l
undonhtedly nmst be explained in the same manner. All
of them are the transparent stories of a simj)le [leople, to
express in intelligible terms the daily strnggle that is ever
g(»ing on between Day and Night, between Light and
Darkness, between Storm and Sunshine,

Like all the heroes of light, Qiiet/aleoatl is identified

with the East. He is born there, and arrives from there,

and hence Las Casas an<I others speak of him as from

Yucatan, or as landing on the shores of the Mexican (iulf

from some unknown land. His day of birth was that

called CeAcatl, One Keed, and by this name he is often

known. J3ut this sign is that of the East in Aztec

symbolism.' In a myth of the for-.iation of the sim and

moon, presented by Sahagun,- a voluntary victim springs

into the sacrificial fire that the gods have built. They know

that he will rise as the sun, but they do not know in what

^ Chuvero, Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, Tom. ii, i). 14.
243.

'' Historia de las Cosas de N'ueva Espaita, Lib. vii, cap. n.

A>fKimAN lIKno-MYTII«.

part oCtlic horizon tliiit will he Soiiu; look oiu» \vuy,.s<»rnc
aiiotln r, iiiit tiuL't/alcoall \viit<'lu'M steadily the l''ast, aixl iH
tln' first to SCO aiul wuloonio the Orb (»f Tiij^ht. lie is lair
ill (H>tn|>lt>xi()n, with alHiiidant huir and a full heard,
horderin^ on the rcil,' an aru all the dawn heroes, and
like thcin he was an instructor in the arts, and favored
peace and mild laws.

Ili.x name is Hymholie, an<l is eapahle of several equally
fair renderiti^s. TIk! first pm-t of it, (lUctzuHi, means
literally a larp', handsome p;reen feather, hueh an were very
hijj;hly |>ri/,ed hy the natives. Hence it came to lUi'an, in
an a<ljectivo sense, precious, luiautifnl, he • %\, admirahle.
The bird from which these feathers were oi)tained was the
quctzfil-lofnti [totoff, bird) and is culled by ornitholo;j«ist«
Troffon ftjdciulens.

The latter part of the name, <'0(ill, has in Aztec three
entirely dillenint meanings. It means a guest, also twins,
and lastly, as a syncopated forui of cohiuiU, a serpent.
iMetaphorically, cohuatl meant something mysterious, and
hence a supernatural being, a god. Thus Montezuma,
when he built a temple in the city of Mexico dedicated to
the whole; body of divinities, a regular Pantheon, named
it Coatccafli, the Mouse of the Serpent.^

Through these various meanings a good defence can be

^ "La bar])ii loiiga entre eiinu y roja ; tl ciibello Inrgo, tnuy llano."
Diego Duiau, liisturin, in Kinjisborou^li, \'ul. viii, \i. 2(10.

* "Coatcralli, (juo ((nicre dceir el trniplo de la culcltrn, (|uc sin
nietaf'ora (luicn- tlcoir fr.mplo de diversDs diuses.^^ Diiran, Ilistoria de
las Indias de Nueca Espaita, cap. i.viii.

Ill

MI;AMN(» of lilfETZAI.J'OATI,. ' 07

ma<It' «;♦' sovmil <lill(i«'Jit traiislnhcjiiH of tin' niunc, :iii«l
|>rol»!il)|y it liore evrn to the imtivrs dilTcn'nt iii('aiiiii;;M at
(lill'civnt times. I am iiicliiiuil to iK^lit'vt; that tin; original
seiwo wan that advocati'd by licccrra in I he w-'veiitfunth
<<'uturv, ami aduptotl by N'cilia in thr «'i^hli'(iith, both
romiK'tcnt A/foo Hrhidarn.' Thfv translate (^uct/aleoatl as
"the admirable twin/' an<l tlion^h their notion that this
rel'erM to Thomas IMdymns, (lie Apostle, »h)Ort not meet my
views, I believe they were rij^ht in their etymology. 'J'he
reference is to tin' dii|»li<'at(! nature of ihi! LijrhMMMl as
seen in the suttinj^ and rising sun, the sun of to-day and
y«'stcrday, the -lame yet dilfurent. This has its parallels
in many other mytholojjjieH.'

The correctness of thi. supposition seems to be shown by
a prevailini; su|)erstition amoiijj; the Aztecs abouf twins,
and which striUinj^ly illustrates the iniiformity of mytho-
logical con(!eptions throng-bout the world. All readers are
familiar with the twins llomulus and Remus in Itoniioi
story, one of whom was fated to destroy their grandfather
.Vmidius; with Kdijms and Tehsphos, whose father l/iios,

' Becorift, Fdicidail de, Mejini, 1685, (j[iiot(;(l in Vcitifi, Ifiiton'd
del Orhjeii de Ins GetUett ijiie poldaron la America Septcntrioiiat, cftp.

MX.

*l!i fh(! E;ry|)tlai» " Book of the Deud," Itii, tins Sun-Goil, says, •'!
am a soul and its twins," or, ''My soul is boconiing two twins."
" Tliis means tliat tlu; soul of the sun-god is one, hut, now tinit it is
horn again, it divides into two |)rineipal forms. Ita was worshipped
at An, unth'r his two j)roniinent manifestations, us Tum the primal
god, or more detinilely, god of the sun at evening, iiud as liarmaehiH,
g((d of iIk! new sun, the sun at dawn." Tiele, History of the Eijyptiau
Jieliyiou, p. 80.

(18

AMKUrCAN IIEKO-MVTHS.

iili i,

n i!!|i:

iiiilii

! I

wan warned tliat his death woiihl be by one of his chiKhcii ;
with Thosens and Peirithoos, the former destined to eause
the snicide of his father Aij^ens; and with many more sneh
myths. Tliey ean be traced, without room for doubt, back
to simple exj)ressi<)ns of the faet tlmt tlie morning and t!ie
cveninji; of tlie one day ean only eome wiien the previous
<Iay is past and gone; exj)ressed figuratively by the state-
ment that anyone day nuist destroy its predecessor. This
led to the stories of "the fatal children," which we find so
frequent in Aryan mythology.'

The Aztecs were a coarse and bloody race, and carried
out their su[K;rstitions without remorse. Based, no doubt,
on this mythical expression of a natural occurrence, they
had tlie belief that if twins were allowed to live, one or the
other of them would kill and eat his father or mother;
therefore, it was their custom wh.c-n such were brought into
the world to destroy one of the n.'

We shall see that, as in Algonkin story Michabo strove
to slay his father, the West Wind, so Quetzalcoatl was in
constant warfare with his father, Tezcatlipoea-Caraaxtli,
the Spirit of Darkness. The effect of this oft-re|)eated
myth on the minds of the superstitious natives was to lead
them to the brutal child murder 1 have mentioned.

It was, however, natural that the more ordinary meaning,
" tlie feathered or bird -serpent," should become popular,

^ Sir George W. Cox, The Science of Comparaiire Mi/thology and
Folk Lore, pp. 14, 83, 130, etc.

^ Gcroiiimo do Mendieta, Hutoria Eclesiastica Indiana. \Ah, ii,

cup. XIX.

THE C}()D TKZ('ATJ>Il'OCA. 69

;m(l in tlie pi(!ture writinj^ some combination of the serpent
with fbuthers or otlier [)!irt of a bird was often employed as
the rebus of the name (inet/alcoatl.

He was also known by other names, as, like all the
prominent j:;o(ls in early niytholojries, he liail various titles
according to the special attribute or function which was
uppermost in the mind of the worshipper. One of these
was Papachtio, He of the Flowing Locks, a word which
the Spaniards shortened to Papa, and thought was akin to
their title of the l\)pe. It is, however, a pure Nahnatl
word,' and refers to the abundant hair with which he was
always credited, and which, like his ample beard, was, in
fact, the synibol of the sun's rays, the aureole or glory of
light which surrounded his face.

His fair complexion was, as usual, significant of light.
Tills j'ssociation of ideas was so familiar amouy: the Mexicans
that at the time of an eclipse of the sun tluy sought out
the whitest men and women they could find, and sacrificed .
them, in order to pacify the sun. -

His opponent, Tezcatlipoca, was the most sublime figure
in the Aztec Pantheon. He towered above all other gods,
as did Jove in 01ym|)us. He was appealed to as the creator
of heavo:^. and earth, as present in cvci place, as the sole
ruler of the world, as invisible and omniscient.

The numerous titles by which he was addressed Illustrate

^ ^^ Paparhfic, guecli'jiKlo ; Papitrhtli, ^nunlcjii o vt'dijii de capellos,
o d(! otra. co.sa assi." Moliiui, Vocabulario de la Lciit/ua Mcxicaim.
sub voce. Juiiii (le Tobar, in Iviugsborou},'h, Vol. vm, j). 25!), note.

- Mendieta, Hisforia EdeskisHca Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xvi.

AMERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

tlio vonoration in whioli iie was held. His most common
name in prayers w.'is Titlacauan, AVc are liis Slaves. As
believed to be eternally young, he was Telpochlll, the
Yoiitli ; as potent and unpersnadable, he was MoyoMi/atzln,
the Determined Doer ;' as exactin<>; in worship, Monenequi,
He who Demands Prayers; as the master of the race,
Tcyocoyani, Creator of Men, and Teimatlni, Disposer of.
Men. As he was jealous and terrible, the god who visited
on men plagues, and famines, and loathsome diseases, the
<lreadful deity wdio ineitwl wars and fomented discord, he
was named Ynotzln, tlie Arch Enemy, Yaoil necoc, the
Enemy of both Sides, 3Toque(jueloa, the Mocker, NezauaJ-
pilli, the Lord who Fasts, Tlamatzlncatl, He who Enforces
Penitence; and as dark, invisible and inscrutable, he was
Yoalfi ehtcat/, the Night Wind."^

He was said to be formed of thin air and darkness ; and
when he was seen of men it was as a shadow without
substance. He alone of all the gods defied the assaults of
time, was ever young and strong, and grew not old with
years.^ Against such an enemy who could hope for
victory ?

^ Moijocoyafzin, is tlio tliinl person siiii,Mlar of _i/ncoi/a, to do, to
make, with the reverential termination tzia, Saluigun says this title
was given him because he could do what he pleased, on earth or in
heaven, and no one could prevent him. (Historia de Nueva Espaila,
Lil). III. cap. II.) It seems to me that it would rather refer to his
demiurgic, creative power.

^ All these titles are to be found in Sahagun, Ilistoria de Nueva
Espatia.

* The description of Clavigero is worth quoting : "Tezcatlipoca:
Questo era il maggior Dio, che in que paesi si adorava, dopo il Dio

m''vv

\vm}§

MEANING OF TEZCATLIPOCA. 71

The name " Tezciitlipoea" is one of odd sii^nificaiieo. It
means The Smoking Mirror. This strange metaphor has
received various exphmations. Tiie mirrors in use among
the Aztees were p()lishe(i [)lates of* obsidian, trimmed to a
eircuhir form. There was a variety of this blaek stone
called iezoapoetll, smoky mirror stone, and from this Iiis
images were at times made.' This, however, seems too
trivial an explanation.

Others have contended thatTezeatlipoea, as undoubtedly
the spirit of darkness and the night, refers, in its meaning,
to the moon, which hangs like a bright round mirror in the
sky, though i)artly dulled by what the natives thought a
smoke."

I am inclined to believe, however, that the mirror
referred to is that first and most familiar of all, the surface
of water ; and that the smoke is the mist which at night
rises from lake and river, as actual smoke does in the still
air.

As presiding over the darkness and the night, dreams
and the phantoms of the gloom were supposed to be sent
by Te/catlipoca, and to him were sacred those animals
which prowl about at night, as the skunk and the coyote.''

invisible, o Supremo Essore Era il Dio delhi Provideiiza. 1' auima
del Moiulo, il Creator del Cielo e dclla Terra, od il Signor ili tutlo le
cose. Ilappresentavanlo tuttora .tjiovane per sigiiificare, elic iion s'
iiiveechiava inai, iifcs' iiideboliva eo.uli aniii." Sforia Aiifica df Messico,
Lib. VI, p. 7.

^ Sahagim, Hisforia, Lib. ii, cap. xxxvn.
• ^ Anales del Masco Nacional, Toin. ii, p. 257.

* Sahagun, Ilistoria, Lib. vi, caps, ix, xi. xii.

^i: :; ill

AMERirAX HERO-MYTHS.

Ml*

ilPf

jii i .:

Tims his iiiiines, his various fittrihutos, his saerod animals
and his myths unite in identity in jj^ ihis deity as a primitive
personitieation of the Darkness, whether that of the storni
or of the night.'

This is further shown by the holiefs current as to his
occasional ap[)earan(!e on earth. This was always at night
and in the gloom of the forest. The hunter would hear a
sound like the crash of falling trees, which would be nothing
else than the mighty breathings of the giant form of the
god on his no(^turnal rambles. Were the hunter timorous
he would die outright on seeing the terrific presence of the
god ; but were he of undaunted heart, and should rush
upon him and seize him around the waist, the god was
helpless and would grant him anything he wished. " Ask
what you please," the captive deity would say, "and it is
yours. Only fjxil not to release me before the sun rises.
For I must leave before it appears." -

^ St'fior AlfrtMlo Chavero believes Tezcatlipoca to liavt- Ikh.-ii originally
the moon, and there is little donbt at times this was one ot" his symbols,
as ^he ruler of tin? darkness. M. Girard d(! Ilialle, on the other hand,
claims him as a solar deity. " 11 est la persoiinilication du soleil sous
son aspect corrupteuretdestructeur,ennemides hommesetd(! la nature."
Li( Mytholixjie Coinparet, p, 384 (Paris, 1878). A closer study of the
original a\ithoritifS woidd, 1 am sure, have led M. dc Rialle to change
this opinion. He is singularly far from the conclusion reached by M.
Ternaux-Compans, who says: "Tezcatlipoca fftt la personnitication
du bon prineipe." Essai sur la Tht^.ogoiiie Mexicaine, p. 23 (Paris,
1840). Both opinions are equally incomplete. Dr. Schultz-Sellack
consiilers him tin; " Wassergoft," aud assigns him to the Nin-tli, in his
essay, Die Amcrikanischen Gutter der Vier WeUf/cgenden, Zeitschrift
far Ethnologic^ Bd. xi, 187i). This approaches more closely to his
true character.

- Torquenmda, Moiiarquia Indiana, Lib. xiv, caj). xxii.

TUK FOUR HIJOTirKRS. 73

§ 2. Qudzakoatl the God.

In the ancient and purely mythical narrative, (^iietzal-
eoatl is one of four divine brothers, gods like himself, born
in the uttermost or thirteentii heaven to the infinite and
uncreated deity, which, in its male manifestations, was
known as Tonaoa tecutfi, Lord of our Existence, and Tzin
<co</, God of the Begiiminj;, and in its female expressions as
Tonaca clhuati, Queen of our Existence, A'cc/t try wdza/, Beau-
tiful Rose, Citlallicue, the Star-skirted or the JNIilky Way,
Ciilalaionac, the Star that warms, or The JVJorning, and
Chh'ome coafl, the Seven Serpents.'

Of these four brothers, two were the black and the red
Tezcatlipoca, and the fourth was Huit/ilopochtli, the Left
handed, the deity adored beyond all others in the city of
Mexico. Tezcatlipoca — for the two of the name blend
rapi<lly into one as the myth progresses — was wise beyond
compute; he knew all thoughts and hearts, could see to all
places, and was distinguished for power and forethought.

At a certain time the four brotheis gathered together and
consulted concerning; the creation of thiny;s. The work
was left to (.^uetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli. First they

^ The C'liiof uuthorlties on the birtli of the god Quetzalcoiitl, an;
Ramirez de Fiien-leal Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturns,
Cap. 1, printed in tlie Anales del Mttseo Xaciunal ; tiio Codex TeUeiiunu-
Brmensis, and the Codex Vaticanus, both o!" wliich are in Kings-
l)orough'.s Mexican Antiquities.

The usual translation of Tonaca tecutli is " God of our Subsistence,' '
to, our, naca, flesh, tecutli, chief or lord. It, really has a more subtle
meaning. Naca is not api)lied to edilile flesh— that is expressed by
the word noiioac — but is tlie flesh of our own bodies, our life, existenee.
Sme Anales de Cnauhtitlan, j). 18, note.

AMKKICAN HKUO-MYTIIS.

I'll
¥

l;8i

niiule fire, tlxMi half a siui, the heavcii.s, the waters and a
certnii' ^reat fish therein, ealled Ci|)a(!tli, and from its flesh
the ^i>i;d earth. The first mortals were the man, ( 'ipactonal,
and iUi woman, Oxomuco,' and that tiio son born U) them
niiji;ht have a wife, the four gods made one for him out of
a hair taken from the head of their divine mother, Xoehi-
quetzal.

Now bojran the stru;^<^le between the two brothers, Tez-
catlipoca and Qnetzalcoatl, which was destined to destroy
time after lime the world, with all its inhabitants, and to
}>lnn<i;e t/en the heavenly luminaries into a common ruin.

The half sun created by Qnetzalcoatl li<:;hted the world

but poor!; and the four gods came together to consult

about adding another half to it. Not waiting for their

decision, Tezcatlipoca transformed himself into a sun,

whereupon the other gods filled the world with great giants,

who could tear up trees with their hands. When an epoch

of thirteen times fifty-two years had piisse<l, (iuctzalcoati

seized a great stick, and with a blow of it knocked TY'zciit-

^ Tlu; imrnos Cipactli and Cipactonal have not been Kutisfactorily
analyzed. Tlie derivation offered by Senor Chavcro {Anales del Miiseo
Nacionnl, Tom. ti, p. 116), is merely fanciful ; tonal is no iloubt from
tona, to shine, to warn ; and I think cipactli is a softened form with
the personal emling from chipauac, something beantiful or clear.
Hence the meaning of the compound is The Beautiful Sliining One.
Oxomuco, which Chavero dei'ives from xomitl, foot, is ji(!rhaps the
.same as Xinukanc, the mother of the human race, according to the
Popol Villi, a name which, I have elsewhere shown, appears to be from
a Maya root, meaning to conceal or bury in the gronnd. The hint is
of the f(!rtilizlng action of the warm light on the seed hiilden in the
soil. Se(! The Names of the Gods in, the Kiche Mi/ths, Trans, of the
Amer. Phil Soc. 1881.

pi
[ll!

mm'\

tin: contkht of tiik uiurniKits. 75

lipoca from the sky into tlio waters, and liiinself became
sun. The faUen god transformed himself into a tiger, and
emei'ged from tlie waves to attack and (h>vour th(! giants
with which his brothers had enviously filled the worhl
which he had been lighting from the sky. After this, he
passed to the nocturnal heavens, and became the constella-
tion of the Great Jiear.

For an epoch the earth fiourished inider (iuetzalcoatl as
sun, but Tezcatlipoca was nienily biding his time, and the
ej)och ended, lie apjiearcd as a tiger and gave (iuetzalcoatl
such a blow with his paw that it hurled him from the skies.
The overthrown god revenged himself by sweeping the
earth with so violent a tornado that it destroyed all the
inhabitants but a few, and these were chan}>:ed into nioidcevs.
His victorious brother then placed in the heavens, as sun,
Tlaloc, the god of darkness, water and rains, but after half
an epoch, Quetzalcoatl poured a flood of fire upon the earth,
drove Tlaloo from the sky, and placed in his stead, as sun,
the goddess Chalchiutlicue, the Emerald Skirted, wife of
Tlaloc. In her time the rains poured so upon the earth
that all human beings were drowned or changed into fishes,
and at last the heavens themselves fell, and sun and stars
were alike <pieuched.

Then the two brothers whose strife had brousxht this
ruin, united their efforts and raised airain the sky, resting
it on two mighty trees, the Tree of the Mirror [tezcaqua-
Imill) and the Beautiful Great Kose Tree {qaetzalveivocJiitl),
on which the concave heavens have ever since securely

A M VAUCA N ir KRO-M YTI IS.

it i

[IP

fii

■ If

bl,

■■• 111

rested; tliouj^h wo know tiicm bett(M', iH-rliaps, if we drop
tlio inotiiplior and call tlicin the " mirroring sea" and the
" flowery earth," on one of whieli reposes the horizon, in
whiciiever direction we may look.

Again tlu; four brothers met together to provide a sun for
the now darkened earth. They decidcMl to make one,
indeed, hut snch a one as wonld eat the hearts and drink
the blood of victims, and there mnst be wars upon the earth,
that these victims could be obtained for the sacrifice. Then
Quetzalcoatl builded a great fire and took his son — his son
born of his own flesh, without the aid of woman — and cast
him into the flames, whence he rose into the sky as the sun
which lights the world. When the Light-(lod kindles the
flames of the <lawn in the orient sky, shortly the sun emerges
from below the horizon and ascends the heavens. Tlaloc,
god of waters, followed, and into the glowing ashes of the
pyre tlwew his son, who rose as the moon.

Tezcatlipowi had it now in mind to people the earth, and

he, therefore, smote a certain rock with a stick, and from it

issued four hundred barbarians (chlchimeca),^ Certain Ave

goddesses, however, whom he had already created in the

eighth heaven, descended and slew these four hundred, all

but three. These goddesses likewise died before the sun

appeared, but came into being again from the garments

> The namo Chicliiineca has beon a puzzle. The deriviition appears
to be from chichi, a dog, mecatl, a rope. According to general
tradition tlie Ciiichiniecs were a barliarous paople who inhal)ited
Mexico befort! the Aztecs came. Yet Sahagun says the Toltees were
the real Chichiraecs (Lib. x, cap. xxixj. In the myth we are now
considering, they were plainly the stars.

ill!'! <l

•i if j 1

THE FOUR IHJNDRKI) YOUTHS. 77

thi'V had U'f't behind. So also did the lour huiuhcd
Cliichimec'8, and those Hot about to burn otu! of the five
goddeascs, l>y name Coatli(!ne, the Serpent Skirted, ^M-euuse
it was discovered that she was witli chihl, though yet
unmarried. Hut, in fact, she wius a Hj)otless virgin, and
had known no man. She had placed sonie wliite phimes
in her bosom, and through these.' tlic god Huit/ih)j)ochtli
(sntered her body to be born again. When, therefore, tlie
four InuKb'cd liad gatheved together to burn her, the god
came fortln fully armed and slew them every one.

It is not hard to guess who are these four hundred vouths
slain before the sun rises, destined to be restored to life and
yet again destroyed. The veil of metaphor is thin whieh
thus coneeals to our mind the picture of the myriad stars
(pienched every morning by the growing light, but return-
ing every evening to their appointed places. And did any
doubt remain, it is removed by the direct statement in the
echo of this tradition preserved by the Kiches of Gua-
temala, wherein it is [)lainly said that the four hundred
youths who were put to death by Zij)acna, and restored to
life by Hunhun Ahpu, " rose into the sky and becaiue the
stars of heaven.'"

Indeed, these same ancient men whose explanations I
have been following added that the four hundred men
whom Tezcatlipoea created continued yet to live in the
third heaven, and were its guards and watchmen. They
were of five colors, yellow, black, white, blue and red, which

^ Pojpol Vuh, Le Livre Sucre des Qiiir/u's, p. 193.

A M KIIK 'A X H i:i W)-M YTH8.

in the syinholism oC tli(!ir tongue moaiit tliiit tliey wvrv
(listrihiitrd around the /oiiitli and to each of the lour i-ar-
<linul |M)intH.'

Nor did thcHC sa|;es suppose that the Htni«;<j:lo of the
(hvrlv Tczcatlipoca to master the Light-(iod had ceased; no,
tliey knew lie was hidinj^ his time, with set purpose and a
fixed certainty of success. They knew that in the second
heaven there were certain frightful women, without Mesh or
bones, whose names were the Terrible, or the Thin D.iil-
Throwers, wiio were waiting tliere until this world shoidd
end, when they vvouM descend and eat uj) all mankind.'
Asked con(;erning the time of this destruction, they re-
plied that as to the day or season they knew it not, but it
would be *' when Tezeatlipoea sliould steal the sun from
heaven for himself"; in other words, when eternal night
should close in upon the Universe.'

The myth which I have here given in brief is a promi-
nent one in Aztec cosmogony, and is known as that of the
Ages of the World or the Suns. The opinion was widely

^ Seo H. do Cliarent'oy, Des Conleurs Considen'es coinme Si/tnboles
des Points de V Ilorizita t-kez las Peuples da Nouceau Monde, in the
Ades de la Socicti' I'/iilolof/iques, Tomo vi. N(>. 3.

^ Tho.s(! f'rigliltul buliigs were cullod the Tzitziinime, a wind which
Molina in his V'ocubuhiry renders " cosa espantosa 6 cosa de ajfuoro."
For a tiioroiigh discussion of their phice in Mexican mythology, see
Anales del Miisco Nacionnl, Tom. ii, pp. 3o8-372.

^ The whole of this version of tiie myth is from the work of Jiamirez
de Fiien-leul, which 1 consider in some respects tlie most valuable au-
thority we poHse-s. It was taken directly from the sacred books of
the Aztecs, as explained by the most competent survivors of the Con- ,
quest.

THE FOUR AOE8. 79

lU'J'optod timt the present \n tlie lil'tli a«:;e (»r iiciiod of the
worM'H Ijistorv ; tliiit it has alrea<ly ninlerg<»iiu tour
(le^truetioiis by various eau-ses, and that the |)re.sent period
M also to terminate in anotlier sueh eataHtrofihe. The
aj^iMits of 8Ueh universal ruin have been a ^reat Hood, a
worhl-wide (!onlIa;;rati»>n, fVi^htlul tt>rna(h»es anil famine,
eartiujuakes and wiM heastH, and heni-e the Ages, Suns or
Periotls were called respectively, from their terminations,
those of Water, Fire, Air and Karth. As we do not know
the (hstiny of the fifth, the present one, it has as yet no
name.

I shall not attempt to go into the details of this myth,
the less so as it has recently been analyzed with much
nnnuteness by the Mexican anti([uary Chavero.' 1 will
merely point out that it is too closely identified with
a great many similar myths for us to be allowed to stck an
origin for it [)eculiar to Mexican or even American soil.
We can turn to the Tualati who live in Oregon, and they
will tell us of the four creations and destructions of man-
kind ; how at the end of the first ^Vge all human beings
were changed into stars ; at the end of the second they
became stones ; at the end of the third into fishes ; and at the
dose of the fourth they disappeared, to give place to the tribes
that ni)\v inhabit the world.' Or we can read from the

* Alfrodo Cliiivoro, La Piedra del Sol, in the Anales del Museo
Nacional, Tom. i, p. ^53, et seq.

- A. S. (liitsohut, Tlie Four CreathinH of Muttkiiid^n Tualiifi myth,
ill Trdiisuclioiin of the Aathropolojical iSoeiety of Washinc/toit, \'ol.
I, p. 00 (1881).

AMKUK'AN HKIJO-MYTIIH.

fV'J\l

«'iiii(»iform inscri|)ti(>n."< of ancient niil>yl(»ii,iiii<l lind tlu' four
(l('sln«(li<>HM of tlu! rju'c there Hix-ciCKH], jih Uy a Hood, by
wild lusants, by tiuniiM.' and by pcHtilence.'

The cxidanutiun which I have to j^ive of these coinci-
• Iciices — whitih eould easily be increased — is that the num-
ber four waH chosen as that of the four cardinal points,
and that the fifth «»r present a<^c, that in whicli we live,
is that which is ruled by the ruler of the four points, by
the .S[>irit of Lijjjht, who w.s believed to fjjovcrn them, as,
in faet, the early dawn does, by defininj^ the relations ol"
space, act as guide and governor of the motions of men.

All through Aztec mythology, traditions aiul (uistoms,
we (!an discover this ancient myth of the four brothers,
the four ancestors of their race, or the four chieftains who
led their progenitors to their respe(!tive habitations. The
rude mountaineers of Me/titlan, who worshiped with par-
ticular z(!al Tezcatlipoca and (^uetzalcoatl, and had
inscribed, in gigantic figures, the sacred five points, symbol
of the latter, on the side of a vast i)re(;ipice in their land,
gave the symi)oli(! titles to the primeval (pi;ulru[»let ; —

Lvcuin, He who has four faces.

Hncijteopail, the ancient Flitit-stone.

Tentetemic, tlij Lip-stone that slays.

NanacatHzatzi, He who speaks when intoxicated with
the poisonous nnishroom, called nanacatl.

These four brothers, ac(;ording to the myth, were born of

' Paul Ilaupt, Der Keilinschriftliche SinfflnthheHcht, j*. 17 (Leip-
zig, 1881).

lilll

TIIK FOUU HUOTIIKIIS. 81

tlic j^oildcss, Ilucytoimutzin, wliirh means "our jjn'iit,
anciont mother," and, with uiililial inuids, turned against
ht-r and hIvw her, Hacrillcin^ \\vv t<> th >. Sun ami oH'crin;;
her heart to that divinity.' In other words, it is tlie old
Htory of tlje cardinal j«)ints, defined at dayhreak by the
Dawn, the eastern vVnrora, which is IcKst in or sacrilictd to
tUv 8nn on its appearance.

Of'tlu'se four brothers I suspe<'t the Hrst, Ixeuin,"he who
Io()ks four ways," or "has four faces," is non(> other than
(iuetzalcoati,' while the Ancient Flint is probably Tc/eat-
Iip()ca,thus bringing the myth into singularly (^losc relation-
ship with that of the Iroquois, given on a previous |)age.

Another myth of the A/tees gave these four brothers or
primitive heroes, as : —

JIuit/ilopochtli.

lluit/nalma.

Itzt a(!oliuh(jui.

I'antecutl.

Of these Dr. Schultz-Sellaek advancics plausible reasons
for believing that Itzthn'olinhcpii, which was the name of a

' (iahrifl do Chaves, Ne.larion tie Id I'luriiicia de Meztifinn, IfjCf),
ill the Colcciuii lie J)urnmeiifi>n Ineditns del Archivo dr hidids, Tdiu. iv,
|)|t. 535 and 53ti. The traiislntioiiH of llif iiaiiics arc not given by
('liave.H, hut I tliiiik tiiey are correct, t'Xeept, possiltly, the third, whieh
may be a compound of <e«/('//, lip.stoiie. <e/«/f//t, dream, instead of with
temidi, slayer.

•* IxcHina was also the name of tiie jjoddess of i)leasiire. The
•h'rivaiion is from ixtll, face, cvi, to take, and iia, four. See tlie
note of MM. Jourdanet and Simeon, to their translation of Sahagun.
JJistdiia. j». 22.

AMEUICAX HEUO-MYTHS.

certiiin form of lioad-dreMs, was anotlicr title of Quotzulcoiitl ;
and that J^antoeatl was oiio of tlic names of T<'Z('atHi)0(r..'
If this is the ease we have iiere another version of (he
same myth.

§ .1 (Jiidzaleoail, the Hero of Tula.

IJiit it was not (^uetzaleoatl the god, the mysterious
creator of tiie visible world, on whom the thoughts of the
Aztee race ilelighted to dwell, luit on Quetzaleoatl, high
priest in tiie glorious city of ToUan (Tula), the teacher of
the aits, the wise lawgiver, the virtuous prince, the master
builder and the merciful judge.

Here, again, though the scene is tra.isferred from heaven
to earth and from the cycles of other worlds to a date not
extremely remote, the story conti mes to be of his contest
with Tc/('atlij)0('a, and of the wiles of this enemy, now
diminished to a potent magician and jealous rival, to dis-
possess and drive him from famous Tollan.

No one versed in the metaphors of mythology can be
deceived by the thin veil of local color which surrounds the*
rnyth in this '3 terrestrial and historic form. Apart from
its being but a repetition or continuation of the genuine
anciv^nt acfount of the conflict of day and night, light and
darkness, which I have already given, the name Tollan is
enough to point out the place and the powers with which
the story deals. 1 or this Tollan, where (Quetzaleoatl reigned,

^ Dr. Scluiltz Si'llack, Die Amcrlhan)Kvhen (jliltcr <Jer Vier IVclt-
getjenden mul Hire Teiiipel in ralciique,\n the Zeitschn'ff fiir Elh
nologie, Bel. xi, (1879).

TFTE CTTY OF TULA. 8."^

m not by any moans, as some have supposed, the little town
of Tula, still alivo, a dozen leaj^ues or so northwest from
the city of Mexico; nor was it, as the lejijend usually
stated, in some undeliiied locality from six hundred (o a
thousand leajjjues northwest of that city ; nor yet in Asia,
as some antiquaries have maintained ; nor, indeed, any-
where uj)on this weary wcrld ; but it was, as the name
denotes, and as the native historian Tezozoinoc lonjj^ since
translated it, where the bright sun lives, and wiiere thegod
of light forever rules so long as that orb is in the sky.
Tollan is but a syncopated form of Tonathm, the Place of
the Sun/

It is wortli while to examine the whereabouts and char-
acter of this marvelous city of Tollan somewhat closely,
for it is a place that we hear of in the oldest mytlis and
legends of many and different races. Not only the Aztecs,
but the Mayas of Yucatan and the Kidies and Cakchi-
(pjcls of Guatemala bewailed, in woful songs, the loss to

' "Tonalan, o lugar del sol," says Tozo/.omoc {Cronira Mcxicann,
chap. ij. The full f'onii is Tonailan, from iona, '" liaccr si>l," and
tlio \)hu'(} eliding ilan. Tho doriviition from follh a rush, is of no
value, and it is nothing to the point that in the picture writing Tollan
was repr(\«('ntc<l I13' a hundle of rushes (Kingsborough, vol. vi, p. 177,
not(')) as that was merely ir. accordance with the rules of the picture
writing, which rejiresented names by rebuses. Still more worth-
less is the derivation {;'ven by Herrera [Uistoria de las Indias
Oca'dentalcs, Def. iii, Lib. ii, c.ip. xi), that it means ''Lugar de
Tuna" or the [dace where the tuna Uhe fruit of the Opuntia) is found ;
inasmuch as the word innais not from the Aztec at all. Imt belongs
to that dialect of the Arawack si)oken l)y the natives of C'uba and
Haiti.

i 1'

AMICRKAN HEKO-MYTHS.

tliein of tliat beautiful land, and counted its destruction as
ii common starting point in their annals.' Well might they
regret it, for not again would they find its like. In that
land the crop of maize never failed, and the ears grew as
long as a man's arm ; the cotton burst its pods, not white
only, but naturally of all beautiful colors, scarlet, green,
blue, orange, what you woidd ; the gourds could not be
clasped in the arms ; birds of beauteous ])lumage filled the
air with molcdious song. There was nev(;r any want nor
poverty. All the riches of the world were there, houses
built of silver and precious jade, of rosy mother of pearl
and of azure turquoises. The servants of the great king
Quctzalcoatl were skilled in all manner of arts; when he
sent tljcm forth they flew to any part of the world with
infinite speed; and his edicts were proclaimed from the
stimmit of the mountain Tzatzitepec, the Hill of Shouting,
by criers of such mighty voice that they could be heard a
hundred leagues away.- His servants and disciples were
called ''Sons of the Sun" and "Sons of the Clouds."'

Where, then, was riiis marvelous land and wondrous
city ? Where could it be but where the Light-God is on his
throne, where the life-giving sun is ever present, where are

' Tlie Rooks of Chilaii lialdm, of the Mayas, the Record from Tec-
pan Atiflaii, of" the Ciil-:<-lii<{U(;ls, aiul the I'opol vit/i. National Hook.
of the Kiches, liave miieh to say al)out Tiihin. These works were all
written at a very early date, Ijy natives, and they have all been pre-
served in the original tongnes, though unfortunately only the last men-
tioned has been published.

■^ Sahagun, Hixton'a, Lib. iii, cap. iii.

* Duran, Jlision'a de las Iiidios, in Kingsborough, vol. vui, p. 267.

THE FOUR TULAX8.

the mansions of the day, and wliere ail nature rcj^icos in
the sj)lond()r of its rays ?

But this is more than in one spot. It may be in the
uppermost heavens, where lij^ht is horn and the fleecy oh>U(ls
swim easily; or in the west, where the sun descends to his
couch in sani^uine glory ; or in the east, beyond the purple
rim of the sea, whence he rises refreshe;! as a giant to run
his course ; or in the underworld, where he r asses the night.

Therefore, in ancient Cakchi'jiiel legend it is said:
" Where the sun rises, there is one Tulan ; another is in
the underworld ; yet another where the sun sets ; and there
is still another, und there dwells the God. Thus, O my
children, there are four Tulans, as the ancient men have
told us."'

The most venerable traditions of the ^laya race claimed
for them a migration from " Tollan in Zuyva." "Thence
came we forth together," says the Kiche myth, " there was
the common parent of our race, thence came we, from
among the Yaqui men, whose god is Yolcuat Quctzalcoat." ''
This Tollan is certainly none other than the abode of
Quetzalcoatl, named in an Aztec manuscript as Zivena

^ FraiK'i.sci) Eniantez Ariinu Xahihi. Memorial dc Tacpua Atitlan,
MS. in Cakcliiquel, in my possession.

^ Le Popol Villi, p. 247. The name Yaqui means in Kiche eivilizud
or polisln^d, and was apjilied to the Aztecs, hut it is, in its origin, from
an Aztec root i/anh, to go, whence >/ai/iie, travelers, and especially
merchant;^. The Kiohes recognizing in the Azti.'c merchants a snperior
and cultivated class of men, adopted into their tongue the name which
the merchants gave themselves, and used the word in the above sense.
Compare Sahagun, Historia de Xaera Espaila, Lih. ix, cap. xii.

.S()

AMERICAN' HEUO-MYTIIS.

vHzc'itJ, a word of uncertain Jcrivatiou, but applied to the
highest lieaven.

Where Qiietzah.'oatl finally retired, and wIkmico he was
expected baek, was still a Tollan — Tollan 'I'lapallan — a d
Monte/uina, when he heard of the arrival of the Spaniards,
exclaimed, " It is Quetzaleoatl, returned from Tulii."

The cities which selected iiim as tlieir tutelary deity
were named for that which he was supposed to have ruled
over. Thus we have Tollan and Tollantzinco (" behind
Tollan ") in the Valley of Mexico, and the pyramid
Cholula was called "ToUan-Cholollan," as well as many
other Tollans and Tulas amou}^ the Nahuatl colonies.

The natives of the city of Tula were (villed, from its
name, the Tolteca, which simply means "those who dwell
in Tollan." And who, let us ask, were these Toltecs?

Thcv liave hovered about the dawu of American history
lon<5 enough. To them have been attributed not only the
])rimitive culture of Central America and ]Mexico, but of
lands far to the north, and even the earthworks of the Ohio
Valley. It is time they were assigned their proper place,
and that is among the purely fabulous creations of the
imagination, among the giants and fairies, the gnomes and
sylphs, and other such fancied beings which in all ages and
nations the popular mind has loved to create.

Toltec, Toltecatl,' which in later days came to mean a

^ Toltectitl, acconlinjj; to Molina, is "oficial do arte mocanica o
maestro,'' {Voralndario de la Leiu/iia Mexicaiia, s. v.). This is a
St'coudarj' meaning. Veitia justly says, " Toltecatl quiere ducir artifice,
lioniue en Thollan ('(imcn/.aron a ensenar, auntiue a Tliollan llamaron
Tula, y por deeir Toltecatl dicen Tuloteca" {Llistoria, cap. xv).

WHO Wi:UE THE TOLTECS? 87

skilled craftsman or artidcor, signifies, as I have said, an

inhabitant of Tollaa — of the (>ity of the Sun — in other

words, a Child of Light. Without a metaphor, it meant

at first one of the far darting, bright shining rays of the

sun. Not only docs the tenor of the wliole mytli shovv

tliis, but spoL'ifieally and clearly the powers attributed to

the ancient Toltecs. As the immediate subjects of tlie God

of Light they were called " Tiiose wiio fly the whole day

without resting,"' and it was said of them that they had

the })()wer of reaching instantly even a very distant place.

When the Liglit-God himself departs, they too disa})pear,

and their city is left uninhabited and desolate.

In some, and these I consider tlie original versions of

the myth, they do not constitute a nation at all, but are

merely the disciples or servants of (^uetzalcoatl." Tliey

have all the traits of beings of supernatural powers. They

were astrologers and necromancers, marvelous poets and

philosophers, painters as were not to be found elsewhere in

the world, and such builders that for a thousand leagues

the remains of their citi(!s, temples and fortresses strewed

the land. "When it has happened to me," says Father

Duran, " to ask an Indian who cut this pass through the

^ Their title was Tlatiqna cemilhuiqne, compounded of tlanqua, to
set the t(!eth. us with stroiiii; detcrminutioii, and ccinilhuilid, to run
during a wiiole day. S.ihajjuu, Historui, Lib. iii, cap. iii, and Lib.
X, cap. XXIX; compare also the myth of Tezcatlipoca di-guised as an
old woman parching corn, the odor of which instantly attracte<l the
Toltecs, no matter how far off they were. When they came she killed
them. Id. Lib. iii, cap. xi.

^ "Discipulos," Duran, //w^on'a, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 200.

AM KUK AN HEUO-M YTHS.

mountains, or who opened that sprini^ of water, or who
built tiiat old ruin, the answer was, 'The Toltecs, tiie dis-
ciples of Pa[)a.' " '

They were tall in stature, beyond the common race of
men, and it was nothing uncommon for them to live hun-
dreds of years. Such was their energy that tliey allowed
no lazy person to live among them, and like their master
they were skilled in every art of life and virtuous beyond
the power of mortals. In complexion they are described
as light in hue, as was their leader, and as are usually the
|)ersonifications of light, and not the less so among the
dark races of men.^

When Quetzalcoatl left Tollan most of the Toltecs had
already perished by the stratagem , of Tezcatli})Oca, and
those that survived were said to have disappeared on his
departure. The city was left desolate, and what became
of its remaining inhabitants no one knew. But this very
uncertainty otfcrcti a favorable opj)ortunity for various
nations, some speaking Nahuatl and some other tongues, to
claim descent from this mysterious, ancient and wondrous
race.

The question seems, indee<l, a difficult one. When the
Light-Ciod disappears from the sky, shorn of his beams and
bereft of his glory, where are the bright rays, the darting
gleams of light which erewhile bathed the earth in re-
fulgence ? Gone, gone, we know not whither.

1 Il)id.

2 For tlu' cliarjictor of tie Toltecs as here portrayed, see Txtlilxo-
cliill. lielaciones Historicas, and Veitiu, Uistoria, passion.

TLAPAI.LAN. 89

The original home of tlic ToltecH was naid to have been
in Tlupalhin — the very same ItucI L:ui(l to which (^iiotzal-
ooatl was tabled to have returned ; oidy the former was
distinguished as Old 'Plapallan — IIik! TIapalian — as being
that from whi(!h he and they had emerged. Other myths
called it the IMaee of Sand, Xalac, an evident reference to
the sandy sea strand, the same spot where it was said that
Quetzalcoatl was last seen, beyond which the sun rises and
below which he sinks. Thither he returned when driven
from Tollan, aiid reigned over his vassals many years in
peace.'

We camiot mistake this Tlapallau, new or old. Whether
it is bathed in the purple and gold of the rising sun or in
the crimson and (tarnation of his setting, it always was, as
Sahagun tells us, with all needed distinctness, "the (Mty of
the Sun," the homo of light and color, whence their leader,
Quetzalcoatl liad come, and whither he was summone»l t<»
return.'

The origin of the earthly (iuotzalcoatl is variously given ;

one cycle of legends narrates his birth in T'ollau in some

extraordinary manner ; a second cycle claims that he was

not born in any country known to the Aztecs, but came to

them as a stranger.

^ " Se raetlo (Quetzalcoatl) la tierra adoiitro hastu TlapalUn 6 segun
Otros Huey Xalac, antigua patria de sua pntepasados, en domle vivUt
inuchos iiuoa.'' Ixtlilxoeliitl, Rrhicioues /fisforiran, p. 304. in Kings-
borough, vol. IX. Xalac, is from x'lUi, sand, witii the locative ter-
mination. In Nahuatl xalli aquia, to enter the sand, means to die.

* " Dicen que camino acia el Oriente, y (pie se fu6 a la ciudad del
Sol, llamada TIapalian, y fu6 Uamado del sol." Libro. viii, Prologo.

AMEIIKAN HKIJO-MYTIIH.

Of tlio former cyolo prohjihly one of tlio ohU-st versions
isi that he wuh a son or descendant of Tez('atli[)Oca himself,
under his name Oamaxtli. This was the account }j;iven to
the :'han(!enoi' Ramire/,' and it is said by Toniuemada to
have been the canonical (h)ctrine tau<;lit in the holy city of
(.■holollan, th(!c(!ntre of th( vvorship of (,^uet/.alcoatl.' It is
a transparent mctjij»hor, and could be j>arallcl('d by a
hundred similar ex|)ressions in the myths of other nations.
The Night brings forth the Day, the darkness leads on to
tlie light, and though thus standing in tlic relation of father
and son, the struggle between tlieni is forever continued.

Another myth represents him as the immediate son of
the All-Father Tonaca tccutli, under his title Citlallatonac,
the Morning, by an earth-born maiden in ToUan. In that
city dwelt three sisters, one of whom, an unspotted virgin,
was natned Chimaluiiui. One day, as they were together,
the god appeared to them. Chimalman's two sisters were
struck to death by fright at his awful presence, but upon
her he breathed the breath of life, and straiglitway she
cojiceived. The son she bore cost her life, but it was the
divine (^uetzalcoatl, suruamed Topillchiy Our Son, and,
from the year of his birth, Ce Acatl, One Reed. As soon
as he was born he was possessed of speech and reason and

^ Riuiiirez du Fucii-k'iil, Hint, de las Mexicanos, cap. viii.

^ Mo nar quia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. Camaxtli is also found
in the form YoamaxtU; this shows that it is a compound oi'maxtli,
covering, clotliinjr, and ca, the substantive vorb, or in the latter
instiinco, //o«///, niglit ; hence it is, " tliu Mantle," or, "the garb of
night" ("la fuja nocturna," Anales del Museo Narional, Tom. ii,
p. 363).

THK VIIUJIN MOTHKIl. 91

wisdom. As for his niotlicr, liavin<^ perished on earth, she
was transferred to th(! heavens, wliere slie was jjjiven the lion-
ored name ChaK'hihuit/li, the I'reeious Stone of Saerifiee.'

This, also, is evi<h!ntly an ancticint and simph; (l;x'H"ii <»f
speech to ex|>ress that the breath of AFcjrnin^ ainioiinees the
dawn whieli brings fortli the sun and disappears in the
act.

The virgin mother Chinudman, in anotlier kigend, is said
to have been brought with ehiUl by swaUowing a jade or
precious green stone [chalchihuitl) y while another averred
that she was not a virgin, but the wife of Camaxtli (Tez-
(!atlii)oea) ;' or again, that she was tlie second wife of that
venerable old man who was tlie father of the seven sons
from whom all tribes speaking the XahuatI language, and
several who did not speak it (Otonnes, Taraseos), were
descende(k* This latter will repay analysis.

All through Mexico and Central Americti this k'gend of
the Seven Sons, Seven Tribes, the Seven Caves whence
they issued, or the Seven Cities wher(> they dwelt, con-
stantly crops out, To that laud the Aztecs referred as

^ Codex Vatiranua, liiih. x ; Codex Tdleriano-Remensis, I't. ii, Lam.
11. The name is from c/udchihiiitl, jade, and vitztli, \\w. thorn u.se(l to
pierce the tongue, ears and penis, in sacrifice. Chinxdman^ more
correctly, Chimalmatl, is from c/it/rtrtW/, shield, and probalily, rnatlnlin,
green.

^ Mendieta, Uistoria EdesiasUca Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. vi.

» Ibid.

* Motolinia, Uistoria de Lc Tndios de Nueiia Espaila, E^nstola
Proemial, p. 10. The first wife was Ilancueitl, from ilantli, old
woman, and cueitl, skirt. (Jromara, Conquista de Mejico, p. 432.

AMKIUrAN m.Ilo-MYTIlS.

their tortncr (l\v»'IIin<;- pljico. It Wiis lociitcd at hoiiu; in-
tlctinitc tlistiinci! to tin; north or northwest — in the same
direction lis Tolhin. 'I'ho name of that hind was Mi;;nili-
cant. It was ealieil the White or Hri<;ht Land, A'Jfan.^
In its midst wan Hitnated ^iie mountain or hill (olhuacan
the Divine, Ttocul/uuicm.^ In the base of this hill were
tiic Seven Caverns, Ckicnmoztoc, whenee the seven triluis
with their respeetivi; ji!;ods had issued, tliose ^«)ds includ-
ing QuetzalcoatI, Huitzilopochtli and tlie Tezcatlipoeas.
Th re continued to live their mother, awaiting their return.
The lord oi this land and the father of the seven sons is
variously iind indistinctly named. Oiu; legend calls hiui
the VV^hite Ser|)ent of the Clouds, or the White ( "loud Twin,
Jztac Mixcoatt:' Whoever he was we can hiu-dly mistake
the mountain in which or upon which he dwelt. Colliud-
can means the bent or (uirved mountain. It is none othei-
than the Hill of J leaven, curving down on all sides to the
horizon; upoti it in all times have dwelt the gods, and from

• Tlie (loriviitiou of Aztlan from aztntl, a hcnm, lias htMn rnjectod by
Buscliiuaim and tlie best Aztuc scholars. It is from tho saiiu^ root as
izfitc, white, witli tho local ciiiliiij,' flan, aivl iiicaiis the White or IJright
jjaiul. S(^e the suhjec-t diaeiisst'd in IJuschiuann, Uaber die Alzek-
iav.hea Orlsanmen. p. 612, unci recently by Seilor Orozco y Berru, in
Analen del Museo Xacional, Tom. ii, p. 66.

^ Colhuucan, is alocativi- form. It is usually derived from cnlna, to
curve, to round. Father Duran says it is another name for A/.tlan :
" E.stas cuevas son en Teocnlacan, que por otro noinhrt'. se llama
Aztlan." Illstoria de Ins ladioa de Nueca Expaita, ijili. i, cap. i.

Ten is from tcofl, ^^od, deity. The description in the ttvvt of the
relations of land and water in this mythical land, is also from Uuran's
work.

* Mendieta, Ilistoria Edesiasfica Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xxxiii.

tOLlILAlAN. 93

it tlicy liiivo come to aid the; rnon tlioy fiivor. Alwolutely
tlio 8atne immc wjw iipplic*! \iy the Clioctaws to tlie myth-
ical hill from which they «iy their ancestors first emerj^ed
into the lin;ht <»l" day. They call it Naur' Waii/nh, the
Ik'iit or Curved Hill.' Sm-h identity of metaphorical ex-
|>ressioii leaves littlc! room lor discu!*sioii.

If it did, the other myths which surround the myijtie
mountain would seem to clear up doui)t. Colhuacaii, we
are informed, continued to be the residence of the great
Mother of the Gods. On it she dwelt, awaiting their re-
turn from earth. No one can entirely climb the mountain,
for from its middle distance to the summit it is of fine and
slippery sand ; but it has this magical virtue, that who-
<'ver ascends it, however old he is, grows young again, in
proportion as he mounts, and is thus restored to pristine
vigor. The happy dwellers around it have, however, no
need of its youth restoring jjower ; for in that lan<l no one
grows old, nor knows the outrage of years.^

When Quetzalcoatl, therefore, was alleged to be the son
of the Lord of the Seven Caves, it was nothing more than
a variation of the legend that gave him out as the son of
the Lord of the High Heavens. They both mean the same
thing. Chimalman, who appears in both myths as his
mother, binds the two together, and stamps them as

1 See my work. The Myths of the New World, p. 242.

- " Fill ostn tierni miiica onvejeceii los hombrcH. * * * Hste
coiro tieiie estiv virtiid, (jue el que yu viejo se quiere remozar, subc
hasta clonde' le parece, y vuelvi; de la cdad iiuu quiere." Duruii, in
Kingsborough, Vol, viii, \k 201.

.ai»

rl?

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

S?1

1.0

I.I

1.25

■ 45

i- lli^

1^ 112.2

■ 40

2.0

LA. IIIII.6

amp:rtcax hero-myths.

identical, wliilo Mixcoiitl is only another name for
Tezeatlipoea.

Such an interpretation, if correct, would lead to the dis-
missal from liistory of the wliolc story of the Seven Cities
or Caves, and the pretended migration from them. In
fact, the re[)eated endeavors of the chroniclers to aasign a
location to these fabidous residences, have led to no result
other than most admired disorder and confusion. It is as
vain to seek their whereabouts, as it is that of the garden
of Eden or the Isle of Avalon. They have not, and never
had a place on this sublunary sphere, but belong in that
ethereal world which the fancy creates and the imagina-
tion i)aints.

A more prosaic account than any of the above, is given
by *he historian, Alva Ixtilxochitl, so prosaic that it is
possible that it has some grains of actual fact in if.' He
tells us that a Xing of Tollan, Tecpancaltzin, fell in love
with tiie daughter of one of his subjects, a maiden by name
Xochitl, the Rose. Her father was the first to collect
iioney from the maguey plant, and on pretence of buying
thij, delicacy the king often sent for Xochitl. He accom-
plished her seduction, and hid her in a rose garden on a
mountain, where she gave birth to an infant son, to the great
anger of the father. Coasting the horoscope of the infant,
the court astrologer found all the signs that he should be
the last King of Tollan, and should witness the destruction

^ Ixtlilxochitl, lielacionen IJistoricas, p. 330, in Kingsboruugh,
Vol. IX.

THE I108E GARDEN' f)F THE GODS.

of tlie Toltec monarchy. He was named Meconelzin, the
Son of the Mtiguoy, and in due lime became icing, and tlie
pv(i<liction was accomj)lislie(l.'

In several points, however, this seemingly historic nar-
rative has a suspicious resemblance to a genuine myth pre-
served to us in a certain Aztec manuscript known as the
Codex Tellei'lano-Reinensis. This document tells how
Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and their brethren wero at first
gods, and dwelt as stars in the heavens. They passed their
time in Paradise, in a Rose Garden, Xochlt/ycacan (" where
the roses are lifted up "); but on a time they began pluck-
ing the roses from the great Rose tree in the centre of the
garden, and Tonaca-tecutli, in his anger at their action,
hurled them to the earth, where they lived as mortals.

The signidcance of tliis myth, as ap[)lied to the daily de-
scent of sun and stars from the zenith to the horizon, is too
obvious to need special comment ; and the coincidences of
the rose garden on the ij. . ^-tain (in the one instance the
Hill of Heaven, in the other a supposed terrestrial eleva-
tion) from which Quetzalcoatl issues, and the anger of the
parent, seem to indicate that the supposed historical relation
of Ixtlilxochitl is but a myth dressed in historic garb.

The second cycle of legends disclaimed any miraculous
parentage for the liero of Tollan. Las Casas narrates his

^ III the work of Ramirez de Fiieii-leul (cap. viii), Teciitlipoca is
said to hiive been the discoverer of pidque, the iiitoxieating wine
of the Maguey. In Mcztitlun he was associated witli the gods of this
beverage and of drunkenness. Hence it is probable that the name
Meconelzin applied to Quetzalcoatl in this myth meant to convey that
he was the son of Tezcatlipoca.

AMERICAN HERO MYTHS.

arrival from the East, from some part of Yiieatan, he
thinks, with a few followers,' a tradition whieh is also
repeated with definitiveness by the native historian, Alva
Jxtlilxochitl, but leaving the locality uncertain.' The
historian, Veytia, on the other hand, describes him as
arriving from the North, a full grown man, tall of stature,
white of skin, ai'd full-bearded, barefooted and bareheaded,
clotheil in a long white robe strewn with red crosses, and
carrying a staff in his hand.^

Whatever the origin of Quetzalcoatl, whether the child
of a miraculous conception, or whether as an adult stranger
he came from some far-off land, all accounts agree as to the
greatness and purity of his character, and the magnificence
of Tollan under his reign. His temple was divided into four
apartments, one toward the East, yellow with gold ; one
toward the West, blue with turquoise and jade ; one toward
the South, white wit': pearls and shells, and one toward
the North, red with bloodstones; thus symbolizing the
four cardinal points and four quarters of the world over
which the light holds sway.*

' Torquemada, Mnnarquia Indiana, Lil). vi, cap. xxiv. This was
apparently the canonical doctrine in Cholula. Mendieta says : "El
dios () idolo do Cholula, ilaniado Quetzalcoatl, ftie el mas celebrado y
tenido por mejor y mas diguo sobre los otro dioses, segun la reputa-
eioii Cm todos. E«te, segun sus historias (aunrjue algunos digau (pie
de Tula) vino de las partes de Yucatan {\ la ciudad de Cholula." His-
toria Eclesiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, cj';\ x.

^ Ilistoria Chichimeca, cap. i.

^ Historia, cap. xv.

* Sahagun, Lib. ix, cap. xxix.

THE BATH OF QUETZALCOATL.

Throiij^li the midst of Tolhin flowed a great river, and
upon or over this river was tlie house of (^iietznleoatl.
Every nigiit at midnight he descended into this river to
bathe, and the place of his bath was called, In the I*i "nted
Vase, or, In the Precious Waters. For the Orb of Light
dips nightly into the waters of the World Stream, and the
painted clouds of tlie sun-setting surround the spot of his
ablutions.

I have said that the histor}' of Quetzalcoatl in Tollan is
but a contiiniation of the conflict of the two primal brother
gods. It is still the implacable Tezcatlipoca who pursues
and finally conquers him. But there is this significant
difference, that whereas in the elemrintal warfare portrayed
in the old^ ■ mvth mutual violence and alternate destruction
prevail, in all these later myths QuetzalcoatI makes no
effort at defence, scarcely remonstrates, but accepts his
defeat as a decree of Fate which it is vain to resist. He
sees his people fall about him, and the beautiful city
sink into destruction, but he knows it is the hand of
Destiny, and prepares himself to meet the inevitable with
what stoicism and dignity he may.

^ The name of the batli of QuetzalcoatI is variously given as Xial-
pnyan, from xicalli, vasos made from gourds, and poyau, to paint
(Sahagun, Lib. iii, cjp. ■ ) ; Chalchiukapaii, from all, waU'vpaii, in,
and chulchiiiitl, precious, brilliant, the jade stone (id,, Lib. X, cap.
xxix) ; and Atecpanamochco, from atl, water, terpaii, royal, amochtli,
any shining white metal, as tin, and the locative co, hence, In the
Shining lloyal Water {Anales de Cuauhtittun, [). 21), These nanu's
are interesting as illustrating the halo of symbolism which surrounded
the history of the Light-God.

98 AMKRICAN HERO-MYTHS.

The ono is the (iiieucliiiig of tlio lij^ljt by the darkness of
tlic tempest and the niglit, represented as a struggle ; in the
other it is thegra(hial and cahn but certain and unavoidable
extinction of the sun as it noiselessly sinks to the western
horizon.

The story of the subtlety of Tezcatlipoea is variously
told. In what may well be its oldest and simplest version
it is said that in his form as Camaxtli he caught a deer
with two heads, which, so long as he kcjit it, secured him
luck in war ; but falling in with one of five goddesses lie
had created, he begat a son, and through this act he lost
his good fortune. The son was (iuetzalcoi\tl, surnamed Ce
Acatl, and lie became Lord of Tollan, and a famous
warrior. For many years h»! ruled the city, and at last
began to build a very great temple. While engaged in its
construction Tezcatlipoea came to him one day and told him
that toward Honduras, in a place called TIaj)allaii, a house
was ready for him, and he must (juit Tollan and go there to
live and die. Quetzalcoatl replied that the heavens and stars
had already warned lam tliat after four years he must go
hence, and that he would obey. The time past, he took
with him all the inhabitants of Tula, and some he left in
Cholula, from whom its inhabitants are descended, and
some he placed in the province of Cuzcatan, and others in
Cempoal, and at last he reached Tlapallan, and on the
very day he arrived there, he fell sick and died. As for
Tula, it remained without an inhabitant for nine years.'

^ Riunirez de Fuen-leal, Ilistoria de los Mcxicaiios por sus Finturas,
cup. vm.

THE FATE OF (iUKT/ALCOATL.

A more minute account is given by the author of the
Annaln of Cuauhtithm, a work written at an early date, in
the Aztec tonjiue. lie assures his readers that his narrative
of tli(se |)articidar events is niinut(!ly and accurately
recorded from the oldest and most authentic traditions.
It is this : —

When those opposed to Quetzalcoatl did not succeed in
their designs, they summoned to their aid a demon or
sorcerer, by name Tc/A'atlipoca, and his assistants, lie
said : " We will give him a drink to dull his reason, and
will show him his own face in a mirror, and surely he will
be lost." Then Tezcatlipoca brewed an intoxicating
beverage, the imlqne, from the maguey, and taking a mirror
he wrap))ed it in u rabbit skin, and went to the house of
Q'letzalcoatl.

" Go tell your master," he said to the servants, " that I
have come to show him his own flesh."

" What is this?" said (Quetzalcoatl, when the message was
delivered. ''What docs he call my own flesh? Go and
ask him."

But Tezcatlipoca refused. " I have not come to see you,
but your master," he said to the servants. Then he was
admitted, and \^,V;:tzalcoail^^ld':f-! *.•*• •*• J ;","

" Welcome, youth,' yoa "-have ti.'0iri::fl«gi['»yc«pself much.
Whence eonu; yoti? ''.Wliat is tMs, pjfr; flesjfi^ that you
would show me ?"

" My Lord and Priest," replied the youth, "I come from
the mountain-side of Nonoalco. Look, now, at your flesh ;

100 AMKIIKUN HKFtO-MYTIIS.

know yourself; soc yourself us you arc seen of otiicrs;" and
with that he liandcd him the mirror.

As soon as (^uetzalccatl saw his face in the mirror lie
oxehiimed : —

"■ How is it possible my subjects can look on me without
affrifijht? Well might they Heo from me. ITow can a num
remain amonj^ them filled as I am with foul sores, his face
wrinkled and his aspect loathsome? [ shall be seen no
more; I shall no longer frighten my people."

Then Tezcatlipoca went away to take counsel, and return-
ing, said: —

"My lord and master, use the skill of your servant. I
have come to console you. Go forth to your people. 1
will conceal your defects by art."

"Do what you please," replied (iuetzalcoatl. " 1 will
see what my fate is to be."

Tezcatlipoca painted his cheeks green and dyed his lips
red. The forehead he colored yellow, and taking feathers
of t'le quechol bird, he arranged them as a beard. Quetzal-
coatl surveyed himself in the mirror, and rejoiced at his
appearance, and forthwith sallied forth to see his people.

Tezcatlipoca withdrew to concoct another scheme of dis-
grace. With rhIs'Uttei/danc.'i he" took »t jtiie, strong pulque
which he htui brewed-, and cauic a'gitih co tiie palace of the
Lord of Tql'laif 'I'hey were r«fused'!;iI'.lMiittatK!e and asked
their country. They replied that they were from the
Mountain of the Holy Priest, from the Hill of Tollan.
When Quetzalcoatl heard this, he ordered them to be

THE TEMPTATION.

101

admitted, and asked their business. Tliey offered him the
puhj,^e, but he refused, saying tiiat he was siek, and, more*
over, tliat it would weaken his judf^meut and mij^ht cause
liis death. They urged liim to dip but the tip of his finger
in it to taste it ; he complied, but even so little of tiie magic
liquor overthrew his self control, and taking the bowl he
quaffed a full draught nnd was drunk. Then these per-
verse men ridiculed him, and cried out : —

"You feel finely now, my son; sing us a song; sing,
worthy priest."

Thcreuj)()n Quetzalcoatl began to sing, as follows: —

"My jiretty house, my coral house,
1 rail it Zaciian hy luiitie ;
And luu.st [ leave it, do you Sfiy?

Oh ray, oh ifie, and ah for shame." ^

As the fumes of the liquor still further disordered his
rejison, he called his attendants and ba<le them hasten to
his sister (iujtzalpctlatl, who dwelt on the Mountain
Nonoalco, and bring her, that she too might tf ste the divine
liquor. The attendants hurried off and said to his sister : —

" Noble lady, we have come for you. The high priest
Quetzalcoatl awaits you. It is his wish that you come and
live Avith him."

^ The original is —

Literally —

Quetzal, quetzal, no calli,
Zacuan, no calliu tapach

No callin nic yarahua/.

An ,va, an ya, an quilniach.

Hi'autiful, beautiful (ih) my house
Zac iiau, my Iiouhc of coral ;
My li()\isi', I must leave it.
Alas, alas, they guy.

Zacuan, instead of beiny; a proper name, may mean a rich yellow
feather from tlie bird called zacuantototl.

102

AMHUICAN HKKO-MVTirS.

She instantly oboyod and wont with them. On hor

arrival (^iict/alcoatl seatiicl hur hcsido him and gave her to

drink of (he magical |)nl([ne. IminiMliatcly she felt its

influence, and (^iietzaleoatl began to .sing, in drnidvcn

fashion —

'* Sistor mine, beloved inino,
QiKitziil — prtliitl — t/.'m,
Come with me, ilriiik with me,
'Tia no sin, Hin, sin."

Soon thev were so drunken that all reason was forgotten ;
they said no prayers, they went not to the hath, and they
sank asleep on the Hoor.'

Sad, indeed, was (|uetzaleoatl the next morning.

" 1 have sinned," he said ; " the stain on my name can
never be erased. I am not fit to rule this people. Let them
build for me a habitation deep und • • ground ; let them bury
my bright treasures in the earth ; let them throw the
gleaming gold and shining s'^oues into the holy fountain
where I take my daily bath."

All this was done, and (^uetzalcoatl spent four days in

* Tt is not cli'iir, at h'ast in the tnm.shitions, whctlier th(^ m3-th
intimates an incestuous rehition between (iuetzalcoatl and his sis-
ter. In the song he calls her " Nohueltiuh," which means, strict!)',
" My elder sister;" but Mendoza translates it " Qiieri<la esposa mia."
Qnetzalpdlatl means '' the Beautiful Carpet," petlatt being the rug or
mat used on lloors, etc. This would be a most appropriatt; figure of
speech to describe a rich tropical landscape, " carpeted with ilowers,"
as we say ; and as the earth is, in jiriraitive cosmogony, obler than the
sun, I suspect that this story of Quetzaleoatl and his sister refers to
the sun sinking fr(uu heaven, seemingly, into the earth. " Los Na-
hoas," remarks Chavero, "figuraban hi tierra en forma de un cua-
drilatero dividido en pequeuos quatros, lo que semijaba una estera,
petlatV' {Aiiales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 248).

<iVET'A\lA'.0\TI. VANtiUIHlIKP.

103

his nii(lor«j;n)Uii(l tomb. Wlioii ho ciuno fortli lie wept luul
told his tollowcrs that the time had eome for him tixh'jmrt
for 'I'lapnilaii, th(! \lvd Lund, Tlillan, the Dark I/md, and
Tiatlaliaii, the Fire liand, all namcw of one h)eality.

He j()iirneye<l ea.stwani nntil he caine to a jilace wiiere
th(! sky, and land, and water nie^it toj^t^ther.' Tlii're his
attendants hnilt a funeral pile, and he threw hims(;lf into
the flames. As his hody burned his heart rose to heaven,
and after four <lays became the planet Venus.^

That there is a profound moral signilieanee in this fiction
all will sec ; but I um of opinion that it is accidental and ad-
ventitious. The means that Tezcatlipoca employs to remove
(^uetzalcoatl refer to the two events that mark the decline
of day. The sun is nrflected by a lonji; lane of beams in
the surfiuie waters of lake or sea ; it loses the strength
of its rays and faMs in vigor; while the eveninj^ mists, the
dampness of a|)proachinj>; dewfall,and the gatherinj^ (blonds
obscure its power and foretell the extinction which will
soon enj^ulf the brijjjht luminary. As (^uetzalcoatl cast his
shininjji; <;old and |)recious stones into the water whore he
took his nijj^htly bath, or buried them in umlerground hid-
ing i)laces, so the sun conceals his glories under the waters,
or in the distant hills, into which he seems to sink. As he

^ Dt'sijrnatcfl in tlic Aztcr oriifiiial hy tlio iiamc Tcodjuin Ilhuica-
atenco, from teotl, iliviiu!, atl, water, ;>«/«, in or near, ilhuicdc, lieaveii,
alenco, the waterside: "Near the divine water, where the sky meets
the strand."

'■' The whoh; of this account is from the Anales de CaauhtUlan, pp.
lG-22.

104 AMKIIICAX HEKO-MYTHS.

(lisappcara at eertuin HeasoiiH, the Star of Kv(!nintr sliines
l)rij;litly iortli amid tlu; liii^roriiig and fading ray.s, riHing,
a8 it were, froia the dying tiros of the sunset.

To this it may be ohjeete<l that tlie legend makes (^iiet-
zalcoatl joiiii.ey toward the East, and not toward the sunset.
The exphmation of tliis apparent contradietion is easy.
The Aztec Ha<!,'('s had at somu; time propoimded to them-
selves the (pu'stion of how the sun, which seems to set in the
West, can rise the next morning in the East? Mungo ParUe
tells us that when he asked the desert Arabs this conundrum,
they repli'jd that the inquiry was frivolous and (;hildish, as
being wholly beyond the oapacitien of the human mind.
The Aztecs did not think so, and had framed a definite
theory which overcame the dilHculty. It was that, in fact,
the sun only advances to the zenit'', and then nsturns to
the East, from whence it started. What we seem to see as
the sun between the zenith and the western horizon is, in
reality, not the orb itself, but only its briffhtness, one of its
accidents, not its substance, to use the terms of metaphysics.
Hence to the Aztec astronomer and sage, the house of the
8U1J is always toward the East.'

We need not have recourse even to this explanation. The
sun, indeed, disappears in the West; but liis journey must
necessarily be to the East, for it is from that point that he
always comes forth each morning. The Light-God must
necessarily daily return to the place whence he started.

The symbols of the mirror and the mystic drink are per-
^ Ramirtz de Fuen-leal, llisiuria, cap. xx, ]>. 102.

THK MAdIC MlUltOU.

105

fectly fatniliar in Aryan .siin-niytliH. The l)OHt known of
the Htorios rcf'orrinjj; tt» tlic fornuT is tho tranrtparent talc of
Narcisriiis forced by Neinesiss to fall in love with his own
imago reflected in the waters, and to pine away through un-
Hut'sfied longing; or, as Pansanias tells the story, having
lost liis twin sister (th(! morning twilight), he wasted his life
in noting tlu; likeness of liia own features to those of his
beloved who had passed away. " The sun, as he looks
down upon his own face reflected in a lake or sea, siidts or
dies at last, still gazing on it."'

Some la^or writer*: "ly that the drink which Quetzalcoatl
quaffed was to confer immortality. This is not stated in
the earliest versions of the myth. The beverage is health-
giving and intoxicating, and excites the desire to seek
TIapallan, but not more. It does not, as the Soma of the
Vedas, endow with unending life.

Nevertheless, there is another myth which countenances
this view and explains it. It was told in the province of
Meztitlan, a mount ous country to the northwest of the
province of Vera Cruz. Its inhabitants s|)oke the Nahuatl
tongue, but were never subject to the Montezumas. Their
chief god was Tezcatlipoca, and it was said of him that on
one occasion he slew Ometochtli (Two Rabbits), the god of
wine, at the latter's own request, he believing thai he thus
would be rendered immortal, and that all others who drank
of the beverage he presided over would die. His death,
they added, was indeed like the stupor of a drunkard, who,

^ Sir George A. Cox, The Science of MytJwlogy and Folk Lore, p. 96.

106 AMEFirAN (IKIIO-MYTHS.

at'tor his lethargy has pussod, i'is(s lioulthy and well. lu
this sense of ranewinjj; life after death, he presided over the
nativ(! calendar, the count of years hejiinniivx with Tochtli,
tiie Rabbit.' Thus we see that this is a myth of the return-
ing sejisons, and of nature wakin<j;to life aj2;iiin after the cold
months Uhhered in by the chill rains of the late autumn.
The principle of fertility is alone ix^rennial, while each
individual must perish and die. The God of Wine i'l
Mexico, as in Greece, is one with the mysterious force of
reproduction.

No writer has preserved such nuinerous traditions about
the tri(^ks of Te/catlipoca in Tollan, as Father Suhagun.
They are, no doubt, almost verbally reported as he was
told them, and as he wrote his history first in the Aztec
tongue, they preserve all the quaintness of the original
tales. Some of them appear to be idle amplifications of
story teiVrs, while others are transparent myths. 1 shall
translate a few of them quite literally, beginning with that
of the mystic beverage.

The time '^ame for the lu(;k of Quetzalcoatl and the
Toltets to end; for there appeared against them three sor-
cerers, named Vitzilopochtli, Titlacauan and Tlaeauepan,^
who practiced many vilbnies in the city of Tullan. Titla-

^ Gabriel ile Cliavos, Relaeion de la Provinrda de Meztitlan, 15')6,
in the Coledon de Docuitientus Ineditos del Archioo de Indias,
Tom. IV, p. 580.

'^ Titlacauan was the comnioii name of Tezcatlipoca. The three
sorcerers were reallj Quetzalcoatl' s three brothers, rejireser.ting the
three other cardinal points.

THE WILES OF TEZCATMPOf'A.

107

caiian bo<ifan tliein, assiiniinn; the «lis<xui8e of* an old man
of small stature and white hairs. AV^itli this ii>^[\\\> he
approached the palace of (iuetzalcoatl and said to the ser-
vants: —

" I wish to see tiie Kino- imd speaU to him."

'* Away with you, old man ;" said the servants. " You
cannot see him. He is siek. Yon would only annoy
him."

" I must see him," answered the old man.

The servants said, " Wait," and <^oin<i|; in, they told
Quetzalcoatl that an old man wished to see him, addinji;,
" Sire, we ])ut him out in vain ; he refuses to leave, and
says that he absolutely must see you." (Quetzalcoatl
answered : —

" Let him in. I have been waiting- his coming for a long
time."

They admitted the old man and he entered the apartment
of Quetzalcoatl, and said to him : —

" My lord and son, how are you ? I have with nie a
medicine for you to driidc."

" You are welcome, old man," replied Quetzalcoatl. "1
liave been looking for your arrival for many days."

" Tell me how you are," asked the t)ld man. " How is
your body and your health ?"

"I am very ill," answered Quetzalcoatl. "My whole
body pains me, audi cannot move my hands or feet."

Then the old man said : —

" Sire, look at this me<licine wdiich I bring you. It is

108 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

good and lioalthf'ul, and intoxicjitcs liirn who drinks it.
If you will drink it, it will intoxicate yon, it will heal
yon, it will soothe your heart, it will prepare you for the
labors and fatigues of death, or of yoiu* departure."

" Whither, oh ancient man," asked Quetzaleoatl,
"AVhither must I go?"

The old man answered : —

" You must without fail go to Tullan Tlapallan, where
there is another old man awaiting you; you and he will
talk together, and at your return you w^ill be transformed
into a youth, and you will regain the vigor of your boy-
hood."

When Quetzaleoatl heard these words, his heart was
shaken with strong emotion, and the old man added : —

"My lord, drink this medicine."

" Oh ancient man," answered the king, " I do not want to
drink it."

"Drink it, my lord," insisted the old man, " for if you
do not drink it now, later you will long for it; at least,
lift it to your mouth and taste a single drop."

Quetzaleoatl took the drop and tasted it, and then quaffed
the liquor, exclainung : —

" What is this? It seems something very healthful and
well-flavored. I am no longer sick. It has enred me. I
am well."

"Drink again," said the old man. " It is a good medi-
cine, and you will be healthier than ever."

Again did Quetzaleoatl drink, and soon he was intoxi-

THE TOVEYO.

109

cated. He began to M'cep ; his lieart v,as slirred, and liis
mind turned toward tlie suggestion of liis departure, nor
did tlie deceit of the old sorcerer permit him to abandon
tiie thought of it. Tlie medicine which Quetzalcoatl draidc
was the write wine of the country, made of those magueys
call tcometl.^

This was but the begimiing of the guiles and juggleries of
Tezcatlipoca. Transforming himself into the likeness of
one of those Indians of the Maya race, called Toveyomc^'Xx^i
appeared, completely nude, in the market place of Tollan,
having green peppers to sell. Now Huemac, who was
associated with Quetzalcoatl in the sovereignty of Tollan
(although other myths apply this name directly to Quetzal-
coatl, and this seems the correct version),Miadan only daughter
of surpassing beauty, whom many of the Toltecs had vainly
sought in marriage. This damsel looked forth on the
market where Tezcatlipoca stood in his nakedness, and her
virginal eyes fell upon the sign of his nrinhood. Straight-

^ From teotU duily, divine, and vietl, tlu niiigiiey. Of the twenty-
nine viirit'ties of tlie maguey, now described in Mexico, none bears
this name ; but Hon andez speaks of it, and says it was so called
because there was a superstition that a person soon to die could not
hold a bruncli of it ; but if he was to recover, or cseajie an impending
danger, he could hold it with ease and feel the better for it. See
Nieremborg, Ilistoria Naturce, Lib. xiv, cap. xxxii. " Teoniatl,
vitae et mortis Index."

^ Toveyoine is the plural of tovei/o, which Molina, in his dictionary,
translates " foreigner, strungiir." Sahagun says that it was applied
particularly to the Iluastecs, a Maya tribe living in the province of
Panuco. Ilistoria, etc., Lib. x, cap. xxix, § 8.

' Hucniac is a compound ofuei/, great, and maiU, hand. Tezozonioc,
Duran, and various other writers assign this name to Quetzalcoatl.

•110 AMEUICAN IIIOUO-MYTIIS.

way an uncon(jiioml)lo l(>n<j;inj; sei/od lier, a love so violent
that she fell ill and seemed like to die. Her women
told her father the reason, and he sent forth and had the
false Toveyo brought before him. Huemac addressed
him : —

" Whence come yon ?"

" ]\[y lord," re])lied the Toveyo, "I am a stranger, and
I have come to sell green peppers."

"Why," asked the king "do you not wear a nmxtU
(breech-cloth), and cover your iiake<lness with a garment?"

" My lord," answered the stranger, " I follow the cus-
tom of my country."

Then the king added : —

" You have inspired in my daughter a longing ; she is
sick with desire; you must cure her."

" Nay, my lord," said the stranger, " this may not be.
Rather slay me here ; I wish to die; for I am not worthy
to hear such words, jioor as I am, and seeking only to gain
my bread by selling green peppers."

But the king insisted, and said : —

" Have no fear ; you alone can restore my daughtei ,
you must do so."

Thereupon the attendants cut the sham Toveyo's hair;
they led him to the bath, and colored his body black ; they
j)laced a maxili and a robe upon him, and the king said : —

" Go in unto my daughter."

Tezcatlipoca went in unto her, and she was healed from
that hour.

TlIK FATAI. FESTIVAL.

Ill

Tims did the luiked struiif^cr become the 8on-in-law of
ilie great king of Tula. But the Tollecs were deeply
angered that the maiden i ad given his bhu'k body the pre-
ference over their bright firms, and they plotted to have
him slain. He was placed in the front of battle, and then
they left him alone to tight the enemy. Jiut he destroyed
the opposing hosts and returned to Tula with a victory all
the more brilliant for their desertion of him.

Then he requited their treachery with another, and pur-
sued his intended destruction of their race, lie sent a
herald to the top of the Hill of Shouting, and thf-ough
him announced a magnificent festival to celebrate his
victory and his marriage. The Toltecs swarmed in crowds,
men, women and children, to share in the joyous sceiie.
Tezcatlipoca received them with simulated friendship.
Taking his drum, he began to beat upon it, accompanying
the music with a song. As his listeners heard the magic
music, they became intoxicated with the strains, and yield-
ing themselves to its seductive influence, they lost all
thought for the . 'uure or care for the present. The locality
to which the crafty Tezcatlipoca had invited them was
called, The Rock upon the Water.' It was the summit of
a loftv rock at the base of which flowed the river called.
By the Rock of Light.' When the day had departed and
midnight a})proached, the magician, still singing and

^ Texculapan, from texculli, rock, and apan, upon or ovor the
water.

2 Texcaltlauhco, from texculli, rock, tlaulli, liglit, luitl tlie locative
ending co, by, in or at.

112 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

(liinoing, l(!il tlio intoxicated crowd to the brink of the
river, over which was a stone bridge. This he liad secretly
destroyed, and as they came to the spot wliere it sh^'dd
have been and sought to cross, the innumerable crowd
pressing one upon the other, they all fell into the water far
below, where they sank out of sight and were changed
into stones.

Is it pushing symbolism too far to attempt an interpre-
tation of this fable, recounted with all the simplicity of the
antique world, with greater directness, indeed, than I have
thought wise to follow ?

I am strongly iiiclined to regard it as a true myth, which,
in materialistic language, sets forth the close of the day
and the extinction of the light. May we not construe the
maiden as the Evening Twilight, the child of the Day at the
close of its life ? The black lover with whom she is fatallv
enamored, is he not the Darkness, in which the twilight
fades away? The countless crowds of Toltecs that come
to the wedding festivities, and are drowned before mid-
night in the waters of the strangely named river, are they
not the infinitely numerous light-rays which are quenched
in the world-stream when the sun has sunk, and the gloam-
ing is lost in the night ?

May we not go farther, and in this Rock of Light which
stands hard by the river, recognize the Heavenly Hill
which rises beside the World Stream ? The bright light
of one day cannot extend to the next. The bridge is
broken by the intervening night, and the rays are lost in
the dark waters.

TIIK I'OWKK OF I.OVR.

113

But wlietlior this interpretation is too venturesome or
not, we cannot Hcny the deep hnnia;i interest in llie story,
and its poetic capacities. The o>;ern>astering passion of
K)ve was evidently as present to the Indian mind as to
that of the inedljeval Italiao. n New as well as in
Old Spain it conid l)realv the bar, iers of rank and over-
come the hesitations oi' niaidenly m xlesiy. Love clonding
the sou!, as night obscures the day, is a figure of speech,
used, I remember, by the most pathetic of Ireland's
modern bards : —

" Lovf, the tyrant, (iviii.^os,

Alas ! an omnipott^nt might ;
He tronils on the nt'cks of princes,
He darkens the mind, like night.'"

I shall not detail the many other wiles with which Tez-
catlipoca led the Toltecs to their destruction. A mere
reference to them must suffice. He summoned thousands
to come to labor in the rose-garden of Quetzalcoatl, and
when they had gathered together, he fell upon them and
slew them with a hoe. Disguised with Iluitzilopochtli, he
irritated the peoj)le until they stoned the brother gods to
death, and from the corrupting bodies spread a pestilential
odor, to which crowds of the Toltecs ffll victims. He
turned the thought of thousands into madness, so that
they voluntarily offered them.selves to be sacrificed. By
his spells all articles of food soured, and many perished of
famine.

At length Quetzalcoatl, wearied with misfortune, gave

^ Clarence Mangan, Poems, "The Mariner's Bride."
8

114 AMERICAN lIFIlOMYTirH.

(mlors to l)!irn tlio boiuitifiil Iioiiscs of Tollan, to Imry liis
trwiHurcs, mikI to bojriii the joiirney to M'l.jpallau. I If trai)s-
formod the ca''ao treen into plants of no vahie, and ordered
the birds of rich phirna^c t ) leave the land Ix.'fore hi:n.

The first station he arrived at was (inanhtillan, wh'jre
tlicre VV08 a lofty and spreading tree. Jlcre ho a:ike(' oi"
his servantj a mirror, an(^ look«n{r in it said : " I am
already old." Gathering some stones, he east them at the
tree. They entered the wiod and remained there.

As he journeyed, he was preceded by boys playing the
flute. Thus he reached a certain spot, where he sat upon a
stone by the wayside, rrnd wept for the loss of Tollan.
The marks of his hands remained upon the stone, and tlu;
tears he dropped pierced it through. To the day of the Con-
quest these impressions on the solid rock were pointed out.

At the fountain of C^)zcapan, sorcerers met him, minded
to prevent his departure: —

" Where are you going?" they asked. " Why have you
left your capital ? In whose care is it? Who will per-
form the sacred rites?"

But Quetzalcoatl answered : —

" You can in no manner hinder my departure. I have
no choice but to go."

The sorcerers asked again : "Whither are you going?"

"lam going," replied Quetzalcoatl, " to Tlai)allan. I
have been sent for. The Sun calls me."

" Go, then, with good luck," said they. " But leave
with us the art of smelting silver, of working stone and

TIIK DUUNKKN (JOI).

115

wood, of painting, of weuviiig ffutliors and .thcr hucjIi
arte."

Tlin.s they rol-' .1 Iiiin, and ti'.king tl e rich jewels lie
<'arri(;d with him hu ca.st thoni into the fountain, wliunco it
received its name Cozcapan, ffewels in the Water.

Apiin, aa lie journeyed, a sorcierer met him, wlio ar^ked
liim his destination : —

"I go," said Quetzaleoatl, " to TIalla]) in."

"And luck go with you," replied the sorcerer, "but
first take a drink of this wine."

"No," replied (iuetzalcoutl, " not so much as a sij)."

" You must taste a little of it," said the sorcerer, "even
if it is by force. To no living person would I give to
drink freely of it. I intoxicate them all. Come and
driiik of it."

Quetzaleoatl took the wine and drank of it through a
reed, and as he drank he grew drunke.i and fell in the
road, where he slej)t and snored.

Thus he passed from ])lace to place, with various adven-
tures. His servants were all dwarfs or hunchbacks, and
in crossing the Sierra Nevada they mostly froze, to death.
By drawing a line across the Sierra he split it in two and
thus made a passage. He plucked up a mighty tree and
hurling it through another, thus formed a cross. At
another spot he caused underground houses to be built,
whicli were called Mictlancalco, At the House of Dark-
ness.

At length he arrived at the sea coast where he con-

lin A>fEIM('AN irr.HO-MVTMS.

Hti'tictod :i nift <>(' sorpentri, and seating himself on it iis in
a canoe, lie moved ont to sea. No one knows how or in
what manner ho reached TIapallan.'

Tiie U'fj^end which appears to have been prevalent in
Cholnla was somewhat dilVerent. According to that,
( Jnet/alcoatl was for niiuiy years Fiord of Tollan, rnling
over a happy ])eople. At length, Te/x'atlipo<'a let himself
down from heaven by a cord made of spider's web, and,
coming to Tollan, challenged its ruler to play a game of
ball. The chalh-nge was accepted, and the people of the
city gathered in thousands to witness the sport. Suddenly
TezcatJiiuK'a changed himself into a tiger, which so
frightened the populace that they Hed in such confusion
and panic that they rushed over the precipice and into
tie river, where nearlv all were killed bv the fall or
drowned in the waters.

Quetzalcoatl then forsook Tollan, and journeyed from

city to city till he reached C'holula, where he live<l twenty

years, lie was at that time of light complexion, noble

stature, his eyes large, hi^« hair abundant, his beard ample

and cut rounding. In life he was most chaste and honest.

They worshiped his memory, especially for three things :

iirst, because he taught them the art (►f working in metals,

which previous to his coming was unknown in that land ;

secondly, Ix^cause he forbade the sacrifice either of human

' Those myths arc I'roiu the third book of Sahiigun's HistoHa de
las Cosax de Xnera Espafia. They were tak»;n down in the original
Nalmatl, l»y liini, from the mouth of the natives, and he gives them
word for word, as they were recounted.

QUETZALCOATL AT fllOl.ULA.

117

luiiiii^s or the lower aniinuls, tciuliiu^ tliat bread, and roses,
and HowiTH, ineense and perfmnes, were all that th(! ^ods
deiuand('<l ; aixl lastly, because; he t'orl>:ide, and did his
Ik'hI to put a stop to, wars, ii^iilin^-, robbery, and all deetls
of violence. For these reasons he was held in high ((steein
and aflectionate veneration, not only by those of Cliolula,
but by the neij>hboring tribes as well, for many leaj^iies
around. Distant nations maintained temples in his honor
in tiiat city, and made pilgrimages to it, on which journeys
they passed in safety th»'ongh their enemy's countries.

The twenty years past, (iuetzalcoatl resumed his Journey,
taking with him four of the princi[)al youths of the city.
M'^hen he had reached a point in the province of (Juazacoalco,
Avhich is situated to the soutiieast of (/holula, he called
tlu; four youths to him, and tohl them they should
return to their city ; that h<' had to go further ; but that
they should go back and say that at some future day whitt;
and bearded men like himself would come from the cas*^,
who would possess the land.^

Thus he disappeared, no one knew whither. Hut another
legend said that he died there, by the seashore, and they
burned his botly. Of this event some particulars are given
by Ixtlilxochitl, as follows:- —

Quetzalcoatl, surnamed Topiltzin, was lord of Tula. At

a certain time he warned his subjects that he was obliged

' For lliis vt.Tsion of i,iu' myth, see Mendiotu, Hislorla Eclesiastica
Indiana, Lib. ii, csip.s. v and x.

* Ixtlilxochitl, Edacionea Uistorkas, p. 388, in King.":'>oroiigh,
vol. IX.

118 AMKIlirAN IIEUO-MVTfrs.

to jfo "to till' place wlionc'o corM(»< tin; Sun," but that after
a term lie would return to them, in that year of their
ealendar of the iiarue Ce Aea'f. One Uee«l, \vhi<'h n'turn.s
every fifty-two years. Ho went fci 'h with many follower**,
Home of whom he left in <';ich city he visited. At length he
reached the town of Ma 'rijipallaii. Here he annt»un(!ed
that he .should soon die, and directed his followers to
l)urn his body and .'ill his treasures \Nith him. They
obeyed his orders, arul for four days luirncd his corpse,
after which (hey leathered its ashes and placed them in a
sack made of the skin of a tiger.

The introduction of the game of ball and the; tiger into
the story is not so childish as it seems. The game of ball
was as important an anuisenient among the natives ol' Mexico
and ( Vntral America as were the jousts and tournaments
in Furope in the Middle Ages.' Towns, nations and kings
were often [)itted against each otlu.'r. In the great temple
of Mexico two courts were assigned to this game, over which
ji special deity was supposed to preside." In or near the
market place of each town there were walls erected for the
sport. In the centre of these walls was an orilice a little

^ Torquemadu gives ii li»nj^ but obscuro description of it. Moiiarquia
Indiana, Lib. xiv, cup. xii.

^ Nicrcinberg. " Do septiiaginta et octo pnrtibiis inaximi tompli
Mcxiciiiii," in liis llistoria Natiirce, Lib. viii, cup. xxii (Antwerpt,
KW')). One of tbese was call<'d "The Ball Court oT the Mirror,"
perhaps with special reference to this higend. *' Trigesima secunda
Tezcatluclio, locus crat ubi ludcbatur pilil ex gumi olli, int(;r templa."
The na.iL is from tezcatl, mirror, Uachtli, the g.ime of ball, and
locative ending co.

Tin; IIKAVKNf.Y

l,I,-l'I,AY.

\\\)

liir^or tliiiii t\u' ball. 'I'lic |iliiy«'rrt wen' divided into two
pili-ticM, u\u\ the bull having ix'cii thrown, (mcIi party tried
to drivo it tlirouj^.j or over the wull. The hand was not
used, but only the hip or shonld(!r».

From the earth the jj;arn(' was trannferred to the heavens.
Ah u bull, hit by a player, strikes the wall and then boundH
baek ugain, des(;ribing a enrve, >>() the Htars in tlu; northern
sky circle around the pole star and return to the phu-e they
left. Hcn«^e their niov men* was oalleil 'I'he IJull-play of
the Stars.'

A recent writer asserts that the popnhir belief of the
Aztecs exU'iided tlu^ figure to a greut(;r game thun this.' The
Sun and ^^oon were hugi; bulls with which the gods played
an unceasing ganu;, now one, now the other, having the
better of it. If this is so, then tlus game between Tczcat-
lipoca and Qi'.ctzalcoatl is again a trunsparent figure of
speech for the contest between night and day.

The Mexican tiger, the ocelotl^ was a well recojrniTOd
figure of speccli, in the Aztec tongue, for the nocturnal
heavens, dotrod with ^ aJ's, as is the tiger sUiu with spots.'
The tiger, therefore, whic^h (h^stroycd the sul)jc(^t-'. of (|uct-
zalcoatl--the swift-footed, hupi)y iuhabitunts of Tula —
was none other than the night extinguishing the rays of

* ** Cithilthfhtli,^^ from citlalin, star, and //ac/t^/t, the gamo of ball.
Alvarailo Tezo/.omoc, Cronicu lUexicana, cap. lxxxii. The ol)scure
pas.saj^o in wliicl' Tozozotiiof njfor.s to tliis is ing(>nioii8ly aualyzt'd in
the Anales del Museo Nachnal, Tom. ii, p. 388.

* Anales del Mrseo Nacional, Tom. ii, j). :{07.

' " S<>gun los At alos (k- niiauhtithin el ocelotl as el cielo manchado
de estrellas, como picl de tigre." Anales del Mus. Xac, ii, p. Ji54.

120 AMERICAN IIERO-MYTllS.

the orb of Iij:;lit. In the picture writings Tozciitlipoca
apjiears dressctl in a tiger's skin, the spota on which rep-
resent tlie stars, and thus symbolize him in his cliaracter as
the god of the sky at night.

The apotheosis of (^uetzalcoatl from the embers of liis
funeral j)yre to the planet Venus has IcJ several distin-
guisiied students of Mexican mythology to identify his
whole history with the astronomi(?al relations of this bright
star. Such an interpretation is, however, not only contrary
to results obtained by the general science of mythology, but
it is specifically in contradiction to the uniform statements of
the ohl writers. All these agree that it was not till after
he had finished his career, after he had run his course and
disappeared from the sight and knowledge of men, that he
was translated and became the evening or morning star.*
Tliis clearly signifies that he was represented by the j)lanct
in only one, and that a subordinate, phase of his activity.
We can readily see that the relation of Venus to the sun,
and the evening and morning twilights, suggested the
pleasing tale tb.at as the light dies in the west, it is, in a
certain way, preserved by the star which liangs so bright
above the horizon.

§ 4. Qaetzalcoatl as Lord of the WimJs.

As I have shown in the introductory chapter, the Ijight-
God, the Lord of the East, is also master of the cardinal
points and of the winds which blow from them, and there-
fore of the Air.

^ Codex TeUeriano-liemensis, plate xiv.

Tin: WHEEL OF THE WINDS.

121

This was conspicuously so M'ith Quetziilcoatl. As a
divinity he is m(jst ji'cnonilly niontioncd jus the God of the
'Mr and Winds, lie was said to sweep the roads before
xhiloe; god of the rains, because in tliat climate heavy
dowu-pours are preceded by violent gusts. Torqueniada
names liiui as "God of the Air," and states that in
Ciiolula this function was looked upon as his chief attri-
bute,' and the term was distinctly applied to him Nanihe-
hecatti, Lord of the four Winds.

In one of the earliest mvihs he is called YahuaVi ehecatl,
meaning " the Wheel of the Winds,"-' the winds being
portrayed in the picture writing as a circle or wheel, with
a figure with five angles inscribed upon it, the sacred pen-
tagnun. His image carried in the left hand this wheel,
and in the right a sceptre with the end recurved.

Another ro^(!rence to this wheel, or mariner's box, was 'n

the shape of the temples which were built in his honor as

god i>f the winds. These, we are informed, were completely

circular, without an angle anywhere.'

^ Salmgim, Historia, Lib. i, cap. v. Torquemada, Monarquia
Indiana, Lib. vi. cap. xxiv.

* '* Qiu>9alcoatl y por otro nombre yagimliecutl." Ramirez do Fueii-
loal, Historia, cap. r. Yahualli is from the root yaual or i/uual, cir-
cular, rounding, and was ai)plitMl to various objects of a circular form
The sign of Quetzalcoatl is called by Sahagun, using the native word,
"el Yoel de los Vien*os" {Historia, ubi supra).

^"Se Uaman (ti Quetzalcoatl) Senor de el Viento * * * A
este le hacian las yglesias re''.ond;is, sin esquina ninguna. " Codex
TeUeriann-Eemensis. Parte d. Lam. ii. Describing the sacred
edifices of Mexico, Motolinia says : " Habio en todos los mas 'le estos
grandes patios un otro templo que despues de levantada aquunu capa

122 AMERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

Still another symbol which vviis sacred to him as lord of
the four winds was the Cross. It was not the Latin but
tlie Greek cross, with four short arms of equal length.
Several of these were painted on the mantle which he
wore in the picture writings, and they are occasionally
found on the sacred jades, which bear other of his symbols.

This has often been made use of by one set of writer.,
to prove that Quetzalcoatl was some Christian teac^her ;
and by others as o'idence that these native tales were of a
date subsequent to the Con.juest. But a moment's consid-
eration of the meaning of this cruciform symbol as revealed
in its native names shows whore it bclon«;s and what it
refers to. These names are three, and their significations
are, "The Rain-God," "The Tree of our Life," "The
God of Strength."' As the rains fertilize the fields and
ripen the food crops, so he who sends them is indeed the
prop or tree of our subsistence, and thus becomes the giver
of health and strength. No other explanation is needed,
or is, in fact, allowable.

quiidradii, hecho hu altar, cubrianlo con una parod rcdnnda, alta y
ciibiorta con su chapital. Estc era del dios del aire, ciial dijiinos tcuer
su principal sella en Cholollan, y en toda esta provincia habia inucho
de estos. A este dios del aire llamab in en su lengua Quetzalcoatl,"
Historia de las Indios, Epistola Procmial. Compare also Herrera,
Ilistoria de las IiuUas Ocddentales, Dec. ii, Lil). vii, cap. xviii who
describes the temple of Quetzalcoatl, in the city of Mexico, and adds
that it was circular, ''jionpie asi como el Aire anda al rededor del
Ciolo, asi le hacian el Tenipio redondo."

^ The Aztec words are Qiiidhuill tcotl, qniahuitl, rain, teofl, god ;
Tonacaquahnitl, from to, our, iiaca, flesh or life, quahuitl, tree ;
Chicahiializteotl, from ehicahualiztli, strength or courage, and teotl,
god. These names are given by Ixtlilxochitl, Ilistoria chichimeca,
cap. I.

THE CROSS SYMBOL.

123

The >vinds and nins conic from tlio four cardinal
points. This fact was figuratively ropresented by a cruci-
form fitrure, tlie ends directed toward ca(!h of these.
The God of the Four Winds bore these crosses as one of
his emblems. Tiie sign came to be connected with fertility,
reproduction and life, through its associations as a symbol
of the rains which restore tlie parched fields and aid in the
germination of seeds. Their influence in this respect is
most striking in those southern countries where a long dry
season is followed by heavy tropical showers, which in a
few days change the whole face of nature, from one of
parched sterility to one of a wealth of vegetable growth.

As there is a close connection, in meteorology, between
the winds and the rains, so in Aztec mythology, there
was an equally near one between Quetzalcoatl, as the
god of the wiu'^s, ar ne gods of rain, I'laloc and his
sister, or wife, or mother, Chalchihuitlicue. According to
one myth, these were created by the four primeval brother-
gods, and placed in the heavens, where they occupy a large
mansion divided into four apartments, with a court in the
middle. In this court stand four enormous vases of water,
and an infinite number of very small slaves (the rain drops)
stand ready to dip out the water from one or the other
vase and pour it on the earth in showers.^

TlaloG means, literally, "The wine of the Earth," ^ the

^ Ramirez de Fuenleal, Historid de los Mexicanos, cap. ti.
^ Tlalli, earth, oc from octU, the native Avine made from the maguey,
enormous quantities of which are consumed by the lower classes in

124 AMERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

figure being that as man's iieart is made glad, and iiis
strength revived by the joyous spirit of wine, so is the soil
refreshed and restored by the rains. Tlaloc tecutli, the
Lord of the Wine of the Earth, was the proper title of the
male divinity, who sent the fertilizing showers, and thus
caused the seed to grow in barren places. It ^vas he who
gave abundant crops and saved the parched and dying
grain after times of drought. Therefore, he was appealed to
as the giver of good things, of corn and wine ; and the
name of his home, Tlalocan, became synonymous with that
of the terrestrial paradise.

His wife or sister, Chalchihuitlicue, She of the Emerald
Skirts, was godiless of flowing streams, brooks, lakes and
rivers. Her natue, probably, has reference to their limj)id
waters.' It is derived from ehalchihuUl, a species of jade or
precious green stone, very highly esteemed by the natives
of Mexico and Central America, and worked by them into
ornaments and talismans, often elaborately engraved and
inscribed with symbols, by an art now altogether lost.'*
According to one myth, Quetzalcoatl's mother took the
name of chalchiulU " when she ascended to heaven ;"'' by

Mexico at this day, and which was well known to the ancients.
Anotlier derivution of tlie name is from (lalli, and onoc, Ix'in^r, to be,
lience, " resident on the earth." Tiiis does not seem appropriate.

^ From chalchihuitl, jade, and cueitlj skirt or petticoat, with the
possessive prefix, i, her.

'^ See E. G. Scpiier, Observations on a Collcctiou of Chalchihuitls
from Central America, New York, 1809, and Heinrich Fisclier,
Ncphrit nnd Jadeit nach ihrer Urjcchichflichen iind Ethnographi-
schen Bedeutung, Stuttgart, 1880, for a full discussion of the subject.

* Codex Tellcriano-Reinensis, Pt. ii, Lam. ii.

THE INVENTOR OF THE CALENDAU.

125

anotlier he was engendered by such a sacred stone ; ^ and
by all he was designated as the discioverer of the art of
cutting and polishing them,an(l the patron <leity of workers
in this branch.'^

The association of this stone and its color, a bluish green
of various shades, with the God of Light and the Air, may
have reference to the blue sky where he has his home,
or to the blue and green waters where he makes his
bed. Whatever the connection was, it was so close that the
festivals of all three, Tlaloc, Chalcliihuitlicue and Quetzal-
coatl, were celebrated together on the same day, which was
the first of the first month of the Aztec calendar, in Feb-
ruary.''

In his character as god of days, the deity who brings
back the diurnal suns, and thus the seasons and years,
(iuetzalcoatl was the reputed inventor of the Mexican
Calendar. He himself was said to have been born on Ce
Acatl, One Civaq. which was tiie first day of the first month,
the beginning of the reckoning, and the name of the day
was often added to his own.* As the count of the days

^ See above, jiage 91.

* Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv.

** Sahagun, Ilistoria, Lib. ir, cap. i. A worthy but visionary Mexican
iintiquiiry, Don J. M. Melgar, has recognized in Aztec mythology
the frequency of the ayinbolism which expresses the fertilizing action
of the sky (the sun and rains) upon the earth. He thinks that in some
of the manuscripts, as the Codex Borgia, it is represented by the rabbit
fecunilating the frog. See his Examen Comparativo entre los Signos
Simboiicos dc lats Teogonias y Cosmogonias antiguas y los que existen
en los Manuscritos Mexicanos, p. 21 (Vera Cruz, 1872).

* Codex Vaticanus, PI. xv.

126 AMEUTCAN IIEIIO-MYTIIS.

really begun with the beginning, it was added that Iloaven
itself was created on this same day, Ce Acat!.^

In some myths Quetzalcoatl was tiic sole f'ramer of* the
Calendar; in others he was assisted by the first created
pair, Cipactli and Oxomuco, who, as I have said, appear to
represent the Sky and the Earth. A certain cave in the
province of Cnernava (Qiiauhnauac) was pointed out as
the scene of their deliberations. Cipactonal chose the first
name, Oxomuco the second, and Quetzalcoatl the thiru,
and so (m in turn."

In many mythologies the gods of light and warmth are,
by a natural analogy, held to be also the deities which
preside over plenty, fertility and reproduction. This was
quite markedly the case with Quetzalcoatl. His land and
city were the homes of abundance ; his people, the Toltecs,
" were skilled in all arts, all of which they had been taught
by Quetzalcoatl himself. They \Vere, moreover, very rich;
they lacked nothing; food was never scarce and crops
never failed. They had no need to save the small ears of
corn, so all the use thev made of them was to burn them
in heating their baths." ^

As thus the promoter of fertility in the vegetable world,
he was also the genius of reproduction in the human race.

^ Codex TeUeriano Remenns, PI. xxxiii.

^ Mt'iuliiita, Hist, Eclesiastia Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xiv, ** Una
tonta liccion," coininL'Hts the worthy chroniclor upon the narrative,
" coino sou his domas que croiun cerca de sus dieses." This has been
the universal opinion. My ambition in writing this book is, that it will
be universal no longer.

* Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii, cap. iii.

MARRIAGE ADDRESS.

127

The ocromonics of Duirriayre which were in use ainony: the
Aztecs were attributed to him/ and when the wife found
she was with child it was to him that she was told to aihlress
licr thanks. One of her rchitives recited to iier u formal
exhortation, whicn bcj^an as follows : —

"My ^"''/.oved little daughter, |)recious as sa[)|)hire and
jade, tender and generous ! Our Lord, who dwells every-
where and rains ins l)ounties on whom lie pleases, lias
remembered you. The God now wishes to give you the
fruit of marriage, and has placed within you a jewel, a
rich feather. Perhaps you have watched, and swept, and
offered incense; for such good works the kindness of the
Lord has been made manifest, and it was decreed in Heaven
and Hell, before the beginning of the World, that this
grace should be accorded you. For these reasons our
Lord, Quetzalcoat', who is the author and creator of things,
has shown you this favor ; thus has resolved He in heaven,
who is at once both man and woman, and is known under
the names Twice Master and Twice Mistress."^

It is recorded in the old histories that the priests dedi-
cated to his service wore a peculiar head-dress, imitating a

^ Veitia, cap. xvii, in Kingsborough.

'^Saluaguii, Illstoria, Lib. vi, cap. xxv. The bisexual nature of
the M(!xican gods, ref(;rred to in this passage, is well marked in many
features of tlicir myihology Quetzalcoatl is often addressed in the
prayers as " father and mother," just as, in the Egyptian ritual, Chnum
was appealed to as " father of fathers and mother of mothers" (Tiele,
Hist, of the Eiji/piian Religion, p. 131). I have endeavored to ex-
phiin this widespread belief in hermaphroditic deities in my work
entitled, The Religious iSeatitiientf Its Source and Aim, pp. 05-C8,
(New York, 187G).

128 A^fERrCAN HKRO-MYTIIH.

Hiiiiil rtliell, and for that reason were called (^iKifeczizque.^
No one hjus exjjIaiiK^d this eiiriouHly shaped ooniiet. Htit
it was undoubtedly because (^uetzalcoatl was the god ol"
reproduction, lor among the Aztecs the snail was a well
known symbol of the process of parturition.'^

Quetzalcoatl wjis that marvelous artist who fashions in
the womb ol the mother the delicate limbs and tender organs
of the unborn infant. Therefore, when a couple of high raid<
were blessed with a child, an official orator visited them,
and the baby being placed naked before him, he addressed
it beginning with these words: —

" My child and lord, precious gem, emerald, sapphire,
beauteous feather, |)r()(luct of a noble union, you have
been formed far above us, in the ninth heaven, where dwell
the two highest divinities. His Divine Majesty has fash-
ioned you in a mould, jis one fashions a ball of gold ; you
have been diiseled as a precious stone, artistically dressed
by your Father and INlother, the great God and the great
(xoddess, assisted by their son, Quetzalcoatl." "

As he was thus the god on whom depended the fertiliza-
tion of the womb, sterile women made their vows to him,
and invoked his aid to be relieved from the shame of

barrenness.^

' Diinin, in Kiiigsborough, vol. viii, p. 267. The word is from
qtuiitl, head or top, and tecziztli, a snail shell.

^ "Mettevanli in testa una lumaca raarina per dimostrare que sic-
come il piscato CBCc dalle pieghe di queU'csso, o conca. cosi v&, ed
esce ruomo ab utero matris suae.'''' Codice Vaticana, Tavola xxvi.

3 Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxxiv.

■* Torqueniada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. xi, cap. xxiv.

THE TEACHKn OF CIIASTITV.

120

Tu still aiiotluM' (lircotion is this fmurtion of his j^odship
shown. The worshij) of the gcnosim! priiKMpU' is as often
charaeterizc'ii hy an cxeessivc austerity as Uy indnlj^encr in
sexual acts. Here we liave an example. A' early all the
accounts tell us that (^uet/aleoatl was never married, and
that he held himself aloof from all women, in al)S()lute
chastity. We are told that on one occasion his suhjeets
urged upon hira the propriety of marriaj^e, an<l to their
importunities he returned the dark answer that, Yes, he
had determined to take a wife ; hut that it woidd he when
the oak tree shall cast chestnuts, when the sun shall rise in
the vest, when one can cross the sea dry-shod, and when
iiifj^htingales grow beards.'

Following the example of their Master, many of the
priests of his cult refrained from sexual relutions, and as a
niortitication of the Hesh they practiced a painful rite by
transHxing tlie tongue and male menilxT with the sh .rp
thorns of the maguey plant, an austerity which, according
to their traditions, he was the first to institute.'- There were
also in the cities where his special worship was in vogue,

* Diiran, in Kingsboroiigli, vol. viii, p. 267. I believe Alva Ixtlilxo-
chitl is the only author who specilically assigns u family to Quetzalcoutl.
This iiuthor does not mention n wife, hut names two sons, one,
Xilot. ■ti, who was killed in war, the other, I'ochotl, who was edueated
hy his nurse, Toxcueye, and who, after the destruction of Tollan,
eolleeted the scattered Toltees and settled with them around the jjake
of Tezeuco [Rdaciones Ilistoricun, p. 3!)-l, in Kingshorough, vol. ix).
All this i.s in contradiction to the reports of earlier antl better authorities.
For instance, Motolinia says pointedly, "no fn6 casado, ni se le
conocio mujer " (Histnria de lofi Indios, Epistola Proemial).

* Codex Vaticanus, Tab. xxii.

130 AMERICAN HERO-MYTirS.

h()ns(,«s of imiH, tlio liimiitcw of wliicli liiid vowimI pcriMitiuil
viiyinity, and it wjih siiid that (|uutzilo<>:itl hiiasolf had
loiindcd {\\vsv institiitionH.'

Ills connoctioii with tho wornhij) of tho reprothictive
principle suems to bo further indimtcd by his surname,
Cc aoatl. This means One Reed, and Is tlie name of a (Uiy
in the ealemhir. Hut in the Nahuatl langunjre, tlie word
(iGaffy reed, cornHtalU, is also api)ll('d to the virile n)eml)er ;
and it has been suggested that this Ih the real signification
of the word when applied to the hero-god. Tin! su<i:;jr(.'s-
tion is j)lausiblc, but the word docs not seem to have Ixicn
so construed by the early writers. If such an undcr-
staiidinji; had been current, it could scarcely have escaped
the iiuiulries of such a 'lose student and thoroutjjh master of*
the Nahuatl tonjj;ue as Father Saha}j;ini.

On the other hand, it must be said, in corroboration of
this identification, that the same idea appears to be conveyed
by the symbol of the serpent. One correct translation
of the name (^uetzalcoatl is "the beautit'ul serpent;"
his temple in the city of Mexico, according to Tor-
quemada, had a door in the form of a serpent's mouth;
and in the Codex Vaticanus, No. 37.'38, published by
Lord Kingsborough, of which we have an explanation
by competent native authority, he is represented as a
serpent; while in the same Codex, in the astrological signs
\/hicli were sui)posed to control the different parts of the
human body, the serpent is pictured as the sign of the
^ Veitia, Jfistoria, cu]t. xvu.

THE HEUI'KNT SYMUOL.

i:u

male niomlxT.' This imlicntcs the prohahillty that in hin
function aa ^(x! of r('|>ro(hicti(m (iuotzalcoatl may luivo
stood in some relation to phallitt rites.

This saint! si^n, Ce Coat/, ()n(> Serpent, nse<l in tiieir
astrology, was that of one of the ^rinU of the mercliants,
and aj)parently for this reason, some writers hav(! i<h'ntified
the ciner god of traffic, Yaeate<'utli ((Jod of elonrneyinjjj),
with t^netzahoath This seems the niore likely as
another name of this divinity was 17i';aco//«/»ryK/, With
the EmI Curved, ii name which appears to refer to the
curved rod or stick which was both his sign and one of
those of Quetzalcoatl.' The merchants also constantly
associated in their praycs this deity with Huitzilopochtii,
which is another reason for supposing their patron was (►ne
of the four primeval brothers, and but another manifesta-
tion of (iuetzaleoatl. His character, as patron of art:*,
the model of orators, and the cultivator of j)eaceful inter-
course among men, would naturally lend itself to this
position.

^ Compare the Codex Vaticanus, No. 8738, plates 44 and 75, Kings-
borougli, Mexican AntiqnitUs, V(j1. ii.

'■* Compiin Tonjiionmtlu, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxviir,
and Saliagim, llistoiia dc Nuera J'Jspaiia, Lil). ix, passim.

YarnU'cutli, is from teciitli, lord, and either i/aqtii, traveler, or else
i/acana, * .) conduct.

Yarocoliuhiui, is translated ]>y Tonpicmada, "el que tione la iiariz
aquilen.'i." I< is Iroiii ijaqite, a point or end, and hunce, also, llu; nose,
and coiiuhqai, bent or curved. The translation in the text is (piite
as allowable as that of Tortpiemada, and more appropriate. I iiave
already mentioned that this divinity was susiiected, by Dr. Suhultz-
Selluclv. to be merely another form of Quetzalcoatl. See above,
page 81.

132 AMKUIOAN IIKUO-MYTITS.

hill < jiii't/alcoiitl, iH ^()<l of tliu violent wiii(l-HtortiiM,
wliicli (K'sfroy tlio lnmM('-t and I'rojH, utid as oiio, \vli<», in
his own lnst(»ry, was«lrivon from his kin^rdoin and lost his
all, was not <'onsi<ler«'d a doity of invariahly ^ood aii^nry.
His day and si^n, ce drat/, Oni; Uot'<l, was of ImuI omen.
A person born on it wonid not Hueceoil in life.' His plans
and pf)ssossionM wonId he lost, blown away, 'is il were, by
the wind, and dissipated into thin air.

Thron<i;h the ass(K'ia(ioii of his person with the prying
winds he eanie, enrionsly enon^h, to be the patron saint of
u eertain class of thieves, who stupefied their vi(!tiins before
rol)bin<:; them. They applied to him to exereise his
mali'lieent power on thoie whom they planned to«lej>rive of
their p)ods. Ilis ima<!:e was oorne at the lu>ad of the jjjanj^
when they made their raids, and the preferred season was
when his sign was in the ascendant."^ This is a sin^nlar
parallelism to the Aryan liermes myth, Jis 1 have previonsly
observed (Chai). I).

Tlu! representation of (inet/alcoatl i:i the Aztee manu-
scripts, his images and the fornjs of his temples and altars,
referre<l to his double funuLions as Jjord of the J^ight
and the Winds.

He was not rejn'esented with pleasing features. On the

contrary, Sahagun tells us that his face, that is, that of his

iniage, was " very ugly, with a large head and a full beard." ^

' Sjiliaj^un, Historia, Lib. iv, cap. viii,
2 ll)i(l, Lib. IV, cap. xxxi.

^ "La cara quo tenia l'Vo iiiiiy fea y la cabcza larga y barbuda."
IlidorUi, Lib. iii, cup. ill. Ou the uther hand Lxtlilxucliitl .spcukw of

QCKT/ALCOATI/H IM'/miS.

in.T

The b<Minl, in thin and siniilnr instiuuTH, wiis to rcpivsont
tlio rayri of the huh. Mis hair at tiints was also nhown
riMinjf Htrai^ht fVotn his furcht'ad, fur th«' Hani«' reason.*

At tiniCH lie was painted with a hu'^(> hat and flowing
rohc, and was then called "I'\ifher of tin; Sons of tlie
Clouds," that is, of tlio rain dro|)s.''

These various rcprcs(!ntations <h>ul)tlcss roferreil to hitn
at tlifli'rent parts of Ids eh(.'(iuor(Hl <'areer, and as a jfod
inider ditlbrent manifestations of his divino nature. The
religious art of the Aztecs <lid not <Icniand any uniformity
in this resjiect.

§ 5. The Reluni of Quclzalinntl.

Quetzalcoatl was gone.

WJKsthor li(! had removed to the palace prejjarod for him
in Tlapallan, whether he had floated out to sea on his
wizard raft of serpent skins, or whether his hody had heen
hurnitd on th(> sandy sea strand and his soul had mounted
to the morning star, the wise men were not agree<l. But
on (UK! point there was unanimity. C^uetzalcoMtl was gone;
hut he wouhl return.

In his own good time, in the sign of his year, when the

ages were ri|)e, otice more he wouUl come from the east,

surrounded by his fair-faced retinue, and resume the sway

him as "(lobelia figiim." Hinlon'a C/iichimern, cap. viii. He was
oocusioiiully icpresciittMl witii his l'ac<' paiiiti-d Itlack, iuoljuljly c.viiriiss-
ing tht; sun in its abs(!iic('.

' Ht; is HO portruyeil in the Codox Vatiranus. and Ixtlilxdcliitl says,
" fuhicsc el caliiilli) li'vaiitado dt'sdn la frcntc hasta lu mica conio a
inaneia do pona(;lio." Hixtoria C/i'c/iimrcti, cap. viii.

^ Diego Duran, Ilistoria, in Kingaborough, viii, p. 267.

134 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

of his people and their dcsr-eiulants. Tezcatlipoca had oon-
«|uered, but not for aye. The immutable laws which had
fixed the destruction of Tollan assigned likewise its restora-
tion. Such was the universal belief among the Aztec race.

For this reason Quctzalcoatl's statue, or one of them,
was in a reclining position and covered with wrappings,
signifying that he was absent, "as of one who lays him'
down to sleep, and that when he should awake from that
dream of absence, he should rise to rule again the land."^

He was not dead. He had inneed built mansions un-
derground, to the Ijord of Mictlan, the abode of the dead,
the place of darkness, but he himself did not occupy them.*
Where he passed his time was where the siui stays at night. .
As this, too, is somewhere beneath the level of lie earth,
it was occasionally spoken of as TUUapa, The Murky
Land,* and allied therefore to Mictlan. Caverns led down
to it, especially one south of Cuapultepec, called Cincalco,
" To the Abode of Abundance," through whose gloomy
corridors one could reach the habitation of the sun and the
happy land still governed by Quetzalcoatl and his lieuten-'
ant Totec*

1 Torqueniada, Monarqnia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. So in
Ef^yptian mythology Turn was called "the concealed or imprisoned
god, in a jihysical sense the Sun-god in the darkness of night, not
revealing himself, but alive, nevertheless." Tiele, History of the
Egyptian Bdigion, p. 77.

^ Sahagun, Ilistoria, Lib. iii. cap. ult.

^ Mei.dieta, Hist. Ecltsiast. Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. v. The name
is from tlilli, something dark, obscure.

* Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ix ; Duran, Historia, cap. ixviii ;
Tezozomoc, Cron. Mexicana, cap. ciix. Sahagun and Ttzozomoc

TLAPALLAN, NEW AND OLD.

135

But the real and proper luimos of that land were
Tlapallan, the Red Laud, and Tizapan, the Wiiite Land, for
either of the>«e colors is that of the sun-light.^

It was generally understood to be the same land whence
he and the Toltecs had come forth in ancient times ; or if
not actually the same, nevertheless, very similar to it.
While tiie myth refers to the latter as Tlapallan, it speaks
of the former afe Huey Tlapallan, Old Tlapallan, or the
first Tlapallan. But Old Tlapallan was usually located to
the West, where the sun disappears at night ;'^ while New
Tlapallan, the goal of Quetzalcoatl's journey, was in the
East, where the day-orb rises in the morning. The
relationship is obvious, and is based on the similarity of
the morning and the evening skies, the heavens at sunset
and at sunrise.

In his capacity as master of arts, and, at the same
time, ruler of the underground realm, in other words, as
representing in his absence the Sun at night, he was sup-
posed to preside over the schools where the youth were shut
up and severely trained in ascetic lives, previous to coming
forth into the world. In this function he was addressed

give the name Cincalco, To the House of Maize, i. e., Fertility, Abun-
dance, the Pdradise. Duran gives Cicalco, and transhites it " casa
de la liebre," citli, hare, ealli, house, co locative. But this is, no
doubt, an error, mistaking citli for cintli, maize.

1 Tiznpan from tizatl, white earth or other substance, and jmn, in.
Mendieta, Lib. ii, cap. iv.

^ " Haitlapalan, que es la que ill presente llaman de Cortes, que por
parecer vermeja le pusieron el ntiaibre referido." Alva L\tlilxochitl,
Mistoria Chichimeca, Cap. ii.

136 AMEIirCAN HERO-MYTHS.

as Quclzalcoatl TlilpoUmqui^ tlie Dark or Black I'lmnecl,
!1ik1 the child, on atliuittanee, was painted this color, and
blood drawn from his ears and ottered to the god.^
Probably for the same reason, in many picture writings,
both iiis face and body were blackened.

It is at first sij^ht singular to find his character and
symbols thus in a sense reversed, but it would not be difficult
to quote similar instances from Aryan and Egyptian
mythology. The sun at night was often considered to be
the ruler of the realm of the dead, and became associated
with its gloomy symbolism.

Wherever he was, (^uetzalcoatl was expected to return
and resume the sceptre of sovereignty, which he had laid
down at the instigation of Tezcatlipoca. In what cycle he
would apj)ear the sages knew not, but the year of the cycle
was predicted by himself of old.

Here appears an extraordinary coincidence. The sign
of the year of Quetzalcoatl was, as I have said. One Reed,
Ce Acatl. In the Mexican calendar this recurs only once
in their cycle of fifty-two years. The myth ran that on
some recurrence of this year his arrival was to take place.
The year 1519 of the Christian era was the year One Reed,
and in that year Hernan Cortes landed his army on
Mexican soil !

The approach of the year had, as usual, revived the old
superstition, and ])Ossibly some vague rumors from Yucatan
or the Islands had intensified the dread with which the

^ Sahagun, Lib. iii, Append, cap. vii. and cf. Lib. i, cap v. The
surname is from tlilli, black, and potonia, " emplumar i'l otro."

THE LAND OF HUEMAC.

137

Mcxican emperor contemplated the possible loss of his
sovereignty. Omens were reported in the sky, on earth
and in the waters. Tlie sages and diviners vv^ere consulted,
but their answers were darker than Am ignorance they were
asked to dispel. Yes, they agreed, a change is to come,
the present order of things will be swept away, perhaps by
Quetzalcoatl, ])erhap8 by hideous beings with facei of
serpents', who walk with one foot, whose heads are in their
breasts, wliose huge hands serve as sun shades, and who can
fold themselves in their immense ears.^

liittle satisfied with these grotesque ])ropheoies the
monarch summoned his dwarfs and hunchbacsks — a class of
dependents he maintained in imitation of Quetzalcoatl —
and ordered them to proceed to the sacred Cave of
Cincalco.

" Enter its darknes," he said, " without fear. There you

will find him who ages ago lived in Tula, who calls himself

Huemac, the (Ireat Hand.^ If one enters, he dies indeed,

but only to be born to an eternal life in a land where food and

wine are in perennial plenty. It is shady with trees, tilled

with fruit, gay with flowers, and those who dwell there

know nought but joy. Huemac is king of that land, and

he who lives with him is ever hapi)y."

^ The nanios of those inystorious beings are given by Tezozomoc as
Tezocuili/ori'pic, Zenteicxiqne and Cnjii/xiques. Croiiica M<ixicaiia,
caps, cvoi and cix.

^ Huemac, as I have already said, is stated by Saliagun to have been
the war chief of Tula, as Quetzalcoatl was the sacerdotal head (Lib.
Ill, cap. v). But Duran and moat writers state that it was simply
another name of Quetzalcoatl.

138 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

Tiie dwarfs and hunchbacks departed on their mission,
under tlie guidance of the priests. After a time they
returned and reported that they had entered the cave and
reached a phice where four roads met. They chose that
which descended most rapidly, and so' n were accosted by
an old man with a staff in his hand. This was Totec,
who led them to his lord Huemac, to whom they stilted
the wish of Montezuma for definite information. The
reply was vague and threatening, and though twice after-
wards the emperor sent other embassies, only ominous and
obscure announcements were returned by the priests.^

Clearly they preferi'ed to be prophets of evil, and quite
possibly they themselves were the slaves of gloomy fore-
bodings.

Dissatisfied with their reports, Montezuma determined to
visit the underground i aim himself, and by penetrating
through the cave of Cincalco to reach the mysterious land
where his attendants and priests professed to have been.
For obvious reasons such a suggestion was not palatable to
them, and they succeeded in persuading him to renounce
the plan, and their deceptions remained undiscovered.

Their idle tales brought no r lief to the anxious monarch,

and at length, when his artists showed him pictures of the

bearded Spaniards and strings of glittering beads from

Cortes, the emperor could doubt no longer, and exclaimed :

^ Tezozomoc, Crordca Mexicana, caps, cviii, cix; Snhagun, Historia,
Lib. XII, cap. ix. The four roads which met one on the journey to
the Under World are also described in the Popol Vuh, p. 83. Each is
of a different color, and only one is safe to follow.

MONTEZUMA'S ADDRESS.

139

"Truly tliis is the Quetzalooatl wo expeoto<l, ho who lived
with us of old in Tula. • Undoubtedly it is he, Ce Acatl
Inacuil, the god of One Reed, who rs journeying."^

On his very first intet-view with Cortes, he addressed
him through the interpreter Marina in remarkable words
which have I ^en preserved to us by the Spanish conqueror
himself. Cortes writes : —

"Having delivered me the presents, he seated himself
next to me and spoke as follows : —

" ' We have known for a long time, by the writings
handed down by our forefathers, that neither I nor any who
inhabit this land are natives of it, but foreigners who cc.me
here from remote parts. We also know that we wore led
here by a ruler, whose subjects we all were, who returned
to his country, and after a long time came here again and
wished to take his people away. But they had married
wives and built houses, and they would neither go with
him nor recognize him as their king; therefore he went
back. We have ever believed that those who were of his
lineage would some time come and claim this land as his,
and us as his vassals. From the direction whence you
come, which is where the sun rises, and from what you tell
me of this great lord who sent you, we believe and think
it certain that he is our natural ruler, especially since you
say that for a long time he has known about us. There-
fore you may feel certain that we shall obey you, and shall
respect you as holding the place of that great lord ; and in
^ Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, cap. cviii.

140 AMERICAN HKRO-MYTTIS.

all the land 1 rule you may fjjive what orders you wish, and
they shall be obeyed, and everyUiiug we have shall be put
at your service. And since you are thus in your own
heritage and your own house, take your ease and rest from
the fatigue of the journey and the wars you have had on
the way/ " ^

Such was the extraordinary address with which the
Spaniard, with his handful of men, was received by tlie
most powerful war chief of the American continent.
It confessed cjomplete submission, without a struggle. But
it was the expression of a general sentiment. When the
S[)unisli ships for the first time reached the Mexican shores
the natives kissed their sides and hailed the white and
bearded sti-angors from the east as gods, sons and brothers
of Quetzalcoatl, come back from their celestial home to
claim their own on earth and bring again the days of
Paradise;'^ a hope, dryly observes Father Mendieta, which

^ Corti\s, Carta Segundd, Octobtn- 30tl>, 1520. According to Bt'i-nal
Diaz Monteziima referred to tlio prediction several times. Histovia
Verdadera de la Coiiquista de la Niteva Espaila, cap. i.xxxix, xc.
The words of Montezuma are also given by Father Saliagim, Historia
de Niieva EspaKa, Lib. xii, cap. xvr. The statement of Montezuma
that Quetzalcoatl had already returned, but had not been well rec(;ived
by the people, and had, therefore, left them again, is very interesting.
It is a part of the Quetzalcoatl myth which I have not found in any
oth(>r Aztec source. But it distinctly aj)pears in the Kiche which I shall
quote on a later ]iag(i, and is also in closi.^ parallelism witii the hero-
myths of Yucatan, Peru and elsewhere. It is, to my mind, a strong
evidence of theaccuracy of Marina's translation of Montezuma's words,
and the fidelity of Cortes' memory.

'^ Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ii.

THE 1'IIE.SENTIMKNT EXPLAINED.

141

the poor Indians soon gave up when they came to feel the
acts of their visitors.*

Such presentiments were found scattered through
America. They liave excited tlie suspicion of historians
sind puzzled anticpiaries to explain. But their interpre-
tation is simple enough. The primitive myth of the sun
which had sunk but should rise again, luid ii. the lapse of
time lost its peculiarly religious sense, and had been in
part taken to refer to piist historical events. The Light-( f od
had become merged in the divine culture hero. He it was
who was believed to have gone away, not to die, for he was
immortal, but to dwell in the distant east, whence in the
fullness of time he would return.

This was why ^[ontezuma and his sub)e(!ts received the
whites as expected guests, and ([uoted to theni prophecies
of their coming. The Mayas of Yucatan, the Muyscas of
Bogota, the Q([uichuas of Peru, all did the same, and all
on the same grounds — the confident hope of the return of
the Light-God from the uiuhir world.

This hope is an integral part of this great Myth of
liight, in whatever part of the world we find it. Osiris,
though murderc "^ and his body cast into " the unclean
sea," will come again from the eastern shores. Balder,
slain by the wiles of Loki, is not dead forever, but at the

^ " Los Indioa siempre esperaron que se habia de cumplir aquellu
profecia y cuaudo vieron veiiir a lus cristianos liiiigo los Uamaron
dioses, liijos, y hermanos do Quetzalooatl, aunque despiies (]ue
conocioron y experimL'iitaron sus obras, no los tuvieroii i)or
celcstiales." Hisloria Eclcsiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. x.

142 AMERICAN HEIlO-AfYTIIS.

appointed time will iij)pear uj^siin in nobler majesty. So in

her divine fury singH the prophetess of the Voluspa: —

•'Shall arise a Hccond timo,
Earth from ocean, green and fair,
The waters (!l>l), the eagles fly,
Snatch the fish from out the Hood.

" Once again the wondrous runes,
(lolden tablets, shall be found;
Mystic runes by yEsir carved,
Gods who ruled Fiolnir's line.

"Then shall fields nnseeded bear,
111 shall tiee, and Balder come,
Dwell in Odin's highest hall.
He and all the hapjiy gods.

" Outshines the sun that mighty hall,
Glitters gold on heaven's hill ;
There shall' god-like princes dwell.
And rule for aye a happy world."

CHAPTER IV.

THE 1IKIU)-<}C)DH OF TIIK MAYAS.

Civilization- ok tmk Mayah— WHEwrn it Okkjixated— Duplicate
TiuurnoNS.

§ 1. The Cult are Ifero Itzamna.

ItZAMNA am IlrLRR, PlllKST AND TkACHER — Ah ClIlEK GoD ANI» CltEATOK

OK THK WoRij) — Lah Casas' Supposei) Chkiht Myth — The Four
Bacabh— It/amna as Loro ok the Winds and Rains— Tmk
Symhol ok the Cross — As Lord ok the Light and Day— Deriva-
tion OK His Variois Nam eh.

'i 2. The Culture Hero Kuknlcan.
KuKULCAN AS Connected with the Calendar — Meanino ok the
Name— Thk Myth ok the Foir Hrotmeks — Kikulcan's Haim-y
Ri'LE and Miraci'locs Disai'I'earance — Relation to Quet-
ZALcoATL— Aztec and Maya Mytholooy — Kukulcan a Maya
Divinity — The Expected Return ok the Herooobs— The Maya
Prophecies — Their Explanation.

The liigli-water mark of ancient American civilization

was touciied by the Mayas, tlie race wlio inhabited the

peninsnUi of Yncatan and vicinity. Its members extended

to the Pacific coast and included tiie tribes of Vera J*a/,

Guatemala, and parts of Chiapas and Honduras, and had

an outlying branch in the hot lowlands watered by the

River Panuco, north of Vera Cruz. In all, it has been

estimated that they numbered at the time of the Conquest

perhaps two million souls. To them are due the vast

structures of Copan, Palenque and Uxmal, and they alone

possessed a mode of writing which rested distinctly on a

phonetic basis.

The zenith of their prosperity had, however, been passed

143

144 AMERICAN HKRO-MYTIIS.

u century lu'loru tlie S|miiiMli coiKiucrorH invaded their
soil. A luij^e part of the peninsuhi of Yucatan had been
for generations rnh'd in peace by aconfe(h'ralion of wev(.'ral
tribes, whose capital city wan Mayapan, ten leagucH south
of where Merithi uow stands, and whose ruins still cover
many iiundred acres of the plain. Somewhere about the
year 1440 there was a general revolt of the eastern prov-
inces ; Mayai)an itself was assaulted and destroyed, and the
Peninsula was divided among a number of petty (ihicftains.

Such was its political condition at the time of the dis-
covery. There were numerous populous cities, well built
of stone and mortar, but their inhabitants were at war with
each other and devoid of unity of j)urpose.' llciice they
fell a comparatively easy prey to the con([uistadors.

Whence came this civilization? Was it an ollshoot of
that of the Aztecs? Or did it produce the latter ?

These interesting (pieations I cannot disiuiss in full at
this time. All that concerns my present purpose is to
treat of them so far as they are connected with the myth-
ology of the race. Inciilentally, however, this will throw
some light on these obscure points, and at any rate enable
us to dismiss certain prevalent assumptions as erroneous.

One of these is the notion that the Toltccs were the

' Franci.sco tk' Muntejo, who was tlie lirst to iixplore Y'iicataii(lo2H),
has It'tt strong toHtiinony to tho majesty ol" its c tios ami the agricultu-
ral industry of its inhai>itaiits. He writes to tho King, in lh(i report of
his oxpodition : " La tierra us may pobladu y do muy grandes oiuda-
des y villas nuiy frcscas. Todos los pueblos son una luicrta do fru-
tales." Carta a su Magesfafl, 13 Ahril, 1529, in the Coleccioit de
Doeumentos Iiitditos del Archico de ladias, Tom. xui.

MYTIIH OF YUCATAN'.

146

orij^iimtorH of Viicadiii <'iilturt'. I liopr I Imvn miid
onon^li ill the previous elmptfr to exorciw piTiiuuMintly
frotii imcicnt American history these purely itnaj;;in:iry
iK'inf^s. 'J'hey hav«' servcul lon^ enou;;h as the; hist refuge
of ij;'Moranee.

Let HH rather Ji»k what vceoniits the Mayas themselves
gave of th(! origin of thcMr arts and their anci'stors.

Most nnfortnnately very moagrc! sonrees of information
are open to us. \ve have no Sahagun to rejjort to us the
traditioiiH and prayers of this strange people. Only fnig-
ir> -ntH of their legends and hints of their history have l)een
saved, almost by aeeident, from the genenil wreck of their
civilization. From these, however, it is possibh' to piec(!
together enough to give us a glimpse of their original form,
an<l we shall llnd it not unlike those we have already
reviewed.

There appear to have been two distinct (ycles of myths
in Yucatan, the jst ancient and general that relating to
Itzamna, the se(!ond, of later date and different origin,
referring to Kukulcan. It is barely possible that these
may be different versions of tlie same; but certaiidy they
were regarded as distinct by the natives at and long before
the time of the Concjucst.

This is seen in the account they gave of (heir origin.
They did not pretend to be autochthoncjus, but claimed
that their ancestors came from distant regions, in two bands.
The largest and most ancient immigration was from the
East, across, or rather through, the ocean — for the go* had

110 AMEnrCAV FIKUO-MYTIIH.

opened twolvc piitliM tliruii;;Ii it — jiml this was <'on(lii('t«Ml
\>y till! inytliiciil civili/cr rt/ainii<t. The Hocopd hsiiul, h'HM
in luiinbor and hitcr in tiniu, carno in i'rovi tliu WcHt, and
with tlieni .wan Kni<nlnMi. The fV/iuier was called the
(treat Arrival ; the latter, tlie Less Aiiival.'
§ 1. T/iv Cu/lurr Hern, Itmmw't.

To tins ancient leader, Itzaniiia, tiie nation alluded as
their f;uide, instructor and eivili/er. It was he who gave
names to all the rivers and divisions of land ; he was tlu'lr
first priest, and tau<j,lit theui the proper rites wherewith to
please the ginls and appease their ill-will ; ho v/as the
patron of the healers and diviners, and litid disclosed to
theru the mysterious virtues of plants ; In the month Uo
thev assembled and nuule new fire and burned to him
incense, and having cleansed their books with water drawn
from a fountaiii from which no woman had ever drunk, the
most learned of the sages o[)eiied the volumes to forecast
the character of the coming year.

It was It/amuii who first invented the characters or
letters in which the Mavas wrote their numerous books,

^ Cogolludo cotitnuliots liinisclf in dcscribiiif,' tlui.so evoiitH ; saying
first that tiie grciitcr biuid caiiic tVom tin; WoHt, but later in tho f-anie
chapter corrects liiuisclf, and criticizes Father Lizana lor having
comiuitted the same trror. Cogolludo's authority was the original
MSS. of (Tas|)ar Antonio, an educated native, of royal linea».'e, who
wrote in IGS'J. llisloriade Yucatan, Jiib. iv, caps, iii, iv. Lizana gives
the names of these arrivals as iVb/t/j/a/ r '^''"dal. These words are
badly nuitihited. They should rear" nd {noh, great, cniel,

descent, arrival) and jea, emel A), Landa sujiiiorts tho

position of Cogolhido. Itelacio t'osas de Vncatan, p. 2S. It

is he who speaks of the " doce Ov lOS per el mar."

ITZAMNA AH IMI-Klt.

147

and wliicli tliey carved in such pr«tfiisi(»n on the Htonc and
wood of their edili(;eH. \lv also devised their cah iidar, one
nior(> |)ert'e(;t oven tliaii that of the MexicauH, though in ii
genera! way siiuihir to it.'

Ah eity-l)uil(hM' and Icing, iii-* history is intimately
asH(>(;iated with the noble edifices of Itzanml, which he laid
out and construeted, and over which he ruled, enacting wise
laws and extending the power and happiness of his people
for an indefinite j>eriod.

Thus Itzanuia, regarded jis ruler, priest and teacher, was,
no doid)t, spoken of as an historical j)ersonage, and is so put
down by various historians, even to the most recent." But
another form in which he appears jwoves him to have been
an incarnation of deity, and carries his history from earth
to heaven. This is shown in the very earliest account we
have of the Maya mythology.

' Tlie iiutlioritiusoii thisphiiHO ot'ItzaniMa's flmriictorarf Cogolliido,
Ilislorid dc Viicatun^ lAh. iv, cup. iii ; Lantlii, ('usasde )'ucaltiH, p\t.
285, 28!l, and lieltran do Santa Rosa Maria, ^/•<<;(/c/ Idioma Mai/a, p.
10. Till' liitttT has u particularly valuiihlc extract fri)m the now lost
Maya Dictionary of F. Gabriel dc San Uticnavcntura. ''El prinicro
((ue hallo Uih letras de lii Icngua Maya 6 hizo el computo de los anos,
ineses y odadcs, y lo engiifio todo <i los Indios de esta Provincia, t"n6
un Indio llumado Kinchi. tu, y por otro nonibro Tzatnna. Noticia
(|Ui,' dcbonuis a diclio li. F. iabriol, y trae en su Culepino, lit. K. verb.
Kinchnlmu, fol. 390, vuult."

' Crcscencio Carrillo, Jlisforia Autigua de Yucatan, \). 144,
M6rida, 1881. Though obliged to differ on many points with this
indotatigable archieologi.st, 1 niu.st not omit to suite my ap|)reciati(>n
and respect for his earnest interest in the language and anticpiities
of his country. I know of no other Yucatecan who has equal enthu-
siasm or so just an estimate of the antiquarian riches of his native land.

148 AMERI(L\,N IiERO-MYTHS.

For this account wo are iiulebtcd to the celebrated Las
Casas, l!»e " Vpo.stle of tlie Indians." In 1545 he sent a
certain priest, Francisco Hernandez by name, into the pe-
ninsuhi as a missionary. Hernandez had already traversed
it as cha[)lain to Montejo's expedition, in 1528, and was to
some degree familiar with the Maya tongue. After nearly
a year s{)ent among the natives he fi)rwarded a re[)ort to
Las Casas, in which, among othi matters, he noted a resem-
blance v/hich seemed to exist between the myths recounted
by the ]Maya priests and the Christian dogn^as. They told
him that the highest deity they worshiped was Izona,
who had made men and all things. To him was born a son,
named Bacab or Bacabab, by a virgin, Chibilias, whose
jiiother Avas Ix(thel. Bacab was slain by a certain P]opuco,
on t'.ie day called / ;.t, but after three days rose from the
(lead and ascended into heaven. The Holy Ghost was
represented by I'johuac, who furnished the world with all
things nt^cessary to man's life and comfort. Asked what
Bacab meant, they replied, "the Son of the Great Father,"
and Echuac they translated by " the merchant." ^

This is the story that a modern writer says, " ought to

be repudiated without question."" But I think not. It is

not difficult to restore these names to their correct forms,

and then the fancied resemblance to Christian theology

disappears, while the (iharacter of the original myth becomes

apparent.

^ Las Casas, Ilistoria Apologetica dc las Indias Occidentalen, cap.
<'xxni.

'^ John T. Short, The North Americans of Antiquity, p. 231.

SUPPOSED CHRIST MYTH.

149

Co<>;()llii(l() loiij^ siuce justly construed Izona as a mis-
readiiij^ for Izamna. Bacahab is the plural form of Baeab^
and shows that the sons wore several. We are well
acquainted with the Bacabab. Bishop Landa tells us all
about them. They were four in number, four ;^igantic
brothers, who supported the four tiorners of the heavens,
who blew the four wiuds from the four cardinal points, and
who presided over the four Dominical signs of the Calcui r.
As each year in the Cilendar was supposetl to be under the
influence of one or the other of these brother-', one Bacab
was said to die at the close of the year; and after the
" nameless " or intercidary days had passed the next Baeab
would live; and as each computation of the year began on
the day Imix, which was the third before the close of the
Maya week, this wassaid figuratively to be the day of death
of the Bacab of that year. And whereas three (or four)
days later a new year began, with another Bacab, the one
was said to have died and risen again.

The myth further relates that the Bacabs were sons

of Ix-chel. She was the Goddess of the Rainbow, which

her name signifies. She was likewise believed to be the

guardian of women in childbirth, and one of the patrons of

the art of medicine. The early historians, Roman and

Landa, also ass( i iate her with Itzamna,^ thus verifying

the legend recorded by Hernandez.

^ Fniy Ilicroniuio Roman, De la Itepublica de las Indias Occideii-
tales, Lib. u, cap. xv ; Diego <le Landa, Relacion de las Cusas de
Ynratan, p. 288. Cogolliulo also mentions Ix chel, Ilistoria de
Yucatan, JAh. iv, e-ap. vi. Tlie word in Maya for rainbow is chel or
cheel; ix is the feminine prefix, which also changes the noun from the
inanimate to the animate sense.

150 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

That the Rainbow sliouhl be porsonified as wife of tlie
Liglit-God and mother of the rain-gods, is an idea strictly
in accordance with the course of mythological thonglit in
the red race, and is founded on natural relations too evi-
dent to be Mii8(!onstrued. The rainbow is never seen but
during a shower, and while the sun is shining; hence it is
always associated with these two meteorological j)henonu'na.

I may quote in comparison the rainbow myth of the
Moxos of South America. Tlicy held it to be the wife of
Arama, their god of light, and her duty was to pour the
refreshing rains on the soil parched by the glaring eye of
her mighty spouse. Hence they looked upon hor as
goddess of waters, of trees and plants, and of fertility in
general.^

Or we may take the Muyscas, a cultivated and interest-
ing nation who dwelt on the lofty plateau where Bogota is
situated. Tiiey worshiped the Uiinbow under the name
Ouohaviva and pi.*..ouified it as a goddess, who took i)artic-
ular care of those sick with fevers and of women in childbirth.
She was also closely associated in their myth with their
culture-hero Bochica, the story being that on one occasion,
when an ill-natured divinity had inundated the plain of

'■ Fiibula, ridio'ila adspersum tuperstitione, haljcbaiit de iride. A-
jebant illaiu es.se Araniaiii feniinam, solis coiiju<,'em, cujus officium
sit terras a viro exustas iml)rim»i heiieficio rccreare. Cum (niira vi-
dcrent arcum ilium non nisi pluvio tempore in conspectu venire, et
tunc arborum cacuminil)us velut insidere, persuadebant siiii a(iuaruni
ilium esse Prajsidem, arbores(]ue pruceras omnirs sua in tutela habere."
Franc. Xav., Eder, DcscripUu Piovincioi Moxitanim in Regno Feruano
p. 24'.» (B'ldiB, 1791).

IXCIIEL, THE RAINBOW.

151

B()<;ota, Bocliica appeared to the distressed inhabitants in
company with Cu(;liaviva, and cleavinj^ the mountains with
a blow of his golden sceptre, opened a passage for tlie
waters into the valley below/

As goddess of the fertilizing showers, of growth and life,
it is easily seen how- Ixchel came to be the deity both of
women in childbirth and of the medical art, a Juno Sospita
as well as a Juno Lucina.

The statement is also significant, that the I>acabs were
supposed to be the victims of Ah-puehah, the Despoiler or
Destroyer," though the precise import of that character in
the mythical drama is left uncertain.''

The supj)osed Holy Ghost, Echuac, properly Ah-Kiuic,

Master of tho Market, was the god of the merchants and

the cacao plantations. He formed a triad with two other

gods, Chac, one of the rain gods, and Ilobnel, also a god of

^ E. Uricoecliea, Gramativa de la Lctigua Chibcha, Introd., p. xx.
The similarity of these to the Bihliciil iiccount is not to be attribiitod
to borrowing from the hitter, but .simply that it, as they, are both the
mythological exjiressions of the same natural phenomenon. In Norse
mythology. Freya is the rainbow goddess. She wears the bow as a neck-
lace or girdle. It was hammered out for her '> four dwarfs, the four
winds from the cardinal points, and Odin seeks to get it from her.
Schwartz, Ursprung der Mythologie., S. 117.

^ Eopuco I take to be from the verb piich or puk, to melt, to dis-
solve, to shell corn from the cob, to spoil ; hence puk, spoiled, rotten,
podtida, and possibly ppnch, to Hog, to beat. The prefix ah, signifies
one who practices or is skilled in the action which the verb denotes.

* The mother of the Bacabs is given in the myth as ChihlUas (or
Chibirias, but there is no r in the Maya al|)habet). Cogolludo men-
tions a goddess Ix chebd yax, one of whose functions was to preside
over drawing and painting. The name is from chebel, the brush used
in these arts. But the connection is obscure.

152 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

the food supply. To this triad travelers, on stopping for
the 'li'glit, set on end three stones and placed in front of
thenfi three fla*^ stones, on which in(?ense was burned.
At iheir festival in the month Muan precisely three cups
of native wine (mead) were drained by each person
present.*

TJie descrij)tion of some such rites as these is, no doubt,
what led the worthy Hernandez to suppose that the Mayas
had Trinitarian doctrines. When they said that the god
of the merchants and planters suj)plied the wants of men
and furnished tlie world with desirable things, it was but a
slightly figurative way of stating a simple truth.

The four Bacabs c.cc called by Cogolludo "the gods of
the winds." Each was identified with a particular color
and a <'ertain cardinal point. The first was that of the
South. He was called Hobnil, the Belly; his color was
yellow, which, as tliat of the ripe ears, was regarded as a
favorable and promising hue ; the augury of his year was
propitious, and it was said of him, referring to some myth
now lost, that he had never sinned as had his brothers. He
answered to the day Kan. which was the first of the Ma; a
week of thirteen days.^ The remaining Bacabs were the

^ Landii, Relacioa de las Cosas de Yucatan, pp. 150, 2G0.

2 Landii, Relacion, pp. 208, 211, etc. Hobnil is tlio ordinary word
for belly, stoniach, from hobol, hollow. Figuratively, in these dialects
it meant subsistence, life, as we use in both these senses ihe word
" vitals." Among the Kiches of Guatemala, a tribe of Maya stock,
we find, as terms applied to their highest divinity, u pam ideu, u pam
cah, literally Belly of the Earth, Belly of t\e Sky, meaniisg that by
which earth and sky exist. Popol Vuh, p. 332.

NAMES OF ITZAMNA.

153

Il(!(1, assigned to the East, theWliite, to the North, and the
Bhu'k, to the West, and tlie winds and rains from those
directions were believed to be under the charge of tiiese
giant caryatides.

Their close relation with Ttzamnii is evidenced, not only
in the fragmentary myth preserved by Hernandez, but
(juite ani[)ly in the descriptions of the rites at the close
of each year and in the various festivals during the year,
as narrated by Bishop Landa. Thus at the termina-
tion of the year, along with the sacrifices to the Bacab of
the year were others to Itzarana, either under his surname
Canil, which has various meanings,^ or as Klnich-ahau,
Lord of the Eye of the Day,^ or Yax-ooc-aJimut, the first
to know and hear of events,^ or finally as UaG-mHun-ahau,
Lord of the Wheel of the Months.*

The word bacah means "erected," "set up." ^ It was

^Can, of wliioli the "diU;rminativ»; " form is canil, may mean a
serpent, or tlie j'ellow one, or tlie stron'.' one, or he who gives gifts, or
the converser.

^ Kin, tho day ; ich, eye ; ahau, lord.

* Yax, first ; coc, which means literally deaf, and hence to listen at-
tentively (whence the name Cocomus, for the ancient royal family of
Chichen Itza, an aitpoUation correctly translated " escuchadores")
and ali-niut, master of the news, initt meaning news, good or bad.

■' Uac, the months, is a rare and now obsolete form of the plural of u,
month, ^^Uac, i. e. u, por meses y habla de tiempo pasado." Die-
cionavio Mai/a- Espaflul del Convento de Motul, MS. Metun (Landa,
mitun) is from met, a wheel. The calendars, both in Yucatan and
Mexico, were represented as a wheel.

'The Diccionario Maya del Convento de Motid, MS., the only dic-
tionary in which I find the exact word, translates bacab by '' represen-
taute, juglar, bufon." This is no doubt a late meaning taken from the

154 AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

applied to thv, liacabs beoiuise tlioy were imaj^ined to be
enormous giants, standing like [)illars at the four corners of
tlie earth, snpporthig the heavens. In this sense they were
also called chao, the giants, as the rain senders. They were
also the gods of fertility and abundance, who. watered the
crops, and on whose favor depended the return of the har-
vests. Tliey presided over the streams and wells, and were
the divinities whose might is manifested in the thunder and
lightning, gods of the storms, as well as of the gentle
showers.' The festival to these gods of the harvest was in
the month Mac, whioli occurred in the early sj)ring. lu
this cerenlot^y, Itzamna was also worshiped as the leader of
the liacabs, and an important rite called " the extinction of
the fire " was [Mirfornunl. " The object of thfese sacrifices
and this festival," writes Bishop Landa, "was to secure an
abundance of water for their crops." ^

These four Chac or Bacabab were worshiped under the

scenic representations of th(! supposed doings of the gods in the ritual
ceremonies. The; proper form of the word is uacab or vacab, whicli
the dictionary mentioned renders " cosa que esta en pi6 6 enhiesta
delatite de otra." Tlie cliange from the initial v to b is quite com-
mon, us may be seen by c()m])aring the two letters in Pio Perez's Die-
cinnario de la Leiujiia Mai/a, e, g. balak, the revolution of a wheel,
from ualak, to turn, to revolve.

^ The entries in the Duxionario Maya- Espailol del Concento de
Motul, MS., are as follows: —

" Chaac: gigante, hombre de grande estatura.

" Chaac : fu6 un hombre asi grande que ensefio la agricultura, al cual
tuvieron des]>ues por Dios de los panes, del agua, de los truenos y re-
lampagos. Y asi se dic(', haj chaac, el rayo ; ti Ictuba chaac el rehlm •
pago ; u pec chaac, el trueno," etc.

^ Eelacion, etc,,]3. 2-3b.

THE CROSS SYiMBOL.

155

8yinl)ol of tlie cross, tlic four arms of wliicli reprosoiitcd the
four eartliiuil points. JJotli in lan»j;uage and religions art,
this was reijfarded as a tree. In the ^laya tongue it was
called "the tree of hread," or "the tree of life.'" The
celebrated cross of Palencjue is one of its representations, as
I l)elieve I was the first to j)oint out, and has now been
generally acknowlinlged to be corret^t." There wjis another
such cross, about eight feet high, in a temple on the island of
Cozumel. This was worshiped as " the god of rain," or
more correctly, as the symbol of the four rain gods, the
Biicabs. In periods of drought offerings were made to it
of birds (symbols of the winds) and it was sjjrinkled witli
water. " AVhcn this had been done," adds the historian,
"they felt certain that the rains would ])romptly fall."*'

^ Tlio Miiyii word is nahnmcke, from uah, ori^iiiiilly tlie tortilla or
maizu cako. now tised for i)road gonorally- It is also ciirrtMit in tlie
sense of life (" hi vida en cierta nianera," Diccionario Maya Espuilol
del Convento (Ic Motul, MS.). Che is the generic word for tree. I
cannot lind any particular tree called Tfoinche, Horn was the name
a|)]ilied to a wind instrument, a sort of trumpet. In the Codex
Troano, Plates xxv, xxvii, xxxiv, it is represented in use. The four
Bacabs were i)rol)ably imagined to blow the winds from the four
corners of the earth through such instruuxMits. A similar rciprescnt-
ation is given in the Cmiex Borglauus, Plate xili, in Kingsborough.
As the Chac was the god of bread, Dion dc los jmnes, so the cross was
the tree of bread.

2 See the Mi/ths of the New World, p. 95 (1st ed., Now York,
1808). This explanaticn has since been adopted by Dr. Carl Schultz-
Sellack, altliough he omits to state whence he derived it. Ilis article
is entitled Die Amerikanischen Goiter der Vier Weltgegenden und ihre
Tempeliii Pidenque \n the Zcitsrhrift fur Ethnologie, 187'.). Coinjiare
also Charles Riu, The Palenque Tablet, p. 44 (Washington, 1879).

^ " Al pi6 de aquella misma torre estaba un cercado de piedra y cal,
mny bien lucido y almenado, en medio del cual habia una cruz de cal

15(5 AMKRIf'AN HEIU)-MYTHS.

Vl-M'h of tho four Baeiibs was also culled Acantiin, which
means " a stone act up," such a stone being erected and
))aintcd of the color sacred to tiie cardinal point that the
Jiacal) roprosontcd.^ Some of those stones arc still fonn<l
among the ruins oi' Yucatecan cities, and are to this day
connected by the natives with reproductive signs." It is
probable, however, that actual phallic worship was not
customary in Viiciitan. The B:icabs and Itzanina were
closely related to ideas of fertility and reproduction, indeed,
but it appears to have been especially as gods of the rains,
the harvests, and the food su{)ply generally. The Spanish
writers were eager to discover all the dei)ravity possible in
the religion of the natives, and they certainly would not
have missed such an opportunity for their tirades, had it
existed. As it is, the references to it are not many, and not
clear.

From what I have now jiresented we see that Itzamnd,

tan altii coino die/, palmos, i'l hi ciiiil tenian y adorahan por dios de la
lliivia, porqiK^ (iuaiido no Uovia y liahia falta di; agiia, ibaii a ella on
proctision y may devotos ; ofruscianle codornices sacrificadas por
aplacarlc la ira y onojo eon que ellos tenia o mostraha toner, con la
sangrc do aijiiella simple avozica." Francisco Lopoz de Goniara,
Conqiiista (le Mejico, p. 305 (Ed. Paris, 1852).

^ The feasts of the Bacabs AcantUii are described in Landa's work.
The name he does not explain. I take it to be acaiin, past participle
ofaddl, to erect, and tun, stone. But it may have anotlnir meaning.
The word acan meant wine, or rather, moad, the intoxicating liydromol
the natives manufactured. The god of this drink also bore the name
Acan ("Acan; el Dios del vino que es Baco," Diccionario del
Convento de Motid, MS.). It would be quite approi)riate for the
Bacabs to be gods of wine.

^ Stephens, Travels in Yucatan, Yo\. i, p. 484.

IT/AMNA AH MGHT-GOD.

157

cjiiiie from the distiint east, beyond the oeeiui marge ; tliat
he was the teueher of arts and agrieultur! ; that he, more-
ov(M', as a divinity, rnled the winds and rains, and sent at
his will harvests and prosperity. Can we ideritify him
further with that personiflcytion of Light which, as we
have ah'eady seen, was the dominant figure in other
American mythoh)gie8?

Tliis seems indicated by his names and titles. They were
many, some of which I have already analyzed. That by
which lie was best known was I(zamnd, a word of contested
meaning but which contains th(! same radicals as the
words for the morning and the dawn,' and points to his
identification with the grand central fact at the basis of all
these mythologies, the welcome advent of the light in the
eastern horizon after the gloom of the night.

^ Some have derived Itzainua from i, grandson by ii sou, used only
by a female; zamal, morniiijf, morrow, from zam, before, early,
related to yam, first, whciicf also zamalzam, the dawn, the; aurora;
and lui, inotiier. Without tiic; accent iia means house. Crescencio
Carrillo prefers the derivation from itz, anything that trickles in drops,
as gum from a tree, rain or dew from the sky, milk from teats,
and semen ("leehe de amor," Dice, de MotuU MS.). He says:
" Itzdirma, esto es, roeio diario, 6 sustancia ouotidiana del cielo, es el
mismo norabre del fundador (de Itzamal)." HistoHa Antigua de
Yucatan, p- 145. (M6rida, 1881.) This does not explain the last
syllable, nd, which is always strongly accented. It issaid thatltzamni'i
spoke of himself only in tht; words Itz en caan, "I am that which
trickles from the sky ; "' Itz en tnui/al, " i am that which trickles from
the clouds." This plaiidy refers to his character as a rain god.
Lizana, Ilistoria de Yucatan, Lib. i, cap. 4. If a com[)ound of itz,
atnal, nd, the name, could be translated, '' the milk of the mother of
the morning," or of the dawn, i, e., the dew; while i, zamal, nd
would be "son of the mother of the morning."

15S AMKIIICAN HEUO-MYTIIS.

His next most lVt'(|ucnt title wns hln-ich-ahau, wliii'li
may be tnuishitwl eitlier, " Lord of the Sun's Face,"
or, " The Ijord, the Kyo of the Dixy.*' ' As siu^h lie was
the deity who presided in the Sun's disk and shot forth his
seorclnn^ rays. There was a temple at Itzainal consoeratcd
to him !us Kin-'u'h-kak-mOy " the Eye of the Day, the liird
of Fire."'* In u time of pestilence the people resortetl to
this temple, and at hi<^h noon a sacriliee was spread nj)on
the altar. The moment the sun reached the zenith, a bird
of brilliant plumage, but which, in fact, was nothing else
than a fiery flame shot from the sun, descended and consumed
the oH'cring in the sight of all. At Catni)eehe he had a
temple, as Kin-ich-almu-haban, " the Lord of the Sun's
face, the Hunter,'^ where the rites were sanguinary.'*

Ant)tlier temple at Itzamal was consecrated to him, under

one of his names, Kab'd, He of the Lucky Hand,' and the

^ Cogolliulo, who makes ii (lisliiictioii bctwuoii Kinich-ulmu mid
Itzumiiii [lliat. de I'ncatan, Lib. iv, cap. vni), inny be curreetod by
Luiida and Buenaventura, whom I luivu already quoted.

■* Kin, the sun, the day; ich, the face, but^enerally the eye or eyes ;
kak, fire ; ?no, the brilliunt ])lumuged, sacred bird, tiie am or j^uaca-
nniya, the retl macaw. This was adopted as the title of the ruli'r of
Itzaniul, as we learn from the Chronicle of Ciiichen Itza — "Ho aiiau
puxci u call yaluui ah Itznial Ivinieh Kakmo'' — " In the fifth Age the
town (of Chichen Itza) was destroyed by King Kiiiich Kakmo, o^
Itzannd." El Libra de Ckiliii lialivn <le Chuiiiai/cl, MS.

* CogoUudo, Uistoria de Yucatan, Lib. iv, cap. vm.

' Lizana says: " Se llanui y nombra Kab-ul (jue qiiiere decir mano
ol)radora,'' and all writers have followed him, although no such
meaning can be made out of the name thus written. Tiie jirojjer word
is kabil, which is defined in tlie Diccionario del Conccnto de Motul,
MS., " el que tiene bnena mano para sembrar, 6 para poner colmenas,
etc." Landa also gives this orthography, lielacion, p. 216.

KUKULCAV.

159

sick woro hrought there, a« it was wiid timt lie had <'iirctl
many hy merely toiiclnii^ them. This fane vvaH extremely
popular, and to it pilj^jrima^^cs were made from even Hiieh
remote re^iouH aw Tahnsc^o, (JnatiJinala and ('liiapas. To
nceommodate the pilgrims four paved roads had been
con.struetetl, to tiie North, South, East and West, straight
toward the (luarters of the four winds.

§ 2. The Culture Hero, Kukulcan.

The se(;ond important hero-myth of the Mayas was that
about KuUulcan. This is in no way eonneeted with that
of Itzamna, and is probably later in date, and less national
in character. The first reference to it we also owe to
Father Francisco Hernandez, whom I have already ((uotcd,
and who reported it to Jiishop Las Casas in 1545. His
words clearly indicate that we have here to do with a myth
relating to the formation of the calendar, an oi)inion which
can likewise be supported from other sources.

The natives alfirmed, says Las Casas, that in ancient
times there came to that land twenty men, the chief of
whom was called " Cocolcan," and him they spoke of as
the god of fevers or agues, two of the others as gods of
fishing, another two as the gods of farms and fields, another
was the tlimulcr god, etc. They wore flowing robes and
sandals on their feet, they had long beards, and their heads
were bare. They ordered that the people should confess
and fast, an<l some of the natives fasted on Fridays, because
on that day the god Bacab died ; and the name of that day

100 AMKRK'AN IIERO-MYTIIM.

ill their lun^imj^'; in himix, which they oHpocially honor and
hold ill reverence m.s the day of tlie <lcHth of Hacal).'

In th»» inann<Ti|u of Hernandez, which Laa Casas
had before hira when lie was writing his Apofoffeticnf
Ilislory, tho naincH of all the twenty were given ; bnt
unfortunately for antiquarian research, the good bishop
excuses hitnstilf from (juoting them, on account of their
biirl)arous apjMaraixre. I have little doubt, however, that
hail he done so, we shouM find them to be the names of th'
twenty days of the native cjdenda'" month, 'riiesc are the
visitors who come, one every morning, with flowing rolxjs,
full beard and h:iir, and bring with them our good or bad
luck — wlritever the day brings forth. Hernandez made
the same misUike as <lid Father Franciisco de liobadilla,
when he in(iuired of the Xicaraguaus the names of their
gods, and they gave him those of the twenty days of the
month.' Each day was, indeed, personified by these
nations, and sup[)ose(l to be at once a deity and a date,
favorable or unfavorable to fishing or hunting, planting
or fighting, as the case might be.

Kukulcan seems, therefore, to have stood in the same
relation in Yucatan to the other divinities of the days as
did Votan in Chiaj)a and Quetzaleoatl Ce AcatI inCholula.

His name has usually been supposed to be a compound,
meaning "a serpent adorned with feathers," but there are
no words in the Maya language to justify such a rendering.

' Las Cusas, Histuria Apologetica de las Imlias Occidentales, cap.

CXXIII.

^ Oviedo, Historia General de las Luiias, Lib. xm, cup. iii.

MEANING OP KUKDLCAN.

Ifll

There \a Home vuriutioii in itn (»i'Mi(>^rn|)liy, uiid Uh original
proimiK'iutiuii may poHslhly l>e lont; but it' wo adopt as
(correct the Hpelliiig wiiich 1 have jj;iv('n above, of which,
however, I have nome (h>ul)tH, liicii it meaiiH, •* The (jod
of the Mi^rhty Speeeh.'"

The refereiiee prol)al)Iy was to the fame of this divinity
M an oraele, 08 eonncetcHl with the ealenihir. Hut it is true
that the name couUl witii equal eornsctnesH be transiatHl
" The L' k1, the Mighty Serpent," for can is a homonym
with these and otlier meanin^^s, and we are with(»ut
positive proof whieli wits intended.

To bring Kukuhan into closer rchitions with other
American hero-gods we must turn to tlie locality where he
was espeiMally worshiped, to the traditions of the ancient
and oi)ulent city of Chichen Itza, whose ruins still rank
among the most imposing on the peninsula. The frag-
ments of its chronicles, as preserved to us in the IJooks
of Chilan lialam and by Jiishop Landa, tell us that its

' Elijrio Aiiconii, aft<'r giving tlic iTiidfriiig, " scrpit'iitc iicloriwKhi dt;
liliiiuas,'' iidd.s, '* liii «idi> lopctido por tal iiumoru de otiiuoloyi.stus ipie
tendremos necesidad d(! act'ptarla, aiiiique nos partico iiii poco
violento," Historia de VucaUm, Vol. i, p. 44. Thi; Al)l)6 Hiassfiir,
in hJH Vocabulaire Mai/a, boldly states that kukul nicaiiH " empliiiiiado
6 adi)riiad() con plunias.*' Tliirt ri'ndcrini.' is absoliittjiy witiiuut
autliority, oitlier modern oi* ancient. The word for featliers in Mayu
is kukum; kii/, in coniposition, means "very" or "much," us " kul-
rinic, niuy hombre, hombre de respeto 6 hocho,'" Diecionario de
Motul, MS. Ku is god, divinity. For can see p. 153. Can was and
still is a common surname in Yucatan. (Berendt, Nomhres Pruprkm
en Lcngua Maj/a, MS.)

I should prefer to spell the name Kuknlkan, and have it refer to tht
lirat day of the Maya week, Kan.
11

162 AMEUK AN IIEnO-MYTIIS.

.site wus first settled by four haiuls who canio from the
four ca....iial jioints and wore ruled over by four brothers.
These brothers eliose no wives, but lived chastely and ruled
rijjjhteously, until at a certain time one died or departed,
and two be<ran to act unjustly and were put to death.
The one remaining was Kukuloan. lit; appeased the
strii'e wiiich his brothers' acts had aroused, directed the
minds of the j)eople to the arts of peace, and caused to
be bnilt various important structures. After he had com-
pleted his work in ('lii<^hen Itza, ho founded and named
the great city of Mayapan, destined to be the capital of the
confederacy of the Mayas. In it was built a temple in his
honor, and named for him, as there was one in ('hichen
Itza. These were unlike others in Yucatan, having circu-
lar walls and four doors, directed, presumably, toward the
four cardinal points.'

In gratifying confirmation of the legend, travelers do
actually find in Mayapan and Chichen Itza, and nowhere
else in Yucatan, the ruins of two circular temples with
doors opening toward the cardinal points."'^

Under the beneficent rule of Kukulcan, the nation
enjoyed its hah'yon days of peace and prosperity. The
harvests were abundant and the people turned cheerfully
to their daily duties, to their families and their lords. They
forgot the use of arms, even for the chase, and contenteil
themselves with snares and traps.

^ El Lihro de Chilan Balarn ile Chiunayel, MS. ; Landa, Relacion,
jip. 34-38, and 299 ; Herrera, Historia de las Indias, Dec. iv, Ijib.
X. rap 11.

■^ 8tepln'a.s, Incidents of Travel in Vucatan, Vol. ir, p. 298.

DEPARTURE OF KUKULCAX.

W.l

At length the time drew near for KuUulcan to depart.
He gathered the clilefs together and oxi)oiinded to them liis
laws. From among tluim he chose as his successor a member
of the ancient and wealthy family of the Coeoms. His
arrangements completed, he is said, by some, to have jour-
neyed westward, to Mexico, or to some other spot toward the
sun-setting. But by the people at large he was confidently
* believed to have ascended into the heavens, and there, from
his lofty house, he was supposed to watch over the interests
of his faithful adherents.

Such was the tradition of their mythical hero told by the
Itzas. No wonder that the early missionaries, many of
whom, like Landa, had lived in Mexico and had become
familiar with the story of Quetzah^oatl and his alleged
departure toward the east, identified him with lvukulcan,and
that, following the notion of this assumed identity, luimerous
later writers have framed theories to account for the civili-
zation of ancient Yucatan through colonies of " Toltec "
immigrants.

It can, indeed, be shown beyond doubt that there were
various points of contact between the Aztec and Maya
civilizations. The complex and artificial methr^d of reckon-
ing time Nvas one of these ; certain architectural devices were
others ; a small number of words, probably a hundred all
told, have been borrowed by the one tongue from the other.
Mexican merchants traded with A^uc{itan,and bands of Aztec
warriors with their families, from Tabasco, dwelt in Mayapan
by invitation of its rulers, and after its destruction, settled

JG4 AMERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

in the province of Canul, on the western (ioast, where they
lived strictly separate from tiie Maya-speaking poi)ulation
at the time the Spaniards (;onqnered the country.^

But all this is very far from showing that at any time a
race speaking the Aztec tongue ruled the Peninsula. There
are very strong grounds to deny this. The traditions which
point to a migi'ation from the west or southwest may well
have referred to the depopulation of Palenque, a city which
undoubtedly was a proiluct of Maya architects. The
language of Yucatan is too absolutely dissimilar from the
Nahuall for it ever to have been moulded by leaders of
that race. The details of ^Nlaya civilization are markedly
its own, and show an evolution peculiar to the people and
their surroundings.

How far they borrowed from the fertile mythology of
their Nahuatl visitors is not easily answered. Tiiat the
circular temple in Mayapan, with four doors, specified by
Landa as different from any other in Yucatan, was erected
to Quetzalcoatl, by or because of the Aztec colony there,
may plausd)ly be supposed wlien we recall how peculiarly this
form was devoted to his worship. Again, one of the Maya
chronicles — that translated by Pio Perez and published by
Stephens in his Travels in Yucatan — opens with a distinct
reference to Tula and Xonoal, names inseparable from the
Quetzalcoatl myth. A statue of a sleeping god holding
a vase was disinterre;! by Dr. Le Plongeon atChicheu Itza,

* El Libra de Chilan Balam dc Chumayel, MS. ; Landii, Belacion,
; 64.

THE LORD OF THE VASE.

165

ami it is too entirely similar to others found at Tlaxcala
and near the city of Mexico, for ns to doubt but that they
represented the same dlviri'ty, and tliat the god of rains,
fertility and the harvests.^

Tiie version of the tradition which made Kukulcan
arrive from the West, and at liis disappearance return to
the West — a version quoted by Landa, and which evi-
dently originally referred to the westward course of the
sun, easily led to an identification of him with the Aztec
Quetzalcoatl, by those acquainted with both myths.

Tiic prob;ibility seems to be that Kukulcan was an

original Maya divinity, one of their hero-gods, whose

myth had in it so many similarities to that of (^uetzal-

coatl that the priests of the two nations came to regard

the one as the same as the other. After the destruction of

Mayapan, about the middle of the fifteenth century, when

the Aztec mercenaries were banished to Canul, and the

reigning family (the Xiu) who su|)ported them became

reduced in power, the worship of Kukulcan fell, to some

^ I refer to the statue whicli Dr. LePlongeon was pleased to name
" Chac Mool." See tlie E-iludio acerca de la Eitataa llamada Char,-
Mool 6 rqi tlcfre, b/ Sr. Jesus Sauclisz, in the Anales del Muneo
yanionnl de Mexi.ro, Tom. i. p. 270. There was a divinity worshiped
in Yucatan, caUed Cum-ahau, hn-d of tlie vase, whom the iJiccioiian'o
de Mvtul, MS. terms, " Lucifer, principal de los demuiiios." The
name is also jfiven by Pio Perez in his manuscript dictionary in my
possession, but is omitte<l in the printed copy. As Lucifer, th(! morn-
ing star, was identified with Quetzalcoatl in Mexican mythology, and
as the word cMw, vase, Aztec comitl,h the same in both tongues, there
is good ground to suppose that this lord of the vase, the "prince of
devils," was the god of fertility, connnon to both cults.

IGG AMP:iiICAN HEKO-MYTIIS.

extent, into disfavor. Of tliis wc are informed by Landa,
in an interesting passage.

Pie tells ns that many of the natives believed that
Kukulcan, after his earthly labors, had ascended into
Heaven and become one of their gods. Previous to the
destruction of Mayapan tcmj)leS were built to him, and
he was worshiped throughout the land, but after that
event he was ])aid such honor only in the province of
Mani ^roverned by the Xiu). Nevertheless, in gratitude
^ wnau cognized they owed to him, the kings of

tht .:eighboring provinces sent yearly to Mani, on the
occasion of hfs annual festival, which took place on the
?Gth of the month Xul (November 8th), either four or five
magnificent feather banners. These were placed in his
temple, with appropriate ceremonies, such as fasting, the
burning of incense, dancing, and with simple offerings of
food cooked without salt or pepper, and drink from beans
and gourd seeds. This lasted five nights and five days;
and, adds Bishop Landa, they said, and held it for certain,
that on the last day of the festival Kukulcan himself
descended from Heaven and personally received the sacri-
fices and offerings which were made in his honor. The
celebration itself was called the Festival of the Founder,^
with reference, I suppose, to the alleged founding of the
itities of Mayapan and Chichen Itza by this hero-god.

1 " Llamaban a osta iiesta Chic Kaban;^^ Landa, lielacion, p. 302.
I take it this should read Chiic u Kaba {Chiic; fiindar 6 poblar
alguna cosa, casa, pueblo, etc. Dicdonario de Motul, MS.)

THE MAYA I'ROPUFX'IEB.

ig;

The five days and five sacred banners again bring to mind
the close relation of this with the (iuetzalooatl symbolism.

As Itziimna had disappeared without undergoing the
pains of death, as Kukulcan had risen into the heavens and
thence returned annuilly, though but for a moment, on tht;
last day of the festival in his honor, so it was devoutly
believed by the Mayas that the time would come when the
worship of other gods should be done away with, and these
mighty deities alone demand the adoration of their race.
None of the American nations seems to have been more
given than they to prognostics and prophecies, and of none
other have we so large an amount of this kind of literature
remaining. Some of it has been preserved by the Spanish
missionaries, who used it with good effect for their own
purposes of proselyting ; but that it was not manufactured
by them for this purpose, as some late writers have
thought, is proved by the existence of copies of these
prophecies, made by native writers themselves, at the time
of the Conquest and at dates shortly subsequent.

These prophecies were as obscure and ambiguous as all
successfid prophets are accustomed to make their predic-
tions; but the one point that is clear in them is, that they
distinctly referred to the arrival of white and bearded
strangers from the East, who should control the land and
alter the prevailing religion.^

' Niikiik P(!cli, Cotv'.ixta yetel mapa. 1562 MS. ; El Libra de
Chilun lialam de Muni, 151)5, MS. The former is a history of the
Conquust written in Maya, by a native noble, who was an adult at tlit;
time that M6ricla was founded (1542).-

ins AMERICAN HERO-MYTIIR.

Even tliat portion of tlie Itzas who liud scparjitod from
tlio rest of their nation at the titne of the destruction of
ISIayapan (about 1440-50) and wandered oft' to the far
bouth, to establish a powerful nation around Lake Poten,
carried with them a forewarning that at the "eighth nge"
they sliould be subjected to a white race and have to
embrace their religion ; and, sure enough, when that time
came, and not till then, that is, at the close of the seven-
teenth century of our reckoning, they were driven from
their island homes by Governor Ursua, and their numerous
tem}>les, filled with '<lols, leveled to the soil.^

The ground of fi such i)rophecies was, I have no doubt,
the expected return of the hero-gods, whose myths I have
been recording. Both of them represented in their origi-
nal forms the light of day, which disappears at nightfall
but returns at dawn with unfailing certainty. When the
natural [)henomenon had bexiomc lost in its personification,
this expectiition of a return remained and led the priests,
who more than others retained the recollection of the
ancient forms of the myth, to embrace this expectation in
the prognostics which it was their custom and duty to
pronounce with reference to the future.

^ Juan (Ic Villiifiutiorre Sotonmyor, Ilistoria de la Provincia de el
Ifza, passim (Madrid, 1701).

CHAPTER V.

THE QQUICIIUA HERO-OOD VIIlACOfHA.

V'iRAro(;ji.v AS thk First Cause— His Namk. Im-a Ticoi— Qqiicrua
PiiAYKits — Otiikii Names ani» Titles ok ViiiAconiA— His Woitsmi'

A TlUK, MoNOTIIKlSM — TlIK MvTII OKTUK FoUll MhoTIIKIIS— M YTII OF

THK Twin Biiothkrs,

Viiucot'HA AS TuNAPA, Hk WHO Pkkfk(;ts — Vauious Incidknts IX
His Likk— Rki.ationto MancoCai'ac — Hi;Di8Ari'KAiis intiikWest.

Vikacocma Risks kkom Lakk Titicaca and Joihxkys to thk Wkht —
Dkkivatiox ok His Namk— He was Heimiesexted as White anu
liEAiiuED— The Myth ok Con and Pachacamac — Coxtice Vibaco-
CHA — Pro I'll EC IKS OF the Peruvian Seers — The White Mex Called
ViRACocHAS— Similarities to Aztec Myths,

The most majestic em|)iro on this continent at the time
of its discovery was that of the Incas. It extended along
the Pacific, from tlie parallel of 2° north latitude to 20°
south, and maybe roughly said to have been 1500 miles
in length, with an average width of 400 miles. The
official and principal tongue was the Qquichua, the two
other languages of im|)ortance being the Yunca, spoken by
the coast tribes, and the Aymara, around Lake Titicaca and
south of it. The latter, in phonetics and in many root-
words, betrays a relationship to the Q<iuichua, but a
remote one.

The (^quichuas were a race of considerable cultivation.
They had a developed metrical system, and were especially
fond of the drama. Several specimens of their j)oetical
and dramatic compositions have been preserved, and indi-
cate a correct taste. Altliough they did not possess a

169

170 AMEHICAN HERO-MYTHS.

inotliod of writiiif^, tliey had various mneiuonlc aids, by
wliioh tlioy were enabled to reeull their ver-ses and their
hist()ri(!al traditions.

In the niytliology of the (i<|(iichiias, and apparently also
of the Ayniaras, tiic leading figure is Vinieocha. His august
presence is in one cycle of legends that of Infinite Creator,
the Primal Cause; in another he is the beneficent teacher
and wise ruler; in other words, he too, like (^uetzaleoatl
an<l tlie others whom [ have told about, is at onetime (jod,
at others the incarnation .of (iod.

As the first cause and ground of all things, Viracooha's
distinctive epithet was Ticel, the Cause, the ]5eginning, or
Ilia tied, the Ancient Canse,^ the First Beginning, an
endeavor in words to express the absolute priority of his es-
sence and existence. He it was who had made and moulded
the Sun and endowed it with a portion of his own divinity, to
wit, the glory of its far-shining rays; he had formed the
ISLoon and given her light, and set her in the heavens to
rule over the waters and the winds, over the queens of the
earth and the parturition of women ; and it was still he, the
great Viracocha, who had created the beautiful Chasca, the
Aurora, the Dawn, goddess of al' unspotted maidens like
herself, her who in turn decked the fields and woods with
flowers, whose time was the gloaming and the twilight,

^ " Tied, origen, principio, fundamento, ciraionto, causa. Vila ; to-
do lo que cs antij^uo." Holguin, Vocahvlario dc hi LeiujLHi Qqiiichna
6 del Inga (Ciudatl do ios Ruyos, 1G08). Tlcci is not to bo ooiit'ouuded
with aficsi, ho conquors, from atiai, I conquer, a toriu also occasionally
applied to Viracocha.

ILLA TICCI VIRACOCHA.

IT-

whose mc.sjieni^ors! were the fleecy (!h)ii(ls whieh sail throu<rh
the sky, and who, when she sliakes her chistering huh',
<lroj),s noiselessly pearls of dew on the green grass fields.^

Invisil)le and intiorporeal himself, so, also, were his
messengers (the light-rays), ciilled huamlnca, the faithful
soldiers, and hayhadyjxinti, the shining ones, who conveyed
his decrees to every part."' lie himself was omnipresent,
imparting motion and life, form and existence, to all that
is. Therefore it was, says an old writer, with more than
usual insight into man's moral nature, with more than
usual charity for a persecuted race, tliat when these natives
worshiped some swift river or [)ellucid s[)rlng, son)H
moimtiiin or grove, " it was not that they believed that
some particular divinity was there, or that it was a living
thing, but because they believed that the great God, Ilia
Tieci, had created und placed it there and impressed upon
it some mark of distinction, beyond other objects of its
class, that it might thus bo designated as an appropriate spot
whereat to worship tlie maker of all things; and this is mani-
fest from the prayers they uttered when engaged in adoration,
because they are not addressed to that mountain, or river,
or cave, but to the great Ilia Ticci Viracocha, who, they
believed, lived in the heaveus, and yet was invisibly present
in that sacred object."'

In the prayers for the dead, Ilia Ticci was a[)[)calcd to,
to i)rotect the body, that it should not see corrupticu nor

* Relacion Andni/ina, de los Costumbves Antiguns de los Naturales
lid Pirn, p. 138. 1G15. (Published, Madrid, 187U).

2 Ibid., p. HO. 3 Ibid., p. 147.

172 AMFIUrAN IIKRO-MYTFIH.

become lust in the earth, and tliat iici-lioitld not al low tlie soul
to wander aimlessly in the intinitc spaces, bnt that it should
be condu(;tcd to some secure haven of ciontentnient, whore it
rniirht rei'eive tiie sacrifices and offerings whitih lovinj; hands
laid upon the tomb.^ Were other gods also cjdled upon, it
was that they might intercede with the Huprenu! Divinity
in favor of these petitions of mortals.

To him, likewise, the chief |)rieHtat certain times offered
a child of six years, with a |)r:iyer for the prosperity of the
Inca, in such terms as these : —

**Oh, L')rd, we offer thee this child, in order tliat thou
wilt m:iintain us in comfort, and give us victory in war,
and keep to our Lord, the Inca, his greatness ami his state,
and grant him wisdom that he may govern us righteously."

(^r such a prayer as this was offered up by the assembled
nuiltitude : —

" Oh, Viracocha ever present, Viracocha Cause of All,
Viracocha the Helper, the Ceaseless AVorker, Viracocha
who gives the beginnings, Viracocha who encourages,
Viracocha the always fortunate, Viracocha ever near,
listen to this our prayer, send health, send prosperity to
us thy people." ^

Thus Viracocha was placed above and beyond all otiiei
gods, the essential First Cause, infinite, incorporeal, invis-

ilbid., p. 154.

^ Horreni, Ilistoria de las Iiidias, Doc. v, Lib. iv, cap. i.

■'' Oliristoval de Molina, The Fahles awl Rites of the Inras, p. 29.
Moliiiii jrives tho ori^iiiiil Q^uieluia, tlio translation of whicli is obvi-
ously incomplete, unil I have extended it.

NAMKSJ tH" VIllACOL'HA.

173

ibio, al)ovo the hum, oMur tlmii tlu' hcgiiming, Imt omni-
[)roHent, accesHiblo, iM'tifficont.

Doom this seem too ahstract, too elevated a notion of (Jod
for a race whom we are accustomed to «h;em gross arul
harharic? I cannot help it. Tlie tt.'stinu)ny of tlie earliest
observer-, and the living proof of language, are too strong
to allow (»f doubt. The adjectives which were aj)|)lied to
this tlivinity by the native priests are still on record, and
that they were not a loan from ( 'hristian theology is con-
clusively shown by the fact that the very writers who
preservctl them often did not know their meaning and
translated them iiKmrrectly.

Thus even Garcilasso de la Vegu, himself of the blood
of the Incas, tells us that neither he nor the natives of
that day could translate Ticci} Thus, also, Garcia and
Acosta inform us that Viracocha was surname<l (Juapii,
whi(!h thoy translate "admirable,"' but really it means " he
who accoini)lishesali that ho undertalces, he who is success-
ful in all things;" Molina has preserved the term Vni'iiiKiria,
which means " he who controls or owns all tilings;"
the title Pachayachachi, which the .Si)anish writers render
"Creator," really njcans the "Teacher of the World;"
that of CiujUa signifies "the Ever-present one;" Tanpaca,

* " Dan (los Indios), otro nombre il Dios, que os Tici Viracocha,
que yo no so (juo 8iguifi([ue, ni ellos tampoco." Garcilasso ile la Vega,
Cuinentarios lieales, Lib. ii, cap. ii.

■^ G.ircia, Orujeii da los ladion, Lib. iii, cap. vi ; Acosta, Historia
Natural y Moral de las fndias, fbl. 1!V,> (Barcelona 1591).

* Christoval de Molina, The Fables and Rites of the Incas, Eng.
Trans., p. 6.

174 AMKItlCAN II KUO- MYTHS.

which has been ^ucsscil to ho fho fiuiiu! aa tanipncn, nil
t'uj^le, Ih rwilly a dorivativc of tarijxnii, to hU In jiHlgiiient,
and wiiH a|>|)Iie«l to Virawxfha aH tho final arhitor of tht;
ai'tions and destinies of nmn. Another of his fre(|U(!nt
a|>|K'Ilations for vvhi(!h no explanation has beon oHered,
was Tokay or Tocnpo, proiu^rl^ Tuki(/Kiif.^ It means
" ho who finishes," who <!oniplotes and [»erfects, and
is arjtithotical to 'ficci, he who begins. Thoso two
terms o.\[)res8 tho eternity of divinity ; they convey tlio
saino idea of mastery over time and the things of time, as
<lo thoso words lieard by the pA'angi'Iist in his vision in
the isle called Patmos, " I am Alpha and Omega; 1 am
tho JJcginning and tho End."

Yet another epithet of Viraco<;ha wjis Zapala." It
conveys strongly and positively tho monotheistic idea.
It means " Tho One," or, more strongly, " Tho <^)nly ( )no."

Nor must it be supposed that this monotheism was
uneonscions ; that it was, for example, a form of
" henotheism," where the devotion of the adorer filled his
soul, merely to the forgotfulnoss of other doitie*^ ; or that
it wsis simply the logical law of unity asserting itself, jia
wiLs the case with many of the apparently monotheistic
utterances of the Greek and Roman writers.

^ Mt'lcliior Hernandez, one of the earliest writers, whose works are
now lost, but who is quoted in the lielacion Aii6niina, jrives this name
Tocapu; Christoval de Molina (ubi sup.) spells it Tocapo ; La Vega
Tocay; Molina gives its signification, "the maker."' It is from the
word tnknpay or tucuychani, to finish, complete, perfect.

* Gomara, Historia de las Indiaa, p. 232 (ed. Paris, l852).

A MONf)TIIKlHTir ri l/r.

\7ri

No; the evidciwo is hikjIi that wo arcoUli^fcd to iickuowl-
edgc that the r('lijj;i(»ii ol' I'tTii was u coiiscioiiMly iiumo-
thcistic cult, every whit as much .so uh tliuGrcoU or Itouuui
( 'atholic Churches of ( 'hristcndoni.

Those writers who have called the luca religion a "sun
worship" have Ixxn led astray by 8U[)erH(!ial n'setnhlanccs.
One of the best early autiiorities, Christoval dc Molina,
repeats with emphasis the statement, " They did not
reeognizo the Sun as their Creator, but as crcat«'d by the
Creator," and this <!reator was " not born of woman, but
was unchangeable and eternal." ' For conclusive testiiM)ny
on this point, however, we may turn to an Informnr.ion or
Impiiry as to the ancient belief, instituted in 1571, by order
of* the ' iccroy Don l"'ranoisco de Toledo. The oKlest
Indians, (!8pecially those of nobh- birth, including matjy
descendants of the Inc:is, were assembled at ditlenuit times
and in dinorcnt parts of tlu! country, and carefidlycpicstioned,
through the official interpreter, as to just what the old
religion was. The <[uestions were not leading ones, and the
replies have great uniformity. They all agreed that
N'^iracocha wa,-j worshiped as creator, and as the ever-present
active divinity; he alone answered prayers, and aided in
time of need ; he was the sole efficient god. All [)rayers to
the Sun or to the deceased Incas, or to idols, were ilirected to
them as intercessors only. On this point the statements

' Christoval de Molin.i. The Faldea and Rites of the Incas, pp. 8, 17.
Eng. Trans.

176 AMERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

were most positive.^ The Sun was but one of Viracoclm's
creations, not itself the Creator.

It is singular that historians have continued to repeat 'hat
the Qquichuas adored the Sun as their principal divinity,
in the face of such evidence to the contrary. If this In-
(piiry and its important statements had not been accessible
to them, at any rate they could readily have learned the
same lesson from tlie well known History of Father Josei)h
de Acosta. That author says, and repeats with great
positiveness, that the Sun was in Peru a secondary divinity,
and that the supreme deity, the Creator and ruler of the
world, was Viracocha.'^

Another misapprehension is that these natives worshiped
directly their ancestors. Thus, Mr. Markham writes : "The
Incas worshiped their ancestors, the Pacarina, or fore-
father of the Aylla, or lineage, being idolized as the soul

^ " Ellos solo Viracocha tenian por hacedor de todaa las coaas, y quo
el solo los podia socorrer, y que de todos los deinas los tenian por sus
intercesores, y que ansi los decian ellos en sus oraciones antiguas,
antes que fues' n cristit^nos, y que ansi lo dicen y declaran por cosa
rauy cierta y verdadera." Informacion de las Idolatras de los Incas
i hidins, in the Coleccion de Documeiitos Tneditos del Archivo de
liidias, v^i. XXI, p. 198. Other witnesses said: " Los dichos Ingasy
sus antepasados tenian por criador al solo Viracocha, y que solo los
podia socorrer," id, p. 18-1. "Adoraban a Viracocha por bacedor de
lodas las cosas, como il el sol y a Hachaccuna los adorabrm porque
los tenia por hijos de Viracocha y por cosa niuy allegad'.t, suya," p.
133.

* •' Sientan y cor.fiessan un supremo seiior, y ^lazedor de todo, ai qual
los del Piru iiumavan Viracocha. * * Despue,s del Viracocha, o
supremo Dios, fui^ yes en losinfieles, ol quemascomunmente veneran
y adoran ei sol." Acosta, De la Historia Moral de las Indias, Lib, v.
cap. Ill, IV, (Barcelona, 16&1J.

PERUVr.W ^roXOTIIETSM.

177

or esseiioo of his (ksocjidsints." * But in the Inquiry above
(juoted it is explained tluit the belief, in fact, was that
the soul of the Inca went at death to the |)resenee of the
deity Viracocha, and its enibleni, the acitiial body, carefully
preserved, was paid divine honors in order that the soul
might intercede with Viracot. " for the fulfillment of the
prayers.'

We are compelled, therefore, by the best evidence now
attainable, to adopt the (conclusion that the Inca reli<^ion,
in its purity, deserved the name of monotheism. The
statements of the natives and the terms of their religious
language unite in confirming this opinion.

It is n(>t right to depreciate the force of these facts
simply because we have made up our minds that a pc/ple
in the intellectual stage of the Peruvians could not have
mounted to such a pure air of religion. A prejudgment
of this kind is unworthy of a scientific mind. The evi-
dence is complete that the terms I have quoted did belong-
to the religious language of ancient Peru, "^'^hey express
the conception of divinity which the thinkers of that people
had formed. And whether it is thought to be in keeping
or not with the rest of their development, it is our
bounden duty to accept it, and ex])]ain it as best we can.
Other instances might be quoted, from the religious history
of the old world, where a natiou's insight into the attributes

' Clements 11. Miirkliam. Journal of the. Royal Geographical Society,
1871, p. 21)1. Pacariiia is the present participle of /)afar/;jt, to dawn,
to begin, to be born.

^ Liformacion, etc., p. 209.

178

AilERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

of deity was singularly in advance of their general state of
cultivation. The best thinkers of the Semitic race, for
example, from Moses to Spinoza, have been in this respect
far aliead of their often more generally enlightened Aryan
contemporaries.

The more interesting, in view of this lofty ideal of
divinity they had attained, become the Peruvian myths of
the incarnation of Viracocha, his life and doings as a man
among men.

These myths present themselves in different, but to the
reader who has accomi)anied me thus far, now familiar
forms. Once more we meet the story of the four brothers,
the first of men. They appeared on the earth after it had
been rescued from the primeval waters, and the face of the
land was divided between them. Manco Capac took the
North, Colla the South, Pinahua the West, and the East,
the region whence come the sun and the light, was given to
Tokay or Ti)capa, to Viracocha, under his name of the
Finisher, he who completes and perfects.^

The outlines of this legend are identical with another,

where Viracocha appears under the name of Ayar Cachi.

This was, in its broad outlines, the most general myth, that

which has been handed down by the most numerous

authorities, and which they tell us was taken directly from

the ancient songs of the Indians, as repeated by those who

could recall the days of the Incas Huascar and Atahualpa.'^

^ Garcilasso de la Vega, Cor.ientarios Reales, Lib. i, cap. xviii.

^ "Parece por los cantarea de loa Indios ; * * * afinnaron los

Orejones que qnedaron de los tiempos de Guasnar i de Atalmalpa ;

THE FOUR BROTHERS.

171)

It ran in this wise : In the bet^inning of things then;
appeared on the eiirth four brotliers, whose names were, of
the oldest, Ayar Cachi, which means he who jrivcs lioing,
or who Causes;^ of the youngest, Ayar Manco, and of
the others, Ayar Aucca (the enemy), and Ayar Uclni.
Their father was tlic Sun, and the phice of ''leir birth, or
ratlier of their appearance on ear^.;, was Paccari-tampu,
which means The House of the Morning or tlie Mansion
of the Dawn? In after days a certain cave near Cuzco
was so called, and pointed out as the scene of this moment-
ous event, but we niav well believe that a nobler site than
any the earth affords could be correctly designated.

These brothers were clothed in long and flowing robes,
with short upper garments without sleeves or collar, and
this raiment was worked with marvelous skill, and glittered
and shone like light. They were powerful and proud,
and determined to rule the whole earth, and for this pur-
pose divided it into four parts, the North, the South, the
East, and the West. Hence they were called by the people,

* * * cuentan los Indies del Cuzco mas viejos, etc.," repeats
the historian Herrera, Uistoria de las Indias Occidentales, Dec. v,
Lib. in, cap. vii, vin.

^ " Cachini; dar el ser y hazer que aea ; cachi chiuachic, el autor
y causa de algo." Holguin, Vocahrlario de la Lengva Qi/uichua,
sub voce, cachiptini. The names did'cr little in Herrera (who, how-
ever, omits Uchu), Montosinos, Balboa, Oliva, La Vega and Pacha-
cuti ; I have followed the orthography of the two latter, as both were
native Qquichuas.

^ Holguin {uld suprd,) gives paccaHn, tl e morning, paccarini, to
dawn ; tampu, venta 6 meson.

180

AMKRrCAN HEUO-MYTILS.

Tahxinntin Siiyu Kajxtc, Lords of all four Quarters of the
Eiirth.^

The most powerful of these was Ayar Caelii. He pos-
sessed u sling of gold, and in it a stone with which he could
demolish lofty mountains and hurl aloft to the clouds them-
selves. He gathered together the natives of the country at
I'acari tampu, and accumulated at the House of the Dawn
a great treasure of yellow gold. Like the glittering hoard
whicli we read of in the lay of the TS'ibelung, the treasure
brought with it the destruction of its owner, for his
brothers, envious of the wondrous pile, })ersua(led Ayar
( 'aehi to enter the cave where he kept his hoard, in order to
bring out a certain vase, and also to pray to their father,
the Sun, to aid them to rule their domains. As soon as he
had entered, they stopped the mouth of the cave with huge
stones; and thus rid of him, they set about collecting the
])eople and making a settlement at a certain place called
Tampu quiru (the Teeth of the House).

But they did not know the magical power of their
brother. While they were busy with their plans, what was
their dismay to see Ayar Cachi, freed from the cave, and
with great wings of brilliantly colored feathers, hovering
like a bird in the air over their heads. They expeete<l
swift retribution for their intended fratricide, but instead of
this they heard reassuring words from his lips.

"Have no fear," he said, "I left you in order that the
great empire of the Inaxs might be known to men.

^ Tahnantin, all four, from talma, four; suyu, division, section;
kapac, king.

MYTH OF THE FOUR BROTHERS.

181

T^cavo, therefore, this settlement of Tampii quirii, ami
descend into the Valley of Cuzco, where you slmll found
a famous city, and in it build a sumptuous tenij)le to the
Sun. As for me, I shall remain in the form in which you
see me, and shall dwell in the mountain peak Guanacaurc,
ready to help you, and on that mountain you must huild me
an altar and make to me sacrifices. And the sign that you
shall wear, whereby you shall be feared and respected of
your subjects, is that you shall have your ears pierced, as
are mine," saying which he showed them his ears j)ierced
and carrying large, round plates of gold.

They promised him obedience in all things, and forthwith
built an altar on the mountain Guanacaure, which ever
after was esteemed a most holy place. Here again Ayar
Cachi appeared to them, and bestowed on Ayar Manco the
scarlet fillet which became the perpetual insignia of the
reigning Inca. The renianing brothers were turned into
stone, and Manco, assuming the title of Kapac, King, and
the metaphorical surname of Plrhua, the Granary or
Treasure house, founded the City of Cuzco, married his
four sisters, and became the first of the dynasty of the Incas.
He lived to a great ago, and during the whole of his life
never omitted to pay divine honors to his brothers, and
especially to Ayar (.*achi.

In another myth of the incarnation the infinite Creator
Ticci Viracocha duplicates himself in the twin incarna-
tion of Ymamana Viracocha and Tocapu Viracocha,
names which we have already seen mean " he who has all

182 AMFJMCAN HERO-MYTHS.

tiling;^/' and " lie wlio perfects all tilings" The legend
wiis that these brothers started in the distant Ejist and
journeyed toward the West. The one Avent by way of the
mountains, the other by the paths of the lowlands, and
each on his journey, like Ttzanina in Yucatecan story, gave
names to the places he passed, and also to all trees and
herbs of the field, and to all fruits, and taught the people
which were good for food, which of virtue as me<licines,
and which were poisonous and to be shunned. Thus they
journeyed westward, im[)arting knowledge and doing good
works, until they reached the western ocean, the great Pacific,
whose waves seem to stretch westward into infinity. There,
" having accomplished all they had to do in this world,
they ascended into Heaven," once more to furni j)art of
tlie Infinite Being ; for the venerable authority whom 1
am following is careful to add, most explicitly, that " these
Indians believed for a certainty that neither the Creator
nor his sons were born of woman, but that they all were
unchangeable and eternal." ^

Still more human does Viracocha become in the myth
where he ai)pears under the surnames Tunuj)a and Tari-
paftci. The latter I have already explained to mean He
who Judges, and the former is a synonym of Tocapu, as it is
from the verb ttaniy or ttaniid, and means He who Finishes
completes or perfects, although, like several other of his
names, the significance of this one has up to the present
remained unexplained and lost. The myth has been

^ Christoval de Molina, Fables and Rites of the Incas, p. 6.

THE STORY OF TUNAPA.

183

preserved to us by a native Iiulijin writer, Joan de Santn
Cniz Pacliaouti, wi)o wrote it out Homewlicre about tiie
year lOOO.^

He tells us that at a very remote period, shortly after
the country of Peru had been populated, there came from
Lak(! Titicaca to the tribes an elderly man with flowing
beard and abundant white hair, supporting himself on a
staff and dressed in wide-sj)reading robes. He went among
the people, ctdling them his sons and daughters, relieving
their infirmities and teaiiliing them the precepts of wisdom.

Often, however, he met the fate of so many other wise

teachers, and was rejected and scornfully entreated by those

* lielacion de Aniigucdailes deste Iteyiio del Pirn, por Don Joan de
Siintacniz Puchivciiti Yumiiui, passim. Piicliaci ti rt'liitos the story of
Tunupa as being distinctly the hero-myth of the Qquichuas. He was
also the liero-god of the Aymaras, and about him, says Fatiier Liido-
vico B(;rtonio, "they to tiiis day relate many fables and follies."
Vocalmlario de la Lciigua Aj/mara, s. v. Another name he; l)ore in
Ayraara was Ecaco, which in tltat language moans, as a common
noun, an ing(!nious, sliifty man of many plans (^t;>7o»/o, Vonahidariu,
a. V. ). " Thunnupa," as Bertonio spells it, does not lend itself to any
obvious etymology in Aymara, which is further evidence that the
name was introiUiced from tlie Qquichua. This is by no means a
singular example of the identity of religious thought and terms
between these nations. In comparing the two tongues, M. Alcide
D' Orljigny long since observed : " On retrouve meme i\ pen pr6s un
vingtifeme des mots qui ont evidemment la meme origine, surtout '.eux
qui expriment les i(16es religieuses." Ij Homme Avu'ricain, conmh'r^
sons ses Rapports Pki/shdogiques et Moraux, Tome i, p. 322 (Paris,
183U). This author endeavors to prove that the Qquichua religion
was mainly borrowed from the Aymaras, and of the two he regards
the latter as the senior in civilization. But so far as I have been able
to study the mythology of the Aymaras, which is but very superficially,
on account of the lack of sources, it does not seem to be entitled
to this credit.

184

AMKUICAX IIKKO-MYTIIS.

wlioin lio was striviii;^ to instruct. Swift retribution
sotnotiines fell upon such stiff-nockod listeners. Thus he
once entered the town of Yam(itiesu{)a, the principal place
in the province of the South, and bej;an teaching the
inhabitants; but they heeded him not, and seized him,
and with insult and blows drove him from the town, so
that he had to sleep in the open fields. Thereupon he
cursed their town, and stralji:htway it sank into the earth
with all its inhabitants, and the depression was filled with
water, and all were drowned. To this day it is known as
the lake of Yamquesupa, and all the people about there
well know that what h now a sheet of water was once the
site of a flourishing city.

. At another time he visited Tiahuanaco, where may yet
be seen the colossal ruins of some ancient city, and massive
figures in stone of men and women. In his time this was
a populous mart, its people rich and proud, given to
revelry, to drunkenness and dances. Little they cared for
the words of the preacher, and they treated him with dis-
dai'i. Then he turned upon them his anger, and in an
instnnt the dancers were changed into stone, just as they
stoou, and there they remain to this day, as any one can
see, perpetu'Al warnings not to scorn the words of the wise.
Oi., another occasion he was seized by the people who
dwelt by the great lake of Carapaco, and tied hands and
feet w^ith stout cords, it being their intention to put him to
a cruel death the next day. But very early in the morn-
ing, just at the time of the dawn, a beautiful youth entered

THE ESCAPE OF TUNAPA.

185

.111(1 said, " Fear not, I have come to call you in the name
of the lady who is awaitinj^ yon, that you may go with
her to the i)lace of joys." With that he touched the
fetters on Tunaj)a's litnbH, and the ropes .snapped asunder,
and they went forth untouched by the guards, who stood
around. They descended to the lake shore, and just us
the dawn appeared, Tunapa sj)read his mantle on the
waves, and he and his companion stepping upon it, as upon
a raft, were wafted rapidly away into the rays of the
morning light.

The cautious Pachacuti does not let us into the secret of
this mysterious assignation, either because he did not know
or because he would not disclose the mysteries of his ances-
tral faith. ]5ut I am not so discreet, and I vehemently
suspect that the lady who was awaiting the virtuous
Tunapa, was Chasca, the Dawn Maiden, she of the beauti-
ful hair which distills the dew, and that the place of joys
whither she invited him was the Mansion of the Sky, into
which, daily, the Light-God, at the hour of the morning
tvvih'ght, is ushered by the chaste maiden Aurora.

As the anger of Tunapa was tU'eadful, so his favors were
more than regal. At the close of a day he once reached the
town of* the chief Apotamj)o, otherwise Pacari tampu,
which means the House or Lodgings of the Dawn, where
the festivities of a wedding were in progress. The guest«,
intent upon the pleasures of the hour, listened with small
patience to the words of the old man, but the chief himself
heard them with profound attention and delight. There-

186

AMRRIOAN HERO-MYTHS.

fore, as Tuuapii was leaving ho prewjiited fo the chief, as a
reward for liis hospitality aii<l respeet, the stalV which had
assisted his feeble limbs in many a journey. It was of no
great seomliness, but upon it were inscribed characters of
magic power, and the chief wisely cherished it among his
treasures. It was well lie did, for on the day of tiie birth
of his next child the staff turned irUo fine gold, and that
child was none other than the far-famed Manco Capac,
destined to become the ancestor of the illustrious line of the
Incas, Sons of the Sun, and famous in all countries that it
shines upon; and as for tlu; golden staff, it became, through
all after time until the Spanish coiKjuest, the sci|)trc of
the Iiicas and the sign of their sovereignty, the faniousand
sacred lapa yauri, the royal wand.*

It became, indeed, to Manco C'apac a mentor and guide.
His father and mother having died, he started out with his
brothers and sisters, seven brothers and seven sisters of
them, to seek new lands, taking this stalf in his hand.
Like the seven brothers who, in Mexican legend, left Aztlan,
the White Land, to found nations and cities, so the brothers
of Manco Capac, leaving Pacari tampu, the Lodgings of the
Dawn, became the sinchi, or heads of various noble houses
and chiefs of tribes in the emj)ire of the Incas. As for
Manco, it is well known that with his golden wand he
journeyed on, overcoming demons and destroying his
enemies, until he reached the mountain over against the

' '* Tupayauri; Electro real, vara insignia real del Inca." Ilolguin,
Vocabvlario de la Lengea Qquichita o del Tnca, s. v.

THE FOUNDING OF CUZCO.

187

spot whoro the city of Cuzoo now Ktnnds. II^tc tho saoro<l
wand Niiiik of its own motion into the curtli, iind iNLmco
Cujmc, recoi^nizini; the divino monition, name*! the moim-
tain Haiinacmwiy the IMacc of Kcposo. In the valley at
the biiie lie foiuuhid the ^ivat city which he calUnl Cmeo,
the Navel. Its inlial)itants ever afterwards ehissed Iluan-
aeauri a.s one of th(!ir principal deities/

When MaiuM) (.^apae's work was done, he did not die,
like other mortals, bnt rose to heaven, and became the
plan(!t .Iuj)iter, nnder the name Plrmi. From this, accord-
ing to some writers, the country of Pern dcriv^ed its name."

It may fairly be supposed that this founder of the Inca
dynasty was an actual historical personage. I Jut it is
evident that much that is told about him is imagery drawn
from the legend of the Light-God.

And what became of Tunapa ? We left him sailing on his
outspread mantle, into the light of the morning, over I^ake
Carapaco. But the legend does not stop there. Where-
ever he went that day, he returned to his toil, and i>ursued
his way down the river Chacainarca till ho reached the
sea. There his fate becomes obscure ; but, adds Pacha-

^ Don Giiviuo Pachecu Zogarni derives Iluiinacaiiri from huduat/a,
to rost oneself, and cayri, lioro ; " c'ent ici quMl faiit so repo.sor."
OUantai, Introd., p. xxv. It wiis distinctly tins hitai'.a^ or sacred
fetish of the Incas, and they wore figuratively said to have descended
from it. Its worship was very prominent in ancient Peru. See the
Informacion de fan Idolatras de los Jncan y Tndios, 1571, previously
(pioted.

2 Tho identification of Manco Capac with the planet Jupiter is
mentioned in the Rdacion Anonima, on the authority of Melchior
Uernaudez.

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188

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS,

cuti, " T undershinfl that he passed by the strait (of Pana-
ma) into the other sea (back toward tlie E;ist). This is
what Is averred by tiie most ancient sa^es of the Inca line,
[por afjucllos inc/Ufi antiquissimos)." We may well believe
he did; for the light of day, which is quenched in the
western ocean, passes back again, by the straits or in some
other way, and appears again the next morning, not in the
West, where we watched its dying rays, but in the E;ist,
where again it is born to pursue its daily and ever recur-
ring journey.

According to another, and also very early account, Vira-
cocha was ])receded by a hjst of attendants, who were
his messengers and soldiers. When lie reached the sea,
I.o and these his followers marched out upon the waves
as if it had been dry land, and disappeared in the West.^

These followers were, like himself, white and bearded.
Just as, in Mexico, the natives attributed the erection of
buildings, the history of which had been lost, to the white
Toltecs, the subjects of Qiietzalcoatl (see above, page 87),
so in Peru various ancient ruins, whose builders had been
lost to memory, were pointed out to the Spaniards as the
work of a white and bearded race who held the country
in ])ossession long before the Incas had founded their

dymusty.'^ T'o explanation in both cases is the same. In

^ Garci'i, Origen de los Tndios, Lib. v, Cap. vu,

^ Speaking of certain " grandes y miiy antiquissinios edificios" on the
river Viiiaque, Cieza de Leon says: '" Pregiiutando a los Indies com -
arcaiioK (jiiien liizo aquella antigualla, rcspouden que otrasgentcs har-
badas y blancas como nosotros: los cuales, rauchos tiempos antes
que ios Ingiis reinase!'., dicen que vinleron a estas partes y liicieron
alii sn murada." La Crdaicadel Peru, cap. lxxxti.

THE BENEFICENT TEACH EU. 189

botli tlic earl}' works of art of unk-iown origin were sup-
posed to be the proiliictions of the personified lij:;ht rays,
which are the source of skill, because they supply the
means indispensable to the aquisitioti of knowledjjje.

The versions of these myths which have been preserved
to us bv Juan de Betnnzos, and the documents on which
the historian Herrera founded his narrative, are in the
main identical with that which I have (pioted from the
narrative of Pachacuti. I shall, however, give that of
Jlerrera, as it has some interesting features.

He tells us that the tnaiitions and songs which the
Indians had received from their remote ancestors related
th *■ in very early times there was a period when there
was no sun, and men lived in darkness. At length, in
answer to their urgent [irayers, the sun emerged from liake
Titicaca, and soon afterwards there came a man from the
south, of fair complexion, large in stature, and of
venerable presence, whose power was boiuidless. He
removed mountains, filled up valleys, caused fountains to
burst from the solid rocks, and gave life to men
and animals. Hence the people called him the " Jiegiu-
niug of all Created Tilings,"' and " Father of the
Sun." Many good works he performed, bringing order
among the people, giving them wise counsel, working
miracles and teaching. He went on his journey toward
the north, but until the latest times they bore his deeds
and person in memory, under the names of Tici Vira-
cocha uud Tuapaca, and elsewhere as Arnava. They

100

AMERICAN HP:U0-MYTIIS.

orected many temples to him, in wliicli they phicetl his
figure and image as described.

Tliey also said that after a certain length of time there
re-ai)peared another like this first one, or else he was the
same, who also gave wise counsel and cured the sick. He
met disfavor, and at one spot the people set about to slay
him, but he (sailed down u])on them fire from heaven,
which burned their village and scorched the mountains
into cinders. Then they threw away their weapons and
begged of him to deliver them from the danger, which he
did.^ He passed on toward the West until he reached the
shore of the sea. There he spread out his mantle, and
seating himself upon it, sailed away and was never seen
again. For this reason, adds the chronicler, " the name
was given to him, Viracocha, which means Foam of the
Sea, thoiijrh afterwards it changed in signification."'"

This leads me to the etymology of the name. It is

confessedly obscure. The translation which Herrera gives,

is that generally offered by the Spanish writers, but it is

not literal. The word uira means fat, and cocha, lake,2ea,

or other large l)ody of witer; therefore, as the genitive

* Tlii? incident is also related b}' Pacbacuti and Betanzos. All
three locate the scene of the event at Carcha, eighteen leagues fr a
Cuzco, where the Canas tribe lived at the Conquest. Pachacuti states
that the cause of the anger of Viracociia was that upon the Sierra
there was the statue of a woman to whom human victims were
sacrificed. If this was the tradition, it wouiu offer another point of
identity with that '>f Quetzalcoatl, who was also said to have forbidden
human sacrifices.

^ Eerrera, Historia dc las Indias Occidentales, Dec. v. Lib. iii,
cap. VI.

MEANING or VIRACOCHA. 191

must 1)0 prefixed in the (iquieluia t(3ngiic, the translation
must be " jjake or Sea of Fat." This was shown by
Garcihisso tie Ja Ve;j;a, in his Royal Comin''.ntariri, and as
he could see no sense or propriety in applying such a term
as "Lake of Grease " to the Supreme Divinity, he rejected
this derivation, and contented himself by saying that the
meaning of the name was totally unknown.^ In this Mr.
Clements R. Markham, who is an authority on Peru-
vian matteio, coincides, though acknowledging that no
other meaning suggests itself.^ I shall not say anything
about the derivations of this name from the Sanskrit,' or
the ancient Egyptian ; ^ these are etymological amusements
with which serious studies have nothing to do.

The first and accepted derivation has been ably and
to my mind successfully defended by probably the most
accomplished Qquichua scholar of our age, Seflor Gavino
Pacheco Zegarra, who, in the introduction to his most ex-
cellent edition of the Drama of Ol/anldi, maintains that
Viracocha, literally "Lake of Fat," was a simile applied to
the frothing, foaming sea, and adds that as a personal name

^ " Donde constii claro no ser nombre compuesto, sino proprio de
aquella faiitasma que dijo Uamarse Viracocha y que erahijo del Sol."
Com. Reales, Lib. v, cap. xxi.

* Introduction to Nairatioes of the Rites and Laws of the Incas, p.

XI.

' " Le nom de Viracocha dont la physionomie sanskrite est si
frappante,"' etc. Desjardins, Le Perou avant la Conqtiele Espagnole,
p. 180 (Paris 186c;,

■'Viracocha "is the II or Ra of the Babylonian monuments, and
thus the Ita of Egypt," etc. Professor John Campbell, Compte- Rendu
du Congrcs International des Am^ricanistes, Vol. i, p. 302 (1875).

102

AMKUrOAN HKUO-MVTIIS.

ill this sii^nificiition it is in entire eonformity with the
genius of the Qqu'ehiia tongue.^

To (|uote h is worils : — " The t vm 1 ition wus that Viraeoclia's
faee was extremely white and bearded. From this his
name was derived, whieh means, taken literally, "Lake of
Fat;' by extension, however, the word means 'Sea-Foam,'
as in the Qquiehna language the foam is called faf, no
doubt on account of its whiteness."

It had Ji double appropriateness in its application to the
hero-god. Not only was he sup()osed in the one myth to
have risen from the waves of Lake Titicaca, and in another
to have appeared when the primeval ocean left the land
dry, but he was universally described its of fair complexion,
a white man. Strange, indeed, it is that these people who
had never seen a member of the white race, should so
persistently have represented their highest gods as of
this hue, and what is more, with the flowing beard and
abundant light hair which is their characteristic.

There is no denying, however, that such is the fact. Did

it depend on legend alone we might, however strong the

consensus of testimony, harbor some doubt about it. But

it does not. The monuments themselves attest it. There

is, indeed, a singular uniformity of statement in the myths.

Viracocha, under any and all his surnames, is always

described as white and bearded, dressed in flowing robes

^ Ollantai, Drameenvers Quechuas, Introd., p. xxxvi (Puris, 1878).
There was a class of diviners in Peru who foretold the future by
inspecting the fat of animals ; they were called Vira-piricuc. Molina,
Fables and liites, p. 13.

THE WHITE CIVILIZER. 193

and of iinposing mien. His robes wore also wliite, and
thus he was fit^iired at the entrance of one of his most
celebrated temples, that of Urcos. Plis image at that
place was of a man with a white robe falling to his waist,
and thence to I ' feet; by him, cut in stone, were his birds,
the eagle ai'd the falcon.' So, also, f)u a certaiii occasion
when he was said to have appeared in a dream to one of
the Incas who afterwards adopted his name, he was said to
have come with beard more than a span in length, a.id
clothed in a large and loose mantle, which fell to his feet,
while with his hand he held, by a cord to its neck, some un-
known animal. And thus in after times he was represented
^in j)ainting and statue, by order of that Inca.^

An early writer tells us that the great temple of Cuzco,
which was afterwards chosen for the Cathedral, was
originally that of Ilia Ticci Viracocha. It contained only
one altar, and upon it a marble statue of the god. This is
described as being, "both as to the hair, complexion,
features, raiment and sandals, just as painters represent the
Apostle, Saint Bartholomew.'"

Misled by the statements of the historian Garcilasso de
la Vega, some later writers, among whom I may note the
eminent German traveler Von Tschudi, have supposed
that Viracocha belonged to the historical deities of

^ Cliristoval de Molina, ubi supra, p. 29.

* Garcilasso de la Vega, Conientarios Reales, Lib. iv, cap. xxi.

• lielacion anomma, p. 148.

H 1

•

' ■

194

AMKIJICAN HERO-MYTHS.

Peru, and that his worsliip was of (iompamtively recent
origin.' La A'ega, who rouUl not understand the name of the
divinity, and, moreover, either knew little about the ancient
religion, or else concealed his knowledge (as is shown by
his reiterated stjitement that human sacrifices were un-
known), pretended that Viracocha first came to be honored
through a dream of the Inca who assumed his name.
But the narrative of the occurrence that he himself gives
shows that even at that time the myth was well known
and of great antiquity.^

The statements which he makes on the authority of
Father Bias Valera, that the Inca Tupac Yupanqui
sought to purify the religion of his day by leading it
toward the contemplation of an incorporeal God,' is
l)robably, in the main, correct. It is supported by a
similar account given by Acosta, of the famous Huayna
Capac. Indeed, they read so much alike that they are
probably repetitions of teachings familiar to the nobles
and higher priests. Both Incas maintained that the Sua
could not be the chief god, because he ran daily his accus-
tomed course, like a slave, or an animal that is led. He

1 " Ln principal de ostas Doidades historiciis era Fir«coc/m. * * *
Doasiglus contabu el cultode Viracocha d la llegadadelos Espar">les."
J. Diego do Tschudi, Antiguedades Vcvuanas, pp. IS'J, 160 (Vienna,

1851).

^ Compare the account in Garcilaaso de la Vega, Comeiitarioa
Beales, Lib. ii, caj). iv ; Lib. iv, cap. xxi, xxiii, with that in Acosta,
Historia Natural ij Moral de las Indias, Lib. vi, cap. xxi.

* Comentarios Eeales, Pt. i, Lib. viii, cap. viu.

THE DKITY f'OX. 196

must thcrotbre be the subject of a mightier power than
himself.

We may reasonably supj)osc that these expressions are
proof of a growing sense of th(! attributes of divinity.
They are indications of the evolution of religious thought,
and go to show that the monotheistic ideas which I have
pointed out in the titles and names of the highest God,
were clearly recognized and publicly announced.

Viracoclia was also worshiped under the title Con-tlcci-
Viracncha. Various explanations of the name Con have
been offered. It is not positively certain that it belongs
to the (^(piichua tongue. A myth preserved by (roniara
treats Con as a distinct deity. Me is said to have come
from the north, to have been without bones, muscles or
members, to have the power of running with infinite
swiftness, and to have leveled mountains, filled up valleys^
and deprived the coast plains of rain. At the same time
he is called a son of the Sun and the Moon, and it was
owing to his good will and creative power that men and
women were formed, and maize and fruits given them
upon which to subsist.

Another more powerful god, however, by name Pa-
chacamac, also a sou of the Sun and Moon, and hence
brother to Con, rose up against him and drove him from
the land. The men and women whom Con had formed
were changed by Pachacamac into brutes, and others cre-
ated who were the ancestors of the present race. These he
supplied with what was necessary for their support, and

196

AMEUICAN llERO-MYTIll!;.

tmijilit (hem the arts of war and poace. For tlitw; rca-
soiia thvy vonoratcd him ns a god, and constructed for his
Woishi[) a hiimptiioiiH temple, a league and a half from the
prcHcnt city of Lima.^

This mvth of the conflict of the two brothers is lOo
similar to others I have quoted for its significance to 5'C
mistaken. Unfortunately it has been handed down in ho
fragmentary a condition that it does not seem j)ossible to
assign it its pioper relations to the cycle of Viracocha
legends.

As I have hinted, we are not sure of the meaning of the
name Con, nor whether it is of Qquichua origin. If it is, as
is indeed likely, then we may suppose thatit is a transcription
of the word ccun, which in Qquichua is the third person
singuhir, present indicative, of ccunt, I give. ' Me Gives;"
the Giver, would seem an appropriate name for the first
creator of things. But the myth itself, and the description
of the deity, incorporeal and swift, l)ringer at one time of
the fertilizing rains, at another of the drought, seems to
point unmistakably to a god of the winds. Linguistic
analogy bears this out, for the name given to a whirlwind
or violent wind storm was Conchuy, with an additional
word to signify whether it was one of rain or merely a dust
storm.'' For this reason I think M. Wiener's attempt to

^ Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Hintoria de las Indias, p. 233
(Ed. Paris, 1862),

'^ A whirlwind with rain vf&s paria conchuy {paria, rain), one with
clouds of dust, allpa conchvy (allpa, earth, dust) ; Holguin, Vocab-
vlario Qquichva, a. v. Antay conchuy.

W:^:

PACIIACAMAC. 197

make of Con (or Qqaoim, an he prefers lo spell it) merely
a (li'ity of the rains, is too narrow.'

The lei^(Mi(l would seem to indicate that he was supposed
to have been defeated and quite driven away. IJiit the
study of the nionunients indicates that this was not the <!ase.
One of the most retnarkahle antiquities in Peru is at a place
called Oonenaha, three leagues south of Abancay, on the
road from Cuzco to Lima. M. Leonce An<;rand has
observed that this " was evidently one of the {jjreat relij^ious
centres of the primitive peoples of Peru." Here is found
an enormous block of granite, very curiously carvcsd to
facilitate the dispersion of a licpiid poured on its summit
into varied stnvims and to quaint receptacles. Whether the
li(|uid was the blood of victims, the intoxicating beverage
of the country, or pure water, all of which have been
suggested, we do not positively know, but I am inclined to
believe, with M. Wiener, that it was the last mentioned,
and that it was as the beneficent deity of the rains that Con
was worshiped at this sacred spot. Its name con cacha,
"the Messenger of Con," points to this.*

The words Pacha camac mean "animating" or "giving
life to the world." It is said bv Father Acosta to have
been one of the names of Viracocha,^ and in a sacred song

1 Le Perou et Bolivie, p. 694. (Paris, 1880.)

* These remains ure ciiref'iilly described by Cliarles Wiener, Perou
et Bolide, p. 282, se(|; tVciiu the notes of M. Angrand.liy Desjardins,
Le Perou avaiU la Conqnele Espaf/nole, p. 132; and in a superficial
manner by Squier, Peru, p. 5o5.

^ Uisloria Natural y Moral de las Indias, Lib. v, cap. iii.

1!)8

A M KUK A N in;U( )-M YTHS.

preserved hy GnreiljiMso de la Vepi lie ih nj)j)o:ile<l to by
this title.' The identity of these two divinitieH Heoms,
tlierefore, stifrKuently estiihlished.

The worship of Pachjicamao is asserted hy eompetent
antifiuariiin stiidcnts to have been more extond"d in aiuriiTit
Peru than the ol(h'r liistorians supposed. This is iridicatcil
by tiie many ninains of temples which local tradition
attribute to his worship, and by the customs of the
natives.' For instance, at the birth of a child it was
formally olVcred to him and his protection solicited. On
reaching some.' arduous height the toiling Indian would
address a few words of thanks to Pachacamac ; and the
piles of stones, which were the simple signs of their
gratitude, are still visible in all parts of the country.

This variation of the story of Yiracocha aids lo an
understanding of his niythical purport. The oft-recurring
epithet " Contice Viracocha " shows a close relationship

* Comentitrios Rcales, Lib. h, cap. xxvui.

2 Von Tschudi, who in one p irt of his work maintuins that sun-
worship was tlic provalt'iit religion of Peru, modifies the assertion
C()nsiih'nil)ly in the following passage: " El culto <le Pachacamac so
hallaba mucho mas extendido dt? lo <pie suponen los historiadores ;
y 88 puede sin error aventiirar la opinion de que era la Deidad popu-
lar y acatada por las masas poruanas ; inientras(|U(! la religion del Hoi
era la do la corto, culto (pie, por mas adoptado (pie fuese entre los
Indios, nunca lleg6 (i desarraigar la fe y la devocion al Numen primi-
tive. En effecto, en todas las relaciones de la vida de los Indios, resalta
la profinida veneracion (pie tributavan (i Pachacamac." Aiitiijutda-
dcs Peruanas, p. 149. Inasmuch as elsewhere this author takes pains
to show that the Incas discarded the worship of the Sun, and insti-
tuted in place of it that of Viracocha, the above would seem to dimin-
ish the sphere of Sun-worship very much.

TIIK KXIMXTKI) WHITE CONQUiCUORS. 1D9

betwoeii lii.s clianicter aiul tliut of the (Jiviiiity (Jon. in t'lict,
an identity wlii<!h doserves close ntt<'iition. It is ex-
plained, I believe, by the HUppo.sition that Virae<K'lm was
the Lord of the Wind as w(^ll as of tlie Iii;'lit. liike all
the other light gods, and deities of the cardinal points, h(>
was at the same time the wind from them. VVhat has been
saved from the ancient mytiiology is enough to show this,
bat not enough o al^)w us to reconcile the seeming con-
tradictions which it suggests. Moreover, it nnist be ever
remembered that all ndigions repose on tiontra ctions,
contradictions of fact, of logic, and of statement, so that
we must not seek to force any one of them into consistent
unity of form, even with itself.

I have yet to add another point of similarity between
the myth of Viracocha and those of (^uetzalcoatl, Itzamna
and the others, which I have already narrated. As in
Mexico, Yucatan and el.«fi\'" fjre, so in the realms of the
Incas, the Spaniards fov^nd themselves not lexpected
guests. Here, too. texts of ancient prophecies were (sailed
to mind, words of warning f''om solemn and anti({Ue songs,
foretelling that other Viracochas, men of fair complexion
and flowing beards, would some day come from the Sun,
the father of existent nature, and sul)joct the em|)ire to
their rule. When the great Inca, Iluayna Capac, was on
his death-bed, he recalled these prophecies, and impressed
them upon the mind of his successor, so that when De
Soto, the lieutenant of Pizarro, had his first interview
with the envoy of Atahuallpa, the latter humbly addressed

200

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

Iiini as Viracocha, the great God, son of the Sun, and told
him that it was Huayna Capac's last conimand to pay
homage to the white men when they sliould arrive.*

We need no longer entertain about such statements that
suspicion or incredulity which so many historians Juive
thought it necessary to indulge in. They are too generally
paralleled iii other American hero-myths to leave the
slightest doubt as to their reality, or as to their significance.
They are again tiie expression of the expected return of the
Light-God, after his departure and diHa])|)earance in tiie
western horizon. Modifications of what was originally a
statement of a simple occurrence of daily routine, they
became transmitted in the limbeck of mythology to the
story of the beneficent god of the past, and the premise of
golden days when again he should return to the people
whom ei"stwhile he ruled and taucrht.

The Q(pjichuas expected the return of Viracocha, not
merely us an earthly ruler to govern their nation, but as a
god who, by his divine power, would call the dead to life.
Precisely as in ancient Egypt the literal l)elief in the resur-
rec*;ion of the body led to tiie custom of preserving the
corpses with the most sedulous care, so in Peru the
cadaver was mummied and deposited in the most secret
and inaccessible spots, so that it si^ould remain undisturbed
to the great day of resurrection.

And when was that to l)e?

^ Garcilasso de La Vega, Comentarios Reales, Lib. ix, caps, xiv,
XV ; VAcAa de Leon, Rclacion, MS. in Prescott, Conquest of Peru^
Vol. I, ^.. ol'd. The latter is the second part of Cieza de Leon.

THE RESURRECTION. 201

We are not left in donbt on this point. It was to be
when Viracooha sliould return to earth in his bodily form.
Then he would restore the dead to life, and they should
enjoy the good things of a land far more glorious than this
work-a-day world of ours.^

As at tiie first meeting between the races the name of the
hero-god was applied to the conquering strangers, so to this
day the custom has continued. A recent traveler tells us,
"Among Los IiuUoudd Campo, or Indians of the fields, the
llama herdsmen of tha punas, and the fishermen of the lakes,
the common salutation to strangers of a fair skin and blue
eyes is * Tal-tal Viracooha.'"^ Even if this is used now,
as M. Wiener seeuis to think,' merely ris a servile flattery,
there is no doubt but that at the beginning it was a{)plied
because the white strangers were identified with the white
and bearded hero and his followers of their culture myth,
whose return had been foretold by their priests.

Are we obliged to explain these similarities to the
Mexican tradition by supposing some ancient intercourse
between these peoples, the arrival, for instance, and settle-
ment on the highlands around Lake Titicaca, of some
"Toltec" colony, as has been maintained by such able
writers on Peruvian antiquities as Leonce Angrand and J.

' " Dijeron qiiellos oyeron decir a sus padres y pasados que un Vira-
cooha habia de revolver la tierra, y habia de resucitar esos muertos, y
que estos habian do bibir en esta tierra." Informacion de, las Idtdatras
de los Incas t Indios, in the Coll. de Docs, ineditos del Ardiico' de
Jndias, vol. xxi, p. 152.

' E. G. Squier, Travels in Peru, p. 414.

* C. Wiener, Peroti et Bolivie, p. 717.

202

AMKRICAN HERO-MYTHS.

J. von Tschudi?^ I think not. The great events of
nature, day and nij^ht, storm and sunshine, are everywhere
tiie same, and the impressions they produced on the minds
of this race were the same, whether the scene was in the
forests of the north temperate zone, amid the pahns of tiie
tropics, or on the lofty and barren phiteaux of the Andes.
These impressions found utterance in similar myths, and
were represented in art under similar forms. It is, there-
fore, to the oneness of cause and of racial psychology,
not to ancient migiations, that we must look to explain the
identities of myth and representation that we find between
such widely sundered nati(ms.

' L. Angrarul, Leftre sur les Antiquities de Tiaguanaco et V Origine
presumable de la plus ancienne civilisation du Haut-Ptrou. Extrait
du 24enie vol. do la Reime Generate d' Architecture, 1866. Von
Tschiidi, Dan Ollantadrama, •^. 177-9. Tho latter says : " Dor von
doin Plateau von Anahuac ausgewanderte Stamm verpflanztt; soino
Gosittung und. die Hauptziigo seiner lieligion durch das westliche
Slidainorica, etc."

CHAPTER VI.

THE EXTENSION AXD INFLUENCE OF THE TYPICAL

HERO-MYTH.

The Tvpicai, Mvtii Found in Many Pauts op tfie Continevt —
Difficulties \s TiuriKo it— REM(iious Evoi.utiox ix Amekica
SiMir.AK -i) That in the Old VVoklu— Failu"e of Christianity
IN the Red Race.

The Culture Myth of the Tauascos of Mechoacan — That of the
KicHfjs OF Guatemala— The Votan Myth of the Tzendals of
Chiapas — A Fraoment of a Mixe Myth — The Hero-Ood of

THE MUYSCAS OP NeW GbANADA— Op THE ''^UPI-GUARANAY StEM

op Paraguay and Brazil — Myths of the Dkak op British
America.
Sun Worship ix Ameri(;a— Germs op Progress in American
Religions — Relation of Religion and Morality — The Light-
God A Moral and Beneficent Creation — His Worship was
Elevating— Moral Condition of Native Societies Before the
Conquest — Progress in the Definition of the Idea of God in
Peru, Me.kico, and Yucatan— Erroneous Statements About the
Morals of the Natives— Evolution of their Ethical Prin-
ciples.

In the foregoing chapters I have passed in review the hero-
myths of five nations widely asunder in location, in culture
and in language. I have shown the strange similarity in their
accounts of their mysterious early benefactor and teacher,
and their still more stra^ige, because true, presentiments of
the arrival of pale-faced conquerors from the East.

I have selected these nations because their myths have
been most fully recorded, not that they alone possessed this
striking legend. It is, I repeat, the fundamental myth in the
religious lore of American nations. Not, indeed, that it can

203

201

AMERICAN IIERO-MYTHS.

b^' (liseovorod in all tribes, especially in the amplitude of
iiieident which ic possesses among some. But there are
cotn[)iu'atively few of the native mythologies that do not
betray some of its elements, soaie fragments of it, and,
often enough to justif" us in the supposition that had we
the complete body of their sacred stories, we should find
this one in quite jis defined a form as I have given it.

The student of American mythology, unfortuwaioly,
labors under peculiar disadvantages. NVhen he seeks for his
material, he finds an extraordinary dearth of it. The mis-
sionaries usually refused to preserve the native myths, be-
caused tliey believed them harmful, or at least foolish; while
men of science, who have had sucli o|)portunities, rejected all
those that seemed the least lik<; a Biblical story, as they
suspected them to be modern ai d valueless compositions,
and thus lost the vei/ life of the gvuuine ancient faiths.

A further disadvantage is the sliy-ht attention which has
been paid to the aboriginal American tongues, and the
sad deficiency of material for their study. It i;i now
recognized on all hands that the key of a mythology is to
be found in the language of its believers. As a German
writer remarks, " the formation of the language and the
evolution of the myth go hand in hand."^ We must know

^ " In (lor Sprache herrscht iininer iind erneut sioh stets (li(! similiche
Anschauiing, die vor .Tahrtausonden mit dom glUubigen Sinn vermiihlt
die Mytholo{:jiun schuf, nnd gorade durch sie wird es am klarsten, wie
Sprachenscliiipfunji und mytliologische Entwicklung, der Ansdruck
des Denkens und Glaubons, einst Pland in Hand gegangen." Dr. F.
L.W. Schwartz, I>er Ursprunfj der Mf/tholugie dargelegt an Griechincher
und Deutscker Sage, p. 23 (Berlin, 1860).

IIELKUOUS EVOT.UTION. 205

the language of a tribe, at least we must understand the
grainnuitical construction and have facilities to trace out
the meaning and derivation of names, before we can obtain
any accurate notion of tlie foundation in nature of its
religious beliefs. No convenient generality will help us.

I make these remarks as a sort of apology for the short-
comings of the present study, and especially for the
imperfe(!tions of the fragments I have still to present.
They are, however, sufficiently defined to make it certain
that they belonged to cycles of myths closely akin to those
already given. They will serve to support my thesis that
the seemingly (!onfased and puerile fables of the native
Americans are fuily as worthy the attencion of the student
of human nature as the more poetic narratives of the Veda
or the Edda. The red raaa felt out after God with like
childish gropings as his white brother in Central Asia.
When his course was interrupted, he was pursuing the same
path toward the discovery of truth. In the words of a
thoughtful writer: " In a world wholly separated from
that which it is customary to call the Old World, the
religious evo'aticm of man took place precisely in the same
manner as in those surroundings which produced the
civilization of western B^urope."'

But this religious development of the red man was
violently broken by the forcible imposition of a creed
which he could not understand, and which was not suited

^ Oirard de Rialle, La Mythologie Compav^e, vol. i, p. 363 (Paria,
1878).

206

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

to liis wants, and by the heavy yoke of a prieHthood totally
out of sympathy with his line of progress. What has been
the result? "Has Christianity," asks the writer 1 have
just quoted, "exerted a progressive action on these peoples?
Has it brought them forward, has it aided their natural
evolution? We are obliged to answer, No.'" This sad
re{)ly is repeated by careful observers who have studied
dispassionately the natives in their homes.' The only
difference in the results of the two great divisions of the
Christian world seems to be that on Catholic missions has
followed the debasement, on Protestant missions the
destruction of the race.

It may be objected to this that it was not Christianity,
but its accompaniments, the greedy horde of adventurers,
the profligate traders, the selfish priests, and the unscrupu-
lous officials, that wrought the degradation of the native

1 Girard de RiuUe, ibid, p. 362.

* Those who would convince themselves of this may read the work
of Don Francisco Pimentel, Memoria sobre las Causas que han
originado la Situacioii Actual de la Baza Indigena de Mexico (Mexico,
1804), and that of the Licentiate Apolinur Garcia y Garcia, Jlistoria
de la Guerra de Castas de Yucatan, Prologo (M6rida, 1865), That
t' e Indians of the United States have directly and positively degen-
erated in moral sense as a race, since the introduction of Christianity,
was also very decidedly the opinion of the late Prof. Theodor Waitz, a
most competent ethnologist. See Die Indianer Nordamerica^s. Eine
Studie, von Theodor Waitz, p. 39, etc. (Leipzig, 1865). This opinion
w(is also that of the visiting committee of the Society of Friends who
reported on the Indian Tribes in 1842 ; see the Report of a Visit to
Some of the Tribes of Indians West of the Mississippi Hirer, by John
D. Lang and Samuel Taylor, Jr. (New York, 1848). The language of
this Report is calm, but positive as to the increased moral degradation
of the tribes, as the direct result of contact with the whites.

FAILUUE OP CIIHISTIAMTY. 207

nice. B( it so. Tlien T merely moflify my assertion, l>y
saying that Ciirist'.anity haa shown itself incapable of
controlling its inevitable adjuncts, and that it would have
been better, morally and socially, for the American race
never to have known Christianity at all, than to have
received it on the only terms on which it has been possible
to offer it.

With the more earnestness, therefore, in view of this
acknowledged failure of Christian effort, do I turn to the
native beliefs, and desire to vindicate for them a dignified
position among the faiths which have helped to raise man
above the level of the brute, and inspired him with hope
and ambition for betterment.

For this purpose I shall offer some additional evidence
of the extension of the myth I have set forth, and then
proceed to discuss its influence on the minds of its
believers.

The Tarascos were an interesting nation who lived in
the province of Michoacan, due west of the valley of
Mexico. They were a polished race, speaking a sonorous,
vocalic language, so bold in war that their boast was that
they had never been defeated, and yet their religious rites
were almost bloodless, and their preference was for peace.
The hardy Aztecs had been driven back at every attempt
they vr to conquer Michoacan, but its ruler submitted
himself without a murmur to Cortes, recognizing in him
an opponent of the common enemy, and a warrior of more
than human powers.

208

AMERICAN IILItO-MYTIIS.

Among these Tnrnsoos wc find the wiine lej^ond of a
hero-god who brouglit them out of harhariHin, gave them
hiwH, airaiiged their calendar, \vhi>'h, in jjrineipk's, waH
tlie same as that of the Aztecs and Mayan, and decided on
the form of their government. His name was '/lurifeti or
Ciu'ic<(herls, words wliich, from my limited resources in
that tongue, I am not able to analyze. lie dwelt in the
town Cromuscuaro, which name means the Watch-tower
or Look-out, and the hour in which he gave his instruc-
tions was always at sunrise, just as the orl) of light ap-
peared on the eastern horizon. One of the feasts which he
appointed to be celebrated in liis honor was called ZUneu-
arencuaro, which melodious word is said by the Spanish
missionaries to mean "the resurrection from death." When
to this it is added that he distinctly predicted that a white
race of men should arrive in the country, and that he him-
self should return,* tiis identity with the light-gods of
similar American myths is too manifest to require argument.

The king of the Tarascos was considered merely the
vicegerent of the absent hero-god, and ready to lay down
the sceptre when Curie iberis should return to earth.

* P. Francisco Xavier Alegre, Historia de la Compatlia de Jemis
en la Nueoa Espaita, Torao i, pp. 91, 92 (Mexico, 1811). The
authorities whom Alegre quotes are P. F. Alonso de la Ilea, Cronica
de Mechoacun (Mexico, 1048), and D. Basnleiique, Cronica Je San
Augustin de Mechoacan (Mexico, 1673). I regret tiuit I have been
unable to find either of these books in any library in the United States.
It is a great pity that the student of American history is so often
limited in his investigations in this country, by the laciv of material.
It is sad to think that such an opulent and intelligent land does not
possess a single complete library of its own history.

MYTHS OF THE TAUAHC08. 209

Wc do not know whether the mvth of tlie Four lirotli-
ers prevailed Junoii«^ the Tarnseos; hut there i.'- hanlly a
nation on the continent among whom the number I' our
was more dl.stinetly saered. Th(! kiii<fdom was divided
into four parts (as also among the Itzas, QcjuiehuaH and
numerous other tribes), the four rulers of which constituted,
wi.'i the king, the sacred council of five, in imitation, I
can hardly doul)t, of the herf)-god, and the four deities of
the winds.

The g(xldess of water and the rains, the female
counterpart of Curicaberis, was the goddess Cueravaperi.
"She is named," says the authority I quote, "in all
their fables and spcec^hes. They say that she is the mother
of all the gods of the earth, and that it is she who bestows
the harvests and the germination of seeds." With her ever
went four attendant go(klesses, the personifications of the
rains from the four cardinal points. At the sacred dances,
which were also dramatizations of her supposed action,
these attendants were represented by four priests clad
respectively in white, yellow, red and black, to represent
the four colors of the clouds.^ In other words, she doubt-
less bore the same relation to Curicaberis that Ixchel did
to Itzamna in the mythology of the Mayas, or the rainbow

^ Relacion de las Ceremonias y Kitos, etc., de Mechoacaii, ia the
Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Espatla, vol. liii, pp.
13, 19, 20. This account is anonymous, but was written in the
sixteenth century, by some one familiar with the subject. A handsome
MS. of it, with colored illustrations (these of no great value, however),
is in the Library of Congress, obtained from the collection of the late
Col. Peter Force.

210

AMK!U('AN HEUO-MYTI18.

goddess to Anitna ill the religious Icj^oikIh of the Moxos.'
Slie wjiH tlio divinity timt provided over the rains, and henco
over fertility and the harvests, .st^uiding in intimate rehitioii
to the jijod of the sun's rays and tlie four winds.

The Kiches of (fiiatxiinahi vver*» not distant rehitives of
tlie Mayas of Yucatan, and their mythology lias heen pre-
served to us in a rescript of their national book, the Popol
Vuh. Evidently they had borrowed something from Aztec;
sources, and a flavor of Christian teaching is occasionally
noticeable in this record ; but for all that it is one of the
most valuable we possess on the subject.

It begins by eonnecting the creation of uien and things
with the appearanee of light. In other words, as in so
many mythologies, the history of the world is that of the
day; eaeh begins with a dawn. Thus the Pojml ]''uh
reads : —

"This is how the heaven exists, how the Heart of Heaven
exists, he, the god, whose name is(^al>aiiil."

" His word came in the darkness to the Lor(l,toGucumatz,
and it spoke with the Lord, with Gucumatz."

"They spoke together; they consulted and plannc 1;
they understood; they united in words and plans."

"As they consulted, the day appeared, the white light
came forth, mankind was produced, while thus they held
counsel about the growth of trees and vines, about life and
mankind, in the darkness, in the night (the creation

^ See above, page 160.

MYTHS OF TIIF KIPIIFii. 211

wiiH brought about), hy the Heart of IIj'UVoij, wIiomc iianu'
in Iliirakau."*

JWit the national (Miltuir-hcro of tlic Kiclios scorns to \m\'i'
l)C'<>n XbiilaiKjuf, u iminc \vl)icli lias the litonil meaning,
" liittlc Tiger Deer," and is a symbolical appellation refer-
ring to (lays in their calendar. Altliougii many of his
(lecd-j are reeonnt(!d in the Popnl Vuh, that work does not
furnish us his complete mythical history. From it and
other sources we learn that he was one of the twins sup-
posed to have been born of a virn;in mother in Utatlan,
the central province of the Ki{;hes, to have been the guide
and protector of their nation, and in its interest to have
made a joiu'ncy to the Underworld, in order to revenge
himself on his powerful enemies, its rulers. Ho was suc-
cessful, and having overcome them, he set free the Sun,
which they had seized, and restored to life four hundred
youths whom they had slain, and who, in fact, were the
stars of heaven. On his return, he emerged from the
bowels of the earth and the place of <larkness, at a point
far to the east of Utatlan, at some }>lace located by the
F .ohes near Coban, in Vera Paz, and came again to his
people, looking to be received with fitting honors. JJut
like Viracocha, Quctzalcoatl, and others of these worthies,
the story goes that they treated him with saint courtesy,
and in anger at their ingratitude, he left them forever, in
order to seek a nobler people.

I need not enter into a detailed discussion of this myth,
* Popol Vuh, le Livre Sucre des Quich^n, p. 9 (Paris, 1861).

212

AMKHU'AN IIKItO-MYTIffl.

many points in wliicli are olHciiro, tlu; less so nn I liavo
tn'!if«'<l tliPin at i<'i»^tli in a niono^rapli readily aeeoHHihIo
to tile readi-r wlio would piisli iiin iiKjiiirieH furtlier.
Knoii;;-li if I (|iioto tliu conehisiun to which I tiieru arrive.
It i.H at foIlowH : —

"SnlTlce it to my that tlic iiero-g<M|, whose name is thus
compounded of two signs in the calenchir, who is one of
twins born of a virgin, who performs many surprising
feats of prowess on the earth, who descends into the world
of darkness and seis free the sun, moon and stars to
perform their (hiily and nightly journeys through the
heavens, presents in these and otiier traits nuch numerous
resemblances to the Divinitv of liitjht, tiie Dav-mai<er of
the northern hunting tribes, reappearing in so many
American legends, that I do not hesitate to identify tlie
narrative of Xbalanque and his deeds as but another ver-
sion of this wide-spread, this well-nigh universal myth."*

Few of our hero-myths have given occasion for wilder

8i)eculation than that of Votan. He was the culture

liero of tiie Tzendals, a branch of the Maya race, whose

home was in Chiapas and Tabasco. Even the usually

cautious Humboldt suggested that his name might be a

form of Odin or Buddh?, ! As for more imaginative

writers, they have made not the least difficulty in discover-

ing that it is identical with the Odon of the Tarascos, the

Oton of the Othomis, the Poudan of the East Indian

* The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, Central America, by
Daniel G. Brinton, m. »., iti the Proceedings of the American Philo-
sophical Society for 1881.

THE 8T0UY OK VOTAN. * 213

Tiimuls, tlic Vaudoux of the LouiHiiinji negrooH, etc. All
tliis liiiH hv.i'U <loti(> witiiout liny attempt having I)ccn tna<lu
to iLs<>crtain tlu; procLso meaning and derivatiun lA' the name
Votim. Superficial phonetic similarities have been the
onl; guide.

Wt; tt' not M'«'ll accjuainted with the Votun myth.
It a|»poars to have heen written down some time in the
seventeenth ei^ntury, by a (Christianized native. J lis
manust-ript of five or six folios, in the T/endal tongn«»,
came into the possession of Nuflez de la Vega, JJishop of
Chiapas, about lUDO, and later into the hands of Don
Ramon Ordonez y Aguiar, where it was seen by Dr.
Paul Felix Cabrera, about 1790. What has become of it
is not known.

No completo translation of it was made ; and thi; ex'^^acts
or abstracts given by the authors just named are most
unsatisfactory, and disfigured by ignorance and prejudice.
None of thorn, probably, was familiar with the Tzendal
tongue, especially in its ancient form. What they tell us
runs as follows: —

At aorae indefinitely remote epoch, Votan (!ame from
the far East. Jle was sent by God to divide out and
assiijn to the different races of men the earth on which
they dwell, and to give to each its own language. The
lanil whence ho came was vaguely called ualam uotan, the
land of Votan.

His message was especially to the Tzendals. Previous
to his arrival they were ignorant, barbarous, and without

214

A M imrCA N 11 KHO-M YTIIH.

lixed luihitiitions. Ilo colloctod tliciii into villages, taught
them how to (uiltivaio tho luaizo and cotton, and invented
tho hierojijlyphit! si^ns, whic^h they h'arncd to oarvc on the
walls of their temples. It is ev(Mi said that Uo wrote his
own history in them.

lie institnted civil laws for their government, and im-
parted to them the proper ceremonials of ndif^ious worship.
For this reason he was also calhid '* Mastc^r of the Sacred
])riim," the instninuMit with which they summoiKMl the
votaries to the ritual dances.

They especially rememhered him as the inventor of their
calendar. His namc! stood third in th(> week of twenty
drys, and was tlie first Dominical sij^n, according to which
they counted their year, eorresj)onding to the Ktm of the
Mayas.

As a city-bnildiU", he was spoken oi' as the founder of
l*alcn(pi(!, Naehan, Hnchnotlan — in fact, of any anciicnt
|)hice the origin of which had been forgotten. Niuir the
last mentioned locality, llnehuetlan in Soeonus(!o, Ik; was
re[)()rted to have constructed -.in underground temple by
nuirely blowing with his breath. In this gloomy mansion
he deposited iiis treasures, and ap[)ointed a priestess to
guard it, for whose assistance he created the tapirs.

Votan brought with him, according to )ne statement,
or, according to another, was foliowc-d froni his native
land by, certain attendants or suboi-dinatc^s, t-alied in the
myth tzcqiiil, pettitioated, from the long and flowing robes
they wore. These aided him in the work <\)i' civilization.

THE DKI'AUTHUK OF VOTAN. 215

On four ooon-sions li(i ri'turtipd to Ins foriiuir homo, dividinj^
the (H)initry, when \w. was about to Icavo, into lour dis-
triots, over whicli ho phiood th(!so attcndiints.

Whon at hist tijo tlino camo for his final dcparfnrc, }io
<lid not JKLSS tliron<;h the valley of death, as rnnst all
mortals, hut ho [)onotratod (hron<:;h a cave; into tlu; un<h'r-
oarth, and f'onnd his way to " the root of heaven." \\'ith
this mysterious expression, the native myth closes its
aecount of him,'

He was worshiped hy the T/cMidals as their principal
deity and their beneficent patron. Hut he had a rival in
their relijj^ions obsi^rvances, the ieared Ydhihim, Lord of
Black n(!ss, or Lord of th(! Walxirs. I To was r(!j)rescMited as
a terrible WKirior, cruel to the people, and one of the first
of mcn.'^

Aeeordiiifjj to an nii|)ublished work by KiuMites, Votan

' Till' rcfcri'iiccs In lli;' \'i)t!Ui iii\tliai'o Niimi'/. dc lii \'i'j:;i, Conafitii-
clones l>ii>rrsnii(i.s, I'rolofio (lldiim;, 1702); IJoturini, liicti dc una
Nticva Ilistoria de la America septentrional^ pp. 114, rt Hetp, who
discus.sos the formiir; Dr. Piuil Ktilix Cahrora, Teatro Critiro Aineri-
m«o, tniiisliil.cd, FiOiKhiii. 1H22; l{ras.soiir dc BDiirhoiii'!;, /fist. <les
!^'^iili<nis ('irilistrs de Mixiqiie, vol. r, cliiip. ii, who ^ives sonic mhli-
tional poiiit.sf'roin Ordonez; and II. ih; Charcncoy, Le Mylhede Volaii;
Et) le siir les Orij/iues Asuitlt/ncs tie la Cliullz'ilion Amtfricnine.
(Aliu.con, 1871).

•^ Valakau is roferrcd to by Uirfl: ,. Nufu!/. (h' hi \'(';?u as vcntirutiMl
in Oocliue and otlicr Tzondal towns of Chiap.iH. lie transhiti's it
'* St^fior dc U)s Nogros." Tlie terminal ahau'xH pur« Maya, meaning
king, ruhr, lord; Val is also Maya, and means wat(!r. The god of
tin; waters, ofdarkness, night and hlachness, is olieii one and lliesanie
in iuytiioh)gy, ani probiil)ly had wo the myth complete, he would prove
to be Votan's brother and antagonist.

216

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

was one of four brothers, tlie common ancestors of the
southwestern brunches of the Muya family.^

All tliese traits of tliis popuhir hero are too exactly
similar to those of .he other representiitives of this myth, for
them to leave any doubt as to what we are to make of Votan.
Like the rest of tiiem, he and his long-robed attendants are
personifications of the eastern light and its rays. Though
but uncritical epitomes of a fragmentary myth about him
remain, they are enough to stamp it as that which meets
us so constantly, no matter where we turn in the New
World.2

It scarcely seems necessary for me to point out that his

name Votan is in no way akin to Othomi or Tarasco roots,

still less to the Norse Wodan or the Indian Buddha, but

is derived from a radical in pure Maya. Yet I will do so,

in order, if possible, to put a stop to such visionary

etymologies.

' Quoted in Emeterio Pineda, Desci'ipcion Geografica de Chiapas y
Soconusco, p. 9 (Mexico, 1845).

2 Tlie title of the Tzendal MSS., is said by Cabrera to be " Proof
that I am a Chan." The author writes in the person of Votan himself,
and proves his claim that he is a Chan, "because he ih a Chivim."
Cluin has been translated serpent ; on chivim the commentators have
almost given up. Supposing that the serpent was a totem of one of
the Tzendal clans, then the effort would be to show that their hero-god
was of that totem ; but how this is shown by his being proved a
chicim is not obvious. The term ualum chivim, thq land of the
chivim, appears to bo that ajtplied, in the MS., to the country of the
Tzendals, or a part of it. The words chi uinic would mean, " men of
the shore," and might be a local name applied to a clan on the coast.
But in default of th(; original text we can but surmise as to the precise
meaning of the writer.

THE NAME VOTAV. 217

As we are informed by Bisliop Niiflez de la Vega, uotan
in Tzendal means heart. Votan was spoken of as"tlie
heirt or soul of his people." This derivation has been
questioned, because the word for the heart in the other Maya
dialects is different, and it has been suggested that this was
but an example of " otosis," where a foreign proper name
was turned into a familiar common noun. But these
objections do not hold good.

In regard to derivation, uotan is from the pure Maya
root-word tan, which means primarily " the breast," or that

hich is in front or in ■ .e middle of the body; with the
possessive prefix it becomes utan. In Tzendal this word
means both breast and heart. This is well illustrated by an
ancient manuscript, dating from 1707, in my possession. It
is a guide to priests for administering the sacraments in
Spanish and Tzendal. I quote the passage in point :^ —

"Con todo tu conizon, hirien-
dote en los pechos, di, coamigo."

Ta zpizil miotan, xatigh zny
aiiotan, zghoi/oc, alagh ghoi/oc. —

Here, a is the posse? si ve of the second person, and uotan
is used both for heart and breiist. Thus the derivation of
the word from the Maya radical is clear.

The figure of speech by which the chief divinity is called
" the heart of the earth," " the heart of the sky," is common
in these dialects, and occurs repeatedly in the Popol Vah,
the sacred legend of the Kiches of Guatemala.^

^ Modo de Administrar los Sacramentos en Custellano y Tzendal,
1707. 4toMS., p. 13.

2 Thus we have [Popol Vuh, Pait i, p. 2) uqux cho, Heart of the
Lakes, and u qux palo, Heart of the Ocean, as names of the highest

218

AMERICAN HEUO-MYTIIS.

The immediate neij^hbors of the Tzendals were the
Mixes and Zoques, the tbrmer resident in the central
mountains of the Isthmus of Tehuante[)ee, the; hitter
rather in the lowhiuds and toward the eitstcrn coast. The
Mixes nowadays number but a few vilhiges, whose iniiab-
itants are reported as (bninken and wortidess, but tiie time
was when they were a powerful and warlike nation. They
are in nowise akin to the Maya stock, altliouj>'h tliey are so
classed in Mr. H. 11. l^ancroft's excellent work.' They
have, however, a distinct relationship with the Zoipies,
about tiiirty per cent of the wftrds in the two languages
being similar." The Zcupies, whose mythology we unfor-

(liviiiity ; later, we find n tjitx cah, Heart of the Sky (p. 8), u q> x uleu,
Heart of the Earth, p. 12, 14, etc.

I may here re|)eiit whiit I luive elsewhere written on this fij^nrative
expression in the Maya languages: " The literal or ]ih}sieal sense of
the word heart is not that wiiicli is here intendcid. In these dialects
this word has a richer metaphorical meaning than in our tongue. It
stands for all the psychical powers, the memory, will and reasoning
faculties, the life, the spirit, the soul. It would be more correct to
rcMider these names the 'Spirit' or 'Soul' of the lake, etc., than
the 'Heart.' They indicate a dimly understood sense of the unity of
spirit or energy in all the vai'ious manifestations of organic and
inorganic existence." The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths,
Central America, by Daniel G. Brinton, in Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society, vol. xix, 1881, p. G23.

^ " Mijes, Maya nation," The Native Races of the Pacific States,
Vol. V, p. 712.

^ Apitates sobre la Lengua Mije, por C. H. Berendt, m n., MS., in
my hands. The comparison is made of 158 words in the two
languages, of Avhich 44 have marked affinity, Ijcsides the numerals,
eight out often of which are the same. Many of the remainint; words
are related to the Zaj)Otec, and there are very few and faint resem-
blances to Maya dialects. One of them may possibly be in this name,
Votan (uotan), he.irt, however. In Mixe the word for heart is hot.
I note this merely to complete my observations on the Votan myth.

A MYTH OF THE MIXES. 219

tunately know little or nothing about, adjoined the Tzen-
dals, and wore in constant intercourse with them.

AV^e have but faint traces of the early mythology of
these tribes ; but they preserved some legends which show
that they also partook of the belief, so general among their
neighbors, of a beneficent culture-god.

This myth relates that their first father, who was also
their Supreme God, came forth from a cave in a lofty
mountain in their country, to govern and direct them.
lie covered the soil with forests, located the springs and
strorvms, })eopled them with fish and the woods with game
and birds, and taught the tribe how to catch them. They
did not believe that he had <!Iod, but that after a certain
length of time, he, with his servants and captives, all laden
with bright gleaming gold, retired into the cave and closed
its moutli, not to remain there, but to reajipear at some
other part of the world and confer similar favors on other
nations.

The name, or one of the names, of this benefactor was
Condoy, the meaning of which my facilities do not enable
me to ascertain.^

There is scarcely enough of this to reveal the exact
lineaments of their hero but if we may judge from these
fragments as given by Carriedo, it appears to be of pre-
cisely the same class as the other hero-myths I have col-
lected in this volume. Historians of authority assure us

^ Juan B. Carriedo, Estudios Historicos ij Estadisficos dil Estadu
Libre de Oaxaca, p. 3 (Oaxaca, 1847).

220

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

that the Mixes, Zoques and Zapotecs united in the expec-
tation, founded on their ancient myths and proj)hecics, of the
arrival, some time, of men from the East, fair of hue and
mighty in power, masters of the lightning, who would
occupy tiie land.^

On the lofty plateau of the Andes, in New Granada,
where, though nearly under the equator, the temperature is
that of a perp(!tual spring, was the fortunate home of
the Muyscas. It is the true El Dorado of America ;
every mountain stream a Pactolus, and every hill a mine
of gold. The natives were peaceful in disposition, skilled
in smelting and beating the precious metal that was every-
where at hand, lovers of agriculture, and versed in the arts
of spinning, weaving and dying cotton. Their remaining
sculptures prove them to have been of no mean ability in
designing, and it is asserted that they had a form of
writing, of which their signs for the numerals have alone
been preserved.

The knowledge of these various arts they attributed to

the instructions of a wise stranger who dwelt among them

many cycles before the arrival of the Spaniards. He came

from the East, from the llanos of Venezuela or beyond them,

and it was said that the path he made was broad and long,

a hundred leagues in length, and led directly to the holy

temple at ■ his shrine at Sogamoso. In the province of

Ubaque his footprints on the solid rock were reverently

^ Ibid., p. 94, 7iote, quoting from the works of Las Casas and Fran-
cisco Burgoa.

MYTH OF THE MUY8CA8. 221

pointed out long after the Conquest. His hair was
abuiuhuit, his beard fell to his waist, and he dressed in
long and flowing robes. He went among the nations of the
plateaux, addressing each in its own dialect, taught them
to live in villages and to observe just laws. Near the
village of Goto was a high hill held in special veneration,
for from its prominent summit he v/as wont to address the
[)eople who gathered round its base. Therefore it was
esteemed a sanctuary, holy to the living and the dead.
Princely families from a distance carried their dead there
to be interred, because this teacher had said that man does
not perish when he dies, but shall rise again. It was held
that this would be more certain to occur in the very spot
where he announced this doctri"',e. Every sunset, wiien he
had finished his discourse, he retired into a cave in the
mountain, not to reappear again until the next morning.

For many years, some said for two thousand years, did
he rule the people with equity, and then he departed, going
back to the East whence he came, said some authorities, but
others averred that he rose up to heaven. At any rate,
before he left, he appointed a successor in the sovereignty,
and recommended him to pursue the paths of justice.^

What led the Spanish missionaries to suspect that this
was one of the twelve apostles, was not only these doctrines,

^ "Afirman que fue trasladado al cielo, y que altierapo desu partida
dex6 al Cacique de aquella Provinc'.a por heredero de su santidad i
poderio." Lucas Fernandez Piedrahita, Historia General de laa
Conquistas del Nueoo Beyno de Granada, Lib. i, cap. in (Amberes,
1688).

222

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

but tlic undoubted fact that tliey found the Hymbol of the
eross already a relif^ious emblem among thi.s people. It
ajjpeared in their saercd paintings, and especially, they
erected one over the g/ave of a person -vlio had died from
the bite of a serpent.

A little careful investigation will permit ua to accept
these statements as ({uite true, and yet give them a very
different interprettition.

That this culture-hero arrives from the East and returns
to the East are points that at once excite the suspicion that
he was the personification of the Light. But when we
come to his names, no doubt can remain. These were
various, but one of the most usual was Chimizapagun,
which, we are told, means "a messenger from C/i/m/zuV/fr^jm."
In the cosmogonical myths of the Muysais this was the
home or source of Light, and was a name ajjpliod to the
demiurgic force. In that mysterious dwelling, so their
account ran, light was shut up, and the world lay in
primeval gloom. At a certain time the light manifested
itself, and the dawn of the first morning appeared, the
light being carried to the four quarters of the earth by
great black birds, who blew the air and winds from their
beaks. Modern grammarians profess themselves unable to
explain the exact meaning of the name Chimin'igagua, but
it is a compound, in which, evidently, appear the words
chie, light, and gaffua, Sun.^

^ Uricoechea says, " al principio del inundo la luz estaba encerrada
eii mia cosa que no podian desciibir i que llamaban Chiminigague, o
El Crlador." Gramatica de la Lengita Chibcha, Introd., p. xix.

NAMRS OF HoCHICA. 223

Other niunes applied to this licro-god were Xenitero-
qiieteha, Bochica, and Zuhe, or Sua, the hist nuMitioiied
being also the ordinary word for the Sun. He was re-
ported to have been of light conii)lexi()n, and wlu-n the
Spaniards tir.st arrived they were supposed to be his envoys,
and were called sua or f/agua, jyitnt as from the memory of
a similar myth in Peru they were addressed as Viru-
cochas.

Tn his form as Boehiea, he is represented as the supreme
male divinity, whose female associate is the Rainbow,
Cuchaviva, goddess of rains and waters, of the fertility of
the fields, of medicine, and of child-bearing in women, a
relationship which I have already explained/

Wherever the widespread Tupi-Guaranay race ex-
tended — from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata and the
boundless plains of the Pampas, north to the northernmost
islands of the West Indian Archipelago — the early ex-
plorers found the natives piously attributing their knowl-
edge of the arts of life to a venerable and benevolent old
man whom they called " Our Ancestor," TamUf or Tame,
or Zuiiie.

Chie in this tongue means light, moon, month, honor, and is also the
first person plural of the personal pronoun. Ibid., p. 94. B'ather Simon
says (/flf/ua is " el nombre del mismo sol," though ordinarily Sun is
Sua.

* The principal authority for the mythology of the Muyscas, or
Chibehas, is Padre Pedro Simon, Nuticias Historiales de las Conquis-
tasde Tierra Firme en el Nuevo Reyno de Granada, Pt. iv, caps. li,
III, IV, printed in Kingsborough, Mexican Antiquities, vol. viii, and
Piedrahita as above quoted.

224

AMEUICAN IIEUO-MYTIIH.

The early Jesuit rnissioimrics to the Gnaranifl and
nffilititwl trihcs of Paraj^uay and southern Brazil, have
much to Hay of this personaj^e, and some of them were
convinced that lie could have been no other than the
ApoHtle 8t. Thomas on Imh proselytizing journey around
the world.

The legend was that Pay Zume, as he was called in
Paraguay {Pay = magician, diviner, priest), came from
the East, from the Sun-rising, in years long gone by. He
instfucted the people in the arts of hunting and agricul-
ture, especially in the culture and ])reparation of the mani-
oca plant, their (;hief source of vegetable food. Near the
city of Assumption is situated a lofty rock, around
which, says the myth, he was accustomed to gather the
people, while he stogd above them on its summit, and de-
livered his instructions and his laws, just as did (^uetzal-
coatl from the top of the mountain Tzatzitepec, the Hill of
Shouting. The spot where he stood is still marked by the
impress of his feet, which the pious natives of a later day
took pride in pointing out as a convincing proof that their
ancestors received and remembered the preachings of St.
Thomas.^ This was not a suggestion of their later learn-

^ " Juxta Paraquariae metropoliin rupes utcuraqur .rfpidata, sed in
modicam planiticm dcsinens cernitur, in cujus aununitate vestigia
pedum bumanorum aaxo inipressa udliuc inaneiit, affirinatitibus con-
stanter indigenis, ex eo loco Apostolum Thomani multitudini unde-
quaque ad eum audiendum confluenti solitura fuisse legem divinam
tradere : et addunt mandiocee, ex qua farinam suam ligneam con-
ficiunt, plantandoe rationem ab eodem accepisse." P. Nicolao del
Techo, Historia Provincice Paraquarice Societatis Jesu, Lib. vi, cap.
IV (folio, Leodii, 1673).

THE PATH OF THK OOP. 220

iii^, l)Ut merely u elirij^tiimized term j^iven to tlicir au-
thentic tuiuicnt le^eml. As curly as 1552, when Father
Eiuainiel N«)brej^a was visiting the missions of Ih'uzil, lie
heard tlie legend, an<l h'arncd of u h)cality where not oidy
the marks of the feet, but also of the hands of the hero-
god had been iiuh'libly impressiHl upon the hard rock.
Not satisfu'd with the mere report, lie visited the spot and
saw them with his own eyes, but indulgcnl in sotne skepti-
cism as to their origin/

The story was that wherever this hero-god walked, he
left behind him a well-marked path, which was permanent,
and as the Muyscas of New Granada pointed out the path
of Jiochica, so did the Guaranays that of /ume, which the
missionaries regarded " not without astonishment."" lie
lived u certiiin length of time with his people and then left

* " Ipse •abii," ho writi-H in bin well known Letter, " ct propriis
ooilis inspexi, quutuor pedum et digitoriini Hutis alt6 impreaaii ve-
fitif^nii, quie nonnumiuam aqiiii exerescena cooperit." The reader
will remenil)cr the similar event iu the history of Quetzalcoatl (see
above, page 114).

* " E BrasiliA, in Guairaniam euntil)iis speecabilis adhuc st^mita
viditur, quam ab Sancto Thoma ideo ineolaj vocant, quod j)er eani
Apost(dus iter f'ecisse credatur ; quae semitu quovis nnni teni|)ore eum-
dem statum eunservat, niodic6 in ea erescentibus lierbis, ab ailjat-ent'
campo niultum herliesoenli prorsus dissimilibuH, pnebetque specieiu
viae artilicio86 ductte ; quam Socii nostri Guairaniam excolentes per-
fiaepe non sine stupore perspexisse so testantur." Nieolao del Techo,
ubi suprd, Lib. vi, cap. iv.

The connection of this myth with the course of the sun in the sky,
" the path of the bright God," as it is called in the Veda, appears ob-
vious. So also in later legend we read of the wonderful slot or trail of
the dragon Fafnir across the Glittering Heath, and many cognate in-
Btances, which ruythologists now explain by the same reference.
10

226

AMi:ill«'AN IIKKO-MVTFIfl.

tlieiii, goin^ l)a<U over tin; ocean toward tlio KaHt,ai'('i>r(l-
iii;;- (<» Moiiie accouiitH. IJut uccordinjr to otliorw, lio was
drivt'ii away by \m Mtill'-iuckcd and unwilling auditors,
wlio had ht'coino tired of iii.s advice. 'I'liey |»iirsiied liiin
t(( tlie l)ank ol' a river, and there, thinking thai
the qiticketjt riddance of liini waH to kill him, they din-
elmr^ed tiieir arrows ut liini. But he eanj^ht the arrows
in liiM hand and hurled then) back, atid dividing the
wutertt oi tlie river by his divine power he walked between
them to tile other bank, dry-shod, and disappeared from
their view in the distanc^e.

Jjike all the hero-gods, he left behind him the well-
remembered promise that at some future tlay he should
return to theuj, a'ld tUv.t a race of men should eome in
time, to gather them into towns and rule them in peace/
These predictions were carefully noted by the missionaries,
and rei^arded as the ** unconscious prophecies of heathen-
dom" of the advent of Christianity ; but to mc they bear

1 "Ilium qiioqiio puUii'itiiin f'uisK!, se urKiuando has rcgionca revis-
uriiin." Father Nohrega, uln suprd. For the other particulars I
have given see Nieoluo del Teolio, Hi'toria I'rorincid! Paraipiarins,
Lil). VI, cap. IV, " De D. Thomni Ajjostoli itiaerihus ;" and 1*. An-
tonio Ruiz, Conquista Espirifual hechc ;'or los Religiosos de la Com-
puilia de Jesiis tn las Provincias del Paraguay , Parana, Uruguay y
Tape, fol. *2'.), 80 i4to., Madrid, lt)3'J), The remarkable identity of
the words relating to their r"ligi(tus beliefs and observances throughout
this widespiead group of tribes has been demonstrated and forcibly
commented on l)y Alcide D'Orbigny, U Htunine Americaiii, vol. ii,
J). 'J77. Thi^ V'ieomte de Porto Seguro identifies Zunie with the Cemi
of the Antilles, and this etymology is at any rate not so fanciful as
most of those he gives in his imaginative work, V Origim Touran-
ienne des Americainen Tupisi vibes, p. 02 (Vienna, 187(J).

THE TWO nrumiKRs. 227

too iminiMtakiihly tho stamp of tlu> li^lit-myth I linv*? Ik'cii
following? ii|> in so imiuy locftlltios of the Xow World for
me to ontortain a tloiiht about thnir origin and nu-aiiinj;.

^ have not yet cxhauHtcd thoHourcjes from which I could
bring evidence of the wi<loHpread presence of the elements
of this njvthical (Tcation in America. Hut prohahlv I
have said enou;,h to satisfy the reader on this point. At
any rate it will lie sufficient if I elo.«e the list with some
manifest rragments of the myth, picUed out from the con-
fused and gcni^rally modern reports we have of the
religions of the Athahascan race. This stem is one of the
nio^t widely distributed in Xorth America, extending
across the whole continent south of the Kskimos, and scat-
tered toward the warmer latitudes (piitc into Mexico. It
is low down in the intellectual scale, its component tribes
are usually migratory savages, and its <lialeets are ex-
tremely synthetic and of difficult phonetics, requiring as
many as sixty-five letters for their proper orthography.
No wonder, therefore, that we have but limited knowledge
of their mental life.

Conspicuous in their myths is the tale of the Two
Brothers. These mysterious beings are upon the earth
before man appears. Though alone, they do not agree, and
the one atta(^ks and nlays the other. Another brother ap-
pears on the scene, who seems to be the one slain, who has
come to life, and the two are given wives by the Being
who was the Creator of things. These two women were
perfectly beautiful, but invisible to the eyes of mortals.

228

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

TIk; one was named, The Woman of the Light or The
Woman of the Morning ; tlie other was the Woman of
Darkness or the Woman of Evening. Tiie brotliers
lived together in one tent with these women, wlio each
in tnrn went out to work. When the Woman of Light
was at work, it was daytime ; when the Woman of Dark-
ness was at her labors, it was night.

In the course of time one of the brothers disappeared
and the other determined to b. .ect a wife from one of the two
women, as it seems he had not yet chosen. He watched
what the Woman of Darkness did in her absence, and dis-
covered tli?;t she descended into the waters and enjoyed
the embraces of a monster, while the Woman of Light
passed her time in feeding white birds. In course of time
the former brought forth black man-serpents, while the
Woman of Light was delivered of beautiful boys with
white skins. The master of the house killed the former
with his arrows, but preserved the latter, and marrying
the Woman of Light, became the father of the human
race, and especially of the D^nS Dindji6, who have pre-
served the memory of him.^

In a-nother myth of this stock, clearly a version of the

former, this father of the race is represented as a mighty

bird, called Y^l, or Yale, or Orelbale, from the r >t ell, a term

^ Monographie des Dhni DindjU, par C. R. P. E. Petitot, pp.
84-87 (Paris, 1876). Elsewhere the writer says : "Tout d' abordje
dois rappeler mon observation que presque toujours, dans les tradi-
tions Dfenb, le couple primitif se compose de deux freres.'^ Ibid.,
p. 62.

ATHABASCAN MYTHS. 229

they apply to cverytliing superniitural. He took to wife
the claiijj;liter of tJie Sun (the Woman of Light), and by her
begat the race of man. He formed the dry land for a
place for them to live upon, and stocked the rivers with
salmon, that they might have food. When he enters his
nest it is day, but when he leaves it it is night; or, accord-
ing to another myth, he has the two women for wives, the
one of whom makes the day, the other the night.

In the begiuing Yfil was white in plumage, but he had
an enemy, by name Camiook, with whom he had various
contests, and by whose machinations he was turned black.
Y6l is further represented as the god of the winds and
storms, and of the thunder and lightning.^

Thus we find, even in this extremely low specimen of
the native race, the same basis for their mvtholoy-v as in the
most cultivated nations of Central America. Not only
this; it is the same basis upon wliich is built the major
part of the sacred stories of all early religions, in both con-
tinents ; and the excellent Father Petitot, who is so much
iiupresscd by these resemblances that he founds u[)on them
a learned argument o prove that the D6no are of oriental
extraction,^ would have written more to the purpose had

' For the extent and particulars of this myth many of the details of
which I omit, see Petitot, uhi siiprd, pp. 08, 87, note ; Matthew
Macfie. Trove's in Vancourer Island and liritish Columbia, ]^). 452-
4u5 (London, 1805); and J. K. Lord, The Naturalist in Vancouver
Island and British Columtda (London, 18(36). It is referred to by
Mackenzie and other early writers.

2 See his ''Essai sur I'Origit. j des Dfenfe-Dindji6," in his Mono-
graphic^ above quoted.

230

AMEUICAN HERO-MYTHS.

his acquaintance with American religions been as extensive
as it was with those of* Asiatic origin.

There is one point in all these myths which I wish to
briiig out forcibly. Tliat is, the distinction which is every-
where drawn between the God of Light and the Sun.
Unless this distinction is fully comprehended, American
mythology loses most of its meaning.

The assertion has been so often rej)eated, even down to
the latest writers, that the American Indians were nearly
all sun-worsliipers, that I take pains formally to con-
tradict it. Neither the Sun nor the Spirit of the Sun was
their chief divinity.

Of course, the daily history of the appearance and
disappearance of light is intimately connected with the
apparent motion of the sun. Hence, in the myths there is
often a seeming identification of the two, which I have
been at no pains to avoid. But the identity is superficial
only ; it entirely disappears in other parts of the myth, and
the concc|)tions, as fundamentally distinct, must be studied
separately, to reach accurate results. It is an easy, but by
no means a profound method of treating these religions, to
dismiss them all by the facile explanations of " animism,"
and " sun and moon worship."

I have said, and quoted strong authority to confirm the
opinion, that the native tribes of America have lost ground
in morals and have retrograded in their religious life since
the introduction of Christianity. Their own faiths, though
lower in form, had in them the germs of a religious and

KELIGION VERSUS MOLALITY. 231

moral evolution, more likely, with proper regulation, to
lead these people to a higher plane of thought than the
Aryan doctrines which were forced upon them.

This may seem a daring, even a heterodox assertion,
but I think that most modern ethnologists will agree that
it is no more possible for races in all stages of culture and
of widely different faculties to receive with benefit any
one religion, than it is for them to thrive under one form
of government, or to adopt with advantage one uniform
plan of building houses. The moral and religious life is
a growth, and the brash wood of ancient date cannot be
grafted on the green stem. It is well to remember that
the heathendoms of America were very far from wanting
living seeds of sound morality and healthy mental educa-
tion. I shall endeavor to point this out in a few brief
paragraphs.

In their origin in the human mind, religion and morality
have nothing in common. They are even antagonistic.
At the root of al) religions is the passionate desire for the
widest possible life, for the most unlimited exercise of all
the powers. The basis of all morality is self-sacrifice, the
willingness to give up OiU* wishes to the will of another.
The criterion of the power of a religion is its ability to
command this sacrifice ; the criterion of the excellence of a
religion is the extent to which its commands coincide with
the good of the race, with the lofty standard of the " cate-
gorical imperative."

With these axioms well in miud, we can advance with

232

AMERICAN HERO-MYTHS.

confidence to examine the claims of a religion. It will
rise in the scale just in proportion as its behests, were they
universally adopted, would permanently increase the hap-
piness of the human race.

In their origin, as I have said, morality and religion are
opposites ; but they are oppositos which inevitably attract
and unite. The first lesson of all religions is that we gain
by giving, that to secure any end we must sacrifice some-
thing. This, too, is taught by all social intercourse, and,
therefore, an acute German psychologist has set up the
formula, " All manners are moral," ^ because they all imply
a subjo ion of the personal will of the individual to the
general will of those who surround him, as expressed in
usage and custom.

Even the religion which demands bloody sacrifices,
which forces its votaries to futile and abhorrent rites, is
at least training its adherents in the virtues of obedience
and renunciation, in endurance and confidence.

But concerning American religions I need not have
recourse to such a questionable vindication. They held in
them far nobler elements, as is proved beyond cavil by the
words of many of the earliest missionaries themselves.
Bigoted and bitter haters of the native faiths, as they were,

^"Alle Sit'en sind sittlich." Lazarus, Urspnmr/ der Sitte, S. 5,
quoted by Roskolf. I hardly need mention that our word moraliti/,
from wtos, means by etymology, simply what is customary and of current
usage. Tlie moral man is he who conforms himself to the opinions
of the majority. This is also at the basis of Robert Browning's defi-
nition of a people : " A i)eople is but the attempt of many to rise to
the completer life of one " {A SouVs Tragedy).

THE MORAL IDEAL. 233

they discovered in tliem so much that was good, so much tliat
approximated to the purer doctrines that they Unmselves
came to teach, that they have left on record nmny an
attempt to prove that tiiere must, in some remote and
unknown epoch, have come Ciiristian teachers to the New
World, St. Tliomas, St. Bartholomew, monks from Ireland,
or Asiatic disciples, to acquaint the natives with such salu-
tary doctrines. It is precisely in connection with the
myths wliich I have been relating in this volume that these
theories were put forth, and I have referred to them in
various passages.

The facts are as stated, but the credit of developing these
elevated moral conceptions must not be refused to the red
race. They are its own property, the legitimate growth of
its own religious sense.

The hero-god, the embodiment of 'the Light of Day, is
essentially a moral and beneficent creation. Whether his
name be Michabo, loskeha, or Quetzalcoatl, Itzamna, Vira-
cocha or Tamu, he is always the giver of laws, the instruc-
tor in the arts of social life, the founder of commonwealths,
the patron of agriculture. He casts his influence in favor
of peace, and against wars and deeds of violence. He
punishes those who pursue iniquity, and he favors those
who work for the good of the community.

In many instances he sets an example of chaste living,
of strict temperance, of 00114. !ete subjection of the lusts and
appetites. I have but to refer to what I huve already said
of the Maya Kukulcan and the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, to show

234

AMERICAN IIERO-MYTIIS.

this. Both pre particularly noted as characters free from
the taint of indulgence.

Thus it oe(!urrcd that the early njonks often express
surprise that these, whom they chose to call savages and
heathens, had developed a moral law of undeniable purity.
" The matters that Boehica taught," says the chronicler
Piedrahita, " were (sertaiidy excellent, inasnnich as these na-
tives hold JUS right to do just the same that we do." " The
priests of these Muyscas," he goes on to say, " lived most
chastely and with great purity of life, insomuch that even in
eating, their food was simple and of small (piantity, and
they refrained altogether from women and marriage. Did
one transgress in this respect, he was dismissed from the
priesthood."^

The j)rayers addressed to these deities breathe as pure a
spirit of devotion as *many now heard in Christian lands.
Change the names, and some of the formulas j)reserved by
Christobal de Molina and Sahagun would not jar on the
ears of a congregation in one of our own churches.

Although sanguinary rites were common, they were not
usual in the worship of these highest divinities, but rather
as propitiations to the demons of the darkness, or the spirits
of the terrible phenomena of nature. The mild god of
lighi did not demand them.

To appreciate the effect of all this on the mind of the

^ " Las cosas que el Boehica les enseiiaba eran biienas, siendo assi,
que tenian por malo lo mismo que nosotros tenemos por tal."
Piedrahita, Historia General de las Couquistas del Nuevo Reyno de
Granada, Lib. i, Cap. in.

NATIVE LAWS. 236

race, let it he remeiiil)eretl that these culture-heroes were
also the creators, the primal and most potent of divin-
ities, and that usually many temples and a large corps of
priests were devoted to their worshii), at least in the nations
of hif^her (iivilization. These votaries were enga<ijed in
keepinj^ alive the myth, in impressinj^ the supposed com-
mands of the deity on the people, and in imitiitinj; him in
example and precept. Thus they had formed a lofty ideal
of man, and were publishing this ideal to their fellows.
Certainly this could not fail of working to the good of the
nation, and of elevating and purifying its moral concep-
tions.

That it did so we have ample evidence in the authentic
accounts of the ancient society as it existed before the
Europeans destroyed and corru])tcd it, and in the collec-
tions of laws, all distinctly stamped with the seal of reli-
gion, which have been preserved, as they were in vogue in
Anahuac, Utatlan, Peru an<l other localities.^ Any one
who peruses these will see that the great moral principles,
the radical doctrines of individual virtue, were (slearly
recognized and deliberately enforced as divine and civil
preccMts in these communities. Moreover, they wercgene-

^ The reader willing to pursue the argument furtlior can find these
collections of ancient American laws in Sahagun, Historia de Nueva
J5^s/jajT't, for Mexico ; in Gcronimo Iloman, Jiepnhlica de las Iiidias
Occidentales, for Ututhui and other nations ; for Peru in the liehtcioii
del Ori(/cH, Descendencia, Politica, y Gobienio de los Incas, par el
Uccnciado Fernando de ISantillan (published at Madrid, 1879) ; and
for the Muyscas, in Piedrahita, Ilist. Gen. del Nuevo lieyno de Gra-
nada, Lib. II, cap. V.

236

AMERICAN IIEUO-MYTHS.

rally and cheerfully obeyed, juid the people of many of
these lands were industrious, peaceable, moral, and happy,
far more so than they have ever been since.

There wjis also a manifest progress in the definition of
the idea of God, that is, of a single infinite intelligence
as the source and controlling power of j)hcnomena. We
have it on record that in Peru this was the direct fruit of
the myth of A'^iracocha. It is related that the Inca Yu-
pangui i)ublished to his people that to him had appeared
Yiraeocha, with admonition that he alone was lord of the
world, and creator of all things ; that he had made the
heavens, the sun, and man ; and that it was not right
that these, his works, should receive equal homage with
himself. Therefore, the Inca decreed that the image of
Viracocha should thereafter be assigned supremacy to those
of all other divinities, and that no tribute nor sacrifice
should be paid to him, for He was master of all the earth,
and could take from it as he chose.^ This was evidently a
direct attempt on the part of an enlightened ruler to lift
his people from a lower to a higher form of religion, from
idolatry to theism. The Inca even went so far as to banish
all images of Viracocha from his temples, so that this, the
greatest of gods, should be worshiped as an immaterial
spirit only.

A parallel instance is presented in Aztec anuals. Neza-
hualcoyotzin, an enlightened ruler of Tezcuco, about 1450,

* P. Joseph de Aco.stc., Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias,
Lib. VI, cap. 31 (BarcelouB.^ 1591).

GROWTH OF THE IDEA OF OOD. 237

was both a philosoplior and a poet, and the Honj^s which he
left, seventy in nnrnl)or, some of which are still pre9erve<l,
breathe a spirit of emancipation from the idolatrous super-
stition of his day. He announced that there was one only
god, who sustained and created all things, and who dwelt
above the ninth heaven, out of sight of man. No image
was fitting for this divinity, nor did he ever appear bodily
to the eyes of men. But lie listened to their prayers and
received their souls.^

These traditions have been doubted, for no otlier reason
than because it was assumed that such thoughts were above
the level of the red race. But the proper names and titles,
unquestionably ancient and genuine, which I have analyzed
in the })receding pages refute this supposition.

We may safely affirm that other and stronger instances
of the kind could be quoted, had the early missionaries
preserved more extensively the sacred chants and prayers
of the natives. In the Maya tongue of Yucatan a certain
number of them have escaped destruction, and although
they are open to some suspicion of having been colored for
proselytizing purposes, there is direct evidence from
natives who were adults at the time of the Conquest that
some of their priests had predicted the time should come
when the worship of one only God should prevail. This
was nothing more than another instance of the monotheis-
tic idea finding its expression, and its apparition is not more

^ See Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Ilistoria Chichimeca, cap.
XMX ; and Joseph Joaquin Granados y Qalvez, Tardea Americanas,
p. 90 (Mexico, 1778).

238

AMERICAN HKUO-MYTII8.

extraordinary in Yucatan or Pern than in ancient Egypt
or ( i recce.

The actual religious and moral progress of the natives
was designedly ignored and hclittled by theearly missionaries
and coufjuerors. nislio|) Imh ( 'asas directly charges those of
his day with magnifying the vices of the Indians and the
cruelties of their worship ; and even such a liberal
thinkisr as Roger Williams tells ns that he would not be
present at their ceremonies, "Ix'st I should have been par-
taker of SatJin's Inventions and Worships.'" This same
prejudice completely blinded the first visitors to the New
Worhl, and it was only the extravagant notion that Chris-
tianity had at some former time been preached here that
saved us most of the little that wo have on record.

Yet now and then the truth breaks through even this
dense veil of prejudi(!e. For instance, I have (pioted hi
this cha])ter the evidence of the S[)anish chroniclers to the
j)urity of the teaching attributed to Bochica. TheeiFectof
such doctrines could not be lest on a people who looked
upon him at once as an exemplar and a deity. Nor was it.
The Spaniards have left strong testimony to the paeificand
virtuous eharacter of that nation, and its freedom from the
vices so prevalent in lower races.'^

Now, as I dismiss from the domain of actual fact all
these legendary instructors, the question remains, whence

' Roger Williams, A Key Into the Laiu/uar/e of America, p. 152.

^ See especially the N'oticias sohre el Niievo Reino de Granada, in
the Colleceion de Documentos ineditos del Archivo de Indias, vol. v,
p. 5-J9.

PROCESS OV MOIIAI, OHOUTH. 239

did fhcae setTuded tribes obtain the Hcntiiiunts of jiHtice
and morality which they h)ved to Jittribiito to tiieir divine
founders, and, in a measure, to praetiee themselven?

The ([uestion is pertinent, and with its answer I may
fitly clone this study in Ameriean native religions.

I f tlu! theory that I have advoeated is correct, these myths
had to do at tirst with merely natural occurrences, the
advent and departure of the daylight, the winds, the storm
and the rains. The beneficent and injurious results of
these piienomenu weie attributed to their iHjrsonificationH.
Especially was the dispersal of darkness by the liirht
regarded as the tn'isnotion of all most favorable to man.
The facilities that it gave him were imputed to the goodnc ss
of the personified Spirit of Light, and by a natural associa-
tion of ideas, the benevolent emotions and affections devel-
oped by improving social intercourse were also brought into
relation to this kindly Being. They came to be regarded
as his behests, and, in the national mind, he grew into a
teacher of the friendly relations of man to man, and an ideal
of those powers which " make for righteousness." Priests
and chieftains favorinl the acceptance of these views, because
they felt their intrinsic wisdom, and hence the moral evo-
lution of the nation proceeded r eadily from its mythology.
That the results achieved were similar to those taught by
the best religions of the eastern world should not excite any
surprise, for th|j bask;; princjp]eii,^)f ethics jiro the same

everywhere and in all time. ••'■«..

•''• .' .°; -' '■••.•.•••
*.,./..;; i ,:rHE- EKDi * • • : ." ; • .*.

«»o 000, '•»•• a •• .

1 • I 1 t ■

• • '

1 • A » •

J O • • «• '

, e « * ♦

INDEXES.

I. INDEX OF AUTHORS.

AcosTA, .1. do, 17fi, 198, 194, 11I7,

2m.

AI.Kiv, F. X., 208.
Annies (l.-l MiiMco Nacioiml d.-
M«ji<'(., tl4, Of), 71, 78, ;»(), ,.tc.
Ancorm, HIijrio, Ifll.
Aiipnm.l. !>., 1!)7, 201.

Annals of CiiHiilititliui. !»7. 00, 108.

Ant()ni(». (>,, 140.

Arj/oll, Ciipt, 45.

Avila, FranciHCO de, 48.

Havcuokt. U. IL, 21H.

Bura^a, Fri'diTick, 47.

HaHiileii(|ii(', D., 208.

Hi'ccrra, 67.

Beliran, do Santa Uo.sa, 147.

Boi ndt. (;. If., 101, 218.

B(Mi ' Diaz, 140.

HiTlonit), L., 18;}.

Bclanzos, Juan de, 189, 190.

Bol)adilla, F. de, 100.

Boturini, L., 215.

Bourhonrg, BrasHonr de, see Bra.s-

seur.
BrasKeur (de Bourbourg), C, 49,

lt31, 215.
Bu.sclimann, J. C. E., 92.
Butoiiv, Father, 50.
Oahrkha, p. F., 216.
Cainpanin.s, Thomas, 53.
Canipljcli, John, 191.
Carriedo, J. B., 219.
IC

Carrili.., Or. socncio, 147, 150.
Char.'iicy, H. do, 78, 215.
Chailovoix, P6io, 52.
Chavoio, Alfrodo, (i4, 05, 72, 74,

79, 102.
Chavos, (Jaltriol do, 81, 100.
Chilan Bahini, Books of, 84.
Clavi>.'oio, Frnnco.sco S., 70,
Codox Borjriaini.s, 125.
Codox Tolioiiano-UoinonsiH, 7a,

»1, 120, 121, 124, 126.
Codex Troano, 155.
Codox Vaiicanu.s, 7.'J, 91, 125, 128,

129, l,3:i.
C(tKolIndo, I). L. do, 146, 147,

149, l.'-)8.
Conito, Angimtc, 18.
Cortes, Hornan 140.
Cox, Sir (Jeorire W., 31, 82, OS,

105.
Cnoq, J. A., GO, 01.
CiLsic, David, 58.

Desjahdins, E., 191, 197.
D'Orl.i^rriy, A., 183, 226.
Duran, DIoko, 66, 84, 87, 92, 03.
109, 128.

Elder, F. X., 160.

FisfHER, Heixrich, 124.
Franoo, P., 26, n.
FuonLoal, Ramirez do, 73, 78,
90, 95, 98, 121.

241

242

INDEX.

Gabkirl dk San Buenaventura,

147.
Gurciii, G., 178, 188.
Garcia y Ga.cia, A., 2(HJ.
Gatscluit, A. S., 79.
Gomara, F. L., 91, 156, 174. 196.
Graiiados y Galvcz, J. J,, 237.

Hai.e. Horatio, 63.

Haupt, Paul, 80.

H(Mnancl(!Z, Francisco, 148, 152,

158.
Hfirnandoz, M , 174, 187.
' '-rrera, Antonio de, 83, 122, 162,

172, 179. 189, 190.
Kolguin, D. G.,25, 170,179, 186,

196.
Hnmbolt, A. v., 212.

IxTi.ii.xocHiTL, F. A. de, 88, 89,
94, 90, 117, 129, 237.

JoUBDANET, M., 81.

Keaky, Charles F., 51, n.
Kingsborough, Lord, 66, 69, 83,

87, etc.

Lalemant, Father, 57.

Landa, D. de, 146, 147, 149, 162,

166.
Lang, .1 . D. , 206.
Las Casas, B. de, 65, 95, 148, 168.
Lazarus, Prof. , 232.
Leon, Cie7>a de, 188, 200.
Le Plongeon, Dr., 164.
Lixana. B., 146, 167, 168.
Lord. J K , 229.
Lubbock, Sir John, 18.

Macfie, M., 229.
Ma')'i;an, Clarence, 113.
Maikham, C. R., 46, 176, 177,

191.
Melgar, J. M., 125.

Mendii'ta, Qcroniino de, 08, 69,
91, 92, 96, 117, 126, 140.

Mendoza, G., 102.

Molina, Alonso de, 69, 78.

Molina, C. de, 172, 173, 174. 175,
192,

Montejo, Francisco de, 144.

Motolinia, Padre, 91, 121, 129.

Motul, Diccionario de, 153, 164,
166, 166, etc.

MUller, Max, 23.

NiEREMHEtto, E. de, 109, 118.
Nobrega, E., 225, 220.

Ollanta, drama of, 191, 192.
Olmos, Andre de, 25.
Orozco y Berra, Senor, 92.
Oviedo, G. F. de, 160.

Pachacuti, J. de, 183, 187, 190.

Pech, Nakuk, 167.

Perrot, Nicholas, 41, n.

Petitot, P. E., 228, 229.

Piedrahita, L. T., 221, 234, 235.

Pinientel, F... 206.

Pinart, A. L., 26, n.

Pineda, E., 216.

Pio Perez, J., 154, 164, 166.

Popol Vuh, the 74, 77, 84, 138,

162, 111, 217.
Porto Seguro, V. de, 226.
Prescott, W. H., 200.

Kau, Charles, 165.
Rea, A. de la, 208.
Rialle, G. de, 72, 206, 206.
Roman, H., 149, 236.
Roskoff, Gus'av, 18.
Ruiz, A., 226.

Sagard P^re, 53.

Sahagun, B. de, 65, 70, 71, 84, 85,

INDKX.

243

8!), 06, 100, 109, 11«, 120, 120,

128, 140, 235.
Sanchez, ,Te,su.«, 165.
Siintillan, P. de, 235.
Schoolcraft, H. R , 47, 50, 52.
Schiiltz-Sellack, Dr. C, 72, n

81, 131, 155.
SchwartB, F. L. W., 151, 204.
Short, J. T., 148, n.
Simeon, Remi, 81.
Simon, P., 223.
Sotoinayor, J. de V., 168.
Squier, E. O., 124, 197, 201.
Stephens, J. L., 156, 162, 164.
Strachey, William, 45.

Tanner, John, 50, 52.
Taylor, S., 206.
Techo, N. de, 224, 226.
Ternaiix-Compans, M, 72, n.
Tezozomoc, A., 83, 119, 134, 136,
137, 139.

Tiele, C. P., 34, 59, 60, 67, 127.

134.
Tobar, .an dc, 69.
Toledo, t\ do, 175.
Torquemada, Juan de, 72, 90, 96,

118, 121, 128, 131, 134.
Trumbui;, J. H., 23, 43.
Taclnidi, J. J. von, 193, 198, 202.

Uricoechka, E., 161, 222.

Valkka, Blas, 193.

Vega, aareillaso, de la, 173, 178,

188, 191, 193, 200.
Vega, Nunez de la, 215.
Veitia, 67, 86, 88, 96, 127.

Waitz, Th., 206.
Wiener, C, 196, 197, 201,
Williams, Roger, 43, n., 238.
Xahila, F. E. a., 85.
Zkoarra, a. P., 187, 191.

II. INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Ahancay, in Pern, 107.
Abstract expressions, 25.
Aoan, Maya fto<l of wine, 150.
Aciintun, Muya deities, 150.
Ages of the world, 78.
Ah-kiuie, deity of the Mayas, 151.
Ah-piu-hnh, deity of tiie Mavas,

151.
Air, gods of, 120 ; see Wind.
Aigonkiiis, their location, 37.

" tiicir hero-mytli, 38.

Amun, Egyptian deity, 51).
Anahuac, 202, 235.
Aniniiki, the thunder god, 50.
Arawaek hmguage, 83, n.
Ares, the Greek, 32.
Arnava, name of Viracociia, 189.
Apotampo, 185.

Arania, deity of the Moxos, 150.
Arrival, llie Great and Less, 146.
Ataensic, an Iroquois deity, 54,

58, 59.
Atahualpa Inca, VMK
Atecpanamochco, the bath of

Quetzalcoatl, 97, n.
Athabascan myths and langimges,

227.
Aticsi, epithet of ViracochaiHOjn.
Aurora, myths of, 81 ; see Dawn,
Ayar, Aucca, 179.
Ayar Cachi, a ninie of Viracocha,

178, 180.
Ayar Manco, 179.
Ayar Uchu. 179.
Aymaras, myths of, 183.

" hmgu, of, 169.
Aztecs, location of, 64.

Aztecs in Yucatan. 163.
Aztlan, meaning of, 22, 93.

Bacahs, the four, 148, 149, 153.
Baldur, the Norse, 30, 141.
Ball, tin; game of, 118.
l$earded hero-god, 53, 96, 132,167,

188, 192.
Belly, the, in symbolism, 152.
Bird, symbol of, 52, 155, 223, 228.
Bisexual deities. 127, n.
Bochica, hero-god of theMuyscas,

150, 223, 234.
Borrowing in myths, 24.
Butterfly, the, as a .symliol of the

wind, 62.

Cadmus, the myth of, 32.
Cakchiquels, myths of, 83, 85.
Camaxtli, a name of Tezcatlipoca,

90, 91.
Canas tribe, 190.
Canil, a name of Itzamna, 153.
Cannook, deity of D5n6, 229.
Carapaco, lake of, 184.
Carcha, town of, 190.
Cardinal points, worship of, 29,

34, 43, 78, 149, 152, 162.
Caylla, epitiiet of Viracocha, 173.
Ce Acatl, One Reed, a name of

Quetzalcoatl, 65, 90, 118.
Ce Acatl Inaeuil, 139.
Cemi, deity of Arawacks, 226.
Chac, deity of the Mayas, 151,

154.
Chacamarca, river of, 187.
Chac Mool, supposed idol, 165.
Chalchihuitl, 124.

244

INDEX.

245

Chalchiuitlicnc, Aztec goddess,

7.5, 123.
CliHlcliihuitzli, Aztec deity, 91.
Chalcliiuluipan, the bath of Quet-

zalcoHtl, U7, n,
Cliascu, Q(iuichiia (h-ity, 170, 185.
Chem, Kgyptiaa deity, W.
Chibchas, see Muyscas.
Cliil)ilias, a Maya goddess, 148,

ir)l,n.
Chichen Itza, 1(51.
Chichiinecs, the, 76.
Chickalian, a festival, 160.
Chicomecoatl, an Aztec deity,

73.
Chicoinoztoc, 92.
Cliinialiuan, 90.
ChimalinatI, 91, n.
Chimizapagua, name of Bochica,

222.
Chivim, land of, 216, n.
Chnuni, Ej,'yj)tian de , , 127, n.
ClioctawH, myth of 93
Cholula, 80, 90, 96, IKJ, 117.
Christianity, effects of, 206.
Cincaleo, Cave of, 134, 137.
Cipactli, in Aztec myth, 74, 126.
Cipaetonal, in Aztee myth, 74.
Citlatonac, an Aztec deity 73, 90.
Citlaliicne, an Aztec deity, 73.
Citlultlachtli, 119.
CoatI, in Nahuatl, 21, 66.
Coatecalli, the Aztec Pantheon,

66.
Coatlicue, Aztec goddess, 77.
Cocoms, the, 153, 163.
Colhuacan, 92.
CoUa, a Peruvian deity, 178.
Colors, symbolism of, 77, 96, 152,
209.

Con, Peruvian deity, 195.

Concaoha, 197.

Conehuy, 196.

Condorcoto, the mountain, 46.

Condoy, hero-god of Mi.ves, 219.

Coto, village, 221.

Coyote, sacred to Tezcatlipoea, 71.

Cozcapan, fountain of, 115.

Coznmel, cross of, 155.

Cross, the, symbol of, 122, 155,

222.
Cuchaviva, goddess of Muvscas,

150, 223.
Ciieravaperi, goddess of Taraseos,

209.
Cuernava, cave of, 126.
Ciim-ahau. a Maya <leity, 165.
Curicaberis, deity of Taraseos,

208.
Cuzco, founding of, 187.

" temple of, 193.

Darkness, powers of, 50, 72, 215.
Dawn, the mansion of the, 179,

185.

" myths of, 31, 82, 42, 48,

81, 157, 170, 185.
Dfenfe, myths of. 228.
Drum, the sacred, 214.
Dyaus, the Aryan god, 51, 00.
Dyonisiac worship, the, 32, 106.

East, sacredness of, 29, 41, 43,
44, 57, 05. 81, 104, 222.

Echuac, a Maya deity, 148, 151.

Egyptian mythology, 33, 34, 59,
00.

Europe, carried off by Zeus, 32.

Fafnib, the dragon, 225.
Fatal children, the myth of, 68.
Fire, origin of, 52, 50.

246

INDEX.

Five eggs, the, 46.
Flint stone, niytlia of, 49, 56, 61.
Flood mytli, the, 80.
Four brothers, the myths of, 30,
44. 73, 80, 102. 17;)," 20!), 21<i.
Hiicred numbers. 80, 209, 215.
roads to the underworld, 138.
Freyu, Norse goddess, 151.
Frog, as symbol of water, 55, 185.

Genesiac principle, worship of,

129.
GJjigonai, the day makers, 47.
Glittering heath, the, 225.
Golden locks of the hero-god,

31.
Great Boar. c'onst(>llation of, 75.
(ruanacaure, n\ountaiu of, 181.
Guaranis tribe, 224.
Guayniis, tribe of Darien, 26.
Guazacoalco, 117.
Gucumatz, god of Kiches, 210.
Hachacccxa, 176.
Harrnachis, tlie sun-god, 67, n.
Heart, symbol of, 217.
Honotheisn\ in religions, 28.
Hermaphrodite deities, 127, n.
Hermes, Greek n)ytli of, 81, 132.
Hill of Heaven, the, 92, 95.
Hobnol, deity of the Mayas, 151,

152.
Homonomy, 21.
Huanacauri, 187.
Huastec« the, 109, n.
Huarochiri Indians, mji;h of, 46.
Huayna Cupac, Inca, 194, 199.
Huehuetlau, town of. 214.
Huemae, a name of Quetzalcoatl,

109, 137.
Hueytoepatl. an Aztec deity, 80.
Hue Tlapallan, 89, 135.

Hueytonantzin, an Aztec deity,
81.

Huitzilopoehdi, Aztec deity, 73;
birth of, 73 ; 77, 81, 106, 113,
181.

Huitznahna, Aztec deity, 81.

Hunchbacks, attendant on Quetz-
alcoatl, 115, 137.

Hunhunahpii, a Kiche deity, 77.

Hunpictok, a Maya deity, 49.

Hurons, myth of, 517.

Hurukan, god of Kiehes, 211.

Idea of Goo, evolution of, 18,

236.
Ilia, mime of Viracocha, 170, 163.
Incas, empire of, 169.
Indra, 51.
loskeha, the myth of, 53.

" derivation of, 59.
Iroquois, their location, 37.
" hero myth of, 53.

Itzamal, city of, 147.
Itzamna, the Maya hero god, 33,
35, 146.
" his names, 153, 157.
Itzas, a Maya tribe, 163, 168.
Itztlacoliuhqui, Aztec deity, 81.
Ix-chebel-yax, Maya goddess, 151.
Ixehel, the rainbow goddess, 148,

151.
Ixcuin, an Aztec deity, 80, 81.
Izonri, error for Itzamna, 149.
Iztac Mixcoatl, 92.

Jupiter, the planet, 187.

KABinoNOKKA, the North, 45.
Kabil, a name of Itzamna, 168.
Kabun, the West, 45.
Kiehes, myths of, 74, 77, 83, 85,
152, 210,217.

INDEX.

247

Kinich ahau, a name of It/amna,

16;{, 158,
Kinich iihaii Iiaban, 158.
Kinich kakino, a name of Itzam-

na, 158.
Kukulean, myth of, 15!),

•* meaning of name, 161,

Languages, sacred, of priests, 26,
•' American, 21, 28, 25,

204.

Laws, native •Amerioaii, 235.

liif, the Teutonic, 30.

Liglit, its place in mythology, 29,

Light-god. the, 29, 80, 222.
" . color of, 33.

Light, woman of, 228.

Lucifer, worshiped by Mayas, 165.

Maize, origin of, 52
Manco Capac, 178, 186.
Mani, province of, 166.
Marriage ceremonies, 127.
Master of life, the, 40.
Mat, the virgin goddess, 34.
Ma Tlapallan, 118.
Mayapan, destruction of, 144.
" foundation of, 162.
Mayas, myths of, 143, sqq.

*' language, 218.

" ancestors of, 216.

" prophecies of, 167, 237.
Meconetxin, a name of Quetzal-

coatl, 95.
Meztitlan, province of, 80, 95, 105.
Michabo, myth of, 38.

*' derivation of, 41.

Michoacan, 207.
Mictlancalco. 115.
Mirror, the magic, 104, 114.
Mirrors, of Aztecs, 71.

Mixcoatl, a name of Tezcatlipoca,
94.

Mixes, tribe, 218.

Moneiieipii, a name of Tezcatli-
l)()ca, 70,

Monotiieism in Peru. 175, 179.

Moon, in Algonkin myths, 47.
" in Aztec myths, 71.

Moquecpieioa, a name of Tezcat-
lipoca, 70.

Morals and religion, 232.

Morning, house of the, 179.

Moxos, myths of, luO.

Moyocoyatzin, a name of Tezcat-
lipoca, 70.

Musk rat, in Algonkin mythology,
30, 42.

Muyscas, myths of, 150,' 220.
" kws of, 235, 238.

Nahuatl, the language, 64.

Nanucatltzatzi, an Aztec deity, 80.

Nanih Way eh, 93.

Nanihehecatle, name of Quetzal-
coatl, 121.

Narcissus, the myth of, 106.

Nemtentqueteba, name of Bo-
chica, 223.

Kezahualcoyotzin, Aztec ruler,
236.

Nezaualpilli, a name of Tezcatli-
poca, 70.

Nicaraouans, myths of, 160.

Nonoalco, 99, 101.

Nuns, houses of, 130.

Oaxaca, province of, 219.
Occhuc, town, 215, n.
Ocelotl, the, 119.
Odin, the Norse, 61, 142, 212.
Ojibway dialect, the, 47; mvth,
60.

248

INDEX.

Oinfitochtii, an Aztec doify, 105.
Orolbale, Athalm.span, deity, 228
Osiris, the myth of, 33, 69, 141.
Otomies, 'J I, 212.
Otosis, ill myth buihliri«r. 22.
Ottawtts, an Alponkiii trihc, 39.
Owl, as a Hymhoi of the wind, 52.
Oxomuco, in Aztec myth, 74, 12G.

F\\fAUiNA, the, in Pmu, 17G.
Piicnri tam|.n, 179, 180, 185, 186.
Puchacanmc, 195.

Paohayatluiclii, epithet of Vira-
cocha, 173.

Palenque, the cross of, 155.

*' hiiildinK of, 214.
Pantccati, Aztec deity, 81.
Paniico, province of, 109, n.
Papachtic, u name of Quetzal-

coatl, ()9.
Puriacaca, u Peruvian deity, 46.
Paronyms, 21.

Parturition, symbol of, 128, 223.
Paths of the jjods, 220, 225.
Pay zume, ji hero-<,'od, 224.
Perseus, 30.
Personification, 21.
Peten, lalc(>, 108.
Phallic emblems, 130, 131, 156.
Phoibus, 30. I

Pinahua, a Peruvian deitv, 178. i
Pirhua, 181.
Pirua, 187.

Pochotl sonofQuetzalcoatl,12g,n,
Polyonomy in myth building, 23.
Prajers, purpose of, 19.

to Quetzalcoatl, 128.
to Viracocha, 172.
Proper names in American lan-
guages, 2:J.
Prophecies of Mavas, 167.

Prosopopeia, 21.

Puhpie, inythseonceruing, 95,101,
105, 109, 123.

Qahauii,, g,„l ofKiche.s, 210.
Qquichna language, 25, 169.
Q(luon!i, Peruvian deity, 197,
Quatecziz(pie, priests so-called,
128.

Qnauhtitlan, 114.

Qu^tzalcoatl, identified with the
Kast, 65 ; meaning of the name,
32, 66 ; as god, 73 ; contest with
Tezeatlipoca, 64, 74 ; the hero
of Tula, 82; worshij)ed in Cho-
lula, 90 ; born of a virgin, 90 ;
his bath, 97; as the planet Venus,
120 ; as lord of the winds, 120;
god of thieves, 132; represent-
ations, 132,
Quetzalpetlatl, 101, 102, n.

Ka, the Sun-god, 67, n., 191, n.
Rabbit, the giunt, 38,

in Algonkin myths, 38.
in Aztec myths, 99, 105.
106.

Rainbow, as a deity, 149, 151,223.
Rains, gods of, 49, 51, 65, 121,

154, 196, 200.
Red Land, the, see Tlaj.allan.
Religions, classifications of, 18.

the essence of, 19.

and morals, 232.
Repose, the place of, 187.
Reproduction, myths concerning,
106.

Resurrection, belief in, 201, 221.
Romulus and Remus. 67.

Saxd, place of, 89.

INDEX.

249

Sarnina mid Surau cyfts, a Sim-

Ncrit myth, 81.
Serpent Hymbol, the, CO, 180, 181,

161, 222.
ScrpeiilH, th<i kiriK of, AO.
Seven ItiothetH, the, 91, ISC.

" civvt'8 or tribes, tho, 92, 94.
Shawano, tht; south, 45.
Sim, Hfry|>tian tieity, 00.
Skunk, sacred to Tezeatiipuca, 71.
Similsholl symbol, 128,
Sogamoao, town, 220.
Soma, the intoxicating,'. 105.
Sons of the elonds, 84, 133.
Sterility, relief from, 128.
Sua, name of Boehica, 223.
Sun worshij) in I'(!ru.l7«.

" ill America, 230.

Sun, the city of, 89.
Suns, the Aztec, 78.
Surites, deity of Tarascos, 208.

Tahuantix Siiyu kapac, 180.

Tampucpiiru, 180.

Tamu, a hero-god, 223.

Tapirs, 214.

Tarascos, 91, 207.

Taripaca, ei)ithet of Viracocha,

173, 182.
Tawiscai-d, in Iroquois mvth, 35,

61.

Tecpancaltzin, a Toltec king, 94.
Teepatl, an Aztec deity, 49.
Tehotennhiaron, Iroquois deity,
01.

Tehunatopec tribes, 218.
Tcimatini, aname of Tezcatlipoca,
70.

Telephassa,mother of Cadmus,32.
Telpochtli, a name of Tezctli-
poca, 70.

Tentetcmic, an Aztec deity, 80.

Teocolhuacan, 92.

Teonietl, the, 109.

Te.xcalapan, 111, n.

Texcaltlauhco, 111, u.

Teyocoyani, a name of Tezcatli-
l)oca, 70.

Tezcatlachco, 118.

Tezcatlipoca, Aztec deity, 09 :
his names, 70, 90; derivation
of name. 71 ; as twins, 73 ; eon-
te.sts with QuetzaleoatI, 79,87,
97 ; slays Ometoohli, 105 ;
dressed in the tiger skin, 120.
Tezcatlipoca-Camaxlli, 08, 90, 91.
Tezcuco, 230.

Tharonhiawakon, in Iroquois, 60.
Thieves, patron saint of, 31, 182.
Thomas, Saint, in America, 05,

224.
Thunder, myth of, 49.
Tiahuanaeo, myth concerninjr.

184.

Ticci, mime of Viracocha, 170,
195.

Tiger, as a symbol, 119, 211.

Titieaea lake, 169, 189, 192, 201.

Titlacauan, a nami; of Tezcatli-
poca, 70, 100.

Tizapan, the White Land, 135.

Tlacauepan, 106.

TIaloc, Aztec deity, 75, 121, 123.

Tlalocan, 124.

TIamatzincatI, a name of Tezcatli-
poca, 70.

Tlanqua-cemilhuique, a name of
the Toltecs, 87, n.

Tlapallan, 89, 103, 135.

TIatlallan, the fire land, 103.

Tlillan, the dark land, 108.

250

INDEX.

Tlillapa, the murky land, 134.
'I'lil|>()h)ii<(ui, a naino of Quotzal-
<'()atl, lau.

Tocapo, epithet of Viracoclm, 174,

178, 181.
Toh, a Kiclie deity, 49.
Tokay, epitiiot of Viracocha, 174,

178.
Tollan, see Tula.
Toilau-Cholollan, 8«.
Tollan TIapallan, 57.
Tollantzineo, 86.
Toltecs, the, 85,86, 88, 111, 118,

126.
Tonalan, 83.
Tonatlan, 88.
Tonaca cihuatl, an Aztec deity,

73.

Tonaca teciitli, Aztec deity, 73, 90,

95.
Topiltzin, a name of Quetzalcoatl,

90, 117.
Toltec, an Aztec deity, 188.
Totems, origin of, 40.
Toveyo, the, 109.
Tree of lift;, the, 122, 125.
Tree of the Mirror, 75.
Tualati, myth of, 79.
Tukupay, epithet of Viracocha,

174.
Tula, the mythical city of, 82, 83.
Turn, Egyptian deity, 134, n.
Tume. a hero-god, 282.
Tuuapa, name of Viracocha, 182.
Tupac Yupanqui, Inca, 194.
Tupi-Guaranay tribes, 22.S.
Twins, in mythology, 30, 45, 54,

67, 73, 92.
Two brothers, myths of, 55, 64,

227.

Tzatzitepec, the hill of shouting,

84.
Tzendals, hero-myth of, 212.
Tzinteotl, Aztec deity, 78.
Ttzitzimime, Aztec deities, 78.

IJ.V(; m(!tuii ahau, a name of It-

zamiia, 153.
Ualura ehivim, 216,
Ualuni uotan, 218.
Urcos, temple of, 193.
Usapu, epithet of Viracocha, 173.
Utatlan, province of. 211, 285.
Vahk, lord of the, 165.
Venus, the [danet, in myths, 46,

103, 120.
Viracocha, myth of, 169.
" meaning of, 190.

" statues of, 193.

" worship of, 280.

Virgin cow, the, in Egypt, 33.
Virgin-mother, myth of, 28, 34.

47, 54, 77, 90, 91, 211.
Virgins of tlie sun, in Peru, 34.
Votan, hero-god of Tzendals, 212.
Wabawang, the morning star, 47.
Wabun, or the East, 44, 45.
Water, in mythology, 58, 72, n.
" gods of, 59, 72, 75, 124,
150, 165, 209, 215.
West, in mythology. 30 47.
West wind, the, 47, 50.
Wheel ef the months, 153.

" of the winds, 121.
White hero-god. the, 29, 59, 66,
96, 192, 220, 223.
" land, 92.
" serpent, 92.
Winds, gods of, 46, 49, 51, 55,

120, 154, 199.
World-stream, the, 97, 112.

TNDEX.

361

X.vr.Ac, 89.

Xhalaufiuo, hero-Rod of KichoH,
211.

Xicapoyuu, tlu; bath (.f Quet/nl-

coiifl, !>7, n.
Xili.tziii, son of Quotznlcoatl,

12!». n.
Xiu, Maya fumily of, 105.
Xiiiiikiiiic, in Kichi! myth, 74.
Xochid, tho maiden, 94.

Xofhitlycacun, the rose garden,
!>5.

Xochiqiietzftl, an Aztec deity, 73,
74.

YACAcoMirnQUi, Aztec deity. 131,
Yarutecptli, Aztec deity, 131.
Yahualii ehecuti, aname of Qnot-

zaleoatl, 121.
Vahihau, deity of Tzemhils. 215.
Yale, deity of the D5nfe, 228.
Yamqucsupa, lake of, 184.
Yaotlnecoc, a name of Tezcatli-

poca, 70.

Yaotzin, a imme of Tezcatlipoca,
70.

Yaqui, derivation of, 85, n.
Yax-cociihmut, a name of It-

zamna, 153.
Yel, deity of Dfenfe, 228.
Ymamana Viracocha, 173, 181.
Yoalli checatl, a name of Tezcat-

lipoea, 70,
Yoamaxtii, a name of Tezcatli-
poca, 90.
Yocl of th(' winds, 121.
Yolciiat Qiietzalcoat. 85.
Yucatan; 96, 143, 144.
Yunca hmguage, 169.
Yupanqui, Iiiea, 236.
Zaciax, 101.

Zapala, epithet of Viracocha, 174.
Za|)otec8, tribe, 218, 220.
Zeus, the (Jreek, 32, 61.
Zipaena, a Kiehe diety, 77.
Zitacuarencuaro, a festival, 208.
Zivena vitzcatl, 85.
Zo(|ues, tribe, 218, 220.
Zuhe, name of iJochica, 223.
Zume, a iierogod, 223.
Ziiyva, Tolian in, 85.

LI BRARY

ABORIGINAL AMERICAN LITERATURE,

General Editor and Publisher:

DANIEL G. BRINTON, M. D.,

116 B. Beventh Bt.. Philadelphia.

Tim Jtitn of tliis piililit'atioii is to put witliiii tln' njttch of sclmlars
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THIi CUKONICLliS OP Till; MAYAS.

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