I^X'.'V'V A r - \ /VA A'A rv BfNTO i^ ,n/ -> O J> k> 33 3. 3 >> > ) ) j> )) f ^^ A3 >^ 53 /) 555- 7 } ?? 3?3 >> 33 y= 3 > )) )) >jy> rf^^< 3J ^3 yv>><5. ; ^ ^33 .).) >. > j 3^) 3-'T> ; > > P 1 a I i I i ^ '-> > 35 55 >H -5 a 53S 5? iv= '''MI^ 'M) ) j j > ) J> g>>:p>>^ , j^ "^> -)^ ' > ) :->t> i Sl> >52> >.^> >T> > >^X?^ J) -' 5 > 1 >^ ;i O>XX>S ' :>_.3 . > -Ai^>> => >> "-> ^ %>'^^^ : -S - >T>^ ^ J>^^VA ^^^tsco? S.;>3;23>>) 1 ^^^ -s-i^ |> _> o ^D ^>^ ^i?^ lii^V^-^^^ 5 - J ; , Vv^T 1 '^ s^r^rr:* .^: University of California Berkeley THE WORKS HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT. THE WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT. VOLUME III. THE NATIVE EACES. VOL. III. MYTHS AND LANGUAGES. SAN FRANCISCO: THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1886. Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by HUBERT H. BANCROFT, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All Hights Reserved. CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME. MYTHOLOGY. CHAPTER I. SPEECH AND SPECULATION. PAGE Difference between Man and Brutes Mind-language and Soul-Ian- * guage Origin of Language: A Gift of the Creator, a Human In- vention, or an Evolution ? Nature and Value of Myth Origin of Myth: The Divine Idea, a Fiction of Sorcery, the Creation of a Designing Priesthood Origin of Worship, of Prayer, of Sacrifice Fetichism and the Origin of Animal-worship Religion and My- thology 1 CHAPTER II. ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. Quiche Creation-myth Aztec Origin-myths The Papagos Montezu- ma and the Coyote The Moquis The Great Spider's Web of the Pimas Navajo and Pueblo Creations Origin of Clear Lake and Lake Tahoe Chareya of the Cahrocs Mount Shasta, the Wig- wam of the Great Spirit Idaho Springs and Waterfalls How Differences in Language Occurred Yehl, the Creator of the Thlin- keets The Raven and the Do 42 CHAPTER III. PHYSICAL MYTHS. Sun, Moon, and Stars Eclipses The Moon Personified in the Land of the Crescent Fire How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Cahrocs How the Frog Lost his Tail How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Navajos Wind and Thunder The Four Winds and the Cross Water, the First of Elemental Things Its Sacred and Cleansing Power Earth and Sky Earthquakes and Volcanoes Mountains How the Hawk and Crow Built the Coast Range The Mountains of Yosemite 108 (v) vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. PAGE Rdles Assigned to Animals Auguries from their Movements The Ill- omened Owl Tutelary Animals Metamorphosed Men The Og- ress-squirrel of Vancouver Island Monkeys and Beavers Fallen Men The Sacred Animals Prominence of the Bird An Emblem of the Wind The Serpent, an Emblem of the Lightning Not Specially Connected with Evil The Serpent of the Pueblos The Water-snake Ophiolatry Prominence of the Dog, or the Coyote Generally, though not Always, a Benevolent Power How the Coyote Let Salmon up the Klamath Danse Macabre and Sad Death of the Coyote 127 CHAPTER V. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Eskimo Witchcraft The Tinneh and the Koniagas Kugans of the Aleuts The Thlinkeets, the Haidahs, and the Nootkas Paradise Lost of the Okanagans The Salish, the Clallams, the Chinooks, the Cayuses, the Walla Wallas, and the Nez Perces Shoshone Ghouls Northern California The Sun at Monterey Ouiot and Chinigchinich Antagonistic Gods of Lower California Coman- ches, Apaches, and Navajos Montezuma of the Pueblos Moquis and Mojaves Primeval Race of Northern California . . . 140 CHAPTER VI. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Gods and Religious Rites of Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, and Sinaloa The Mexican Religion, Received with Different Degrees of Credu- lity by Different Classes of the People Opinions of Different Writers as to its Nature Monotheism of Nezahualcoyotl Present Condition of the Study of Mexican Mythology Tezcatlipoca Prayers to Him in Time of Pestilence, of War, for Those in Authority Prayer Used by an Absolving Priest Genuineness of the Foregoing Prayers Character and Works of Sahagun. 178 CHAPTER VII. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Image of Tezcatlipoca His Seats at the Street-corners Various Legends about his Life on Earth Quetzalcoatl His Dexterity in the Mechanical Arts His Religious Observances The Wealth and Nimbleness of his Adherents Expulsion from Tula of Quet- zalcoatl by Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli The Magic Draught Huemac, or Vemac, King of the Toltecs, and the Misfortunes CONTENTS. vii PAGE Brought upon Him and his People by Tezcatlipoca in Various Dis- guises Quetzalcoatl in Cholula Differing Accounts of the Birth and Life of Quetzalcoatl His Gentle Character He Drew up the Mexican Calendar Incidents of his Exile and of his "Journey to Tlapalla, as Related and Commented upon by Various Writers Brasseur's Ideas about the Quetzalcoatl Myths Quetzalcoatl Con- sidered a Sun-god by Tylor, and as a Dawn-hero by Brintoii Helps Domenech The Codices Long Discussion of the Quetzalcoatl Myths by J. G. Muller 237 CHAPTER VIII. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Various Accounts of the Birth, Origin, and Derivation of the Name of the Mexican War-god, Huitzilopochtli, of his Temple, Image, Cere- monial, Festivals, and his Deputy, or Page, Paynal Clavigero Boturini Acosta Solis Sahagun Herrera Torquemada J. G. Muller 's Summary of the Huitzilopochtli Myths, their Origin, Re- lation, and Signification Tylor Codex Vaticanus Tlaloc, God of Water, Especially of Rain, and of Mountains Clavigero, Gama, and Ixtlilxochitl Prayer in Time of Drought Camargo, Motolinia, Mendieta, and the Vatican Codex on the Sacrifices to Tlaloc The Decorations of his Victims and the Places of their Execution Gath- ering Rushes for the Service of the Water-god Highway Robberies by the Priests at This Time Decorations and Implements of the Priests Punishments for Ceremonial Offences The Whirlpool of Pantitlan Images of the Mountains in Honor of the Tlaloc Festival Of the Coming Rain and Mutilation of the Images of the Moun- tains General Prominence in the Cult of Tlaloc, of the Number Four, the Cross, and the Snake 288 CHAPTER IX. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. The Mother or All-nourishing Goddess under Various Names and in Various Aspects Her Feast in the Eleventh Aztec Month, Och- paniztli Festivals of the Eighth Month, Hueytecuilhuitl, and of the Fourth, Hueytozoztli The Deification of Women that Died in Child-birth The Goddess of Water under Various Names and in Various Aspects Ceremonies of the Baptism or Lustration of Chil- dren The Goddess of Love, her Various Names and Aspects Rites of Confession and Absolution The God of Fire and his Various Names His Festivals in the Tenth Month, Xocotlveti, and in the Eighteenth Month, Yzcali; also his Quadriennial Festival in the Latter Month The Great Festival of Ev.ery Fifty-two Years; Light- ing the New Fire The God of Hades, and Teoyaomique, Collector iriii CONTENTS. PAGE of the Souls of the Fallen Brave Deification of Dead Rulers and Heroes Mizcoatl, God of Hunting, and his Feast in the Fourteenth Month, Quecholli Various Other Mexican Deities Festival in the Second Month, Tlacaxipehualiztli, with Notice of the Gladiatorial Sacrifices Complete Synopsis of the Festivals of the Mexican Cal- endar, Fixed and Movable Temples and Priests 349 CHAPTER X. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Revenues of the Mexican Temples Vast Number of the Priests Mexi- can Sacerdotal System Priestesses The Orders of Tlamaxcaca- yotl and Telpochtiliztli Religious Devotees Baptism Circum- cision Communion Fasts and Penance Blood- drawing Human Sacrifices The Gods of the Tarascos Priests and Temple Ser- vice of Michoacan Worship in Jalisco and Oajaca Votan and Quet- zalcoatl Travels of Votan The Apostle Wixepecocha Cave near Xustlahuaca The Princess Pinopiaa Worship of Costahuntox Tree Worship 430 CHAPTER XI. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Maya Pantheon Zamna Cukulcan The Gods of Yucatan The Symbol of the Cross in America Human Sacrifices in Yucatan Priests of Yucatan Guatemalan Pantheon Tepeu and Hurakan Avilix and Hacavitz The Heroes of the Sacred Book Quich6 Gods Worship of the Choles, Manches, Itzas, Lacandones, and Others Tradition of Comizahual Fasts Priests of Guatemala Gods, Worship, and Priests of Nicaragua Worship on the Mosquito Coast Gods and Worship of the Isthmians Phallic Worship in America .461 CHAPTER XII * FUTURE STATE. Aboriginal Ideas of Future General Conceptions of Soul Future State of the Aleuts, Chepewyans, Natives at Milbank Sound, and Okanagans Happy Land of the. Salish and Chinooks Conceptions of Heaven and Hell of the Nez Perces, Flatheads, and Haidahs The Realms of Quawteaht and Chayher Beliefs of the Songhies, Clallams, and Pend d'Oreilles The Future State of the Califor- nian and Nevada Tribes, Comanches, Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches, Moquis, Maricopas, Yumas, and Others The Sun-house of the Mexicans Tlalocan and Mictlan^ Condition of the Dead Jour- ney of the Dead Future of the Tlascaltecs and Other Nations. .. .510 CONTENTS. ix LANGUAGES CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS. PAGE Native Languages in Advance of Social Customs Characteristic Indi- viduality of American Tongues Frequent Occurrence of Long Words Reduplications, Frequentatives, and Duals Intertribal Languages Gesture-language Slave and Chinook Jargons Pacific States Languages The Tinneh, Aztec, and Maya Tongues the Larger Families Inland Language as a Test of Origin Simi- larities in Unrelated Languages Plan of This Investigation 551 CHAPTER II. HYPERBOREAN LANGUAGES. Distinction between Eskimo and American Eskimo Pronunciation and Declension Dialects of the Koniagas and Aleuts Language of the Thlinkeets Hypothetical Affinities The Tinneh Family and its Dialects Eastern, Western, Central, and Southern Divis- ions Chepewyan Declension Oratorical Display in the Speech of the Kutchins Dialects of the Atnahs and Ugalenzes Compared Specimen of the Koltshane Tongue Tacully Gutturals Hoopah Vocabulary Apache Dialects Lipan Lord's Prayer Navajo Words Comparative Vocabulary of the Tinneh Family 574 CHAPTER III. COLUMBIAN LANGUAGES. The Haidah, its Construction and Conjugation The Nass Language and its Dialects Bellacoola and Chimsyan Comparisons The Nootka Languages of Vancouver Island Nanaimo Ten Command- ments and Lord's Prayer Aztec Analogies Fraser and Thomp- son River Languages The Neetlakapamuck Grammar and Lord's Prayer Sound Languages The Salish Family Flathead Gram- mar and Lord's Prayer The Kootenai The Sahaptin Family Nez Perce Grammar Yakima Lord's Prayer Sahaptin State and Slave" Languages The Chinook Family Grammar of the Chinook Language Aztec Affinities The Chinook Jargon 604 CHAPTER IV. CALIFORNIAN LANGUAGES. Multiplicity of Tongues Yakon, Klamath, and Palaik Comparisons Pitt River and Wintoon Vocabularies Weeyot, Wishosk, Weitspek, CONTENTS, PAGE and Ehnek Comparisons Languages of Humboldt Bay Potter Valley, Russian and Eel River Languages Porno Languages Gallinoraero Grammar Transpacific Comparisons Chocuyem Lord's Prayer Languages of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Napa, and Sonoma Valleys The Olhone and Other Languages of San Francisco Bay Runsien and Eslene of Monterey Santa Clara Lord's Prayer Mutsun Grammar Languages of the Missions, Santa Cruz, San Antonio de Padua, Soledad, and San Miguel Tatche Grammar The Dialects of Santa Cruz and Other Islands 635 CHAPTER V. SHOSHONE LANGUAGES. Aztec-Sonora Connections with the Shoshone Family The Utah, Co- manche, Moqui, Kizh, Netela, Kechi, Cahuillo, and Chemehuevi * Eastern and Western Shoshone, or Wihinasht The Bannack and Digger, or Shoshokee The Utah and its Dialects The Goshute, Washoe, Paiulee, Piute, Sampitche, and Mono Popular Belief as to the Aztec Element in the North Grimm's Law Shoshone, Co- manche, and Moqui Comparative Table Netela Stanza Kizh Grammar The Lord's Prayer in Two Dialects of the Kizh Cheme- huevi and Cahuillo Grammar Comparative Vocabulary 660 CHAPTER VI. THE PUEBLO, COLORADO RIVER, AND LOWER CALIFORNIA LANGUAGES. Traces of the Aztec not Found among the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona The Five Languages of the Pueblos, the Queres, the Tegua, the Picoris, Jemez, and Zuni Pueblo Comparative Vocabu- lary The Yuma and its Dialects, the Maricopa, Cuchan, Mojave, Diegueno, Yampais, and Yavipais The Cochimf, Guaicurf, and Pe- ricii, with their Dialects of Lower California Guaicuri Grammar Pater-noster in Three Cochimi Dialects The Languages of Lower California Wholly Isolated 680 CHAPTER VII. THE PIMA, OPATA, AND CERI LANGUAGES. Pima Alto and Bajo Papago Pima Grammar Formation of Plurals Personal Pronoun Conjugation Classification of Verbs Ad- verbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections Syntax of the Pima Prayers in Different Dialects The 6pata and Eudeve Eudeve Grammar Conjugation of Active and Passive Verbs Lord's Prayer Opata Grammar Declension Possessive Pronoun Conjugation Ceri Language with its Dialects, Guaymi and Tepoca Ceri Vocabulary 694 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER VIII. NORTH MEXICAN LANGUAGES. PAGE The Cahita and its Dialects Cahita Grammar Dialectic Differences of the Mayo, Yaqui, and Tehueeo Comparative Vocabulary Cahita Lord's Prayer The Tarahumara and its Dialects The Tarahumara Grammar Tarahumara Lord's Prayer in Two Dialects The Concho, the Toboso, the Julime, the Piro, the Suma, the Chinarra, the Tubar, the Irritila Tejano Tejano Grammar Specimen of the Tejano The Tepehuana Tepehuana Grammar and Lord's Prayer Acaxee and its Dialects, the Topia, Sabaibo and Xixime The Zacatec, Cazcane, Mazapile, Huitcole, Guaclii- chile, Colotlan, Tlaxomultec, Tecuexe, and Tepecano The Cora and its Dialects, the Muutzicat, Teacuaeitzica, and Ateacari Cora Grammar 706 CHAPTER IX. THE AZTEC AND OTOMI LANGUAGES. Nahua or Aztec, Chichimec, and Toltec Languages Identical An&huac the Aboriginal Seat of the Aztec Tongue The Aztec the Oldest Language in Analiuac Beauty and Richness of the Aztec Testi- mony of the Missionaries and Early Writers in its Favor Specimen from Paredes' Manual Grammar of the Aztec Language Aztec Lord's Prayer The Otomi a Monosyllabic Language of Anahuac Relationship Claimed with the Chinese and Cherokee Otomi Grammar Otomi Lord's Prayer in Different Dialects 723 CHAPTER X. LANGUAGES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MEXICO. The Pame and its Dialects The Meco of Guanajuato and the Sierra Gorda The Tarasco of Michoacan and its Grammar The Matlal- tzinca and its Grammar The Ocuiltec The Miztec and its Dialects Miztec Grammar The Amusgo, Chocho, Mazatec, Cuicatec, Cha- tino, Tlapanec, Chinantec, and Popoluca The Zapotec and its Grammar The Mije Mije Grammar and Lord's Prayer The Huave of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Huave Numerals 742 CHAPTER XL THE MAYA-QUICHE LANGUAGES. The Maya-Quiche, the Languages of the Civilized Nations of Central America Enumeration of the Members of This Family Hypothet- ical Analogies with Languages of the Old World Lord's Prayers in the Chanabal, Chiapanec, Choi, Tzendal, Zoque, and Zotzil Pokonchi Grammar The Mame or Zaklopahkap Quiche Gram- mar Cakchiquel Lord's Prayer Maya Grammar Totonac Gram- mar Totonac Dialects Huastec Grammar 759 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. LANGUAGES OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, COSTA RICA, AND THE ISTHMUS OF DARIEN. PAGE The Carib an Imported Language The Mosquito Language The Poya, Towka, Seco, Valiente, Rama, Cookra, Woolwa, and Other Lan- guages in Honduras The Chontal Mosquito Grammar Love Song in the Mosquito Language Comparative Vocabulary of Honduras Tongues The Coribici, Chorotega, Chontal, and Orotina in Nicaragua Grammar of the Ortifia or Nagrandan Comparison between the Orotina and Chorotega The Chiriquf, Guatuso, Tiri- bi, and Others in Costa Rica Talamanca Vocabulary Diversity of Speech on the Isthmus of Darien Enumeration of Languages Comparative Vocabulary 782 THE NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES. MYTHOLOGY, LANGUAGES. CHAPTER I. SPEECH AND SPECULATION. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND BRUTES MIND-LANGUAGE AND SOUL-LAN- GUAGE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE: A GIFT OF THE CREATOR, A HUMAN INVENTION, OR AN EVOLUTION ? NATURE AND VALUE OF MYTH ORIGIN OF MYTH: THE DIVINE IDEA, A FICTION OF SORCERY, THE CREATION OF A DESIGNING PRIESTHOOD ORIGIN OF WORSHIP, OF PRAYER, OF SACRIFICE FETICHISM AND THE ORIGIN OF ANIMAL-WORSHIP RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY. HITHERTO we have beheld Man only in his material organism ; as a wild though intellectual animal. We have watched the intercourse of uncultured mind with its environment. We have seen how, to clothe himself, the savage robs the beast; how, like animals, primitive man constructs his habitation, provides food, rears a family, exercises authority, holds property, wages war, indulges in amusements, gratifies social instincts; and that in all this, the savage is but one remove from the brute. Ascending the scale, we have examined the first stages of human progress and analyzed an incip- ient civilization. We will now pass the frontier which separates mankind from animal-kind, and enter the domain of the immaterial and supernatural phenom- ena which philosophy purely positive cannot explain. VOL. III. 1 2 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. The primary indication of an absolute superiority in man over other animals is the faculty of speech; not those mute or vocal symbols, expressive of passion and emotion, displayed alike in brutes and men ; but the power to separate ideas, to generate in the mind and embody in words sequences of thought. True, upon the threshold of this inquiry, as in whatever relates to primitive man, we find the brute creation hotly pursu- ing, and disputing for a share in this progressional power. In common with man, animals possess all the organs of sensation. They see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. They have even the organs of speech; but they have not speech. The source of this wonderful faculty lies farther back, obscured by the mists which ever settle round the immaterial. Whether brutes have souls, according to the Aristotelean theory of soul, or whether brute-soul is immortal, or of quality and destiny unlike and inferior to that of man-soul, we see in them unmistakable evidence of mental faculties. The higher order of animals possess the lower order of intellectual perceptions. Thus pride is manifested by the caparisoned horse, shame by the beaten dog, will by the stubborn mule. Brutes have memory; they manifest love and hate, joy and sorrow, gratitude and revenge. They are courageous or cowardly, subtle or simple, not merely up to the measure of what we com- monly term instinct, but with evident exercise of judg- ment; and, to a certain point, we might even claim for them foresight, as in laying in a store of food for winter. But with all this there seems to be a lack of true or connected thought, and of the faculty of ab- straction, whereby conceptions are analyzed and im- pressions defined. They have also a language, such as it is; indeed, all the varieties of language common to man. What gesture-language can be more expressive than that employed by the horse with its ears and by the dog with its tail, wherein are manifestations of every shade of joy, sorrow, courage, fear, shame, and anger ? In their brutish physiognomy, also, one may read the THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION. 3 language of the emotions, which, if not so delicately pictured as in the face of man, is none the less dis- tinctive. Nor are they without their vocal language. Every fowl and every quadruped possesses the power of communicating intelligence by means of the voice. They have their noise of gladness, their signal cry of danger, their notes of anger and of woe. Thus we see in brutes, not only intelligence, but the power of communicating intelligence. But intelligence is not thought, neither is expression speech. The language of brutes, like themselves, is soulless. The next indication of man's superiority over brutes is the faculty of worship. The wild beast, to escape the storm, flies howling to its den; the savage, awe stricken, turns and prays. The lowest man perceives a hand behind the lightning, hears a voice abroad upon the storm, for which the highest brute has neither eye nor ear. This essential of humanity we see primordially displayed in mythic phenomena; in the first struggle of spiritual manhood to find expression. Language is symbol significant of thought, mythology is symbol sig- nificant of soul. The one is the first distinctive sound that separates the ideal from the material, the other the first respiration of the soul which distinguishes the immortal from the animal. Language is thought in- carnate; mythology, soul incarnate. The one is the instrument of thought, as the other is the essence of thought. Neither is thought; both are closely akin to thought; separated from either, in some form, per- fect intellectual manhood cannot develop. I do not mean to say, with some, that thought without speech cannot exist; unless by speech is meant any form of expression, symbolical, emotional, or vocal, or unless by thought is meant something more than mere self- consciousness without sequence and without abstrac- tion. There can be no doubt that speech is the living breath of thought, and that the exercise of speech reacts upon the mental and emotional faculties. In brutes is found neither speech nor myth; in the deaf and dumb, thought and belief are shadowy and unde- 4 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. fined ; in infants, thought is but as a fleeting cloud passing over the brain. Yet for all this, deaf-mutes and children who have no adequate form of expression cannot be placed in the category of brutes. The in- vention of the finger-alphabet opened a way to the understanding of the deaf and dumb ; but long before this is learned, in every instance, these unfortunates invent a gesture-language of their own, in which they think as well as speak. And could we but see the strangely contorted imagery which takes possession of a gesture-thinker's brain, we should better appreciate the value of words. So, into the mouth of children words are put, round which thoughts coalesce ; but evi- dences of ideas are discovered some time before they can be fully expressed by signs or sounds. Kant held the opinion that the mind of a deaf-mute is incapable of development, but the wonderful success of our modern institutions has dissipated forever that idea. The soul of man is a half-conscious inspiration, from which perception and expression are inseparable. Nature speaks to it in that subtle sympathy by which the immaterial within holds converse with the imma- terial without, in the soft whisperings of the breeze, in the fearful bellowings of the tempest. Between the soul and body there is the closest sympathy, an interaction in every relation. Therefore these voices of nature, speaking to nature's offspring, are answered back in various ways according to the various organisms addressed. The animal, the intellectual, the spiritual, whatsoever the entity consists of, responds, and re- sponding, expands and unfolds. Once give an animal the power to speak, and mental development ensues; for speech cannot continue without ideas, and ideas cannot spring up without intellectual evolution. A dim, half-conscious, brutish thought there may be; but the faculty of abstraction, sequences of thought, with- out words either spoken or unspoken, cannot exist. It is not at all probable that a system of gesture- language was ever employed by any primitive people, prior or in preference to vocal language. To com- ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 5 municate by signs requires no little skill, and implies a degree of artifice and forethought far beyond that required in vocal or emotional language. Long before a child arrives at the point of intelligence necessary for conveying thought by signs, it is well advanced in a vocal language of its own. In mythology, language assumes personality and independence. Often the significance of the word be- comes the essential idea. Zeus, from meaning simply sky, becomes god of the sky; Eos, originally the dawn, is made the goddess of the opening day. Not the idea, but the expression of the idea becomes the deity. And so, by these creations of fancy, the imagination expands; in the embodiment of the idea, the mind enlarges with its own creation. Then yet bolder metaphors are thrown off like soap-bubbles, which no sooner take form in words than they are also deified. Thus soul and thought and speech act and react on one another, all the evolutions of conception seeking vent in sound or speculation; and thus language, the expression of mind, and mythology, the expression of soul, become the exponents of divine humanity. But what, then, is Language? what is Myth? and whence are they? Broadly, the term language may be applied to whatever social beings employ to com- municate passion or sentiment, or to influence one another; whatever is made a vehicle of intelligence, ideographic or phonetic, is language. In this category may be placed, as we have seen, gestures, both instinct- ive and artificial; emotional expression, displayed in form or feature; vocal sounds, such as the cries of birds, the howling of beasts. Indeed, language is everywhere, in everything. While listening to the rippling brook, the roaring sea, the murmuring forest, as well as to the still small voice within, we are but reading from the vocabulary of nature. Thus construed, the principle assumes a variety of shapes, and may be followed through successive stages of development. In fact, neither form nor feature can be set in motion, or even left in a state of repose, 6 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. without conveying intelligence to the observer. The countenance of man, whether it will or not, perpetually speaks, and speaks in most exquisite shades of signifi- cance, and with expression far more delicate than that employed by tongue or pen. The face is the reflex of the soul ; a transparency which glows with light, divine or devilish, thrown upon it from within. It is a portrait of individual intelligence, a photograph of the inner being, a measure of innate intelligence. And in all pertaining to the actions and passions of mankind, what can be more expressive than the language of the emo- tions? There are the soft, silent wooings of love, the frantic fury of hate, the dancing delirium of joy, the hungry cravings of desire, the settled melancholy of dead hopes. But more definitely, language is articu- late human speech or symbolic expression of ideas. How man first learned to speak, and whence the power of speech was originally derived, are questions concerning which tradition is uncommunicative. Even mythology, which attempts the solution of supernatu- ral mysteries, the explanation of all phenomena not otherwise accounted for, has little to say as to the genesis of this most potential of all human powers. Many theories have been advanced concerning the origin of language. Some of them are exploded; others in various stages of modification remain, no two phil- ologists thinking exactly alike. The main hypotheses are three ; the subordinate ones are legion. Obviously, speech must be either a direct, completed gift of the Creator, with one or more independent beginnings ; or a human invention ; or an evolution from a natural germ. Schleicher conceives primordial language to be a simple organism of vocal gestures; Goold Brown believes language to be partly natural and partly arti- ficial ; Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart give to man the creation and development of speech by his own artificial invention. According to Herodotus, the Phrygians and the Egyptians disputed over the ques- tion of the antiquity of their languages. Psammeti- chus thereupon confided two babes to the care of goats SCIENCE OF PHILOLOGY. apart from every human sound. At the end of two years they were heard to pronounce the word bekos, the Phrygian for bread. The Phrygians therefore claimed for their language the seniority. In ancient times it was thought that there was some one primeval tongue, a central language from which all the languages of the earth radiated. The Sythic, Ethiopic, Chinese, Greek, Latin, and other languages advanced claims for this seniority. Plato believed language to be an invention of the gods, and by them given to man. Orthodox religionists did not hesitate to affirm that Hebrew, the language of Para- dise, was not only given in a perfected state to man, but was miraculously preserved in a state of purity for the chosen Israel. After the dispersion from Babel, such nations as relapsed into barbarism be- came barbaric in speech. And in the roots of every dialect of both the Old World and the New, the Fathers were able to discern Hebrew analogies suffi- cient to confirm them in their dogma. Indeed, other belief was heresy. There were others who held that, when gesture- language and the language of the emotions were found insufficient for the growing necessities of man, by com- mon consent, it was agreed that certain objects should be represented by certain sounds, and when a word had been invented for every object, language was made. Another doctrine, called by Mr Wedgwood, its en- thusiastic advocate, ' onomatopoeia/ and by Professor Max M tiller the * bow-wow' theory, explains the origin of language in the effort of man to imitate the cries of nature. Thus, for dog the primitive languageless man would say ' bow-wow;' to the rivulet, the wind, the birds and beasts, names were applied which as far as,. possible were but reproductions of the sounds made- fey these elements or animals. Thus philology up to a comparatively late period was a speculation rather than a science. Philosophers sought to know whence language came rather than what language is. But when the great discovery con- 8 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. cerning the Arian and Semitic families was made, comparative philologists went to work after the man- ner of practical investigators in other branches of study, by collecting, classifying, and comparing vocab- ularies, and therefrom striking out a path backward to original trunks. Catalogues of languages were pub- lished, one in 1800 by Hervas, a Spanish Jesuit, containing three hundred dialects, followed by Ade- lung and Vater's Mithridates, from 1806-17. But not until Sanscrit was made a subject of European study did it become apparent that affinities of tongues are subject to the laws that govern affinities of blood. Then it was that a similarity was discovered, not only between the Sanscrit and the Greek and Latin tongues, but between these languages and the Teutonic, Celtic, Iranic, and Indie, all of which became united in the great Arian family. At the same time, the ancient language of the Jews, the Arabic, and the Aramaic which constitute the Semitic family were found to be totally different from the Arian in their radical struc- ture. From these investigations, philologists were no less convinced that the Indo-European languages were all of the same stock, than that the Semitic idioms did not belong to it. The doctrine of the Fathers, therefore, would not stand; for it was found that all languages w r ere not derivations from the Hebrew, nor from any other known central tongue. Then, too, the subordination of tongues to the laws of evolution became apparent. It was discovered that language was in a state of constant change ; that, with all its variations, human speech could be grouped into families, and degrees of relationship ascertained; and that, by the comparison of vocabularies, a classi- fication at once morphological and genealogical could be made. Varieties of tongues, as numberless as the phases of humanity, could be traced back toward their beginnings and resolved into earlier forms. It was discovered that in the first order of linguistic develop- ment words are monosyllabic. In this rudimentary stage, to which the Chinese, Tibetan, and perhaps the VARIATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 9 Japanese belong, roots, or sounds expressive only of the material or substantial parts of things, are used. In the second stage, called the polysynthetic, aggre- gative, or agglutinate, a modifying termination, sig- nificant of the relations of ideas or things to each other, is affixed or glued to the root. To the agglu- tinate languages belong the American and Turanian families. In the third, called the inflectional stage, which comprises only the Arian and Semitic families, the two elements are more perfectly developed, and it is only in this stage that language can attain the highest degree of richness and refinement. While these stages or conditions are recognized by all, it is claimed on one side that although settled languages retain their grammatical character, every agglutinate language must once have been monosyl- labic, or radical, and every inflectional language once agglutinate; and on the other side, it is averred that the assertion is incapable of proof, for no historical evidence exists of any one type ever having passed from one of these stages to another. Now, if speech is a perfected gift of the Creator, how happens it that we find language in every stage of development or re- lapse, from the duckings of Thlinkeets to the classic lines of Homer and of Shakespeare? In his physio- logical structure, so far as is known, Man is neither more nor less perfect now than in the days of Adam. How, then, if language is an organism, is it, unlike other organisms, subject to extreme and sudden change ? In animated nature there are two principles : one fixed and finished as an organism, subject to perpetual birth and decay, but incapable of advancing or retrograding ; the other, elemental life, the germ or centre of a future development. The one grows, the other unfolds. We have no evidence that instincts and organic functions were more or less perfect in the beginning than now. If, therefore, language is an instinct or an organism, a perfect gift of the Creator, how can it exist other- wise than in a concrete and perfect state, like other instincts and organisms? 10 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. The absurdity that human speech is the invention of primitive man that upon some grassy knoll a com- pany of half-clad barbarians met, and without words invented words, without significant sounds produced sounds significant of every object, therein by mutual consent originating a language may be set aside. Of all conjectures concerning the origin of language, the hypothesis that words are an artificial invention is the least tenable. And what is most surprising to us, at the present day, is that such men as Locke and Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart could for a moment have entertained the idea. Obviously, without language there could be no culture, and without culture, words never could have been invented. Words are the sym- bols of objects and ideas. Certain words maybe arbi- trarily selected, and, by the tacit agreement or general concurrence of society, may be made to signify certain things. And in this sense words may originate con- ventionally. But though words may have been con- ventionally selected, they were never selected by conventions. We then have the discoveries of modern philologists, not only to positively deny the infallibil- ity of the common-origin theory, but to bring forward a number of other claimants for the greatest antiquity, as well entitled to a hearing as the Hebrew. Diversity in the origin of speech does not of neces- sity imply diversity in the origin of race. Thus, with a unity of race, circumstances may be conceived in which independent tongues may have arisen in differ- ent localities; whereas, with a diversity of race, but one language hypothetically may have been given to all. A common origin is probable, a diversity of ori- fin is possible ; neither can be proved nor disproved, he radical differences in the structure of the three great types, the monosyllabic, the agglutinate, and the inflectional, and the inherent heterogeneities of the several families of the same type, as of the Chinese and Siamese, of the American and Turanian, or even of the Arian and Semitic, would seem to present in- surmountable obstacles to the theory of a common UNIVERSALITY OF SPEECH. 11 origin; while on the other hand, the wonderful muta- tions of types and trunks, the known transformations of language, and the identifications by some philolo- gists of the same stock in each of the three progres- sional stages, render the theory of a unity of origin in language equally probable. Therefore the question of unity or diversity of tongues, as we speak of unity or diversity of race, can be of but little moment to us. Language shows the connection between nations widely separated, leads us back beyond tradition into the obscure past, follows the sinuosities of migrations, in- dicates epochs in human development, points toward the origin of peoples, serves as a guide in following the radiation of races from common centres. Yet a similarity in the sound, or even in the construction of two words, does not necessarily imply relationship. Two totally distinct languages may have borrowed the same word from a third language ; which fact would never establish relationship between the borrowers. When like forms are found in different languages, in order to establish a relationship, historical evidence must be applied as a test, and the words followed up to their roots. Stripped of technicalities, the question before us is reduced to a few simple propositions. All men speak ; there never yet was found a nation without articulate language. Aside from individual and abnormal ex- ceptions, no primitive tribe has ever been discovered where part of the people spoke, and part were speech- less. Language is as much a part of man as any physical constituent; yet unlike physical organs, as the eye, the ear, the hand, language is not born with the individual. It is not in the blood. The Cauca- sian infant stolen by Apaches cannot converse with its own mother when restored to her a few years after. Therefore speech is not an independent, perfected gift of the Creator, but an incidental acquirement. Furthermore, language is an attribute of society. It belongs to the people, and not to the individual. The child before mentioned, if dropped by the Apaches 12 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. among the bears, and by them nurtured and reared, is doomed to mutism or bear-language. Man was made a social being ; speech was made as a means of com- municating intelligence between social beings; one individual alone never could originate or even pre- serve a language. But how, then, happens it, if man did not make it, and God did not give it him, that human speech is universal? With the organism of man the Creator implants the organs of speech. With the elemental and progressional life of man the Creator implants the germ of speech. In common with the element of progress and civilization, innate from the beginning, speech has developed by slow degrees through thou- sands of cycles and by various stages, marching stead- ily forward with the forward march of the intellect. Comparative philology, in common with all other sciences, accords to man a remote antiquity. Bunsen estimates that at least twenty thousand years are re- quired for a language to pass from one rudimentary stage to another. The mind receives impressions and the soul intui- tions, and to throw them off in some form is an abso- lute necessity. Painful impressions tend to produce bodily contortions and dolorous sounds; pleasant im- pressions, to illumine the features and to make musical the voice. And not only is this compressed emotion destined to find expression, but to impress itself upon others. Emotion is essentially sympathetic. Why certain objects are represented by certain sounds we can never know. Some think that between every word and the object or idea which it represents there was in the first instance an intimate relationship. By degrees certain natural articulations became asso* elated with certain ideas; then new names were sug- gested by some fancied analogy to objects already named. Everything else being equal, similar condi- tions and causations produce similar impressions and are expressed by similar sounds. Hence a certain, uniformity between all human tongues; and a tend- MYTHOLOGY. 13 ency in man to imitate the sounds in nature, the cries of animals, the melodies of winds and waters, accounts for the origin of many words. From giving expression in some outward form to our inward emotion there is no escape. Let us now apply to the expression of feeling and emotion the same law of evolution which governs all social and intellectual phenomena, and from a language of exclamations, we have first the monosyllabic noun and verb, then auxil- iaries adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, and pro- nouns and finally inflections of parts of speech, by which the finer shades of meaning may be expressed. The spontaneous outbursts of feeling, or the meta- phorical expressions of emotion, arising instinctively and acting almost simultaneously with the conception or impression made upon the mind, develop with time into settled forms of speech. Man speaks as birds fly or fishes swim. The Creator supplies the organs and implants the instinct. Speech, though intuitive, is more than intuition ; for, as we have seen, speech is a social rather than an individual attribute. Dar- win perceives in language not only a spontaneous gen- eration, but a natural selection of grammatical forms; the best words, the clearest and shortest expressions, continually displacing the weaker. So words are made to fit occasions, and dropped as soon as better ones can be found. Languages are not inherited, yet language is an in heritance. Language is not artificially invented, yet languages are but conventional agreements. Lan- guages are not a concrete perfected gift of the Creator, yet the germ of language is ineradicably implanted in man, and was there implanted by none but man's Creator. This, then, is Language : it is an acquisition, but an acquisition from necessity; it is a gift, but, when given, an undeveloped germ; it is an artifice, in so far as it is developed by the application of individual agencies. Here, for a while, we will leave Language and turn 14 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. to Mythology, themythos, 'fable/ and logos, 'speech/ of the Grecians. Under analysis, mythology is open to broad yet significant interpretations. As made up of legendary accounts of places and personages, it is history; as relating to the genesis of the gods, the nature and ad- ventures of divinities, it is religion; placed in the category of science, it is the science of fable; of phi- losophy, the philosophy of intuitive beliefs. A mass of fragmentary truth and fiction not open to rational- istic criticism; a system of tradition, genealogical and political, confounding the subjective with the objective ; a partition wall of allegories, built of dead facts cemented with wild fancies it looms ever between the immeasurable and the measurable past. Thick black clouds, portentous of evil, hang threat- eningly over the savage during his entire life. Genii murmur in the flowing river, in the rustling branches are felt the breathings of the gods, goblins dance in vapory twilight, and demons howl in the darkness. In the myths of wild, untutored man is displayed that inherent desire to account for the origin of things, which, even at the present time, commands the pro- foundest attention of philosophy; and as we look back upon the absurd conceptions of our savage ancestry with feelings akin to pity and disgust, so may the speculations of our own times appear to those who shall come after us. Those weird tales which to us are puerility or poetry, according as we please to regard them, were to their believers history, science, and re- ligion. Yet this effort, which continues from the be- ginning to the end, is not valueless; in it is embodied the soul of human progress. Without mythology, the only door at once to the ideal and inner life of primi- tive peoples, and to their heroic and historic past, would be forever closed to us. Nothing so reflects their heart- secrets, exposes to our view their springs of action, shadows forth the sources cf their hopes and fears, exhibits the models after which they moulded their lives. ALL MYTHS FOUNDED ON FACT. 15 Within crude poetic imagery are enrolled their religious beliefs, are laid the foundations of their sys- tems of worship, are portrayed their thoughts concern- ing causations and the destinies of mankind. Under symbolic veils is shrouded their ancient national spirit, all that can be known of their early history and popu- lar ideas. Thus are explained the fundamental laws of nature; thus we are told how earth sprang from chaos, how men and beasts and plants were made, how heaven was peopled, and earth, and what were the relative powers and successive dynasties of the gods. Heroes are made gods; gods are materialized and brought down to men. Of the value of mythology it is unnecessary here to speak. Never was there a time in the history of phi- losophy when the character, customs, and beliefs of aboriginal man, and everything appertaining to him, were held in such high esteem by scholars as at present. As the ultimate of human knowledge is approached, the inquirer is thrown back upon the past; and more and more the fact becomes apparent, that what is, is but a reproduction of what has been ; that in the earlier stages of human development may be found the counterpart of every phase of modern social life. Higher and more heterogeneous as are our present systems of politics and philosophy, every principle, when tracked to its beginning, proves to have been evolved, not originated. As there never yet was found a people without a language, so every nation has its mythology, some popular and attractive form for preserving historical tradition and presenting ethical maxims ; and as by the range of their vocabularies we may follow men through all the stages of their progress in government, domes- tic affairs and mechanical arts, so, by beliefs expressed, we may determine at any given epoch in the history of a race their ideal and intellectual condition. With- out the substance there can be no shadow, without the object there can be no name for it; therefore when we find a language without a word to denote property 16 SPEECH AND SPECULATION.- or chastity, we may be sure that the wealth and women of the tribe are held in common; and when in a system of mythology certain important metaphysical or sesthetic ideas and attributes are wanting, it is evi- dent that the intellect of its composers has not yet reached beyond a certain low point of conception. Moreover, as in things evil may be found a spirit of good, so in fable we find an element of truth. It is now a recognized principle of philosophy, that no religious belief, however crude, nor any historical tra- dition, however absurd, can be held by the majority of a people for any considerable time as true, without having in the beginning some foundation in fact. More especially is the truth of this principle apparent when we consider that in all the multitudinous beliefs of all ages, held by peoples savage and civilized, there exist a concurrence of ideas and a coincidence of opinion. Human conceptions of supernatural affairs spring from like intuitions. As human nature is essentially the same throughout the world and throughout time, so the religious instincts which form a part of that uni- versal humanity generate and develop in like manner under like conditions. The desire to penetrate hidden surroundings and the method of attempting it are to a certain extent common to all. All wonder at the mysterious; all attempt the solution of mysteries; all primarily possess equal facilities for arriving at correct conclusions. The genesis of belief is uniform, and the results under like conditions analogous. We may conclude that the purposes for which these fictitious narratives were so carefully preserved and handed down to posterity were twofold to keep alive certain facts and to inculcate certain doctrines. Something there must have been in every legend, in every tradition, in every belief, which has ever been entertained by the majority of a people, to recommend it to the minds of men in the first instance. Error absolute cannot exist; false doctrine without an amal- gam of verity speedily crumbles, and the more mon- strous the falsity, the more rapid its decomposition. VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY. 17 Myths were the oracles of our savage ancestors ; their creed, the rule of their life, prized by them as men now prize their faith; and by whatever savage phi- losophy these strange conceits were eliminated, their effect upon the popular mind was vital. Anaxagoras, Socrates, Protagoras, and Epicurus well knew and boldly proclaimed that the gods of the Grecians were disreputable characters, not the kind of deities to make or govern worlds; yet so deep-rooted in the hearts t of the people were the maxims of the past, that for these expressions one heretic was cast into prison, another expelled from Athens, and another forced to drink the hemlock. And the less a fable presents the appear- ance of probability, the more grotesque and extrava- gant it is, the less the likelihood of its having originated in pure invention; for no extravagantly absurd inven- tion without a particle of truth could by any possibility have been palmed off upon a people, and by them accepted, revered, recited, preserved as veritable in- cident or solution of mystery, and handed down to those most dear to them to be in like manner held as sacred. Therefore we may be sure that there never was a myth without a meaning ; that mythology is not a bun- dle of ridiculous fancies invented for vulgar amuse- ment ; that there is not one of these stories, no matter how silly or absurd, which was not founded in fact, which did not once hold a significance. " And though I have well weighed and considered all this," concluded Lord Bacon, nearly three hundred years ago, "and thoroughly seen into the levity which the mind in- dulges for allegories and illusions, yet I cannot but retain a high value for the ancient mythology." In- deed, to ancient myths has been attributed the pres- ervation of shattered fragments of lost sciences, even as some have alleged that we are indebted to the writ- ings of Democritus and Aristotle for modern geograph- ical discoveries. That these ductile narratives have suffered in their VOL. III. 2 18 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. transmission to us, that through the magnifying and refracting influences of time, and the ignorance and fanaticism of those to whom they were first recited, we receive them mutilated and distorted, there can be no doubt. Not one in a thousand of those aboriginal beliefs which were held by the people of the Pacific coast at the time of its first occupation by foreigners has been preserved. And for the originality and purity of such as we have, in many instances no one can vouch. Certain writers who saw in the native fable probable evidence of the presence of an apostle, or a miraculous interposition in the affairs of be- nighted heathendom, could but render the narrative in accordance with their prepossessions. The desire of some to prove a certain origin for the Indians, and the contempt of others for native character, also led to imperfect or colored narrations. But happily, enough has been preserved in authentic picture-writ- ings, and by narrators whose integrity and intelligence are above suspicion, to give us a fair insight into the native psychological structure and belief; and if the knowledge we have is but infinitesimal in comparison with what has been lost, we may thereby learn to prize more highly such as we have. Again we come to the ever-recurring question, Whence is it ? Whence arise belief, worship, supersti- tion ? Whence the striking likeness in all super- natural conceptions between nations and ages the most diverse ? Why is it that so many peoples, dur- ing the successive stages of their progress, have their creation myth, their origin myth, their flood myth, their animal and plant and planet myths? This coincidence of evolution can scarcely be the result of accident. Mythologies, then, being like languages common to mankind, uniform in substance, yet vary- ing in detail, what follows with regard to the essential system of their supernatural conceptions ? Is it a perfected gift of the Creator, the invention of a de- signing priesthood, or a spontaneous generation and natural development ? So broad a question, involving ORIGIN OF BELIEF. 19 as it does the weightiest matters connected with man, may scarcely expect exactly the same answer from any two persons. Origin of life, origin of mind, origin of belief, are as much problems to the profoundest phi- losopher of to-day as they were to the first wondering, bewildered savage who wandered through primeval forests. Life is defined by Herbert Spencer as " the coor- dination of actions, or their continuous adjustment;" by Lewes as "a series of definite and successive changes, both of structure and composition, which take place within an individual without destroying its identity;" by Schelling as " the tendency to individua- tiori;" by Richeraud as "a collection of phenomena which succeed each other during a limited time in an organized body ; " and by De Blainville as " the two- fold internal movement of composition and decomposi- tion, at once general and continuous." According to Hume, Mind is but a bundle of ideas and impressions which are the sum of all knowledge, and consequently, " the only things known to exist." In the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte, intellectual develop- ment is divided into three phases ; namely, the Super- natural, in which the mind seeks for supernatural causes; the Metaphysical, wherein abstract forces are set up in place of supernatural agencies ; and the Positive, which inquires into the laws which engender phenomena. Martineau, commenting upon intuition and the mind's place in nature, charges the current doctrine of evolution with excluding the element of life from developing organisms. Until the origin of mind, and the relation of mind to its environment is determined, the origin of the supernatural must remain unaccounted for. Yet we may follow the principle of worship back to very near its source, if we are unable entirely to account for it. We have seen how the inability of brutes to form in the mind long sequences of thought prevents speech; so in primitive societies, when successions of unre- corded events are forgotten before any conception of 20 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. general laws can be formed therefrom, polytheism in its grossest form is sure to prevail. Not until the earlier stages of progress are passed, and from a mul- titude of correlative and oft-repeated experiences, general deductions made, can there be any higher reli- gious conceptions than that of an independent cause for every consequence. By some it is alleged that the religious sentiment is a divine idea perfected by the Creator and implanted in man as part of his nature, before his divergence from a primitive centre. Singularly enough, the Fathers of the Church referred the origin of fable as well as the origin of fact to the Hebrew Scriptures. Supported by the soundest sophistry, they saw in every myth, Grecian or barbarian, a biblical character. Thus the Greek Hercules was none other than the Hebrew Samson; Arion was Jonah; and Deucalion, Noah. Other mythological characters were supposed by them to have been incarnated fiends, who disap- peared after working for a time their evil upon men. There have been those who- held myths to be the fictions of sorcery, as there are now those who believe that forms of worship were invented by a designing priesthood, or that mythology is but a collection of tales, physical, ethical, and historical, invented by the sages and ancient wise men of the nation, for the pur- pose of overawing the wicked and encouraging the good. Some declare that religion is a factitious or accidental social phenomenon; others, that it is an aggregation of organized human experiences; others, that it is a bundle of sentiments which were origi- nally projected by the imagination, and ultimately adopted as entities; others, that it is a feeling or emo- tion, the genesis of which is due to surrounding cir- cumstances. Many believe all mythological personages to have been once real human heroes, the foundations of whose histories were laid in truth, while the structure was reared by fancy. The Egyptians informed Herodotus that their deities the last of whom was Orus, son of RISE OF THE PRIMITIVE PRIESTHOOD. 21 Osiris, the Apollo of the Grecians were originally their kings. Others affirm that myths are but sym- bolic ideas deified ; that they are but the embodiment of a maxim in the form of an allegory, and that under these allegorical forms were taught history, religion, law, and morality. Intermingled with all these hypotheses are elements of truth, and yet none of them appear to be satisfying explanations. All imply that religion, in some form, is an essential constituent of humanity, and that what- ever its origin and functions, it has exercised from the earliest ages, and does yet exercise, the most powerful influence upon man; working like leaven in the lump, keeping the world in a ferment, stirring up men to action, banding and disrupting nations, uniting and dividing communities, and forming the nucleus of num- berless societies and institutions, In every society, small and great, there are undoubt- edly certain intellects of quicker than ordinary percep- tion, which seize upon occasions, and by a skilful use of means obtain a mastery over inferior minds. It is thus that political and social as well as ecclesiastical power arises. Not that the leader creates a want he is but the mouth-piece or agent of pent-up human in- stincts. One of these instincts is dependence. That we are created subordinate, not absolute nor unre- strained, is a fact from which none can escape. Thral- dom, constant and insurmountable, we feel we have inherited. Most naturally, therefore, the masses of mankind seek from among their fellows some embodi- ment of power, and ranging themselves under the banner of leaders, follow blindly whithersoever they are led. Perceiving the power thus placed in their hands, these born leaders of men are not slow to invent means for retaining and increasing it. To the inquiry of the child or unsophisticated savage, who, startled by a peal of distant thunder, cries, "What is that?" the explanation is given: "That is the storm god speaking." "I am afraid, protect me!" implores the supplicant. *'I will, only obey," is the reply. The 22 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. answer is sufficient, curiosity is satisfied, and terror allayed; the barbarian teacher gains a devotee. In this manner, the superstructure of creeds, witchcrafts, priestcrafts, may have arisen; some gods may thus have been made, forms of worship invented, and inter- course opened with beings supernal and infernal. Then devotion advances and becomes an art; professors by practice become experts. Meanwhile, craft is econ- omized; the wary Shaman rain-doctor like the worthy clergyman of civilized orthodoxy, who refused to pray for rain "while the wind was in that quarter " watches well the gathering ripeness of the cloud before he attempts to burst it with an arrow. And in the end, a more than ordinary skill in the exercise of this power deifies or demonizes the possessor. But whence arises the necessity for craft, and whence the craft? The faculty of invention implies skill. Skill successfully to play upon the instincts of human- ity can only be acquired through the medium of like instincts, and although the skill be empirical, the play must be natural. Craft alone will not suffice to sat- isfy the desire; the hook must be baited with some small element of truth before the most credulous will seize it. If religious beliefs are the fruits of inven- tion, how shall we account for the strange coincidences of thought and worship which prevail throughout all myths and cults ? Why is it that all men of every age, in conditions diverse, and in countries widely sundered, are found searching out the same essential facts? All worship; nearly all have their creation- myth, their flood-myth, their theory of origin, of dis- tribution from primitive centres, and of a future state. In this regard as in many another, civilization is but an evolution of savagism; for almost every principle of modern philosophy there may be found in primitive times its parallel. The nature and order of supernatural conceptions are essentially as follows : The first and rudest form of belief is Fetichism, which invests every phenomenon with an independent personality. In the sunshine, THEORIES CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF WORSHIP. 23 fire, and water, in the wind, and rock, and stream, in every animal, bird, and plant, there is a separate deity ; for every effect there is a cause. Even Kepler, whose intellect could track the planets in their orbits, must needs assume a guiding spirit for every world. It is impossible for the mind to conceive of self-creative or self-existent forces. In time the personalities of the fetich-worshipper be- come to some extent generalized. Homogeneous ap- pearances are grouped into classes, and each class referred to a separate deity, and hence Polytheism. Pantheism then comes in and makes all created sub- stance one with the creator; nature and the universe are God. From the impersonating of the forces of nature to the creation of imaginary deities, there is but a step. Every virtue and vice, every good and evil, becomes a personality, under the direct governance of which lie certain passions and events; and thus in place of one god for many individuals, each individual may have a multitude of his own personal gods. The theogony of Hesiod was but a system of materialized love and hate ; while, on the other hand, the gods of Homer, although personating human passions, were likewise endowed with moral perceptions. In them the blind forces of nature are lighted up into a human-divine intelligence. In Monotheism, the distinct personalities, which to the savage underlie every appearance, become wholly generalized, and the origin of all phenomena is referred to one First Cause. The subtle and philosophic Greeks well knew that God to be God must be om- nipotent, and omnipotency is indivisible. That the Aztecs could believe and practise the absurdities they did is less an object of wonder than that the intellec- tual philosophers of Athens could have tolerated the gods of Homer. Indeed, the religion of the more cul- tivated Greeks appears to us monstrous, in proportion as they were superior to other men in poetry, art, and philosophy. Comparative mythologists explain the origin of wor- 24 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. ship by two apparently oppugnaiit theories. The first is, that whatever is seen in nature strange and wonder- ful is deemed by primitive man an object worthy of worship. The other is, that upon certain noted indi- viduals are fastened metaphorical names, symbolic of some quality alike in them and in the natural object after which they are called; that this name, which at the first was but the surname of an individual, after its possessor is dead and forgotten, lives, reverts to the plant or animal whence it came, becomes impersonal, and is worshipped by a conservative posterity. In other words, one theory fastens upon natural phe- nomena, human attributes, and worships nature under covering of those attributes, while the other worships in the natural object only the memory of a dead and forgotten man. I have no doubt that in both of these hypotheses are elements of truth. In the earlier acts of worship the tendency is to assimilate the object worshipped and the character of the worshipper, and also to assign habitations to deities, behind man's immediate environment. Every people has its heaven and hell ; the former most generally lo- cated beyond the blue sky, and the latter in the dark interior caves of the earth. Man in nature reproduces himself; invests appearances with attributes analogous to his own. This likeness of the supernatural to the natural, of gods to man, is the first advance from fetichism, but as the intellect advances anthropomor- phism declines. As one by one the nearest mysteries are solved by science, the emptiness of superstition be- comes apparent, and the wonderless wonder is referred by the waking mind to general laws of causation ; but still clinging to its first conceptions, it places them on objects more remote. Man fixes his eyes upon the planets, discovers their movements, and fancies their controlling spirit also controls his destiny; and when released by reason from star-worship, as formerly from fetichism, again an advance is made, always Hearing the doctrine of universal law. In one tersely comprehensive sentence, Clarke gives PRIESTCRAFT AND PROPITIATION. 25 the old view of what were called natural religions: "They considered them, in their source, the work of fraud; in their essence, corrupt superstitions; in their doctrines, wholly false; in their moral tendency, abso- lutely injurious; and in their result, degenerating more and more into greater evil." And this view seems to him alike uncharitable and unreasonable: "To assume that they are wholly evil is disrespectful to human nature. It supposes man to be the easy and universal dupe of fraud. But these religions do not rest on such a sandy foundation, but on the feeling of dependence, the sense of account- ability, the recognition of spiritual realities very near to this world of matter, and the need of looking up and worshipping some unseen power higher and better than ourselves. We shall find them always feeling after God, often finding him. We shall see that in their origin they are not the work of priestcraft, but of human nature ; in their essence, not superstitions, but religions; in their doctrines, true more frequently than false ; in their moral tendency, good rather than evil. And instead of degenerating toward something worse, they come to prepare the way for something better." The nearest case to deliberate invention of dieties was, perhaps, the promulgation as objects of worship in primitive times of such abstractions as Hope (Spes), Fear (Pallor), Concord (Concordia), Courage (Virtus), etc. How far these gods were gods, however, in even the ordinary heathen sense of the word, is doubtful. In any case, they were but the extension of an old and existent principle the personification of divine aspects or qualities; they added no more to what went before than a new Saint or Virgin of Loretto does to the Catholic Church. "It was a favorite opinion, with the Christian apolo- gists, Eusebius and others," says Gladstone, "that the pagan deities represented deified men. Others consider them to signify the powers of external nature personi- fied. For others they are, in many cases, impersona- 20 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. tions of human passions and propensities, reflected back from the mind of man. A fourth mode of interpreta- tion would treat them as copies, distorted and depraved, of a primitive system of religion given by God to man. The Apostle St Paul speaks of them as devils; by which he may perhaps intend to convey that, under the names and in connection with the worship of those deities, the worst influences of the Evil One were at work. This would rather be a subjective than an ob- jective description ; and would rather convey an account of the practical working of a corrupted religion than an explanation of its origin or its early course. As between the other four, it seems probable that they all, in various degrees and manners, entered into the composition of the later paganism, and also of the Homeric or Olympian system. That system, however, was profoundly adverse to mere Nature-worship; while the care of departments or provinces of external nature were assigned to its leading personages. Such worship of natural objects or elemental powers, as pre- vailed in connection with it, was in general local or secondary. And the deification of heroes in the age of Homer was rare and merely titular. We do not find that any cult or system of devotion was attached to it." So humanly divine, so impotently great, are the gods of Homer; so thoroughly invested with the passions of men, clothed in distinctive shades of human charac- ter; such mingled virtue and vice, love and hate, courage and cowardice; animal passions uniting with noble sentiments ; base and vulgar thoughts with lofty and sublime ideas; and all so wrought up by his inimi- table fancy into divine and supernatural beings, as to work most powerfully upon the nature of the people. These concrete conceptions of his deities have ever been a source of consolation to the savage; for, by thus bringing down the gods to a nearer level with himself, they could be more materially propitiated, and their protection purchased with gifts and sacrifices. Thus the Greeks could obtain advice through oracles, UNRECORDED FACTS SOON BECOME MYTHOLOGICAL. 27 the Hindoo could pass at once into eternal joys by throwing himself under the car of Juggernaut, while the latter-day offender seeks in the assistance of the departed to buy forgiveness with charities, and to compound crime by building churches. The difficulty is, that in attempting to establish any theory concerning the origin of things, the soundest logic is little else than wild speculation. Mankind pro- gress unconsciously. We know not what problems we ourselves are working out for these who come after us ; we know not by what process we arrive at many of our conclusions ; much of that which is clear to our- selves is never understood by our neighbor, and never will be even known by our posterity. Events the most material are soon forgotten, or else are made spiritual and preserved as myths. Blot out the pro- cess by which science arrived at results, and in every achievement of science, in the steam-engine, the elec- tric telegraph, we should soon have a heaven-descended agency, a god for every machine. Where mythology ceases and history begins is in the annals of every nation a matter of dispute. What at first appears to be wholly fabulous may contain some truth, whereas much of what is held to be true is mere fable, and herein excessive scepticism is as unwise as excessive credulity. Historical facts, if unrecorded, are soon lost. Thus when Juan de Ofiate penetrated New Mexico in 1596, Fray Marco de Niza, and the expedition of Coronado in 1540, appear to have been entirely forgotten by the Cibolans. Fathers Crespi and Junipero Serra, in their overland explorations of 1769, preparatory to the estab- lishment of a line of Missions along the Calif ornian seaboard, could find no traces in the minds of the natives of Cabrillo's voyage in 1542, or of the landing of Sir Francis Drake in 1579; although, so impressed were the savages in the latter instance, that, according to the worthy chaplain of the expedition, they desired "with submission and fear to worship us as gods. " Nor can we think civilized memories which ascribe the 28 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. plays of Shakespeare to Bacon, and parcel out the Iliad of Homer among numberless unrecorded verse- makers more tenacious. Frederick Augustus Wolf denies that a Homer ever existed; or if he did, that he ever wrote his poem, as writing was at that time not generally known ; but he claims that snatches of history, descending orally from one generation to another, in the end coalesced into the matchless Iliad and Odyssey. The event which so strongly impressed the father becomes vague in the mind of the son, and in the third generation is either lost or becomes legend- ary. Incidents of recent occurrence, contemporary perhaps with the narration, are sometimes so misinter- preted by ignorance or distorted by prejudice, as to place the fact strangely at variance with the recital. Yet no incident nor action falls purposeless to the ground. Unrecorded it may be, unwitnessed, unheard by beings material ; a thought- wave even, lost in space invisible, acting, for aught we know, only upon the author; yet so acting, it casts an influence, stamps on fleeting time its record, thereby fulfilling its destiny. Thus linger vapory conceits long after the action which created them has sunk into oblivion ; undefined shadows of substance departed; none the less impressive be- cause mingled with immortal imagery. Turn now from outward events to inner life; from events grown shadowy with time, to life ever dim and mysterious alike to savage and sage. Everywhere man beholds much that is incomprehensible ; within, around, the past, the future. Invisible forces are at work, in- visible agencies play upon his destiny. And in the creations of fancy, which of necessity grow out of the influence of nature upon the imagination, it is not strange that mysteries darken, facts and fancies blend; the past and the future uniting in a supernatural present. We are never content with positive knowledge. From the earliest workings of the mind, creations of fancy play as important a part in ethical economy as positive perceptions. Nor does culture in any wise lessen these RELIGIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC ULTIMATES. 29 fanciful creations of the intellect. In the political arena of civilized nations, wars and revolutions for the en- forcement of opinion concerning matters beyond the reach of positive knowledge have equalled if they have not exceeded wars for empire or ascendancy. In the social and individual affairs of life we are governed more by the ideal than by the real. On reaching the limits of positive knowledge, reason pauses, but fancy overleaps the boundary, and wanders forward in an end- less waste of speculation. The tendency of intellectual progress, according to the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, is from the con- crete to the abstract, from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the knowable to the unknowable. Primordially nothing was known ; as superstitions and priestcraft grew rank, everything became known ; there was not a problem in the natural or in the supernatural world unsolvable by religion. Now, when some elements of absolute knowledge are be- ginning to appear, we discover, not only that little is positively known, but that much of what has been hitherto deemed past controverting is, under the present regime of thought, absolutely unknowable. Formerly ultimate religious knowledge was attained by the very novices of religion, and ultimate scientific knowledge was explained through their fanatical con- ceptions. Not only were all the mysteries of the material universe easily solved by the Fathers, but heaven was measured, and the phenomena of hell minutely described. Now we are just beginning to comprehend that ultimate facts will probably ever remain unknowable facts, for when the present ulti- mate is attained, an eternity of undiscovered truth will still lie stretched out before the searcher. Until the finite becomes infinite, and time lapses into eter- nity, the realm of thought will remain unfilled. At present, and until the scope of the intellect is mate- rially enlarged, such theories as the origin of the uni- verse held by atheists to be self-existent, by panthe- ists to have been self-created, and by theists to have 30 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. been originated by an external agency - must remain, as they are now admitted to be, questions beyond even the comprehension of the intellect. Likewise scien- tific ultimates such as the qualities of time and space, the divisibility of matter, the coordination of motion and rest, the correlation of forces, the mysteries of gravitation, light, and heat are found to be not only not solvable, but not conceivable. And as with the external so with the inward life; we cannot conceive the nature, nor explain the origin and duration, of con- sciousness. The endless speculations of biology and psychology only leave impressions at once of the strength and weakness of the mind of man; strong in empirical knowledge, impotent in every attempt ra- tionally to penetrate the unfathomable. Nowhere in mythology do we find the world self-created or self- existent. Some external agency is ever brought in to perform the work, and in the end the structure of the universe is resolved into its original elements. Primordial man finds himself surrounded by natural phenomena the operations of which his intelligence is capable of grasping but partially. Certain appetites sharpen at once certain instincts. Hunger makes him acquainted with the fruits of the earth; cold with the skins of beasts. Accident supplies him with rude implements, and imparts to him a knowledge of his power over animals. But as instinct merges into intellect, strange powers in nature are felt; invisible agents wielding invisible weapons; realities which exist unheard and move unseen; outward manifesta- tions of hidden strength. Humanity, divine but wild and wondering, half fed, half clad, ranges woods prime- val, hears the roar of battling elements, sees the ancient forest tree shivered into fragments by heaven's artillery, feels the solid earth rise up in rumbling waves beneath his feet. He receives, as it were, a blow from within the darkness, arid flinging himself upon the ground, he begs protection; from what he knows not, of whom he knows not. "Bury me not, O tumultuous heavens," he cries, "under the clouds ORIGIN ANL> PROGRESS OF PRIESTCRAFT. 31 of your displeasure!" "Strike rue not down in wrath, O fierce flaming fire!" "Earth, be firm!" Here, then, is the origin of prayer. And to render more effectual his entreaties, a gift is offered. Seizing upon whatever he prizes most, his food, his raiment, he rushes forth and hurls his propitiatory offering heaven- ward, earthward, whithersoever his frenzied fancy dic- tates. Or, if this is not enough, the still more dearly valued gift of human blood or human life is offered. His own flesh he freely lacerates ; to save his own life, he gives that of his enemy, his slave, or even his child. Hence arises sacrifice. And here also conjurings commence. The neces- sity is felt of opening up some intercourse with these mysterious powers, relations commercial and social; calamities and casualties, personal and public, must be traced to causes, and the tormenting demon bought off. But it is clearly evident that these elemental forces are not all of them inimical to the happiness of mankind. Sunshine, air, and water, the benign influ- ences in nature, are as powerful to create as the adverse elements are to destroy. And as these forces appear conflicting, part productive of life and enjoy- ment, and part of destruction, decay, and death, a separation is made. Hence principles of good and evil are discovered; and to all these unaccountable forces in nature names and properties are given, and causations invented. For every act there is an actor ; for every deed a doer; for every power and passion there is made a god. Thus we see that worship in some form is a human necessity, or at least, a constant accompaniment of humanity. Until perfect wisdom and limitless power are the attributes of humanity, adoration will continue ; for men will never cease to reverence what they do not understand, nor will they cease to fear such ele- ments of strength as are beyond their control. The form of this conciliatory homage appears to arise from common human instincts; for, throughout the world and in all ages, a similarity in primitive religious 32 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. forms has existed. It is a giving of something ; the barter of a valuable something for a something more valuable. As in his civil polity all crimes may be compounded or avenged, so' in his worship, the savage gives his pride, his property, or his blood. At first, this spirit power is seen in everything; in the storm and in the soft evening air ; in clouds and cataracts, in mountains, rocks, and rivers; in trees, in reptiles, beasts, and fishes. But when progressive man obtains a more perfect mastery over the brute creation, brute worship ceases; as he becomes familiar with the causes of some of the forces in nature, and is better able to protect himself from them, the fear of natural objects is lessened. Leaving the level of the brute creation he mounts upward, and selecting from his own species some living or dead hero, he endows a king or comrade with superhuman attributes, and worships his dead fellow as a divine being. Still he tunes his thoughts to subtiler creations, and carves with skilful fingers material images of supernatural forms. Then comes idolatry. The great principles of causation being determined and embodied in per- ceptible forms, adorations ensue. Cravings, however, increase. As the intellect expands, one idol after another is thrown down. Mind assumes the mastery over matter. From gods of wood and stone, made by men's fingers, and from suns and planets carved by the fingers of omnipotence, the creature now turns to the Creator. A form of ideal worship supplants the material form; gods known and tangible are thrown aside for the unknown God. And well were it for the intellect could it stop here. But as the actions of countless material gods were clear to the primitive priest, and by him satisfactorily explained to the sav- age masses, so, in this more advanced state, men are not wanting who receive from their ideal god revela- tions of his actions and motives. To its new, unknown, ideal god, the partially awakened human mind attaches the positive attributes of the old, material deities, or invents new ones, and starts anew to tread the endless ORIGIN OF FETICHISM. 33 mythologic circle; until in yet a higher state it dis- covers that both god and attributes are wholly beyond its grasp, and that with all its progress, it has advanced but slightly beyond the first savage conception a power altogether mysterious, inexplicable to science, controlling phenomena of mind and matter. Barbarians are the most religious of mortals. While the busy, overworked brain of the scholar or man of business is occupied with more practical affairs, the listless mind of the savage, thrown as he is upon the very bosom of nature, is filled with innumerable con- jectures and interrogatories. His curiosity, like that of a child, is proverbial, and as superstition is ever the resource of ignorance, queer fancies and phantasms concerning life and death, and gods and devils, float continually through his unenlightened imagination. Ill protected from the elements, his comfort and his uncertain food-supply depending upon them, primitive man regards nature with eager interest. Like the beasts, his forest companions, he places himself as far as .possible in harmony with his environment. He mi- grates with the seasons; feasts when food is plenty, fasts in famine-time; basks and gambols in the sunshine, cowers beneath the fury of the storm, crawls from the cold into his den, arid there quasi-torpidly remains until nature releases him. Is it therefore strange that sav- age intellect peoples the elements with supernatural powers? that God is everywhere, in everything; in the most trifling accident and incident, as well as in the sun, the sea, the grove; that when evil comes God is angry, when fortune smiles God is favorable; and that he speaks to his wild, untutored people in signs and dreams, in the tempest and in the sunshine. Nor does he withhold the still, small voice which breathes upon minds most darkened, and into breasts-, the most savage, a spirit of progress, which, if a people be left to the free fulfilment of their destiny, is sure, sooner or later, to ripen into full development. We will now glance at the origin of fetichism, which VOL. ill. 3 34 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. indeed may be called the origin of ideal religion, from the other standpoint; that which arises from the respect men feel for the memory of their departed ancestors. The first conception of a dualty in man's nature has been attributed to various causes; it may be the result of a combination of causes. There is the shadow upon the ground, separate, yet inseparable; the re- flection of the form upon the water; the echo of the voice; the adventures of fancy portrayed by dreams. Self is divisible from and inseparably connected with this other self. Herefrom arise innumerable super- stitions; it was portentous of misfortune for one's clothes to be stepped on; no food must be left uneaten ; nail clippings and locks of hair must not' fall into the hands of an enemy. Catlin, in sketching his portraits, often narrowly escaped with his life, the Indians be- lieving that in their likenesses he carried away their other self. And when death comes, and this other self departs, whither has it gone ? The lifeless body remains, but where is the life ? The mind cannot con- ceive of the total extinguishment of an entity, and so the imagination rears a local habitation for every de- parted spirit. Every phenomenon and every event is analyzed under this hypothesis. For every event there is not only a cause, but a personal cause, an in- dependent agent behind every consequence. Every animal, every fish and bird, every rock and stream and plant, the ripening fruit, the falling rain, the uncertain wind, the sun and stars, are all personified. There is no disease without its god or devil, no fish entangled in the net, no beast or bird that falls before the hunter, without its special sender. Savages are more afraid of a dead man than a live one. They are overwhelmed with terror at the thought of this unseen power over them. The spirit of the departed is omnipotent and omnipresent. At any cost or hazard it must be propitiated. So food is placed in the grave ; wives and slaves, and horses and dogs, are .slain, and in spirit sent to serve the ghost of the de- THE WORSHIP OF DEAD ANCESTORS. 35 parted; phantom messengers are sent to the region of shadows from time to time ; the messengers some- times even volunteering to go. So boats and weapons and all the property of the deceased are burned or deposited with him. In the hand of the dead child is placed a toy; in that of the departed warrior, the symbolic pipe of peace, which is to open a tranquil entrance into his new abode; clothes, and ornaments, and paint, are conveniently placed, and thus a proper personal appearance guaranteed. Not that the things themselves are to be used, but the souls of things. The body of the chief rots, as does the material sub- stance of the articles buried with it; but the soul of every article follows the soul of its owner, to serve its own peculiar end in the land of phantoms. The Chinese, grown cunning with the great antiquity of their burial customs, which require money and food to be deposited for the benefit of the deceased, spiritu- alize the money, by making an imitation coin of paste- board, while the food, untouched by the dead, is finally eaten by themselves. But whence arises the strange propensity of all primi- tive nations to worship animals, and plants, and stones, things animate and inanimate, natural and supernatu- ral? Why is it that all nations or tribes select from nature some object which they hold to be sacred, and which they venerate as deity \ It is the opinion of Herbert Spencer that "the rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing, and to be capable of work- ing good or evil to their descendants." It is the universal custom with savage tribes, as the character of their members becomes developed, to drop the real name of individuals and to fix upon them the attribute of some external object, by whose name only they are afterward known. Thus a swift runner is called the ' antelope/ the slow of foot the ' tortoise/ a merciless warrior the 'wolf/ a dark-eyed maid may be likened to the 'raven/ a majestic matron to the ' cypress.' And so the rivulet, the rock, the dawn, the sun, and 3G SPEECH AND SPECULATION. even elements invisible, are seized upon as metaphors and fastened upon individuals, according to a real or fancied resemblance between the qualities of nature and the character of the men. Inferiority and base- ness, alike with nobleness and wise conduct, perpetuate a name. Even in civilized societies, a nickname often takes the place of the real name. Schoolboys arc quick to distinguish peculiarities in their fellows, and fasten upon them significant names. A dull scholar is called 'cabbage-head/ the girl with red ringlets, ' carrots.' In the family there is the greedy 'pig/ the darling 'duck/ the little 'lamb.' In new countries and abnormal communities) where strangers from all parts are promiscuously thrown together, not unfre- quently men live on terms of intimacy for years with- out ever knowing each other's real name. Among miners, such appellations as 'Muley Bill/ 'Sandy/ 'Shorty/ 'Sassafras Jack/ often serve all the purposes of a name. In more refined circles, there is the hypo- critical 'crocodile/ the sly 'fox/ the gruff 'bear.' We say of the horse, 'he is as fleet as the wind/ of a rapid accountant, 'he is as quick as lightning.' These names, which are used by us but for the moment, or to fit occasions, are among rude nations permanent in many instances the only name a person ever receives. Sometimes the nickname of the individual becomes first a family name and then a tribal name ; as when the chief 'Coyote' becomes renowned, his children love to call themselves 'Coyotes.' The chieftainship descending to the son and grandson of Coyote, the name becomes famous, the Coyote family the domi- nant family of the tribe; members of the tribe, in their intercourse with other tribes, call themselves 'coyotes/ to distinguish themselves from other tribes ; the head, or tail, or claws, or skin of the coyote ornaments the dress or adorns the body; the name becomes tribal, and the animal the symbol or totem of the tribe. After a few generations have passed, the great chieftain Coyote and his immediate progeny are forgotten; meanwhile, the beast becomes a favorite with the peo- ABSTRACT CONCEPTIONS, MONSTERS, AND METAPHORS. 37 pie; he begins to be regarded as privileged; is not hunted down like other beasts; the virtues and ex- ploits of the whole Coyote clan become identified with the brute; the affections of the people are centered in the animal, and finally, all else being lost and forgotten, the descendants of the chieftain Coyote are the off- spring of the veritable beast coyote. Concerning image- worship and the material repre- sentation of ideal beings, Mr Tylor believes that "when man has got some way in developing the reli- gious element in him, he begins to catch at the device of setting up a puppet, or a stone, as the symbol and representative of the notions of a higher being which are floating in his mind." Primitive languages cannot express abstract quali- ties. For every kind of animal or bird or plant there may be a name, but for animals, plants, and birds in general they have no name or conception. There- fore, the abstract quality becomes the concrete idea of a god, and the descendants of a man whose sym- bolic name was 'dog,' from being the children of the man, become the children of the dog. Hence also arise monsters, beings compounded of beast, bird, and fish, sphinxes, mermaids, human- headed brutes, winged animals; as when the descend- ant of the 'hawk* carries off a wife from the 'salmon' tribe, a totem representing a fish with a hawk's head for a time keeps alive the occurrence and finally be- comes the deity. Thus realities become metaphors and metaphors realities; the fact dwindles into shadowy nothingness, and the fancy springs into actual being. The histori- cal incident becomes first indistinct and then is forgot- ten ; the metaphorical name of the dead ancestor is first respected in the animal or plant, then worshipped in the animal or plant, and finally the nickname and the ancestor both are forgotten and the idea becomes the entity, and the veritable object of worship. From forgetfulness of primogenitor and metaphor, conceiv- ing the animal to be the very ancestor, words are put 38 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. into the animal's mouth, the sayings of the ancestor become the sayings of the brute; hence mythological legends of talking beasts, and birds, and wise fishes. To one animal is attributed a miraculous cure, to an- other, assistance in time of trouble; one animal is a deceiver, another a betrayer; and thus through their myths and metaphors we may look back into the soul of savagism and into their soul of nature. That this is the origin of some phases of fetichism there can be no doubt ; that it is the origin of all reli- gions, or even the only method by which animal and plant worship originates, I do not believe. While there are undoubtedly general principles underlying all religious conceptions, it does not necessarily follow that in every instance the methods of arriving at those fundamental principles must be identical. As with us a child weeps over a dead mother's picture, regard- ing it with fond devotion, so the dutiful barbarian son, in order the better to propitiate the favor of his dead ancestor, sometimes carves his image in wood or stone, which sentiment with time lapses into idolatry. Any object which strikes the rude fancy as analogous to the character of an individual may become an object of worship. The interpretation of myth can never be absolute and positive; yet we may in almost every instance discover the general purport. Thus a superior god, we may be almost sure, refers to some potent hero, some primitive ruler, whom tradition has made super- human in origin and in power; demigods, subordinate or inferior beings in power, must be regarded as legen- dary, referring to certain influential persons, identified with some element or incident in which the deified personage played a conspicuous part. Although in mythology religion is the dominant element, yet mythology is not wholly made up of religion, nor are all primitive religions mythical. " There are few mistakes," says Professor Max Midler, "so widely spread and so firmly established as that which makes us confound the religion and the mythol- FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS^ OF RELIGION. 39 ogy of the ancient nations of the world. How my. thology arises, necessarily and naturally, I tried to explain in my former lectures, and we saw that, as an affection or disorder of language, mythology may infect every part of the intellectual life of man. True it is that no ideas are more liable to mythological disease than religious ideas, because they transcend those regions of our experience within which language has its natural origin, and must therefore, according to their very nature, be satisfied with metaphorical ex- pressions. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man. Yet even the religions of the ancient nations are by no means inev- itably and altogether mythological. On the contrary, as a diseased frame presupposes a healthy frame, so a mythological religion presupposes, I believe, a healthy religion." The universal secrets of supernatural beings are wrapped up in probable or possible fable; the elements of physical nature are inpersonated in allegories, and arrayed in forms perceptible to the imagination; deities are sometimes introduced into the machinery of the supernatural in order to gratify that love for the mar- vellous which every attempt to explain the mysterious forces of nature creates in the ignorant mind. Yet it cannot truly be said that any form of religion, much less any religion, was wholly invented. Fanatics some- times originate doctrines, and the Church sets forth its dogmas, but there must be a foundation of truth or the edifice cannot stand. Inventions there undoubtedly have been and are, but inventions sooner or later fall to the ground, while the essential principles under- lying religion and mythology, though momentarily overcome or swept away, are sure to remain. Every one of the fundamental ideas of religion is of indigenous origin, generating spontaneously in the human heart. It is a characteristic of mythology that the present inhabitants of the world descended from some nobler race. From the nobler impulses of fancy the savage derives his origin. His higher instincts 40 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. teach him that his dim distant past, and his impene- trable future, are alike of a lighter, more ethereal nature; that his earthly nature is base, that that which binds him to earth is the lowest, vilest part of himself. The tendency of positive knowledge is to overthrow / JL O superstition. Hence as science develops, many ten- ets of established religions, palpably erroneous, are dropped, and the more knowledge becomes real, the more real knowledge is denied. Superstition is not the effect of an active imagination, but shows rather a lack of imagination, for we see that the lower the stage of intelligence, and the feebler the imagination, the greater the superstition. A keen, vivid imagination, although capable of broader and more complicated conceptions, is able to explain the cruder marvels, and consequently to dispel the coarser phases of supersti- tion, while the dull intellect accepts everything which is put upon it as true. Ultimate religious conceptions are symbolic rather than actual. Ultimate ideas of the universe are even beyond the grasp of the pro- found est intellect. We can form but an approximate idea of the sphere on which we live. To form con- ceptions of the relative and actual distances and mag- nitudes of heavenly bodies, of systems of worlds, and eternities of space, the human mind is totally inade- quate. If, therefore, the mind is unable to grasp material visible objects, how much less are we -able to measure the invisible and eternal ! When, therefore, the savage attempts to solve the problem of natural phenomena, he first reduces broad conceptions to symbolic ideas. He moulds his deity according to the measure of his mind; and in forming a skeleton upon which to elaborate his religious instincts, proximate theories are accepted, and almost any explanation appears to him plausible. The poten- tial creations of his fancy are brought within the com- pass of his comprehensions; symbolic gods are moulded from mud, or carved from wood or stone; and thus by segregating an infinitesimal part of the vast idea CLASSIFICATION OF PACIFIC STATES MYTHS. 41 of deity, the worshipper meets the material require- ments of his religious conceptions. And although the lower forms of worship are abandoned as the intellect unfolds, the same principle is continued. We set up in the mind symbols of the ultimate idea which is too great for our grasp, and imagining ourselves in pos- session of the actual idea, we fall into numberless errors concerning what we believe or think. The atheistic hypothesis of self-existence, the pantheistic hypothesis of self-creation, and the theistic hypothesis of creation by an external agency are equally unthink- able, and therefore as postulates equally untenable. Yet underlying all, however gross or superstitious the dogma, is one fundamental truth, namely, that there is a problem to be solved, an existent myste- rious universe to be accounted for. Deep down in every human breast is implanted a religiosity as a fundamental attribute of man's nature; a consciousness that behind visible appearances is an invisible power; underlying all conception is an in- stinct or intuition, from which there is no escape, that beyond material actualities potential agencies are at work ; and throughout all belief, from the stupidest fet- ichism to the most exalted monotheism, as part of these instinctive convictions, it is held that the beings or being who rules man's destiny may be propitiated. In the following chapters I have attempted, as far as practicable, to classify the Myths of the Pacific States under appropriate heads. In making such a classification there is no difficulty, except where in one myth occur two or more divisions of the subject, in which case it becomes necessary either to break the narrative or make exceptions to the general rule of classifying. I have invariably adopted the latter al- ternative. The divisions which I make of Mythology are as follows: I. Origin and End of Things; II. Physical Myths; III. Animal Myths; IY. Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship; Y. The Future State. CHAPTER II. ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. QUICHE CREATION-MYTH AZTEC ORIGIN-MYTHS THE PAPAGOS MONTE- ZUMA AND THE COYOTE THE MOQUIS THE GREAT SPIDER'S WEB OF THE PlMAS NAVAJO AND PUEBLO CREATIONS ORIGIN OF CLEAR LAKE ' AND LAKE TAHOE CHAREYA OF THE CAHROCS MOUNT SHASTA, THE WIGWAM OF THE GREAT SPIRIT IDAHO SPRINGS AND WATERFALLS How DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE OCCURRED YEHL, THE CREATOR OF THE THLINKEETS THE RAVEN AND THE DOG. OF all American peoples, the Quiches of Guatemala have left us the richest mythological legacy. Their description of the creation as given in the Popol Vuh, which may be called the national book of the Quiches, 1 1 In Vienna, in 1857, the book now best known as the Popol Vuh was first brought to the notice of European scholars, under the following title: Las Historias del Origen de los Indlos de esta Provincia de Guatemala, traducidas de la Lengua Quiche al Castellano para mas Comodidad de los Mlmstros del S. Evangelio, por el If. P. F. Francisco Ximenez, cura doctrmero por el real patronato del Pueblo de S. Thomas Chuila. Exactamente segun fl texto espanol del manuscrito original que se kalla en la biblioteca de la Universidad de Guatemala, publicado por Id prtmera vez, y aumentado con una introduccion y anotaciones por el Dr C. Scherzer. What Dr Scherzer says in a paper read before the Vienna Academy of Sciences, Feb. 20, 1856, and repeats in his introduction, about its author, amounts to this: In the early part of the 18th century Francisco Ximenez, a Dominican Father of great repute for his learning and his love of truth, filled the office of curate in the little Indian town of Chichicastenango in the highlands of Guatemala. ITeither the time of his birth nor that of his death can be exactly ascertained, but the internal evidence of one of his works shows that he was engaged upon it in 1721. He left many manuscripts, but it is supposed that the unpalatable truths some of them contain with regard to the ill treatment cf the Indians by the colonial authorities sufficed, as previously in the case of Las Casas, to insure their partial destruction and total suppression. What remains of them lay long hid in an obscure corner of the Convent of the Dominicans in Guatemala and passed afterward, on the suppression of all (42) THE POPOL VUH. 43 is, in its rude strange eloquence and poetic originality, one of the rarest relics of aboriginal thought. Although obliged in reproducing it to condense somewhat, I have the religious orders, into the library of the University of San Carlos (Gua- temala). Here Dr Scherzer discovered them in June 1854, and care- fully copied, and afterwards published as above, the particular treatise with which we are now concerned. This, according to Father Ximenez him- self, and according to its internal evidence, is a translation, of a literal copy of an original book, written by one or more Quiches, in the Quiche language, in Roman letters, after the Christians had occupied Guatemala, and after the real original Popol Vuh National Book had been lost or destroyed lite- rally, was no more to be seen and written to replace that lost book. ' Qube trasladar todas las historias d let letra de estos indios, y tambien traducirlo, en la lengua castellana. ' ' Esto escribiremos ya en la ley de Dios en la cristiandad, los sacaremos, porque ya no hay libro comun, original donde verlo, Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 1, 4, 5. 'Voila ce que nous e'crirons dc- puis (qu'on a promulgue) la parole de Dieu, et en dedans du Christianisme; nous le reproduirons, parce qu'on ne voit plus ce Livre national.' 'Vae x-chi-ka tzibah chupan chic u chabal Dios, pa Christianoil chic; x-chi-k'- elezah, rumal ma-habi chic ilbal re Popol-Vuh. ' Brassetir de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 5. The evidence that the author was Quiche will be found in the numerous passages scattered through the narrative in which ho speaks of the Quiche nation, and of the ancestors of that nation as ' our people,' 'our ancestors,' and so on. We pass now to what the Abbe Bras- seur de Bourbourg has to say about the book. He says that Ximenez 'discovered this document in the last years of the 17th century.' Li 1855, at Guatemala, the abbe first saw Ximenez' manuscript containing this work. The manuscript contained the Quiche text and the Spanish curate's translation of that text. Brasseur de Bourbourg copied both at that time, but he was dissatisfied with the translation, believing it to be full of faults owing to the prejudices and the ignorance of the age in which it was made, as well as disfigured by abridgments and omissions. So in 1860 he settled himself among the Quiches, and by the help of natives, joined to his own practical knowledge of their language, he elaborated a new and literal translation, (aussi litterale qu'il a ete possible de la faire). We seem justified, then, on the whole, in taking this document for what Ximenez and its own evidence declare it to be, namely, a reproduction of an older work or body of Quiche traditional history, written because that older work had been lost and was likely to be forgotten, and written by a Quiche not long after the Spanish Conquest. One consequence of the last fact would seem to be that a tinge of biblical expression has, consciously or unconsciously to the Quiche who wrote, influenced the form of the narrative. But these coincidences may be wholly accidental, the more as there are also striking resemblances to expres- sions in the Scandinavian Edda and in the Hindoo Veda. And even if they be not accidental, ' much remains, ' adopting the language and the conclu- sion of Professor Max Miiller, 'in these American traditions which is so different from anything else in the national literatures of other countriei, that we may safely treat it as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of America.' Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i., p. 328. For the fore- going, as well as further information on the subject, see Brasseur de Bour- boury, Popol Vuh, 'pp. 5-31, 195-231; S'il existe des Sources de I'Hist. Prim. t pp. 83-7; Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 47-61; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat. t pp. 5-15; Scherzer, in Sitzungberichte der Akademie der Wissenshaften Wien, 20th Feb., 1856; Helps' Spanish Conquest, vol. iv., pp. 455-6. Professor Miiller, in his essay on the Popol Vuh, has in one or two places misunder- stood the narrative. There was no such creation of man as that he gives as the second, while his third creation is the second of the original. Again, he makes the four Quiche ancestors to be the progenitors of 44 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. endeavored to give not only the substance, but also, as far as possible, the peculiar style and phraseology of the original. It is with this primeval picture, whose simple silent sublimity is that of the inscrutable past, that we begin. And the heaven was formed, and all the signs thereof set in their angle and alignment, and its boun- daries fixed toward the four winds by the Creator and Former, and Mother and Father of life and existence he by whom all move and breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the peace of nations and of the civilization of his people he whose wisdom has projected the excellence of all that is on the earth, or in the lakes, or in the sea. Behold the first word and the first discourse. There was as yet no man, nor any animal, nor bird, nor fish, nor crawfish, nor any pit, nor ravine, nor green herb, nor any tree; nothing was but the firmament. The face of the earth had not yet appeared only the peace- ful sea and all the space of heaven. There was nothing yet joined together, nothing that clung to anything else ; nothing that balanced itself, that made the least rustling, that made a sound in the heaven. There was nothing that stood up; nothing but the quiet water, but the sea, calm and alone in its boundaries : nothing existed; nothing but immobility and silence, in the darkness, in the night. 2 all tribes both white and black; while they were the parents of the Quiche and kindred races only. The course of the legend brings us to tribes of a strange blood, with which these four ancestors and their people were often at war. The narrative is, however, itself so confused and contradictory at points, that it is almost impossible to avoid such things; and as a whole, the views of Professor Miiller on the Popol Vuh seem just and well considered. Baldwin, Ancient America, pp. 191-7, gives a mere dilution of Professor Miiller 's essay, and that without acknowledgment. 2 The original Quiche runs as follows: 'Are u tzihoxic vae ca ca tzinin-oc, ca ca chamam-oc, ca tzinonic; ca ca zilanic, ca ca loliiiic, ca tolona puch u pa cah. Vae cute nabe tzih, nabe ucnari. Ma-habi-oc hun vinak, hurt chicop; tziquin, car, tap, che, abah, hul, civan, quim, qichelah: xa-utuquel cah qolic. Mavi calah u vach uleu: xa-utuquel remanic palo, u pah cah ronohel. Ma-habi nakila ca molobic, ca cotzobic: hunta ca zilobic; ca mal ca ban-tah, ca cotz ca ban-tah pa cah. X-ma qo-vi nakila qolic yacalic; xa remauic ha, xa lianic palo, xa-utuquel remanic; x-ma qo-vi nakilalo qolic. Xa ca chamanic, ca tzininic chi gekum, chi a gab. ' This passage is rendered by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg thus: ' Voi- ci le recit comine quoi tout etait en suspens, tout etait calme et silencieux; THE QUICKC IDEA OF CREATION. 45 Alone also the Creator, the Former, the Domina- tor, the Feathered Serpent those that engender, those that give being, they are upon the water, like a growing light. They are enveloped in green and blue; and therefore their name is Gucumatz. 3 Lo, now how the heavens exist, how exists also the Heart of Heaven; such is the name of God; it is thus that he is called. And they spake ; they consulted to- gether and meditated ; they mingled their words and their opinion. Arid the creation was verily after this wise: Earth, they said, and on the instant it was formed; like a cloud or a fog was its beginning. Then the mountains rose over the water like great lobsters; in an instant the mountains and the plains were visi- ble, and the cypress and the pine appeared. Then was the Gucumatz filled with joy, crying out : Blessed be thy coming, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, Thun- derbolt. Our work and our labor has accomplished its end. The earth and its vegetation having thus appeared, it was peopled with the various forms of animal life. And the Makers said to the animals: Speak now our tout etait immobile, tout etait paisible, et vide etait I'immensite cles cieux. Voil& done la premiere parole et lo premier discours. II n'y avait pas encore un seul homme, pas un animal; pas d'oiseaux, de poissons, d'ecrevisses, de bois, de pierre, de fondrieres, de ravins, d'herbe ou de bocages: seulameiit lo ciel existait. La face de la tierrc ne se manifestait pas encore: seub la mer paisible etait et tout Tespace des cieux. II n'y avait encore rieu qui fit corps, rieii qui se cramponnat a autre chose; rien qui se balan^at, qui fit (le moindre) frolement, qui fit (entendre) un son dans le ciel. II n'y avait rien qui existat debout; (il n'y avait) que 1'eau paisible, que la mer calmo et seulo dans ses bornes; car il n'y avait rien qui existat. Ce ii'etait que rimmobilite et le silence dans Iss ten6bres, dans la nuit.' Popol Vuh, p. 7. And by Francisco Ximenez thus: ' Este ea su ser dicho cuando estaba EUS- penso en calma, en silencio, sin moverse, sin cosa sino vacio el cielo. Y esta Co la primera palabra y elocuencia; aun no habia hombres, animalas, pajaros, pescado, cangrejo, palo, piedra, hoya, barranca, paja ni monte, sino solo es- taba el cielo; no se maiiif estaba la faz de la tierra; sino que solo estaba el mar represado, y todo lo del cielo; aun no habia cosa alguna junta, ni sonaba nada, ni cosa alguna se meneaba, ni cosa que hiciera mal, ni cosa que hiciera, " cotz " (esto es ruido en el cielo), ni habia cosa que estuviese parada en pie; solo el agua represada, solo la mar sosegada, solo ella represada, ni cosa al- guna habia que estuviese; solo estaba e:i silencio, y sosiego ea la obscuridad, y la noche. ' Hist. Ind. Gnat. , pp. 5-6. 3 ' Gucumatz, litteralement serpent emplume, et dans un sens plus etendu, serpent revetu de couleurs brillantes, do vert ou d'azur. Les plumes du guc ou quetzal offrent egalement les deux teintes. (Test exactment la meme chose que quetzalcokuatl dans la langue mexicaine.' .Brasseur de Bourboury,. Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 50. 46 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. name, honor us, us your mother and father; invoke Hurakan, the lightning-flash, the Thunderbolt that strikes, the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of the Earth, the Creator and Former, Him who begets, and Him who gives being speak, call on us, salute us! So was it said to the animals. But the animals could not answer; they could not speak at all after the man- ner of men; they could only cluck, and croak, each murmuring after his kind in a different manner. This displeased the Creators, and they said to the animals: Inasmuch as ye cannot praise us, neither call upon our names, your flesh shall be humiliated; it shall be broken with teeth; ye shall be killed and eaten. Again the gods took counsel together; they deter- mined to make man. So they made a man of clay; and when they had made him, they saw that it was not good. He was without cohesion, without con- sistence, motionless, strengthless, inept, watery; he could not move his head, his face looked but one way; his sight was restricted, he could not look behind him; he had been endowed with language, but he had no intelligence, so he was consumed in the water. Again is there counsel in heaven : Let us make an intelligent being who shall adore and invoke us. It was decided that a man should be made of wood and a woman of a kind of pith. They were made; but the result was in no wise satisfactory. They moved about perfectly well, it is true; they increased and multiplied; they peopled the world with sons and daughters, little wooden manikins like themselves; but still the heart and the intelligence were wanting ; they held no memory of their Maker and Former; they led a useless existence; they lived as the beasts live; they forgot the Heart of Heaven. They were but an essay, an attempt at men; they had neither blood, nor substance, nor moisture, nor fat; their cheeks were shrivelled, their feet and hands dried up ; their flesh languished. Then was the Heart of Heaven wroth; and he sent ruin and destruction upon those ingrates; he rained DESTRUCTION AND RE-CREATION OF MAN. 47 upon them night and day from heaven with a thick resin; and the earth was darkened. And the men went mad with terror; they tried to mount upon the roofs, and the houses fell ; they tried to climb the trees, and the trees shook them far from their branches; they tried to hide in the caves and dens of the earth, but these closed their holes against them. The bird Xecotcov- ach came to tear out their eyes; and the Camalotz cut off their head; and the Cotzbalam devoured their flesh; and the Tecumbalam broke and bruised their bones to powder. Thus were they all devoted to chastisement and destruction, save only a few who were preserved as memorials of the wooden men that had been; and these now exist in the woods as little apes. 4 Once more are the gods in counsel ; in the darkness, in the night of a desolated universe do they commune together; of what shall we make man \ And the Cre- ator and Former made four perfect men; and wholly of yellow and white maize was their flesh composed. These were the names of the four men that were made : the name of the first was Balam -Quitze ; of the second, Balam- Agab; of the third Mahucutah; and of the fourth, Iqi-Balam. 5 They had neither father nor mother, neither were they made by the ordinary agents in the work of creation; but their coming into existence was a miracle extraordinary, wrought by the special intervention of him who is pre- eminently the Creator. Verily, at last, were there found men worthy of their origin and their destiny; verily, at last, did the gods look on beings who could see with their eyes, and handle with their hands, and understand with their hearts. Grand of countenance and broad of limb, the four sires of our race stood up under the white rays of the morning star sole light as yet of the primeval world stood up and looked. * A long rambling story is here introduced which has nothing to do with Creation, and which is omitted for the present. 5 Balam-Quitze, the tiger with the sweet smile; Balam- A gab, the tiger of the night; Mahucutah, the distinguished name; Iqi-Balam, the tiger of the moon. ' Telle est la signification litterale que Ximenez a donnee de ces quatre noms.' Brasseur de Bourb&ury, Popol Vuh, p. 199. 48 ORIGIN AND END 0? THINGS. Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all; they saw the woods and the rocks, the lakes and the sea, the mountains and the valleys, and the heavens that were above all; and they comprehended all and admired ex- ceedingly. Then they returned thanks to those who had made the world and all that therein was : We offer up our thanks, twice yea, verily, thrice! We have received life; we speak, we walk, we taste; we hear and understand; we know both that which is near and that which is far off; we see all things, great and small, in all the heaven and earth. Thanks, then, Maker and Former, Father and Mother of our life ! we have been created; we are. But the gods were not wholly pleased with this thing ; Heaven they thought had overshot its mark ; these men were too perfect; knew, understood, and saw too much. Therefore there was counsel again in heaven: What shall we do with man now? It is not good, this that we see; these are as gods; they would make themselves equal with us; lo, they know all things, great and small. Let us now contract their sight, so that they may see only a little of the sur- face of the earth and be content. Thereupon the Heart of Heaven breathed a cloud over the pupil of the eyes of men, and a veil came over it as when one breathes on the face of a mirror; thus was the globe of the eye darkened; neither was that which was far off clear to it any more, but only that which was near. Then the four men slept, and there was counsel in heaven: and four women were made to Balam- Quitze was allotted Caha-Paluma to wife; to Balam- Agab, Chomiha; to Mahucutah, Tzununiha; and to Iqi-Balam, Cakixaha. 6 Now the women were exceed- ingly fair to look upon; and when the men awoke, their hearts were glad because of the women. Next, as I interpret the narrative, there were other 6 Caha-pdluma, the falling water; Chomi-ha or CJwmih-a, the beautiful house or the beautiful water; in the same way, Tzununiha may mean either the house or the water of the humming-birds; and Cakiraha, either the house or the water of the aras [which aro a kind of parrot 1 . Brasscur de fioiirboury, Popol Vuh, p. 205. THE QUICHES SET OUT FOE, TULAN-ZUTVA. 49 men created, the ancestors of other peoples, while the first four were the fathers of all the branches of the Quiche race. The different tribes at first, however, lived together amicably enough, in a primitive state; and increased and multiplied, leading happy lives under their bright and morning star, precursor of the yet unseen sun. They had as yet no worship save the breathing of the instinct of their soul, as yet no altars to the gods ; only and is there not a whole idyl in the simple words? only they gazed up into heaven, not knowing what they had come so far to do ! 7 They were filled with love, with obedience, and with fear; and lifting their eyes towards heaven, they made their requests : Hail! O Creator, Former! thou that hearest and understandest us! abandon us not, forsake us not! God, thou that art in heaven and on the earth, O Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth! give us descendants and a posterity as long as the light en- dure. Give us to walk always in an open road, in a path without snares; to lead happy, quiet, and peace- able lives, free of all reproach. It was thus they spake, living tranquilly, invoking the return of the light, wait- ing the rising of the sun, watching the star of the morning, precursor of the sun. But no sun came, and the four men and their descendants grew uneasy : We have no person to watch over us, they said, noth- ing to guard our symbols. So the four men and their people set out for Tulan-Zuiva, 8 otherwise called the Seven-caves or Seven-ravines, and there they received gods, each man as head of a family, a god; though inasmuch as the fourth man, Iqi-Balam, had no chil- 7 'Are ma-habi chi tzukun, qui coon; xavi chi cah chi qui pacaba qui vach; inavi qu'etaam x-e be-vi naht x-qui bano.' 'Alors ils ne servaient pas encore et ne soutenaient point (les autels des dieux); settlement ils tournaient leurs visages vers le ciel, et ils ne savaient ce qu'ils e"taient venus faire si loin.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 209. It is right to add, however, that Ximenez gives a much more prosaic turn to the passage : ' No cabian de sus- tento, sino que levantaban las caras al cielo y no se sabian alejar.' Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 84. 8 Or as Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat,., p. 87, writes itTulanzti (las siete cuevas y siete barrancas). VOL. HI. 4 50 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. dren and founded no family, his god is not usually taken into the account. Balam-Quitze received the god Tohil; Balam-Agab received the god Avilix ; and Mahucutah received the god Hacavitz; all very powerful gods, but Tohil seems to have been the chief, and in a general way, god of the whole Quiche nation. Other people received gods at the same time ; arid it had been for all a long march to Tuian. Now the Quiches had as yet no fire, and as Tulan was a much colder climate than the happy eastern land they had left, they soon began to feel the want of it. The god Tohil, who was the creator of fire, had some in his possession; so to him, as was most nat- ural, the Quiches applied, and Tohil in some way sup- plied them with fire. But shortly after there fell a great rain that extin- guished all the fires of the land ; and much hail also fell on the heads of the people ; and because of the rain and the hail, their fires were utterly scattered and put out. Then Tohil created fire again by stamping with his sandal. Several times thus fire failed them, but Tohil always renewed it. Many other trials also they underwent in Tulan, famines and such things, and a general dampness and cold for the earth was moist, there being as yet no sun. Here also the language of all the families was con- fused so that no one of the first four men could any longer understand the speech of another. This also made them very sad. They determined to leave Tulan ; and the greater part of them, under the guar- dianship and direction of Tohil, set out to see where they should take up their abode. They continued on their way amid the most extreme hardships for want of food ; sustaining themselves at one time upon the mere smell of their staves, and by imagining that they were eating, when in verity and in truth they ate nothing. Their heart, indeed, it is again and again said, was almost broken by affliction. Poor wanderers! they had a cruel way to go, many forests to pierce, many stern mountains to overpass, and a QUICKC ORIGIN OF THE SUN. 51 long passage to make through the sea, along the shingle and pebbles and drifted sand the sea being, however, parted for their passage. At last they came to a mountain that they named Hacavitz, after one of their gods, and here they rested for here they were by some means given to understand that they should see the sun. Then, indeed, was filled with an exceeding joy the heart of Balam-Quitze, of Balam-Agab, of Mahucutah, and of Iqi-Balam. It seemed to them that even the face of the morning star caught a new and more resplen- dent brightness. They shook their incense pans and danced for very gladness: sweet were their tears in dancing, very hot their incense their precious incense. At last the sun commenced to advance : the animals, small and great, were full of delight; they raised themselves to the surface of the water; they fluttered in the ravines; they gathered at the edge of the mountains, turning their heads together toward that part from which the sun came. And the lion and the tiger roared. And the first bird that sang was that called the Queletzu. All the animals were beside themselves at the sight; the eagle and the kite beat their wings, and every bird, both small and great. The men prostrated themselves on the ground, for their hearts were full to the brim. And the sun, and the moon, and the stars were now all established. Yet was not the sun then in the be- ginning the same as now; his heat wanted force, and he was but as a reflection in a mirror; verily, say the histories, not at all the same sun as that of to-day. Nevertheless he dried up and w r armed the surface of the earth, and answered many good ends. Another wonder when the sun rose I The three tribal gods, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, were turned into stone, as were also the gods connected with the lion, the tiger, the viper, and other fierce and dan- gerous animals. Perhaps we should not be alive at this moment continues the chronicle because of the voracity of these fierce animals, of these lions and tigers 52 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. and vipers; perhaps to-day our glory would not be in existence, had not the sun caused this petrification. And the people multiplied on this Mount Hacavitz, and here they built their city. It is here also that they began to sing that song called Kamucu, 'we see/ They sang it, though it made their hearts ache, for this is what they said in singing: Alas! We ruined ourselves in Tulan, there lost we many of our kith and kin, they still remain there, left behind! We indeed have seen the sun, but they now that his golden light begins to appear, where are they? And they worshipped the gods that had become stone, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and they offered them the blood of beasts, and of birds, and pierced their own ears and shoulders in honor of these gods, and collected the blood with a sponge, and pressed it out into a cup before them. Toward the end of their long and eventful life Ba- lam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam were impelled, apparently by a supernatural vision, to lay before their gods a more awful offering than the life of senseless beasts. They began to wet their altars with the heart's blood of human victims. From their mountain hold they watched for lonely travellers belonging to the surrounding tribes, seized, over- powered, and slew them for a sacrifice. Man after man was missing in the neighboring villages ; and the people said : Lo ! the tigers have carried them away for wherever the blood was of a man slain were always found the tracks of many tigers. Now this was the craft of the priests, and at last the tribes began to suspect the thing and to follow the tracks of the tigers. But the trails had been made purposely intricate, by steps returning on themselves and by the obliteration of steps; and the mountain region where the altars were was already covered with a thick fog and a small rain, and its paths flowed with mud. The hearts of the villagers were thus fatigued within them, pursuing unknown enemies. At last, THE END OF THE QUICHE CREATION. 53 however, it became plain that the gods Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, and their worship, were in some way or other the cause of this bereavement: so the people of the villages conspired against them. Many attacks, both openly and by ruses, did they make on the gods, and on the four men, and on the children and people connected with them; but not once did they succeed, so great was the wisdom, and power, and courage of the four men and of their deities. And these three gods petrified, as we have told, could nevertheless resume a movable shape when they pleased; which indeed they often did, as will be seen hereafter. At last the war was finished. By the miraculous aid of a horde of wasps and hornets, the Quiches ut- terly defeated and put to the rout in a general battle all their enemies. And the tribes humiliated them- selves before the face of Balam-Quitze, ofBalam-Agab, and of Mahucutah: Unfortunates that we are, they said, spare to us at least our lives. Let it be so, it was answered, although you be worthy of death ; you shall, however, be our tributaries and serve us, as long as the sun endure, as long as the light shall follow his course. This was the reply of our fathers and moth- ers, upon Mount Hacavitz ; and thereafter they lived in great honor and peace, and their souls had rest, and all the tribes served them there. Now it came to pass that the time of the death of Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Ba- lam drew near. No bodily sickness nor suffering came upon them ; but they were forewarned that their death and their end was at hand. Then they called their sons and their descendants round them to receive their last counsels. And the heart of the old men was rent within them. In the anguish of their heart they sang the Kamucu, the old sad song that they had sung when the sun first rose, when the sun rose and they thought of the friends they had left in Tulan, whose face they should see no more forever. Then they took leave of their wives, one by one; and of their sons, one by one; of 54 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. each in particular they took leave ; and they said : We return to our people; already the King of^the Stags is ready, he stretches himself through the heaven. Lo, we are about to return ; our work is done ; the days of our life are complete. Remember us well ; let us never pass from your memory. You will see still our houses and our mountains; multiply in them, and then go on upon your way and see again the places whence we are come. So the old men took leave of their sons and of their wives ; and Balam-Quitze spake again : Behold ! he said, I leave you what shall keep me in remembrance. I have taken leave of you and am filled with sadness, he added. Then instantly the four old men were not ; but in their place was a great bundle ; and it was never unfolded, neither could any man find seam there- in on rolling it over and over. So it was called the Majesty Enveloped; and it became a memorial of these fathers, and was held very dear and precious in the sight of the Quiches; and they burned incense before it. 9 Thus died and disappeared on Mount Hacavitz Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi- Balam, these first men who came from the east, from the other side of the sea. Long time had they been here when they died; and they were very old, and surnamed the Venerated and the Sacrificers. Such is the Quiche account of the creation of the 9 The following passage in a letter from the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, to Mr Rafn of Copenhagen, bearing date 25th October, 1858, may be use- ful in this connection: 'On sait que la coutume tolteque et mexicaine etait de conserver, comme chez les chretiens, les reliques des heros de la patrie: on enveloppait leurs os avec des pierres pr in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcix., p. 179. MEXICAN COSMOGONY. 55 earth and its inhabitants, and of the first years of the existence of mankind. Although we find here de- scribed in the plainest and least equivocal terms a supreme, all-powerful Creator of all things, there are joined with him in a somewhat perplexing manner a number of auxiliary deities and makers. It may be that those whose faith the Popol Vuh represents, con- ceiving and speaking of their supreme god under many aspects and as fulfilling many functions, came at times, either unconsciously or for dramatic effect, to bring this one great Being upon their mythic stage, sustain- ing at once many of his different parts and characters. Or perhaps, like the Hebrews, they believed that the Creator had made out of nothing, or out of his own es- sence, in some mysterious way, angels and other be- ings to obey and to assist him in his sovereign designs, and that these ' were called gods.' That these Quiche notions seem foolishness to us, is no argument as to their adaptation to the life and thoughts of those who believed them; for, in the words of Professor Max M tiller, "the thoughts of primitive humanity were not only different from our thoughts, but different also from what we think their thoughts ought to have been." 10 Yet whatever be the inconsistencies that obscure the Popol Vuh, we find them multiplied in the Mexi- can cosmogony, a tangled string of meagre and ap- parently fragmentary traditions. There appear to have been two principal schools of opinion in Andhuac, differing as to who was the Creator of the world, as- well as on other points two veins of tradition, per- haps of common origin, which often seem to run into one, and are oftener still considered as one by his- torians to whom these heathen vanities were matters of little importance. The more advanced school,, ascribing its inspiration to Toltec sources, seems to have flourished notably in Tezcuco, especially while the famous Nezahualcoyotl reigned there, and to have had very definite monotheistic ideas. It taught,, as is "See Cox 's Mythology of the, Aryan Nations, vol. i., p. 333.. 56 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. asserted in unmistakable terms, that all things had been made by one God, omnipotent and invisible; and to this school were probably owing the many gentle and beautiful ideas and rites, mingled with the hard, coarse, and prosaic cult of the mass of the people. 11 The other school may be considered as more dis- tinctively national, and as representing more particu- larly the ordinary Mexican mind. To it is to be ascribed by far the larger part of all we know about the Mexican religion. 12 According to the version of this school, Tezcatlipoca, a god whose birth and adventures are set forth hereafter, was the creator of the material heaven and earth, though not of mankind; and sometimes even the honor of this partial creation is disputed by others of the gods. One Mexican nation, again, according to an ancient writer of their own blood, affirmed that the earth had been created by chance ; and as for the heavens, they had always existed. 13 11 Even supposing there were no special historical reasons for making this distinction, it seems convenient that such a division should be made in a country where the distinction of classes was so marked as in Mexico. As Reade puts the case, Martyrdom of Man, p. 177: 'In those countries where two distinct classes of men exist, the one intellectual and learned, the other illiterate and degraded, there will be in reality two religions, though nomi- nally there may be only one. ' 12 ' Les pretres et les nobles de Mexico avaient peri presque tous lors de la prise de cette ville, et ceux qui avaient echappe au massacre s'etaient refu- gies dans des lieux inaccessibles. Ce furent done presque tou jours des gens du peuple sans education et livres aux plus grossie"res superstitions qui leur firent les recits qu'ils nous ont transmis; Les missionnaires, d'ailleurs, avaient plus d'interet a connaitre les usages qu'ils voulaient deraciner de la masse du peuple qu'a compreiidre le sens plus eleve que la partie eclairee de la nation pouvait y attacher.' Ternaux-Compans, Essai sur la Theogonie Mexicaine, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, torn. Ixxxv., p. 274. 13 This last statement rests on the authority of Domingo Munoz Camargo, a native of the city of Tlascala who wrote about 1585. See his Hist, de Tlaxcallan, as translated by Ternaux-Compans in the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcix., p. 129. 'Les Indiens ne croyaient pas que la monde eut ete" cree, mais pensaient qu'il etait le produit du hazard. Us disaient aussi que les cieux avaient toujours existe.' ' Estos, pues, alcanza- ron con claridad el verdadero orfgen y principio de todo el Universo, porque asientan que el cielo y la tierra y cuanto en ellos se halla es obra de la ppderosa mano de un Dios Supremo y tmico, a quien daban el nombre da Tloque Nahuaque, que quiere decir, criador de todas las cosas. Llamabanla tambien Ipalnemohualoni, que quiere decir, criador de todas las cosas. Llania- banle tambien Ipalnemohualoni, que quiere decir, por quien vivimos y somos, y fud la linica deidad quo adoraron. en aquellos primitives tiempos; y aun. despues que se introdujo U ilolatrfa y el fabo culto, le creyeron siem- pre superior a todo.3 sus dioses, y le invocaban levantando los ojos al cielo. En esta creencia ee mantuviaron coustante^ hasta la llegada de los es- CHIMALPOPOCA MANUSCRIPT. 57 Prom the fragments of the Chimalpopoca manu- script given by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg we learn that the Creator whoever he may have been produced his work in successive epochs. In the sign Tochtli, the earth was created ; in the sign Acatl was made the firmament, and in the sign Tecpatl the ani- mals. Man, it is added, was made and animated out of ashes or dust by God on the seventh day, Ehecatl, but finished and perfected by that mysterious per- sonage Quetzalcoatl. However this account may be reconciled with itself or with others, it further ap- pears that man was four times made anct four times destroyed. 14 panoles, como afirma Herrera, no. solo los mejicanos, sino tambien los de Michoacan.' Veytia, Historia Antigua de Mejico, torn, i., p. 7. 'Los Tultecas alcanzaron y supieron la creacion del mundo, y como el Tloque Nahuaque lo crid y las demas cosas que hay en el, como son plantas, montes, animales, aves, agua y peces; asimismo supieron como crid Dios al hombre y una mu- ger, de donde los hombres descendieron y se multiplicaron, y sobre esto anaden muchas fabulas que por escusar prolijidad no se ponen aqui.' Ixtlil- xockitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 321. 'Dios Criador, que en lengua Indiana llamo Tloque Nahuaque, queriendo dar a entender, que este Solo, Poderoso, y Clementissimo Dios.' Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 79. ' Confessauan los Mexicanos a vn supremo Dios, Senor, y hazedor de todo, y este era el principal que venerauan, mirando al cielo, llamandole criador del cielo y tierra.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv., p. 85. 'El dios que se llamaba Titlacaaon (Tezcatlipuca), decian que era criador del cielo y de la tierra y era todo poderoso.' Sahagun, Hist. Ant. Hex., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 241. ' Tezcatlipoca, Questo era il maggior Dio, che in que' paesi si adorava, dopo il Dio invisibile, o Supremo Essere, di cui abbiam ragionato .... Era il Dio della Providenza, 1'anima del Mondo, il Creator del Cielo e della Ter- ra, ed il Signer di tutte le cose.' Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, torn, ii., p. 7. ' La creacion del cielo y de la tierra aplicaban a diversos dioses, y al- gunos a Tezcatlipuca y a Uzilopuchtli, 6 segun otros, Ocelopuchtli, y de los principales de Mexico.' Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81. * ' Lorsque le ciel et la terre s'etaient faits, quatre fois deja l'homme avait ete forme. . . .de cendres Dieu Favait forme et anime.' The Codex Chimalpo- poca, or Chimalpopoca MS., after Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist, des Nat. C/v. t torn. i. , p. 53. This Codex Chimalpopoca, so called by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, is an anonymous manuscript in the Mexican language. What we really know of this much-talked-of document is little, and will be best given in the original form. The following is the first notice I find of this manuscript, with its appurtenances, being Boturini's description of it as possessed at one time by him. Catdlogo, pp. 17-18. ' Una historia de loa Keynos de Culhuacan, y Mexico en lengua Nahuatl, y papel Europeo de Antor Anonymo, y tiene anadida una Breve Relacion de los Dioses, y Ritos do la Gentilidad en lengua Castellana que escribid el Bachiller Don Pedro Ponce, Inclio Cazique Beneficiado, que fue del Partido de Tzumpahuacan. Esta todo copiado de letra de Don Fernando de Alba, y Is falta la orlmera fcja.' With regard to the term Nahuatl used in this Catalogue, see Id'., p. 85: 'Los Manuscritos en lengua Nahuatl, que en este Catalogo se citan, se enti- encle ser en lengua Maxicana ! ' This manuscript, or a copy of It, fell into the hands of the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg in the city of Mexico, in the year 1050. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliotheque Mexico-Guatemalienne, Intro- 58 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. This may perhaps be looked upon as proceeding from what I have called for convenience the Toltecan school, though this particular fragment shows traces of Christian influence. What follows seems, however, to belong to a distinctively Mexican and ruder vein of thought. It is gathered from Mendieta, who was in- debted again to Fray Andres de Olmos, one of the earliest missionaries among the Mexicans of whom he treats; and it is decidedly one of the most authentic accounts of such matters extant. The Mexicans in most of the provinces were agreed that there was a god in heaven called Citlalatonac, and a goddess called Citlalicue; 15 and that this god- dess had given birth to a flint knife, Tecpatl. Now she had many sons living with her in heaven, who see- ing this extraordinary thing were alarmed, and flung the flint down to the earth. It fell in a place called Chicomoztoc, that is to say, the Seven Caves, and there immediately sprang up from it one thousand six hun- dred gods. These gods being alone on the earth though, as will hereafter appear, there had been men in the world at a former period sent up their messenger Tlotli, the Hawk, to pray their mother to empower them to create men, so that they might have servants as became their lineage. Citlalicue seemed to be a duction, p. xxi., and the learned Abbe" describes it as follows: 'Codex Chimalpopoca (Copie du), contenant les Epoques, dites Histoire des Soleils et 1 'Histoire des Royaumes de Colhuacan et de Mexico, texte Mexicain (corrige d'apres celui de M. Aubin), avec un essai de traduction fran9aise en regard. gr. in 4 Manuscrit de 93 ff., copie et traduit par le signataire de la biblio- theque. C'est la copie du document marque au n 13, viii., du catalogue de Boturini, sous le titre de: Historia de los Reynos de Colhuacan y Mexico, etc. Ce document, ou pour la premiere fois j'ai souleve le voile enigmatique qui recouvrait les symboles de la religion et de 1'histoire du Mexique et le plus important de tous ceux qui nous soient restes des annales antiques mexicaines. II renferme chronologiquement 1'histoire geologique du monde, par series de 13 ans, a commencer de plus de dix mille ans avant 1'ere chretienne, suivant les calculs mexicains.' Id., p. 47. 15 Otherwise called, according to Clavigero, the god Ometeuctli, and the goddess Omecihuatl. Ternaux-Compans says: 'Les noms d'Ometeuctli et d'Omecihuatl ne se trouvent nulle part ailleurs dans la mythologie mexicaine; mais on pourrait les expliquer par 1'etymologie. Ome signifie deux en mexi- cain, et tous les auteurs sont d'accord pour traduire litteralement leur nom par deux seigneurs et deux dames.' Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, torn. Ixxxvi., p. 7. AZTEC CREATION-MYTHS. 59 little ashamed of these sons of hers, born in so strange a manner, and she twitted them cruelly enough on what they could hardly help : Had you been what you ought to have been, she exclaimed, you would still be in my company. Nevertheless she told them what to do in the matter of obtaining their desire: Go beg of Mictlanteuctli, Lord of Hades, that he may give you a bone or some ashes of the dead that are with him; which having received, you shall sacrifice over it, sprinkling blood from your own bodies. And the fallen gods, having consulted together, sent one of their number, called Xolotl, 16 down to hades as their mother had advised. He succeeded in getting a bone of six feet long from Mictlanteuctli ; and then, wary of his grisly host, he took an abrupt departure, running at the top of his speed. Wroth at this, the infernal chief gave chase ; not causing to Xolotl, however, any more serious inconvenience than a hasty fall in which the bone was broken in pieces. The messenger gath- ered up what he could in all haste, and despite his stum- ble, made his escape. Reaching the earth, he put the fragments of bone into a basin, and all the gods drew blood from their bodies and sprinkled it into the vessel. On the fourth day there was a movement among the wetted bones, and a boy lay there before all; and in four days more, the blood-letting and sprinkling being still kept up, a girl was lifted from the ghastly dish. The children were given to Xolotl to bring up ; and he fed them on the juice of the maguey. 17 Increasing in 16 Xolotl, 'servant or page.' Molina, VocoJmlario en lengua Castellana Mextcana. Not ' eye, ' as some scholiasts have it. 17 Literally, in the earliest copy of the myth that I have seen, the milk of the thistle, ' la leche de cardo, ' which term has been repeated blindly, and apparently without any idea of its meaning, by the various writers that have followed. The old authorities, however, and especially Mendieta, from whom I take the legend, were in the habit of calling the maguey a thistle; and indeed, the tremendous prickles of the Mexican plant may lay good claim to the Nemo me impune lacessU of the Scottish emblem. ' Maguey, que es el cardon de donde sacan la miel.' Mendieta, Hist. Edes., p. 110. * Metl es un arbol 6 cardo que en lengua de las Islas se llama maguey'. ' Motolinia, Hist, de los Ind., in/cazbalceta, Col. de Doc., torn, i., p. 243. ' Et similmente-cogliono le foglie di questo albero, 6 cardo che si tengono la, come qua le vigne, et chiamanlo magueis.' Relatione fatta per un gen&Chwmo del Signor Cortese, in JRamusio, Viagyi, torn, iii., fol. 307. 60 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. stature, they became man and woman ; and from them are the people of the present day descended, who, even as the primordial bone was broken into unequal pieces, vary in size and shape. The name of this first man was Iztacmixcuatl, and the name of his wife I]ancueitl, 18 and they had six sons born to them, whose descend- ants, with their god-masters, in process of time moved eastward from their original home, almost universally described as having been toward Jalisco. Now, there had been no. sun in existence for many years; so the gods, being assembled in a place called Teotihuacan, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at the time round a great fire, told their devotees that he of them who should first cast himself into that fire should have the honor of being transformed into a sun. So one of them, called Nanahuatzin either, as most say, out of pure bravery, or, as Sahagun relates, because his life had become a burden to him through a syphilitic disease flung himself into the fire. Then the gods began to peer through the gloom in all directions for the expected light, and to make bets as to what part of heaven he should first appear in. And some said Here, and some said There ; but when the sun rose they were all proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed upon the east. 19 And in that same 18 Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. , torn. i. , pp. 6-10, says this first man and woman were begotten between the rain and the dust of the earth * engen- drada de la lluvia y del polvo de la tierra ' and in other ways adds to the per- plexity; so that I am well inclined to agree with Miiller, Amerikanische Urre- ligionen, p. 518, when he says these cosmogonical myths display marks of local origin and of the subsequent fusion of several legends into an incon- gruous whole. 'Aus dieser Menge von Verschiedenheiten in diesen Kos- mogonien ist ersichtlich, dass viele Lokalmythen hier wie in Peru unabhan- gig von einander entstanden die man ausserlich mit einander verband, die aber in mancherlei Widerspriichen auch noch spater ihre ursprungliche Un- abhangigkeit zu erkennen geben. ' 19 Here as elsewhere in this legend we follow Andres de Olmos' account as given by Mendieta. Sahagun, however, differs from it a good deal in places. At this point, for example, he mentions some notable personages who guessed right about the rising of the sun: ' Otros se pusieron d mirar acia el oriente, y digeron aqui. de esta parte ha de salir el Sol. El dicho de eatos fue verdadero. Dicen que los que miraron acia el Oriente, fueron Quetzalcoatl, que tambien se llama Ecatl, y otro que se llama Totec, y por otro nombre Anaoatlytecu, y por otro nombre Tlatavictezcatlipuca, y otroa que se llaman Minizcoa,' or as in Kingsborough's edition, Hex. Antiq., vol. HOW THE SUN WAS PLACED IN THE HEAVENS. 61 hour, though they knew it not, the decree went forth that they should all die by sacrifice. The sun had risen indeed, and with a glory of the cruel fire about him that not even the eyes of the gods could endure ; but he moved not. There he lay on the horizon ; and when the deities sent Tlotli, their mes- senger, to him, with orders that he should go on upon his way, his ominous answer was, that he would never leave that place till he had destroyed and put an end to them all. Then a great fear fell upon some, while others were moved only to anger ; and among the lat- ter was one Citli, who immediately strung his bow and advanced against the glittering enemy. By quickly lowering his head the Sun avoided the first arrow shot at him; but the second and third had at- tained his body in quick succession, when, filled with fury, he seized the last and launched it back upon his assailant. And the brave Citli laid shaft to string nevermore, for the arrow of the sun pierced his fore- head. Then all was dismay in the assembly of the gods, and despair filled their heart, for they saw that they could not prevail against the shining one; and they agreed to die, and to cut themselves open through the breast. Xolotl was appointed minister, and he killed his com- panions one by one, and last of all he slew himself also. 20 So they died like gods; and each left to the sad and wondering men who were his servants his garments for a memorial. And these servants made up, each party, a bundle of the raiment that had been vii., p. 186. 'Por otro nombre Anaoatl y Tecu, y por otro nombre Tlatavic- tezcatlipuca, y otros que se llaman Mimizcoa, que son inumerables; y cuatro mugeres, la una se llama Tiacapan, la otra Teicu, la tercera Tlacoeoa, la cuarta Xocoyotl.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. viiL, p. 248. 20 Besides differences of authorities already noticed, I may add that Sa- hagun describes the personage who became the sun as well as him who, as we shall soon see, became the moon as belonging before his transfor- mation to the number of the gods, and not as one of the men who served them. Further, in recounting the death of the gods, Sahagun says that to the Air, Ecatl, Quetzalcoatl, was allotted the task of killing the rest; nor does it appear that Quetzalcoatl killed himself. As to Xolotl, he plays quite a cowardly part in this version; trying to elude his death, he transformed him- self into various things, and was only at last taken and killed under the form of a fish called Axolotl. 62 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. left to them, binding it about a stick into which they had bedded a small green stone to serve as a heart. These bundles were called tlaquimilloli, and each bore the name of that god whose memorial it was; and these things were more reverenced than the ordinary gods of stone and wood of the country. Fray Andres de Olmos found one of these relics in Tlalmanalco, wrapped up in many cloths, and half rotten with be- ing kept hid so long. 21 Immediately on the death of the gods the sun began his motion in the heavens; and a man called Tecuz- istecatl, or Tezcociztecatl, who, when Nanahuatzin leaped into the fire, had retired into a cave, now emerged from his concealment as the moon. Others say that instead of going into a cave, this Tecuziste- catl, had leaped into the fire after Nanahuatzin, but that, the heat of the fire being somewhat abated, he had come out less brilliant than the sun. Still another variation is, that the sun and moon came out equally bright, but this not seeming good to the gods, one of them took a rabbit by the heels and slung it into the face of the moon, dimming its lustre with a blotch whose mark may be seen to this day. After the gods had died in the way herein related, leaving their garments behind as relics, those servants went about everywhere, bearing these relics like bun- dles upon their shoulders, very sad and pensive, and wondering if ever again they would see their departed gods. Now, the name of one of these deceased deities was Tezcatlipoca, and his servant, having arrived at the sea-coast, was favored with an apparition of his master in three different shapes. And Tezcatlipoca spake to his servant saying: Come hither, thou that lovest me so well, that I may tell thee what thou hast to do. Go now to the House of the Sun and fetch thence singers and instruments so that thou inayest make me a festival; but first call upon the whale, and 21 This kind of idol answers evidently to the mysterious ' Envelope' of the Quiche myth. See also note 9. THE TEZCUCAN ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 63 upon the siren, and upon the tortoise, and they shall make thee a bridge to the sun. Then was all this done; and the messenger went across the sea upon his living bridge, toward the House of the Sun, singing what he had to say. And the Sun heard the song, and he straitly charged his people and servants, saying : See now that ye make no response to this chant, for whoever replies to it must be taken away by the singer. But the song was so exceeding sweet that some of them could not but answer, and they were lured away, bearing with them the drum, teponazlli, and the kettle-drum, vevetl. Such was the origin of the festivals and the dances to the gods; and the songs sung during these dances they held as prayers, singing them always with great accu- racy of intonation and time. In their oral traditions the Tezcucans agreed with the usual Mexican account of creation the falling of the flint from heaven to earth, and so on but what they afterward showed in a picture, and explained to Fray Andres de Olmos as the manner of the creation of mankind, was this: The event took place in the land of Aculma, on the Tezcucan boundary, at a dis- tance of two leagues from Tezcuco and of five from Mexico. It is said that the sun, being at the hour of nine, cast a dart into the earth at the place we have mentioned and made a hole; from this hole a man came out, the first man, and somewhat imperfect withal, as there was no more of him than from the arm-pits up, much like the conventional European cherub, only without wings. After that the woman came up out of the hole. The rest of the story was not considered proper for printing by Mendieta; but at any rate, from these two are mankind descended. The name of the first man was Aculmaitl that is to say, aculli, shoulder, and maitl, hand or arm and from him the town of Aculma is said to take its name. 22 22 Besides the Chimalpopoca manuscript, the earliest summaries of the Mexican creation-myths are to be found in Mendieta, Hist. Ecks., pp. 77-81; Sahayun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 233, torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 246-250; 64 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. And this etymology seems to make it probable that the details of this myth are derived, to some extent, from the name of the place in which it was located; or that the name of the first man belonging to an early phase of the language has been misunderstood, and that to the false etymology the details of the myth are owing. As already stated, there had been men on the earth previous to that final and perfect creation of man from the bone supplied by Mictlanteuctli, and wetted by the gods with their own blood at the place of the Seven Caves. These men had been swept away by a succession of great destructions. With regard to the number of these destructions it is hard to speak positively, as on no single point in the wide range of early American religion does there exist so much dif- ference of opinion. All the way from twice to five times, following different accounts, has the world been desolated by tremendous convulsions of nature. I fol- low most closely the version of the Tezcucan historian Ixtlilxochitl, as being one of the earliest accounts, as prima facie, from its origin, one of the most authentic, and as being supported by a majority of respectable historians up to the time of Humboldt. Of the creation which ushered in the first age we know nothing; we are only told by Boturini that giants then began to appear on the earth. This First Age, or 'sun,' was called the Sun of the Water, and it was ended by a tremendous flood, in which every living thing perished, or was transformed, except, fol- lowing some accounts, one man and one woman of the giant race, of whose escape more hereafter. The Sec- ond Age, called the Sun of the Earth, was closed with earthquakes, yawnings of the earth, and the overthrow of the highest mountains. Giants, or Quinames, a powerful and haughty race, still appear to be the only inhabitants of the world. The Third Age \^as the Sun of the Air. It was ended by tempests and hur- Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 37-43; Torqwmada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., pp. 31-5, torn, ii., pp. 76-8; Clavigero, Stwia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., pp. 8-10. THE AGES CH SUNS OF THE MEXICANS. 65 ricanes, so destructive that few indeed of the inhabi- tants of the earth were left; and those that were saved lost, according to the Tlascaltec account, their reason and speech, becoming monkeys. The present is the Fourth Age. To it appear to be- long the falling of the goddess- born flint from heaven, the birth of the sixteen hundred heroes from that flint, the birth of mankind from the bone brought from hades, the transformation of Nanahuatzin into the sun, the transformation of Tezcatecatl into the moon, and the death of the sixteen hundred heroes or gods. It is called the Sun of Fire, and is to be ended by a univer- sal conflagration. 23 23 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborougtis Hex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6. The same author, in his Relaciones, Ib., pp. 321-2, either through his own carelessness or that of a transcriber, transposes the second and third Ages. To see that it is an oversight of some sort, we have but to pass to the summary he gives at the end of these same Relaciones, Ib., p. 459, where the account is again found in strict agreement with the version given in the text. Camargo, Hist, de Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcix., p. 132, giving as we may suppose the Tlascaltec version of the general Mexican myth, agrees with Ixtlilxochitl as to the whole number of Ages, following, however, the order of the error above noticed in the Rela- dones. The Tlascaltec historian, moreover, affirms that only two of these Ages are past, arid that the third and fourth destructions are yet to come. M. Ternaux-Oompans, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, torn. Ixxxvi., p. 5, adopts this Tlascaltec account as the general Mexican tradition; he is fol- lowed by Dr Prichard, Researches, vol. v., pp. 360-1. Dr Prichard cites Bradford as supporting the same opinion, but erroneously, as Bradford, Am. Antiq., p. 328, follows Humboldt. Boturini, Idea deuna Hist., p. 3, and Clavi- gero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., p. 57, agree exactly with the text. The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg also accepts the version of three past destruc- tions. S'il existe des Sources de VHist. Prim., pp. 26-7. Professor J. G. Mul- ler, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 510-12, admits that the version of three past destructions and one to come, as given in the text, and in the order there given, ' seems to be the most ancient Mexican version; ' though he decides to follow Humboldt, and adopts what he calls the ' latest and fullest form of the myth. ' The Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano ( Vaticano) contradicts itself, giving first two past destructions, and farther on four, Kingsborough's Hex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 163-7; as does also the Explic. del Codex Telleriano- Remensis, Ib., pp. 134-6. Kingsborough himself seems to favor the idea of three past destructions and four ages in all; see Hex. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 171, note. Gomara, Hist. Mex., fol. 297-8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, parte i., pp. 94-5; Humboldt, Vnes, torn, ii., pp. 118-29; Prescott, Conq. of Mex., vol. i., p. 61; Gallatin, in Am. Etknol Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 325 de- scribe four past destructions and one yet to come, or five Ages, and the Chimalpopoca MS., see note 13, seems also to favor this opinion. Lastly, Mendieta, Ifist. Ecles., p. 81, declares that the Mexicans believe in five Suns, or Ages, in times past; but these suns were of inferior quality, so that the soil produced its fruits only in a crude and imperfect state. The consequence was that in every case the inhabitants of the world died through the eating of divers things. This present and sixth Sun was good, however, and under its influence all things were produced properly. Torquemada who has, VOL. III. 5 66 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. Connected with the great flood of water, there is a Mexican tradition presenting some analogies to the story of Noah and his ark. In most of the painted manuscripts supposed to relate to this event, a kind of boat is represented floating over the waste of water, and containing a man and a woman. Even the Tlas- caltecs, the Zapotecs, the Miztecs, and the people of Michoacan are said to have had such pictures. The man is variously called Coxcox, Teocipactli, Tezpi, and Nata; the woman Xochiquetzal and Nena. 24 The following has been usually accepted as the ordi- nary Mexican version of this myth: In Atonatiuh, the Age of Water, a great flood covered all the face of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were turned into fishes. Only one man and one woman escaped, saving themselves in the hollow trunk of an ahahuetej or bald cypress; the name of the man being Coxcox, and that of his wife Xochiquetzal. On the waters abating a little, they grounded their ark on the Peak of Colhuacan, the Ararat of Mexico. Here they increased and mul- tiplied, and children began to gather about them, children who were all born dumb. And a dove came and gave them tongues, innumerable languages. Only fifteen of the descendants of Coxcox, who afterward became heads of families, spake the same language or could at all understand each other; and from these fifteen are descended the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Acolhiias. This dove is not the only bird mentioned in these deluvial traditions, and must by no means be confounded with the birds of another palpably chris- tianized story. For in Michoacan a tradition was indeed, been all along appropriating, by whole chapters, the so long inedited work of Mendieta, and that, if we believe Icazbalceta, Hist. Ecks., Noticias del Autor., pp. xxx. to xlv., under circumstances of peculiar turpitude of course gives also five past Ages, repeating Mendieta word for word with the exception of a single 'la.' Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., p. 79. 24 Professor J. G. Muller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 568,1 remarks of these two personages: 'Rein nordisch ist der chichimekische Coxcox, der schon bei der Fluthsage genannt wurde, der Tezpi der Mechoakaner. Das ist auch urspriinglich em Wassergott und Fischgotfc, darum tragt er auch den Namen Clpactli, Fisch, Toocipactli, g'Jttlichcr Fisch, Huehuetonacateoci- pactli, alter Fischgott von unsercm Fbisch. Darum ist auch seine Gattin eine Pflanzengottin mit Name.i Xochiqnetzal d. h. gefliigelte Blume.' THE TOWER OF BABEL. 67 preserved, following which, the name of the Mexican Noah was Tezpi. With better fortune than that ascribed to Coxcox, he was able to save, in a spacious vessel, not only himself and his wife, but also his chil- dren, several animals, and a quantity of grain for the common use. When the waters began to subside, he sent out a vulture that it might go to and fro on the earth and bring him word again when the dry land began to appear. But the vulture fed upon the car- casses that were strewed in every part, and never returned. Then Tezpi sent out other birds, and among these was a humming-bird. And when the sun began to cover the earth with a new verdure, the humming- bird returned to its old refuge bearing green leaves. And Tezpi saw that his vessel was aground near the mountain of Colhuacan, and he landed there. The Mexicans round Cholula had a special legend, connecting the escape of a remnant from the great deluge with the often-mentioned story of the origin of the people of Andhuac from Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves. At the time of the cataclysm, the country, according to Pedro de los Rios, was inhab- ited by giants. Some of these perished utterly ; others were changed into fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by closing themselves into certain caves in a mountain called Tlaloc. When the waters were assuaged, one of the giants, Xelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to Cholula and began to build an artificial mountain, as a monument and a memorial of the Tlaloc that had sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept through all the land. The bricks were made in Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra de Cocotl, and passed to Cholula from hand to hand along a file of men whence these came is not said stretch- ing between the two places. Then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods aroused, as the huge pyra- mid rose slowly up, threatening to reach the clouds and the great heaven itself; and the gods launched their fire upon the builders and slew many, so that 68 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. the work was stopped. 25 But the half-finished struc- ture, afterward dedicated by the Cholultecs to Quet- zalcoatl, still remains to show how well Xelhua, the giant, deserved his surname of the Architect. ^Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 113-14; Id., Catdlogo, pp. 39-40; Clavi- gero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, i., pp. 129-30, torn, ii., p. 6; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codlce Mexicano ( Vaticano), tav. vii. , in Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., vol. v., pp. 164-5; Gemelli Carreri, in Churchill's Col. Voy., vol. iv., p. 481; Humboldt, Vues, torn, i., pp. 114-15, torn, ii., pp. 175-8; Tylor's Ana- huac, pp. 276-7; Gondra, in Prescott, Conquista de Mexico, torn, iii., pp. 1-10. A careful comparison of the passages given above will show that this whole story of the escape of Cox cox and his wife in a boat from a great deluge, and of the distribution by a bird of different languages to their descendants, rests on the interpretation of certain Aztec paintings, containing supposed pictures of a flood, of Coxcox and his wife, of a canoe or rude vessel of some kind, of the mountain Culhuacan, which was the Mexican Ararat, and of a bird distributing languages to a number of men. Not one of the earliest writers on Mexican mythology, none of those personally familiar with the natives and with their oral traditions as existing at the time of or immedi- ately after the Conquest, seems to have known this legend; Olmos, Sahagun, Motolinia, Mendieta, Ixtlilxochitl, and Camargo are all of them silent with regard to it. These facts must give rise to grave suspicions with regard to the accuracy of the commonly accepted version, notwithstanding its appar- ently implicit reception up to this time by the most critical historians. These suspicions will not be lessened by the result of the researches of Don Jose Fernando Ramirez, Conservator of the Mexican National Museum, a gentleman not less remarkable for his familiarity with the language and antiquities of Mexico than for the moderation and calmness of his critical judgments, as far as these are known. In a communication dated April 1858, to Garcia y Cubas, Atlas Geografico, Estadistico e Hist6rico de la Repub- lica Mejicana, entrega 29, speaking of the celebrated Mexican picture there for the first time, as he claims, accurately given to the public Sigiienza's copy of it, as given by Gemelli Carreri, that given by Clavigero in his Storia del Messico, that given by Humboldt in his Atlas Pittoresque, and that given by Kingsborough being all incorrect Senor Ramirez says: 'The authority of writers so competent as Sigtienza and Clavigero imposed silence on the incredulous, and after the illustrious Baron von Humboldt added his irre- sistible authority, adopting that interpretation, nobody doubted that "the traditions of the Hebrews were found among the people of America; " that, as the wise Baron thought, " their Coxcox, Teocipactli, or Tezpi is the Noah, Xisutrus, or Menou of the Asiatic families; " and that "the Cerro of Culhua- can is the Ararat of the Mexicans. " Grand and magnificent thought, but unfortunately only a delusion. The blue square No. 1, with its bands or obscure lines of the same color, cannot represent the terrestrial globe covered with the waters of the flood, because we should have to suppose a repetition of the same deluge in the figure No. 40, where it is reproduced with some of its principal accidents. Neither, for the same reason, do the human heads and the heads of birds which appear to float there denote the submerging of men and animals, for it would be necessary to give the same explanation to those seen in group No. 39. It might be argued that the group to the left (of No. 1), made up of a human head placed under the head of a bird, repre- sented phonetically the name Coxcox, and denoted the Aztec Noah; but the group on the right, formed of a woman's head with other symbolic figures above it, evidently does not express the name Xochiquetzal, which is said to have been that of his wife .... Let us now pass on to the dove giving tongues to the primitive men who were born mute. The commas which seem to come from the beak of the bird there represented, form one of the most com- plex and varied symbols, in respect to their phonetic force, which are found in our hieroglyphic writing. In connection with animated beings they des- THE MEXICAN DELUGE. 69 Yet another record remains to us of a traditional Mexican deluge, in the following extract from the Chimalpopoca Manuscript. Its words seem to have a familiar sound; but it would hardly be scientific to draw from such a fragment any very sweeping con- clusion as to its relationship, whether that be Quiche or Christian: When the Sun, or Age, Nahui-Atl came, there had passed already four hundred years; then came two hundred years, then seventy and six, and then man- kind were lost and drowned and turned into fishes. The waters and the sky drew near each other; in a single day all was lost; the day Four Flower con- sumed all that there was of our flesh. And this year was the year Ce-Calli; on the first day, Nahui-Atl, all was lost. The very mountains were swallowed up ignate generically the emission of the voice In the group before us they denote purely and simply that the bird was singing or speaking to whom ? to the group of persons before it, who by the direction of their faces and bodies show clearly and distinctly the attention with which they listened. Consequently the designer of the before-mentioned drawing for Clavigero, preoccupied with the idea of signifying by it the pretended confusion of tongues, changed with his pencil the historic truth, giving to these figures opposite directions. Examining attentively the inexactitudes and errors of the graver and the pencil in all historical engravings relating to Mexico, it is seen that they are no less numerous and serious than those of the pen. The interpretations given to the ancient Mexican paintings by ardent imagina- tions led away by love of novelty or by the spirit of system, justify, to a cer- tain point, the distrust and disfavor with which the last and most distin- guished historian of the Conquest of Mexico (W. H. Prescott) has treated this interesting and precious class of historical documents. Sefior Ramirez goes on thus at some length to his conclusions, which reduce the original paint- ing to a simple record of a wandering of the Mexicans among the lakes of the Mexican valley that journey beginning at a place 'not more than nine miles from the gutters of Mexico ' a record having absolutely no connection either with the mythical deluge, already described as one of the four destruc- tions of the world, or with any other. The bird speaking in the picture he connects with a well-known Mexican fable given by Torquemada, in which a bird is described as speaking from a tree to the leaders of the Mexicans at a certain stage of their migration, and repeating the word Tihui, that is to say, ' Let us go. ' A little bird called the Tihuitoclian, with a cry that the vulgar still interpret in a somewhat similar sense, is well known in Mexico, and is per- haps at the bottom of the tradition. It may be added that Torquemada gives a painted manuscript, possibly that under discussion, as his authority for the story. The boat, the mountain, and the other adjuncts of the picture are explained in a like simple way, as the hieroglyphics, for the most part, of various proper names. Our space here will not permit further details though another volume will contain this picture and a further discussion of the subject but I may remark in concluding that the moderation with which Senor Ramirez discusses the question, as well as his great experience and learning in matters of Mexican antiquity, seem to claim for his views the serious consideration of future students. 70 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. in the flood, and the waters remained, lying tranquil, during fifty and two spring-times. But before the flood began, Titlacahuan had warned the man Nata and his wife Nena, saying: Make now no more pulque, but hollow out to yourselves a great cypress, into which you shall enter, when, in the month Tozoztli. the waters shall near the sky. Then they entered into it, and when Titlacahuan had shut them in, he said to the man: Thou shalt eat but a single ear of maize, and thy wife but one also. And when they had finished eating each an ear of maize, they pre- pared to set forth, for the waters remained tranquil and their log moved no longer; and opening it they began to see the fishes. Then they lit a fire, rubbing pieces of wood together, and they roasted fish. And behold the deities Citlalliriicue and Citlallatonac, look- ing down from above, cried out : O divine Lord ! what O ' is this fire that they make there? wherefore do they so fill the heaven with smoke? And immediately Titlacahuan Tetzcatlipoca came down, and set himself to grumble, saying: What does this fire here? Then he seized the fishes and fashioned them behind and before, and changed them into dogs. 26 We turn now to the traditions of some nations sit- uated on the outskirts of the Mexican empire, tradi- tions differing from those of Mexico, if not in their elements, at least in the combination of those elements. Following our usual custom, I give the following legend belonging to the Miztecs just as they them- selves were accustomed to depict and to interpret it in their primitive scrolls : 27 In the year and in the day of obscurity and dark- ness, yea, even before the days or the years w^ere, when the world was in a great darkness and chaos, 26 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 425-7. 27 Fr Gregorio Garcia, Oriyen de los hid., pp. 327-9, took this narrative from a book he found in a convent in Cuilapa, a little Indian town about a league and a half south of Oajaca. The book had been compiled by the vicar of that convent, and ' escrito con sus Figuras, como los Indies de aquel Reino Mixteco las tenian en sus Libros, 6 Pergaminos arrollados, con la de- claracion de lo que significaban las Figuras, en que contaban su Origen, la Creacion del Mundo, i Diluvio General.' THE FLYING HEROES OF MIZTECA. 71 when the earth was covered with water, and there was nothing but mud and sJime on all the face of the earth behold a god became visible, and his name was the Deer, and his surname was the Lion-Snake. There appeared also a very beautiful goddess called the Deer, and surnamed the Tiger-Snake. 28 These two gods were the origin and beginning of all the gods. Now, when these two gods became visible in the world, they made, in their knowledge and omnipotence, a great rock, upon which they built a very sumptuous palace, a masterpiece of skill, in which they made their abode upon earth. On the highest part of this building there was an axe of copper, the edge being uppermost, and on this axe the heavens rested. This rock and the palace of the gods were on a mountain in the neighborhood of the town of Apoala in the province of Mizteca Alta. The rock was called The Place of Heaven ; there the gods first abode on earth, living many years in great rest and content, as in a happy and delicious land, though the world still lay in obscurity and darkness. The father and mother of all the gods being here in their place, two sons were born to them, very hand- some and very learned in all wisdom and arts. The first was called the Wind of Nine Snakes, after the name of the day on which he was born ; and the second was called, in like manner, the Wind of Nine Caves. Very daintily indeed were these youths brought up. When the elder wished to amuse himself, he took the form of an eagle, flying thus far and wide ; the younger turned himself into a small beast of a serpent shape, having wings that he used with suclii agility and sleight that he became invisible, and flew through rocks and walls even as through the air. As they went, the din and clamor of these brethren was heard . by those over whom they passed. They took these figures to manifest the power that was in them, both 28 ' Que aparecieron visiblemente un Dios, que tuvo por N ombre m Ctervo^ i por sobrenombre Cutebra de Leon, i una Diosa mui lindai i hermosa, que su ; N ombre fue un Ciervo, i por sobrenombre Culebra de Tigre, Garaa, Id-, pp. 327-9. 72 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS in transforming themselves and in resuming again their original shape. And they abode in great peace in the mansion of their parents, so they agreed to make a sacrifice and an offering to these gods, to their father and to their mother. Then they took each a censer of clay, and put fire therein, and poured in ground beleno for incense; and this offering was the first that had ever been made in the world. Next the brothers made to themselves a garden, in which they put many trees, and fruit-trees, and flowers, and roses, and odor- ous herbs of different kinds. Joined to this garden they laid out a very beautiful meadow, which they fitted up with all things necessary for offering sacri- fice to the gods. In this manner the two brethren left their parents' house, and fixed themselves in this garden to dress it and to keep it, watering the trees and the plants and the odorous herbs, multiplying them, and burning incense of powder of beleno in censers of clay to the gods, their father and mother. They made also vows to these gods, and promises, praying that it might seem good to them to shape the firmament and lighten the darkness of the world, and to establish the foundation of the earth, or rather to gather the waters together so that the earth might appear as they had no place to rest in save only one little garden. And to make their prayers more ob- ligatory upon the gods, they pierced their ears and tongues with flakes of flint, sprinkling the blood that dropped from the wounds over the trees and plants of the garden with a willow branch, as a sacred and blessed thing. After this sort they employed them- selves, postponing pleasure till the time of the grant- ing of their desire, remaining always in subjection to the gods, their father and mother, and attributing to them more power and divinity than they really possessed. Fray Garcia here makes a break in the relation tliat he may not weary his readers with so many absurdities but it would appear that the firmament was arranged and the earth made fit for mankind, who about that time must alco have made their appear- . THE DUEL WITH THE SUN. 73 ance. For there came a great deluge afterward, wherein perished many of the sons and daughters that had been born to the gods; and it is said that when the deluge was passed the human race was restored as at the first, and the Miztec kingdom populated, and the heavens and the earth established. This we may suppose to have been the traditional origin of the common people; but the governing- family of Mizteca proclaimed themselves the descend- ants of two youths born from two majestic trees that stood at the entrance of the gorge of Apoala, and that maintained themselves there despite a violent wind continually rising from a cavern in the vicinity. Whether the trees of themselves produced these youths, or whether some primeval J&sir, as in the Scandinavian story, gave them shape and blood and breath and sense, we know not. We are only told that soon or late the youths separated, each going his own way to conquer lands for himself. The braver of the two, coming to the vicinity of Tilantongo, armed with buckler and bow, was much vexed and oppressed by the ardent rays of the sun, which he took to be the lord of that district striving to prevent his entrance therein. Then the young warrior strung his bow, and advanced his buckler before him, and drew shafts from his quiver. He shot there against the great light even till the going down of the same; then he took possession of all that land, seeing he had grievously wounded the sun, and forced him to hide behind the mountains. Upon this story is founded the lordship of all the caciques of Mizteca, and upon their descent from this mighty archer, their ancestor. Even to this day the chiefs of the Miztecs blazon as their arms a plumed chief with bow, arrows, and shield, and the sun in front of him setting behind gray clouds. 29 Of the origin of the Zapotecs, a people bordering on these Miztecs, Burgoa says, with touching simplicity, that he could find no account worthy of belief. Their historical paintings he ascribes to the invention of the 29 Burgoa, Geoy. Deecrip., torn, i., fol. 128, 176. 74 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. devil, affirming hotly that these people were blinder in such vanities than the Egyptians and the Chaldeans. Some, he said, to boast of their valor made themselves out the sons of lions and divers wild beasts; others, grand lords of ancient lineage, were produced by the greatest and most shady trees; while still others, of an unyielding and obstinate nature, were descended from rocks. Their language, continues the worthy Provincial, striking suddenly and by an undirected shot the very centre of mythological interpretation their language was full of metaphors; those who wished to persuade spake always in parables, and in like man- ner painted their historians. 80 In Guatemala, according to the relations given to Father Geronimo Roman by the natives, it was believed there was a time when nothing existed but a certain divine Father called Xchmel, and a divine Mother called Xtmana. To these were born three sons, 31 the eldest of whom, filled with pride and presumption, set about a creation contrary to the will of his parents. But he could create nothing save old vessels fit for mean uses, such as earthen pots, jugs, and things still more despicable; and he w T as hurled into hades. Then the two younger brethren, called respectively Hunchevan and Hunavan, prayed their parents for permission to attempt the work in which their brother had failed so signally. And they were granted leave, being told at the same time that inas- much as they had humbled themselves, they would succeed in their undertaking. Then they made the heavens, and the earth with the plants thereon, and fire and air, and out of the earth itself they made a man and a woman presumably the parents of the human race. According to Torquemada, there was a deluge some time after this, and after the deluge the people con- Burgoa, Georj. Descrip., fol. 196-7. 31 One of the Las Casas MSS. gives, according to Helps, ' trece hijos ' in- stead of ' tres hijos;' the latter, however, being the correct reading, as the list of names in the same manuscript shows, and as Father Roman gives it. See note 33. THE COYOTE OF THE PAPAGOS. 75 tinued to invoke as god the great Father and the great Mother already mentioned. But at last a principal woman 32 among them, having received a revelation from heaven, taught them the true name of God, and how that name should be adored ; all this, however, they afterward forgot. 33 In Nicaragua, a country where the principal language was a Mexican dialect, it was believed that ages ago the world was destroyed by a flood in which the most part of mankind perished. Afterward the teotes, or gods, restocked the earth as at the beginning. Whence came the teotes no one knows; but the names of two of them who took a principal part in the creation were Tamagostat and Cipattonal. 34 Leaving now the Central American region we pass north into the Papago country, lying south of the Gila, with the river Santa Cruz on the east and the Gulf of California on the west. Here we meet for the first time the coyote, or prairie wolf; we find him much more than an animal, something more even than a man, only a little lower than the gods. In the following Papago myth 35 he figures as a prophet, and as a min- ister and assistant to a certain great hero-god Monte- zuma, whom we are destined to meet often, and in many characters, as a central figure in the myths of the Gila valley : 32 This tradition, says the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, ii., pp. 74-5, has indubitably reference to a queen whose memory has become attached to very many places in G-uatemala, and Central America generally. She was called A tit, Grandmother; and from her the volcano of Atitlan received the name Atital-huyu, by which it is still known to the aborigines. This Atit lived during four centuries, and from her are descended all the royal and princely families of Guatemala. 33 Roman, Republica de los Indios Ocddentales, part 1, lib. 2, cap. 15, after Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 229-30; Las Casas, Hist. Apologetica, MS., cap. 235, after Helps' Span. Conq., vol. ii, p. 140; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 53-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, ii., pp. 74-5. 34 The first of these two names is erroneously spelled ' Famagoztad ' by M. Ternaux-Compans, Mr Squier, and the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg; the two latter perhaps lead astaay by the error of M. Ternaux-Compans, an error which first appeared in that gentleman's translation of Oviedo. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., torn, iv., p. 40; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., cap. 4. 35 This tradition was 'gathered principally from the relations of Con Quien, the intelligent chief of the central Papagos.' Davidson, in Ind. AfF. t., 1865, pp. 131-3. 76 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. The Great Spirit made the earth and all living things before he made man. And he descended from heaven, and digging in the earth, found clay such as the potters use, which, having again ascended into the sky, he dropped into the hole that he had dug. Im- mediately there came out Montezuma, and, with the assistance of Montezuma, the rest of the Indian tribes in order. Last of all came the Apaches, wild from their natal hour, running away as fast as they were created. Those first days of the world were happy and peaceful days. The sun was nearer the earth than he is now; his grateful rays made all the seasons equal, and rendered garments unnecessary. Men and beasts talked together, a common language made all brethren. But an awful destruction ended this happy age. A great flood destroyed all flesh wherein was the breath of life; Montezuma and his friend, the Coyote, alone escaping. For before the flood began, the Coyote prophesied its coming, and Montezuma took the warning and hollowed out a boat to himself, keeping it ready on the topmost summit of Santa Rosa. The Coyote also prepared an ark; gnawing down a great cane by the river bank, entering it, and stopping up the end with a certain gum. So when the waters rose these two saved themselves, and met again at last on dry land after the flood had passed away. Naturally enough Montezuma was now anxious to know how much dry land had been left, and he sent the Coyote off on four successive journeys, to find exactly where the sea lay toward each of the four winds. From the west and from the south, the answer swiftly came : The sea is at hand. A longer search was that made toward the east, but at last there too was the sea found. On the north only was no water found, though the faithful messenger almost wearied himself out with searching. In the mean time the Great Spirit, aided by Montezuma, had again repeopled the world, and animals and men began to increase and multiply. To Montezuma had been allotted the care and government of the new race ; but LEGEND OF MONTEZUMA. 77 puffed up with pride and self-importance, he neglected the most important duties of his onerous position, and suffered the most disgraceful wickedness to pass unno- ticed among the people. In vain the Great Spirit came down to earth and remonstrated with his vice- gerent, who only scorned his laws and advice, and ended at last by breaking out into open rebellion. Then, indeed, the Great Spirit was filled with anger, and he returned to heaven, pushing back the sun on his way, to that remote part of the sky he now occu- pies. But Montezuma hardened his heart, and col- lecting all the tribes to aid him, set about building a house that should reach up to heaven itself. Already it had attained a great height, and contained many apartments lined with gold, silver, and precious stones, the whole threatening soon to make good the boast of its architect, when the Great Spirit launched his thun- der, and laid its glory in ruins. Still Montezuma hardened himself; proud and inflexible he answered the thunderer out of the haughty defiance of his heart ; he ordered the temple-houses to be desecrated, and the holy images to be dragged in the dust, he made them a scoff and byword for the very children in the village streets. Then the Great Spirit prepared his supreme punishment. He sent an insect flying away toward the east, toward an unknown land, to bring the Spaniards. When these came, they made war upon Montezuma and destroyed him, and utterly dis- sipated the idea of his divinity. 36 36 The legendary Montezuma, whom we shall meet so often in the mythol- ogy of the Gila valley, must not be confounded with the two Mexican mon- archs of the same title. The name itself would seem, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have been carried into Arizona and New Mexico by the Spaniards or their Mexican attendants, and to have become gradually asso- ciated in the minds of some of the New Mexican and neighboring tribes, with a vague, mythical, and departed grandeur. The name Montezuma became thus, to use Mr. Tylor's words, that of the great ' Somebody ' of the tribe. This being once the case, all the lesser heroe3 would be gradually absorbed in the greater, and their names forgotten. Their deeds would become his deeds, their fame his fame. There is evidence enough that this is a general tendency of tradition, even in historical times. The pages of Mr Cox's scholarly and comprehensive work, The Mythology of the Aryan Nations, teem with examples of it. In Persia, deeds of every kind and date are referred to Antar. In Russia, buildings of every age are declared to be the work of Peter the Great. All over Europe, in Germany, France, Spain, Switzer- 78 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. The Pimas, 87 a neighboring and closely allied people to the Papagos, say that the earth was made by a certain Chiowotmahke, that is to say, Earth-prophet. It appeared in the beginning like a spider's web, stretching far and fragile across the nothingness that was. Then the Earth -prophet flew over all lands in the form of a butterfly, till he came to the place he judged fit for his purpose, and there he made man. And the thing was after this wise : The Creator took clay in his hands, and mixing it with the sweat of his own body, kneaded the whole into a lump. Then he blew upon the lump till it was filled with life and began to move ; and it became man and woman. This Creator had a son called Szeukha, who, when the world was beginning to be tolerably peopled, lived in the Gila valley, where lived also at the same time a great prophet, whose name has been forgotten. Upon a certain night when the prophet slept, he was wakened by a noise at the door of his house, and when he looked, a great Eagle stood before him. And the Eagle spake: Arise, thou that healest the sick, thou that shouldest know what is to come, for behold a deluge is at hand. But the prophet laughed the bird to scorn and gathered his robes about him and slept. Afterward the Eagle came again and warned him of the waters near at hand; but he gave no ear to the bird at all. Perhaps he would not listen be- cause this Eagle had an exceedingly bad reputation among men, being reported to take at times the form of an old woman that lured away girls and children to a certain cliff so that they were never seen again ; of this, however, more anon. A third time, the Eagle land, England, Scotland, Ireland, the exploits of the oldest mythological heroes, figuring in the Sagas, Eddas, and Nibelungen Lied, have been ascribed in the folk-lore and ballads of the people to Barbarossa, Charlemagne, Boab- dil, Charles V., William Tell, Arthur, Robin Hood, Wallace, and St Patrick. The connection of the name of Montezuma with ancient buildings and legend- ary adventures in the mythology of the Gila valley seems to be simply another example of the same kind. 37 1 am indebted for these particulars of the belief of the Pimas to the kindness of Mr J. H. Stout of the Pima agency, who procured me a personal interview with five chiefs of that nation, and their very intelligent and oblig- ing interpreter, Mr Walker, at San Francisco, in October 1873. DELUGE OF THE PIMAS. 79 came to warn the prophet, and to say that all the val- ley of the Gila should be laid waste with water; but the prophet gave no heed. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, and even as the flapping of the Eagle's wings died away into the night, there came a peal of thunder and an awful crash; and a green mound of water reared itself over the plain. It seemed to stand up- right for a second, then, cut incessantly by the light- ning, goaded on like a great beast, it flung itself upon the prophet's hut. When the morning broke, there was nothing to be seen alive but one man if indeed he were a man ; Szeukha, the son of the Creator, had saved himself by floating on a ball of gum or resin. On the waters falling a little, he landed near the mouth of the Salt River, upon a mountain where there is a cave that can still be seen, together with the tools and utensils Szeukha used while he lived there. Szeukha was very angry with the Great Eagle, who he probably thought had had more to do with bringing on the flood than appears in the narra- tive. At any rate, the general reputation of the bird was sufficiently bad, and Szeukha prepared a kind of rope ladder from a very tough species of tree, much like woodbine, with the aid of which he climbed up to the cliff where the Eagle lived, and slew him. 38 Look- ing about here, he found the mutilated and decaying bodies of a great multitude of those that the Eagle had stolen and taken for a prey; and he raised them all to life again and sent them away to repeople the earth. In the house or den of the Eagle, he found a woman that the monster had taken to wife, and a child. These he sent also upon their way, and from these are descended that great people called Hohocam, * ancients or grandfathers,' who were led in all their wanderings by an eagle, and who eventually passed into Mexico. 39 One of these Hohocam, named Sivano, 38 For the killing of this Great Eagle Szeukha had to do a kind of penance, which was never to scratch himself with his nails, but always with a small stick. This, custom is still observed by all Pimas; and a bit of wood, renewed every fourth day, is carried for this purpose stuck in their long hair. 89 With the reader, as with myself, this clause will probably call up some- 80 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. built the Casa Grande on the Gila, and indeed the ruins of this structure are called after his name to this day. On the death of Sivano, his son led a branch of the Hohocam to Salt River, where he built certain edifices and dug a large canal, or acequia. At last it came about that a woman ruled over the Hohocam. Her throne was cut out of a blue stone, and a myste- rious bird was her constant attendant. These Hohocam were at war with a people that lived to the east of them, on the Rio Verde, and one day the bird warned her that the enemy was at hand. The warning was disregarded or it came too late, for the eastern people came down in three bands, destroyed the cities of the Hohocam, and killed or drove away all the inhabitants. Most of the Pueblo tribes call themselves the de- scendants of Montezuma; 40 the Moquis, however, have a quite different story of their origin. They believe in a great Father living where the sun rises ; and in a great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. The Father is the father of evil, war, pesti- lence, and famine; but from the Mother are all joys, peace, plenty, and health. In the beginning of time the Mother produced from her western home nine races of men in the following primary forms : First, the Deer race; second, the Sand race; third, the Water race; fourth, the Bear race; fifth, the Hare race; sixth, the Prairie-wolf race; seventh, the Rat- tlesnake race; eighth, the Tobacco-plant race; and ninth, the Reed-grass race. All these the Mother placed respectively on the spots where their villages now stand, and transformed them into the men who built the present Pueblos. These race-distinctions are still sharply kept up; for they are believed to be realities, not only of the past and present, but also of thing more than a mere suspicion of Spanish influence tinging the incidents of the legend. The Pimas themselves, however, asserted that this tradition existed among them long before the arrival of the Spaniards, and was not modified thereby. One fact that seems to speak for the comparative purity of their traditions is that the name of Montezuma is nowhere to be found in them, although Cremony, Apaches, p. 102, states the contrary. ^Gregg's Commerce of tte Prairies, vol. i., p. 268. CAVE-ORIGIN OF THE NAVAJOS. 81 the future; every man when he dies shall be resolved into his primeval form; shall wave in the grass, or drift in the sand, or prowl on the prairie as in the beginning. 41 The Navajos, living north of the Pueblos, say that at one time all the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyo- teros, and white people, lived together, underground in the heart of a mountain near the river San Juan. Their only food was meat, which they had in abun- dance, for all kinds of game were closed up with them in their cave; but their light was dim and only en- dured for a few hours each day. There were happily two dumb men among the Navajos, flute-players who enlivened the darkness with music. One of these, striking by chance on the roof of the limbo with his flute, brought out a hollow sound, upon which the elders of the tribes determined to bore in the direction whence the sound came. The flute was then set up against the roof, and the Raccoon sent up the tube to dig a way out; but he could not. Then the Moth- worm mounted into the breach, and bored and bored till he found himself suddenly on the outside of the mountain and surrounded by water. Under these novel circumstances, he heaped up a little mound and set himself down on it to observe and ponder the situa- tion. A critical situation enough! for, from the four corners of the universe, four great white Swans bore down upon him, every one with two arrows, one under either wing. The Swan from the north reached him first, and having pierced him with two arrows, drew them out and examined their points, exclaiming as the result ; He is of my race. So also in succes- sion did all the others. Then they went away; and toward the directions in which they departed, to the north, south, east, and west, were found four great arroyos, by which all the water flowed off, leaving only mud. The worm now returned to the cave, and the Raccoon went up into the mud, sinking in it mid-leg 41 Ten Broeck, in Schookraft's Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85-6. VOL. III. 6 82 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. deep, as the marks on his fur show to this day. And the wind began to rise, sweeping up the four great arroyos, and the mud was dried away. Then the men and the animals began to come up from their cave, and their coming up required several days. First came the Navajos, and no sooner had they reached the surface than they commenced gaining at patole, their favorite game. Then came the Pueblos and other Indians who crop their hair and build houses. Lastly came the white people, who started off at once for the rising sun and were lost sight of for many winters. While these nations lived underground they all O */ spake one tongue; but with the light of day and the level of earth came many languages. The earth was at this time very small, and the light was quite as scanty as it had been down below; for there was as yet no heaven, nor sun, nor moon, nor stars. So another council of the ancients was held, and a com- mittee of their number appointed to manufacture these luminaries. A large house or workshop was erected; and when the sun and moon were ready they were intrusted to the direction and guidance of the two dumb fluters already mentioned. The one who got charge of the sun came very near, through his clum- siness in his new office, to making a Phaethon of him- self and setting fire to the earth. The old men, however, either more lenient than Zeus or lacking his thunder, contented themselves with forcing the offender back by puffing the smoke of their pipes into his face. Since then the increasing size of the earth has four times rendered it necessary that he should be put back, and his course farther removed from the world and from the subterranean cave to which he nightly retires with the great light. At night also the other dumb man issues from this cave, bearing the moon under his arm, and lighting up such part of the world as he can. Next the old men set to work to make the heavens, intending to broider in the stars in beau- tiful patterns, of boars, birds, and such things. But ORIGIN-MYTHS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 83 just as they had made a beginning, a prairie-wolf rushed in, and crying out: Why all this trouble and embroidery? scattered the pile of stars over all the floor of heaven, just as they still lie. When now the world and its firmament had been finished, the old men prepared two earthen tinages, or water-jars, and having decorated one with bright colors, filled it with trifles; while the other was left plain on the outside, but filled within with flocks and herds and riches of all kinds. These jars being cov- ered and presented to the Navajos and TPueblos, the former chose the gaudy but paltry jar; while the Pueblos, received the plain and rich vessel ; each nation showing in its choice traits which characterize it to this day. Next there arose among the Navajos a great gambler, who went on winning the goods and the per- sons of his opponents till he had won the whole tribe. Upon this, one of the old men became indignant, set the gambler on his bow-string and shot him off into space, an unfortunate proceeding, for the fellow returned in a short time with fire-arms and the Spaniards. Let me conclude by telling how the Navajos came by the seed they now cultivate : All the wise men being one day assembled, a turkey-hen came flying from the direction of the morning star, and shook from her feathers an ear of blue corn into the midst of the com- pany; and in subsequent visits brought all the other seeds they possess. 42 Of some tribes we do not know that they possess any other ideas of their origin than the name of their first ancestor, or the name of a creator, or a tradition of his existence. The Sinaloas, from Culiacan north to the Yaqui River, have dances in honor of a certain Viriseva, the mother of the first man. This first man, who was her 42 Ten Broeck, in Schookraft's Arch., vol. iv., pp. 89-90; and Eaton, Ib., pp. 218-19. The latter account differs a little from that given in the text, and makes the following addition: After the Navajos came up from the cave, there came a time when, by the ferocity of giants and rapacious animals, their numbers were reduced to three an old man, an old woman, and a young woman. The stock was replenished by the latter bearing a child to the sun. 84 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. son, and called Vairubi, they hold in like esteem. 48 The Cochimis, of Lower California, amid an apparent multiplicity of gods, say there is in reality only one, who created heaven, earth, plants, animals, and man. 44 The Pericues, also of Lower California, call the creator Niparaya, and say that the heavens are his dwelling- place. A sect of the same tribe add that the stars are made of metal, and are the work of a certain Pu- rutabui ; while the moon has been made by one Cucu- numic. 45 The nations of Los Angeles County, California, believe that their one god, Quaoar, came down from heaven; and, after reducing chaos to order, put the world on the back of seven giants. He then created the lower animals, and lastly a man and a woman. These were made separately out of earth, and called, the man Tobohar, and the woman Pabavit.* 6 Hugo Reid, to whom we are mainly indebted for the mythology of southern California, and who is an excellent authority, inasmuch as his wife was an In- dian woman of that country, besides the preceding gives us another and different tradition on the same subject: Two great Beings made the world, filled it with grass and trees, and gave form, life, and motion to the various animals that people land and sea. When this work was done, the elder Creator went up to heaven and left his brother alone on the earth. The solitary god left below made to himself men-children, that he should not be utterly companionless. Fortu- nately, also, about this time the moon came to that neighborhood ; she was very fair in her delicate beauty, very kind-hearted, and she filled the place of a mother to the men-children that the god had created. She watched over them, and guarded them from all evil things of the night, standing at the door of their lodge. The children grew up very happily, laying great store "Ribas, Hist., pp. 18, 40. "Clavigero, Storia della Gal, torn, i., p. 139. ^Clavigero, Storia delta Gal, torn, i., pp. 135-7. * 6 Hugo Reid, in Los Angeks Star. CENTRAL-CALIFOKNTAN CREATION-MYTHS. 85 by the love with which their guardians regarded them; but there came a day when their heart saddened, in which they began to notice that neither their god- creator nor their moon foster-mother gave them any longer undivided affection and care, but that instead the two great ones seemed to waste much precious love upon each other. The tall god began to steal out of their lodge at dusk, and spend the night watches in the company of the white-haired moon, who, on the other hand, did not seem on these occasions to pay such absorbing attention to her sentinel duty as at other times. The children grew sad at this, and bitter at the heart with a boyish jealousy. But worse was yet to come: one night they were awakened by a querulous wailing in their lodge, and the earliest dawn showed them a strange thing, which they afterward came to know was a new-born infant, lying in the doorway. The god and the moon had eloped together ; their Great One had returned to his place beyond the ether, and that he might not be separated from his paramour, he had appointed her at the same time a lodge in the great firmament, where she may yet be seen, with her gauzy robe and shining silver hair, treading celestial paths. The child left on the earth was a girl. She grew up very soft, very bright, very beautiful, like her mother; but, like her mother also, O, so fickle and frail ! She was the first of woman- kind; from her are all other women descended, and from the moon; and as the moon changes, so they all change, say the philosophers of Los Angeles. 47 A much more prosaic and materialistic origin is that accorded to the moon in the traditions of the Gallinomeros of central California. 4 ^ In the begin- ning, they say there was no light, but a thick darkness covered all the earth. Man stumbled blindly against man and against the animals, the birds clashed together in the air, and confusion reigned everywhere. The Hawk happening by chance to fly into the face of the " Hugo Reid, Ib. 48 Russian Kiver Valley, Sonoma County. 86 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. Coyote, there followed mutual apologies and afterward a long discussion on the emergency of the situation. Determined to make some effort toward abating the public evil, the two set about a remedy. The Coyote gathered a great heap of tules, rolled them into a ball, and gave it to the Hawk, together with some pieces of flint. Gathering all together as well as he could, the Hawk flew straight up into the sky, where he struck fire with the flints, lit his ball of reeds, and left it there, whirling along all in a fierce red glow as it continues to the present; for it is the sun. In the same way the moon was made, but as the tules of which it was constructed were rather damp, its light has been always somewhat uncertain and feeble. 49 In northern California, we find the Mattoles, 50 who connect a tradition of a destructive flood with Taylor Peak, a mountain in their locality, on which they say their forefathers took refuge. As to the creation, they teach that a certain Big Man began by making the naked earth, silent and bleak, with nothing of plant or animal thereon, save one Indi'an, who roamed about in a wofully hungry and desolate state. Sud- denly there rose a terrible whirlwind, the air grew dark and thick with dust and drifting sand, and the Indian fell upon his face in sore dread. Then there came a great calm, and the man rose and looked, and lo, all the earth was perfect and peopled ; the grass and the trees were green on every plain and hill; the beasts of the fields, the fowls of the air, the creeping things, the things that swim, moved everywhere in his sight. There is a limit set to the number of the animals, which is this : only a certain number of ani- mal spirits are in existence; when one beast dies, his spirit immediately takes up its abode in another body, so that the whole number of animals is always the same, and the original spirits move in an endless circle of earthy immortality. 51 a Power*' Porno, MS. * Humboldt County. 51 Powers Porno, MS. THE COYOTE OF THE CALIFORNIANS. 87 We pass now to a train of myths in which the Coyote again appears, figuring in many important and somewhat mystical roles figuring in fact as the great Somebody of many tribes. To him, though involun- tarily as it appears, are owing the fish to be found in Clear Lake. The story runs that one summer long- ago there was a terrible drought in that region, fol- lowed by a plague of grasshoppers. The Coyote ate a great quantity of these grasshoppers, and drank up the whole lake to quench his thirst. After this he lay down to sleep off the effects of his extraordinary repast, and while he slept a man came up from the south country and thrust him through with a spear. Then all the water he had drunk flowed back through his wound into the lake, and with the water the grass- hoppers he had eaten ; and these insects became fishes, the same that still swim in Clear Lake. 52 The Californians in most cases describe themselves as originating from the Coyote, and more remotely, from the very soil they tread. In the language of Mr Powers w^hose extended personal investigations give him the right to speak with authority "All the aboriginal inhabitants of California, without excep- tion, believe that their first ancestors were created directly from the earth of their respective present dwelling-places, and, in very many cases, that these ancestors were coyotes." 58 The Potoyantes give an ingenious account of the transformation of the first coyotes into men : There was an age in which no men existed, nothing but coyotes. When one of these animals died, his body used to breed a multitude of little animals, much as the carcass of the huge Yrnir, rotting in Ginnunga- ap, bred the maggots that turned to dwarfs. The ittle animals of our story were in reality spirits, which, after crawling about for a time on the dead coyote, and taking all kinds of shapes, ended by spreading wings and floating off to the moon. This evidently 52 Powers Porno, MS. 53 Powers Porno, MS. I 56 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. would not do; the earth was in danger of becoming depopulated; so the old coyotes took counsel together if perchance they might devise a remedy. The re- sult was a general order, that, for the time to come, all bodies should be incinerated immediately after death. Thus originated the custom of burning the dead, a custom still kept up among these people. We next learn what indeed might have been expected of animals of such wisdom and parts that these primeval coyotes began by degrees to assume the shape of men. At first, it is true, with many imperfections; but, a toe, an ear, a hand, bit by bit, they were gradually builded up into the perfect form of man looking up- ward. For one thing they still grieve, however, of all their lost estate their tails are gone. An ac- quired habit of sitting upright has utterly erased and destroyed that beautiful member. Lost is indeed lost, and gone is gone for ever; yet still when in dance and festival, the Potoyante throws off the weary bur- den of hard and utilitarian care, he attaches to him- self, as nearly as may be in the ancient place, an arti- ficial tail, and forgets for a happy hour the degeneracy of the present in simulating the glory of the past. 54 The Californians tell again of a great flood, or at least of a time when the whole country, with the exception of Mount Diablo and Reed Peak, was cov- ered with water. There was a Coyote on the peak, the only living thing the wide world over, and there was a single feather tossing about on the rippled water. The Coyote was looking at the feather, and even as he looked, flesh and bones, and other feathers, came and joined themselves to the first, and became an Eagle. There was a stir on the water, a rush of broad pinions, and before the widening circles reached the island-hill, the bird stood beside the astonished Coyote. The two came soon to be acquainted arid to be good friends, and they made occasional excursions together to the other hill, the Eagle flying leisurely overhead while the Coyote swam. After a time they ^Johnston, in Scftoolcraffs Arch., vol. iv., pp. 224-5. HOW THE GOLDEN GATE WAS OPENED. 89 began to feel lonely, so they created men; and as the men multiplied the waters abated, till the dry land came to be much as it is at present. Now, also, the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin began to find their way into the Pacific., through the mountains which, up to this time, had stretched across the mouth of San Francisco Bay. No Poseidon clove the hills with his trident, as when the pleasant vale of Tempe was formed, but a strong earthquake tore the rock apart and opened the Golden Gate between the waters within and those without. Before this there had existed only two outlets for the drainage of the whole country; one was the Russian River, and the other the San Juan. 55 The natives in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe ascribe its origin to a great natural convulsion. There was a time, they say, when their tribe possessed the whole earth, and were strong, numerous, and rich; but a day came in which a people rose up stronger than they, and defeated and enslaved them. Afterward the Great Spirit sent an immense wave across the conti- nent from the sea, and this wave ingulfed both the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small remnant. Then the taskmasters made the remaining people raise up a great temple, so that they, of the ruling caste, should have a refuge in case of another flood, and on the top of this temple the masters wor- shipped a column of perpetual fire. Half a moon had not elapsed, however, before the earth was again troubled, this time with strong con- vulsions and thunderings, upon which the masters took refuge in their great tower, closing the people out. The poor slaves fled to the Humboldt River, and getting into canoes paddled for life from the aw- ful sight behind them. For the land was tossing like a troubled sea, and casting up fire, smoke, and ashes. The flames went up to the very heaven and melted many stars, so that they rained down in molten metal upon the earth, forming the ore that the white men 55 H. B. D., in Hexperian Mag., vol. iii., 1859, p. 326. 90 ORIGIN AND EN1> OF THINGS. seek. The Sierra was mounded up from the bosom of the earth; while the place where the great fort stood sank, leaving only the dome on the top exposed above the waters of Lake Tahoe. The inmates of the tem- ple-tower clung to this dome to save themselves from drowning; but the Great Spirit walked upon the waters in his wrath, and took the oppressors one by one like pebbles,, and threw them far into the recesses of a great cavern, on the east side of the lake, called to this day the Spirit Lodge, where the waters shut them in. There must they remain till a last great volcanic burning, which is to overturn the whole earth, shall again set them free. In the depths of their cav- ern-prison they may still be heard, wailing and moan- ing, when the snows melt and the waters swell in the lake. 56 We again meet' the Coyote among the Cahrocs of Klamath River in northern California. These Cah- rocs believe in a certain Chareya, Old Man Above, who made 'the world, sitting the while upon a certain stool now in the possession of the high-priest, or chief medicine-man. After the creation of the earth, Cha- reya first made fishes, then the lower animals, and lastly man, upon whom was conferred the power of assigning to each animal its respective duties and po- sition. The man determined to give each a bow, the length of which should denote the rank of the receiver. So he called all the animals together, and told them that next day, early in the morning, the distribution of bows would take place. Now the Coyote greatly desired the longest bow ; and in order to be in first at the division, he determined to remain awake all night. His anxiety sustained him for some time; but just before morning he gave way, and fell into a sound sleep. The consequence was, he was last at the ren- dezvous, and got the shortest bow of all. The man took pity on his distress, however, and brought the matter to the notice of Chareya, who, on considering the circumstances, decreed that the Coyote should be- 56 Wadsworth, in Hutching* Cat. Mag., vol. ii., 1858, pp. 350-8. MOUNT SHASTA THE WIGWAM OF THE GREAT SPIRIT. 91 come the most cunning of animals, as he remains to this time. The Coyote was very grateful to the man for his intercession, and he became his friend and the friend of his children, and did many things to aid man- kind, as we shall see hereafter. 57 The natives in the neighborhood of Mount Shasta, in northern California, say that the Great Spirit made this mountain first of all. Boring a hole in the sky, using a large stone as an auger, he pushed down snow and ice until they had reached the desired height; then he stepped from cloud to cloud down to the great icy pile, and from it to the earth, where he planted the first trees by merely putting his finger into the soil here and there. The sun began to melt the snow ; the snow produced water; the water ran down the sides of the mountains, refreshed the trees, and made rivers. The Creator gathered the leaves that fell from the trees, blew upon them, and they became birds. He took a stick and broke it into pieces; of the small end he made fishes; and of the middle of the stick he made animals the grizzly bear excepted, which he formed from the big end of his stick, appoint- ing him to be master over all the others. Indeed, this animal was then so large, strong, and cunning, that the Creator somewhat feared him, and hollowed out Mount Shasta as a wigwam for himself, where he might reside while on earth, in the most perfect secu- rity and comfort. So the smoke was soon to be seen curling up from the mountain, where the Great Spirit and his family lived, and still live, though their hearth- fire is alight no longer, now that the white man is in the land. This was thousands of snows ago, and there came after this a late and severe spring-time, in which a memorable storm blew up from the sea, shaking the huge lodge to its base. The Great Spirit commanded his daughter, little more than an infant, to go up and bid the wind to be still, cautioning her at the same time, in his fatherly way, not to put her head out into the blast, but only to thrust out her little red arm and 57 Power*' Porno, MS. 92 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. make a sign before she delivered her message. The eager child hastened up to the hole in the roof, did as she was told, and then turned to descend; but the Eve was too strong in her to leave without a look at the forbidden world outside, and the rivers and the trees, at the far ocean and the great waves that the storm had made as hoary as the forests when the snow is on the firs. She stopped, she put out her head to look ; instantly the storm took her by the long hair, and blew her down to the earth, down the mountain side, over the smooth ice and soft snow, down to the land of the grizzly bears. Now, the grizzly bears were somewhat different then from what they are at present. In appearance they were much the same, it is true; but they walked then on their hind legs like men, and talked, and carried clubs, using the fore-limbs as men use their arms. There was a family of these grizzlies living at the foot of the mountain, at the place where the child was blown to. The father was returning from the hunt with his club on his shoulder and a young elk in his hand, when he saw the little shivering waif lying on the snow with her hair all tangled about her. The old Grizzly, pitying and wondering at the strange forlorn creature, lifted it up, and carried it into his wife to see what should be done. She too was pitiful, and she fed it from her own breast, bringing it up quietly as one of her family. So the girl grew up, and the eldest son of the old Grizzly married her, and their offspring was neither grizzly nor Great Spirit, but man. Very proud indeed were the whole grizzly nation of the new race, and uniting their strength from all parts of the coun- try, they built the young mother and her family a mountain wigwam near that of the Great Spirit; and this structure of theirs is now known as Little Mount Shasta. Many years passed away, and at last the old grandmother Grizzly became very feeble and felt that she must soon die. She knew that the girl she had adopted was the daughter of the Great Spirit, and her conscience troubled her that she had never let THE GRIZZLY FAMILY OF MOUNT SHASTA. 93 him know anything of the fate of his child. So she called all the grizzlies together to the new lodge, and sent her eldest grandson up on a cloud to the summit of Mount Shasta, to tell the father that his daughter yet lived. When the Great Spirit heard that, he was so glad that he immediately ran down the mountain, on the south side, toward where he had been told his daughter was ; and such was the swiftness of his pace that the snow was melted here and there along his course, as it remains to this day. The grizzlies had prepared him an honorable reception, and as he ap- proached his daughter's home, he found them standing in thousands in two files, on either side of the door, with their clubs under their arms. He had never pic- tured his daughter as aught but the little child he had loved so long ago ; but when he found that she was a mother, and that he had been betrayed into the crea- tion of a new race, his anger overcame him ; he scowled so terribly on the poor old grandmother Grizzly that she died upon the spot. At this all the bears set up a fearful howl, but the exasperated father, taking his lost darling on his shoulder, turned to the armed host, and in his fury cursed them. Peace! he said. Be silent forever! Let no articulate word ever again pass your lips, neither stand any more upright; but use your hands as feet, and look downward until I come again ! Then he drove them all out ; he drove out also the new race of men, shut to the door of Little Mount Shasta, and passed away to his mountain, carrying his daughter; and her or him no eye has since seen. The grizzlies never spoke again, nor stood up; save indeed when fighting for their life, when the Great Spirit still permits them to stand as in the old time, and to use their fists like men. No Indian trac- ing his descent from the spirit mother and the grizzly, as here described, will kill a grizzly bear; and if by an evil chance a grizzly kill a man in any place, that spot becomes memorable, and every one that passes casts a stone there till a great pile is thrown up. 58 bs Joaquin Miller's Life amonyst the Modocs, pp. 235-236, 242-6. 94 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. Let us now pass on, and going east and north, enter the Shoshone country. In Idaho there are certain famous soda springs whose origin the Snakes refer to the close of their happiest age. Long ago, the legend runs, when the cotton -woods on the Big River were O no larger than arrows, all red men were at peace, the hatchet was everywhere buried, and hunter met hunter in the game-lands of the one or the other, with all hospitality and good-will. During this state of things, two chiefs, one of the Shoshone, the other of the Comanche nation, met one day at a certain spring. The Shoshone had been successful in the chase, and the Comanche very unlucky, which put the latter in rather an ill humor. So he got up a dispute with the other as to the importance of their respective and related tribes, and ended by making an unprovoked and treacherous attack on the Shoshone, striking him into the water from behind, when he had stooped to drink. The murdered man fell forward into the water, and immediately a strange commotion was observable there ; great bubbles and spirts of gas shot up from the bottom of the pool, and amid a cloud of vapor there arose also an old white-haired Indian, armed with a ponderous club of elk-horn. Well the assassin knew who stood before him; the totem on the breast was that of Wankanaga, the father both of the Shoshone and of the Comanche nations, an ancient famous for his brave deeds, and celebrated in the hieroglyphic pictures of both peoples. Accursed of two nations ! cried the old man, this day hast thou put death between the two greatest peoples under the sun ; see, the blood of this Shoshone cries out to the Great Spirit for vengeance. And he dashed out the brains of the Comanche with his club, and the murderer fell there beside his victim into the spring. After that the spring became foul and bitter, nor even to this day can any one drink of its nauseous water. Then Wankanaga, seeing that it had been defiled, took his club and smote a neighboring rock, and the rock burst forth into clear bubbling water, so fresh, and THE GIANTS OF THE PALOUSE RIVER. yr, so grateful to the palate that no other water can even be compared to it. 59 Passing into Washington, we find an account of the origin of the falls of Palouse River and of certain native tribes. There lived here at one time a family of giants, four brothers and a sister. The sister wanted some beaver-fat and she begged her brothers to get it for her no easy task, as there was only one beaver in the country, and he an animal of extraor- dinary size and activity. However, like four gallant fellows, the giants set out to find the monster, soon catching sight of him near the mouth of the Palouse, then a peaceful gliding river with an even though winding channel. They at once gave chase, heading him up the river. A little distance up-stream they succeeded in striking him for the first time w^ith their spears, but he shook himself clear, making in his struggle the first rapids of the Palouse, and dashed on up-stream. Again the brothers overtook him, pinning him to the river-bed with their weapons, and again the vigorous beast writhed away, making thus the second falls of the Palouse. Another chase, and in a third arid fatal attack, the four spear-shafts are struck again through the broad wounded back. There is a last stubborn struggle at the spot since marked by the great falls called Aputaput, a tearing of earth and a lashing of water in the fierce death-flurry, and the huge Beaver is dead. The brothers, having secured the skin and fat, cut up the body and threw the pieces in various directions. From these pieces have originated the various tribes of the country, as the Cayuses, the Nez Perces, the Walla Wallas, and so on. The Cayuses sprang from the beaver's heart, and for this reason they are more energetic, daring, and successful than their neighbors. 60 In Oregon the Chinooks and neighboring people tell of a pre-human demon race, called Ulhdipa by the Chinooks, and Sehuiab by the Clallams and Lum- 09 Ruxton's Adven. in Mex., pp. 244-6. 60 Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 496. 93 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. mis. The Chinooks say that the human race was created by Italapas, the Coyote. The first men were sent into the world in a very lumpish and imperfect state, their mouths and eyes were closed, their hands and feet immovable. Then a kind and powerful spirit, called Ikdnam, took a sharp stone, opened the eyes of these poor creatures, and gave motion to their hands and feet. He taught them how to make canoes as well as all other implements and utensils ; and he threw great rocks into the rivers and made falls, to obstruct the salmon in their ascent, so that they might be easily caught. 61 Farther north among the Ahts of Vancouver Island, perhaps the commonest notion of origin is that of men at first existed as birds, animals, and fishes. We are told of a certain Quawteaht, represented somewhat contradictorily, as the first Aht that ever lived, thick- set and hairy-limbed, and as the chief Aht deity, a purely supernatural being, if not the creator, at least the maker and shaper of most things, the maker of the land and the water, and of the animals that inhabit the one or the other. In each of these animals as at first created, there resided the embryo or essence of a man. One day a canoe came down the coast, paddled by two personages in the at that time unknown form of men. The animals were frightened out of their wits, and fled, each from his house, in such haste that he left behind him the human essence that he usually carried in his body. These embryos rapidly developed into men; they multiplied, made use of the huts de- serted by the animals, and became in every way as the Ahts are now. There exists another account of the origin of the Ahts, which would make them the direct descendants of Quawteaht and an immense bird that he married the great Thunder Bird, Tootooch, with which, under a different name and in a different sex, we shall become more familiar presently. The 61 FrancMre's Nar., p. 258; Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 317; Gibbs' Chinook Vocab., pp. 11-13; Id., Clallam and Lummi Vocab,, pp. 15-29; Parker's Ex- plor. Tour, p. 139. NOOTKA AND SALISH CREATION-MYTHS. 97 flapping of Tootooch's wings shook the hills with thun- der, tootah; and when she put out her forked tongue, the lightning quivered across the sky. The Ahts have various legends of the way in which fire was first obtained, which legends may be reduced to the following: Quawteaht withheld fire, for some reason or other, from the creatures that he had brought into the world, with one exception; it was always to be found burning in the home of the cuttle-fish, telhoop. The other beasts attempted to steal this fire, but onjy the deer succeeded; he hid a little of it in the joint of his hind leg, and escaping, introduced the element to general use. Not all animals, it would appear, were produced in the general creation; the loon and the crow had a special origin, being metamorphosed men. Two fisher- men, being out at sea in their canoes, fell to quarrel- ling, the one ridiculing the other for his small success in fishing. Finally the unsuccessful man became so in- furiated by the taunts of his companion that he knocked him on the head, and stole his fish, cutting out his tongue before he paddled off, lest by any chance the unfortunate should recover his senses and gain the shore. The precaution was well taken, for the mu- tilated man reached the land and tried to denounce his late companion. No sound, however, could he utter but something resembling the cry of a loon, upon which the Great Spirit, Quawteaht, became so indis- criminatingly angry at the whole affair that he changed the poor mute into a loon, and his assailant into a crow. So when the mournful voice of the loon is heard from the silent lake or river, it is still the poor fisherman that we hear, trying to make himself under- stood and to tell the hard story of his wrongs. 62 The general drift of many of the foregoing myths would go to indicate a wide-spread belief in the theory of an evolution of man from animals. 63 Traditions are Scenes, pp. 176-85, 202-14. 63 To the examples already given of this we may add the case of the Hai- dahs of Queen Charlotte Island, of whom Mr Poole, Q. Cta* M, P- 136, VOL. III. 7 98 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. not wanting, however, whose teaching is precisely the reverse. The Salish, the Nisquallies, and the Yaki- mas of Washington, all hold that beasts, fishes, and even edible roots are descended from human originals. One account of this inverse Darwinian development is this : The son of the Sun whoever he may have been caused certain individuals to swim through a lake of magic oil, a liquid of such Circean potency that the unfortunates immersed were transformed as above re- lated. The peculiarities of organism of the various animals are the results of incidents of their passage ; the bear dived, and is therefore fat all over; the goose swam high, and is consequently fat only up to the water-line ; and so on through all the list. 64 Moving north to the Tacullies of British Columbia, we find the Musk-rat an active agent in the work of creation. The flat earth, following the Tacully cos- mogony, was at first wholly covered with water. On the water a Musk-rat swam to and fro, seeking food. Finding none there, he dived to the bottom and brought up a mouthful of mud, but only to spit it out again when he came to the surface. All this he did again and again till quite an island was formed and by degrees the whole earth. In some unexplained way this earth became afterward peopled in every part, and so remained, until a fierce fire of several days' duration swept over it, destroying all life, with two exceptions; one man and one woman hid them- selves in a deep cave in the heart of a mountain, and from these two has the world been since repeopled. 65 From the Tacully country we pass north and west to the coast inhabited by the Thlinkeets, among whom the myth of a great Bird, or of a great hero-deity whose favorite disguise is the shape of a bird, assumes the most elaborate proportions and importance. Here the name of this great Somebody is Yehl, the Crow or Raven, creator of most things, and especially of the says: ' Their descent from the crows is quite gravely affirmed and steadfastly . maintained. ' 6 * Anderson, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 240. 65 Harmon 's Jour., pp. 302-3. YEHL, THE CREATOR OF THE THLINKEETS. 99 Thlinkeets. Very dark, damp, and chaotic was the world in the beginning ; nothing with breath or body moved there except Yehl ; in the likeness of a raven he brooded over the mist, his black wings beat down the vast confusion, the waters went back before him, and the dry land appeared. The Thlinkeets were placed on the earth though how or when does not exactly appear while the world was still in darkness, and without sun or moon or stars. A certain Thlin- keet, we are further informed, had a wife and a sister. Of the wife he was devouringly jealous, and when employed in the woods at his trade of building canoes, he had her constantly watched by eight red birds of the kind called kun. To make assurance surer, he even used to coop her up in a kind of box every time he left home. All this while his sister, a widow it would appear, was bringing up certain sons she had, fine tall fellows, rapidly approaching manhood. The jealous uncle could not endure the thought of their being in the neighborhood of his wife. So he inveigled them one by one, time after time, out to sea with him, on pretence of fishing, and drowned them there. The poor mother was left desolate, she went to the sea- shore to weep for her children. A dolphin some say a whale saw her there, and pitied her; the beast told her to swallow a small pebble and drink some sea-water. She did so, and in eight months was delivered of a child. That child was Yehl, who thus took upon himself a human shape, and grew up a mighty hunter and notable archer. One day a large bird appeared to him, having a long tail like a magpie, and a long glittering bill as of metal ; the name of the bird was Kutzghatushl, that is, Crane, that can soar to heaven. Yehl shot the bird, skinned it, and when- ever he wished to fly used to clothe himself in its skin. Now, Yehl had grown to manhood, and he deter- mined to avenge himself upon his uncle for the death of his brothers; so he opened the box in which the well-guarded wife was shut up. Instantly the eight faithful birds flew off and told the husband, who set out 100 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. for his home in a murderous mood. Most cunning, however, in his patience, he greeted Yehl with com- posure, and invited him into his canoe for a short trip to sea. Having paddled out some way, he flung him- self on the young man and forced him overboard. Then he put his canoe about and made leisurely for the land, rid as he thought of another enemy. But Yehl swam in quietly another way, and stood up in his uncle's house. The baffled murderer was beside himself with fury, he imprecated with a potent curse a deluge upon all the earth, well content to perish him- self so he involved his rival in the common destruction, for jealousy is cruel as the grave. The flood came, the waters rose and rose; but Yehl clothed himself in his bird-skin, and soared up to heaven, where he struck his beak into a cloud, and remained till the waters were assuaged. After this affair Yehl had many other adventures, so many that " one man cannot know them all," as the Thlinkeets say. One of the most useful things he did was to supply light to mankind with whom, as ap- pears, the earth had been again peopled after the de- luge. Now, all the light in the world was stored away in three boxes, among the riches of a certain mysteri- ous old Chief, who guarded his treasure closely. Yehl set his wits to work to secure the boxes; he deter- mined to be born into the chief's family. The old fellow had one daughter upon whom he doted, and Yehl trans- forming himself into a blade of grass, got into the girl's drink ing-cup and was swallowed by her. In due time she gave birth to a son, who was Yehl, thus a second time born of a woman into the world. Very proud was the old chief of his grandson, loving him even as he loved his daughter, so that Yehl came to be a de - cidedly spoiled child. He fell a-crying one day, work- ing himself almost into a fit; he kicked and scratched and howled, and turned the family hut into a pande- monium as only an infant plague can. He screamed for one of the three boxes; he would have a box; noth- ing but a box should ever appease him I The indulgent ADVENTURES OF YEHL AND KHANUKH. 101 grandfather gave him one of the boxes ; he clutched it, stopped crying, and crawled off into the yard to play. Playing, he contrived to wrench the lid off, and lo ! the beautiful heaven was thick with stars, and the box empty. The old man wept for the loss of his stars, but he did not scold his grandson, he loved him too blindly for that. Yehl had succeeded in getting the stars into the firmament, and he proceeded to repeat his successful trick, to do the like by the moon and sun. As may be imagined, the difficulty was much increased ; still he gained his end. He first let the moon out into the sky, and some time afterward, get- ting possession of the box that held the sun, he changed himself into a raven and flew away with his greatest prize of all. When he set up the blazing light in heaven, the people that saw it were at first afraid. Many hid themselves in the mountains, and in the for- ests, and even in the water, and were changed into the various kinds of animals that frequent these places. There are still other feats of Yehl's replete with the happiest consequences to mankind. There was a time, for instance, when all the fire in the world was hid away in an island of the ocean. Thither flew the in- defatigable deity, fetching back a brand in his mouth. The distance, however, was so great that most of the wood was burned away and a part of his beak, before he reached the Thlinkeet shore. Arrived there, he dropped the embers at once, and the sparks flew about in all directions among various sticks and stones; therefore it is that by striking these stones and by friction on this wood, fire is always to be obtained. Light they now had, and fire ; but one thing was still wanting to men : they had no fresh water. A personage called Khanukh 66 kept all the fresh water in his well, in an island to the east of Sitka, and over the mouth of the well, for its better custody, he had built his hut. Yehl set out to the island in his boat, 66 This Khanukh was the even as Yehl was that of seems to have been generally malign, but except in connection with thia water-legend, he is little mentioned in the Thlinkeet myths. the progenitor of the Wolf family of the Thlinkeets, the Raven family. The influence of this wolf-deity 102 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. to secure the water, and on his way he met Khanukh himself paddling along in another boat. Khanukh spoke first : How long hast thou been living in the world? Proudly Yehl answered: Before the world stood in its place, I was there. Yehl in his turn ques- tioned Khanukh: But how long hast thou lived in O the world ? To which Khanukh replied : Ever since the time that the liver came out from below. 67 Then said Yehl : Thou art older than I. Upon this Khan- ukh, to show that his power was as great as his age, took off his hat, and there rose a dense fog, so that the one could no longer see the other. Yehl then be- came afraid, and cried out to Khanukh ; but Khanukh answered nothing, At last when Yehl found himself completely helpless in the darkness, he began to weep and howl; upon which the old sorcerer put on his hat again, and the fog vanished. Khanukh then invited Yehl to his house, and entertained him handsomely with many luxuries, among which was fresh water. The meal over, host and guest sat down, and the latter began a long relation of his many exploits and adventures. Khanukh listened as attentively as he could, but the story was really so interminable that he as last fell asleep across the cover of his well. This frustrated Yehl's intention of stealing the water while its owner slept, so he resorted to another stratagem : he put some filth under the sleeper, then waking him up, made him believe he had bewrayed himself. Khanukh, whose own nose abhorred him, at once hurried off to the sea to wash, and his deceiver as quickly set about securing the pre- cious water. Just as All-father Odin, the Raven-god, stole Suttung's mead, drinking it up and escaping in the form of a bird, so Yehl drank what fresh water he could, filling himself to the very beak, then took the form of a raven and attempted to fly off through the chimney of the hut. He stuck in the flue, however, 67 ' Seit der Zeit, entgegnete Khanukh, als von unten die Leber heraus- kam.' Holmbery, Ethn. Skiz., p. 61. What is meant by the term ' die Leber,' literally the particular gland of the body called in English ' the liver, ' I cannot say; neither Holmberg nor any one else, as far as my knowledge goes, attempting any explanation. CHETHL AND AHGISHANAKHOU. 103 and Khanukh returning at that instant recognized his guest in the struggling bird. The old man compre- hended the situation, and quietly piling up a roaring fire, he sat down comfortably to watch the choking and scorching of his crafty guest. The raven had always been a white bird, but so thoroughly was he smoked in the chimney on this occasion that he has ever since remained the sootiest of fowls. At last Khanukh, watching the fire, became drowsy and fell asleep; so Yehl escaped from the island with the water. He flew back to the continent, where he scattered it in every direction ; and whenever small drops fell there are now springs and creeks, while the large drops have produced lakes and rivers. This is the end of the ex- ploits of Yehl ; having thus done everything necessary to the happiness of mankind, he returned to his habi- tation, which is in the east, and into which no other spirit, nor any man, can possibly enter. The existing difference in language between the Thlinkeets and other people is one of the consequences of a great flood perhaps that flood already described as having been brought on through the jealousy of the canoe-builder. Many persons escaped drowning by taking refuge in a great floating building. When the waters fell, this vessel grounded upon a rock, and was broken into two pieces; in the one fragment were left those whose descendants speak the Thlinkeet language, in the other remained all whose descendants employ a different idiom. Connected with the history of this deluge is another myth, in which a great Bird figures. When the waters rose, a certain mysterious brother and sister found it necessary to part. The name of the brother was Chethl, that is, Thunder or Lightning, and the name of the sister was Ahgishanakhou, which means the Underground Woman. As they separated, Chethl said to her: Sister, you shall never see me again, but while I live you shall hear my voice. Then he clothed himself in the skin of a great bird, and flew toward the south-west. His sister climbed to the top of 104 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. Mount Edgecomb, which is near Sitka, and it opened and swallowed her up, leaving a great hole, or crater. The world itself is an immense flat plate supported on a pillar, and under the world, in silence and darkness, this Underground Woman guards the great pillar from evil and malignant powers. She has never seen her brother since she left the upper world, and she shall never see him again ; but still, when the tempest sweeps down on Edgecomb, the lightning of his eyes gleams down her crater- window, and the thundering of his wings reechoes through all her subterranean halls. 68 The Koniagas, north of the Thlinkeets, have their legendary Bird and Dog the latter taking the place occupied in the mythology of many other tribes by the wolf or coyote. Up in heaven, according to the Koni- agas, there exists a great deity called Shljam Schoa. He created two personages and sent them down to the earth, and the Raven accompanied them, carrying light. This original pair made sea, rivers, mountains, forests, and such things. Among other places, they made the island of Kadiak, and so stocked it that the present Koniagas assert themselves the descendants of a Dog. 69 The Aleuts of the Aleutian Archipelago seem to disagree upon their origin. Some say that in the be- ginning a Bitch inhabited Unalaska, and that a great Dog swam across to her from Kadiak; from which pair the human race have sprung. Others, naming the bitch-mother of their race Mahakh, describe a cer- tain Old Man, called Iraghdadakh, who came from the north to visit this Mahakh. The result of this visit was the birth of two creatures, male and female, with such an extraordinary mixing up of the elements of nature in them that they were each half man, half fox. The name of the male creature was Acagnikakh, 68 Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 54-7; Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 14, 52-63; Baer, Stat. u, Ethn., pp. 93-100; Dall's Alaska, pp. 421-2; Macfics Vane. IsL, pp. 452-5; Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 405; Mayne's B. C., p. 272. 69 Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 116; Lisiansfoj's Voy., pp. 197-8; DalVs Alaska, p. 405; Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 140. THE DOG-ORIGIN OF THE HYPERBOREANS. 105 and by the other creature he became father of the human race. The Old Man, however, seems hardly to have needed any help to people the world, for, like the great patriarch of Thessaly, he was able to create men by merely casting stones on the earth. He flung also other stones into the air, into the water, and over the land, thus making beasts, birds, and fishes. In another version of the narrative, the first father of the Aleuts is said to have fallen from heaven in the shape of a dog. 70 In the legends of the Tinneh, living inland, north- east of the Koniagas, the familiar Bird and Dog again appear. These legends tell us that the world existed at first as a great ocean frequented only by an immense Bird, the beating of whose wings was thun- der, and its glance lightning. This great flying mon- ster descended and touched the waters, upon which the earth rose up and appeared above them; it touched the earth, and therefrom came every living creature except the Tinneh, who owe their origin to a Dog. Therefore it is that to this day a dog's flesh is an abomination to the Tinneh, as are also all who eat such flesh. A few years before Captain Franklin's visit they almost ruined themselves by following the advice of some fanatic reformer. Convinced by him of the wickedness of exacting labor from their near relations, the dogs, they got rid at once of the sin and of all temptation to its recommission, by killing every cur in their possession. To return to the origin of the Tinneh, the wonder- ful Bird before mentioned made and presented to them a peculiar arrow, which they were to preserve for all time with great care. But they would not ; they mis- appropriated the sacred shaft to some common use, and immediately the great Bird flew away, never to return. With its departure ended the Golden Age of the Tinneh an age in which men lived till their 70 Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 7; Kotzelmes Voy,, vol. ii., p. 1G5. 106 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. throats were worn through with eating, and their feet with walking. 71 Belonging to the Northern-Indian branch of the Tinneh we find a narrative in which the Dog holds a prominent place, but in which we find no mention at all of the* Bird : The earth existed at first in a chaotic state, with only one human inhabitant, a woman who dwelt in a cave and lived on berries. While gather- ing these one day, she encountered an animal like a dog, which followed her home. This Dog possessed the power of transforming himself into a handsome young man, and in this shape he became the father by the woman of the first men. In course of time a giant, of such height that his head reached the clouds, arrived on the scene and fitted the earth for its inhabi- tants. He reduced the chaos to order ; he established the land in its boundaries, he marked out with his staff the position or course of the lakes, ponds, and rivers. Next he slew the Dog and tore him to pieces, as the four giants did the Beaver of the Palouse River, or as the creating ^Esir did Aurgelmir. Un- like the four brothers, however, and unlike the sons of Bor, this giant of the Tinneh used the fragments not to create men or things, but animals. The entrails of the dog he threw into the water, and every piece be- came a fish ; the flesh he scattered over the land, and every scrap became an animal; the bits of skin he sowed upon the wind, and they became birds. All these spread over the earth, and increased and multi- plied ; and the giant gave the woman and her progeny power to kill and eat of them according to their neces- sities. After this he returned to his place, and he has not since been, heard of. 72 Leaving now this division of our subject, more par- ticularly concerned with cosmogony, it may not be amiss to forestall possible criticism as to the discon- nected manner in which the various myths are given. 71 Dunns Oregon, pp. 102 et seq.; Sclvoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 173; Mac- kenzie's Voy., p. cxviii.; Franklins Nar., vol. i., pp. 249-50. Vi Hearties Journey, pp. 342-3. INTERPRETATION OF MYTHS. 107 I have but to repeat that the mythology with which we have to deal is only known in fragments, and to submit that a broken statue, or even a broken shard, of genuine or presumably genuine antiquity, is more valuable to science, and even to poetry, than the most skilful ideal restoration. Further, the absence of any attempt to form a con- nected whole out of the myths that come under our notice cannot but obviate that tendency to alter in outline and to color in detail which is so insensibly natural to any inythographer prepossessed with the spirit of a system. In advancing lastly the opinion that the disconnected arrangement is not only better adapted toward preserving the original myths in their integrity, but is also better for the student, I may be allowed to close the chapter with the second of the Rules for the Interpretation of Mythes given by so distinguished an authority as Mr Keightley: "In like manner the mythes themselves should be considered separately, and detached from the system in which they are placed ; for the single mythes existed long before the system, and were the product of other minds than those which afterwards set them in con- nection, not unfrequently without fully understanding them." 73 73 Keightley 's Myth of Ancient Greece and Italy, p. 14, CHAPTER III. 'PHYSICAL MYTHS. SUN, MOON, AND STABS ECLIPSES THE MOON PERSONIFIED IN THE LAND OF THE CRESCENT FIRE How THE COYOTE STOLE FIRE FOR THE CAHROCS How THE FROG LOST HIS TAIL How THE COYOTE STOLE FIRE FOR THE NAVAJOS WIND AND THUNDER THE FOUR WINDS AND THE CROSS WATER, THE FIRST OF ELEMENTAL THINGS ITS SACRED AND CLEANS- ING POWER EARTH AND SKY EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES MOUN- TAINS How THE HAWK AND CROW BUILT THE COAST RANGE THE MOUNTAINS OF YOSEMITE. FETICHISM seems to be the physical philosophy of man in his most primitive state. Iff e looks on material things as animated by a life analogous to his own, as having a personal consciousness and character, as be- ing severally the material body that contains some immaterial essence or soul. A child or a savage strikes or chides any object that hurts him, and caresses the gewgaw that takes his fancy, talking to it much as to a companion. Let there be something peculiar, mysterious, or dangerous about the thing, and the savage worships it, deprecates its wrath and entreats its favor, with such, ceremonies, prayers, and sacrifices as he may deem likely to win upon its regard. In considering such cases mythologically, it will be necessary to examine the facts, to see whether we have to deal with simple fetichism or with idolatry. That savage worships a fetich who worships the heaving sea as a great living creature, or kneels to flame as to a hissing roaring animal; but the Greeks, in conceiving a separate an- thropomorphic god of the sea or of the fire, and in (108) VAGARIES CONCERNING CELESTIAL BODIES. 109 representing that god by figures of different kinds, were only idolaters. The two things, however, are often so merged into each other that it becomes diffi- cult or impossible to say in many instances whether a particular object, for example, the sun, is regarded as the deity or merely as the representation or symbol of the deity. It is plain enough, however, that a toler- ably distinct element of fetichism underlies much of the Indian mythology. Speaking of this mythology in the mass, the North American Review says: "A mysterious and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things. They, too, can listen to the voice of man, and influence his life for evil or for good. Lakes, rivers, and waterfalls are sometimes the dwelling-place of spirits, but more frequently they are themselves living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings." 1 The explicit worship of the sun, and more or less that of other heavenly bodies, or at least a recognition of some supernatural power resident in or connected with them, was widely spread through Mexico, as well among the uncivilized as among the civilized tribes. The wild Chichimecs, or that portion of the wild tribes of Mexico to which Alegre applied this name, owned the sun as their deity, as did also the people of the Nayarit country. 2 In what we may call civilized Mexico, the sun was definitely worshipped under the name of Tonatiuh, the Sun in his substance, and under that of Naolin, the Sun in his four motions. He was sometimes repre- sented by a human face surrounded with rays, at other times by a full-length human figure, while again he often seems to be confused or connected with the element fire and the god of fire. Sahagun, for instance, usually speaks of the festival of the month Itzcalli as appertaining to the god of fire, but in at least one place he describes it as belonging to the sun and the fire. 3 The sun, it is tolerably certain, held, if not the 1 North Am. Rev., vol. ciii., p. 1. 2 Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, torn, i., p. 279; Apostdttcos Afanes, p. 68. 3 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 200-18; Explication, del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. x., in Kingsborougtis Mex. Antiq., 110 PHYSICAL MYTHS. highest place, one not far removed from that position in the Mexican pantheon. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Tylor, Squier, and Schoolcraft agree in considering sun- worship the most radical religious idea of all civilized American religions. 4 Professor M tiller considers the sun-god and the supreme Mexican Teotl to be identical. 5 Dr Brinton, as we shall see when we corne to notice the mythology of fire, while not denying the promi- nence of the sun-cult, would refer that cult to a basal and original fire-worship. Many interpreters of my- thology see also the personification of the sun in others of the Mexican gods besides Tonatiuh. More espe- cially does evidence seem to point strongly in this direction in the case of Quetzalcoatl, as will be seen, when we come to deal with this god. The Mexicans were much troubled and distressed by an eclipse of the sun. They thought that he was much disturbed and tossed about by something, and that he was becoming seriously jaundiced. This was the occasion of a general panic, women weeping aloud, and men howling and shouting and striking the hand upon the mouth. There was an immediate search for men with white hair and white faces, and these were sacrificed to the sun, amid the din and tumult of singing and musical instruments. It was thought that should the eclipse become once total, there would be an end of the light, and that in the darkness the demons would come down to the devouring of the people. 6 vol. v., p. 139; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxv. and xxxiii., in Kingsborouylis Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 178, 181-2; Men- dieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 80-1; Claviqero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., pp. 9, 11, 17, 34-5. 4 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 301; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 156; Tylor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 259, 262-3; Squier's Serpent Symbol, pp. 18-20; Schooler affs Arch., vol. iii., p. 60, vol. iv., p. 639, vol. v., pp. 29-87, vol. vi., pp. 594, 626, 636. 5 Mutter, AmerikaniscJie Urreligionen, p. 474. 7 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 244-5. In Campeche, in 1834, M. Waldeck witnessed an eclipse of the moon during which the Yuca- tecs conducted themselves much as their fathers might have done in their gentile days, howling frightfully and making every effort to part the celestial combatants. The only apparent advance made on the old customs was the firing off of muskets, ' to prove, ' in the words of the sarcastic artist, ' that the Yucatecs of to-day are not strangers to the progress of civilization. ' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 14. ECLIPSES, AND THEIR EFFECT ON MAN. Ill The Tlascaltecs, regarding the sun and the moon as husband and wife, believed eclipses to be domestic quar^ rels, whose consequences were likely to be fatal to the world if peace could not be made before things pro- ceeded to an extremity. To sooth the ruffled spirit of the sun when he was eclipsed, a human sacrifice was offered to him of the ruddiest victims that could be found; and when the moon was darkened she was appeased with the blood of those white-complexioned persons commonly known as Albinos. 7 The idea of averting the evil by noise, in case of an eclipse either of the sun or moon, seems to have been a common one among other American tribes. Alegre ascribes it to the natives of Sonora in general. Bibas tells how the Sinaloas held that the moon in an eclipse was darkened with the dust of battle. Her enemy had come upon her, and a terrible fight, big with con- sequence to those on earth, went on in heaven. In wild excitement the people beat on the sides of their houses, encouraging the moon and shooting flights of arrows up into the sky to distract her adversary. Much the same as this was also done by certain Cali- fornians. 8 With regard to an eclipse of the moon the Mexi- cans seem to have had rather special ideas as to its effects upon unborn children. At such times, women who were with child became alarmed lest their infant should be turned into a mouse, and to guard against such an undesirable consummation they held a bit of obsidian, iztli, in their mouth, or put a piece of it in their girdle, so that the child should be born perfect, and not lipless, or noseless, or wry-mouthed, or squint- ing, or a monster. 9 These ideas are probably con- nected with the fact that the Mexicans worshipped the moon under the name of Meztli, as a deity presid- ing over human generations. This moon-god is con- 7 Camargo, Hist, de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcvii., p. 193. 8 Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, torn, ii., p. 218; Ribas, Hist, de foe Trium* phos, p. 202; Boscana, in Robinson's Life in CaL, pp. 296-300. 9 Sahayun, Hist. Gen.., torn, ii., lib. viii., p. 250. 112 PHYSICAL MYTHS. sidered by Clavigero to be identical with Joaltecutli, god of night. 10 It is to the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, that we must turn for a truly novel and cyclopean theory of Mexican lunolatry. He sees back to a time when the forefathers of American civilization lived in a certain Crescent Land in the Atlantic; here they practised Sabaism. Through some tremendous physi- cal catastrophe their country was utterly overwhelmed by the sea; and this inundation is considered by the abbe to be the origin of the deluge-myths of the Cen- tral-American nations. A remnant of these Crescent people saved themselves in the seven principal islands of the Lesser Antilles; these are, he explains, the seven mythical caves or grottos celebrated in so many American legends as the cradle of the nations. The saved remnant of the people wept the loss of their friends and, of their old land, making the latter, with its crescent shape, memorable forever by adopting the moon as their god. " It is the moon," writes the great Americaniste, "male and female, Luna and Lunas, personified in the land of the Crescent, ingulfed in the abyss, that I believe I see at the commencement of this amalgam of rites and symbols of every kind." n I confess inability to follow the path by w r hich the abbe has reached this conclusion; but I have indicated its whereabouts, and future students may be granted a further insight into this new labyrinth, and the subtile- ties of its industrious Daedalus. The Mexicans had many curious ideas about the stars, some of which have come down to us. They particularly reverenced a certain group of three called mamalhoaztli, in, or in the neighborhood of, the sign Taurus of the zodiac. This name was the same as that of the sticks from which fire was procured : a resem- " 10 Explication del Codex Tellerlano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. x., in Kings- borougtis Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 139; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexi- cano iVatieano), tav. xxvi., in Kingsborouglis Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 179; jSahaguM, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., p. 250; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Mes- sico, torn, ii., pp. 9-17. 11 Braaseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 155-6. WHAT THE MEXICANS THOUGHT OF STARS AND COMETS. 113 blance of some kind being supposed to exist between them and these stars. Connected again with this was the burning by every male Mexican of certain marks upon his wrist, in honor of the same stars ; it being be- lieved that the man who died without these marks should, on his arrival in hades, be forced to draw fire from his wrist by boring upon it as on a fire-stick. The planet Yenus was worshipped as the first light that appeared in the world, as the god of twilight, and, according to some, as being identical with Quetzal- coatl. This star has been further said to borrow its light from the moon, and to rise by four starts. Its first twinkle was a bad augury, and to be closed out of all doors and windows ; on appearing for the third time, it began to give a steady light, and on the fourth it shone forth in all its clearness and brilliancy. Comets were called each citlalinpopoca, or the smok- ing star ; their appearance was considered as a public disaster, and as announcing pest, dearth, or the death of some prince. The common people were accustomed to say of one, This is our famine, and they believed it to cast down certain darts, which falling on any ani- mal, bred a maggot that rendered the creature unfit for food. All possible precautions of shelter were of course taken by persons in positions exposed to the influence of these noxious rays. Besides the foregoing, there were many stars or groups of stars whose names were identical with those of certain gods; the follow- ing seem to belong to this class: Tonacatlecutli or Citlalalatonalli, the milky way ; Yzacatecutli, Tlahviz-. calpantecutli, Ceyacatl, Achitumetl, Xacupancalqui, Mixcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and ContemocthV 12 I have already noticed a prevailing tendency to con- nect the worship of fire and that of the sun. The rites of a perpetual fire are found closely connected 12 Explication ddle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, parte i., lam. ii., parte ii., lam. xiv., in Kingsborough 's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 140; Spiegazione ddle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xvii., xxxi., 2b., vol. v., pp. 175, 181; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 250-52; Camargo, Hist, de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy. } 1843, torn, xcviij,, p. 193; Men* VOL. III. 8 114 PHYSICAL MYTHS, with a sun-cult, and, whichever may be the older, it is certain they are rarely found apart. "What," says Ty]or, "the sea is to Water-worship, in some measure the Sun is to the Fire-worship." 13 Brinton would reverse this, and give to fire the predominance; in short, he says, the sun " is always spoken of as a fire;" " and without danger or error we can merge the con- sideration of its worship almost altogether in this ele- ment." u This sounds rather extravagant, and is hardly needed in any case ; for sufficient reason for its deifica- tion can always be found in its mysterious nature and awful powers of destruction, as well as in its kind and constantly renewed services, if gratitude have any power in making a god. The mere guarding and hold- ing sacred a particular fire probably originated in the importance of possessing an unfailing source of the element, and in the difficulty of its production if allowed to die out, among men not possessed of the appliances of civilization. When we come to review the gods in general, those connected with fire will be pointed out as they appear; for the present, let it suffice to say that many Ameri- can peoples had such gods, or had ceremonies suggest ing their existence and recognition, or lastly, had legends of the origin or procurement of the fire they daily used on the altar or on the hearth. In the Pueblos of New Mexico, and more especially among the Pecos, sacred perpetual fires were kept up by special command of their traditionary god and ruler Montezuma; but these fires were not regarded as fetiches. 15 The Mexican fire-god was known by the name of Xiuhtecutli, and by other names appertaining to the different aspects . in which he was viewed. While preserving his own well-marked identity, he was evidently closely related also to the sun-god. dieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81. The word tecuili is of frequent occurrence as a ter- mination in the names of Mexican gods. It signifies ' lord, ' and is written with various spellings. I follow that given by Molina's Vocabulary. 18 Ty tor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 259. 14 Brinton's Myths, p. 143. * 5 Ward, in Ind. Aff. Kept., 1864, p. 153. HOW THE CAHROCS OBTAINED FIRE. 115 Many and various, even in domestic life, were the ceremonies by which he was recognized; the most important ritual in connection with his service being, perhaps, the lighting of the new fire, with which, as we shall see, the beginning of every Mexican cycle was solemnized. 16 There are various fables scattered up and down among the various tribes regarding the origin or rather the procuring of fire. We know how the Qui- ches received it from the stamp of the sandal of Tohil; how, from the home of the cuttle-fish, a deer brought it to the Ahts in a joint of his leg; how from a dis- tant island the great Yehl of the Thlinkeets fetched the brand in his beak that filled the flint and the fire- stick with seeds of eternal fire. The Cahrocs hold that, when in the beginning the creator Chareya made fire, he gave it into the custody of two old hags, lest the Cahrocs should steal it. The Cahrocs, having exhausted every means to procure the treasure, applied for help to their old friend the Coyote ; who, having maturely considered how the theft might best be accomplished, set about the thing in this way : From the land of the Cahrocs to the home of the old women he stationed a great company of animals, at con- venient distances ; the strongest nearest the den of the old beldames, the weakest farthest removed. Last of all, he hid a Cahroc in the neighborhood of the hut, and having left the man precise directions how to act, he trotted up to the door and asked to be let in out of the cold. Suspecting nothing, the crones gave him admit- tance ; so he lay down in front of the fire, and made him- self as comfortable as possible, waiting for the further action of his human accomplice without. In good time, the man made a furious attack on the house, and the old furies rushed out at once to drive off the in- vader. This was the Coyote's opportunity. Instantly he seized a half-burnt brand and fled like a comet lG Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. i., p. 16; Torquemada, Monarq. Tnd., torn, ii., pp. 56-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, iii., pp. 491-2. 116 PHYSICAL MYTHS. down the trail; and the two hags, seeing how they had been outwitted, turned after him in immediate and furious chase. It had gone hard then with the hopes of the Cahrocs, if their four-legged Prometheus had trusted to his single speed; but just as he began to feel the pace tell on him, and just as the weird women thought they were about to recover the brand, the Cougar relieved him of it. Great was the satis- faction of our wise Coyote, as he sank down, clearing his sooty eyes and throat, and catching his breath, to see the great lithe cat leap away with the torch, and the hags gnash their choppy gums as they rushed by, hard in pursuit, on the dim trail of sparks. The Cou- gar passed the brand to the Bear, the Bear to his neighbor, and so on to the end. Down the long line of carriers, the panting crones plied their withered old legs in vain ; only two mishaps occurring among all the animals that made up the file. The Squirrel, last in the train but one, burned his tail so badly that it curled up over his back, and even scorched the skin above his shoulders. Last of all, the poor Frog, who received the brand when it had burned down to a very little piece, hopped along so heavily that his pursuers gained on him, gained fast and surely. In vain he gathered himself for every spring, in vain he stretched at every leap till the jarred muscles cracked again. He was caught. The smoke-dimmed eyes stood out from his head, his little heart thumped like a club against the lean fingers that closed upon his body yet that wild croak was not the croak of despair. Once more for the hope of the Cahrocs! one more struggle for the Coyote that trusted him in this great thing! and with a gulp the plucky little martyr swal- lowed the fire, tore himself from the hands that held him, leaped into a river, and diving deep and long, gained his goal ; but gained it a mournful wreck, the handsome tail, which, of all his race, only the tadpole should ever wear again, was utterly gone, left, like that of an O'Shanter's mare, in the witch's grasp; only the ghost of himself was left to spit out on some FIRE, THE LIGHTNING, AND WIND. 117 pieces of wood the precious embers preserved at so great a cost. And it is because the Frog spat out this fire upon these pieces of wood that it can always be extracted again by rubbing them hard together. 17 The Navajos have a legend as to the procuring of fire, that has many analogies to the foregoing. They tell how, when they first gained the earth, they were without fire, and how the Coyote, the Bat, and the Squirrel agreed to procure it for them. The object of their desire seems to have been in the possession of the animals in general, in some distant locality. The Coyote, having attached pine splinters to his tail, ran quickly through the fire and fled with his lighted prize. Being keenly pursued, however, by the other animals, he soon tired; upon which the Bat relieved him, and dodging and flitting here and there, carried the splinters still farther. Then the Squirrel came to the assistance of the Bat, and succeeding him in his office, contrived to reach the hearths of the Navajos with the coveted embers. 18 The natives of Mendocino County, California, believe that lightning is the origin of fire, that a primeval bolt hurled down by the Man Above fell upon certain wood, from which, consequently, fire can always be extracted by rubbing two pieces together. 19 From fire let us turn for a moment to wind, whose phenomena, as might be expected, have not been allowed to pass wholly unnoticed by the mythologies with which we have to deal. When we come to ex- amine ideas connected with death and with the soul of man and its future, we shall find the wind, or the air, often in use as the best name and figure for the ex- pression of primitive conceptions of that mysterious thing, the vital essence or spirit. The wind, too, is often considered as a god, or at least as the breath of a god, and in many American languages the Great 17 Powers' Porno, MS. 18 Eaton, in ScUoolcra/Vs Arch., vol. iv., pp. 218-19. 19 Powers Porno. MS. 118 PHYSICAL MYTHS. Spirit and the Great Wind are one and the same both in word and signification. The name of the god Hu- rakan, mentioned in Quiche myths, still signifies the Storm in many a language strange to his worshippers, while in Quiche it may be translated Spirit, or swiftly moving Spirit; 20 and the name of the Mexican god Mixcoatl is said to be to this day the correct Mexican term for the whirlwind. 21 An interesting point here arises with regard to the division of the heavens into four quarters and the naming of these after the names of the wind. Dr Brinton believes this fact to be at the bottom of the sacredness and often occurrence of the number four in so many early legends, and he connects these four winds and their embodiment in many quaternions of deities, with the sacredness of the cross and its use among widely separated nations, to whom its later Christian signification was utterly unknown. 22 If we may suppose that the Great Spirit and the wind are often represented under the form of an enor- mous bird, we must connect with them, as their most inseparable attributes, the thunder and the lightning ; the first, as we have so often seen, is the rustling or stridor of the wings of the bird, the second is the flashing of his eyes. The Raven of the Koniagas is not, however, as among most other tribes of the great Northwest, the author of these things; but their prin- cipal deity when he is angry sends down two dwarfs, who thunder and lighten according to his command. 23 Of the god Hurakan, whom we have noticed as the etymon of the word hurricane, the Popol Vuh says : ''The flash is the first sign of Hurakan; the second is the furrow of the flash; the third is the thunderbolt 29 Brasaeur de Bourbourg, S'il Existe des Sources de THist. Prim, du Mex- ique, p. 101. 21 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ. t torn, iii., p. 485; Brinton s Myths, p. 51. 22 Brinton's Myths, pp. 66-98. Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 141. WATER AS A PURIFYING ELEMENT. 119 that strikes;" 24 and to the Mexican god Tlaloc are also attached the same three attributes. 25 Turning to water, we find it regarded among many tribes as the first of elemental things. It is from a primeval ocean of water that the earth is generally supposed to come up. Water is obviously a first and chief nourisher of vegetable life, and an indispensable prerequisite of all fertility ; from this it is but a short step to saying that it is the mother of those that live by the earth's fertility. " Your mother, Chalchiuhtli- cue, goddess of water," is a phrase constantly found in the midwife's mouth, in her address to the child, in the Mexican washing or baptismal service. 26 The use of water more or less sanctified or set apart or made worthy the distinction 'holy;' the employ- ment of this in a rite of avowed purification from in- herent sin at the time of giving a name baptism, in one word runs back to a period far pre-Christian among the Mexican, Maya, and other American na- tions, as ancient ceremonies to be hereafter described will show. That man sets out in this life-journey of his with a terrible bias toward evil, with a sad and pitiful liability to temptation, is a point upon which all religions are practically unanimous. How else could they exist? Were man born perfect he would remain perfect, otherwise the first element of perfection would be wanting; and perfection admits of no super- lative, no greater, no god. Where there is a religion, then, there is generally a consciousness of sin volun- tary and involuntary. How shall I be cleansed ? how shall my child be cleansed from this great wickedness ? is the cry of the idolater as well as of the monotheist. Is it strange that the analogy between corporal and spiritual pollution should independently suggest itself to both ? Surely not. Wash and be clean, is to all the world a parable needing no interpreter. 27 2 *Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh,^. 9. "*Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii.,jp. 76. 26 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 197. 27 Singularly apt in this connection are the wise words that Carlyle, Past and Present Chartism, book i., p. 233, puts into th mouth of his mythical friend Sauerteig: 'Strip thyself, go into the bath, or were it into the limpid 120 PHYSICAL MYTHS. The ceremonial use of water followed the Mexican through all his life ; though for the present we shall only notice one more custom connected with it, the last of all. When a body was buried, a vase of clean, sweet water was let down into the tomb ; bright, clear, life-giving, and preserving water hope and love, dumb and inarticulate, stretching vague hand toward a resur- rection. The Mexican rain and water god was Tlaloc, sender of thunder and lightning, lord of the earthly paradise, and fertilizer of earth; his wife was the Chalchiuhtli- cue, already mentioned. 28 Like Tlaloc was Quiateot, the Nicaraguan rain-god, master of thunderbolts and general director of meteorological phenomena. 29 The Navajos puffed tobacco smoke straight up toward heaven to bring rain, and those of them that carried a corpse to burial were unclean till washed in water. 30 In a deep and lonely canon near Fort De- fiance there is a spring that this tribe hold sacred, approaching it only with much reverence and the per- formance of certain mystic ceremonies. They say it was once a boiling spring, and that even yet if ap- proached heedlessly or by a bad Indian, its waters will seethe up and leap forth to overwhelm the in- truder. 31 The Zunis had also a sacred spring; sacred to the rain-god, who, as we see by implication, is Monte- zuma, the great Pueblo deity himself. No animal might taste of its sacred waters, and it was cleansed pool and running brook, and there wash and be clean; thou wilt step out again a purer and a better man. This consciousness of perfect outer pureness, that to thy skin there now adheres no foreign speck of imperfection, how it radiates in on thee with cunning symbolic influences, to the very soul ! It remains a religious duty from oldest time in the East Even the dull English feel something of this; they have a saying, "Cleanliness is near of kin to Godliness." ' m Clatfiyero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn. ii. ? pp. 15-16. 'Era conosciuta con altri nomi assai espressive, i quali o sigriificavano i diversi effetti, che cagionano 1'acque, o le diverse apparenze, colori, che formano col loro moto. I Tlascallesi la chiamavano Matlalcueje, cioe, vestita di gonna turchina.' See also MiiUer, Reisen in Mex., torn, iii., p. 89. Z9 0viedo, Hist. Gen., torn, iv., pp. 46, 55. 33 Ten Broeck, in Schoolcrafis Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; Bristol, in Ind. Af. Kept., 1867, p. 358. 11 Backus, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 213. THE EARTH, THE SEA, THE SKY. 121 annually with vessels also sacred most ancient vases that had been transmitted from generation to genera- tion since times to which even tradition went not back. These vessels were kept ranged on the wall of the well. The frog, the rattlesnake, and the tortoise were depicted upon them, and were sacred to the great patron of the place, whose terrible lightning should consume the sacrilegious hand that touched these hallowed relics. 32 We have seen how the Californian tribes believe themselves descended from the very earth, how the bodiless ancestor of the Tezcucans came up from the soil, how the Guatemaltecs, Papagos, and Pimas were moulded from the clay they tread, and how the Nava- jos came to light from the bowels of a great moun- tain near the river San Juan. It seems long ago and often to have come into men's mind that the over- arching heaven or something there and the all-produc- ing earth are, as it were, a father and mother to all living creatures. The Comanches call on the earth as their mother, and on the Great Spirit as their father. The Mexicans used to pray: Be pleased, our Lord, that the nobles who may die in the war be peacefully and pleasingly received by the sun and the earth, who are the father and mother of all. 33 It was prob- ably, again, with some reference to the motherly func- tion of the earth that the same people, when an earth- quake came, took their children by the head or hand, and lifted them up, saying : The earthquake will make them grow. 34 Sometimes they specified a particular part of the earth as closer to them in this relation than other parts. It is said that on the tenth day of the month Quecholli, the citizens of Mexico and those of Tlatelolco were wont to visit a hill called Cacatpec, for they said it was their mother. 35 As to the substance, arrangement, and so on of the earth and sky there remain one or two ideas not al- 32 Whipple, in Pac. P. R. Kept., vol. iii., p. 39. 33 Sahaynn, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 43. Zi Sahayun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. v., ap.. pp. 21-2 35 Sahayun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., p. 70. 122 PHYSICAL MYTHS. ready given in connection with the general creation. The Tlascaltecs, and perhaps others of the Anahuac peoples, believed that the earth was flat, and ending with the sea-shore, was borne up by certain divinities, who when fatigued relieved each other, and that as the burden was shifted from shoulder to shoulder earth- quakes occurred. The sea and sky were considered as of one material, the sea being more highly condensed; and the rain was thought to fall, not from clouds, but from the very substance of heaven itself. 36 The south- ern Californians believed that when the Creator made the world he fixed it on the back of seven giants, whose movements, as in the preceding myth, caused earth- quakes. 37 The sky, according to certain of the Yuca- tecs, was held up by four brothers called each of them Bacab, in addition to their several names, which seem to have been Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac. These four, God had placed at the four corners of the world when he created it, and they had escaped when all else were destroyed by flood. 38 In the interior of the earth, in volcanoes, subterra- nean gods were often supposed to reside. The Koni- agas, for example, held that the craters of Alaska were inhabited by beings mightier than men, and that these sent forth fire and smoke when they 'heated their sweat-houses or cooked their food. 39 The rugged majesty of hills and mountains has not been without its effect on the reverential mind of the American aborigines. Direct worship was unusual, but several incidents must have already informed the reader that a kind of sanctity is often attached to great elevations in nature. A predilection for hills and mounds as landmarks and fanes of tradition, and as places of worship, was as common among the Americans as among the people of the Old World. The Choles Z6 Camargo, Hist, de Tiaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834, torn, xcviii., p. 192. 37 Reid, in Los Ancjeks Star. 38 Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 206. Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 141. HILLS AND MOUNTAIN RANGES. 123 of the province of Itza had a hill in their country that they regarded as the god of all the mountains, and on which they burned a perpetual fire. 40 The Mexicans, praying for rain, were accustomed to vow that they would make images of the mountains if their petitions- were favorably received; 41 and in other points con- nected with their religion, to show, as has appeared and will appear, both with them and with other peo- ple, their recognition of a divinity abiding on or hedg- ing about the great peaks. What wonder, indeed, that to the rude and awe-struck mind the everlasting hills seemed nearer and liker heaven than the common- place level of earth? and that the wild man should kneel or go softly there, as in the peculiar presence of the Great Spirit? This is hardly a new feeling, it seems an instinct and custom as old as religion. Where went Abraham in that awful hour, counted to him for righteousness through all the centuries? Where smoked the thunderings and lightnings that heralded the delivery of the Law, when the son of Amram talked with Jehovah face to face, as a man talketh with his friend ? Whence saw a greater than Moses the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them? whence, in the all-nights that came after, did the prayers of the Christ ascend? and where stood he when his raiment became as no fuller on earth could white it, Moses and Elias talking with him, and Peter so sore afraid? Where hills were not found conveniently situated for purposes of worship, they seem to have been counterfeited after man's feeble fashion: from high- place and mound, from pyramid and teocalli, since the morning stars sang together, the smoke of the altar and the censer has not ceased to ascend. But the day begins to broaden out, and the mists of the morn- ing flee away; though the hills be not lowered, God is lifted up. Yet they have their glory and their charm still even to us, and to the savage they often 40 Villagutierre, Eist. Conq, de /tea, pp. 151-2. il Sahayun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., p. 177. 124 PHYSICAL MYTHS. appear as the result of a special and several creation. We remember how the Great Spirit made Mount Shasta as his only worthy abiding-place on earth; and I give here another legend of a much more trivial sort than the first, telling how, not Mount Shasta alone, but all the mountains of California, were built and put into position: 42 At a time when the world was covered with water there existed a Hawk and a Crow and a very small Duck. The latter, after div- ing to the bottom and bringing up a beakful of mud, died; whereupon the Crow and the Hawk took each a half of the mud that had been brought up, and set to work to make the mountains. Beginning at a place called Teheechaypah Pass, they built northwards, the Hawk working on the eastern range and the Crow on the western. It was a long and weary toil, but in time the work was finished, and as they laid the last peak the workers met at Mount Shasta. Then the Hawk saw that there had been foul play somewhere, for the western range was bigger than his; and he charged the Crow with stealing some of his mud. But the smart bird laughed a hoarse guffaw in the face of his eastern brother, not even taking the trouble to disown the theft, and chuckled hugely over his own success and western enterprise. The honest Hawk was at his wit's end, and he stood thinking with his head on one side for quite a long time; then in an ab- sent kind of way he picked up a leaf of Indian tobacco and began to chew, and wisdom came with chewing. And he strengthened himself mightily, and fixed his claws in the mountains, and turned the whole chain in the water like a great floating wheel, till the range of his rival had changed places with his, and the Sierra Nevada was on the east and the Coast Range on the west, as they remain to this day. This legend is not without ingenuity in its way, but there is more of human interest in the following pretty 42 Poivers' Porno, MS. This is a tradition of the Yocuts, a Californian tribe, occupying the Kern and Tulare basins, the middle San Joaquin, and the various streams running into Lake Tulaie. TOTOKONULA AND TISAYAC OF YOSEMITE. 125 story of the Yosemite nations, as to the origin of the names and present appearance of certain peaks and other natural features of their valley : - A certain Totokonula was once chief of the people here; a mighty hunter and a good husbandman, his tribe never wanted food while he attended to their welfare. But a change came; while out hunting one day, the young man met a spirit-maid, the guardian angel of the valley, the beautiful Tisayac. She was not as the dusky beauties of his tribe, but white and fair, with rolling yellow tresses that fell over her shoulders like sunshine, and blue eyes with a light in them like the sky where the sun goes down. White, cloudlike wings were folded behind her shoulders, and her voice was sweeter than the song of birds; no won- der the strong chief loved her with a mad and instant love. He reached toward her, but the snowy wings lifted her above his sight, and he stood again alone upon the dome where she had been. No more Totokonula ]ed in the chase or heeded the crops in the valley; he wandered here and there like a man distraught, ever seeking that wonderful shining vision that had made all else on earth stale and un- profitable in his sight. The land began to languish, missing the industrious directing hand that had tended it so long; the pleasant garden became a wilderness where the drought laid waste, and the wild beast spoiled what was left, and taught his cubs to divide the prey. When the fair spirit returned at last to visit her valley, she wept to see the desolation, and she knelt upon the dome, praying to the Great Spirit for succor. God heard, and stooping from his place, he clove the dome upon which she stood, and the granite was riven be- neath her feet, and the melted snows of the Nevada rushed through the gorge, bearing fertility upon their cool bosom. A beautiful lake was formed between the cloven walls of the mountain, and a river issued from it to feed the valley forever. Then sang the birds as of old, laving their bodies in the water, and the odor of flowers rose like a pleasant incense, and 126 PHYSICAL MYTHS. the trees put forth their buds, and the corn shot up to meet the sun and rustled when the breeze crept through the tall stalks. Tisayac moved away as she had come, and none knew whither she went; but the people called the dome by her name, as it is indeed known to this day. After her departure the chief returned from his weary quest; and as he heard that the winged one had vis- ited the valley, the old madness crept up into his eyes and entered, seven times worse than at the first, into his empty soul; he turned his back on the lodges of his people. His last act was to cut with his hunting- knife the outline of his face upon a lofty rock, so that if he never returned his memorial at least should re- main with them forever. He never did return from that hopeless search, but the graven rock was called Totokonula, after his name, and it may be still seen, three thousand feet high, guarding the entrance of the beautiful valley. 43 Leaving this locality and subject, I may remark that the natives have named the Pohono Fall, in the same valley, after an evil spirit; many persons having been swept over and dashed to pieces there. No native of the vicinity will so much as point at this fall when going through the valley, nor could anything tempt one of them to sleep near it; for the ghosts of the drowned are tossing in its spray, and their wail is heard forever above the hiss of its rushing waters. 44 * 3 Hutcliings' Gal Mag., vol. iv., pp. 197-9. "Hutdiings Cal Mag., vol. iv., p. 243. CHAPTEE IV. ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. ROLES ASSIGNED TO ANIMALS AUGURIES FROM THEIR MOVEMENTS THE ILL-OMENED OWL TUTELARY ANIMALS METAMORPHOSED MEN THE OGRESS-SQUIRREL OF VANCOUVER ISLAND MONKEYS AND BEAVERS FALLEN MEN THE SACRED ANIMALS PROMINENCE OF THE BIRD AN EMBLEM OF THE WIND THE SERPENT, AN EMBLEM OF THE LIGHTNING NOT SPECIALLY CONNECTED WITH EVIL THE SERPENT OF THE PUEBLOS THE WATER-SNAKEOPHIOLATRY PROMINENCE OF THE DOG, OR THE COYOTE GENERALLY, THOUGH NOT ALWAYS, A BENEVOLENT POWER How THE COYOTE LET SALMON UP THE KLAMATH DANSE MACABRE AND SAD DEATH OF THE COYOTE. THE reader must have already noticed the strange roles filled by animals in the creeds of the Native Races of the Pacific States. Beasts and birds and fishes fetch and carry, talk and act, in a way that leaves even ^Esop's heroes in the shade ; while a mys- terious and inexplicable influence over human destiny is often accorded to them. It is, of course, impossible to say precisely how much of all this is metaphorical, and how much is held as soberly and literally true. Probably the proportion varies all the way from one extreme to the other among different nations, and among peoples of different stages of culture in the same nation. They spake only in part, these priests and prophets of barbaric cults, and we can understand only in part; we cannot solve the dark riddle of the past ; we can oftenest only repeat it, and even that in a more or less imperfect manner. The Mexicans had their official augurs and sooth- cm) 128 ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. sayers, who divined much as did their brethren of classic times. The people also drew omen and presage from many things: from the howling of wild beasts at night; the singing of certain birds; the hooting of the owl ; a weasel crossing a traveller's path ; a rabbit running into its burrow; from the chance movements of worms, beetles, ants, frogs, and mice ; and so on in detail. 1 The owl seems to have been in many places consid- ered a bird of ill omen. Among all the tribes visited by Mr Lord, from the Fraser River to the Saint Law- rence, this bird was portentously sacred, and was a favorite decoration of the medicine-men. To come on an owl at an unusual time, in daylight, for example, and to hear its mystic cry, were things not desirable of any that loved fulness of pleasure and length of days. 2 In California, by the tribes on the Russian River, owls were held to be devils or evil spirits incarnate. 3 We often find an animal adopted in much the same way as a patron saint was selected by the mediaeval knight. The Hyperborean lad, for example, when he reaches manhood, takes some beast or fish or bird to be his patron, and the spirit connected with that ani- mal is supposed to guard him. Unlike most Indians, the Eskimo will have no hesitation in killing an ani- mal of his tutelary species; he is only careful to wear a piece of its skin or bone, which he regards as an amulet, which it w^ere to him a serious misfortune to lose. Prolonged ill luck sometimes leads a man to change his patron beast for another. The spirits con- nected with the deer, the seal, the salmon, and the beluga are regarded by all with special veneration. 4 The Mexicans used to allot certain animals to cer- tain parts of the body ; perhaps in much the same way as astrologers and alchemists used to connect the stars of heaven with different substances and persons. The following twenty Mexican symbols were supposed to l Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. v., pp. 1-14, ap. pp. 25-6. 2 Lord's Naturalist in Vancouver Island, vol. ii., pp. 32-4. 3 Powers' Porno, MS. 4 Daft* Alaska, p. 145. THE HUMANITY OF ANIMALS. 129 rule over the various members of the human body : The sign of the deer, over the right foot; of the tiger, over the left foot; of the eagle, over the right hand; of the monkey, over the left hand; of death repre- sented by a skull over the skull; of water, over the hair; of the house, over the brow; of rain, over the eyes; of the dog, over the nose; of the vulture, over the right ear; of the rabbit, over the left ear; of the earthquake, over the tongue ; of flint, over the teeth ; of air, over the breath ; of the rose, over the breast ; of the cane, over the heart; of wind, over the lungs as appears from the plate in the Codex Vaticanus, the Italian interpreter giving, however, "over the liver;" of the grass, over the intestines; of the lizard, over the loins ; and of the serpent, over the genitals. 5 Sometimes the whole life and being of a man was supposed to be bound up in the bundle with that of some animal. Thus, of the Guatemaltecs, old Gage quaintly enough writes: "Many are deluded by the Devil to believe that their life dependeth upon the life of such and such a beast (which they take unto them as their familiar spirit), and think that when that beast dieth they must die; when he is chased their hearts pant; when he is faint they are faint; nay, it happeneth that by the devil's delusion they appear in the shape of that beast." 6 Animals are sometimes only men in disguise; and this is the idea often to be found at the bottom of that sacredness which among particular tribes is ascribed to particular animals. The Thlinkeet will kill a bear only in case of great necessity, for the bear is supposed to be a man that has taken the shape of an animal We do not know if they think the same of the albatross, but they cer- a Codex Vaticanus (Mex.), in Kingsborougti s Mex. Antiq., vol. ii., plate 75; Spiegazimie delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborouyh's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 197, tav. Ixxv.; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kinysborouytis Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 222-3, plate Ixxv. It will be seen that I have trusted more to the plate itself than to the Italian explanation. As to Kingsborough's translation of that explanation, it is nothing but a gloss with additions to and omissions from the original. 6 Gage's New Survey, p. 334. VOL. III. 9 130 ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. tainly will not kill this bird, believing, like mariners ancient and modern, that such a misdeed would be followed by bad weather. 7 t Among the natives seen by Mr Lord on Vancouver Island, ill luck is supposed to attend the profane kill- ing of the ogress-squirrel, and the conjurers wear its skin as a strong charm among their other trumpery. As tradition tells, there once lived there a monstrous old woman with wolfish teeth, and finger-nails like claws. She ate children, this old hag, wiling them to her with cunning and oily words, and many were the broken hearts and empty cradles that she left. One poor Rachel, weeping for her child, and not to be com- forted because it was not, cries aloud: "0 Great Spirit, Great Medicine, save my son, in any way, in any form!" And the great, good Father, looking down upon the red mother pities her; lo, the child's soft brown skin turns to fur, and there slides from the ogress's grip no child, but the happiest, liveliest, mer- riest, little squirrel of.all the west but bearing, as its descendants still bear, those four dark lines along the back that show where the cruel claws ploughed into it escaping. 8 Where monkeys are found, the idea seems often to have occurred to men to account for the resemblance of the monkey to the man by making of the first a fallen or changed form of the latter. We have already seen how the third Quiche destruction of the human race terminated thus ; and how the hurricane-ended Sun of the Air in Mexican mythology also left men in the apish state. The intelligence of beavers may have been the means of winning them a similar dis- tinction. The Flathead says these animals are a fallen race of Indians, condemned for their wickedness to this form, but who will yet, in the fulness of time, be restored to their humanity. As we shall see more particularly, when we come to 7 Holmberg, Ellin. Skiz., p. 30. * Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 52-4. 9 Cox's Advfn. t vol. i., p. 253. SACREDNESS OF CERTAIN BRUTES. 131 deal with the question of the future life, it was a com- mon idea that the soul of the dead took an animal shape, sometimes inhabiting another world, sometimes this. The Thlinkeets, for example, believed that their shamans used to have interviews with certain spirits of the dead that appeared to them in two forms, some as land animals, some as marine. 10 The Californians round San Diego will not eat the flesh" of large game, believing such animals are inhab- ited by the souls of generations of people that have died ages ago ; ' eater of venison ' is a term of reproach among them. 11 The Pimos and Maricopas had, if Bartlett's account be correct, some curious and unusual ideas regarding their future state; saying that the several parts of the body should be changed into separate animals; the head would perhaps take the form of an owl, the feet become wolves, and so on. 12 The Moquis supposed that at death they should be severally changed into animals bears, deer, and such beasts; which indeed, as we have already seen, they believed to have been their original form. 13 Different reasons are given by different tribes for holding certain animals sacred; some of these we have already had occasion to notice. Somewhat different from most, however, is that given by the Northern- Indian branch of the Tinneh, for not eating the flesh of foxes, wolves, ravens, and so on. This tribe are accustomed to abandon the bodies of their dead wher- ever they happen to fall, leaving them to the maws of kites or of any other animals of prey in the neigh- borhood; therefore nothing but the extremest neces- sity can force any member of the nation to make use of such animals as food. u Certain natives of Guatemala in the province of A.caldn, called by Villagutierre Mazotecas, kept deer { * DaUs Alaska, pp. 422-3. n Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 215. ^Bartlett's Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222. 13 Ten Broeck, in Schooler aft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 86. 14 Hearne's Journey, p. 341. 132 ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. in so tame a state that they were easily killed 4 by the least active soldiers. These deer were held as sacred by the inhabitants; for tradition told them that their greatest god had visited them in this fig- ure. 15 The Apaches greatly respect the bear, neither killing him nor tasting his flesh. They think that there are spirits of divine origin within or connected with the eagle, the owl, and all birds perfectly white. Swine they hold to be wholly unclean. 16 Some ani- mals are sacred to particular gods: with the Zunis, the frog, the turtle, and the rattlesnake were either considered as specially under the protection of Monte- zuma here considered as the god of rain or they were themselves the lesser divinities of water. 1 ' It is sometimes necessary to guard against being misled by names. Thus the natives of Nicaragua had gods whose name was that of a rabbit or a deer ; yet these animals were not considered as gods. The iden- tity of name went only to say that such arid such were the gods to be invoked in hunting such and such animals. 18 The reader must have already noticed how impor- tant is the part assigned to birds in our mythology, especially in creation-myths. A great bird is the agent of the chief deity, perhaps the chief deity him- self. The sweep of his wings is thunder; the light- nings are the glances of his eyes. 19 Chipewyans, Thlinkeets, Atnas, Koltschanes, Kenai, and other nations give this being great prominence in their legends. Brinton believes this bird to be the emblem of the wind, to be "a relic of the cosmogonal myth which 15 ViUagutfave, Hist. Canq. Itza, p. 43. Charlton, in Sckookraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 209. Whipple, Ewbank, and Turners Rept., pp. 39-40, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. l *0viedo, Hist. Gen., torn, iv., pp. 54-5. 19 Swinburne, Anactoria, has found an allied idea worthy of his sublime verse: ' Cast forth of heaven, with feet of awful gold. And plumeless wings that make the bright air blind, Lightning, with thunder for a hound behind, Hunting through fields unfurrowecl and unsown.' THE WIND OR THUNDER BIRD. 133 explained the origin of the world from the action of the winds, under the image of the bird, on the prime- val ocean;" 20 and his view is probably correct in many cases. The savage is ever ready to be smitten by natural powers. Ignorant and agape with wonder, is it unnat- ural that he should regard with a superstitious awe and respect the higher and more peculiar animal gifts, relating them to like physical powers, and managing to mix and confuse the whole by a strange synthesis of philosophy ? Birds flew, the winds flew ; the birds were of the kith of the winds, and the winds were of the kin of the gods who are over all. Poor, weary, painted man, who could only toil dustily along, foot-sore, and perhaps heart-sore, with strange longings that venison and bear-meat could not satisfy was it very wonderful if the throbbing music and upward flight of the clear- throated and swift- winged were to him very mysterious, and sacred things ? " All living beings," say the north- eastern Eskimos, "have the faculty of soul, but espe- cially the bird." From the flight and song of birds, the Mexican divined and shadowed forth the unborn shapes of the to-come. He died, too, if he died in an odor of warlike sanctity, in the strong faith that his soul should ultimately take the form of a bird and Brinton's Myths, p. 205. The Norse belief is akin to this: * The giant Hrsuelgur, At the end of heaven, Sits in an eagle's form; 'Tis said that from his wings The cold winds sweep Over all the nations.' Vafthrudvers maal; Grenville Pigott's translation, in Scandinavian Mythology, p. 27. Scott, Pirate, chap, v., in the 'Song of the Tempest,' which he translates from Norna's mouth, shows that the same idea is still found in the Shetland Islands: ' Stern eagle of the far north-west, Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt, Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, Cease thou the waving of thy pinions, Let the ocean repose in her dark strength; Cease thou the flashing of thine eyes, Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin. ' 134 ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. twitter through the ages in the purple shadows of the trees of paradise. 21 The Kailtas on the south fork of the Trinity in Cali- fornia, though they do not turn the soul into a bird, do say that as it leaves the body a little bird carries it up to the spirit-land. 22 The Spaniards of Vizcaino's expedition, in 1602, found the Californians of Santa Catalina Island ven- erating two great black crows, which, according to Senor Galan, were probably a species of bird known in Mexico as rey de los zopilotes, or king of turkey- buzzards ; he adding that these birds are still the ob- jects of respect and devotion among most California!! tribes. 23 As another symbol, sign, or type of the supernat- ural, the serpent would naturally suggest itself at an early date to man. Its stealthy, subtle, sinuous motion, the glittering fascination of its eyes, the silent deathly thrust of its channelled fangs what marvel if the foolishest of men, like the wisest of kings, should say, "I know it not; it is a thing too wonderful for me?" It seems to be immortal : every spring-time it cast off and crept from its former skin, a crawling unburnt phoenix, a new animal. Schwartz, of Berlin, affirms, from deep researcli in Greek and German mythology, that the paramount germinal idea in this wide-spread serpent-emblem is the lightning, and Dr Brinton develops the same opin- ion at some length. 24 Tlaloc, the Aztec rain-god, held in his hand a ser- pent-shaped piece of gold representing most probably the lightning. Hurakan, of the Quiche legends, is 21 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 265; Clawgero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., p. 5. 22 Powers' Porno, MS. 23 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., toin. i., p. 713. 'The entire tribes of the lifomian Indiania [sic] appear to have had a great devotion and venera- tion for the Condor, or Yellow-headed Vulture.' Taylor, in Col. Farmer, May 25, 1860. 'Cathartes Calif ornianus, the largest rapacious bird of North America.' Baird's Birds of N. Am., p. 5. 'This bird is an object of great veneration or worship among the Indian tribes of every portion of the state. * Jteid, in Los Angeles Star. 24 Brinton s Myths, p. 112. THE CROSS AND THE FOUR WINDS. 135 otherwise the Strong Serpent, he who hurls below, re- ferring in all likelihood to storm powers as thunderer. 25 This view being accepted, the lightning-serpent is the type of fruitfulness; the thunder storm being insep- arably joined with the thick, fertilizing summer show- ers. 26 Born, too, in the middle heaven, of a cloud mother and of an Ixion upon whom science cannot yet place her finger, amid moaning breeze and threatening tempest, the lightning is surely also akin to the wind and to the bird that is their symbol. The amalgama- tion of these powers in one deity seems to be what is indicated by such names as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, Cukulcan, all titles of the God of the Air in different American languages, and all signifying 'Bird Serpent/ In a tablet on the wall of a room at Palenque is a cross surmounted by a bird, and supported by what appears to be the head of a serpent. " The cross," says Brinton, " is the symbol of the four winds; the bird and serpent, the rebus of the air god, their ruler." It does not appear that savages attach any special significance of evil to the snake, though the prepos- sessions of early writers almost invariably blind them on this point. 27 This rule is not without its exceptions, however; the Apaches hold that every rattlesnake contains the soul of a bad man or is an emissary of the Evil Spirit. 28 The Piutes of Nevada have a demon- deity in the form of a serpent still supposed to exist in the waters of Pyramid La'ke. The wind when it sweeps down among the nine islands of the lake drives the waters into the most fantastic swirls and eddies, even when the general surface of the lake is tolerably placid. This, say the Piutes, is the devil- snake causing the deep to boil like a pot; this is the old serpent seeking whom he may devour; and no native in possession of his five sober wits will be 20 Torquemcula, J/om'/v/. I ml., torn, ii., pp. 46-71; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., pp. 14-15; Garna, DOS Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 76-7. * 6 Mullei'j Amenkanische Urrdigionen, p. 500. 27 TylwsPrim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 217. ' 2S Cfiarlton, iu Schookraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 209. 136 ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. found steering toward those troubled waters at such a time. 29 In the Pueblo cities, among the Pecos especially, there existed in early times an immense serpent, sup- posed to be sacred, and which, according to some accounts, was fed with the flesh of his devotees. Gregg heard an * honest ranchero' relate how, one snowy morning, he had come upon this terrible reptile's trail, "large as that of a dragging ox;" the ranchero did not pursue the investigation further, not obtruding his science, such as it was, upon his religion. This ser- pent was supposed to be specially connected with Montezuma, and with rain phenomena; it is often called "the great water-snake." It was described to Whip pie "as being as large round as a man's body; and of exceeding great length, slowly gliding upon the water, with long wavy folds," like the Nahant sea- serpent to Mollhausen, as being a great rattlesnake, possessor of power over seas, lakes, rivers, and rain; as thick as many men put together, and much longer than all the snakes in the world; moving in great curves and destroying wicked men. The Pueblo In- dians prayed to it for rain, and revered its mysterious powers. 30 A people, called by Castafieda Tahus, apparently of Sinaloa in the neighborhood of Culiacan, regarded certain large serpents with sentiments of great ven- eration, if not of worship. 31 These reptiles seem also to have been regarded with considerable reverence in Yucatan. In 1517, Bernal Diaz noticed many figures of serpents in a temple he saw at Campeche. Juan de Grijalva, also, found at the same time many such 29 Virginia City Chronicle, in S. F. Daily Evg Post, of Aug. 12, 1872. 36 Gregg's Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271-2; WMpple, Ewbank, and Turner's Re.pt., pp. 38-9, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. in.; Mollhausen, Tagebuch, p. 170; Domenedis Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5. Certain later travellers deny all the foregoing as * fiction and fable; ' meaning, probably, that they saw nothing of it, or that it does not exist at present. Wand, in 2nd. A/. Rept., 1864, p. 193; Meline's Two Tluwsand Miles, p. 256. 31 Castaneda, Voy. de Cibola, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, serie i., torn, ix., p. 150. THE DOG OR AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY. 137 figures at Champoton, among other idols of clay and wood. 32 We have already spoken of the Mexican Tlaloc and of the frequent appearance of the serpent in his wor- ship; it does not appear, however, notwithstanding Mr Squier's assertion to the contrary, that the ser- pent was actually worshipped either in Yucatan or Mexico. Bernal Diaz, indeed, says positively in one passage, speaking of a town called Tenayuca, that "they worshipped here, in their chief temple, three serpents;" but the stout soldier was not one to make fine distinctions between gods and their attributes or symbols; nor, even with the best intentions, was he or any other of the conquistadores in a position to do justice to the faith of 'gentiles.' 31 We shall hereafter find the serpent closely con- nected with Quetzalcoatl in many of his manifesta- tions, as well as with others of the Mexican gods. From the serpent, let us turn to the dog, with his relations the wolf and coyote, an animal holding a respectable place in American mythology. We have seen how many tribes derive, figuratively or literally, their origin from him, and how often he becomes legendarily important as the hero of some adventure or the agent of some deity. He is generally brought before us in a rather benevolent aspect, though an exception occurs to this in the case of the Chinooks at the mouth of the Columbia. With these, the coy- ote figures as the chosen medium for the action of the Evil Spirit toward any given malevolent end as the form taken by the Evil One to counteract some benefi- cence .of the Good Spirit toward the poor Indian whom he loves. 34 Very different from this is the character of that Coyote of the Cahrocs whose good deeds we have so often had occasion to set forth. One feat of his yet ^Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3, 8. 33 Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 136; Scltoolcraffs Arch., vol. v., p. 105. 2 * Lord's Nat,., vol. ii., p. 218. 138 ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. remains to be told Low he stocked the river with salmon. Chareya, the creator, had made salmon, but he had put them in the big-water, and made a great fish-darn at the mouth of the Klarnath, so that they could not go up ; and this dam was closed with some- thing of the nature of a white man's key, which key was given in charge to two old hags, not wholly unfa- miliar to us, to keep and watch over it night and day, so that no Cahroc should get near it. Now, fish being wanting to the Cahrocs, they were sorely pushed by hunger, and the voice of women and little children was heard imploring food. The Coyote determined to help them ; he swore by the stool of Chareya that before another moon their lodges should drip with sal- mon, and the very dogs be satisfied withal. , So he travelled down the Klamath many days' journey till he came to the mouth of the river and saw the big- water and heard the thunder of its waves. Up hu went to the hut of the old women, rapped, and asked hospitality for the night; and he was so polite and debonair that the crones could find no excuse for refus- ing him. He entered the place and threw himself down by the fire, warming himself while they prepared salmon for supper, which they ate without offering him a bite. All night long he lay by the fire pretend- ing to sleep, but thinking over his plans and waiting for the event that should put him in possession of the mighty key that he saw hanging so high above his reach. In the morning, one of the hags took down the key and started off toward the dam to get some fish for breakfast. Like a flash the Coyote leaped at her, hurling himself between her feet; heels over head she pitched, and the key flew far from her hands. Before she well knew what had hurt her, the Coyote stood at the dam with the key in his teeth, wrenching at the fastenings. They gave way ; and with a great roar the green water raced through, all ashine with salmon, utterly destroying and breaking down the dam, so that ever after fish found free way up the Klamath. COYOTES MUST NOT DANCE WITH ST^RS. 139 The end of the poor Coyote was rather sad, consid- ering his kindness of heart and the many services he had rendered the Cahrocs. Like too many great per- sonages, he grew proud and puffed up with the adula- tion of flatterers and sycophants proud of his courage and cunning, and of the success that had crowned his great enterprises for the good of mankind proud that he had twice deceived and outwitted the guardian hags to whom Chareya had intrusted the fire and the salmon so proud that he determined to have a dance through heaven itself, having chosen as his partner a certain star that used to pass quite close by a moun- tain where he spent a good deal of his time. So he called out to the star to take him by the 'paw and they would go round the world together for a night; but the ^tar only laughed, and winked in an excessively provoking way from time to time. The Coyote per- sisted angrily in his demand, and barked and barked at the star all round heaven, till the twinkling thing grew tired of his noise, and told him to be quiet and he should be taken next night. Next night the star came up quite close to the cliff where the Coyote stood, who leaping was able to catch on. Away they danced together through the blue heavens. Fine sport it was for a while ; but oh ! it grew bitter cold up there for a Coyote of the earth, and it was an awful sight to look down to where the broad Klamath lay like a slack bowstring and the Cahroc villages like arrow- heads. Woe for the Coyote! his numb paws have slipped their hold on his bright companion ; dark is the partner that leads the dance now. and the name of him is Death. Ten long snows the Coyote is in falling, and when he strikes the earth he is " smashed as flat as a willow-mat." Coyotes must not dance with stars. 35 34 Powers' Porno, MS.; Boscana, in Robinsons Life in CaL, pp. 259-62, describes certain other Californians as worshipping for their chief god some- thing in the form of a stuffed coyote. CHAPTER V. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. ESKIMO WJTCHCRAFT THE TINNEH AND THE KONIAGAS KUGANS OF THE ALEUTS THE THLINKEETS, THE HAIDAHS, AND THE NOOTKAS PARA- DISE LOST or THE OKANAGANS THE SALISH, THE CLALLAMS, THE CHINOOKS, THE CAYUSES, THE WALLA WALLAS, AND THE NEZ PER- CES SHOSHONE GHOULS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THE SUN AT MON- TEREY OUIOT AND CHINIGCHINICH ANTAGONISTIC GODS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA COMANCHES, APACHES, AND NAVAJOS MONTEZUMA o? THE PUEBLOS MOQUIS AND MOJAVES PRIMEVAL RACE OF NORTHERN CAL- IFORNIA. WE now come to the broadest, whether or not it be the most important, branch of our subject; namely, the gods and spirits that men worship or know of. Commencing at the extreme north, we shall follow them through the various nations of our territory toward the south. Very wild and conflicting is the general mass of evidence bearing on a belief in super- natural existences. Not only from the nature of the subject is it allied to questions and matters the most abstruse and transcendental in the expression of which the exactest dialectic terminology must often be at fault; much more the rude and stammering speech of savages but it is also apt to call up preju- dices of the most warping and contradictory kind in the minds of those through whose relation it must pass to us. However hopeless the task, I will strive to hold an equal beam of historical truth, and putting away speculations of either extreme, try to give the naked expression of the belief of the peoples we deal with however stupid, however absurd and not what (140) ESKIMO SHAMANISM. 141 they ought to believe, or may be supposed to believe, according to the ingenious speculations of different theorists. The Eskimos do not appear to recognize any supreme deity, but only an indefinite number of supernatural beings varying in name, power, and character the evil seeming to predominate. They carry on the person a small ivory image rudely carved to represent some animal, as a kind of talisman; these are thought to further success in hunting, fishing, and other pursuits, but can hardly be looked upon with any great rever- ence, as they are generally to be bought of their own- ers for a reasonable price. All supernatural business is transacted through the medium of shamans func- tionaries answering to the medicine-men of eastern Indian tribes; of these there are both male and female, each practising on or for the benefit of his or her own respective sex. The rites of their black art diifer somewhat, according to Dall, from those of their Tinneh neighbors, and very much from those of the Tschuktschi and other Siberian tribes ; and their whole religion may be summed up as a vague fear finding its expression in witchcraft. 1 The Tinneh, that great people stretching north of the fifty-fifth parallel nearly to the Arctic Ocean and of the Pacific, do not seem in any of their various tribes to have a single expressed idea with regard to a supreme power. The Loucheux branch recognize a certain personage, resident in the moon, whom they suppli- cate for success in starting on a hunting expedition. This being once lived among them as a poor ragged boy that an old woman had found and was bringing up; and who made himself ridiculous to his fellows by making a pair of very large snow-shoes; for the people could not see what a starveling like him should want with shoes of such unusual size. Times of great scarcity troubled the hunters, and they would often have fared badly had they not invariably on such oc- 1 Armstrong's Nar., pp. 102, 193; Ricliardsorfs Pol Reg., pp. 319-20, 325; Richardson'* Jour., vol. i., pp. 358, 385; DalVs Alaska, pp. 144-5. 142 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. casions come across a new broad trail that led to a head or two of freshly killed game, They were glad enough to get the game and without scruples as to its appropriation ; still they felt curious as to whence it came, and how. Suspicion at last pointing to the boy and his great shoes, as being in some way implicated in the affair, he was watched. It soon became evi- dent that he was indeed the benefactor of the Lou- cheux, and the secret hunter whose quarry had so often replenished their empty pots; yet the people were far from being adequately grateful, and continued to treat him with little kindness or respect. On one occasion they refused him a certain piece of fat him who had so often saved their lives 'by his timely bounty! That night the lad disappeared, leaving only his clothes behind, hanging on a tree. He returned to them in a month, however, appearing as a man and dressed as a man. He told them that he had taken up his home in the moon; that he would always look down with a kindly eye to their success in hunting ; but he added that, as a punishment for their shameless greed and ingratitude in refusing him the piece of fat, all animals should be lean the long winter through, and fat only in summer : as has sines been the case. According to Hearne, the Tinneh believe in a kind of spirits, or fairies, called nantena, which people the earth, the sea, and the air, and are instrumental for both good and evil. Some of them believe in a good spirit called Tihugun, 'my old friend/ supposed to re- side in the sun and in the moon; they have also a bad spirit, Chutsain, apparently only a personification of death, and for this reason called bad. They have no regular order of shamans; any one when the spirit moves him may take upon himself their duties and pretensions, though some, by happy chances or peculiar cunning, are much more highly esteemed in this regard than others, and are supported by voluntary contributions. The conjurer often shuts himself in his tent and abstains from food for days till his earthly grossness thins away, and the spirits and SPIRITS WITH THE KONIAGAS AND TINNEH. 143 things unseen are constrained to appear at his behest. The younger Tinneh care for none of these things; the strong limb and the keen eye, holding their own well in the jostle of life, mock at the terrors of the invisible; but as the pulses dwindle with disease or age, and the knees strike together in the shadow of impending death, the shanidn is hired to expel the evil things of which the patient is possessed. Among the Tacullies, a confession is often resorted to at this stage, on the truth and accuracy of which depend the chances of a recovery. As Harmon says : "The crimes which they most frequently confess discover something of their moral character, and therefore deserve to be mentioned;" but in truth I cannot mention them; both with women and with men a filthiness and bestiality worse than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah defy the stomach of description. The same thing is true of the tedious and disgusting rites performed by the Tin- neh shamans over the sick, and at various other emer- gencies. They blow on the invalid, leap about him or upon him, shriek, sing, groan, gesticulate, and foam at the mouth, with other details of hocus-pocus vary- ing indefinitely with tribe and locality. The exist- ence of a soul is for the most part denied, and the spirits with whom dealings are had are not spirits that were ever in or of men; neither are they re- garded by men with any sentiment of love or kindly respect; fear and self-interest are the bonds where any bonds exist that link the Tinneh with powers supernal or infernal. 2 The Koniagas have the usual legion of spirits haunt- ing water, earth, and air, whose wrath is only to be appeased by offerings to the shamans ; and sometimes, though very rarely, by human sacrifices of slaves. 2 Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 318-19; Jarvis' Religion, I rid. N. Am., p. 91; Kennicott, in Whympers Alaska, p. 345; Mackenzie s Voy., p. cxxviii.; Schookraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 178; Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1860, pp. 406-7; Franklins Nar., vol. i., pp. 246-7: Harmons Jour., p. 300; Hoo- per's Tush, p. 317; Richardson s Jour., vol. i., pp. 385-6; DalVs Alaska, pp. 88-90; Whympers Alaska, pp. 231-2. 144 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. They have also a chief deity or spirit, called Shljain Schod, and a power for evil called Eyak-* Of the Aleuts it is said that their rites showed a much higher religious development than was to be found among any of their neighbors ; the labors of the Russian priests have, however, been successful enough among them to obliterate all remembrance of aught but the outlines of their ancient cult. They recognize a creator-god, but without worshipping him; he had made the world, but he did not guide it; men had nothing to do any longer with him, but only with the lesser Icugans, or spirits, to whom the direction and care of earthly affair have been committed. The stars and the sun and the moon were worshipped, or the spirits of them among others, and avenged themselves on those that adored them not. The offended sun smote the eyes of a scoffer with blindness, the moon stoned him to death, and the stars constrained him to count their number hopeless task that always left the victim a staring maniac. The shamans do not seem to have enjoyed that distinction among the Aleuts that their monopoly of mediation between man and the invisible world gave them among other nations. They were generally very poor, living in want and dying in misery; they had no part nor lot in the joys or sorrows of social life ; never at feast, at wedding, or at a funeral was their face seen. They lived and wandered men forbid, driven to and fro by phantoms that were their masters, and not their slaves. The Aleuts had no permanent idols, nor any worshipping- places built with hands; near every village was some sanctified high place or rock, sacred as a Sinai against the foot of woman or youth, and whoever profaned it became immediately mad or sick to death. Only the men and the old men visited the place, leaving there their offerings of skins or feathers, with unknown mysterious ceremonies. The use of amulets was universal; and more than shield or spear to the warrior going to battle was a 3 ffolmberg, Ethn. STciz., pp. 140-1; Saner, Billings' Ex., p. 174. ALEUTIAN MYSTERY-DANCE. 14& belt of sea-weed woven in magic knots. What a plilosopher's stone was to a Roger Bacon or a Para- celsus was the tkhimkee, a marvellous pebble thrown up at rare intervals by the sea, to the Aleutian hunter. No beast could resist its attraction ; he that carried it had no need to chase his prey, he had only to wait and strike as the animal walked up to its death. Another potent charm was grease taken from a dead I. O man's body; the spear-head touched with this was sure to reach a mortal spot in the whale at which it was hurled. There are dim Aleutian traditions of certain religi- ous night-dances held in the month of December. Wooden idols, or figures of some kind, were made for the occasion, and carried from island to island with many esoteric ceremonies. Then was to be seen a marvellous sight. The men and women were put far apart; in the middle of each party a wooden figure was set up; certain great wooden masks or blinders were put on each person, so contrived that the wearer could see nothing outside a little circle round his feet. Then every one stripped, and there upon the snow, under the moonlight, in the bitter Arctic night, danced naked before the image say rather before the god, for as they danced a kugan descended and entered into the wooden figure. Woe to him or to her whose drift-wood mask fell, or was lifted, in the whirl of that awful dance; the stare of the Gorgon was not more fatal than a glance of the demon that possessed the idol; and for any one to look on one of the opposite sex, however it came about, he might be even counted as one dead. When the dance was over, the idols and the masks were broken and cast away. It may be added that such masks as this were needed, even by prophets in their interviews with the great spirits that know all mortal consequences; and that when a man died, such a mask was put over his eyes. naked and shivering soul, face to face with the darkest kugan of all, we will shelter thee what we can! 4 *D'Orbiany, Voy., pp. 579-80; Coxes Rms. Dis., p. 217; . Dalfs Alaska, pp. 385. 389 j see Bancroft's Nat. Races, vol. i., p. 93. VOL m. 10 146 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. The Thlinkeets are said not to believe in any su- preme being. They have that Yehl, the Raven, and that Khanukh, the Wolf, whom we are already to some extent acquainted with; but neither the exact rank and character of these in the supernatural world, nor even their comparative rank, can be established above contradiction. Thus Yehl is said to be the creator of all beings and things, yet we have not for- gotten how Khanukh wrung from the unwilling lips of him the confession, Thou art older than I. It is again said of Yehl that his power is unlimited; but alas ! we have seen him helpless in the magic darkness raised by Khanukh, and howling as a frightened child might do in a gloomy corridor. The nature of Yehl is kind, and he loves men, while the reverse is gener- ally considered true of Khanukh ; but Yehl, too, when his anger is stirred up sends sickness and evil fortune. Yehl existed before his birth upon earth; he cannot die, nor even become older. Where the sources of the Nass are, whence the east-wind comes, is Nass- Shakieyehl, the home of Yehl; the east-wind brings news of him. By an unknown mother a son was born to him, who loves mankind even more than his father, and provides their food in due season. To conclude the matter, Yehl is, if not the central figure, at least the most prominent in the Thlinkeet pantheon, and the alpha and the omega of Thlinkeet philosophy and theology is summed up in their favorite aphorism : As Yehl acted and lived, so also will we live and do. After Yehl and Khanukh, the Thlinkeets believe in the brother and sister, Chethl and Ahgishanakhou, the Thunder or Thunder-bird, and the Underground Woman. Chethl is a kind of great northern rukh that snatches up and swallows a whale without diffi- culty, while his wings and eyes produce thunder and lightning, as already described ; his sister Ahgishanak- hou sits alone below and guards the Irminsul that supports the world of the North-west. 5 & In Holmberg's account of these Thlinkeet supernatural powers, nothing is said of the sun or moon as indicating the possession of life by them or of THE THLINKEET SHAMAN. 147 The Thlinkeets have no idols, unless the little images sometimes carried by the magicians for charming with may be called by that name; they have no worship nor priests, unless their sorcerers and the rites of them may be entitled to these appellations. These sorcerers or shamans seem to be much respected; their words and actions are generally believed and acquiesced in by all; though the death of a patient or victim, or supposed victim, is sometimes avenged upon them by the relatives of the deceased. Shamanism is mostly hereditary; as a natural course of things, the long ar- ray of apparatus, masks, dresses, and so on, is inherited by the son or grandson of the deceased conjurer. The young man must, however, prove himself worthy of his position before it becomes assured to him, by call- ing up and communicating with spirits. The future shamdn retires into a lonely forest or up some moun- tain, where he lives retired, feeding only on the roots of the panax-homdum, arid waiting for the spirits to come to him, which they are generally supposed to do in from two to four weeks. If all go well, the meeting- takes place, and the chief of the spirits sends to the neophyte a river-otter, in the tongue of which animal is supposed to be hid the whole power and secret of shamanism. The man meets the beast face to face, and four times, each time in a different fashion, he pronounces the syllable ' Oh ! ' Upon this, the otter falls instantly, reaching out at the same time its tongue, which the man cuts off and preserves, hiding it away in a close place, for if any one not initiated should look on this talisman the sight would drive him mad. The otter is skinned by the new shamdn and the skin kept for a sign of his profession, while the flesh is buried; it was unlawful to kill a river-otter save on such occasions as have been described. If> any qualities not material. But Dunn, The Oregon Territory, p. 284, and Dixon, Voyage Round the World, pp. 189-90, describe at least some tribe or tribes of the Thlinkeets, and many tribes of the Haidahs, that consider the sun to be a great spirit moving over the earth once every day, animating and keeping alive all creatures, and apparently, as being the origin of all; the moon is a subordinate and night watcher. 148 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. however, the spirits will not visit the would-be shamdn, nor give him any opportunity to get the otter- tongue as described above, the neophyte visits the tomb of a dead shaman and keeps an awful vigil over night, holding in his living mouth a finger of the dead man or one of his teeth; this constrains the spirits very powerfully to send the necessary otter. When all these things have been done, the shamdn returns to his family emaciated and worn out., and his new powers are immediately put to the test. His reputation depends on the number of spirits at his command. The spirits are called yek, and to every conjurer a certain number of them are attached as familiars, while there are others on whom he may call in an emergency ; indeed, every man of whatever rank or profession is attended by a familiar spirit or demon, who only abandons his charge when the man becomes exceedingly bad. The world of spirits in general is divided into three classes: keeyek, tdkeeyek, and tekee- yek. The first class, ' the Upper Ones,' dwell in the north, and seem to be connected with the northern lights; they are the spirits of the brave fallen in bat- tle. The other two classes are the spirits of those that died a natural death, and their dwelling is called takankou. The tdkeeyek, ' land-spirits/ appear to the shamdns in the form of land animals. With regard to the tekeeyek, ' sea-spirits,' which appear in the form of marine animals, there is some dispute among the Thlinkeets as to whether these spirits were ever the spirits of men like those of the other two classes, or whether they were merely the souls of sea animals. The supreme feat of a conjurer's power is to throw one of his liege spirits into the body of one who refuses to believe in his power; upon which the possessed is taken with swooning and fits. The hair of a shamdn is never cut. As among the Aleuts, a wooden mask is necessary to his safe intercourse with any spirit; separate masks are worn for interviews with separate spirits. When a shaman sickens, his relatives fast for his recovery; when he dies, his body is not burned like SOLAR SPIRIT OF THE HAIDAHS. 149 that 'of other men, but put in a box which is set up on a high frame. The first night following his death, his body is left in that corner of his hut in which he died. On the second night, it is carried to another corner, and so on for four nights till it has occupied successively all the corners of the yourt, all the occupants of which are supposed to fast during this time. On the fifth day, the body is tied down on a board, and two bones that the dead man had often used in his rites when alive are stuck, the one in his hair, and the other in the bridge of his nose. The head is then covered with a willow bas- ket, and the body taken to its place of sepulture, which is always near the sea-shore ; no Thlinkeet ever passes the spot. without dropping a little tobacco into the water to conciliate the manes of the mighty dead. 6 The Haidahs believe the great solar spirit to be the creator and supreme ruler ; they do not, however, con- fuse him with the material sun, who is a shining man walking round the fixed earth and wearing a ' radi- ated ' crown. Sometimes the moon is also connected in a confused, indefinite way with the great spirit. There is an evil spirit who, according to Dunn, is pro- vided with hoofs and horns, though nothing is said as to the fashion of them, whether orthodox or not. The *Holmberg, Ethn. Sliz., pp. 52-73; DaWs Alaska, pp. 421-3; Kotzebue's New Voyage, vol. ii., p. 58; Dunn's Oregon, p. 280; BendeVs Alex. Arch., pp. 31-3. This last traveller gives us a variation of the history of Yehl and Khanukh, which is best presented in his own words: 'The Klinkits do not believe in one Supreme Being, but in a host of good and evil spirits, above whom are towering two lofty beings of godlike magnitude, who are the prin- cipal objects of Indian reverence. These are Yethl and Kanugh, two brothers; the former, the benefactor and well-wisher of mankind, but of a very whimsical and unreliable nature; the latter, the stern God of \Var, terri- ble in his wrath, but a true patron of every fearless brave. It is he who sends epidemics, bloodshed, and war to those who have displeased him, while it seems to be the principal function of Yethl to cross the sinister pur- poses of his dark-minded brother. Yethl and Kanugh lived formerly on earth, and were born of a woman of a supernatural race now passed away, about the origin and nature of which many conflicting legends are told, hard to comprehend. When Yethl walked on earth and was quite young, he ac- quired great skill in the use of the bow and arrow. He used to kill large birds, assume their shape, and fly about. His favorite bird was the raven; hence its name, "Yethl," which signifies "raven "in the Klinkit language. He had also the fogs and clouds at his command, and he would often draw them around him to escape his enemies. His brother's name, Kanugh, signi- fies "wolf," consequently "raven" and "wolf" are the names of the two gods of the Klinkits, who are supposed to be the founders of the Indian race. 150 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Haidahs, at least those seen by Mr Poole on Queen Charlotte Island, have no worship, nor did they look upon themselves as in any way responsible to any deity for their actions. As with their northern neighbors, a the belief in goblins, spectres, and sorcery seems to be the sum of their religion. With some at least of the Haidahs there was in ex- istence a rite of this sorcery attended by circumstances of more than ordinary barbarity and ferocity. When the salmon season is over and the provisions of winter have been stored away, feasting and conjuring begin. The chief who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed to possess little authority save from his connec- tion with the preterhuman powers goes off to the lone- liest and wildest retreat he knows of or can discover in the mountains or forest, and half starves himself there for some weeks till he is worked up to a frenzy of religious insanity, and the nawloks fearful beings of some kind not human consent to communicate with him by voices or otherwise. During all this observ- ance, the chief is called taamish, and woe to the un- lucky Haidah who happens by chance so much as to look on him during its continuance ; even if the taa- mish do not instantly slay the intruder, his neighbors are certain to do so when the thing comes to their knowledge, and if the victim attempt to conceal the affair, or do not himself confess it, the most cruel tor- tures are added to his fate. At last the inspired de- moniac returns to his village, naked save a bear-skin or a ragged blanket, with a chaplet on his head and a red band of alder-bark about his neck. He springs on the first person he meets, bites out and swallows one or more mouthfuls of the man's living flesh wherever lie can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and another, repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor from his sudden and half-masticated surfeit of flesh. For some days after this he lies in a kind of coma, " like an over-gorged beast of prey," as Dunn says ; the same observer adding that his breath during that time is "like an exhalation from a grave." The vie- NOOTKA GODS. 151 tims of this ferocity dare not resist the bite of the taa- mish; on the contrary, they are sometimes willing to offer themselves to the ordeal, and are always proud of its scars. 7 The Nootkas acknowledge the existence of a great personage called Quahootze, whose habitation is appar- ently in the sky, but of whose nature little is known. When a storm begins to rage dangerously, the Nootkas climb to the top of their houses, and looking upward to this great god, they beat drums, and chant and call upon his name, imploring him to still the tempest. They fast, as something agreeable to the same deity, before setting out on the hunt, and if their success warrant it, hold a feast in his honor after their return. This festival is held usually in December, and it was formerly the custom to finish it with a human sacrifice, an atrocity now happily fallen into disuse ; a boy, with knives stuck in flesh of his arms, legs, and sides, being- exhibited as a substitute for the ancient victim. Matlose is a famous hobgoblin of the Nootkas; he is a very Caliban of spirits; his head is like the head of something that might have been a man but is not; his uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles; his mon- strous teeth and nails are like the fangs and claws of a bear. Whoever hears his terrible voice falls like one smitten, and his curved claws rend a prey into morsels with a single stroke. The Nootkas, like so many American peoples, have a tradition of a supernatural teacher and benefactor, an old man that came to them up the Sound long ago. His canoe was copper, and the paddles of it copper; everything he had on him or about him was of the same metal. He landed and instructed the men of that day in many things; telling them that lie came from the sky, that their country should be eventually destroyed, that they should all die, but after death rise and live with him above. Then all the people rose up angry, and took his canoe from him, and slew 7 Dunns Oregon, pp. 253-9; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. xi., p. 223; Bancroft's Nat. Races, vol. i., pp. 170-1. 152 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. him a crime from which their descendants have de- rived much benefit, for copper and the use of it have remained with them ever since. Huge images, carved in wood, still stand in their houses, intended to repre- sent the form and hold in remembrance the visit of this old man by which visit is not improbably in- tended to be signified an avatar or incarnation of that chief deity, or great spirit, worshipped by many Cali- fornian tribes as "the Old Man above." The Ahts regard the moon and the sun as their highest deities, the moon being the husband and the sun the wife. To the moon chiefly, as the more pow- erful deity, they pray for what they require ; and to both moon and sun, as to all good deities, their prayers are addressed directly and without the intervention of the sorcerers. Quawteaht which seems to be a local Aht modification of Quahootze who made most things that are in the world, was the first to teach the people to worship these luminaries, who are more pow- erful than himself, though more distant and less active. There is also that Tootooch, thunder-bird, of which so much has been already said. The Nootkas, in general, believe in the existence of numberless spirits of various kinds, and in the efficacy of sorcery. As in neighboring nations, the shaman gains or renews his inspiration by fasting and solitary meditation in some retired place, reappearing at the end of his vigil half starved and half insane, but filled with the black virtue of his art. He does not gener- ally collect a meal of living human flesh like the taamish of the preceding family, but he is satisfied with what his teeth can tear from the corpses in the burial-places. Old women are admitted to a share in the powers of sorcery and prophecy and the inter- pretation of omens and dreams; the latter a most im- portant function, as few days and nights pass over a Nootka house that do not give occasion by some vision or occurrence for the office of the sibyl or the augur. 8 *Jeuritt's Nar., p. 83; Scmiler, in Land. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. xi., pp. 223- 4; Mofras, Explor., torn, i., p. 345; Sutil y Mexicano, Viaye, p. 130; Mearts PARADISE LOST OF THE OKANAGANS. 153 The Okanagans believe in a good spirit or master of life, called Elemehumkillanwaist or Skyappe ; and in a bad spirit, Kishtsamah or Chacha ; both moving con- stantly through the air, so that nothing can be done without their knowledge. The Okanagans have no worship public or private, but before engaging in any- thing of importance they offer up a short prayer to the good spirit for assistance ; again, on state occasions, a pipe is passed round and each one smokes three whiffs toward the rising sun, the same toward the set- ting, and the same respectively toward the heaven above and the earth beneath. Then they have their great mythic ruler and heroine, Scomalt, whose story is intimately connected with a kind of Okanagan fall or paradise lost. Long ago, so long ago that the sun was quite young and very small and no bigger than a star, there was an island far out at sea, called Samahtumi- whoolah, or the White Man's Island. It was inhab- ited by a white race of gigantic stature, and governed by a tall fair woman called Scomalt; and she was a great and strong ' medicine/ this Scomalt. At last the peace of the island was destroyed by war, and the noise of battle was heard, the white men fighting the one with the other; and Scomalt was exceedingly wroth. She rose up and said: Lo, now I will drive these wicked far from me; my soul shall be no longer Voy., p. 270; Hutcldngs 1 Col. May., vol. v., pp. 222-4; Macfie's Vane. 1st., pp. 433-41, 455; Barret-Lennard's Trav., pp. 51-3; Sproai's Scenes, pp. 40, 156- 8, 167-75, 205-11; Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 317. As illustrating strongly the Nootka ideas with regard to the sanctity of the moon and sun, as well as the connection of the sun with the fire, it may be well to call atten- tion to the two following customs: ' El Tays [chief] nopuede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente ilumiaado el disco de la luna. ' Sutil y Mexi- cana, Viaye, p. 145. 'Girls at puberty. . . .are kept particularly from the sun or fire. ' Bancroft's Nat. Races, vol. i., p. 197. In this connection it may be men- tioned that Mr Lord, Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 257, saw among the Nootkas while at Fort Rupert, a very peculiar Indian 'medicine/ a solid piece of native copper, hammered flat, oval it would appear from the description, and painted with curious devices, eyes of all sizes being especially conspicuous. The Hudson Bay traders call it an 'Indian copper,' and said it was only- exhibited on extraordinary occasions, and that its value to the tribe was esti- mated at fifteen slaves or two hundred blankets. This ' medicine ' was pre- served in an elaborately ornamented wooden case, and belonging to the tribe, not to the chief, was guarded by the medicine-men. Similar sheets of cop- per are described by Schoolcraft as in use among certain of the Vesperio aborigines. May they all be intended for symbols of the sun, such as that reverenced by the Peruvians? 154 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. vexed concerning them, neither shall they trouble the faithful of my people with their strivings any more. And she drove the rebellious together to the utter- most end of the island, and broke off the piece of land on which they were huddled, and pushed it out to sea to drift whither it would. This floating island was tossed to and fro many days, and buffeted of the winds exceedingly, so that all the people thereon died, save one man and one woman, who, seeing their island was ready to sink, made themselves a canoe and gat them away toward the west. After paddling day and night for many suns, they came to certain islands, whence steering through them, they came at last to where the mainland was, being the territory that the Okanagans now inhabit; it was, however, much smaller in those days, having grown much since. This man and woman were so sorely weather-beaten when they landed that they found their original whiteness quite gone, and a dusky reddish color in its place. All the people of the continent are descended from this pair, and the dingy skin of their storm-tossed ancestors has become a characteristic of the race. And even, as in time past the wrath of the fair Scomalt loosed the island of their ancestors from its mainland, and sent it adrift with its burden of sinful men, so in a time to come the deep lakes, that like some Hannibal's vinegar soften the rocks of the foundations of the world, and the rivers that run forever and gnaw them away, shall set the earth afloat again; then shall the end of the world be, the awful itsowleigh. 9 The Salish tribes believe the sun to be the chief deity, and certain ceremonies, described by Mr Lord as having taken place on the death of a chief, seem to indicate that fire is in some way connected with the great light. 10 The chief is ex-officio a kind of priest, 9 Ross* Adven., pp. 287-9. 10 ' The bravest woman of the tribe, one used to carrying ammunition to the warrior when engaged in fight, bared her breast to the person who for courage and conduct was deemed fit successor to the departed. From the breast he cut a small portion, which he threw into the fire. She then cut a small piece from the shoulder of the warrior, which was also thrown into the fire. A piece of bitter root, with a piece of meat, were next thrown into DEITIES OF THE CLALLAMS. 155 presiding for the most part at the various observances by which the deity of the sun is recognized. There is the usual belief in sorcery and second sight, and indi- viduals succeed, by force of special gifts for fasting and lonely meditation, in having themselves accounted con- jurers an honor of dubious profit, as medicine-men are constantly liable to be shot by an enraged relative of any one whose death they may be supposed to have brought about. The Clallams, a coast tribe on the mainland oppo- site the south end of Vancouver Island, have a prin- cipal good deity called by various names, and an evil spirit called Skoocoom; to these some add a certain- Teyutlma, ' the genius of good fortune.' The medicine- men of the tribe are supposed to have much influence both for good and evil with these spirits, and with all the demon race, or sehuidb, as the latter are sometimes called. In this tribe, the various conjurers are united by the bonds of a secret society, the initiation into which is attended by a good deal of ceremony and ex- pense. Three days and three nights must the novice of the order fast alone in a mysterious lodge prepared for him, round which during all that time the brethren already initiated sing and dance. This period elapsed, during which it would seem that the old nature has been killed out of him, he is taken up like one dead and soused into the nearest cold water, where lie is washed till he revives; which thing they call " wash- ing the dead." When his senses are sufficiently gath- ered to him, he is set on his feet; upon which he runs off into the forest, whence he soon reappears, a perfect medicine-man, rattle in hand, and decked out with the various trappings of his profession. He then parts all his worldly gear among his friends, himself henceforth to be supported only by the fees of his new calling. 11 Ikdnam, the creator of the universe, is a powerful deity among the Chinooks, who have a mountain the fire, all these being intended as offerings to the Sun, the deity of the Flatheads.' Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 237-8. For references to the remaining matter of the paragraph, see Id., vol. ii., pp. 237-43, 2GO. 11 Kane a Wand., pp. 218-19; Gibb's Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. 15. 156 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. named after him from a belief that he there turned himself into stone. After him, or before him as many say, comes Ifcalapas, the Coyote, who created men after an imperfect fashion, 12 taught them how to make nets and catch salmon, how to make a fire, and how to cook; for this, the first-fruits of the fishing season are always sacred to him, and his figure is to be found carved on the head of almost every Chinook canoe on the Columbia. They have a fire-spirit, an evil spirit, and a body of familiar spirits, tamanoivas. Each person has his special spirit, selected by him at an early age, sometimes by fasting and other mortifi- cation of the flesh, sometimes by the adoption of the first object the child or young man sees, or thinks he sees, on visiting the woods. These spirits have a great effect on the imagination of the Chinooks, and their supposed directions are followed under pain of mysterious and awful punishments ; people converse " particularly when in the water" with them, appar- ently talking to themselves in low, monotonous tones. Some say that when a man dies his tamanowa passes to his son; but the whole matter is darkened with much mystery and secrecy ; the name of one's familiar spirit or guardian never being mentioned, even to the nearest friend. A similar custom forbids the mention of a dead man's name, at least till many years have elapsed after the bereavement. The Chinook medicine-men are possessed of the usual powers of converse and mediation with the spirits good and evil ; there are two classes of them, employed in all cases of sickness the etaminuas, or priests, who intercede for the soul of the patient, and, if necessary, for its safe passage to the land of spirits, and the kee- lalles, or doctors, sometimes women, whose duty it is to administer medical as well as spiritual aid. 13 12 This vol., pp. 95-6. 13 Wilkes'Nar., in U. 8. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 124-5; Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 317; Dunn's Oregon, pp. 125-6; Franchere's Nar., p. 258; Mofras, Explor., torn, ii., p. 354; 7?o,s-/ Adven., p. 96; Parkers Explor. Tour, pp. 139, 246, 254; Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; Gibbs' Chinook Vocab., pp. 11, 13; Gibbs' Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 15, 29; Irviny's Astoria, pp. 339-40; m ~'~~ 's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 253. SHOSHONE DEMONS. 157 With the Cayuses and the Walla Wallas any one may become a medicine-man; among the Nez Perces the office belongs to an hereditary order. Women are sometimes trained to the profession, but they are not believed to hold such extreme powers as the males, nor are they murdered on the supposed exercise of some fatal influence. For, as with the Chinooks, 14 so here, the reputation of sorcerer is at once the most terrible to others and the most dangerous to one's self that one can have. His is a power of life and death ; his evil eye can wither and freeze a hated life, if not as swiftly, at least as surely as the stare of the Medusa; he is mortal, however he can slay your friend or yourself, and death is bitter, but then how sweet an anodyne is revenge! There is no strong magic can avail when the heart's blood trickles down the aven- ger's shaft, no cunning enchantment that can keep the life in when his tomahawk crumbles the skull like a potsherd and so it comes about that the conjurers walk everywhere with their life in their hand, and are constrained to be very wary in their exercise of their nefarious powers. 15 The Shoshone legends people certain parts of the mountains of Montana with little imps or demons, called ninumbees, who are about two feet long, per- fectly naked, and provided each with a tail. These limbs of the evil one are accustomed to eat up any unguarded infant they may find, leaving in its stead one of their own baneful race. When the mother comes to suckle what she supposes to be her child, the fiendish changeling seizes her breast and begins to devour it; then, although her screams and the alarm thereby given soon force the malicious imp to make his escape, there is no hope further; she dies within the twenty-four hours, and if not well watched in the u Parkers Explor. Tour, p. 254. ' The chiefs say that they and their sons are too great to die of themselves, and although they may be sick, and de- cline, and die, as others do, yet some person, or some evil spirit instigated by some one, is the invisible cause of their death; and therefore when a chief or chief's son dies the supposed author of the deed must be killed. ' li> Alvord, in Sclwolcraft s Arch., vol. v., p. 652. 158 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. mean time, the little demon will even return and make an end of her by finishing his interrupted meal. There is another variety of these hobgoblins, called pahonahs, * water-infants/ who devour women and children as do their brother fiends of the mountain, and complete the ring of ghoulish terror that closes round the Shoshone child and mother. 16 The Californian tribes, taken as a whole, are pretty uniform in the main features of their theogonic beliefs. They seem, without exception, to have had a hazy conception of a lofty, almost supreme being; for the most part referred to as a Great Man, the Old Man Above, the One Above ; attributing to him, however, as is usual in such cases, nothing but the vaguest and most negative functions and qualities. The real, prac- tical power that most interested them, who had most to do with them and they with him, was a demon, or body of demons, of a tolerably pronounced character. In the face of divers assertions to the effect that no such thing as a devil proper has ever been found in savage mythology, we would draw attention to the following extract from the Porno manuscript of Mr Powers a gentleman who, both by his study and by personal investigation, has made himself one of the best qualified authorities on the belief of the native Californian, and whose dealings have been for the most part with tribes that have never had any friendly intercourse with white men : "Of course the thin and meagre imagination of the American savages was not equal to the creation of Milton's magnificent imperial Satan, or of Goethe's Mephistopheles, with his subtle intellect, his vast powers, his malignant mirth ; but in so far as the Indian fiends or devils have the ability, they are wholly as wicked as these. They are totally bad, they have no good thing in them, they think only evil ; but they are weak and undignified and absurd ; they are as much beneath Satan as the 'Big Indians' who invent them are inferior in imagination to John Milton." 17 16 Stuart's Montana, pp. 64^6. 17 Powers' Panto, MS. SACRED TIKES. 159 A definite location is generally assigned to the ^ evil one as his favorite residence or resort; thus the Califor- nians, in the county of Siskiyou, give over Devil's Cas- tle, its mount and lake, to the malignant spirits, and avoid the vicinity of these places with all possible care. The medicine-man of these people is a personage of some importance, dressing in the most costly furs; he is a non-combatant, not coming on the field till after the fight; among other duties, it is absolutely necessary for him to visit any camp from which the tribe has been driven by the enemy, there to chant the death- song and appease the angry spirit that wrought this judgment of defeat, for only after this has been done is it thought safe to light again the lodge-fires on the old hearths. Once lit, these lodge-fires are never allowed to go out during times of peace; it would be a bad omen, and omens are everything with these men, and deducible from all things. The power of prophecy is thoroughly believed in, and is credited, not only to special seers, but also to distinguished warriors going into battle; in the latter case, as far at least as their own several fate is concerned; this, according to Mr Miller, they often predict with startling accuracy. 18 There is a strange sacredness mixed up with the sweat-house and its use, among the Cahrocs, the Eu- rocs, and many other tribes. The men of every vil- lage spend the winter and rainy season in its warm shelter; but squaws are forbidden to enter, under penalty of death, except when they are initiated into the ranks of the ' medicines/ So consistent are the Indians in this matter, that women are not allowed even to gather the wood that is to be burned in the sacred fire of a sweat-house; all is done by men, and that only with certain precautions and ceremonies. The sacred fire is lit every year in September by a ' medicine ' who has gone out into the forest and fasted and meditated for ten days ; and, till a certain time has elapsed, no secular eye must behold so much as the smoke of it, under awful penalties. The flame once i8 Joaquin Milkrs Life amongst the Modocs, pp. 21, 116, 259-60, 360. 160 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. burning is never suffered to go out till the spring begins to render further heat unnecessary and inconvenient. On one only occasion is the ban lifted from the head of women ; when a female is being admitted to the medicine ranks, she is made to dance in the sweat- house till she falls exhausted. It does not appear, however, that even by becoming a medicine can she hope to see twice the interior of this lodge. The admission of a man to the medicine is a much severer affair. He must retire to the forest for ten days, eating no meat the while, and only enough acorn -porridge to keep the life in him; the ten days passed, he returns to the sweat-house and leaps up and down till he falls, just as the woman did. The doctors or sorcerers are of two kinds, 'root doctors ' and ' barking doctors.' To the barking doc- tor falls the diagnosis of a case of sickness. He or she squats down opposite the patient, and barks at him, after the manner of an enraged cur, for hours to- gether. If it be a poisoning case, or a case of malady inflicted by some conjurer, the barking doctor then goes on to suck the evil thing out through the skin or administer emetics, as may be deemed desirable. If the case, however, be one of less serious proportions, the i barker/ after having made his diagnosis, retires, and the root doctor comes in. who, with his herbs and simples and a few minor incantations, proceeds to cure the ailment. If a patient die, then the medicine is forced to return his fee ; and if he refuse to attend on any one and the person die, then he is forced to pay to the relatives a sum equal to that which was ten- dered to him as a fee in the beginning of the affair ; thus, like all professions, that of a medicine has its drawbacks as well as advantages. Several northern Californian tribes have secret societies which meet in a lodge set apart, or in a sweat-house, and engage in mummeries of various kinds, all to frighten their women. The men pretend to converse with the devil, and make their meeting- place shake and ring again with yells and whoops. In CALIFORNIA^ DEITIES. 101 some instances, one of their number, disguised as the master fiend himself, issues from the haunted lodge, and rushes like a madman through the village, doing his best to frighten contumacious women and children out of their senses. This, it would seem, has been going on from time immemorial, and the poor women are still gulled by it, and even frightened into more or less pro- longed fits of wifely propriety and less easy virtue. The coast tribes of Del Norte County, California, live in constant terror of a malignant spirit that takes the form of certain animals, the form of a bat, of a hawk, of a tarantula, and so on but especially de- lights in and affects that of a screech-owl. The belief of the Russian River tribes and others is prac- tically identical with this. The Cahrocs have, as we already know, some con- ception of a great deity, called Chareya, the Old Man Above; he is wont to appear upon earth at times to some of the most favored sorcerers ; he is described as wearing a close tunic, with a medicine-bag, and as having long white hair that falls venerably about his shoulders. Practically, however, the Cahrocs, like the majority of Californian tribes, venerate chiefly the coyote. Great dread is also had of certain forest- demons of nocturnal habits; these, say the Eurocs, take the form of bears and shoot arrows at benighted wayfarers. 19 Between the foregoing outlines of Californian belief arid those connected with the remaining tribes, pass- ing south, we can detect no salient difference till we reach the Olchones, a coast tribe between San Fran- cisco and Monterey; the sun here begins to be con- nected, or identified by name, with that Great Spirit, or rather, that Big Man, who made the earth and who rules in the sky. 20 So we find it again both around Monterey and around San Luis Obispo; the first-fruits of the earth were offered in these neigh- 19 powers' Porno, MS. 20 Beecluey's Voy., vol. ii., p. 78. VOL. III. 11 1C2 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. borhoods to the great light, and his rising was greeted with cries of joy. 21 Father Geronimo Boscana 22 gives us the following- relation of the faith and worship of the Acagchernem nations, in the valley and neighborhood of San Juan Capistrano, California. Part of it would fall naturally into that part of this work allotted to origin; but the whole is so intimately mixed with so much concerning the life, deeds, and worship of various supernatural personages, that it has seemed better to fit its present position than any other. Of the first part of the tradi- tion there are two versions if indeed they be versions of the same tradition. We give first that version held by the serranos, or highlanders, of the interior country, three or four leagues inland from the said San Juan Capistrano. Before the material world at all existed, there lived two beings, brother and sister, of a nature that can- not be explained; the brother living above, and his name meaning the Heavens, the sister living below, and her name signifying Earth. From the union of these two, there sprang a numerous offspring. Earth and sand were the first fruits of this marriage; then 21 Pages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., vol. ci., pp. 316, 335. 22 Father Boscana, one of the earliest missionaries to Upper California, left behind him the short manuscript history from which the tradition follow- ing in the text has been taken through the medium of a now rare transla- tion by Mr Robinson. Filled with the prejudices of its age and of the profes- sion of its author, it is yet marvellously truthlike; though a painstaking care has evidently been used with regard to its most apparently insignificant details, there are none of those too visible wrenchings after consistency, and fillings up of lacunae which so surely betray the hand of the sophisticator in so many monkish manuscripts on like and kindred subjects. There are found on the other hand frank confessions of ignorance on doubtful pointo, and many naive and puzzled comments on the whole. It is apparently the longest and the most valuable notice in existence on the religion of a nation of "the native Californians, as existing at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and :more worthy of confidence than the general run of such documents of any idate whatever. The father procured his information as follows: He says: 'God assigned to me three aged Indians, the youngest of whom was over seventy years of age. They knew all the secrets, for two of them were capitanes, and the other a pul, who were well instructed in the mysteries. By gifts, .endearments, and kindness, I elicited from them their secrets, with their explanations; and by witnessing the ceremonies which they performed, I learned, by degrees, their mysteries. Thus, by devoting a portion of the nights to profound meditation, and comparing their actions with their dis- closures, I was enabled after a long time to acquire a knowledge of their re- ligion.'' -,jBoscana, i:i Robinsons Life, in Cal. p. 236. THE COYOTE OF THE ACAGCHEMEMS. 163 were born rocks and stones ; then trees both great and small; then grass and herbs; then animals; lastly was born a great personage called Ouiot, who was a ' grand captain/ By some unknown mother many children of a medicine race were born to this Ouiot. All these things happened in the north; and afterward when men were created, they were created in the north ; but as the people multiplied they moved toward the south, the earth growing larger also and extending itself in the same direction. In process of time, Ouiot becoming old, his chil- dren plotted to kill him, alleging that the infirmities of age made him unfit any longer to govern them or attend to their welfare. So they put a strong poison in his drink, and when he drank of it a sore sickness came upon him; he rose up and left his home in the mountains and went down to what is now the sea- shore, though at that time there was no sea there. His mother, whose name is the Earth, mixed him an antidote in a large shell, and set the potion out in the sun to brew; but the fragrance of it attracted the attention of the Coyote, who came and overset the shell. So Ouiot sickened to death, and though he told his children that he would shortly return and. be with them again, he has never been seen since. All the people made a great pile of wood and burned his body there, and just as the ceremony began, the Coyote leaped upon the body, saying that he would burn with it; but he only tore a piece of flesh from the stomach and ate it and escaped. After that the title of the Coyote was changed from Eyacque, which means Sub- captain, to Eno, that is to say, Thief and Cannibal. When now the funeral rites were over, a general council was held, and arrangements made for collecting animal and vegetable food; for up to this time the children and descendants of Ouiot had nothing to eat but a kind of white clay. And while they consulted together, behold a marvellous thing appeared before them, and they spoke to it, saying : Art thou our cap- tain, Ouiot? But the spectre said: Nay, for I am 164 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. greater than Ouiot; my habitation is above, and my name is Chinigchinich. Then he spoke further, hav- ing been told for what they were come together : I create all things, and I go now to make man, another people like unto you; as for you, I give you power, each after his kind, to produce all good and pleasant things. One of you shall bring rain, and another dew, and another make the acorn grow, and others other seeds, and yet others shall cause all kinds of game to abound in the land ; and your children shall have this power forever, and they shall be sorcerers to the men I go to create, and shall receive gifts of them, that the game fail not and the harvests be sure. Then Chinigchinich made man; out of the clay of the lake he formed him, male and female; and the present Californians are the descendants of the one or more pairs there and thus created. So ends the known tradition of the mountaineers; we must now go back and take up the story anew at its beginning, as told by the playanos, or people of the valley of San Juan Capistrano. These say that an invisible, all-powerful being, called Nocuma, made the world and all that it contains of things that grow and move. He made it round like a ball and held it in his hands, where it rolled about a good deal at first, till he steadied it by sticking a heavy black rock called tosaut into it, as a kind of ballast. The sea was at this time only a little stream running round the world, and so crowded with fish that their twinkling fins had no longer room to move ; so great was the press that some of the more foolish fry were for effecting a land- */ O ing and founding a colony upon the dry land, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that they were persuaded by their elders that the killing air, and baneful Sun, and the want of feet must infallibly prove the destruction, before many days, of all who took part in such a desperate enterprise. The proper plan was evidently to improve and enlarge their present home; and to this end, principally by the aid of one very large fish, they broke the great rock tosaut in two. THE FIRST MEDICINE-MAX. 1C5 finding a bladder in the centre filled with a very bit- ter substance. The taste of it pleased the fish, so they emptied it into the water, and instantly the water became salt and swelled up and overflowed a great part of the old earth, and made itself the new bounda- ries that remain to this day. Then Nocuma created a man, shaping him out of the soil of the earth, calling him Ejoni. A woman also the great god made, presumably of the same mate- rial as the man, calling her Ae. Many children were born to this first pair, and their descendants multi- plied over the land. The name of one of these last was Sirout, that is to say, Handful of Tobacco, and the name of his wife was Ycaiut, which means above; and to Sirout and Ycaiut was born a son, while they lived in a place north-east about eight leagues from San Juan Capistrano. The name of this son was Ouiot, that is to say, Dominator ; he grew a fierce and redoubtable warrior; haughty, ambitious, tyrannous, he extended his lordship on every side, ruling every- where as with a rod of iron ; and the people conspired against him. It was determined that he should die by poison; a piece of the rock tcjsaut was ground up in so deadly a way that its mere external application was sufficient to cause death, Ouiot, notwithstanding that he held himself constantly on the alert, having been warned of his danger by a small burrowing ani- mal called the cucumel, was unable to avoid his fate; a few grains of the cankerous mixture were dropped upon his breast while he slept, and the strong mineral ate its way to the very springs of his life. All the wise men of the land were called to his assistance ; but there was nothing for him save to die. His body was burned on a great pile with songs of joy and dances, and the nation rejoiced. While the people were gathered to this end, it was thought advisable to consult on the feasibility of pro- curing seed and flesh to eat, instead of the clay which had up to this time been the sole food of the human family. And while they yet talked together, there 166 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. appeared to them, coming they knew not whence, one called Attajen, "which name implies man, or rational being." And Attajen, understanding their desires, chose out certain of the elders among them, and to these gave he power, one that he might cause rain to fall, to another that he might cause game to abound, and so with the rest, to each his power and gift, and to the successors of each forever. These were the first medicine-men. Many years having elapsed since the death of Ouiot, there appeared in the same place one called Ouiamot, reputed son of Tacu and Auzar people unknown, but natives, it is thought by Boscana, of "some distant land." This Ouiamot is better known by his great name Chinigchinich, which means Al- mighty. He first manifested his powers to the peo- ple on a day when they had met in congregation for some purpose or other; he appeared dancing before them, crowned with a kind of high crown made of tall feathers stuck into a circlet of some kind, girt with a kind of petticoat of feathers, and having his flesh painted black and red. Thus decorated, he was called the tobet. Having danced some time, Chinigchinich called out the medicine-men, or puplems, as they were called, among whom it would appear the chiefs are always numbered, and confirmed their power; telling them that he had come from the stars to instruct them in dancing and all other things, and commanding that in all their necessities they should array them- selves in the tobet, and so dance as he had danced, supplicating him by his great name, that, thus they might receive of their petitions. He taught them how to worship him, how to build vanqueclis, or places of worship, and how to direct their conduct in various affairs of life. Then he prepared to die, and the peo- ple asked him if they should bury him ; but he warned them against attempting such a thing : If ye buried me, he said, ye would tread upon my grave, and for that my hand would be heavy upon you ; look to it, and to all your ways, for lo 1 I go up where the high stars SANCTUARIES OF REFUGE. 167 are, where mine eyes shall see all the ways of men; and whosoever will not keep my commandments nor observe the things I have taught, behold disease shall plague all his body, and no food shall come near his lips, the bear shall rend his flesh, and the crooked tooth of the serpent shall sting him. The vanquech, or place of worship, seems to have been an unroofed enclosure of stakes, within which, on a hurdle, was placed the image of the god Chinig- chinich. This image was the skin of a coyote or that of a mountain-cat stuffed with the feathers of certain birds, and with various other things, so that it looked like a live animal; a bow and some arrows were at- tached to it on the outside, and other arrows were thrust down its throat, so that the feathers of them appeared at the mouth as out of a quiver. The whole place of the enclosure was sacred, and not to be ap- proached without reverence; it does not seem that sacrifices formed any part of the worship there offered, but only prayer, and sometimes a kind of pantomime connected with the undertaking desired to be fur- thered ; thus, desiring success in hunting, one mimicked the actions of the chase, leaping and twanging one's bow. Each vanquech was a city of refuge, with rights of sanctuary exceeding any ever granted in Jewish or Christian countries. Not only was every criminal safe there, whatever his crime, but the crime was, as it were, blotted out from that moment, and the offender was at liberty to leave the sanctuary and walk about as before ; it was not lawful even to mention his crime ; all that the avenger could do was to point at him and deride him, saying : . Lo, a coward, who- has been forced to flee to Chinigchinich ! This flight was rendered so much a meaner thing in that it only turned the pun- ishment from the head of him that fled upon that of some of his relatives; life went for life, eye for eye, arid tooth for tooth, even to the third and fourth gen- eration, for justice' sake. Besides Chinigchinich, they worshipped, or at any rate feared, a god called Touch; who inhabited the 16$ GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. mountains and the bowels of the earth, appearing, how ever, from time to time in the form of various animals of a terrifying kind. Every child at the age of six or seven received, sent to him from this god, some ani- mal as a protector. To find out what this animal or spirit in the shape of animal was, narcotic drinks were swallowed, or the subject fasted and watched in the vanquech for a given time, generally three days. He whose rank entitled him to wait for his guardian appa- rition in the sacred enclosure was set there by the side of the god's image, and on the ground before him was sketched by one of the wise men an uncouth figure of some animal. The child was then left to complete his vigil, being warned at the same time to endure its hardships with patience, in that any attempt to in- fringe upon its rules, by eating, or drinking, or other- wise, would be reported to the god by the sprawling figure the enchanter had drawn in the clay, and that in such a case the punishment of Chinigchinich would be terrible. After all this was over, a scar was made on the child's right arm, and sometimes on the thick part of the leg also, by covering the part, " according to the figure required," with a peculiar herb dried and powdered, and setting fire to it. This was a brand or seal required by Chinigchinich, and was besides sup- posed to strengthen the nerves and give "a better pulse for the management of the bow." 23 The Acagchemems, like many other Californian tribes, 24 regard the great buzzard with sentiments of veneration, while they seem to have had connected with it several rites -and ideas peculiar to themselves. They called this bird the panes, and once every year they had a festival of the same name, in which the principal cere- mony was the killing of a buzzard without losing a drop of its blood. It was next skinned, all possible care be- ing taken to preserve the feathers entire, as these were used in making the feathered petticoat and diadem, al- 23 See p. 113 of this volume, for a custom among the Mexicans not with- out analogies to this. "See p. 134 of this volume. AND THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN. 109 ready described as part of the tobet. Last of all, the body was buried within the sacred enclosure, amid great apparent grief from the old women, they mourning as over the loss of relative or friend. Tradition explained this : the panes had indeed been once a woman, whom, wandering in the mountain ways, the great god Chi- nigchinich had come suddenly upon and changed into a bird. How this was connected with the killing of her anew every year by the people, and with certain ex- traordinary ideas held relative to that killing, is, how- ever, by no means clear; for it was believed that as often as the bird was killed it was made alive again, and more, and faith to move mountains that the birds killed in one same yearly feast in many separate vil- lages were one and the same bird. How these things were or why, none knew, it was enough that they v/ere a commandment and ordinance of Chinigchinich, whose ways were not as the ways of men. 25 The Pericues of Lower California were divided into two sects, worshipping two hostile divinities who made a war of extermination upon each other. The tradition explains that there was a great lord in heaven, called Niparaya, who made earth and sea, and was almighty and invisible. His wife was Anay- icoyondi, a goddess who, though possessing no body, bore him in a divinely mysterious manner three children; one of whom, Quaayayp, was a real man and born on earth, on the Acaragui mountains. Very powerful this young god was, and a long time he lived with the ancestors of the Pericues, whom it is almost to be inferred that he created; at any rate, we are told that he was able to make men, drawing them up out of the earth. The men at last killed this their great hero and teacher, and put a crown of thorns upon his head. 26 Somewhere or other he remains lying dead to this day, and he remains constantly ^Boscana, in Robinsons Life in Czl., pp. 242-301. 2h The Christian leaven, whose workings are evident through this narra- tive, ferments here too violently to nee;l pointing out. 170 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, A1SD WORSHIP beautiful, neither does his body know corruption. Blood drips constantly from his wounds, and he can speak no more, being dead; yet there is an owl that speaks to him. And besides the before-spoken-of god Niparaya in heaven, there was another and hostile god, called Y/ac or Tuparan. According to the Niparaya sect, this Y/ac had made war on their favor- ite god, and been by him defeated and cast forth of heaven into a cave under the earth, of which cave the whales of the sea were the guardians. With a per- verse though not unnatural obstinacy, the sect that held Y/ac or Tuparan to be their great god persisted in holding ideas peculiar to themselves with regard to the truth of the foregoing story; and their account of the great war in heaven and its results differed from the other, as differ the creeds of heterodox and ortho- dox every where ; they ascribe, for example, part of the creation to other gods besides Niparaya. 2/ The Cochimis and remaining natives of the Californian peninsula seem to have held in the main much the same ideas with regard to the gods and powers above them as the Pericues held, and the sorcerers of all had the common blowings, leapings, fastings, and other mummeries that make these professors of the sinister art so much alike everywhere in our territory. 28 The natives of Nevada have ideas respecting a great kind Spirit of some kind, as well as a myth con- cerning an evil one; but they have no special class set r,part as medicine-men. 29 The Utah belief seems to be as nearly as possible identical with that of Nevada. 30 The Comanches acknowledge more or less vaguely a Supreme Spirit, but seem to use the Sun and the Earth as mediators with, and in some sort as embodiments of him. They have a recognized body of sorcerers called puyacantes, and various religious ceremonies 27 See pp. 83-4, this volume. 28 Veneyas, Uotlcias da la Col., torn, i., pp. 102-24; Clavigero, Storia della CW., torn, i., pp. 135-il; Humboldt, Essai Pol, torn, i., p. 314. 29 Virginia City CJiromcle, quoted in S. F. Daily Evg Post, of Oct. 12, 1872; Browne s Lower Cai, p. 100. 30 De Smet's Letters, p. 41. MONTEZUMA OF THE PUEBLOS. 171 and chants; for the most part; of a simple kind, and directed to the Sun as the great source of life, and to the Earth as the producer and receptacle of all that sustains life. According to the Abbd Domenech, every Comanche wears a little figure of the sun attached to his neck, or has a picture of it painted on his shield; from the ears of each hang also two cres- cents, which may possibly represent the moon. 31 The Apaches recognize a supreme power in heaven, under the name Yaxtaxitaxitanne, the creator and master of all things; but they render him no open service nor worship. To any taciturn, cunning man they are accustomed to credit intercourse with a pre- ternatural power of some kind, and to look to him as a sort of oracle in various emergencies. This is, in fact, their medicine-man, and in cases of illness he pre- tends to perform cures by the aid of herbs and cere- monies of various kinds. 32 The Navajos, having the usual class of sorcerers, call their good deity Whaillahay, and their evil one Chinday ; the principal use of their good god seems to be to protect them from their evil one. In smoking, they sometimes puff their tobacco-smoke toward heaven with great formality : this is said to bring rain ; to the same end, certain long round stones, thought to be cast down by the clouds in a thunder-storm, are used with various ceremonies. The sun, moon, and stars are thought to be powers connected with rain and fine weather; while the god Montezuma of their Pueblo neighbors is unknown among them."" 33 All the Pueblo cities, though speaking different zl Parker, in SchoolcrajVs Arch., vol. v., p. 684; Wfilpple, Ewbank, and Turner's Rept., pp. 35-6, in Pac. 7?. ft. Kept., vol. iii.; Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Nex., ap. p. 8; Filley's Life and Adven., p. 82; Marcy's Army Life, pp. 58, G-l; Domenech, Jour, d'un Miss., pp. 13, 131, 4G9,. 32 Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., ap. pp. 2-3; Henry, in ScJioolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 212. 33 Crof utt's Western World, Aug. 1872, p. 27; Whipple, Ewbank, and Tur- ners Kept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Ten Broeck, in SchoolcrafCs Arch., vol. iv.,'p. 91; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., Special Com,, 1807, p. 358; Brinton's Myths, p. 158; DvrnmccK* Deserts, vol. ii. p. 402. 172 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. languages, hold substantially the same faith. They seem to assent to the statement of the existence of a great and good spirit whose name is too sacred to be mentioned ; but most say that Montezuma is his equal; and some, again, that the Sun is the same as or equal to Montezuma. There are, besides, the lesser divini- ties of water Montezuma being considered in one aspect as the great rain-god, and as such often men- tioned as being aided by or being in connection with a serpent. Over and above all these, the existence of a general class or body of evil spirits is taken for granted. At Acoma, it is said by some, was established the first Pueblo, and thence the people marched south- ward, forming others. Acoma was one, and Pecos another. At this last, Montezema planted a tree up- side down, and said that, on his leaving them, a strange nation should oppress them for many years, years also in which there should be no rain, but that they were to persist in watching the sacred fire until the tree fell, when he would return, with a white race which should destroy their enemies; and then rain should fall again. It is said that this tree fell from its abnormal position as the American army entered Santa Fe. The watching of the fire, kept up in subterranean estufas, under a covering of ashes generally, and in the basin of a small altar, was no light task. The warriors took the post by turns, some said, for two successive days and nights, sans food, sans drink, sans sleep, sans everything. Others affirm that this watch- ing was kept up till exhaustion and even death relieved the guard the last not to be wondered at, seeing the insufferable closeness of the place and the accumulation of carbonic acid. The remains of the dead were, it was sometimes supposed, carried off by a monstrous serpent. This holy fire was believed to be the palladium of the city, and the watchers by it could well dream of that day, when, coming with the sun, Montezuma should descend by the column of smoke whose roots they fed, and should fill the shabby little estufa with a glory like that in a wilderness tab- HE 13 NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPETH. 173 ernacle they knew not of, where a more awful pillar of smoke shadowed the mystic cherubim. Hope dies hard, and the dim memories of a great past never quite fade away from among any people. No true- born British bard ever doubted of Arthur's return from his kingly rest in Avalon, nor that the flash of Excalibar should be one day again as the lightning of death in the eyes of the hated Saxon. The herders on the shore of Lucerne know that were Switzerland in peril, the Tell would spring from his sleep as at the crack of doom. "When Germany is at her lowest, then is her greatness nearest," say the weird old ballads of that land ; for then shall the Great Kaiser rise from the vault in the Kyffhauser Barbarossa shall rise, though his beard be grown through the long stone table. Neither is the Frank without his savior : Sing, troubadours, sing and strike the chords proudly! Who shall prevail while Charlemagne but sleeps in the shadow of the Untersberg? And so our Pueblo sentinel climbing the house-top at Pecos, looking ever eastward from Santo Domingo on the Rio Grande; he too waits for the beautiful feet upon the mountains, and the plumes of him * Who dwelt up in the yellow sun, And sorrowing for man's despair, Slid by his trailing yellow hair To earth, to rule with love and bring The blessedness of peace. ' 34 The Pueblo chiefs seem to be at the same time priests ; they perform the various simple rites by which the power of the sun and of Montezuma is recognized as well as the power according to some accounts of "the Great Snake, to whom by order of Montezuma they are to look for life ; " they also officiate in certain ceremonies with which they pray for rain. There are painted representations of the Great Snake, together with that of a misshapen red-haired man declared to stand for Montezuma. Of this last, there was also in 1845, in the pueblo of Laguna, a rude effigy or idol, 34 Joaquin Milter's Californian. 174 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. intended, apparently, to represent only the head of the deity; it was made of tanned skin in the form of a brimless hat, or cylinder open at the bottom. Half- way round it was painted red; the other half was green. The green side was rudely marked to suggest a face; two triangles were cut for eyes; there was no nose ; a circular leather patch served for a mouth, and two other patches in an appropriate situation suggested ears. Crowning the head was a small tuft of leather, said to be supplemented by feathers on festal occasions. A sorry image, one would say, yet one looked upon by its exhibitors with apparently the greatest veneration ; they kneeling in a most devoted manner, going through a form of prayer, and sprinkling it with a white pow- der. One of the worshippers said it was God and the brother of God; and the people bring it out in dry seasons, and with various rites, invoke it for rain. Christianity has now effaced the memory of most of the rites of the Pueblo religion, but Dr Ten Broeck noticed that many of the worshippers at the Christian church in Laguna carried little baskets in their hands containing images of domestic animals, or of beasts of the chase, moulded in mud or dough ; it being the cus- ' O * *3 torn, as it had been there from time immemorial, for those that had been successful in the chase, or in accu- mulating cattle, to bring such simulachres of their prosperity before the altar of God probably a modi- fication produced by the poverty of the people of a rite as old as the altar of Abel, to wit, the offering of the firstlings and first-fruits to that Deity whose bless- ing had given the increase. It has been affirmed, without much foundation or probability of truth, that the Pueblos worshipped fire and water. 35 K Gregg's Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271-3; Daw? El Gringo, pp. 142, 396; 8 impsons Overland Jour n., pp. 21-3; Domeneclis Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5, 418, vol. ii., pp. 62-3, 401; MoWuiusen, Tagebuch, pp. 170, 219, 284; Mehnes Two Thousand Miles on Horseback, pp. 202, 226; Riixtvtis Adven. in Mc-x., p. 193; Ten Broeck, in Schooler aft's Arch.* vol. iv., p. 73; Ward, in 2nd. Aff. Rept., 1864, pp. 192-3; Emory's fieconnoissance, p. 30; Tylors Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 384; Brintons Mytlis, p. 190; Coronado, in ffakluyt's Voy., vol. iii., p. 379. Fremont gives an account cf the birth of Montezuma. His mother was, MOJAVE DEITIES. 175 The Moquis know nothing of Montezuma; they believe in a Great Father, living where the sun rises, and in a Great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. This Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the Mother are all their joy, peace, plenty, and health. 36 The Mojaves tell of a certain Matevil, creator 01 heaven and earth, who was wont in time past to re- main among them in a certain grand casa. This hab- itation was, however, by some untoward event, broken down; the nations were destroyed; and Matevil de- parted eastward. Whence, in the latter days, he will again return to consolidate, prosper, and live with his people forever. This Matevil, or Mathowelia, has a son called Mastamho, who made the water and planted trees. There is also an Evil Spirit, Newathie/ 37 From a letter just received from Judge Hosebor- ough, I am enabled to close this chapter with some new and valuable facts regarding the religious ideas of certain tribes not accurately specified of the north-west portion of Upper California. The learned judge has given unusual attention to the subject of which he writes, and his opportunities for procuring information must have been frequent during ten years of travel and residence in the districts of the northern counties of California. Among the tribes in the neighborhood of Trinity River is found a legend relating to a certain Wappeck- quemow, who was a giant, and apparently the father and leader of a pre-human race like himself. He was it is said, a woman of exquisite beauty, admired and sought after by all men, they making her presents of corn and skins and all that they had; but the fastidious beauty would accept nothing of them but their gifts. In process of time a season of drought brought on a famine and much distress; then it was that the rich lady showed her charity to be as great in one direction as it had been wanting in another. She opened her granaries, and the gifts of the lovers she had not loved went to relieve the hungry she pitied. At last with rain fertility returned to the earth; and on the chaste Artemis of the Pueblos its touch fell too. She bore a son to the thick summer shower, and that son was Montezuma. 36 Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85-6. 3r Whipple, Ewbanlc, and Turners Rept., pp. 42-3, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. in.; Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 129. 176 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. expelled from the country that he inhabited near the mouth of the Klamath for disobeying or offending some great god, and a curse was pronounced against him, so that not even his descendants should ever return to that land. On the expulsion of these Ana- kim, the ancestors of the people to whom this legend belongs came down from the north-west, a direction of migration, according to Judge Roseborough, uni- formly adhered to in the legends of all the tribes of north-west California. These new settlers, however, like their predecessors of the giant race, quarrelled with the great god, and were abandoned by him to their own devices, being given over into the hands of certain evil powers or devils. Of these the first is Omahd, who, possessing the shape of a grizzly bear, is invisible, and goes about everywhere bringing sick- ness and misfortune on mankind. Next there is Maka- lay, a fiend with a horn like a unicorn; he is swift as the wind, and moves by great leaps like a kangaroo. The sight of him is usually death to mortals. There is, thirdly, a dreadful being called Kalicknateck, who seems a faithful reproduction of the great thunder- bird of the north; thus Kalicknateck "is a huge bird that sits on the mountain-peak, and broods in silence over his thoughts until hungry; when he will sweep down over the ocean, snatch up a large whale, and carry it to his mountain-throne, for a single meal." Besides the before-mentioned powers of evil, these Trinity people have legends connected with other per- sonages of the same nature, among whom are Wanus- wegock, Surgelp, Napousney, and Nequiteh. When white miners first came to work on the Trin- ity River, their advent caused, as may be imagined, much unsatisfactory speculation among the aborigines ; some saying one thing of the whites and some another. At last an old seer of the Hoopah Valley settled the question by declaring thai the new-comers were de- scendants of that banished Wappeckquemow, from whose heads the already-mentioned curse, forbidding their return, had been by some means lifted. THE KITCHEN-MIDDEN OF THE HOHGATES. 177 The coast people in northern California have a story about a mysterious people called Hohgates, to whom is ascribed an immense bed of mussel-shells and bones of animals still existing on the table-land of Point St George, near Crescent City. These Hohgates, seven in number, are said to have come to the place in a boat, to have built themselves " houses above ground, after the style of white men" all this about the time that the first natives came down the coast from the north. These Hohgates, living at the point mentioned, killed many elk on land, and many seals and sea-lions in fishing excursions from their boats; using for the latter purpose a kind of harpoon made of a knife attached to a stick, and the whole fastened to the boat with a long line. They also sailed frequently to cer- tain rocks, and loaded their little vessels with mussels. By all this they secured plenty of food, and the refuse of it, the bones and shells, and so on, rapidly accumu- lated into the great kjoJcken modding still to be seen. One day, however, all the Hohgates being out at sea in their boat, they struck a huge sea-lion with their rude harpoon, and, unable or unwilling to cut or throw off their line, were dragged with fearful speed toward a great whirlpool, called Chareckquin, that lay far toward the north-west. It is the place where souls go, where in darkness and cold the spirits shiver for- ever ; living men suffer even from its winds from the north-west wind, the bleak and bitter Charreck-rawek. And just as the boat reached the edge of this fearful place, behold, a marvellous thing : the"rope broke and the sea-monster was swept down alone into the whirl of wind and water, while the Hohgates were caught up into the air; swinging round and round, their boat floated steadily up into the vast of heaven. Never- more on earth were the Hohgates seen ; but there are seven stars in heaven that all men know of, and these stars are the seven Hohgates that once lived where the great shell-bed near Crescent City now is. VOL. III. 12 CHAPTER VI. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. GODS AND RELIGIOUS RITES OF CHIHUAHUA, SONORA, DURANGO, AND SIN- ALOA THE MEXICAN RELIGION RECEIVED WITH DIFFERENT DEGREES OF CREDULITY BY DIFFERENT CLASSES OF THE PEOPLE OPINIONS OF DIFFERENT WRITERS AS TO ITS NATURE MONOTHEISM OF NEZAHUAL- COYOTL PRESENT CONDITION OF THE STUDY OF MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY TEZCATLIPOCA PRAYERS TO HIM IN TIME OF PESTILENCE, OF WAR, FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY PRAYER USED BY AN ABSOLVING PRIEST GENU- INENESS OF THE FOREGOING PRAYERS CHARACTER AND WORKS OF SAHAGUN. FROM the Pueblo cities let us now pass down into Mexico, glancing first at the northern and north-west- ern neighbors of this great people that ruled on the plateau of Analiuac. The Chihuahuans worshipped a great god called by them the ' captain of heaven,' and recognized a lesser divinity as abiding in and inspiring their priests and medicine-men. They rendered hom- age to the sun; and when any comet or other phenom- enon appeared in the heavens, they offered sacrifice thereto; their sacrifice being much after the Mexican fashion fruits, herbs, and such things as they had, together with blood drawn from their bodies by the pricks of a thorn. 1 In Sonora the great central heart of Mexico mak- ing its beatings more and more clearly felt as we approach it nearer the vague feelings of awe and reverence with which the savage regards the unseen, unknown, and unknowable powers begin at last to somewhat lose their vagueness and to crystallize into 1 Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, torn, iii., p. 22 j Doc. Hist. Hex., sSrie iv., torn, iii., p. 86. (178) GODS OF SONORA AND DURANGO. 179 the recognition of a power to be represented and sym- bolized by a god made with hands. The offerings thereto begin, also, more and more to lose their primi- tive simple shape, and the blood, without which is no remission of sins, stains the rude altar that a more Arcadian race had only heaped with flowers and fruit. The natives of Sonora bring, says Las Casas, " many deer, wolves, hares, and birds before a large idol, with music of many flutes and other instruments of theirs; then cutting open the animals through the middle, they take out their hearts and hang them round the neck of the image, wetting it with the flowing blood. It is certain that the only offering made in all this province of Sonora was the hearts of brutes." 2 All this they did more especially in two great festivals they had, the one at seed-time, the other at harvest; and we have reason to rejoice that the thing was no worse, reason to be glad that the hearts of brave men and fair women, and soft children not knowing their right hand from their left, were not called for, as in the land of the eagle and cactus banner, to feed that devil Minotaur's superstition. The people of Durango called the principal power in which they believed Meyuncame, that is to say, Maker of All Things ; they had another god, Cachi- ripa, whose name is all we know of him. They had besides innumerable private idols, penates of all possi- ble and impossible figures; some being stone, shaped by nature only. In one village they worshipped a great flint knife that their flint implements of every kind might be good and sure. They had gods of storm and gods of sunshine, gods of good and gods of evil, gods of everything in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. Their idols received bloody sacrifices, not always of beasts; a bowl containing beans and the cooked human flesh of an enemy was offered to them for success in war. 3 2 Las Casas, Hist. Apologttica, MS., torn, iii., cap. 168> Smith's Relation of Cdbeza de Vaca, p. 177. 3 j$<:,s, Hist, de los TriumpJios, pp. 473-5j Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., torn, iii., p. 48. 180 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Much of the preceding paragraph belongs also to Sinai oa, or cannot be exactly located more in the one province than in the other. The Sinaloas are said to have venerated above all the other gods one called Cocohuame, which is, being interpreted, Death. They worshipped also a certain Ouraba,* which is Valor, offering him bows, arrows, and all kinds of instruments of war e To Sehuatoba, that is to say, Pleasure, they sacrificed feathers,' raiment, beads of glass, and women's ornaments. Bamusehua was the god of water. In some parts, it is said, there was recognized a divine Clement in common herbs and birds. One deity or devil, as Ribas calls him with the exquisite courtesy that distinguishes the theosophic historian was the especial patron of a class of wizards closely resembling the shamdns and medicine-men of the north. No one seemed to know exactly the powers of this deity, but every one admitted their extent by recognizing with a respectful awe their effects effects brought about through the agency of the wizards, by the use of bags, rattles, magic stones, blowings, suckings, and all that routine of sorcery with which we are already familiar. This deity was called Grandfather or Ancestor. 5 One Sinaloa nation, the Tahus, in the neighborhood of Culiacan, reared great serpents, for which they had a good deal of veneration. They propitiated their gods with offerings of precious stones and rich stuffs, but they did not sacrifice men. \Vith an altogether characteristic insinuation, the Abbd Domenech says that though highly immoral in the main, they so highly respected women who devoted themselves to a life of celibacy, that they held great festivals in their * Apparently the same as that Vairubi spoken of on p. 83 of this volume. 5 Ribas, Hist, de fas Triumphos, pp. 16, 18, 40, ' Auno de sus dioses llama- ban Ouraba, que quiere decir f ortaleza. Era como Marte, dios de la guerra. Ofrecianle arcos, flechas y todo genero de armas para el feliz exito^de sus batallas. A otro llamaban Sehuatoba, que quiere decir, deleite, a quicn ofrecian plumas, mantas, cueiitecillas de vidrio y adornos mugeriles. A.1 dios de las aguas llamaban Bamusehua. El mas venerado de todos era Cocohuame, que significa muerte.* Akgre^ Hist. Comp. de Jesus, torn, ii., p. 45. 'They worship for their gods such things as they haue in their houses, as namely, hearbes, and birdes, and sing songs vnto them in their language.' Coronado, in Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii., p. 363. THE MEXICAN RELIGION AND ITS HISTORIANS. 181 honor leaving the reader to suppose that the Tahus had a class of female religious who devoted themselves to a life of chastity, and were respected for that rea- son; the truth is found to be, on referring to the author Castaneda from whom apparently the abbe has taken this half truth and whole falsehood that these estimable celibate women were the public prosti- tutes of the nation. 6 The Mexican religion, as transmitted to us, is a con- fused and clashing chaos of fragments. If ever the great nation of Andhuac had its Hesiod or its Homer, no ray of his light has reached the stumbling feet of research in that direction ; no echo of his harmony has been ever heard by any ear less dull than that of a Zumdrraga. It is given to few men to rise above their age, and it is folly to expect grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ; yet it is hard to suppress wholly some feelings of regret, in poring upon those ponderous tomes of sixteenth and seventeenth century history that touch upon Mexican religion; one pities far less the inevitable superstition and childish ignorance of the barbarian than the senility of his Christian histo- rian and critic there was some element of hope and evidence of attainment in what the half-civilized bar- barian knew ; but from what heights of Athenian, Roman, and Alexandrian philosophy and eloquence had civilization fallen into the dull and arrogant nescience of the chronicles of the clergy of Spain. We have already noticed 7 the existence of at least 6 ' Us celebraient de grandes f 6tes en 1'honneur des femmes qui voulaient vivre dans le celibat. Les caciques d'un canton se reunissaient et dansaient tens nus, 1'un apres 1'autre, avec la femme qui avait pris cette determination. Quand la danse etait terminee, ils la conduisaient dans une petite maison qu'on avait decoree a cet effet, et ils jouissaient de sa personne, les caciques d'abord et ensuite tous ceux qui le voulaient. A dater de ce moment, elles ne pouvaient rien refuser a quiconque leur offrait le prix fixe pour cela. Elles n'etaient jamais dispensees de cette obligation, mme quand plus tard elles se marfeient.' Castaneda, in Ternaux-Compans, Vay. t serie i., torn, ix., pp. 150-1. 'Although these men were very immoral, yet such was their re- spect for all women who led a life of celibacy, that they celebrated grand festivals in their honour. ' And there he makes an end. DomenecJis Deserts, vol. i.> p. 170. 7 This volume, pp. 55-6. 182 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. two schools of religious philosophy in Mexico, two average levels of thought, the one that of the vulgar and credulous, the other that of the more enlightened and reflective. It has resulted from this that different writers differ somewhat in their opinions with regard to the precise nature and essence of that religion, some saying one thing and some another. I cannot show this more shortly and what is much more im- portant in a subject like this more exactly, than by quoting a number of these opinions. "Turning from the simple faiths of savage tribes of America to the complex religion of the half-civilized Mexican nation, we find what we might naturally ex- pect, a cumbrous polytheism complicated by mixture of several national pantheons, and beside and beyond this, certain appearances of a doctrine of divine su- premacy. But these doctrines seem to have been spoken of more definitely than the evidence warrants. A remarkable native development of Mexican theism must be admitted, in so far as we may receive the native historian Ixtlilxochitl's account of the worship paid by Nezahualcoyotl, the poet-king of Tezcuco, to the invisible supreme Tloque-Nahuaque, he who has all in him, the cause of causes, in whose star-roofed pyramid stood an idol, and who there received no bloody sacrifice, but only flowers and incense. Yet it would have been more satisfactory, were the stories told by this Aztec panegyrist of his royal ancestors confirmed by other records. Traces of divine su- premacy in Mexican religion are especially associated with Tezcatlipoca, ' Shining Mirror,' a deity who seems in his original nature the sun-god, and thence by ex- pansion to have become the soul of the world, creator of heaven and earth, lord of all things, Supreme Deity. Such conceptions may, in more or less measure, have arisen in native thought, but it should be pointed out that the remarkable Aztec religious formulascollected by Sahagun, in which the deity Tezcatlipoca is so prominent a figure, show traces of Christian admixture in their material, as well as of Christian influence in COMPLEXITY OF AZTEC THEOLOGY. 183 their style. In distinct and absolute personality, the divine Sun in Aztec theology was Tonatiuh, 8 whose huge pyramid-mound stands on the plain of Teotihua- can, a witness of his worship for future ages. Beyond this the religion of Mexico, in its complex system, or congeries of great gods, such as results from the mix- ture and alliance of the deities of several nations, shows the solar element rooted deeply and widely in other personages of its divine mythology, and attrib- utes especially to the sun the title of Teotl, God." "It is remarkable," says Professor J. G. Mtiller, " that the well-instructed Acosta should have known nothing about the adoration of a highest invisible God, under the name of Teotl. And yet this adoration has been reported in the most certain manner by others, and made evident from more exact statements regard- ing the nature of this deity. He has been surnamed Ipalnemoan, that is, He through whom we live; and Tloquenahuaque, that is, He who is all things through himself. He has been looked upon as the originator and essence of all things, and as especially throned in the high cloud-surrounded mountains. Rightly does Wuttke contend against any conception of this deity as a monotheistic one, the polytheism of the people being considered for polytheism and monotheism will not be yoked together ; even if a logical concordance were found, the inner spirits of the principles of the two would still be opposed to each other. Another argument stands also clearly out, in the total absence of any prayers, offerings, feasts, or temples to or in the honor of this god. From this it is evident that Teotl was not a god of the common people. Yet this, on the other hand, cannot justify us the so frequently occurring statements of well-informed authorities being- taken into account in denying in toto all traces of a 8 1 would call attention to the fact that Alvarado, the ruddy handsome Spanish captain, was called Tonatiuh by the Mexicans, just as Barnabas was called Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, by the people of Lystra going to show how unfetish and anthropomorphic were the ideas connected with the sun- god by the Mexicans. 9 Tylor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 311. 184 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. pantheistic monotheism, as this latter may easily spring up among cultivated polytheists as a logical re- sult and outcome of their natural religion. Nezahual- coyotl, the enlightened king of Tezcuco, adored as the cause of causes, a god without an image. The chief of the Totonac aborigines of Cempoallan, had, if we may credit the speech put in his mouth by Las Casas and Herrera, an idea of a highest god and creator. This abstract idea has also here, as in other parts of America, intertwined itself with the conception of a sun-god. Hence the Mexicans named the sun-god preeminently Teotl; and that enlightened king of Tezcuco, who built a temple of nine stories symboliz- ing the nine heavens in honor of the stars, called the sun-god his father." : "To the most ancient gods," says Klemm, " be- longed the divinities of nature, as well as a highest being called Teotl, God. He was perfect, independent, and invisible, and consequently not represented by any image. His qualities were represented by expressions like these: He through whom we live, He who is all in himself. This god coincides very nearly with the Master of Life of the North Americans. In opposi- tion to him is the evil spirit, the enemy of mankind, who often appears to and terrifies them. He is called Tlacatecololotl, that is to say, Rational Owl, and may possibly, like the Lame-foot of the Peruvians, be a survival from the times when the old hunter-nations 10 Miiller, AmerikaniscJie Urreligionen, pp. 473-4. The so-often discussed resemblance in form and signification between the two Mexican words teotl and calli (see Molina, Vocabulario] and the two Greek words tkeos and kalia, is completely enough noticed by Miiller. ' Die Mexikanischen Vb'lker haben einen Appellativnamen fur Gott, Teotl, welcher, da die Buchstaben tl blosse aztekische Endung sind, merkwiirdiger Weise mit dem Indogermanischen theos, Deus, Deva, Dew, zusammenstimmt. Dieses Wort wird zur Bildung mancher Gotternamen oder Kultusgegenstande gebraucht. Richer gehoren die Gotternamen Tcotlacozanqui, Teocipactli, Teotetl, Teoyamiqui, Tlozolt- eotl. Der Tempel heisst Teocalli (vgl. Kalia, Hiitte, Kalias Capelle) oder wortlich Haus Gottes das gottliche Buch, Teoamoxtli, Priester Teopuixqui, oder auch Teoteuktli, eine Prozession Teonenemi, Gottermarsch. Dazu kommen noch manche Namen von Stadten, die als Kultussitze ausgezeicb.net waren, wie das uns schon friiher bekannt gewordene Teotihuacan. Im Plural wurden die Gotter Teules genannt und eben so, wie uns Bernal Diaz so oft erzahlt, die Gefahrten des Cortes welche das gemeine Volk als Gotter bezeich- nen wollte.' Id., p. 472. TLOQUE-NAHUAQUE. 185 inhabited the forests and mountains. Next to Teotl was Tezcatlipoca, that is to say, Shining Mirror; he was the god of providence, the soul of the world, and the creator of heaven and earth. Teotl was not represented by any image, and was probably not worshipped with offerings nor in any special temples; Tezcatlipoca was, however, so represented, and that as a youth, because time could have no power over his beauty and his splendor. He rewarded the righteous, and punished the ungodly with sickness and misfor- tune. He created the world, and mankind, and the sun, and the water, and he was himself in a certain degree the overseer thereof." The Abbe Brasseur believes in the knowledge by the Mexicans and certain neighboring or related na- tions^ of a Supreme God ; but he thinks also that the names of great priests and legislators have often been used for or confounded with the one Name above every name. Thus he says: "In the traditions that have reached us the name of the legislator is often confused with that of the divinity; and behind the symbolic veil that covers primitive history, he who civilized and brought to light in the Americans a new life, is designedly identified with the Father of the uni- versal creation. The writers who treat of the history of the ancient American nations avow that, at the time of the landing of the Spaniards on the soil of the w r estern continent, there was not one that did not recognize the existence of a supreme deity and arbi- ter of the universe. In that confusion of religious ideas, which is the inevitable result of ignorance and superstition, the notion of a unique immaterial being, of an invisible power, had survived the shipwreck of pure primitive creeds. Under the name Tloque-Na- huaque, the Mexicans adored Him who is the first cause of all things, who preserves and sustains all by his providence ; calling him again, for the same reason, Ipalnemoaloni, He in whom and by whom w T e are and n Klemm, Cuhur-Geschiclde, torn, v., pp. 114-15. 186 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. live. This god was the same as that Kunab-Ku, the Alone Holy, who was adored in Yucatan; the same again as that Hurakan, the Voice that Cries, the Heart of Heaven, found with the Guatemalan nations of Central America; and the same lastly as that Teotl, God, whom we find named in the Tzendal and Mexican books. This " God of all purity," as he was styled in a Mexican prayer, was, however, too elevated for the thoughts of the vulgar. His existence was recognized, and sages invoked him ; but he had neither temples nor altars perhaps because no one knew how lie should be represented and it was only in the last times of the Aztec monarchy that Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, dedicated to him a teocalli of nine terraces, without statues, under the title of the Un- known God." 12 Mr Gallatin says of the Mexicans: " Their mythol- ogy, as far as we know it, presents a great number of unconnected gods, without apparent system or unity of design. It exhibits no evidence of metaphysi- cal research or imaginative powers. Viewed only as a development of the intellectual faculties of man, it is, in every respect, vastly inferior to the religious systems of Egypt, India, Greece, or Scandinavia. If imported, it must have been from some barbarous country, and brought directly from such country to Mexico, since no traces of a similar worship are found in the more northern parts of America." 13 "The Aztecs," writes Prescott, " recognized the existence of a Supreme Creator and Lord of the Uni- verse. But the idea of unity of a being with whom volition is action, who has no need of inferior ministers to execute his purposes was too simple, or too vast, for their understandings; and they sought relief as usual, in a plurality of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes of the seasons, and the various occupations of man. Of these, there were thirteen principal deities, and more than two hundred inferior; l ' 2 Brasseur de Sourbourg, Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 45-6. 13 Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 352. PRIMITIVE WORSHIP. 187 to each of whom some special day, or appropriate fes- tival, was consecrated." 1 According to Mr Squier: "The original deities of the Mexican pantheon are few in number. Thus, when the Mexicans engaged in a war, in defence of the lib- erty or sovereignty of their country, they invoked the War God, under his aspect and name HuitzlipochtlL When suddenly attacked by enemies, they called upon the same god, under his aspect and name of Paynal- ton, which implied God of Emergencies, etc. In fact, as already elsewhere observed, all the divinities of the Mexican, as of every other mythology, resolve them- selves into the primeval God and Goddess." 15 "The population of Central America," says the Vi- comte de Bussierre, "although they had preserved the vague notion of a superior eternal God and creator, known by the name Teotl, had an Olympus as numer- ous as that of the Greeks and the Romans. It would appear the most ancient, though unfortunately also the most obscure, legends being followed that during the civilized period which preceded the successive in- vasions of the barbarous hordes of the north, the in- habitants of Analmac joined to the idea of a supreme being the worship of the sun and the moon, offering them flowers, fruits, and the first-fruits of their fields. The most ancient monuments of the country, such as the pyramids of Teotihuacan, were incontestably con- secrated to these luminaries. Let us now trace some of the most striking features of these people. Among the number of their gods is found one represented under the figure of a man eternally young, and consid- ered as the symbol of the supreme and mysterious God. Two other gods there were, watching over mortals from the height of a celestial city, and charged with the accomplishment of their prayers. Air, earth, fire, and water had their particular divinities. The woman of the serpent, the prolific woman, she who never gave birth but to twins, was adored as the 11 Prescott's Cong, of Mex., vol. i., p. 57. 15 Squier s Serpent Symbol, p. 47. 188 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP mother of the human race. The sun and the moon had their altars. Various divinities presided over the phenomena of nature, over the day, the night, the mist, the thunder, the harvest, the mountains, and so on. Souls, the place of the dead, warriors, hunters, merchants, fishing, love, drunkenness, medicine, flow- ers, and many other things had their special gods. A multitude of heroes and of illustrious kings, whose apotheosis had been decreed, took their place in this vast pantheon, where were besides seated two hundred and sixty divinities of inferior rank, to each of whom, nevertheless, one of the days of the year was conse- crated. Lastly, every city, every family, every indi- vidual, had its or his celestial protector, to whom worship was rendered. The number of the temples corresponded to that of the gods; these temples were found everywhere, in the cities, in the fields, in the woods, along the roads, and all of them had priests charged with their service. This complicated mythol- ogy was common to all the nations of Andhuac, even to those that the empire had been unable to subjugate, and with which it was at war; but each country had its favorite god, such god being to it what Huitzilo- pochtli, the god of war, was to the Aztecs." 16 The Mexican religion, as summed up by Mr Brantz Mayer, 17 "was a compound of spiritualism and gross idolatry; for the Aztecs believed in a Supreme Deity, whom they called Teotl, God; or Ipalnemoani, He by whom we live ; or Tloque-Nahuaque, He who has all in himself; while their evil spirit bore the name of Tlaleatcololotl, the Rational Owl. These spiritual beings are surrounded by a number of lesser divinities, who were probably the ministerial agents of Teotl. These were Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and Teo- yaomiqui, his spouse, whose duty it was to conduct the souls of warriors who perished in defence of their homes and religion to the 'house of the sun/ the Az- lG Bu8sierre, V Empire Mexicain, pp. 131-3. 17 Brantz Mayer, in Sduoolcrafis Arch., vol. vi., p. 585; see also Brantz Mayer's Mexico as It was, p. 110. MEXICAN RELIGION, GREEK AND ROMAN. 189 tec heaven. Huitzilopochtli, or Mextli, the god of war, was the special protector of the Aztecs ; and de- voted as they were to war, this deity was always in- voked before battle, and recompensed after it by the offering of numerous captives taken in conflict." "The religion of the Mexicans," writes Senor Car- bajal Espinosa, 18 plagiarizing as literally as possible from Clavigero, "was a tissue of errors and of cruel and superstitious rites. Similar infirmities of the hu- man mind are inseparable from a religious system origi- nating in caprice and fear, as we see even in the most cultured nations of antiquity. If the religion of the Mexicans be compared with that of the Greeks and Romans, it will be found that the latter is the more superstitious and ridiculous and the former the more barbarous and sanguinary. These celebrated nations of ancient Europe multiplied excessively their gods be- cause of the mean idea that they had of their power; restricting their rule within narrow limits, attributing to them the most atrocious crimes, and solemnizing their worship, with such execrable impurities, as were so justly condemned by the fathers of Christianity. The gods of the Mexicans were less imperfect, and their worship although superstitious contained noth- ing repugnant to decency. They had some idea, although imperfect, of a Supreme Being, absolute, independent, believing that they owed him tribute, adoration, and fear. They had no figure whereby to represent him, believing him to be invisible, neither did they give him any other name, save the generic one God, which is in the Mexican tongue Teotl, resembling even more in sense than in pronunciation the Theos of the Greeks; they used, however, epithets, in the highest degree expressive, to signify the grandeur and the power which they believed him endowed with, call- ing him Ipalnemoani, that is to say, He by whom we live, and Tloque-Nahuaque, which means, He that is all things in himself. But the knowledge and the wor- l *Carbajal Espinosa, Hist, de Mexico, torn, i., pp. 468-9; Clavigero, Stories, Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., pp. 3-4. 190 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND \\ORSHIF, ship of this Supreme Essence were obscured by the multitude of gods invented by superstition. The peo- ple believed, furthermore, in an evil spirit, inimical to mankind, calling him Tlacatecololotl, or Rational Owl, and saying that oftentimes he revealed himself to men, to hurt or to terrify them." "The Mexicans and the Tezcucans," following Senor Pimentel, " recognized the existence of a Supreme Being, of a First Cause, and gave him that generic title Teotl, God, the analogy of which with the Theos of the Greeks, has been already noted by various authors. The idea of God is one of those that appear radical to our very existence With the Mexicans and Tezcucans this idea was darkened by the adoration of a thousand gods, invoked in all emergencies; of these gods there were thirteen principal, the most notable being the god of providence, that of war, and that of the wind and waters. The god of providence had his seat in the sky, and had in his care all human affairs. The god of the waters was considered as the fertilizer of earth, and his dwelling was in the highest of the mountains, where he arranged the clouds. The god of war was the prin- cipal protector of the Mexicans, their guide in their wanderings from the mysterious country of Aztlan, the god to whose favor they owed those great victories that elevated them from the lowly estate of lake-fisher- men up to the lordship of Andhuac. The god of the wind had an aspect more benign The Mexicans also worshipped the sun and the moon, and even, it would appear, certain animals considered as sacred. There figured also in the Aztec mythology an evil genius called the Owl-man, 19 since in some manner the good and the bad, mixed up here on earth, have to be explained. So the Persians had their Oromasdes and Arimanes, the first the genius of good, and the second of evil, and so, later, Manicheism presents us with analogous explanations." 20 Solis, writing of Mexico and the Mexicans, says: 19 Hombre Bulio. Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indiyena, pp. 11-13. THE NAMELESS GOD. 191 "There was hardly a street without its tutelary god; neither was there any calamity of nature without its altar, to which they had recourse for remedy. They imagined and made their gods out of their own fear; not understanding that they lessened the power of some by what they attributed to others But for all so many as were their gods, and so complete as was the blindness of their idolatry, they were not without the knowledge of a Superior Deity, to whom they attrib- uted the creation of the heavens and the earth. This original of things was among the Mexicans a god with- out name ; they had no word in their language with which to express him, only they gave it to be under- stood that they knew him, pointing reverently towards heaven, and giving to him after their fashion the attribute of ineffable, with that sort of religious uncer- tainty with which the Athenians venerated the Un- known God." 21 The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis calls the Supreme God of the Mexicans by the name Tonacateotle. 22 The interpreter says: "God, Lord, Creator, Governor of all, Tloque, Nauaq, Tlaltic- paque, Teotlalale-Matlava-Tepeva all these epithets they bestowed on their god Tonacateotle, who, they said, was the god that created the world; and him alone they painted with a crown as lord of all. They never offered sacrifices to this god, for they said he cared not for such things. All the others to whom they sacrificed were men once on a time, or demons." 23 We have already seen from Herrera that "the 21 Solis, Hist, de la Conq. de Mex., torn, i., pp. 398-9, 431. 22 Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 350, identifies this god with Tszcatlipoca of whom 'he writes in the following terms: 'Tezcatli- poca. A true invisible god, dwells in heaven, earth and hell; alone attends to the government of the world, gives and takes away wealth and prosperity. Called also Titlacoa (whence his star T^tlaca/luan). Under the name of Necocyaotl, the author of wars and discords. According to Boturini, he is the god of providence. He seems to be the only equivalent for the Tonacat- lecottle of the interpreters of the Codices.' 23 Explic. del Codex TellerMno-Remensts, in Kingsbor&ugtis Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 135. I take this opportunity of cautioning the reader against Kings- borough's translation of the above codex, as well as against his translation of the Spiegazione delle Tavote del Codtce Mexzcano. every error that could vitiate a translation seems to have crept into these two. 192 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Mexicans confessed to a Supreme God, Lord, and maker of all things, and the said God was the princi- pal that they venerated, looking toward heaven, and calling him Creator of heaven and earth." 24 In contradistinction to this, it may be well to consider the following extract from the same author: "Such was the blindness of the Mexicans, even to the natural light, that they did not think like men of good judg- ment that all created things were the work and effect of some immense and infinite cause, the which only the First Cause and true God is And in Mexico alone (according to the common opinion) they had and adored two thousand gods, of whom the principal were Vizilipuztli and Tezcatlipucatl, who as supreme were set up in the height of the great temple, over two altars. . . . Tezcatlipucatl was the god of providence, and Vizilipuztli the god of war." 25 Speaking of Mexican temples 26 and gods, Oviedo says: "But Montezuma had the chief [temple], to- gether with three other prayer-houses, in which he sacrificed in honor of four gods, or idols, that he had; of these they had one for god of war, as the Gentiles had Mars; to another they gave honor and sacrifice as god of the waters, even as the ancients gave to Neptune ; another they adored for god of the wind, as the lost heathen adored .^Eolus; and another still they revered as their sovereign god, and this was the sun. . . . They had further other gods ; making one of them god of the maize-fields, attributing to him the power of guarding and multiplying the same, as the fable-writing poets and ancients of antiquity did to Ceres. They had gods for everything, giving at- tributes to each according to their surmises, investing 24 See this vol., p. 57, note 13. On pages 55 and 56, and in the note per- taining thereto, will also be found many references bearing on the matter under present discussion. 25 Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii,, lib. vii., cap. xviii., p. 253. 26 Qiies, Oviedo calls them (spelled cues by most writers), the following ex- planation being given in glossary of Voces Americanos Empleadas por Oviedo, appended to the fourth volume of the Hist. Gen.: 'Qii: templo, casa de oraci- on. Esta voz era muy general en casi toda America, y muy principalmente en las comarcas de Yucatan y Mechuacan. ' ACOSTA AND TEOTL. 193 them with that godhead which they had not, and with which it was not right to invest any save only the true God." 27 Speaking in general terms of probably a large part of New Spain, Torquemada says: " These idolaters did not deny that they had a god called Ypalnemoa- loni, that is to say, Lord by whom w T e live, and his nature is that his existence is in himself: 28 the which is most proper to God, who is in his essence life. But that in which these people erred was in distributing this divinity and attributing it to many gods; yet in reality and verily, they recognized a Supreme God, to whom all the others were inferior. But for the great- ness of their sins, they lacked faith and ran into this error like the other nations that have done so." Acosta, as has been already noticed by Professor J. G. Miiller, either never heard of or disbelieved in the existence of the name Teotl and of the ideas connected therewith by so many historians. 29 The said Acosta says: "If wee shall seeke into the Indian tongue for a word to answer to this name of God, as in Latin, Deus ; in Greeke, Theos ; in Hebrew, El ; in Arabike, Alia; but wee shall not finde any in the Cuscan or Mexicaine tongues. So as such as preach or write to the Indians, vse our Spanish name Dios, fitting it to the accent or pronunciation of the Indian tongues, the which differ much, whereby appeares the small knowl- edge they had of God, seeing they cannot so much as name him, if it be not by our very name: yet in trueth they had some little knowledge .... The Mexicaines almost in the same manner [as the Peru- 27 Oviedo, Hist. Gen., torn, iii., p. 503. 26 Ypalnemoaloni, que quiere decir, Senor por quien se vive, y ai ser en el de Naturale^a.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, iii., p. 30. 29 See this vol., p. 183. Not, be it remarked, that Acosta denies the knowl- edge by the Mexicans of a Supreme God; he only denies the existence of any name by which the said deity was generally known. This is clear from the following extract from the Hist. Nat. 2nd., p. 333: ' First, although the darke- nesse of iiitidelitie holdeth these nations in blindenesse, yet in many thinges the light of truth and reason works somewhat in them. And they commonly acknowledge a supreame Lorde and Author of all things, which they of Peru called Viracocha Him they did worship, as the chiefest of all, whom they did honor in beholding the heaven. The like wee see amongest them of Mexico." VOL. III. 13 194 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. vians] after the supreame God, worshipped the Sunne : And therefore they called Hernando Cortez, Sonne of the Sunne, for his care and courage to compasse the earth. But they made their greatest adoration to an Idol called Vitzilipuztli, the which in all this region they called the most puissant and Lord of all things: for this cause the Mexicaines built him a Temple, the greatest, the fairest, the highest, and the most sump- tuous of all others. . .' . But heere the Mexicaines Idolatrie hath bin more pernicious and hurtfull than that of the Inguas, as wee shall see plainer heereafter, for that the greatest part of their adoration and idol- atrie was employed to Idols, and not to naturall things, although they did attribute naturall effects to these Idolls, as raine, multiplication of cattell, warre and gen- eration, even as the Greekes and Latins have forged Idolls of Phoebus, Mercurie, Jupiter, Minerva, and of Mars. To conclude, who so shall neerely looke into it shall finde this manner which the Divell hath vsed to deceive the Indians, to be the same wherewith hee hath deceived the Greekes and Romans, and other ancient Gentiles, giving them to vnderstand that these notable creatures, the Sunne, Moone, Starres, and Elements had power and authoritie to doe good or harme to men." 30 Mendieta says : " It is to be noted for a general rule that, though these people, in all the continent of these Indias, from the farthest parts of New Spain to the parts of Florida, and farther still to the kingdoms of Peru, had, as has been said, an infinity of idols that they reverenced as gods, nevertheless, above all, they still held the sun as chiefest and most powerful. And they dedicated to the sun the greatest, richest, and most sumptuous of their temples. This should be the power the Mexicans called Ipalnemohuani, that is to say, 'by whom all live/ and Moyucuyatzin ayac oquiyocux ayac oquipic, that is to say, 'he that no one created or formed, but who, on the contrary, made all things by his own power and will/. ... So many are the fic- ^Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 334, 337-8. MENDIETA'S EUHEMERISTIC THEORY. 195 tions and fables that the Indians invented about their gods, and so differently are these related in the dif- ferent towns, that neither can they agree among them- selves in recounting them, nor shall there be found any one who shall understand them. In the principal provinces of this New Spain, they had after the sun, which was the common god of them all each province, its particular and principal god, to which god above all others they offered their sacrifices; as the Mexi- cans to Uzilopuchtli a name that the Spaniards, not being able to pronounce called Ocholobos, 'eight wolves,' or Uchilobos; as the Tezcucans to Tezcatli- puca; as the Tlaxcalans to Camaxtli, and as the Cho- lulans to Quetzalcoatl ; doubtless all these were famous men that performed some notable feats, or invented some new thing, to the honor and benefit of the state ; or perhaps again these gave the people laws and a rule of life, or taught them trades, or to offer up sacri- fices, or some other thing that appeared good and worthy to be rewarded with grateful acknowledg- ments. . . . , The demon, the old enemy, did not con- tent himself with the service that these people did him in the adoration of almost every visible creature, in making idols of them, both carven and painted, but he also kept them blinded with a thousand fashions of witchcrafts, parodies of sacraments, and superstitions." 31 "It is well to remark," writes Camargo, "that although the Indians had a divinity for each thing, they were aware of the existence of a Supreme God that they named Tloque-Nahuaque, or He who con- tains all, regarding the same as superior to all the other gods." This Tlascaltec author has also preserved us a native prayer couched in the following terms : " O, all-powerful gods, that inhabit the heavens, even as far as the ninth, where abides your master and ours, the great Tloque-Nahuaque (this name means, He that accompanies the other gods 32 ) you that have all power 3l Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 88, 91, 107. 3 ' 2 The interpretation of the title Tloque-Nahuaque is not only irreconcil- able with another given by the same author a few lines above in our text, but it is also at utter variance with those of all other authors with which I 196 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. over men forsake us not in danger. We invoke you, as well also as the sun Nauholin, and the moon, spouse of that brilliant luminary, the stars of heaven also, and the wind of the night and of the day." 33 According to the somewhat vague and incomplete account of Fray Toribio de Benavente, or Motolinia the latter his adopted name and that by which he is best known another of the original and early authori- ties in matter concerning the gentile Mexicans, "Tez- catlipoca was the god or demon that they held for greatest and to whom most dignity was attributed. . . They had idols of stone, and of wood, and of baked clay; they also made them of dough and of seeds kneaded into the dough. . . Some of them were shaped like men, . . . some were like women; . . . some were like wild beasts, as lions, tigers, dogs, deer, and such other animals as frequented the mountains and plains ; . . . some like snakes of many fashions, large and coiling. . . Of the owl and other night-birds, and of others as the kite, and of every large bird, or beautiful, or fierce, or preciously feathered, they had an idol. But the principal of all was the sun. Likewise had they idols of the moon and stars, and of the great fishes, and of the water-lizards, and of toads and frogs, and of other fishes; and these they said were the gods of the fishes. . . .They had for gods fire, water, and earth; and of all these they had painted figures. . . Of many other things they had figures and idols, carved or painted, even of butterflies, fleas, and locusts." 34 Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, was he who-- according to the no doubt somewhat partial account of his descendant Ixtlilxochitl pushed the farthest into overt speech and act his contempt of the vulgar am acquainted. It may not be amiss here to turn to the best authority ac- cessible in matters of Mexican idiom. Molina, Vocabulario, describes the title to mean, ' He upon whom depends the existence of all things, preserv- ing and sustaining them '- -a word used also to mean God, or Lord. ' Tloque nauaque, cabe quien esta el ser de todas las cosas, conseruandolas y sustentan- dolas: y dizese de nro senor dios.' 3 *Camargo, Htst. de Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcviii., p. 191, torn, xcix., p. 168. Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col, torn, i., pp. 4, 33-4. THE CREED OF NEZAHUALGOYOTL. 197 idolatry and his recognition of a high, holy, and to a great extent unknowable supreme power. This thoughtful monarch " found for false all the gods adored by the people of this land, saying that they were statues and demons hostile to the human race; for he was very learned in moral things, and he went to and fro more than any other, seeking if haply he might find light to affirm the true God and creator of all things, as has been seen in the discourse of his history, and as bear witness the songs that he composed on this theme. He said that there was only One, that this One was the maker of heaven and earth, that he sustained all he had made and created, and that he was where was no second, above the nine heavens ; that no eye had ever seen this One in a human shape, nor in any shape whatever; that the souls of the virtuous went to him after death, while the souls of the bad went to another place, some most infamous spot of earth, filled with horrible hardships and sufferings. Never though there were many gods representing many idols did the king neglect an opportunity of saying when divinity was discussed, 'yntloque in nau- haque y palne moalani,' which sentence sums up his convictions as above expressed. Nevertheless he recognized the sun as his father and the earth as his mother." 35 Now, it is in the face of much that has been said denying or doubting Ixtlilxochitl's account of the creed 30 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chickimeca, in KingsborougJis Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 231. 'Tuvo por fabos a todos los dioses que adoraban los de e.sta tier'ra, diciendo que eran estatuas 6 demonios enemigos del ge"nero humano; por que fue muy sabio en las cosas morales, y el que masvacild buscando de donde toinar lumbre para certificarse del verdadero Dios y criador de todas las cosas, como se ha visto en el discurso de su historia, y dan testimonio sus cantos que compuso en razon de esto como es el decir que habia uno solo, y que este era el hacedor del cielo y de la tierra, y sustentaba todo lo hecho y criado por el, y que estaba donde no tenia segundo, sobre los nueve cielos, que el alcanzaba, que jamas se habia visto en forma humana, ni otra iigura, que con 61 iban a parar las almas de los virtuosos despues de muertos, y que las de los malos iban a otro lugar, que era el mas infimo de la tierra, de trebajos y penas horribles. Nunca jamas (aunque habia muchos idolos que representaban muchos dioses) cuando se ofrecia tratar de deidad, ni en general ni en particular, sino que decia yntloque in nauhaque y palne moa- lani, que significa lo que est& atras declarado. Solo decia que reconocia al sol por padre; y a la tierra por madre.' See also the Rdadones of the same author, in the same volume, p. 454. 198 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. of Nezahualcoyotl that I have selected the passage above translated, from among other passages touch- ing the same subject in the Historic*, Chichimeca and in the Relaciones. I have selected it, not because it is the most clearly worded, or the most eloquent, or the most complete ; but solely on account of the sentence with which it concludes: Nezahualcoyotl " recognized the sun as his father and the earth as his mother." These few words occurring at the end of a eulogy of the great Tezcucan by a confessed admirer these few words that have passed unnoticed amid the din and hubbub raised over the lofty creed to which they form the last article these few words, so insig- nificant apparently, and yet so significant in their connection, should go far to prove the faithfulness of Ixtlilxochitl's record, and the greater or less complete- ness of his portrait of his great ancestor. Were Ixtlilxochitl dishonest, would he ever have allowed such a pagan chord as this to come jangling into the otherwise perfect music of his description of a perfect sage and Christian who believed in a God alone and all-sufficient, who believed in a creator of all things without any help at all, much less the help of his dead material creatures, the sun and the earth ? Let us admit the honesty of Ixtlilxochitl, and admit with him a knowledge of that Unknown God, whom, as did the Athenians, Nezahualcoyotl ignorantly wor- shipped; but let us not be blinded by a glitter of words which we may be sure lose nothing in the repetition as to the significance of that 'ignorantly;' let us never lose sight across the shadow of that obscure Athenian altar to the Unknown God, of the mighty columns of the Acropolis and the crest of the Athena Promachos. Nezahualcoyotl seems a fair type of a thoughtful, somewhat sceptical Mexican of that better instructed class which is ever and every- where the horror of hypocrites and fanatics of that class never without its witnesses in all countries and at all times of that class two steps above the ignorant laity, and one step above the learned priesthood, yet AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY. 199 far still from that simple and perfect truth which shall one day be patent enough to all. Turning from the discussion of a point so obscure and intangible as the monotheism of Nezahualcoyotl, and the school of which he was the type, let us review the very palpable and indubitable polytheism of the Mexicans. It seems radically to differ little from other polytheisms better known, such as those of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia; it seems to have been a jumble of personified powers, causes, and qual- ities, developed in the ordinary way from the myth- ical corruption of that florid hyperbolical style of speech natural to all peoples in days before the exact definition of words was either possible or necessary; just such a jumble as the Aryan polytheisms were in the days of the Euhemerists, and for too long after, unfortunately; such a jumble as Aryan mythology was till the brothers Grimm led the van of the ripest talent and scholarship of the nineteenth century into the paths of ' word-shunting/ which led again into god or hero shunting, if the term may be invented. Unfortunately the philologic and mythologic material for such an exhaustive synthesis of the origin and relations of the American creeds as Mr Cox, for example, has given to the world on the Aryan le- fends, in his Mythology of the Aryan Nations, is yet ir from complete; which fact indeed makes the raison d'etre of works like the present. There is nothing for me at present but to gather, sift, and arrange, with such sifting and arrangement as may be possible, all accessible materials relating to the subject in hand; that done, let more skilled workmen find and give them their place in the wall of science. For they have a place there, whether or no it be found to-day or to-morrow a breach is there that shall be empty until they fit and fill it. Tezcatlipoca seems to have been considered on the whole, and the patron-gods of different cities aside, as the most important of the Mexican gods. We have 200 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. seen him identified in several of the preceding quota- tions with a supreme invisible god, and I now proceed, illustrating this phase of his character, to translate as closely as possible the various prayers given by Saha- gun as addressed to this great deity under his various names, Titlacaoan, Yautl, Telpuchtli, Tlamatzincatl, Moiocoiatzin, laotzin, Necociautl, Necaoalpilli, and others. O thou almighty God, that givest life to men, and art called Titlacaoan, grant me in thy mercy every- thing needful to eat and to drink, and to enjoy of thy soft and delicate things; for in grievous toil and straitness I live in the world. Have mercy on me, so poor I am and naked, I that labor in thy service, and for thy service sweep, and clean, and put light in this poor house, where I await thine orders ; otherwise let me die soon and end this toilful and miserable life, so that my body may find rest and a breathing-time. In illness the people prayed to this deity as follows : O God, whose name is Titlacaoan, be merciful and send away this sickness which is killing me, and I will reform my life. Let me be once healed of this infirm- ity, and I swear to serve thee and to earn the right to live; should I by hard toil gain something, I will not eat it nor employ it in anything save only to thine honor ; I will give a feast and a banquet of dancing in this poor house. But the sick man that could not recover, and that felt it so, used to grow desperate and blaspheme, say- ing : Titlacaoan, since thou tnockest me, why dost thou not kill me f 6 Then following is a prayer to Tezcatlipoca, used by the priest in time of pestilence : mighty Lord, under whose wing we find defence and shelter, thou art in- visible and impalpable even as night and the air. How can I that am so mean and worthless dare to appear before thy majesty ? Stuttering and with rude lips I speak; ungainly is the manner of my speech as one leaping among furrows, as one advancing unevenly; 9 *Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., pp, 241-2. PRAYER IN TIME OF PESTILENCE. 201 for all this I fear to raise thine anger, and to provoke instead of appeasing thee ; nevertheless thou wilt do unto me as may please thee. Lord, that hast held it good to forsake us in these days, according to the counsel thou hast as well in heaven as in hades alas for us, in that thine anger and indignation has de- scended in these days upon us ; alas, in that the many and grievous afflictions of thy wrath have overgone and swallowed us up, coming down even as stones, spears, and arrows upon the wretches that inhabit the earth this is the sore pestilence with which we are afflicted and almost destroyed. Alas, O valiant and all-powerful Lord, the common people are almost made an end of and destroyed ; a great destruction and ruin the pestilence already makes in this nation ; and, what is most pitiful of all, the little children that are inno- cent and understand nothing, only to play with peb- bles and to heap up little mounds of earth, they too die, broken and dashed to pieces as against stones and a wall a thing very pitiful and grievous to be seen, for there remain of them not even those in the cradles, nor those that could not walk nor speak. Ah, Lord, how all things become confounded; of young and old and of men and women there remains neither branch nor root ; thy nation and thy people and thy wealth are levelled down and destroyed. our Lord, protector of all, most valiant and most kind, what is this 1 Thine anger and thine indignation, does it glory or delight in hurling the stone and arrow and spear ? The fire of the pestilence, made exceeding hot, is upon thy nation, as a fire in a hut, burning and smoking, leaving noth- ing upright or sound. The grinders of thy teeth are employed, and thy bitter whips upon the miserable of thy people, who have become lean and of little sub- stance, even as a hollow green cane. Yea, what doest thou now, O Lord, most strong, compassionate, invisi- ble, and impalpable, whose will all things obey, upon whose disposal depends the rule of the world, to whom all is subject what in thy divine breast hast thou de- creed? Peradventure hast thou altogether forsaken 202 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. thy nation and thy people ? Hast thou verily deter- mined that it utterly perish, and that there be no more memory of it in the world, that the peopled place be- come a wooded hill and a wilderness of stones ? Per- ad venture wilt thou permit that the temples, and the places of prayer, and the altars, built for thy service, be razed and destroyed and no memory of them be left? Is it indeed possible that thy wrath and punish- ment, and vexed indignation are altogether implacable and will go on to the end to our destruction ? Is it already fixed in thy divine counsel that there is to be no mercy nor pity for us, until the arrows of thy fury are spent to our utter perdition and destruction ? Is it possible that this lash and chastisement is not given for our correction and amendment, but only for our total destruction and obliteration; that the sun shall nevermore shine upon us, but that we must remain in perpetual darkness and silence ; that nevermore thou wilt look upon us with eyes of mercy, neither little nor much ? Wilt thou after this fashion destroy the wretched sick that cannot find rest nor turn from side to side, whose mouth and teeth are filled with earth and scurf? It is a sore thing to tell how we are all in darkness, having none understanding nor sense to watch for or aid one another. We are all as drunken and without understanding, without hope of any aid; already the little children perish of hunger, for there is none to give them food, nor drink, nor consolation, nor caress none to give the breast to them that suck; for their fathers and mothers have died and left them orphans, suffering for the sins of their fathers. our Lord, all-powerful, full of mercy, our refuge, though indeed thine anger and indignation, thine arrows and stones, have sorely hurt this poor people, let it be as a father or a mother that rebukes children, pulling their ears, pinching their arms, whipping them with nettles, pouring chill water upon them; all being done that they may amend their puerility and childishness. Thy chastisement and indignation have lorded and prevailed over these thy servants, over this poor people, even as SPARE THE GREEN AND TAKE THE RIPE. 203 rain falling upon the trees and the green canes, being touched of the wind, drops also upon those that are be- low. most compassionate Lord, thou knowest that the common folk are as children, that being whipped they cry, and sob, and repent of what they have done. Peradventure, already these poor people by reason of thy chastisement weep, sigh, blame, and murmur against themselves; in thy presence they blame and bear witness against their bad deeds and punish them- selves therefor. Our Lord most compassionate, piti- ful, noble, and precious, let a time be given the people to repent; let the past chastisement suffice, let it end here, to begin again if the reform endure not. Pardon and overlook the sins of the people ; cause thine anger and thy resentment to cease ; repress it again within thy breast that it destroy no further, let it rest there ; let it cease, for of a surety none can avoid death nor escape to any place. We owe tribute to death; and all that live in the world are the vassals thereof; this tribute shall every man pay with his life. None shall avoid from following death, for it is thy messenger what hour soever it may be sent, hungering and thirst- ing always to devour all that are in the world, and so powerful that none shall escape: then indeed shall every man be punished according to his deeds. O most pitiful Lord, at least take pity and have mercy upon the children that are in the cradles, upon those that cannot walk. Have mercy also, Lord, upon the poor and very miserable, who have nothing to eat, nor to cover themselves withal, nor a place to sleep, who do not know what thing a happy day is, whose days pass altogether in pain, affliction, and sadness. Than this, were it not better, Lord, if thou should forget to have mercy upon the soldiers and upon the men of war, whom thou wilt have need of some time; behold, it is better to die in war and go to serve food and drink in the house of the sun, than to die in this pestilence and descend to hades. most strong Lord, protector of all, lord of the earth, governor of the world, and universal master, let the sport and satisfaction thou 204 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. hast already taken in this past punishment suffice; make an end of this smoke and fog of thy resentment ; quench also the burning and destroying fire of thine anger; let serenity come and clearness; let the small birds of thy people begin to sing and to approach the sun; give them quiet weather so that they may cause their voices to reach thy highness and thou mayest know them. O our Lord, most strong, most compas- sionate, and most noble, this little have I said before thee, and I have nothing more to say, only to prostrate and throw myself at thy feet, seeking pardon for the faults of this my prayer ; certainly I would not remain in thy displeasure, and I have no other thing to say. The following is a prayer to the same deity, under his names Tezcatlipuca and Yoalliehecatl, for succor against poverty: our Lord, protector most strong and compassionate, invisible, and impalpable, thou art the giver of life; lord of all, and lord of battles, I pre- sent myself here before thee to say some few words concerning the need of the poor people, the people of none estate nor intelligence. When they lie down at night they have nothing, nor when they rise up in the morning; the darkness and the light pass alike in great poverty. Know, Lord, that thy subjects and ser- vants, suffer a sore poverty that cannot be told of more than that it is a sore poverty and desolateness. The men have no garments nor the women to cover themselves with, but only certain rags rent in every part that allow the air and the cold to pass every- where. With great toil and weariness they scrape together enough for each day, going by mountain and wilderness seeking their food; so faint and enfeebled are they that their bowels cleave to the ribs, and all their body reechoes with hollowness ; and they walk as people affrighted, the face and the body in Lkeness of death. It they be merchants, they now sell only cakes of salt and broken pepper ; the people that have something despise their wares, so that they go out to sell from door to door and from house to house ; and when they sell nothing, they sit down sadly by some PRAYER FOR AID AGAINST POVERTY 205 fence, or wall, or in some corner, licking their lips and gnawing the nails of their hands for the hunger that is in them ; they look on the one side and on the other at the mouths of those that pass by, hoping preadven- ture that one may speak some word to them. com- passionate God, the bed on which they lie down is not a thing to rest upon, but to endure torment in ; they draw a rag over them at night, and so sleep; there they throw down their bodies and the bodies of chil- dren that thou hast gi^en them. For the misery they grow up in, for the filth 37 of their food, for the lack of covering, their faces are yellow, and all their bodies of the color of earth. They tremble with cold, and for leanness they stagger in walking. They go weep- ing, and sighing, and full of sadness, and all misfor- tunes are joined to them; though they stay by a fire, they find little heat. our Lord, most clement, invisible, and impalpable, I supplicate th.ee to see good to have pity upon them as they move in thy presence wailing and clamoring and seeking mercy with anguish of heart. O our Lord, in whose power it is to give all content, consolation, sweetness, softness, prosperity, and riches, for thou alone art lord of all good have mercy upon them, for they are thy servants. I sup- plicate thee, O Lord, that thou prove them a little with tenderness, indulgence, sweetness, and softness, which indeed they sorely lack and require. I suppli- cate thee that thou will lift up their heads with thy favor and aid, that thou will see good that they enjoy some days of prosperity and tranquillity, so they may sleep and know repose, having prosperous and peace- able days of life. Should they still refuse to serve thee, thou afterwards canst take away what thou hast given; they having enjoyed it but a few days, as those that enjoy a fragrant and beautiful flower, and find it wither presently. Should this nation, for whom I pray and entreat thee to do them good, not understand what thou hast given, thou canst take away the good and pour out cursing ; so that all evil may come upon 7 'Por la freza de la comida.' SaJiagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 39, 206 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. them, and they become poor, in need, maimed, lame, blind, and deaf; then indeed they shall waken and know the good that they had and have not, and they shall call upon thee and lean toward thee; but thou wilt not listen, for in the day of abundance they would not understand thy goodness toward them. In con- clusion, I supplicate thee, most kind and beneficent Lord, that thou will see good to give this people to taste of the goods and riches that thou art wont to give, and that proceed from tliee, things sweet and soft and bringing content and joy, although it be but for a little while, and as a dream that passes. For it is certain that for a long time the people go sadly before thee, weeping and thoughtful, because of the anguish, hardship, and anxiety that fill their bodies and hearts, taking away all ease and rest. Verily, it is not doubtful that to this poor nation, needy and shelterless, happens all I have said. If thou answer- est my petition, it will be only of thy liberality and magnificence, for no one is worthy to receive thy bounty for any merit of his, but only through thy grace. Search below the dunghills and in the moun- tains for thy servants, friends, and acquaintance, and raise them to riches and dignities. our Lord, most clement, let thy will be done as it is ordained in thy heart, and we shall have nothing to say. I, a rude man and common, would not by importunity and pro- lixity disgust and annoy thee, detailing my sickness, destruction, and punishment. Whom do I speak to ? Where am I? Lo, I speak with thee, King; well do I know that I stand in an eminent place, and that I talk with one of great majesty, before whose pres- ence flows a river through a chasm, a gulf sheer down of awful depth; this also is a slippery place, whence many precipitate themselves, for there shall not be found one without error before thy majesty. I myself, a man of little understanding and lacking speech, dare to address my words to thee ; I put myself in peril of falling into the gorge and cavern of this river. I, Lord, have come to take with my hands blindness to PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR. 207 mine eyes, rottenness and shrivelling to my members, poverty and affliction to my body; for my meanness and rudeness this it is that I merit to receive. Live and rule forever in all quietness and tranquillity, O that thou art our lord, our shelter, our protector, most compassionate, most pitiful, invisible, impalpable. The following is a petition in time of war to the same principal god, under his name of Tezcatlipoca Yautlnecociautlmonenequi, praying favor against the enemy: our Lord, -most compassionate, protector, defender, invisible, impalpable, by whose will and wis- dom we are directed and governed, beneath whose rule we live Lord of battles, it is a thing very certain and settled that war begins to be arranged and prepared for. The god of the earth opens his mouth, thirsty to drink the blood of them that shall die in this strife. It seems that they wish to be merry, the sun and the god of the earth called Tlaltecutli; they wish to give to eat and drink to the gods of heaven and hades, making them a banquet with the blood and flesh of the men that have to die in this war. Already do they look, the gods of heaven and hades, to see who they are that have to conquer, and who to be con- quered; who they are that have to slay, and who to be slain ; whose blood it is that has to be drunken, and whose flesh it is that has to be eaten which things the noble fathers and mothers whose sons have to die are ignorant of. Even so are ignorant all their kith and kin. and the nurses that gave them suck ignorant also are the fathers that toiled for them, seeking things needful for their food and drink and raiment until they reached the age they now have. Certainly they could not foretell how those sons should end whom they reared so anxiously, or that they should be one day left captives or dead upon the field. See good, our Lord, that the nobles who die in the shock of war be peacefully and agreeably received, and with bowels of love, by the sun and the earth that are father and mother of all. For verily thou dost not deceive thyself in what thou doest, to wit, 208 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. in wishing them to die in war; 88 for certainly for this didst thou send them into the world, so that with their flesh and their blood they might be for meat and drink to the sun and the earth. Be not wroth, O Lord, anew against those of the profession of war, for in the same place where they will die have died many gen- erous 39 and noble lords and captains, and valiant men. The nobility and generosity of the nobles and the great-heartedness of the warriors is made apparent, and thou makest manifest, Lord, how estimable and precious is each one, so that as such he may be held and honored, even as a stone of price or a rich feather. O Lord, most clement, lord of battles, emperor of all, whose name is Tezcatlipoca, invisible and impalpable, we supplicate thee that he or they that thou wilt per- mit to die in this war may be received into the house of the sun in heaven, with love and honor, and may be placed and lodged between the brave and famous warriors already dead in war, to wit, the lords Quitzic- quaquatzin, Maceuhcatzin, Tlacahuepantzin, Ixtlilcue- chavac, Ihuitltemuc, Chavacuetzin, and all the other valiant and renowned men that died in former times who are rejoicing with and praising our lord the sun, who are glad and eternally rich through him, and shall be forever; they go about sucking the sweetness of all flowers delectable and pleasant to the taste. This is a great dignity for the stout and valiant ones that died in war; for this they are drunken with de- light, keeping no account of night, nor day, nor years, nor times; their joy and their wealth is without end; the nectarous flowers they sip never fade, and for the desire thereof men of high descent strengthen them- selves to die. In conclusion, I entreat thee, O Lord, that art our lord most clement, our emperor most in- 38 ' Porque & la verdad no os enganais con lo que haceis. ' See Sahagun, in Kinf/shoroinjh s Mex. Anttq,, vol. v., p. 356, as the substitution of ' enganeis for * engauais destroys the sense of the passage in Bustamante's ed. of the same. Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 43. - By an error and a solecism of Bustamante's ed. the words 'gentea rojos are substituted for the adjective 'generosos.' See, as in the preceding note, Sattagun, in Kingsborouytis Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 357, and Sahagun, Hist Gen , torn, ii , lib. vi., p. 43. PRAYER TO THE GOB OF BATTLES. 239 vincible, to see good that those that die in this war be received with bowels of pity and love by our father the sun, and our mother the earth ; for thou only livest and rulest, and art our most compassionate lord. Nor do I supplicate alone for the illustrious and noble, but also for the other soldiers, who are troubled and tor- mented in heart, who clamor, calling upon thee, hold- ing their lives as nothing, and who fling themselves without fear upon the enemy, seeking death. Grant them at least some small part of their desire, some rest and repose in this life ; or if here, in this world, they are not destined to prosperity, appoint them for ser- vants and officers of the sun, to give food and drink to those in hades and to those in heaven. As for those whose charge it is to rule the state and to be tlacateccatl or tlacochcalatl, 40 make them to be fathers and mothers to the men of war that wander by field and mountain, by height and ravine in their hand is the sentence of death for enemies and criminals, as also the distribution of dignities, the offices and the arms of war, the badges, the granting privileges to those that wear visors and tassels 41 on the head, and ear- rings, pendants, and bracelets, and have yellow skins tied to their ankles with them is the privilege of appointing the fashion of the raiment that every one shall wear. It is to these also to give permission to certain to use and wear precious stones, as chalchivetes, turquoises, and rich feathers in the dances, and to wear necklaces and jewels of gold: all of which things are delicate and precious gifts proceeding from thy riches, and which thou givest to those that perform feats and valiant deeds in war. I entreat thee also, Lord, to make grace of thy largess to the. common soldiers, give them some shelter and good lodging in this world, make them stout and brave, and take away all coward- ice from their heart, so that not only shall they meet M Esdecir Comandantes 6 Capitanes generales de ejercito.' Bmtamantc, in Sakayun, Hist, Oeii.., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 44. 41 'Borlas,'see Sahar/wi, in KinysborougTi '3 Hex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 358, given ' bollas ' in Bustamante's Sahacjun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 45. VOL. III. 14 210 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. death with cheerfulness, but even desire it as a sweet thing, as flowers and damty food, nor dread at all the hoots and shouts of their enemies: this do to them as to thy friend. Forasmuch as thou art lord of battles, on whose will depends the victory, aiding whom thou wilt, needing not that any counsel thee I entreat thee, Lord, to make mad and drunken our enemies, so that without hurt to us they may cast themselves into our hands, into the hands of our men of war enduring so much hardship and poverty. our Lord, since thou art God, all-powerful, all-knowing, disposer of all things, able to make this land rich, prosperous, praised, hon- ored, famed in the art and feats of war, able to make the warriors now in the field to live and be prosperous, if in the days at hand, thou see good that they die in war, let it be to go to the house of the sun, among all the heroes that are there and that died upon the battle-field. The following prayer is one addressed to the prin- cipal deity, under his name Tezcatlipoca Teiocoiani Tehimatini, asking favor for a newly elected ruler : To-day, a fortunate day, the sun has risen upon us, warming us, so that in it a precious stone may be wrought, and a handsome sapphire. To us has ap- peared a new light, has arrived a new brightness, to us has been given a glittering axe to rule and govern our nation -has been given a man to take upon his shoulders the affairs and troubles of the state. He is to be tne image and substitute of the lords and gov- ernors that have already passed away from this life, who for some days labored, bearing the burden of thy people, possessing thy throne and seat, which is the principal dignity 42 of this thy nation, province, and kingdom ; having and holding the same in thy name and person some few days. These have now departed from this life, put off their shoulders the great load and burden that so few are able to suffer. Now, O Lord, we marvel that thou hast indeed set thine 42 * Dignidad, ' SaJiagun, in Kingsborougfto Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 359, misprinted 'diligencia' in Bustamante's Sakayun, Hist. Gen., toiu. ii., lib. vi., p. 4G. PRAYER THAT A RULER MAY RULE WELL. 211 eyes on this man, rude and of little knowledge, to make him for some days, for some little time, the governor of this state, nation, province, and kingdom, our Lord, most clement, art thou peradventure in want of persons and friends? nay, verily, thou that hast thereof more than can be counted ! Is it, perad- venture, by error, or that thou dost not know him ? or is it that thou hast taken him for the nonce, while thou seekest among many for another and a better than he, unwise, indiscrete, unprofitable, a superfluous man in the world? Finally, we give thanks to thy majesty for the favor thou hast done us. What thy designs therein are thou alone knowest; perhaps be- forehand this office has been provided for: thy will be done as it is determined in thy heart; let this man serve for some days and times. It may be that he will fill this office defectively, giving unrest and fear to his subjects, doing things without counsel or con- sideration, deeming himself worthy of the dignity he has, thinking that he will remain in it for a long time, making a sad dream of it, making the occupation and dignity thou hast given him an occasion of pride and presumption, making little of everybody and going about with pomp and pageantry. Within a few days, thou wilt know the event of all, for all men are thy spectacle and theatre, at which thou laughest and makest thyself merry. Perha,ps this ruler will lose his office through his childishness, or it will' happen through his carelessness and laziness; for verily noth- ing is hidden from thee, thy sight makes way through stone and wood, and thine hearing. Or per- haps his arrogance and the secret boasting of his thoughts will destroy him. Then thou wilt throw him among the filth and upon the dunghills, and his reward will be blindness, and shrivellings, and extreme poverty till the hour of his death, when thou wilt put him under thy feet. Since this poor man is put in this risk and peril, we supplicate thee, who art our Lord, our invisible and impalpable protector, under whose will and pleasure we are, who alone disposes of 212 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. and provides for all we supplicate thee that thou see good to deal mercifully with him; inasmuch as he is needy, thy subject and servant, and blind; deign to provide him with thy light, that he may know what he has to think, what he has to do, and the road he has to follow, so as to commit no error in his office, contrary to thy disposition and will. Thou knowest what is to happen to him in this office both by day and night; we know, our Lord, most clement, that our ways and deeds are not so much in our hands as in the hands of our ruler. If this ruler after an evil and perverse fashion, in the place to which thou hast elevated him, and in the seat in which thou has put him which is thine where he manages the affairs of the people, as one that washes filthy things with clean and clear water (yea in the same seat holds a similar cleansing office the ancient god, who is father and mother to thyself, and is god of fire, who stands in the midst of flowers, in the midst of the place bounded by four walls, who is covered with shining feathers that are as wings) if this ruler-elect of ours do evil with which to provoke thine ire and indigna- tion, and to awaken thy chastisement against himself, it will not be of his own will or seeking, but by thy permission or by some impulse from without; for which I entreat thee to see good to open his eyes to give him light; open also his ears and guide him, not so much for his own sake as for that of those whom he has to rule over and carry on his shoulders. 43 I 43 This doubtful and involved sentence with the contained clause touching' the nature of the fire-god, runs exactly as follows in the two varying edition.* of the original: * Si alguna cosa aviesa 6 mal heche hiciera en la dignidad quo le habeis dado, y en la silla en que le habeis puesto, que es vuestra, donde esta tratando los negocios populares, como quien lava cosas sucias con a^ua muy clara y muy limpia; en la qual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo olicio do lavar vuestro padre y madre de todos los Dioses, el Dios antiguo que es el Dios del fuego, que esti en inedio del albergue cerca de quatro parcdes, y esta cubierto con plumas resplandecicntes que son como alas, lo que este electo hiciese mal hecho, con que provoque vuestra ira e indignacion, y des- pierte vuestro castigo contra si, no sera de su albedrio 6 de su querer, sino de vuestra permision, 6 de algun otra sugestion vuestra, 6 de otro; por lo cual os suplico tengais por bien de abrirle los ojos y darle lumbre y abrirle las orejas, y guiadle d, este pobre electo, no tanto por lo que el es, sino principalmento por aquellos a quienes ha de regir y llevar cuestas.' Sahayun, in Kings- borouyh's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 360-1. 'Si alguna cosa aviesa 6 mal THAT A RULER MAY NOT ABUSE HIS POWER. 213 supplicate thee that now, from the beginning thou in- spire him with what he is to conceive in his heart, and the road he is to follow, inasmuch as thou hast made of him a seat on which to seat thyself, and also as it were a flute that, being played upon, may signify thy will. Make him, O Lord, a faithful image of thyself, and permit not that in thy throne and hall he make him- self proud and haughty; but rather see good, O Lord, that quietly and prudently he rule and govern those in his charge who are common people; do not permit him to insult and oppress his subjects, nor to give over without reason any of them to destruction. Neither permit, O Lord, that he spot and defile thy throne and hall with any injustice or oppression, for in so doing he will stain also thine honor and fame. Al- ready, O Lord, has this poor man accepted and received the honor and lordship that thou hast given him ; already he possesses the glory and riches thereof; already thou hast adorned his hands, feet, head, ears, and lips, with visor, ear-rings, and bracelets, and put yellow leather upon his ankles. Permit it not, O Lord, that these decorations, badges, and ornaments ' O ' be to him a cause of pride and presumption; but rather that he serve thee with humility and plainness. May it please thee, our Lord, most clement, that he rule and govern this, thy seignory, that thou hast committed to him, with all prudence and wisdom. May it please thee that he do nothing wrong or to thine offence; deign to walk with him and direct him in all his ways. But if thou wilt not do this, ordain that hecha hiciere, en la digiiidad que le habeis dado, y en la silla en que lo habeis puesto que es vuestra, donde est& tratando los negocios populares, como quien laba cosas sucias, con agua muy clara y muy limpia, en la cual silla y dignidad tieae el mismo oficio de labar vuestro padre y madre, do todos los dioses, el dios antiguo, que es el dios del fuego que esta en medio tie las Sores, y en medio del albergue cercado de cuatro paredes, y esta cubierto con plumas resplandecientes que son somo alas; lo que este electo hiciere mal hecho con que provoque vuestra ira e indignacion, y despierte vuestro castigo contra si, no sera de su alvedrio de 6 su querer, sino de vues- tra permision, 6 de alguna otra sugestion vuestra, 6 de otro; por lo cual os suplico tengais por bien de abirle los ojos, y darle luz, y abridle tambien las orejas, y guiad este pobre electo; no tanto por lo que es el, sino principal- mente por aquellos a quien ha de regir y llevar acuestas.' Bustamante'a SaJtagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 48. 214 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. from this day henceforth he be abhorred and disliked, and that he die in war at the hands of his enemies, that he depart to the house of the sun; where he will be taken care of as a precious stone, and his heart esteemed by the sun-lord; he dying in the war like a stout and valiant man. This would be much better than to be dishonored in the world, to be disliked and abhorred of his people for his faults or defects. our Lord, thou that providest to all the things need- ful for them, let this thing be done as I have en- treated and supplicated thee. The next prayer, directed to the god under his name Tezcatlipoca Titlacaoamoquequeloa, is to ask, after the death of a ruler, that another may be given: 0, our Lord, already thou knowest how our ruler is dead, already thou hast put him under thy feet ; he is gath- ered to his place; he is gone by the road that all have to go by, and to the house where all have to lodge ; house of perpetual darkness, where there is no window, nor any light at all; he is now where none shall trouble his rest. He served thee here in his office during some few days and years, not indeed without fault and offence. Thou gavest him to taste in this world somewhat of thy kindness and favor, passing it before his face as a thing that passes quickly. This is the dignity and office that thou placedst him in, that he served thee in for some days, as has been said, with sighs, tears, and devout prayers before thy majesty. Alas, he is gone now where our father and mother the god of hades is, the god that descended head foremost below the fire, 4 * the god that desires to carry us all to his place, with a very importunate de- sire, with such a desire as one has that dies of hunger and thirst; the god that is moved exceedingly, both by day and night, crying and demanding that all go to him. There, with this god, is now our late-departed ruler; he is there with all his ancestors that were in the first times, that governed this kingdom, with Acamapichtli, with Tyzoc, with Avitzotl, with the ** See this volume, p. 60. THAT A RULER BE SET OVER THE NATION. , 215 first Mocthecuzoma, with Axayacatl, and with those that came last, as the second Mocthecuzoma and also Mocthecuzoma Ilhuicamina. 45 All these lords and kings ruled, governed, and enjoyed the sovereignty and royal dignity, and throne and seat of this empire; they ordered and regulated the affairs of this thy kingdom thou that art the universal lord and emperor, and that needest not to take counsel with another. Already had these put off the intolerable load that they had on their shoulders, leaving it to their succes- sor, our late ruler, so that for some days he bore up this lordship and kingdom; but now he has passed on after his predecessors to the other world. For thou didst ordain him to go, and didst call him to give thanks for being unloaded of so great a burden, quit of so sore a toil, and left in peace and rest. Some few days we have enjoyed him, but now forever he is absent from us, never more to return to the world. Peradventure has he gone to any place whence he can return here, so that his subjects may see his face again ? Will he come again to tell us to do this or that? Will he come again to look to the consuls or governors of the state ? Peradventure will they see him any more, or hear his decree and commandment? Will he come any more to give consolation and comfort to his prin- cipal men and his consuls? Alas! there is an end to his presence, he is gone forever. Alas, that our candle has been quenched, and our light, that the axe that shone with us is lost altogether 1 All his subjects and inferiors he has left in orphanage and without shelter. Peradventure will he take care henceforward of this city, province, and kingdom, though this city be destroyed and levelled to the ground, with this seignory and kingdom ? our Lord, most clement, is it a fit thing that by the absence of him that died shall come to the city, seignory, and kingdom some misfor- tune, in which will be destroyed, undone, and affrighted * 5 Some of these names are differently spelled in Kingsborough's ed. Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 362. 'Uno de los quales fue Camapichtli, otro fue Tizocic, otro Avitzotl, otro el primero Motezuzoma, otro Axayaca, y los que ahora a la parte han muerto, como el segundo Motezuzoma, y tambien Ylhiycamina. ' 216. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP, the vassals that live therein? For while living, he who has died gave shelter under his wings, and kept his feathers spread over the people. Great danger runs this your city, seignory, and kingdom, if another ruler be not elected immediately to be a shelter thereto. What is it that thou art resolved to do ? Is it good that thy people be in darkness ? Is it good that they be without head or shelter ? It it thy will that they be levelled down and destroyed? Woe for the poor and the little ones, thy servants, that go seeking a father and mother, some one to shelter and govern them, even as little children that go weeping, seeking .an absent father and mother, and that grieve, not find- ing them. Woe for the merchants, petty and poor, that go about by the mountains, deserts, and meadows ; woe also to the sad toilers that go about seeking herbs to eat, roots and wood to burn, or to sell, to eke out an existence withal. Woe for the poor soldiers, for the men of war, that go about seeking death, that abhor life, that think of nothing but the field and the line where battle is given upon whom shall they call ? who shall take a captive? to whom shall they present .the same? And if they themselves be taken captive, to whom shall they give notice that it may be known in their land? Whom shall they take for father and mother, so that in such a case favor may be granted them ? Since he whose duty it was to see to this, who was as father and mother to all, is already dead. There will be none to weep, to sigh for the captives, to tell their relatives about them. Woe for the poor of the litigants, for those that have lawsuits with those that would take their estates. Who will judge, make peace among, and clear them of their disputes and quarrels? Behold when a child becomes dirty, if his mother clean him not, he must remain filthy. And those that make strife between themselves, that beat, that knock down, who will keep peace between them? Those that for all this go weeping and shedding tears, who shall wipe away their tears and put a stop to their laments ? Peradventure can they apply a remedy PRAYER TO BE RID OF A BAD RULER. 217 to themselves ? Those deserving death, will they per- adventure pass sentence upon themselves? Who shall set up the throne of justice? Who shall possess the hall of the judge, since there is no judge? Who will ordain the things that are necessary for the good of this city, seignory, and kingdom ? Who will elect the special judges that have charge of the lower people, district by district? Who will look to the sounding of the drum and fife to gather the people for war? who will collect and lead the soldiers and dexterous men to battle ? O our Lord and protector, see good to elect and decide upon some person sufficient to fill your throne and bear upon his shoulders the sore burden of the ruling of the state, to gladden and cheer the com- mon people, even as the mother caresses the child, taking it in her lap: who will make music to the troubled bees 46 so that they may be at rest? our Lord, most clement, favor our ruler-elect, whom we deem fit for this office, elect and choose him so that he may hold this your lordship and government; give him as a loan your throne and seat, so that he may rule over this seignory and kingdom as long as he lives; lift him from the lowliness and humility in which he is, and put on him this honor and dignity that we think him worthy of; our Lord, most clement, give light and splendor with your hand to this state and kingdom. What has been said I only come to propose to thy majesty; although very defectively, as one that is drunken, and that staggers, almost ready to fall. Do that which may best serve thee, in all and through all. What follows is a kind of greater excommunication, or prayer to get rid of a ruler that abused and misused his power and dignity: O our Lord, most clement, that givest shelter to every one that approaches, even as a tree of great height and breadth, thou that art invisible and impalpable; that art, as we understand, able to penetrate the stones and the trees, seeing what is contained therein. For this same reason thou 46 ' Obejas,' in Bustamante's ed. Sakagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 63; 'abejas,' in KingsborougK 's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 364. 218 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. seest and knowest what is within our hearts and read- est our thoughts. Our soul in thy presence is as a little smoke or fog that rises from the earth. It can- not at all be hidden from thee, the deed and the man- ner of living of any one; for thou seest and knowest his secrets and the sources of his pride and ambition. Thou knowest that our ruler has a cruel and hard heart, and abuses the dignity that thou hast given him, as the drunkard abuses his wine, as one drunken with a soporific; 47 that is to say, that the riches, dig- nity, and abundance that for a little while thou hast given him, fill him with error, haughtiness, and unrest, and that he becomes a fool, intoxicated with the poison that makes him mad. His prosperity causes him to despise and make little of every one; it seems that his heart is covered with sharp thorns and also his face: all of which is made apparent by his manner of living, and by his manner of talking; never saying nor doing anything that gives pleasure to any one, never caring for any one, never taking counsel of any one; he ever lives as seems good to him and as the whim directs. O our Lord, most clement, protector of all, creator and maker of all, it is too certain that this man has destroyed himself, has acted like a child ungrateful to his father, like a drunkard without reason. The favors thou hast accorded him, the dignity thou hast set him in, have occasioned his per- dition. Besides these, there is another thing, exceed- ingly hurtful and reprehensible: he is irreligious, never praying to the gods, never weeping before them, nor grieving for his sins, nor sighing; from this it comes about that he is as headstrong as a drunkard in his vices, going about like a hollow and empty per- son, wholly senseless; he stays not to consider what he is nor the office that he fills. Of a verity he dis- honors and affronts the dignity and throne that he holds, which is thine, and which ought to be much honored and reverenced ; for from it depends the jus- 47 ' Y como el loco de los belenos.' Saliagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 54. THAT A BAD RULER BE REMOVED. 219 tice and Tightness of the judicature that he holds, for the sustaining and worthily directing of thy nation, thou being emperor of all. He should so hold his power that the lower people be not injured and oppressed by the great; from him should fall punishment and hu- miliation on those that respect not thy power and dig- nity. But all things and people suffer loss in that he fills not his office as he ought. The merchants suffer also, who are those to whom thou givest the most of thy riches, who overrun all the world, yea, the moun- tains and the unpeopled places, seeking through much sorrow thy gifts, favors, and dainties, the which thou givest sparingly and to thy friends. Ah, Lord, not only does he dishonor thee as aforesaid, but also when we are gathered together to intone thy songs, gathered in the place where we solicit thy mercies and gifts, in the place where thou art praised and prayed to, where the sad afflicted ones and the poor gather comfort and strength, where very cowards find spirit to die in war, in this so holy and reverend place this man exhib- its his dissoluteness and hurts devotion; he troubles those that serve and praise thee in the place where thou gatherest and markest thy friends, as a shepherd marks his flock. 48 Since thou. Lord, hearest and knowest to be true all that I have now said in thy presence, there remains no more but that thy will be done, and the good pleasure of thy heart to the rem- edy of this affair. At least, O Lord, punish this man in such w r ise that he become a warning to others, so that they may not imitate his evil life. Let the pun- ishment fall on him from thy hand that to thee seems most meet, be it sickness or any other affliction; or deprive him of the lordship, so that thou mayest give it to another, to one of thy friends, to one humble, devoted, and penitent; for many such thou hast, thou that lackest not persons such as are necessary for this office, friends that hope, crying to thee : thou knowest 48 Both editors of Sahagun agree here in using the word 'obejas.' As sheep were unknown in Mexico, it is too evident that other hands than Mexi can have beeu employed in the construction of this simile. 220 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. those for friends and servants that weep and sigh in thy presence every day. Elect some one of these that he may hold the dignity of this thy kingdom and seignory; make trial of some of these. And now, O Lord, of all the aforesaid things, which is it that thou wilt grant ? Wilt thou take from this ruler the lord- ship, dignity, and riches on which he prides himself, and give them to another who may be devout, peni- tent, humble, obedient, capable, and of good under- standing? Or, peradventure, wilt thou be served by the falling of this proud one into poverty and misery, as one of the poor rustics that can hardly gather the wherewithal to eat, drink, and clothe himself? Or, peradventure, will it please thee to smite him with a sore punishment so that all his body may shrivel up, or his eyes be made blind, or his members rotten? Or wilt thou be pleased to withdraw him from the world through death, and send him to hades, to the house of darkness and obscurity, where his ancestors are, whither we have all to go, where our father is, and our mother, the god and the goddess of hell. our Lord, most clement, what is it that thy heart desires the most ? Let thy will be done. And in this mat- ter in which I supplicate thee, I am not moved by envy nor hate; nor with any such motives have I come into thy presence. I am moved only by the robbery and ill treatment that the people suffer, only by a desire for their peace and prosperity. I would not desire, O Lord, to provoke against myself thy wrath and indignation, I that am a mean man and rude; for it is to thee, O Lord, to penetrate the heart and to know the thoughts of all mortals. The following is a form of Mexican prayer to Tez- catlipoca, used by the officiating confessor after having heard a confession of sins from some one. The pecu- liarity of a Mexican confession was that it could not lawfully have place in a man's life more than once; a man's first absolution and remission of sins was also the last and the only one he had to hope for : O our most compassionate Lord, protector and favorer of all, PRAYER USEE BY A CONFESSOR OF SINS. 221 thou hast now heard the confession of this poor sin- ner, with which he has published in thy presence his rottenness and unsavoriness. Perhaps he has hidden some of his sins before thee, and if it be so, he has irreverently and offensively mocked thy majesty, and thrown himself into a dark cavern and into a deep ravine; 49 he has snared and entangled himself; he has made himself worthy of blindness, shrivelling and rot- ting of the members, poverty, and misery. Alas, if this poor sinner have attempted any such audacity as to offend thus before thy majesty, before thee that art lord and emperor of all, that keepest a reckoning with all, he has tied himself up, he has made himself vile, he has mocked himself, Thou thoroughly seest him, for thou seest all things, being invisible and without bodily parts. If he have done this thing, he has, of his own will, put himself in this peril and risk; for this is a place of very strict justice and very strait judgment. This rite is like very clear water with which thou washest away the faults of him that wholly confesses, even if he have incurred destruction and shortening of days; if indeed he have told all the truth, and have freed and untied himself from his sins and faults, he has received the pardon of them and of what they have incurred. This poor man is even as a man that has slipped and fallen in thy presence, offending thee in divers ways, dirting himself also and casting himself into a deep cavern and a bottomless well. 50 He fell like a poor and lean man, and now he is grieved and discontented with all the past; his heart and body are pained and ill at ease; he is now filled with heavi- ness for having done what he did; he is now wholly determined never to offend thee again. In thy pres- ence, Lord, I speak, that knowest all things, that 49 'Si es asi ha hecho burla de V. M., y con desacato y grande ofensa, se ha arrojado a una cima, y en una profunda barranca.' Bustamante's ed. of Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 58. The same passage runs as fol- lows in Kingsborough's ed. : ' Si es asi ha hecho burla de vuestra magestad, y con desacato y grande ofensa de vuestra magestad sera arrojado en una sima, y en una prof unda barranca. ' Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 367. ' Poca ' is misprinted for ' poza ' in Bustamante's ed. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. v., p. 58. 222 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. knowest also that this poor wretch did not sin with an entire liberty of free-will; he was pushed to it and inclined by the nature of the sign under which he was born. And since this is so, our Lord, most clement, protector and helper of all, since also this poor man lias gravely offended thee, wilt thou not remove thine anger and thine indignation from him? Give him time, O Lord; favor and pardon him, inasmuch as he weeps, sighs, and sobs, looking before him on the evil he has done, and on that wherein he has offended thee. He is sorrowful, he sheds many tears, the sorrow of his sins afflicts his heart; he is not sorry only, but terrified also at thoughts of them. This being so, it is also a just thing that thy fury and indignation against him be appeased and that his sins be thrown on one side. Since thou art full of pity, Lord, see good to pardon and to cleanse him; grant him the pardon and remission of his sins, a thing that descends from heaven, as water very clear and very pure to wash away sins, 51 with which thou washest away all the stain and impurity that sin causes in the soul. See good, O Lord, that this man go in peace, and command him in what he has to do; let him go to do penance for and to weep over his sins ; give him the counsels necessary to his well living. At this point the confessor ceases from addressing the god and turns to the penitent, saying: O my brother, thou has come into a place of much peril, a place of travail and fear; thou hast come to a steep chasm and a sheer rock, where if any one fall he shall never come up again; thou hast conie to the very place where the snares and the nets touch one another, where they are set one upon another, in such wise that no one may pass thereby without falling into some of them, and not only snares and nets, but also 51 ' Cosa que desciende del cielo, como agua clarisima y purisima par lavar los pecados. Sahagun, in Kinysboroug/i 's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 308. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 59. ' The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. ' Merchant oj Venice, act iv. PERILS OF FALSE CONFESSION. 223 holes like wells. Thou hast thrown thyself down the banks of the river and among the snares and nets, whence without aid it is not possible that thou shouldst escape. These thy sins are not only snares, nets, and wells, into which thou hast fallen, but they are also wild beasts that kill and rend both body and soul. Peradventure, hast thou hidden some one or some of thy sins, weighty, huge, filthy, unsavory, hidden some- thing now published in heaven, earth, and hades, something that now stinks to the uttermost part of the world? Thou hast now presented thyself before our most clement Lord and protector of all, whom thou didst irritate, offend, and provoke the anger of, who to-morrow, or some other day, will take thee out of this world and put thee under his feet, and send thee to the universal house of hades, where thy father is and thy mother, the god and the goddess of hell, whose mouths are always open desiring to swallow thee, and as many as may be in the world. In that place shall be given thee whatsoever thou didst merit in this world, according to the divine justice, and to what thou hast earned with thy works of poverty, misery, and sickness. In divers manners thou wilt be tormented and afflicted in the extreme, and wilt be soaked in a lake of intolerable torments and miseries ; but here, at this time, thou hast had pity upon thyself in speaking and communicating with our Lord, with him that sees all the secrets of every heart. Tell therefore wholly all that thou hast done, as one that flings himself into a deep place, into a well without bottom. When thou wast created and sent into the world, clean and good thou wast created and sent; thy father and thy mother Quetzalcoatl formed thee like a precious stone, and like a bead of gold of much value; when thou wast born thou wast like a rich stone and a jewel of gold very shining and very pol- ished. But of thine own will and volition thou hast defiled and stained thyself, and rolled in filth, and in the uncleanness of the sins and evil deeds that thou hast committed and now confessed. Thou hast acted 224 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS AND WORSHIP. as a child without judgment or understanding, that playing and toying defiles himself with a loathsome filth ; so hast thou acted in the matter of the sins that thou hast taken pleasure in, but hast now confessed and altogether discovered before our Lord, who is the protector and purifier of all sinners. This thou shalt not take for an occasion of jesting, for verily thou hast come to the fountain of mercy, which is like very clear water, with which filthinesses of the soul are washed away by our Lord God, the protector and favorer of all that turn to him. Thou hast snatched thyself from hades, and hast returned again to come to life in this world, as one that comes from another. Now thou hast been born anew, thou hast begun to live anew, and our Lord God gives thee light and a new sun. Now once more thou bep'innest to radiate and O to shine anew like a very precious and clear stone, issuing from the belly of the matrix in which it was created. Since this is thus, see that thou live with much circumspection and very advisedly now and henceforward, all the time that thou inayst live in this world under the power and lordship of our Lord God, most clement, beneficent, and munificent. Weep, be sad, walk humbly, with submission, with the head low and bowed down, praying to God. Look that pride find no place within thee, otherwise thou wilt displease our Lord, who sees the hearts and the thoughts of all mortals. In what dost thou esteem thyself? At how much dost thou hold thyself? What is thy foundation and root? On what dost thou sup- port thyself? It is clear that thou art nothing, canst do nothing, and art worth nothing; for our Lord will do with thee all he may desire, and none shall stay his hand. Peradventure, must he show thee those things with which he torments and afflicts, so that thou may- est see them with thine eyes in this world? Nay, verily, for the torments and horrible sufferings of his tortures of the other world are not visible, nor able to be seen by those that live here. Perhaps he will condemn thee to the universal house of hades; and EXHORTATION TO THE PENITENT. 225 the house where thou now livest will fall down and be destroyed, and he as a dunghill of filthiness and un- cleanness, thou having been accustomed to live therein with much satisfaction, waiting to know how he would dispose of thee, he our Lord and helper, the invisible, incorporeal, and alone one. Therefore I entreat thee to stand up and strengthen thyself and to be no more henceforth as thou hast been in the past. Take to thyself a new heart and a new manner of living, and take good care not to turn again to thine old sins. Consider that thou canst not see with thine eyes our Lord God, for he is invisible and impalpable, he is Tezcatlipoca, he is Titlacaoa, he is a youth of perfect perfection and without spot. Strengthen thyself to sweep, to clean, and to arrange thy house ; for if thou do not this, thou wilt reject from thy company and from thy house, and wilt offend much the very clem- ent youth that is ever walking through our houses and through our streets, enjoying and amusing him- self the youth that labors, seeking his friends, to comfort them and to comfort himself with them. To conclude, I tell thee to go and learn to sweep, and to get rid of the filth and sweepings of thy house, and to cleanse everything, thyself not the least. Seek out also a slave to immolate him before God ; make a feast to the principal men, and let them sing the praises of our Lord. It is moreover fit that thou shoulclst do penance, working a year or more in the house of God; there thou shalt bleed thyself, and prick thy body with maguey thorns; and, as a penance for the adul- teries and other vilenesses that thou hast committed, thou shalt, twice every day, pass osier twigs through holes pierced in thy body, once through thy tongue, and once through thine ears. This penance shalt thou do not alone for the carnalities above mentioned, but also for the evil and injurious words with which thou hast insulted and affronted thy neighbors; as also for the ingratitude thou hast shown with reference to the gifts bestowed on thee by our Lord, and for thine in- Voi, III. 15 226 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. humanity toward thy neighbors, neither making offer- ings of the goods that were given thee by God, nor sharing with the poor the temporal benefits given by our Lord. Thou shalt burden thyself to offer paper and copal; thou shalt give alms to the needy and the hungry, to those that have nothing to eat nor to drink nor to cover themselves with; even though thou thy- self go without food to give it away and to clothe the naked : look to it, for their flesh is like thy flesh, and they are men as thou. Care most of all for the sick, they are the image of God. 52 There remains nothing more to be said to thee ; go in peace, and entreat God to aid thee to fulfil what thou art obliged to do; for he gives favor to all. The following prayer is one addressed to Tezca- tlipoca by a recently elected ruler, to give thanks for his election and to ask favor and light for the proper performance of his office: O our lord, most clement, invisible and impalpable protector and governor, well do I know that thou knowest me, who am a poor man, of low destiny, born and brought up among filth, and a man of small reason and mean judgment, full of many defects and faults, a man that knows not him- self, nor considers who he is. Thou hast bestowed on me a great benefit, favor, and mercy, without any merit on my part; thou hast lifted me from the dung- hill and set me in the royal dignity and throne. Who am I, my Lord, and what is my worth that thou shouldst put me among the number of those that thou lovest? among the number of thine acquaintance, of those thou holdest for chosen friends and worthy of all honor; born and brought up for thrones and royal dignities; to this end thou hast created them able, prudent, descended from noble and generous fathers; for this end they were created and educated ; to be thine instruments and images they were born and bap- tized under the signs and constellations that lords are born under. They were born to rule thy kingdoms, 52 ' Mayormente & los enf ermos porque son imagen de dios. ' Sahayun, Jfist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 63. x PRAYER OF A RULER. 227 thy word being within them and speaking by their mouth according to the desire of the ancient god, the father of all the gods, the god of fire, who is in the pond of water among turrets surrounded with stones like roses, who is called Xiuhtecutli, who deter- mines, examines, and settles the business and lawsuits of the nation and of the common people, as it were washing them with water; in the company and pres- ence of this god the generous personages aforemen- tioned always are. O most clement Lord, ruler, and governor, thou hast done me a great favor 1 Perhaps it has been through the intercession and through the tears shed by the departed lords and ladies that had charge of this kingdom. 53 It would be great madness to suppose that for any merit or courage of mine thou hast favored me, setting me over this your kingdom, the government of which is something very heavy, difficult, and even fearful; it is as a huge burden car- ried on the shoulders, and one that with great diffi- culty the past rulers bore, ruling in thy name. O our Lord, most clement, invisible, and impalpable, ruler and governor, creator and knower of all things and thoughts beautifier of thy creatures, 54 what shall I say more, poor rne ? In what wise have I to rule and govern this thy state ? or how have I to carry this burden of the common people? I who am blind and deaf, who do not even know myself, nor know how to rule over myself. I am accustomed to walk in filth, my faculties fit me for seeking and selling edible herbs, and for carrying and selling wood. What I deserve, Lord, is blindness for mine eyes and shrivelling and rotting for my limbs, and to go dressed in rags and tatters; this is what I deserve and what ought to be given me. It is I that need to be ruled and to be carried on some one's back. Thou hast many friends and acquaintances that may be trusted with this 53 'Los pasados senores y sefloras que tuvieron cargo de este reino.' Sana- gun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 71. 54 'Adornador de las criaturas.' Sahagun, in KingsborvugK 's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 377. ' Adornador de las almas.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 71. 228 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. load. Since, however, thou has already determined to set me up for a scoff and a jeer to the world, let thy will be done and thy word fulfilled. Peradventure thou knowest not who I am; and after having known me, wilt seek another and take the government from me ; taking it again to thyself, hiding again in thy- self this dignity and honor, being already angry and weary of bearing with me; and thou wilt give the government to another, to some close friend and ac- quaintance of thine, to some one very devout toward thee, that weeps and sighs and so merits this dignity. Or, peradventure, this thing that happened to me is a dream, or a walking in sleep. Lord, thou that art present in every place, that knowest all thoughts, that distributest all gifts, be pleased not to hide from me thy words arid thine inspiration. I do not know the road I have to follow, nor what I have to do, deign then not to hide from me the light and the mirror that have to guide me. Do not allow me to cause those I have to rule and carry on my shoulders to lose the road and to wander over rocks and mountains. Do not allow me to guide them in the tracts of rabbits and deer. Do not permit, O Lord, any war to be raised against me, nor any pestilence to come upon those I govern ; for I should not know, in such a case, what to do, nor where to take those I have upon my shoulders; alas for me, that am incapable and igno- rant. I would not that any sickness come upon me, for in that case thy nation and people would be lost, and thy kingdom desolated and given up to darkness. What shall I do, Lord and creator, if by chance I fall into some disgraceful fleshly sin, and thereby ruin the kingdom? what do if by negligence or sloth I undo my subjects? what do if through my fault I hurl down a precipice those I have to rule ? Our Lord, most clement, invisible and impalpable, I entreat thee not to separate thyself from me; visit me often; visit this poor house, for I will be waiting for thee therein. With great thirst I await thee and demand urgently thy word and inspiration, which thou didst PRAYER OF A RULER FOR DIRECTION. 229 breathe into thine ancient friends and acquaintances that have ruled with diligence and rectitude over thy kingdom. This is thy throne and honor, on either side whereof are seated thy senators and principal men, who are as thine image and very person. They give sentence and speak on the affairs of the state in thy name ; thou usest them as thy flutes, speaking from within them and placing thyself in their faces and ears, opening their mouths so that they may speak well. In this place the merchants mock and jest at our fol- lies, with which merchants thou art spending thy lei- sure, since they are thy friends and acquaintances ; there also thou inspirest and breathest upon thy devoted ones, who weep and sigh in thy presence, sincerely giving thee their heart. 55 For this reason thou adorn- est them with prudence and wisdom, so that they may look as into a mirror with two faces, where every one's image is to be seen; 56 for this thou givest them a very clear axe, without any dimness, whose brightness flashes into all places. For this cause also thou givest them gifts and precious jewels, hanging them from their necks and ears, even like material ornaments such as are the nacochtl, the tentetl, the tlapiloni or head-tassel, the matemecatl, or tanned strap that lords tie round their wrists, 57 the yellow leather bound on the ankles, the beads of gold, and the rich feathers. In this place of the good governing and rule of thy kingdom, are merited thy riches and glory, thy sweet and delightful things, calmness and tranquillity, a peace- able and contented life; all of which come from thy 55 The precise force of much of this sentence it is hard to understand. It seems to show, at any rate, that the merchants were supposed to be very intimate with and especially favored by this deity. The original runs as follows'. ' En este lugar burlan y rien de nuestras boberias los negociantes, con los quales estais vos holgandoos, porque son vuestros amigos y vuestros conocidos, y allf inspirais 6 insuflais a vuestros devotos, que lloran y suspiran en vuestra presencia y os dan de verdad su corazon.' Sakagun, Hist. Gen. y torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 73. 56 ' Para que vean como en espejo de dos hazes, donde se representa la imagen de cada uno.' Sahayun, hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 73. " JfaaxAfB, orejeras (ear-rings); Tentetl, be9ote de indio (lip- ornament). Molina, Vocabulario. Molina gives also Matemecatl, to mean a gold bracelet, or something of that kind; Bustamante translates the word in the same way, explaining that the strap mentioned in the text was used to tie the bracelet on, Sahayun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib, vi., p. 74. 230 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. hand. In the same place, lastly, are also merited the adverse and wearisome things, sickness, poverty, and the shortness of life ; which things are sent by thee to those that in this condition do not fulfil their duty. our Lord, most clement, knower of thoughts and giver of gifts, is it in my hand, that am a mean man, to know how to rule? is the manner of my life in my hand, and the works that I have to do in my office ? which indeed is of thy kingdom and dignity, and not mine. What thou mayest wish me to do and what may be thy will and disposition, thou aiding me I will do. The road thou mayest show me I will walk in; that thou mayest inspire me with, and put in my heart, that I will say and speak. our Lord, most clement, in thy hand I wholly place myself, for it is not possible for me to direct or govern myself; I am blind, darkness, a dunghill. See good, Lord, to give me a little light, though it be only as much as a fire-fly gives out, going about at night; to light me in this dream, in this life asleep that endures as for a day; where are many things to stumble at, many things to give occasion for laughing at one, many things like a rugged road that has to be gone over by leaps. All this has to happen in the position thou hast put me in, giving me thy seat and dignity. O our Lord, most pitiful, thou hast made me now the back-piece 5S of thy chair, also thy flute; all without any merit of mine. I am thy mouth, thy face, thine ears, thy teeth, and thy nails. Although I am a mean man, I desire to say that I unworthily represent thy person and thine image, that the words I shall speak have to be esteemed as thine, that my face has to be held as thine, mine eyes as thine, and the punishment that I shall inflict as if thou hadst inflicted it. For all this 1 entreat thee to put thy spirit within me, and thy words, so that all may obey them, and none contradict. 59 58 ' Espaldar de vnestra silla.' Sahayun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi , p, 75. 59 ' He that delivered this prayer before Tezcatlipoca, stood on his feet, his feet close together, bending himself towards the earth. Those that were very devout were naked. Before they began the prayer they offered copal to the fire, or some other sacrifice, and if they were covered with a blanket, they GENUINENESS OF THE FOREGOING PRAYERS. 231 Now with regard to the measure of the genuineness of the prayers to Tezcatlipoca, just given, it seems evident that either with or without the conscious con- nivance of Father Bernardino de Sahagun, their his- torian, a certain amount of sophistication and adapta- tion to Christian ideas has crept into them ; it appears to be just as evident, however, on the other hand, that they contain a great deal that is original, indigenous, and characteristic in regard to the Mexican religion. 60 pulled the knot of it round to the breast, so that they were naked in front. Some spoke this prayer squatting on their calves, and kept the knot of the blanket on the shoulder.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 75. 60 Father Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish Franciscan, was one of the first preachers sent to Mexico; where he was much employed in the in- struction of the native youth, working for the most part in the province of Tezcuco. While there, in the city of Tepeopulco, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, he began the work best known to us as the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espaiia, from which the above prayers have been translated, and from which we shall draw largely for further informa- tion. It would be hard to imagine a work of such a character constructed after a better fashion of working than his. Gathering the principal natives of the town in which he carried on his labors, he induced them to appoint him a number of persons, the most learned and experienced in the things of which he wished to write. These learned Mexicans being collected, Father Saha- gun was accustomed to get them to paint down in their native fashion the various legends, details of history and mythology, and so on, that he wanted; at the foot of the said pictures these learned Mexicans wrote out the explanations of the same in the Mexican tongue; and this explanation the Father Saha- gun translated into Spanish; that translation purports to be what we now read as the Historia General. Here follows a translation of the Prologo of his work, in which he describes all the foregoing in his own way: 'All writers labor the best that they can to make their works authoritative; some by witnesses worthy of faith, others by the writings of previous writers held worthy of belief, others by the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures. To me are wanting all these foundations to make authoritative what I have written in these twelve books [of the Historia General}. I have no other founda- tion but to set down here the relation of the diligence that I made to know the truth of all that is written in these twelve books. As I have said in other prologues to this work, I was commanded in all holy obedience by my chief prelate to write in the Mexican language that which appeared to me to be useful for the doctrine, worship, and maintenance of Christianity among these natives of New Spain, and for the aid of the workers and ministers that taught them. Having received this commandment, I made in the Spanish language a minute or memorandum of all the matters that I had to treat of, which matters are what is written in the twelve books, .... which were begun in the pueblo of Tepeopulco, which is in the province of Culhuacan or Tez- cuco. The work was done in the following way: In the aforesaid pueblo, I got together all the principal men, together with the lord of the place, who was called Don Diego de Mendoza, of great distinction and ability, well experi- enced in things ecclesiastic, military, political, and even relating to idolatry. They being come together, I set before them what I proposed to do, and prayed them to appoint me able and experienced persons, with whom I might converse and come to an understanding on such questions as I might propose. They answered me that they would talk the matter over and give their answer on another day; and with this they took their departure. So on another day the lord and his principal men came, and having conferred 232 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP together with great solemnity, as they were accustomed at that timo to do, they chose out ten or twelve of the principal old men, and told me that with these I might communicate, and that these would instruct me in any matters I should inquire of. Of these there were as many as four instructed iu Latin, to whom I, some few years before, had myself taught grammar in the college of Santa Cruz, in Tlaltelolco. With these appointed principal men, includ- ing the four instructed in grammar, I talked many days during about two years, following the order of the minute I had already made out. On all the subjects on which we conferred they gave me pictures which were tho writings anciently in use among them and these the grammarians inter- preted to me in their language, writing the interpretation at the foot of the picture. Even to this day I hold the originals of these .... When I went to the chapter, with which was ended the seven years' term of Fray Francis- co Toral he that had imposed the charge of this work upon me I was re- moved from Tepeopulco, carrying all my writings. I went to reside at San- tiago del Tlaltelolco. There I brought together the principal men, set before them the matter of my writings, and asked them to appoint me some aLla principal men, with whom I might examine and talk over the writings I had brought from Tepeopulco. The governor, with the alcaldes, appointed me as many as eight or ten principal men, selected from all the most able in their language, and in the things of their antiquities. With these and with four or five collegians, all trilinguists, and living for the space of a year or more secluded in the college, all that had been brought written from Tepeopulco was clearly emended and added to; and the whole was rewritten in small letters, for it was written with much haste. In this scrutiny or examination, he that worked the hardest of all the collegians was Martin Jacobita, who was then rector of the college, an inhabitant of the ward of Santa Ana. I, having done all as above said in Tlaltelolco, went, taking with me all ray writings, to reside in San Francisco de Mexico, where, by myself, for the space of three years, I examined over and over again the writings, emended them, divided them into twelve books, and each book into chapters and paragraphs. After this, Father Miguel Navarro being provincial, and Father Diego de Mendoza commissary-general in Mexico, with their favor I had all the twelve books clearly copied in a good hand, as also the Postilla and the Can- tares [which were other works on which Sahagun was engaged], I made out also an Art of the Mexican language with a vocabulary appendix. Now the Mexicans added to and emended my twelve books [of the Historia Gene- ral'] in many things while they were being copied out in full; so that the first sieve through which my work passed was that of Tepeopulco, the second that of Tlaltelolco, the third that of Mexico; and in all these scrutinies collegi- ate grammarians had been employed. The chief and most learned was An- tonio Valeriano, a resident of Aztcapuzalco; another, little less than the first, was Alonso Vegerano, resident of Cuauhtitlan; another was Martin Jacobita, above mentioned; another Pedro de Santa Buenaventura, resident of Cuauh- titlan all expert in three languages, Latin, Spanish, and Indian [Mexican], The scribes that made out the clear copies of all the works are Diego Degrado, resident of the ward of San Martin, Mateo Severino, resident of Xo- chimilco, of the part of Ullac. The clear copy being fully made out, by tlio favor of the fathers above mentioned and the expenditure of hard cash on the scribes, the author thereof asked of the delegate Father Francisco de Rivera that the work be submitted to three or four religious, so that they might give an opinion on it, and that in the provincial chapter, which was close at hand, they might attend and report on the matter to the assembly, speaking aa the thing might appear to them. And these reported in the assembly that the writings were of much value and deserved such support as was necessary toward their completion. But to some of the assembly it seemed that it was contrary to their vows of poverty to spend money in copying these writ- ings; so they commanded the author to dismiss his scribes, and that he alone with his own hand should do what copying he wanted done; but as he was more than seventy years old, and for the trembling of his hand not able to write anything, nor able to procure a dispensation from this mandate, there was nothing done with the writings for more than five years. During CHARACTER AND WORKS OF SAHAGUN. 233 this interval, and at the next chapter, Father Miguel Navarro was elected by the general chapter for custos custodium, and Father Alonso de Escalona for provincial. During this time the author made a summary of all the books and of all the chapters of each book, and prologues, wherein was said with brevity all that the books contained. This summary Father Miguel Navarro and his companion, Father Gerdnimo de Mendieta, carried to Spain, and thus in Spain the things that had been written about this land made their appearance. In the mean time, the father provincial took all the books of the author and dispersed them through all the province, where they were seen by many religious and approved for very precious and valuable. After some years, the general chapter meeting again, Father Miguel Navarro, at the petition of the author, turned with censures to collect again the said. books; which, from that collecting, came within about a year into the hands of the author. During that time nothing was done in them, nor was there any one to help to get them translated into the vernacular Spanish, until the delegate-general Father Rodrigo de Sequera came to these parts, saw and was much pleased with them, and commanded the author to translate them into Spanish; providing all that was necessary to their being rewritten, the Mexican language in one column and the Spanish in another, so that they might be sent to Spain; for the most illustrious Sefior Don Juan de Ovando, president of the Council of Indies, had inquired after them, he knowing of them by reason of the summary that the said Father Miguel Navarro had carried to Spain, as above said. And all the above-said is to show that this work has been examined and approved by many, and during many years has passed through many troubles and misfortunes before reaching the place it now has.' Sahajun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. i., Prdlogo, pp. iii., vii. As to the date at which Sahaguii wrote, he says: ' These twelve books and the Art and the vocabulary appendix were finished in a clear copy in the year 15G9; but not translated into Spanish.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. i., Intro- duccion, p. xv. The following scanty sketch of the life of Sahagun is taken, after Bustamante, from the Meneal6'jio Serdfico of Father Betancourt: 'Fa- ther Bernardino Sahagun, native of Sahagun, took the robe in the convent of Salamanca, being a student of that university. He passed into this prov- ince [Mexico] in the year 1529, in the company of Father Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo. While a youth he was endowed with a beauty and grace of person that corresponded with that of his soul. From his tenderest years he was very observant, self-contained, and given to prayer. Father Martin de Va- lencia held very close communion with him, owing to which he saw him many times snatched up into an ecstasy. Sahagun was very exact in his at- tendance in the choir; even in his old ago, he never was absent at matins. He was gentle, humble, courteous in his converse with all. He was elected secondly with the learned Father Juan de Gaona, as professor at Tlaltelolco in the college of Santa Cruz; where he shone like a light on a candlestick, for he was perfect in all the sciences. His possession of the Mexican language was of a perfectness that has never to this day being equalled; he wrote many books in it that will be mentioned in the catalogue of authors. He had to strive with much opposition, for to some it did not seem good to write out in the language of the Mexicans their ancient rites, lest it should give occasion for their being persevered in. He watched over the honor of God against idolatry, and sought earnestly to impress the Christian faith upon the converted. He affirmed, as a minis- ter of much experience, that during the first twenty years [of his life in the province] the fervor of the natives was very great; but that afterward they inclined to idolatry, and became very lukewarm in the faith. This he says in the book of his PostiUas that I have, in which I learnt much. During the first twenty years of his life [in the province] he was guardian of some con- vents; but after that he desired not to take upon himself any office or guar- dianship for more than forty years, so that he could occupy himself in preaching, confessing, and writing. During the sixty and one years that he lived in the province, for the most part in college, without resting a single day, ne instructed the boys in civilization and good customs, teaching them reading, writing, grammar, music, and other things in. the service of God 234 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. and the state. This went on till the year 1590, when, the approach of death becoming apparent to every one, he entered the hospital of Mexico, where he died on the 23d of October. There assembled to his funeral the collegians, trailing their becas, and the natives shedding tears, and the members of the different religious houses giving praises to God our Lord for this holy death, of which the martyrology treats Gonzaga, Torquemada, Deza, Rampineo, and many others. In the library of Seflor Eguiara, in the manuscript of the Turriana collection, I have read the article relating to Father Sahagun; in it a large catalogue of works that he wrote is given. I remember only the fol- lowing: Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva E.ipana; Arte de gramdtica mexicana; Diccionario trilingue de espanol, latin, y mexicano; Sermoncs para todo el ano en mexicano (poseo aunque sin nombre de autor); Postl- ilzg 6 commentaries al evangelio, para las misas solemnes de dia de precepto; Historia de los primeros pobladores franciscanos en Mexico; Salmodia de la vida de Cristo, de la virgen y de los santos, que usaban los indios, y prccep- tos para los casados; Escala espiritual, que fue la primera obra que se im- primid en Mexico en la imprenta que trajo Heraan Cortes do Espana.' fiahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., pp. vii.-ix. As to the manner in which the Historia General of Sahagun, 'whom,' says Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 67, * I have followed as the highest authority ' in matters of Mexican re- ligion at last saw the light of publication, I give Prescott 's account, Mex., vol. i., p. 88, as exact save in one point, for which see the correction in brackets: 'At length, toward the close of the last century, the indefati- gable Munoz succeeded in disinterring the long lost manuscript from the place tradition had assigned to it the library of a convent at Tolosa, in Na- varre, the northern extremity of Spain. With his usual ardor, he transcribed Ihe whole work with his own hands, and added it to the inestimable collec- tion, of which, alas! he was destined not to reap the full benefit himself. Prom this transcript Lord Kingsborough was enabled to procure the copy which was published in 1830, in the sixth volume of his magnificent compila- tion. [It was published in two parts, in the fifth and seventh volumes of that compilation, and the exact date of the publication was 1831.] In it he expresses an honest satisfaction at being the first to give Sahagun's work to the world. But in this supposition he was mistaken. The very year preceding, an edition of it, with annotations, appeared in Mexico, in three volumes 8vo. It was prepared by Bustamante a scholar to whose editorial activity his country i.3 largely indebted from a copy of the Munoz manuscript which came into hia possession. Thus this remarkable work, which was denied the honors of the press during the author's life-time, after passing into oblivion, reap- peared, at the distance of nearly three centuries, not in his own country, but in foreign lands widely remote from each other, and that almost simultane- ously Sahagun divided his history into twelve books. The first eleven are occupied with the social institutions of Mexico, and the last with the Conquest. On the religion of the country he is particularly full. His great object evidently was, to give a clear view of its mythology, and of the bur- densome ritual which belonged to it. Religion entered so intimately into the most private concerns and usages of the Aztecs, that Sahagun's work must be a text-book for every student of their antiquities. Torquemada availed himself of a manuscript copy which fell into his hands before it was sent to Spain, to enrich his own pages a circumstance more fortunate for his readers than for Sahagun's reputation, whose work, now that it is pub- lished, loses much of the originality and interest which would otherwise attach to it. In one respect it is invaluable: as presenting a complete col- lection of the various forms of prayer, accommodated to every possible emer- gency, in use by the Mexicans. They are often clothed in dignified and beautiful language, showing that sublime speculative tenets are quite com- patible with the most degrading practices of superstition. It is much to be regretted that we have not the eighteen hymns, inserted by the author in his book, which would have particular interest, as the only specimen of devo- tional poetry preserved of the Aztecs. The hieroglyphical paintings which accompanied the text are also missing. If they have escaped the hands of fanaticism, both may reappear at some future day.' As may have been ADULTERATION OF THE SAHAGUN MSS. 235 noticed, the editions of Sahagun by both Bustamante and Kingsborough have been constantly used together and collated during the course of this present work. They differ, especially in many minor points of typography, Busta- inante's being the more carelessly edited in this respect. Notwithstanding, however, the opinion to the contrary of Mr Harrisse, Bustamante 's edition is, on the whole, the more complete; Kingsborough having avowedly omitted divers parts of the original which he thought unimportant or uninteresting a fault also of Bustamante 's, but to a lesser extent. Fortunately, what is absent in the one I have always found in the other; and indeed, as a whole, and all circumstances being considered, they agree tolerably well. The crit- icism of Mr Harrisse, just referred to, runs as follows, Bib. Am. Vet., p. 208, note 52: 'Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espaiia; Mexico, 3 vols., 4 to, 1829 (edited and castrated by Bustamente [Bustamante] in such a manner as to require, for a perfect understanding of that dry but important work, the reading of the parts also published in vols. v. and vi. [v. and vii.] of Kings- borough's Antiquities).' We are not yet done, however, with editions of Saha- gun. A third edition of part of his work has seen the light. It is Bustamante himself that attempts to supersede a part of his first edition. He affirms that book xii. of that first edition of his, as of course also book xii. of Kingsborough's edition, is spurious, and has been garbled and glossed by Spanish hands quite away from the original as written by Sahagun. Exactly how or when this corruption took place he does not show; but he leaves it to be inferred that it was immediately after the original manuscript had been taken from its author, and that it was done because that twelfth book, which treats more immediately of the Conquest, reflected too hardly on the Conquerors. Bus- tamaiite having procured, in a manner now to be given in his own words, a correct and genuine copy of the twelfth book, a copy written and signed by the hand of Sahagun himself, proceeded in 1840 to give it to the world under the extraordinary title of La Aparicion de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Mexico, comprobada con la rcfutacion del argumento negative que presenta J). Juan Bautista Munoz, fundandose en el testimonio del P. Fr. Bernardino Saha- gun; 6 sea, Historia Original de este Escritor, que altera la publicada en 1829 en el equivocado concepto de ser la unica y original del dicho autor. All of which means to say that he, Bustamante, having already published in 1829-30 a complete edition of Sahagun's Historia General, in twelve books, according to the best manuscript he could then find, has found the twelfth book of that history to be not genuine, has found the genuine original of said twelfth book, and now, in 1840, publishes said genuine twelfth book under the above extraordinary name, inasmuch as it contains some reference to what is supposed to be uppermost in every religious Mexican's mind, to wit, the miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin to a certain native Mexican, la aparicion de nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Mexico. Bustamante's own account of all the foregoing, being translated from the above-mentioned JVra Senora de Guadalupe, pp. iv., viii., xxiii., runs as follows: 'As he [Sahagun] wrote with the frankness proper to truth, and as this was not pleasing to the heads of the then government, nor even to some of his brother friars, he was despoiled of his writings. These were sent to Spain, and ordered to be stored away in the archives of the convent of San Francisco de Tolosa de Navarra, so that no one should ever be able to read them; there they lay hid for more than two centuries. During the reign of Carlos III., Senor Munoz was com- missioned to write the history of the New World. But he found himself without this work [of Sahagun's], so necessary to his purpose; and he was ignorant of its whereabouts, till, reading the index of the Biblioteca Francis- cana, he came to know about it, and, furnished by the government with all powers, he took it out of the said monastery. Colonel D. Diego Garcia Panes having come to Madrid at the same time, to publish the works of Senor Veytia, this gentleman contracted a friendship with Munoz, who allowed him to copy the two thick volumes in which Sahagun's work was written .... These two volumes, then, that Colonel Panes had copied, were what was held to be solely the work of Father Sahagun, and as such esteemed; still it does not appear to be proved by attestation that this was the author's original aw- toyraph history. Had it boeu GO, the circumstance would hardly have been 236 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. loft without definite mention, when the relation was given of the way in which the book was got hold of, and when the guaranty of the exactness of the copy was procured. I to-day possess an original manuscript, written altogether and signed by the hand of Father Sahagun; in which is to be noted an essential variation in certain of the chapters which I now present, from those that I before published in the twelfth book of his Historia Gene- ral; which is the book treating of the Conquest. Sahagun wrote this manu- script in the year 1585, that is to say, five years before his death, and he wrote it without doubt under a presentiment of the alterations that his work would suffer. He had already made alterations therein himself, since he confesses (they are his words) that certain defects existed in them, that certain things had been put into the narrative of that Conquest that should not have been put there, while other things were left out that should not have been omitted. Therefore [says Bustamante], this autograph manuscript discovers the alterations that his writings underwent, and gives vis good reason to doubt the authenticity and exactness of the text seen by Munoz .... During the rev- olution of Madrid, in May 1808, caused by the entrance of the French and the removal of the royal family to Bayonne, the office of the secretary of the Academy of History was robbed, and from it were taken various bundles of the works of Father Sahagun. These an old lawyer of the court bought, and among them one entitled Relation de la conquista de esta Nueva Espaila, corno la contaron los soldados indios que se hallaron presenter. Converti6se en lengua espauola liana 4 inteliijible y bien enmendada en este ano de 1685. Unfortu- nately there had only remained [of the Relation, etc. (?)] a single volume of manuscript, which Senor D. Jose Gomez de la Cortina, ex-count of that title, bought, giving therefor the sum of a hundred dollars. He allowed me the use of it, and I have made an exact copy of it, adding notes for the better understanding of the Conquest; the before-mentioned being altogether written, as I have said, and signed by the hands of Father Sahagun. This portion, which the said ex-count has certified to, induces us to believe that the other works of Sahagun, relating both to the Conquest and to the Aparicion Guadalupana, have been adulterated because they did little honor to the first Conquerors. That they have at all come to be discussed with posterity has been because a knowledge of them was generally scattered, and in such a way that it was no longer possi- ble to keep them hidden; or, perhaps, because the faction interested in their concealment had disappeared. In proof of the authenticity and identity of this manuscript, we refer to Father Betancur in his Chronicle of the prov- ince of the Santo Evangelip de Mexico, making a catalogue of the illustri- ous men thereof; speaking of Sahagun, he says, on page 138: "The ninth book that this writer composed was the Conquest of Mexico by Cortes; which book afterward, in the year 1585, he rewrote and emended; the [amended] original of this I saw signed with his hand in the possession of Sefior D. Juan. Francisco de Montemayor, president of the Royal Audiencia, who carried it to Spain with the intention of having it printed; and of this I have a translation wherein it is said that the Marquis of Villa-Maurique, viceroy of Mexico, took from him [Sahagun] the twelve books and sent them to his majesty for the royal chronicler.'" Bustamante lastly gives a certificate of the authenticity of the manuscript under discussion and published by him. The certificate is signed by Jose Gomez de la Cortina, and runs as follows: ' Mexico, 1st April, 1840. I certify that, being in Madrid in the year 1828, 1 bought from D. Lorenzo Ruiz de Artieda, through the agency of my friend and companion, D. Jose Musso Valiente, member of the Spanish Academies of language and of history, the original manuscript of Father Sahagun, of which mention is made in this work by his Excellency Senor D. Carlos Maria Bustamante, as constated by the receipts of the seller, and by other docu- ments in my possession.' So much for Bustamante's new position as a reeditor of a part of Sahagun's Historia General; we have stated it in his own words, and in those of his own witnesses as brought forward by him. The changes referred to do not involve any matter bearing on mythology; it may be not out of place to say, however, that the evidence in favor of Bustaniiuite's new views seems strong and truth-like. CHAPTER VII. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. IMAGE OF TEZCATLIPOCA His SEATS AT THE STREET-CORNERS VARIOUS LEGENDS ABOUT HIS LIFE ON EARTH QUETZALCOATL His DEXTERITY IN THE MECHANICAL ARTS His RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES THE WEALTH AND NlMBLENESS OF HIS ADHERENTS EXPULSION FROM TULLA OF QuET- ZALCOATL BY TEZCATLIPOCA AND HuiTZILOPOCHTLI THE MAGIC DRAUGHT HUEMAC, OR VEMAC, KING OF THE TOLTECS, AND THE MISFORTUNES BROUGHT UPON HIM AND HIS PEOPLE BY TEZCATLIPOCA IN VARIOUS DISGUISES QUETZALCOATL IN CHOLULA DIFFERING ACCOUNTS OF THE BIRTH AND LIFE OF QUETZALCOATL His GENTLE CHARACTER HE DREW UP THE MEXICAN CALENDAR INCIDENTS OF HIS EXILE AND OF HIS JOURNEY TO TLAPALLA, AS RELATED AND COMMENTED UPON BY VARIOUS WRITERS BRASSEUR'S IDEAS ABOUT THE QUETZALCOATL MYTHS QUET- ZALCOATL CONSIDERED A SUN-GOD BY TYLOR, AND AS A DAWN -HERO BY BRINTON HELPS DOMENECH THE CODICES LONG DISCUSSION OF THE QUETZALCOATL MYTHS BY J. G. MULLER. IN the preceding chapter I have given only the loftier view of Tezcatlipoca's nature, which even on this side cannot be illustrated without many inconsis- tencies. We pass now to relations evidencing a much meaner idea of his character, and showing him whom we have seen called invisible, almighty, and beneficent, in a new and much less imposing light. We pass, in fact, from the Zeus of Plato and Socrates to the Zeus of Hesiod and Homer. Let us glance first at the fashion of his representation in the temples, though with little hope of seeing the particular fitness of many of the trappings and symbols with which his statue was decorated. His principal '237) 238 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. image, at least in the city of Mexico, was cut out cf a very shining black stone, called iztli, a variety of obsid- ian a stone valued, in consideration of its capabilities of cleavage, for making those long splinters used as knives by the Aztecs, for sacrificial and other purposes. For these uses in worship, and perhaps indeed for its manifold uses in all regards, it was surnamed teotetl, divine stone. In places where stone was less conve- nient, the image was made of wood. The general idea intended to be given was that of a young man; by which the immortality of the god was set forth. The ears of the idol were bright with ear-rings of gold and silver. Through his lower lip was thrust a little crystal tube, perhaps six inches long, and through the hollow of this tube a feather was drawn; sometimes a green feather, sometimes a blue, giving the transparent orna- ment the tint at one time of an emerald, at another of a turquoise. The hair carved from the stone, we may suppose was drawn into a queue and bound with a ribbon of burnished gold, to the end of which ribbon, hanging down behind, was attached a golden ear with certain tongues of ascending smoke painted thereon ; which smoke was intended to signify the prayers of those sinners and afflicted that, commending them- selves to the god, were heard by him. Upon his head were many plumes of red and green feathers. From his neck there hung down in front a great jewel of gold that covered all his breast. Bracelets of gold were upon his arms, and in his navel was set a precious green stone. In his left hand there flashed a great circular mirror of gold, bordered like a fan with pre- cious feathers, green and azure and yellow; the eyes of the god were ever fixed on this, for therein he saw reflected all that was done in the world. This mirror was called itlachia, that is to say, the 'looker-on, 3 the * viewer.' Tezcatlipoca was sometimes seated on a bench covered with a red cloth, worked with the like- ness of many skulls, having in his right hand four darts, signifying, according to some, that he punished sin. To the top of his feet were attached twenty bells of WORSHIP OF TEZCATLIPOCA. 239 gold, and to his right foot the fore-foot of a deer, to show the exceeding swiftness of this deity in all his ways. Hiding the shining black body was a great cloak, curiously wrought in black and white, adorned with feathers, arid fringed about with rosettes of three colors, red, white, and black. This god, whose decora- tions vary a little with different writers variations probably not greater than those really existing among the different figures representing in different places the same deity had a kind of chapel built to hold him on the top of his temple. It was a dark chamber lined with rich cloths of many colors; and from its obscurity the image looked out, seated on a pedestal, with a costly canopy immediately overhead, and an altar in front; not apparently an altar of sacrifice, but a kind of ornamental table, like a Christian altar, covered with rich cloth. Into this holy of holies it was not lawful for any but a priest to enter. What most of all, however, must have served to bring the worship of Tezcatlipoca prominently before the people were the seats of stone, built at the cor- ners of the streets, for the accommodation of this god when he walked invisibly abroad. Mortal, born of woman, never sat thereon; not the king himself might dare to use them ; sacred they were, sacred for- ever, and always shadowed by a canopy of green boughs, reverently renewed every five days. 1 Lower and lower we must now descend from the idea of an almighty god, to take up the thread of various legends in which Tezcatlipoca figures in any- thing but creditable light. We have already seen him described as one of those hero-gods whom the new- born Sun was instrumental in destroying; 2 and we may suppose that he then ascended into heaven, for 1 Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 353-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., p. 7; Duran, Hist. Ant. de la Nueva Espafia, MS., quoted in Sqitier's Notes to Palacio, Carta, note 27, pp. 117-18; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 242; Explication del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lain. ii. and xxvi., in Kings- borough's Mex. Antiq., vol. y., pp. 132, 144-5; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xlii., xlix., m Kinysborouyh's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 185, 188. 2 See this volume, p. 62. 240 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. we find him afterward descending thence, letting him- self down by a rope twined from a spider's web. Ram- bling through the world, he came to a place called Tulla, where a certain Quetzalcoatl another, accord- ing to Sahagun, of the hero-gods just referred to had been ruling for many years. The two engaged in a game of ball, in the course of which Tezcatlipoca sud- denly transformed himself into a tiger, occasioning thereby a tremendous panic among the spectators, many of whom in the haste of their flight precipitated themselves down a ravine in the neighborhood into a river and were drowned. Tezcatlipoca then began to persecute Quetzalcoatl from city to city, till he drove him to Cholula. Here Quetzalcoatl was held as chief god, and here for some time he was safe. But only for a few years; his indefatigable and powerful enemy forced him to retreat with a few of his adherents toward the sea, to a place called Tlillapa or Tizapan. Here the hunted Quetzalcoatl died, and his followers inaugurated the custom of burning the dead by burning his body. 3 The foregoing from Mendieta gives us a glimpse, from one point of view, of that great personage Quet- zalcoatl, of whom we shall know much more anon, and whom, in the mean time, we meet again and again as the opponent, or rather victim, of Tezcatlipoca. Let us consider Sahagun's version of the incidents of this strife. Quetzalcoatl was, from very ancient times, adored as a god in Tulla. He had a very high cu* there, with many steps up to it steps so narrow that there was not room for a whole foot on any of them. His image was always in a recumbent position and covered with blankets. The face of it was very ugly, the head large and furnished with a long beard. The adherents of this god were all devoted to the mechan- ical arts, dexterous in working the green stone called chalchiuite, and in founding the precious metals; all 3 Mendieta, Hist. Edes., p. 82. 4 Temple; see this vol., p. 192, note 26. QUETZALCOATL. 241 of which, arts had their beginning and origin with the said Quetzalcoatl . He had whole houses made of chalchiuites, others made of silver, others of white and red shells, others of planks, others of turquoises, and others of rich feathers. His adherents were very light of foot and swift in going whither they wished, and they were called tlanquacemilhiyme. There is a mountain called Tzatzitepetl on which Quetzalcoatl used to have a crier, and the people afar off and scat- tered, and the people of Andhuac, a hundred leagues distant, heard and understood at once whatever the said Quetzalcoatl commanded. And Quetzalcoatl was very rich; he had all that was needful both to eat and to drink; maize was abundant, and a head of it was as much as a man could carry clasped in his arms; pumpkins measured a fathom round; the stalks of the wild amarinth were so large and thick that people climbed them like trees. Cotton was sowed and gathered in of all colors, red, scarlet, yel- low, violet, whitish, green, blue, blackish, gray, orange, and tawny; these colors in the cotton were natural to it, thus it grew. Further, it is said that in that city of Tulla there abounded many sorts of birds of rich and many-colored plumage, the xiuhtototl, the quetzaliototl, the zaquan, the tlauhquechol, and other birds that sang with much sweetness. And this Quetzalcoatl had all the riches of the world, of gold and silver, of green stones called chalchiuites, and of other precious things, and a great abundance of cocoa- nut trees of divers colors. The vassals or adherents of Quetzalcoatl were also very rich and wanted for nothing ; they were never hungry ; they never lacked maize, nor ate the small ears of it, but burned them like wood to heat the baths. It is said, lastly, that Quetzalcoatl did penance by pricking his legs and drawing blood with the spines of the maguey and by washing at midnight in a fountain called xicapoya; 5 0r perhaps xipacoya, as in Kingsborough's eel. of SaJtayun, Mex. Anliq., vol. vii., p. 108. VOL. ill. 16 242 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. this custom the priests and ministers of the Mexican idols adopted. There came at last a time in which the fortunes of Quetzalcoatl and of his people, the Toltecs, began to fail ; for there came against them three sorcerers, gods in disguise, to wit, Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, and Tlacavepan, who wrought many deceits in Tulla. Tez- catlipoca especially prepared a cunning trick ; he turned himself into a hoary-headed old man, and went to the house of Quetzalcoatl, saying to the servants there, I wish to see and speak to your master. Then the ser- vants said, Go away, old man, thou canst not see our king, for he is sick, thou wilt annoy him and cause him heaviness. But Tezcatlipoca insisted, I must see him. Then the servants bid the sorcerer to wait, and they went in and told Quetzalcoatl how an old man without affirmed that he would see the king and would not be denied. And Quetzalcoatl answered, Let him come in, behold for many days I have waited for his coming. So Tezcatlipoca entered, and he said to the sick god-king, How art thou ? adding further that he had a medicine for him to drink. Then Quetzalcoatl answered, Thou art welcome, old man, behold for many days I have waited for thee. And the old sorcerer spake again, How is thy body? and how art thou in health? I am exceedingly sick, said Quetzalcoatl, all my body is in pain, I cannot move my hands nor my feet. Then, answered Tezcatlipoca, behold this medi- cine that I have, it is good and wholesome and intoxi- cating; if thou will drink it, thou shalt be intoxicated and healed and eased at the heart, and thou shalt have in mind the toils and fatigues of death and of thy de- parture. 8 Where, cried Quetzalcoatl, have I to go? To Tullantlapallan, replied Tezcatlipoca, where there is another old man waiting for thee ; he and thou shall talk together, and on thy return thence thou shalt be as a youth, yea, as a boy. And Quetzalcoatl hearing 6 ' Y acordarseos h de los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, 6 de vuestra ida.' KinysltorouyJiS Mcx. Antifj., vol. vii., p. 109. ' Y acordarseos ha los tra- bajos y fatigas da la inuerte, 6 de vuestra vida.' Sahafjun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 245-G. TEZCATLIPOCA AS A PEDLER. 243 these words, his heart was moved, while the old sor- cerer, insisting more and more, said, Sir, drink this medicine. But the king did not wish to drink it. The sorcerer, however, insisted, Drink, my lord, or thou wilt be sorry for it hereafter ; at least rub a little on thy brow and taste a sip. So Quetzalcoatl tried and tasted it, and drank, saying, What is this? it seems to be a thing very good and savory; already I feel myself healed and quit of mine infirmity; already I am well. Then the old sorcerer said again, Drink once more, my lord, since it is good; so thou shall be the more perfectly healed. And Quetzalcoatl drank a^ain, he made himself drunk, he began to weep sadly, his heart was eased and moved to depart, he could not rid himself of the thought that he must go ; for this was the snare and deceit of Tezcatlipoca. And the medicine that Quetzalcoatl drank was the white wine of the country, made from the magueys that are called teumetl. So Quetzalcoatl, whose fortunes we shall hereafter follow more particularly, set out upon his journey^ and Tezcatlipoca proceeded further guilefully to kill many Toltecs, and to ally himself by marriage with Vemac, who was the temporal lord of the Toltecs, even as Quetzalcoatl was the spiritual ruler of that people. To accomplish these things, Tezcatlipoca took the ap- pearance of a poor foreigner, and presented himself naked, as was the custom of such people, in the mar- ket-place of Tulla, selling green chilly pepper. Now the palace of Vemac, the great king, overlooked the market-place, and he had an only daughter, and the girl, looking by chance among the buyers and sellers, saw the disguised god. She was smitten through with love of him, and she began to sicken. Vemac heard of her sickness, and he inquired of the women that guarded her as to what ailed his daughter. They told him as best they could how for the love of a pedler of pepper, named Toveyo, the princess had lain down to die. The king immediately sent a crier upon the mountain Tzatzitepec to make this proclamation: 244 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Toltecs, seek me out Toveyo that goes about selling green pepper, let hirn be brought before me. So the people sought everywhere for the handsome pepper vender ; but he was nowhere to be found. Then, after they could not find him, he appeared of his own accord one day at his old place and trade in the market. He was brought before the king, who said to him, Where dost thou belong to 1 and Toveyo answered, I am a for- eigner come here to sell my green pepper. Why dost thou delay to cover thyself with breeches and with a blanket? said Vemac. Toveyo answered that in his country such things were not in fashion. Vemac con- tinued, My daughter longs after thee, not willing to be comforted by any Toltec ; she is sick of love, and thou must heal her. But Toveyo replied, This thing can in no wise be, kill me first; I desire to die, not being worthy to hear these words, who get my living by selling green pepper. I tell thee, said the king, that thou must heal my daughter of this her sickness; fear not. Then they took the cunning god, and washed him, and cut his hair, and dyed all his body, and put breeches on him and a blanket; and the king Vemac said, Get thee in and see my daughter, there where they guard her. Then the young man went in, and he remained with the princess, and she became sound and well; thus Toveyo became the sori-in-law of the king of Tulla. Then behold all the Toltecs, being filled with jeal- ousy and offended, spake injurious and insulting words against king Vemac, saying among themselves, Of all the Toltecs can there not be found a man, that this Vemac marries his daughter to a pedler? Now when the king heard all the injurious and insulting words that the people spake against him, he was moved, and he spoke to the people saying, Come hither, behold I have heard all these things that ye say against-'me in the matter of my son-in-law Toveyo ; dissimulate then; take him deceitfully with you to the war of Cacatepec and Coatepec, let the enemy kill him there. Having heard these words, the Toltecs armed them- TRIUMPH OF TEZCATLIPOCA. 245 selVes, and collected a multitude, and went to the war, bringing Toveyo along. Arrived where the fighting was to take place, they hid him with the lame and the dwarfs, charging them, as the custom was in such cases, to watch for the enemy, while the soldiers went on to the attack. The battle began; the Toltecs at once gave way ; treacherously and guilefully deserting Toveyo and the cripples, leaving them to be slaugh- tered at their post, they returned to Tulla and told the king how they had left Toveyo and his companions alone in the hands of the enemy. When the king heard the treason, he was glad, thinking Toveyo dead, for he was ashamed of having him for a son-in-law. Affairs had gone otherwise, however, with Toveyo from what the plotters supposed. On the approach of the hostile army he consoled his deformed compan- ions, saying, Fear nothing; the enemy come against us, but I know that I shall kill them all. Then he rose up and went forward against them, against the men of Coatepec and Cacatepec; he put them to flight, and slew of them without number. When this came to the ears of Vemac, it weighed upon and terrified him exceedingly, He said to his Toltecs, Let us now go and receive my son-in-law. So they all went out with king Vemac to receive Toveyo, bearing the arms or devices called quetzalapanecayutl, and the shields called xiuchimali. They gave these things to Toveyo, and he and his comrades received them with dancing and the music of flutes, with triumph and rejoicing. Furthermore, on reaching the palace of the king, plumes were put upon the heads of the conquerors, and all the body of each of them was stained yellowy and all the face red; this was the customary reward of those that came back victorious from war. And king Vemac said to his son-in-law, I am now satisfied with what thou hast done, and the Toltecs are satis- fied; thou hast dealt very well with our enemies, rest and take thine ease. But Toveyo held his peace. And after this, Toveyo adorned all his body with the rich feathers called tocivitl, and commanded the 246 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Toltecs to gather together for a festival, and seat a crier up to the top of the mountain, Tzatzitepec, to call in the strangers and the people afar off to dance and to feast. A numberless multitude gathered to Tulla. When they were all gathered, Toveyo led them out, young men and girls, to a place called Texcalapa, where he himself began and led the dancing, playing on a drum. He sang, too, singing each verse to the dancers, who sang it after him, though they knew not the song beforehand. Then was to be seen there a marvellous and terrible thing. From sunset till mid- night the beat of the countless feet grew faster and faster; the tap, tap, tap, of the drum closed up and poured into a continual roll; the monotonous song rose higher, wilder, till it burst into a roar. The multi- tude became a mob, the revel a riot; the people began to press upon and hustle each other; the riot became a panic. There was a fearful gorge or ravine there, with a river rushing through it, called the Texcal- tlauhco; a stone bridge led over the river. Toveyo broke down this bridge as the people fled; grim cory- pheus of this fearful revel, he saw them tread and crush each other down, underfoot, and over into the abyss. They that fell were turned into rocks and stones; as for them that escaped, they did not see nor think that it was Toveyo and his sorceries had wrought this destruction ; they were blinded by the witchcraft of the god, and out of their senses like drunken men. Far from being satisfied with the slaughter at Tex- calapa, Tezcatlipoca proceeded to hatch further evil against the Toltecs. He took the appearance of a certain valiant man called Teguioa, and commanded a crier to summon all the inhabitants of Tulla and its neighborhood to come and help at a certain piece of work in a certain flower-garden (said to have been a garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl). All the people gathered to the work, whereupon the disguised god fell upon them, knocking them on the head with a coa. 1 7 Hoe of burnt wood. ' Coa palo tostado, empleado por los indios para labrar la tierra, & maiiera de hazada (Lengua de Cxiba.) Voces Americanos Empleadaf, Por Omedo.. ? Tended to Omedo. Hist. Gen., torn, iv., p. .^96. TEZCATLIPOCA DEAD. 247 Those that escaped the coa were trodden down and killed by their fellows in attempting to escape; a countless number was slain ; every man that had come to the work was left dead among the trodden flowers. And after this, Tezcatlipoca wrought another witch- craft against the Toltecs. He called himself Tlacave- pan, or Acexcoch, and came and sat down in the midst of the market-place of Tulla, having a little manikin (said to have been Huitzilopochtli) dancing upon his hand. There was an instant uproar of all the buyers and sellers and a rush to see the miracle. The people crushed and trod each other down, so that many were killed there ; and all this happened many times. At last the god-sorcerer cried out on one such occasion, What is this? do you not see that you are befooled by us? stone and kill us. So the people took up stones and killed the said sorcerer and his little dancing manikin. But when the body of the sorcerer had lain in the market-place for some time, it began to stink and taint the air, and the wind of its poisoned many. Then the dead sorcerer spake again, saying, Cast this body outside the town, for many Toltecs die because of it. So they prepared to cast out the body, and fastened ropes thereto and pulled. But the talkative and ill-smelling corpse was so heavy that they could not move it. Then a crier made a proclamation, say- ing, Come all ye Toltecs, and bring ropes with you, that we may drag out and get rid of this pestilential carcass. All came accordingly bringing ropes, and the ropes were fastened to the body and all pulled., It was utterly in vain. Rope after rope broke with a sudden snap, and those that dragged on a rope fell and were killed when it broke. Then the dead wizard looked up and said, O Toltecs, a verse of a song is needed; and he himself gave them a verse. They repeated the verse after him, and singing it, pulled all together, so that with shouts they hauled the body out of the city; though still not without many ropes breaking and many persons being killed as before. All this being over, those Toltecs that remained unhurt 248 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. returned every man to his place, not remembering what had happened, for they were all as drunken. Other signs and wonders were wrought by Tezcatli- poca in his role of sorcerer. A white bird called Yz- taccuixtli was clearly seen flying over Tulla, transfixed with a dart. At night, also, the sierra called Zacatepec burned, and the flames were seen from far. AIL the people were stirred up and affrighted, saying one to another, Toltecs, it is all over with us now; the time of the end of Tulla is come } alas for us ! whither shall we go ? Then Tezcatlipoca wrought another evil upon the Toltecs: he rained down stones upon them. There fell also, at the same time, a great stone from heaven called techcatl; and when it fell the god-sorcerer took the appearance of an old woman, and went about sell- ing little banners in a place called Chapultepecuitla- pilco, otherwise named Vetzinco. Many then became mad, and bought of these banners, and went to the place where was the stone Techcatl, and there got themselves killed; and no one was found to say so much as, What is this that happens to us? they were all mad. Another woe Tezcatlipoca brought upon the Toltecs. All their victuals suddenly became sour, and no one was able to eat of them. The old woman above men- tioned took up then her abode in a place called Xochitla, 8 and began to roast maize ; and the odor of the roasted maize reached all the cities round about. The starving people set out immediately, and with one accord, to go where the old woman was. They reached her instantly, for here it may be again said that the Toltecs were exceedingly light of foot, and arrived always immediately whithersoever they wished to go. As for the Toltecs that gathered to the sham sorcerers, not one of them escaped, she killed them every one. 9 *Xoc7atla, garden; see Molina, Vocabularto. Perhaps that garden belong- ing to Quetzalcoatl, which had been already so fatal to the Toltecs. See this volume, p. 246. 9 Kinysborough's Mex. Antiq. t vol. vii., pp 108-13; Saliacfun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 243-55. It will be seen that in almost all points of spell- IMAGE OF QUETZALCOATL. 249 Turning, without remark for the present, from Tez catlipoca, of whose life on earth the preceding farrago of legends is all that is known, let us take up the same period in the history of Quetzalcoatl. The city of Cholula was the place in which this god was most honored, and toward which he was supposed to be most favorably inclined; Cholula being greatly given to commerce and handicraft, and the Cholulans con- sidering Quetzalcoatl to be the god of merchandise. As Acosta tells : "In Cholula, which is a common- wealth of Mexico, they worshipt a famous idoll which was the god of marchandise, being to this day greatly given to trafficke. They called it Quetzaalcoalt. This idoll was in a great place in a temple very hie : it had about it golde, silver, Jewells, very rich feathers, and habites of divers colours. It had the forme of a man, but the visage of a little bird, with a red bill, and above a combe full of wartes, having ranckes of teeth, and the tongue hanging out. It car- ried vpon the head a pointed myter of painted paper, a sithe in the hand, and many toyes of golde on the legges; with a thousand other foolish inventions, whereof all had their significations, and they worshipt it, for that hee enriched whome hee pleased, as Mem- non and Plutus. In trueth, this name which the Choluanos gave to their god was very fitte, although they vnderstood it not: they called it Quetzaalcoalt, signifying colour of a rich feather, for such is the divell of covetousnesse." 10 Motolinia gives the following confused accotmt of the birth as a man, the life, and the apotheosis of this god: The Mexican Adam, called Iztacmixcoatl by some writers, married a second time. 11 This second wife, Chimarnatl by name, bore him, it is said, an only son who was called Quetzalcoatl. This son grew up a chaste and temperate man. He originated by his preaching and practice the custom of fasting and ing the edition of Kingsborough is followed in preference to the in such points very inaccurate edition of Bustamaiite. 10 Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 354. 11 As to the tirst wife and her family, see this vol., p. 60. 250 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. self-punishment; and from that time many in that country began to do this penance. He never married, nor knew any woman, but lived restrainedly and chastely all his days. The custom of scarifying the ears and the tongue, by drawing blood from these members, was also introduced by him; not for the service of the devil, but in penitence for the sins of his speech and his hearing: it is true that afterward the demon misappropriated these rites to his own use and worship. A man called Chichimecatl fastened a leather strap on the arm of Quetzalcoatl, fixing it high up near the shoulder; Chichimecatl was from that time called Acolhuatl, and from him, it is said, are descended those of Colhua, ancestors of Montezuma and lords of Mexico and Coluacan. This Quetzalcoatl is now held as a deity and called the god of the air; everywhere an infinite number of temples has been raised to him, and everywhere his statue or picture is found. 12 According to the account of Mendieta, tradition varied much as to the facts of the life of Quetzalcoatl. Some said he was the son of Camaxtli, god of hunting and fishing, and of Camaxtli's wife, Chimalma. Others make mention only of the name of Chimalma, saying that as she was sweeping one day she found a small green stone called chalchiuite, that she picked it up, became miraculously pregnant, and gave birth to the said Quetzalcoatl. This god was worshipped as a principal deity in Cholula, where, as well as in Tlax- cala and Huejotzingo, there were many of his temples. We have already had one legend from Mendieta, 13 giving an account of the expulsion from Tulla and death of Quetzalcoatl; the following from the same source gives a different and more usual version of the said expulsion: Quetzalcoatl came from the parts of Yucatan (al- though some said from Tulla) to the city of Cholula. He was a white man, of portly person, broad brow, great eyes, long black hair, and large round beard; of l2 Motohnia, Hist. Indios, in Jcazbalceta, Col, torn, i., pp. 10-11. 13 See this vol., p 240. DEPARTURE OF QUETZALCOATL. 251 exceedingly chaste and quiet life, and of great mod- eration in all things. The people had at least three reasons for the great love, reverence, and devotion with which they regarded him: first, he taught the silversmith's art, a craft the Cholulans greatly prided themselves on; second, he desired no sacrifice of the blood of men or animals, but delighted only in offer- ings of bread, roses, and other flowers, of perfumes and sweet odors ; third, he prohibited and forbade all war and violence. Nor were these qualities esteemed only in the city of his chiefest labors and teachings; from all the land came pilgrims and devotees to the shrine of the gentle god. Even the enemies of Cho- lula came and went secure, in fulfilling their vows; and the lords of distant lands had in Cholula their chapels and idols, to the common object of devotion and esteem. And only Quetzalcoatl among all the gods was preeminently called Lord; in such sort, that when any one swore, saying, By Our Lord, he meant Quetzalcoatl, and no other; though there were many other highly esteemed gods. For indeed the service of this god was gentle, neither did he demand hard things, but light; and he taught only virtue, abhor- ring all evil and hurt. Twenty years this good deity remained in Cholula, then he passed away by the road he had come, carrying with him four of the principal and most virtuous youths of that city. He journeyed for a hundred and fifty leagues, till he came to the sea, in a distant province called Goatzacoalco. Here he took leave of his companions and sent them back to their city, instructing them to tell their fellow-citi- zens that a day should come in which white men would land upon their coasts, by way of the sea in which the sun rises; brethren of his and having beards like his; and that they should rule that land. The Mexicans always waited for the accomplishment of this prophecy, and when the Spaniards came, they took them for the descendants of their meek and gen- tle prophet, although, as Mendieta remarks with some 252 GOI/S, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. sarcasm, when they came to know them and to expe- rience their works, they thought otherwise. Quetzalcoatl is further reported by Mendieta to have assisted in drawing up and arranging the Mexican Cal- endar, a sacred book of thirteen tables, in which the religious rites and ceremonies proper to each day were set forth, in connection with the appropriate signs. It is said that the gods, having created mankind, bethought themselves that it would be well if the people they had made had some writings by which they might direct themselves. Now there were, in a certain cave at Cuer- navaca, two personages of the number of the gods, and they were man and wife, he Oxomoco, and she Cipac- tonal ; and they were consulting together. It appeared good to the old woman that her descendant Quetzal- coatl should be consulted. The Cholulan god thought the thing of the calendar to be good and reasonable ; so the three set to work. To the old woman was respect- fully allotted the privilege of choosing and writing the first sign; she painted a kind of water-serpent called tipactli, and called the sign Ce Cipactli, that is, 'a ser- pent.' Oxomoco in his turn wrote 'two canes/ and then Quetzalcoatl wrote ' three houses;' and so they went on till the whole thirteen signs of each table were written out in their order. 14 Let us now take up again the narrative of Sahagun, at the point where Quetzalcoatl, after drinking the potion prepared by Tezcatlipoca, prepares to set off upon his journey. Quetzalcoatl, very heavy in heart for all the misfortunes that this rival god was bringing upon the Toltecs, burned his beautiful houses of silver and of shell, and ordered other precious things to be buried in the mountains and ravines. He turned the cocoa-nut trees into a kind of trees that are called mizquitl; he commanded all the birds of rich plumage, the quetzaltototl, and the xiuhtotl, and the tlauquechol, to fly away and go into Andhuac, a hundred leagues distant. Then he himself set out upon his road from Tulla; he travelled on till he came to a place called 14 Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 82, 86, 92-3, 97-8. THE SUN CALLS QUETZALCOATL. 253 Quauhtitlan, where was a great tree, high and very thick. Here the exile rested, and he asked his ser- vants for a mirror, and looked at his own face. What thoughts soever were working in his heart, he only said, I am already old. Then he named that place Vevequauhtitlan, and he took up stones and stoned the great tree; and all the stones he threw sank into it, and were for a long time to be seen sticking there, from the ground even up to the topmost branches. Continuing his journey, having flute-players playing before him, he came to a place on the road where he was weary, and sat down on a stone to rest. And looking toward Tulla, he wept bitterly. His tears marked and ate into the stone on which he sat, and the print of his hands, and of his back parts, was also found therein when he resumed his journey. He called that place Temacpalco. After that he reached a very great and wide river, and he commanded a stone bridge to be thrown across it; on that bridge he crossed the river, and he named the place Tepanoaya. Going on upon his way, Quetzalcoatl came to another place, where certain sorcerers met and tried to stop him, saying, Whither goest thou? why dost thou leave thy city? to whose care wilt thou commend it? who will do penance ? Quetzalcoatl replied to the said sorcerers, Ye can in no wise hinder my going, for I must go. They asked him further, Whither goest thou? He said, To Tlapalla. They continued, But to what end goest thou? He said, I am called, and the sun calls me. So the sorcerers said, Go, then, but leave behind all the mechanical arts, the melting of silver, the working of precious stones and of masonry, the painting, feather- working, and other crafts. And of all these the sorcerers despoiled Quetzalcoatl. As for him, he cast into a fountain all the rich jewels that he had with him; and that fountain was called Cohcaapa, and it is so named to this day. Quetzalcoatl continued his journey; and there came another sorcerer to meet him, saying, Whither goest thou? Quetzalcoatl said, To Tlapalla. The wizard 254 GOBS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. said, Very well; but drink this wine that I have. The traveller answered, No : I cannot drink it; I cannot so much as taste it. Thou must drink, said the grim magician, were it but a drop; for to none of the living can I give it; it intoxicates all, so drink. Then Quet- zalcoatl took the wine and drank it through a cane. Drinking, he made himself drunk ; he slept upon the road ; he began to snore ; and when he awoke, he looked on one side and on the other, and tore his hair with his hands. And that place was called Cochtoca. Quetzalcoatl going on upon his way and passing be- tween the sierra of the volcano and the snowy sierra, all his servants, being hump-backed and dwarfs, died of cold in the pass between the said mountains. And Quetzalcoatl bewailed their death bitterly, and sang with weeping and sighing. Then he saw the other snowy sierra, which is called Poyauhtecatl and is near Tecamachalco; and so he passed by all the cities and places, leaving many signs, it is said, in all the moun- tains and roads. 15 It is said further that he had a way of crossing the sierras whereby he amused and rested himself at the same time : when he came to the top of a mountain he used to sit down, and so seated, let him- self slide down the mountain-side to the bottom. In one place he built a court for ball-play, all of squared stone, and here he used to play the game called llachtli. 16 Through the midst of this court he drew a line called the telcotl; and where that line was made the moun- tain is now opened with a deep gash. In another place he cast a dart at a great tree called a pochutl, piercing it through with the dart in such wise that the tree looked like a cross ; for the dart he threw was itself a tree of the same kind. 17 Some say that Quetzalcoatl built certain subterranean houses, called micllancalco ; and further, that he set up and balanced a great stone, so that one could move it with one's little finger, yet 15 See this vol., p. 243. 164 TlacMU, juego de pelota con las nalgas; el lugar donde juegan assi.' Molina, Vocdtndarif). 17 This last clause is to be found only in Bustamante's ed.; see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 258. SWIFTNESS OF THE SERVANTS OF QUETZALCOATL. 255 a multitude could not displace it. Many other notable things remain that Quetzalcoatl did among many peo- ples; he it was that named all the places and woods and mountains. Travelling ever onward, he came at last to the sea-shore, and there commanded a raft to be made of the snakes called coatlapechtli. Having seated himself on this raft as in a canoe, he put out to sea, and no man knows how he got to Tlapallan. 18 Torquemada gives a long and valuable account of Quetzalcoatl, gathered from many sources, which can- not be overlooked. It runs much as follows: The name Quetzalcoatl means Snake-plumage, or Snake that has plumage and the kind of snake referred to in this name is found in the province of Xicalanco, which is on the frontier of the kingdom of Yucatan as one goes thence to Tabasco. This god Quetzalcoatl was very celebrated among the people of the city of Cholula, and held in that place for the greatest of all. He was, according to credible histories, high-priest in the city of Tulla. From that place he went to Cho- lula, and not, as Bishop Bartolomd de las Casas says in his Apologia, to Yucatan; though he went to Yuca- tan afterward, as we shall see. It is said of Quetzalcoatl that he was a white man, large-bodied, broad-browed, great-eyed, with long black hair, and a beard heavy and rounded. 19 He was a great artificer, and very ingenious. He taught many mechanical arts, especial- ly the art of working the precious stones called chal- chiuites, which are a kind of green stone highly valued, and the art of casting silver and gold. The people, seeing him so inventive, held him in great estimation, and reverenced him as king in that city; and so it came about that though in temporal things the ruler of Tulla was a lord named Huemac, 20 yet in all spirit- ual and ecclesiastical matters Quetzalcoatl was supreme, and as it were chief pontiff. 18 Ktnqsborvugh's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 114-15; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 255-9. 19 ' Era H ombre bianco, crecido de cuerpo, ancha la f rente, los ojos gran- des, los cabellos largos, y negros, la barba grande y redonda. ' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., p. 47. Spelled Vemac by Sahagun; see preceding pages of this chapter. 256 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. It is feigned by those that seek to make much of their god that he had certain palaces made of green stone like emeralds, others made of silver, others of shells, red and white, others of all kinds of wood, others of turquoise, and others of precious feathers. He is said to have been very rich, and in need of nothing. His vassals were very obedient to him, and very light of foot; they were called tlanquacemilhuique. When they wished to publish any command of Quet- zal coatl, they sent a crier up upon a high mountain called Tzatzitepec, where with a loud voice he pro- claimed the order; and the voice of this crier was heard for a hundred leagues distance, and farther, even to the coasts of the sea : all this is affirmed for true. The fruits of the earth and the trees flourished there in an extraordinary degree, and sweet-singing birds were abundant. The great pontiff inaugurated a sys- tem of penance, pricking his legs, and drawing blood, and staining therewith maguey thorns. He washed also at midnight in a fountain called Xiuhpacoya. From all this, it is said, the idolatrous priests of Mexico adopted their similar custom. While Quetzalcoatl was enjoying this good fortune with pomp and majesty, we are told that a great ma- gician called Titlacahua (Tezcatlipoca), another of the gods, arrived at Tulla. He took the form of an old man, and went in to see Quetzalcoatl, saying to him, My lord, inasmuch as I know thine intent, and how much thou desirest to set out for certain distant lands; also, because I know from thy servants that thou art unwell, I have brought thee a certain beverage, by drinking which thou shalt attain thine end. Thou shalt so make thy way to the country thou desirest, having perfect health to make the journey; neither shalt thou remember at all the fatigues and toils of life, nor how thou art mortal. 21 Seeing all his pro- jects thus discovered by the pretended old man, Quetzalcoatl questioned him, Where have I to go? B1 This agrees ill with what is related at this point by Sahagun; see this vol., p. 242. QUETZALCOATL LEAVES MARKS ON A STONE. 257 Tezcatlipoca answered, That it was already deter- mined with the supreme gods that he had to go to Tlapalla, and that the thing was inevitable, because there was another old man waiting for him at his des- tination. As Quetzalcoatl heard this, he said that it was' true, and that he desired it much; and he took the vessel and drank the liquor it contained. Quet- zalcoatl was thus easily persuaded to what Tezcatlipoca desired, because he wished to make himself immortal and to enjoy perpetual life. Having swallowed the draught, he became beside himself, and out of his mind, weeping sadly and bitterly. He determined to go to Tlapalla. He destroyed or buried all his plate and other property, and set out. First he arrived at the place Quauhtitlan, where the great tree was, and where he, borrowing a mirror from his servants, found himself " already old." The name of this place was changed by him to Huehuequauhtitlan, that is to say, "near the old tree, or the tree of the old man;" and the trunk of the tree was filled with stones that he cast at it. After that he journeyed on, his people playing flutes and other instruments, till he came to a mountain near the city of Tlalnepantla, two leagues from the city of Mexico, where he sat down on a stone and put his hands on it, leaving marks embedded therein that may be seen to this day. The truth of this thing is strongly corroborated by the inhabitants of that district; I myself have questioned them upon the subject, and it has been certified to me. Further- more, we have it written down accurately by many worthy authors; and the name of the locality is now Temacpalco, that is to say, 'in the palm of the hand.' Journeying on to the coast and to the kingdom of Tlapalla, Quetzalcoatl was met by the three sorcerers, Tezcatlipoca and other two with him, who had already brought so much destruction upon Tulla. These tried to stop or hinder him in his journey, questioning him, Whither goest thou ? He answered, To Tlapalla. To whom, they inquired, hast thou given the charge of VOL. III. 17 258 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. thy kingdom of Tulla, and who will do penance there ? But he said that that was no longer any affair of his, and that he must pursue his road. And being further questioned as to the object of his journey, he said that he was called by the lord of the land to which he was going, who was the sun. 22 The three wizards, seeing then the determination of Quetzalcoatl, made no fur- ther attempt to dissuade him from his purpose, but contented themselves with taking from him all his in- struments and his mechanical arts, so that though he departed, those things should not be wanting to the state. It was here that Quetzalcoatl threw into a fountain all the rich jewels that he carried with him; for which thing the fountain was called from that time Cozcaapan, that is to say, 'the water of the strings or chains of jewels.' The same place is now called Coaapan, that is to say, 'in the snake- water/ and very properly, because the word Quetzalcoatl means ' feathered snake.' In this way he journeyed on, suffer- ing various molestations from those sorcerers, his ene- mies, till he arrived at Cholula, where he was received (as we in another part say), 23 and afterward adored as 22 At this part of the story, Torquemada takes opportunity, parenthet- ically, to remark that this fable was very generally current among the Mexicans, and that when Father Bernardino de Sahagun was in the city of Xuchimilco, they asked him where Tlapalla was. Sahagun replied that he did not know, as indeed he did not (nor any one else, ib being apparently wholly mythical), nor even understand their question, inasmuch as he had been at that time only a little while in the country, it being fifty years before he wrote his book (the Historia General). Sahagun adds that the Mexicans made at that time divers trials of this kind, questioning the Christians to see if they knew anything of their antiquities. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., p. 50. 23 The passage of Torquemada referred to I condense as follows: Cer- tain people came from the north by way of Panuco. These were men of good carriage, well-dressed in long robes of black linen, open in front, and without capes, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves that did not come to the elbow; the same, in fact, as the natives use to this day in their dances. From Panuco they passed on very peaceably by degrees to Tulla, where they were well received by the inhabitants. The country there, however, was already too thickly populated to sustain the new-comers, so these passed on to Cholula where they had an excellent reception. They brought with them as their chief and head a personage called Quetzalcoatl, a fair and ruddy complexioned man, with a long beard. In Cholula, these people remained and multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower Miz- teca and the Zapotecan country; and these it is said raised the grand edifices, whose remains are still to be seen at Mictlan. These followers of Quetzal- coatl were men of great knowledge and cunning artists in all kinds of hue work; not so good at masonry and the use of the hammer as in casting and QUETZALCOATL SWEPT THE ROADS. 259 god. Having lived twenty years in that city, he was expelled by Tezcatlipoca. He set out for the kingdom of Tlapalla, accompanied by four virtuous youths of noble birth, and in Goatzacoalco, a province distant from Cholula toward the sea a hundred and fifty leagues, he embarked for his destination. Parting with his disciples, he told them that there should surely come to them in after times, by way of the sea where the sun rises, certain white men with white beards like him, and that these would be his brothers and would rule that land. After that the four disciples returned to Cholula, and told all that their master and god had prophesied when departing. Then the Cholulans divided their province into four principalities, and gave the gov- ernment to those four, and some four of their descend- ants always ruled in like manner over these tetrarchies till the Spaniard came ; being, however, subordinate to a central power. This Quetzalcoatl was god of the air, and as such had his temple, of a round shape and very magnificent. He was made god of the air for the mildness and gen- tleness of all his ways, not liking the sharp and harsh measures to which the other gods were so strongly inclined. It is to be said further that his life on earth was marked by intensely religious characteristics ; not only was he devoted to the careful observance of all the old customary forms of worship, but he himself ordained and appointed many new rites, ceremonies, and festivals for the adoration of the gods; and it is in the engraving and setting of precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic sculpture, and in agriculture. Quetzalcoatl had, however, two enemies; Tezcatlipoca was one, and Huemac, king of Tulla, the other; these two had been most instrumental in causing him to leave Tulla. And at Cholula, Huemac followed him up with a great army; and Quetzalcoatl, not wishing to engage in any war, departed for another part with most part of his people, going, it is said, to a land called Onohualco, which is near the sea, and embraced what are now called Yucatan, Tabasco, and Campeche. Ihen when Huemac came to the place where he had thought to find Quetzalcoatl, and found him not, he was wrath and laid waste and destroyed all the country, and made himself lord over it, and caused also that the people wor- shipped him as a god. All this he did to obscure and blot out the memory of Quetzalcoatl, and for the hate that he bore him. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., pp. 254-6. 260 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. held for certain that he made the calendar. He had priests who were called quequetzalcohua, that is to say, ' priests of the order of Quetzalcoatl.' The mem- ory of him was engraved deeply upon the minds of the people, and it is said that when barren women prayed and made sacrifices to him, children were given them. He was, as we have said, god of the winds, and the power of causing them to blow was attributed to him as well as the power of calming or causing their fury to cease. It was said further that he swept the road, so that the gods called Tlaloques could rain ; this the people imagined because ordinarily a month or more before the rains began there blew strong winds throughout all New Spain. Quetzalcoatl is described as having worn during life, for the sake of modesty, garments that reached down to the feet, with a blanket over all, sown with red crosses. The Cholulans pre- served certain green stones that had belonged to him, regarding them with great veneration and esteeming them as relics. Upon one of these was carved a mon- key's head, very natural. In the city of Cholula, there was to be found dedicated to him a great and magnifi- cent temple, with many steps, but each step so narrow that there was not room for a foot on it. His image had a very ugly face, with a large and heavily bearded head. It was not set on its feet, but lying down, and covered with blankets. This, it is said, was done as a memorial that he would one day return to reign. For reverence of his great majesty, his image was kept covered, and to signify his absence it was kept ]ying down, as one that sleeps, as one that lies down to sleep. In awaking from that sleep, he was to rise up and reign. The people also of Yucatan reverenced this god Quetzalcoatl, calling him Kukulcan, and saying that he came to them from the west, that is, from New Spain, for Yucatan is eastward therefrom. From him it is said the kings of Yucatan are de- scended, who call themselves Cocomes, that is to say, * judges or hearers.' 24 24 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 48-52. CLAVIGERO ON QUETZALCOATL. 261 Clavigero's account is characteristically clear and comprehensible. It may be summed up as follows: Among the Mexicans and other nations of Analiuac, Quetzalcoatl was accounted god of the air. He is said to have been some time high-priest of Tulla. He is described as having been white a large, broad- browed, great-eyed man, with long black hair and thick beard. His life was rigidly temperate and ex- emplary, and his industry was directed by the pro- foundest wisdom. He amassed great treasure, and his was the invention of gem-cutting and of metal- casting. All things prospered in his time. One ear of corn was a man's load; and the gourds, or pump- kins, of the day were as tall as one's body. No one dyed cotton then, for it grew of all colors; and all other things in like manner were perfect and abundant. The very birds in the trees sang such songs as have never since been heard, and flashed such marvellous beauties in the sun as no plumage of later times could rival. Quetzalcoatl had his laws proclaimed from the top of the hill Tzatzitepec (mountain of outcry), near Tulla, by a crier whose voice was audible for three hundred miles. All this, however, was put an end to, as far as Tulla was concerned, by Tezcatlipoca, who, moved perhaps by jealousy, determined to remove Quetzal- coatl. So the god appeared to the great teacher in the guise of an old man, telling him it was the will of the gods that he betake himself to Tlapalla, and administering at the same time a potion, the effect of which was to cause an intense longing for the said journey. Quetzalcoatl set out, and having performed many marvels on the way, arrived in Cholula. Here the inhabitants would not suffer him to go farther, but persuaded him to accept the government of their city; and he remained with them, teaching many useful arts, customs, and ceremonies, and preaching against war and all other forms of cruelty. Accord- ing to some, he at this time arranged the divisions of the seasons and the calendar. 262 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Having lived twenty years in Cholula, he left, still impelled by the subtle draught, to seek this imaginary city of Tlapalla. He was no more seen of men, some said one thing and some another; but, however he might have disappeared, he was apotheosized by the Toltecs of Cholula, who raised him a great mound and built a sanctuary upon it. A similar structure was erected to his honor at Tulla. From Cholula his wor- ship as god of the air spread over all the country; in Yucatan the nobles claimed descent from him. 25 The ideas of Brasseur with regard to Quetzalcoatl have their roots in and must be traced back to the very first appearing of the Mexican religion, or of the religion or religions by which it was preceded; so that to arrive at those ideas I must give a summary of the abbe's whole theory of the origin of that creed. He believes that in the seething and thundering of vol- canoes a conception of divinity and of supernatural powers first sprang up in the mind of the ancestors of the Mexicans. The volcanoes were afterwards identified with the stars, and the most terrific of all, Nanahuatl, or Nanahuatzin, 26 received the honors of apotheosis in the sun. Issued from the earth of the Crescent (Brasseur's sunken island or continent in the Atlantic), 27 personified in the antique Quetzalcoatl, prototype of priests and of sacerdotal continence, he is thus his son and identifies himself with him; he (the divinity, Tylor's ' Great Somebody') is the model of sages under the name of Hueman, and the prototype of kings under that of Topiltzin. Strange thing to find united in one being personalities so diverse 1 King, philosopher, priest par excellence, whose virtues serve as a rule to all the priests of the pagan antiquity, and side by side with all that, incontinence and passion de- ified in this invalid, whose name even, 'the syphilitic,' is the expression of the abuse he has made of the sex. At the commencement of the religion two sects 25 Clavigero, Hist. Ant. del Messico, pp. 11-13. 26 See p. 60 of this volume. 27 See p. 112 of this volume. BRASSEUR ON QUETZALCOATL. 263 appear to have sprung up, or rather two manners of judging the same events. There was first a struggle, and then a separation; under the banner-names of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca the rival schools fought for the most part of course there were divers minor factions; but the foregoing were the principal and most important. There is every reason to believe that the religion that took Quetzalcoatl for symbol was but a reformation upon another more ancient, that had the moon for its object. It is the moon, male and female, Luna, Lunus, personified in the earth of the Crescent, ingulfed in the abyss, that I believe (it is always the abbe that speaks) I see* at the com- mencement of the amalgam of rites and symbols of every kind, religion of enjoyments and material pleas- ures, born of the promiscuity of the men and women, taken refuge in the lesser Antilles after the cataclysm. The religion that had taken the moon for point of departure, and in which women seem to have played the principal role, as priestesses, attacked formally, by this very fact, a more antique religion, a pre-diluvian religion that appears to have been Sabaism, entirely exempt from idolatry, and in which the sun received the chief homage. In the new religion, on the con- trary, it was not the moon as a star, which was the real object of worship, it was the moon-land (lune- terre), it was the region of the Crescent, shrouded under the waves, whose death was wept and whose resurrection was afterward celebrated in the appear- ance of the isles refuge of the shipwrecked of the grand catastrophe of the Lesser Antilles; to the number of seven principal islands, sung, in all Ameri- can legends, as the Seven Grottos, cradle of nations. This is the myth of Quetzalcoatl, who dies or dis- appears, and whose personality is represented at the outset in the isles, then successively, in all the coun- tries whither the civilization was carried of which he was the flag. So far as I can judge at present, the priest who placed himself under the segis of this grand name labored solely to reform what there was of 264 GOJ)S, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. odious and barbarous in the cult of which the women had the chief direction, and under whose regime human blood flowed in waves. After the triumph of Quet- zalcoatl, the men who bore his name took the direction of religion and society, which then made considerable progress in their hands. But if we are to believe the same traditions, their preponderance had not a very long duration. The most restless and the most audacious among the partisans of the ancient order of things raised the flag of revolt: they became the chiefs of a warlike faction, rival of the sacerdotal a conquering faction, source of veritable royal dynasties and of the religion of the sun living and victorious, in opposition to the fod entombed in the abyss. Quetzalcoatl, vanquished y Tezcatlipoca, then retired before a too powerful enemy, and the Toltecs were dispersed among all nations . Those of them that remained coalesced with the victors, and from the accord of the aforementioned three cults, there sprang that monstrous amalgam of so many different ideas and symbols, such as is found to-day in what remains to us of the Mexican religion, For me (and it is always the abbe that speaks), I believe I perceive the origin of the struggle, not alone in the diversity of races, but principally in the exist- ence of two currents of contrary ideas, having had the same point of departure in the events of the great cataclysm of the Crescent Land, above referred to. Different manners of looking at these events, and of commemorating them, seem to me to have marked from the beginning the starting-point of two reli- gions that lived, perhaps, side by side for centuries without the explosion of their disagreements, other- wise than by insignificant agitations. Before these two could take, with regard to each other, the propor- tions of a schism or a heresy, it was necessary that all the materials of which these religions are constituted had had time to elaborate themselves, and that the hieroglyphics which represented their origin had be- come sufficiently obscure for the priesthood to keep MANY CHARACTERS OF QUETZALCOATL. 265 the vulgar from understanding them. For if schism has brought on the struggle between, and afterward the violent separation of families, this separation can- not have taken place till after the entire creation of myths, the entire construction of these divine gene- alogies, of these poetic traditions, that are found scat- tered among all the peoples of the earth, but of which the complete whole does not exist, save in the history and religion of Mexico. 28 Two orders of gods the one order fallen from heaven into the abyss, becoming there the judges of the dead, and being personified in one of their number, who came to life again, symbolizing thus life and death; the other order surviving the cataclysm and symbolizing thus an imperishable life; such, at its origin, is the double character of the myth of Quetzal- coatl. But in reality, this god he is the earth, he is the region swallowed up by the waters, he is the vanquished stifled under the weight of his adversary, under the force of the victorious wave ; which adver- sary, which power in opposition to the first, joining itself to the fire on the blazing pile of Nanahuatl, is Tezcatlipoca, is Hercules, conqueror of enemies, is the god whose struggle is eternal as that of the ocean beating the shore, is he in whom the light becomes afterward personified, and who becomes thus the bat- tle-flag of the opponents of Quetzalcoatl. To the dead god a victim is necessary, one that like him descends into the abyss. This" victim was a young girl, chosen among those that were consecrated at the foot of the pyramid, and drowned a custom long found as well in Egypt as at Chichen-Itza, 29 and in many other coun- tries of the world. But to the god come to life again, to the god in whom fire was personified, and immortal life, to Quetzalcoatl when he became Huitzilopochtli, 28 This, in its astounding immensity, is the abbe's theory: his suppositional Crescent Land was the craule of all human races and human creeds. On its submergence the aforesaid races and creeds spread and developed through all the world to their respective present localities and phases. The Mexican branch of this development he considers the likest to and the most closely connected with the original. 29 la Yucatan. 266 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. victims were sacrificed by tearing out the heart . symbol of the jet of flame issuing from the volcano . to offer it to the conquering sun, symbol of Tezcatli- poca, who first demanded holocausts of human blood. 30 Mr Tylor declares Quetzalcoatl to have been the Sun. "We may even find him identified with the Sun by name, and his history is perhaps a more compact and perfect series of solar myths that hangs to the name of any single personage in our own Aryan my- thology. His mother, the Dawn or the Night, gives birth to him, and dies. His father, Camaxtli, is the sun, and was worshipped with solar rites in Mexico, but he is the old Sun of yesterday. The clouds per- sonified in the mythic race of the Mixcohuas, or 1 Cloud-Snakes' (the Nibelungs of the western hemi- sphere), bear down the old Sun and choke him, and bury him in their mountain. But the young Quet- zalcoatl, the Sun of to-day, rushes up into the midst of them from below, and some he slays at the first onset, and some he leaves, rift with red wounds to die. We have the Sun boat of Helios, of the Egyptian Ha, of the Polynesian Maui. Quetzalcoatl, his bright career drawing toward its close, is chased into far lands by his kinsman, Tezcatlipoca, the young Sun of 30 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatres Lettres, pp. 154-7. Much of this last paragraph seems utterly incomprehensible and absurd, even viewed from the standpoint of the Abbe Brasseur himself. By no means certain, at all points, of having caught the exact meaning by its author, I give the original: ' Deux ordres de dieux, dont les uns, tombes du ciel dans 1'abime ou ils deviennent lea juges des morts, se personnifient en un seul qui ressuscite, symbole de la vie et de la mort; dont les autres survivent k la destruction, symbole de la vie imperissable; tel est le double caractere du mythe de Quetzal-Coatl, a son origine. Mais en realite, ce dieu, c'est la terre, c'est la region ensevelie sous les eaux, c'est le vaincu etouffe sous le poids de son adversaire, sous 1 'effort de la vague victorieuse et celle-ci s'unissant au feu sur le bucher de Nanahu- atl, c'est Tezcatlipoca, c'est Hercule, vainqueur de ses ennemis, c'est le dieu dont la lutte est eternelle, comme celle de 1'Ocean battant le rivage, c'est celui en qui se personnifie ensuite la lumiere et qui devient ainsi le drapeau des adversaires de Quetzal-Coatl. Au dieu niort, il fallait uue victime, com- me lui, descendue dans 1'ablme: ce fut une jeune fille, choisie parmi celles qui lui etaient consacrees au pied de la pyramide, et qu'on noyait en la plongeant sous 1'eau, coutume qu'on retrouva long temps en Egypte, comme a Chichen-Itza, ainsi que dans bien d'autres pays du monde. Mais au dieu ressuscite, au dieu en qui se personnifiait le feu, la vie immortelle, & Quetzal- Coatl, devenu Huitzil-Opocktli, on sacrifia des victimes sans nombre, k qui 1'on arrachalt le cceur, symbole du jet de flamme, sortant du volcan, pour I'offrir au soleil vainqueur, symbole de Tezcatlipoca qui, le premier, avait demande des holocaustes de sang humain.' Id., pp. 342-3. BRINTON ON QUETZALCOATL. 267 to-morrow. He, too, is well known as a sun-god in the Mexican theology. Wonderfully fitting with all this, one incident after another in the life of Quetzal- coatl falls into its place. The guardians of the sacred fire tend him, his funeral pile is on the top of Orizaba, he is the helper of travellers, the maker of the calendar, the source of astrology, the beginner of his- tory, the bringer of wealth and happiness. He is the patron of the craftsmen, whom he lights to his labor; as it is written in an ancient Sanskrit hymn, ' He steps forth, the splendor of the sky, the wide-seeing, the far-aiming, the shining wanderer; surely enlivened by the sun, do men go to their tasks and do their work.' Even his people, the Toltecs, catch from him solar qualities. Will it be even possible to grant to this famous race, in whose story the legend of Quetzal- coatl is the leading incident, anything more than a mythic existence?" 31 Dr Brinton is of opinion that "there were in truth many Quetzalcoatls, for his high-priest always bore his name, but he himself is a pure creation of the fancy, and all his alleged history is nothing but a myth. His emblematic name, the Bird-Serpent, and his rebus and cross at Palenque, I have already explained. Others of his titles were, Ehecatl, the air ; Yolcuat, the rat- tlesnake; Tohil, the nimbler; Huemac, the strong hand; Nanihehecatl, lord of the four winds. The same dualism reappears in him that has been noted in his analogues elsewhere. He is both lord of the east- ern light and the wind. " As the former, he was born of a virgin in the lan.d of Tula, or Tlapallan, in the distant Orient, and was high -priest of that happy realm. The morning star was his symbol, and the temp]e of Cholula was dedi- cated to him expressly as the author of light. As by days we measure time, he was the alleged inventor of the calendar. Like all the dawn-heroes, he too was represented as of white complexion, clothed in long white robes, and, as most of the Aztec gods, with a 31 Tylor's Researches, pp. 155-6. 268 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. full and flowing beard. When his earthly work was done, he too returned to the east, assigning as a reason that the sun, the ruler of Tlapallan, demanded his presence. But the real motive was that he had been overcome by Tezcatlipoca, otherwise called Yoalliehe- catl, the wind or spirit of night, who had descended from heaven by a spider's web, and presented his rival with a draught pretended to confer immortality, but in fact, producing uncontrollable longing for home. For the wind and the light both depart when the gloaming draws near, or when the clouds spread their dark and shadowy webs along the mountains, and pour the vivifying rain upon the fields. "In his other character, he was begot of the breath of Tonacateotl, god of our flesh or subsistence, or (according to Gomara) was the son of Iztac Mixcoatl, the white cloud-serpent, the spirit of the tornado. Messenger of Tlaloc, god of rain, he was figuratively said to sweep the road for him, since in that country violent winds are the precursors of the wet seasons. Wherever he went, all manner of singing birds bore him company, emblems of the whistling breezes. When he finally disappeared in the far east, he sent back four trusty youths who had ever shared his fortunes, 'in- comparably swift and light of foot/ with directions to divide the earth between them and rule it till he should return and resume his power. When he would promulgate his decrees, his herald proclaimed them from Tzatzitepec, the hill of shouting, with such a mighty voice that it could be heard a hundred leagues around. The arrows which he shot transfixed great trees, the stones he threw levelled forests, and when he laid his hands on the rocks the mark was indelible. Yet, as thus emblematic of the thunder-storm, he pos- sessed in full measure its better attributes. By shak- ing his sandals he gave fire to men; and peace, plenty, and riches blessed his subjects. Tradition says he built many temples to Mictlantecutli, the Aztec Pluto, and at the creation of the sun that he slew all the other gods, for the advancing dawn disperses the spec- ANALOGUES OF QUETZALCOATL. 269 tral shapes of night, and yet all its vivifying power does but result in increasing the number doomed to fall before the remorseless stroke of death. "His symbols were the bird, the serpent, the cross, and the flint, representing the clouds, the lightning, the four winds, and the thunderbolt. Perhaps, as Huemac, the Strong Hand, he was god of the earth- quakes. The Zapotecs worshipped such a deity under the image of this number carved from a precious stone, calling to mind the 'Kab ul,' the Working Hand, adored by the Mayas, and said to be one of the images of Zamnd, their hero-god. The human hand, 'that divine tool/ as it has been called, might well be re- garded by the reflective mind as the teacher of the arts and the amulet whose magic power has won for man what vantage he has gained in his long combat with nature and his fellows." 32 Mr Helps sees in Quetzalcoatl the closest analogies with certain other great civilizers and teachers that made their appearance in various parts of the American continent: "One peculiar circumstance, as Humboldt remarks, is very much to be noted in the ancient records and traditions of the Indian nations. In no less than three remarkable instances has superior civ- ilization been attributed to the sudden presence among them of persons differing from themselves in appear- ance and descent. Bohica, a white man with a beard, appeared to the Mozca Indians in the plains of Bogota, taught them how to build and to sow, formed them into communi- ties, gave an outlet to the waters of the great lake, and having settled the government, civil and ecclesias- tical, retired into a monastic state of penitence for two thousand years. In like manner, Manco Capac, accompanied by his sister, Mama Oello, descended amongst the Peruvians, gave them a code of admirable laws, reduced them into communities, and then ascended to his father, the Sun. Amongst the Mexicans there suddenly appeared ^Brinton's Myth*, pp. 180-3. 270 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Quetzalcoatl (green-feathered snake), a white and bearded man, of broad brow, dressed in a strange dress; a legislator, who recommended severe penances, lacerating his own body with the prickles of the agave and the thorns of the cactus, but who dissuaded his followers from human sacrifice. While he remained in Analiuac, it was a Saturnian reign; but this great legislator, after moving on to the plains of Cholula, and governing the Cholulans with wisdom, passed away to a distant country, and was never heard of more. It is said briefly of him that 'he ordained sacrifices of flowers and fruits, and stopped his ears when he was spoken to of war.'" 33 The Abbe Domenech considers the tradition of the lives of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca to be a bit of simple and slightly veiled history, and also that there were several Quetzalcoatls. Let it be remembered in reading the abbe's version of this matter that the names of places, peoples, and the dates he gives are in great part mythical and conjectural. "After the enfranchise- ment of the Olrnecs, a man named Quetzalcoatl arrived in the country, whom Garcia, Torquemada, Sahagun, and other Spanish writers took to be Saint Thomas. It was also at that time that the third age ended, and that the fourth began, called Sun of the fire, because it was supposed that it was in this last stage that the world would be destroyed by fire. It is in this fourth period that the Mexican historian places the Toltecs' arrival in New Spain, that is to say, about the third century before the Christian era. Ac- cording to the Quiches' traditions, the primitive portion of the Nahoas, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a dis- tant East, beyond immense seas and lands. Amongst the families and tribes that bore with least patience this long repose and immobility, those of Canub and of Tlocab may be cited, for they were the first who deter- mined to leave their country. The Nahoas sailed in seven barks or ships, which Sahagun calls Chicomoztoc, or the seven grottos. It is a fact worthy of note, that 33 Helps Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 286-7. THE CODICES ON QUETZALCOATL. 271 in all ages the number seven was a sacred number among the American people, from one pole to the other. It was at Pdnuco, near Tampico, that those strangers disembarked; they established themselves at Paxil, with the Votanites' consent, and their state took the name of Huehue-Tlopallan. It is not stated whence they came, but merely that they came out of the regions where the sun rises. The supreme com- mand was in the hand of a chieftain whom history calls Quetzalcohuatl, that is to say, Lord par excel- lence. To his care was confided the holy envelope, which concealed the divinity from the human gaze, and he alone received from it the necessary instruc- tions to guide his people's march. These kinds of divinities, thus enveloped, passed for being sure talis- mans, and were looked upon with the greatest respect and veneration. They consisted generally of a bit of wood, in which was inserted a little idol of green stone; this was covered with the skin of a serpent or of a tiger, after which it was rolled in numerous little bands of stuff, wherein it would remain wrapped for centuries together. Such is, perhaps, the origin of the medicine-bags made use of, even in the present day, by the Indians of the Great Desert, and of which we shall speak in the second volume of this work." Of apparently another Quetzalcoatl he writes: "The Toltecs became highly flourishing under the reign of Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl, a Culhuacan prince, who preached a new religion, sanctioning auricular confession and the celibacy of the priests. He pro- scribed all kinds of warfare and human sacrifices. Tezcatlipoca put himself at the head of the dissatisfied party, and besieged Tollan, the residence of Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl ; but the latter refused to defend him- self, in order to avoid the effusion of blood, which was prohibited by the laws of the religion he himself had established, and retired to Cholula, that had been con- structed by his followers. From thence he went to Yucatan. Tezcatlipoca, his fortunate rival, after a long reign became in his turn the victim of the popu- 272 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. lar discontent, and fell in a battle that was given him by Ceocatl Quetzalcolmatl's relatives. Those two kings are elevated to the rank of gods, and their wor- ship was a perpetual subject of discord and civil war in all Anahuac until the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World." 34 The interpreters of the different codices, or Mexican paintings represented in Kingsborough's great work, five, as is their wont in all matters, a confused, imper- jct, and often erroneous account of Quetzalcoatl. " Quetzal coatl is he who was born of the virgin called Chalchihuitztli, which means the precious stone of penance or of sacrifice. He was saved in the deluge, and was born in Zivenaritzcatl, where he resides. His fast was a kind of preparation for the arrival of the end of the world, which they said would happen on the day of Four Earthquakes, so that they were thus in daily expectation of that event. Quetzalcoatl was he who they say created the world, and they bestowed on him the appellation of lord of the wind, because they said that Tonacatecotli, when it appeared good to him, breathed and begat Quetzalcoatl. They erected round temples to him, without any corners. They said that it was he (who was also the lord of the thirteen signs which are here represented) who formed the first man. He alone had a human body like that of men, the other gods were of an incorporeal nature."' " They declare that their supreme deity, or more properly speaking, demon Tonacatecotle, whom we have just mentioned, who by another name was called Citinatonali, .... begot Quetzalcoatl, not by connection with a woman, but by his breath alone, as we have observed above, when he sent his ambassador, as they say, to the virgin of Tulla. They believed him to be the god of the air, and he was the first to whom they built temples and churches, which they formed per- fectly round, without any angles. They say it was 34 DomenecJts Deserts, vol. i., pp. 32-3, 39. 35 Explication del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. ii., in Kings- borouyh's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 135-6. MULLER ON QUETZALCOATL. 273 he who effected the reformation of the world by penance, as we have already said; since, according to their account, his father had created the world, and men had given themselves up to vice, on which ac- count it had been so frequently destroyed. Citina- tonali sent this his son into the world to reform it. We certainly must deplore the blindness of these mis- erable people, on whom Saint Paul says the wrath of God has to be revealed, inasmuch as his eternal truth was so long kept back by the injustice of attributing to this demon that which belonged to Him ; for He being the sole creator of the universe, and He who made the division of the waters, which these poor people just now attributed to the Devil, when it ap^ peared good to Him, despatched the heavenly ambas- sador to announce to the virgin that she should be the mother of his eternal word ; who, when He found the world corrupt, reformed it by doing penance and by dying upon the cross for our sins; and not the wretched Quetzalcoatl, to whom these miserable people attrib- uted this work. They assigned to him the dominion over the other thirteen signs, which are here repre- sented, in the same manner as they had assigned the preceding thirteen to his father. They celebrated a great festival on the arrival of his sign, as we shall see in the sign of Four Earthquakes, which is the fourth in order here, because they feared that the world would be destroyed in that sign, as he had fore- told to them when he disappeared in the Red Sea ; which event occurred on the same sign. As they considered him their advocate, they celebrated a solemn festival, and fasted during four signs." 36 J. G. Muller holds Quetzalcoatl to be the repre- sentative national god of the Toltecs, surviving under many misconceptions and amid many incongruities bequeathed to or adopted into the later Mexican religion. The learned professor has devoted an un- 36 Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xli., Kingsbor&ugh's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 184-5. VOL. III. 18 274 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. usual amount of care and research to the interpreta- tion of the Quetzalcoatl myths; and as no other inquirer has shown therein at once so accurate and extensive an acquaintance with the subject, and so calm and judicious a judgment, we give his opinion at length, and first his summing up of the fable-history of Quetzalcoatl. The Toltecs, a traditional prehistoric people, after leaving their original northern home Huehuetlapallan (that is, Old-red-land) chose Tulla, north of Andhuac as the first capital of their newly founded kingdom. Quetzalcoatl was their high-priest and religious chief at this place. Huemac, or Huematziri, conducted the civil government as the companion of Quetzalcoatl, and wrote the code of the nation. Quetzalcoatl is said to have been a white man (some gave him a bright red face), with a strong formation of body, broad fore- head, large eyes, black hair, and a heavy beard. He always wore a long white robe; which, according to Gomara, was decorated with crosses; he had a mitre on his head and a sickle in his hand. At the volcano of Cotcitepec, or Tzatzitepec, near Tulla, he practised long and numerous penances, giving thereby an exam- ple to his priests and successors. The name of this volcano means 'the mountain of outcry;' and when Quetzalcoatl gave laws, he sent a crier to the top of it, whose Toice could be heard three hundred miles off. He did what the founders of religions and cults have done in other countries: he taught the people agri- culture, metallurgy, stone-cutting, and the art of gov- ernment. He also arranged the calendar, and taught his subjects fit religious ceremonies, preaching spe- cially against human sacrifices, and ordering offerings of fruits and flowers only. He would have nothing to do with wars, even covering his ears when the sub- ject was mentioned. His was a veritable golden age, as in the time of Saturn; animals and even men lived in peace, the soil produced the richest harvests with- out cultivation, and the grain grew so large that a man found it trouble enough to carry one ear ; no cot- TRAVELS OF QUETZALCOATL . 275 ton was dyed, as it grew of all colors, and fruits of all kinds abounded. Everybody was rich, and Quetzal- coatl owned whole palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones. The air was filled with the most pleasant aromas, and a host of finely feathered birds filled the world with melody. But this earthly happiness came to an end. Tez- catlipoca rose up against Quetzalcoatl and against Huemac, in order to separate them, and to destroy their government. He descended from the sky on a rope of spider-web, and commenced to work for his object with the aid of magic arts. He first appeared in the form of a handsome youth (and in the dress of a merchant), dressed as a merchant selling pepper- pods, and presented himself before the daughter of king Huemac. He soon seduced the princess, and thereby opened the road to a general immorality and a total collapse of the laws. He presented himself before Quetzalcoatl in the form of an old man, with the view of inducing him to depart to his home in Tlapalla. For this purpose he offered him a drink, which he pretended would endow him with immortal- ity. No sooner had Quetzalcoatl taken the drink than he was seized with a violent desire to see his fatherland. He destroyed the palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones, transformed the fruit-trees into withered trunks, and ordered all song-birds to leave the country with him. Thus he departed, and the birds entertained him during his journey with their songs. He first travelled southward, and arrived in Quauh- titlan, in Anahuac. In the vicinity of this town he broke down a tree by throwing stones, the stones re- maining in the trunk. Farther south, in the same valley, near Tlalnepantla, or Tanepantla, he pressed hand and foot into a rock with such force that the im- pression has remained down to the latest centuries, in the same manner as the mark of the shoes of the horses of Castor and Pollux, near Regillum. The Spaniards were inclined to ascribe these and similar freaks of nature to the Apostle Thomas. 276 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Quetzalcoatl now turned toward the east, and arrived in Cholula, where he had to remain for a longer period, as the inhabitants intrusted him with the government of their state. The same order of things which had taken place in Tulla, his first residence, was here re- newed. From this centre his rule spread far and wide; he sent colonists from Cholula to Huaxayacac, Tabasco, and Campeche, and the nobility of Yucatan prided themselves on their descent from him; men having been found in our time who bear his name, just as the descendants of Yotan bore the name of Votan in Chiapas. In Cholula itself he was adored, and temples were everywhere erected in his honor, even by the enemies of the Cholulans. After a resi- dence of twenty years in Cholula, he proceeded on his journey toward Tlalpalla, until he arrived at the river, and in the province of Coatzacoalco, or Goasacoalco, Guasacualco, that is, Hiding-nook of the snake south of Yera Cruz. He now sent the four youths, who had accompanied him from Cholula, back to the Cholulans, promising to return later on and renew the old government. The Cholulans placed the four youths at the head of their government, out of love for him. This hope of his return still existed among the Mexican nations at the time of Cortes' arrival. In fact, Cortes was at first held to be the returning Quetzalcoatl, and a man was sacrificed to him, with whose blood the conqueror and his companions were marked. Father Sahagun was also asked by every- body on his journey to Mexico if he and his suite came from Tlapalla. According to Montezuma's ac- count to Cortes, Quetzalcoatl really did once return to Cholula, but after such a length of time that he found his subjects married to the native women, hav- ing children, and so numerous that a number of new districts had to be founded. This new race would not recognize their old chief, and refused to obey him. He thereupon departed angrily, threatening to return at another time and to subdue them by force. It is not remarkable that an expectation which was a hope QUETZALCOAJL AOT) THE TOLTECS. 277 to the Cholulans should be a dread to Montezuma and his subjects. According to some accounts, Quetzalcoatl died in the Hiding- nook of the snakes, in the Goatzacoalco country; according to others, he suddenly disappeared toward the east, and a ship, formed of snakes wound together, brought him to Tlapalla. A closer view and criticism of this tale, in the light of the analogy of mythological laws, shows us that Quetzalcoatl is the euhemerized religious ideal of the Toltecan nations. The similarity of this tale with those of Manco Capac, Botschika, Saturn, and others, is at once apparent. The opinion of Prescott, Wuttke, and many others, who held him for a deified man, founder of a religion and of a civilization, is confirmed by the latest version of the fable, in which Quetzal- coatl is represented in this character. Although eu- hemerism is an old idea with all people, as well as with the Americans personification being the first step toward it the general reasons which everywhere ap- pear against the existence of such founders of a civili- zation must also be made to speak against this idea of Quetzalcoatl. If a special value is placed upon the white face and the beard, it must be remembered that the beard, which is given to the Mexican priests, could not be omitted with Quetzalcoatl; and the mention by some of his having had a white face, and by others a red, might arouse a suspicion that Quetzalcoatl has been represented as a white man on account of his white robe. The fable of Quetzalcoatl contains contradictions, the younger elements of which are a pure idealism of the more ancient. For instance, the statement that the earth produced everything spontaneously, without human labor, does not agree with the old version of the myth, according to which Quetzalcoatl taught agriculture and other industries requiring application and hard work. The sentimental love of peace has also been attributed to this god in later times, during a time when the Toltecs had lost the martial spirit of 278 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. their victorious ancestors, and when the Cholulans, given to effeminacy, distinguished themselves more by cunning than by courage. The face of the god is rep- resented in the fable as more beautiful and attractive than it is depicted on the images. At the place where he was most worshipped, in Cholula, the statue of Quetzalcoatl stood in his temple, on the summit of the great pyramid. Its features had a gloomy cast, and differed from the beautiful face which is said to have been his on earth. The fable shows its later idealized elements in these points. In all other respects, the Toltecan peculiar- ities of the entire nation are either clearly and faith- fully depicted in their hero, as in a personified ideal, or else the original attributes of the nature-deity are recognizable. Where the Toltecs were, there was he also, or a hero identical with him; the Toltecs who journeyed southward are colonists sent by him; the Toltec capitals, Tulla and Cholula, are his residences; and as the laws of the Toltecs extended far and wide, so did the voice of his crier reach three hundred miles into the country. The arts and welfare of the Toltecs, their riches and religious feeling, even their later un- warlike peacefulness, all these attributes are transferred to Quetzalcoatl. The long robe of the Toltecs was also the dress of their hero; the necktie of the boys of his religious order is attached to his image; and as his priests wore the mitre, he is also represented with it. He is, above all, depicted as the original model of the Toltec priests, the Tlamacazque (the order was called Tlamacazcojotl), whose chief, or superior, always bore the name of Quetzalcoatl. As these orders of his had to submit to the strictest observances their members having to slit the tongue, ears, and lips in honor of Quetzalcoatl, and the small boys being set apart for him by making an incision on their breasts so he submitted, before all others, to these penances on the Tzatzitipec Mountain. These self-inflicted pun- ishments must not be termed penances, as is often done, for they have no moral meaning, such as to do QUETZALCOATL A NATURE-DEITY. 279 penance for committing sins, nor have they the mystic meaning of the East Indian idea of the end of the world (Weltabsterben) and the return to the panthe- istic chaos (Urall and Urnichts); all this is foreign to the American religion. They are, on the contrary, blood-offerings, substitutes for the human sacrifices in the background, to obtain earthly blessings, and to avert earthly misfortunes. As Quetzalcoatl preached against human sacrifices, so his priests under the Aztec rule were very reluctant to make them. After the great slaughter by Cortes, in Cholula, Montezuma proceeded to the great temple of Huitzilopochtli, made many human sacrifices, and questioned the god, who bade him to be of good heart, and assured him that the Cholulans had suffered so terribly merely on ac- count of their reluctance to offer up human beings. As the disappearance of the Toltecs toward the south and the south-east agrees with the disappearance of Quetzalcoatl, so we find many traits from the end of the last Toltec king reproduced in the end of the Toltec hero. After the defeat of king Tlolpintzin, he (Tlolpintzin) fled southward, toward Tlapalla. He made use of these words, in his last farewell to his friends: I have retired toward the east, but will re- turn after 5,012 years to avenge myself on the descend- ants of mine enemies. After having lived thirty years in Tlapalla, he died. His laws were afterward accepted by Nezalhualcoyotzin. The belief that Tlolpintzin stayed with Nezalhualcoyotzin, and some other brave kings, in the cave of Xicco, after death, like the three Tells of Switzerland, but would at some time come out and deliver his people, was long current among the In- dians. Every one will notice how well this agrees with Montezuma's account of the return of Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl cannot, however, be a representative and a national god of the Toltecs, without having an original nature-basis for his existence as a god. It is everywhere the case among savages with their national god, that the latter is a nature-deity, who becomes gradually transformed into a national god, 280 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. then into a national king, high-priest, founder of a re- ligion, and at last ends in being considered a human being. The older and purer the civilization of a people is, the easier it is to recognize the original essence of its national god in spite of all transformations and dis- guises. So it is here. Behind the human form of the god glimmers the nature -shape, and the national god is known by perhaps all his worshippers as also a nature-deity. From his powerful influence upon nature he might also be held as the creator. The pure human form of this god, as it appears in the fable as well as in the image, is not the original, but the youngest. His oldest concrete forms are taken from nature to which he originally belongs, and have maintained themselves in many attributes. All these symbolize him as the god of fertility, chiefly, as it is made apparent by means of the beneficial influence of the air. All Mexican and European statements make him appear as the god of the air and of the wind; even the euhemeristic idea deifies the man Quetzal- coatl into a god of the air. All the Mexican tribes adored him at the time of the Conquest as god of the air, and all accounts, however much they may differ on the particular points of his poetical life, agree, with- out exception, in this one respect, as the essential and chief point. Besides the symbols, which are merely attached to the image, there are three attributes, which represent as many original visible forms and exteriors of the god, in which he is represented and worshipped: the sparrow, the flint (Feuerstein), and the snake. According to Herrera, the image of Quetzalcoatl had the body of a man, but the head of a bird, a spar- row with a red bill, a large comb, and with the tongue hanging far out of the mouth. The air-god of these northern people, parallel to Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec Huitzilopochtli, was represented with devices con- nected with the humming-bird, in remembrance of his former humrning-bird nature. This is the northern element. The great spirit of the northern redskins also appear in his most esteemed form as a bird. The . QUETZALCOATL AND THE FLINT. 281 Latin Picus was originally a woodpecker (Specht), afterward anthropomorphized and even euhemerized, but he has ever the woodpecker by his side, in his capacity of human seer. Several Egyptian gods have human bodies and animal heads, especially heads of birds. Birds are not alone symbols of particular god- like attributes, as used in the anthropomorphic times, not mere messengers and transmitters of the orders of the gods, but they have originally been considered as gods themselves, with forms of godlike powers, espe- cially in North America ; and the exterior of the god of the air, the fructifying air, is naturally that of a bird, a singing bird. The hieroglyphic sign among the Mexicans for the air is, therefore, the head of a bird with three tongues. Wherever Quetzalcoatl stayed and ruled, there birds filled the air, and song-birds gave indication of their presence; when he departed, he took them with him, and was entertained during the journey by their singing. A second form of Quetzalcoatl was the flint, which we have already learned to know as a symbol and hieroglyphic sign for the air. He was either repre- sented as a black stone, or several small green ones, supposed to have fallen from heaven, most likely aero- lites, which were adored by the Cholulans in the ser- vice of Quetzalcoatl. Betancourt even explains the meaning of the name Quetzalcoatl, contrary to the usual definition, as "twin of a precious stone." The fable of Quauhtitlan is also connected with this stone- worship: how Quetzalcoatl had overthrown a tree by means of stones which remained fixed in it. These stones were later on adored as holy stones of Quet- zalcoatl. The stone at Tlalnepantla, into which he pressed his hand, must also have represented the god himself. Similar ancient stone- worships, of greater nature-deities as well as fetiches, were found, in many instances, in Peru, in the pre-Inca times. In ancient Central America we meet with the worship of such green stones, called chalchihuites. Votan was wor- shipped in the form of such a green stone, connected 282 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP with the other two attributes. This attribute of Quetzalcoatl most likely belongs to the south. The third form of Quetzalcoatl, which also belongs to the south, is the snake; he is a snake-god, or at least, merged into an ancient snake-god. The snake is not, as far as I know, a direct symbol of the air, and this attribute is, therefore, not the one pertaining to him from the beginning; but the snake represents the season which, in conjunction with heat and rain, contains the fructifying influence of the atmosphere, spring, the rejuvenating year. However, the very name of the god signifies, according to the usual ex- planation given to it, "the feathered snake, the snake covered with feathers, the green-feathered snake, the wood-snake with rich feathers." A snake has conse- quently been added to the human figure of this god. The other name under which he is adored in Yucatan is Cuculcan, a snake covered with godlike feathers. The entrance to his round temple in Mexico repre- sented the jaw and fangs of a tremendous snake. Quetzalcoatl disappeared in Goatzacoalco, the Snake- corner (or nook), and a ship of snakes brought him to Tlapalla. His followers in Yucatan were called snakes, Cocome (plural of Coatl), while he himself bore the name of Cocolcan in this country, as well as in Chiapas. The snake attribute signifies, in connec- tion with Huitzilopochtli, also the beneficial influence of the atmosphere, the yearly renewed course of nature, the continual rejuvenation of nature in germs and blossoms. The northern celestial god, Odin, is in many ways connected with snakes; he transformed himself into a snake, and bore the by-name of snake. The relationship of Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, as given in the fable, may be touched upon here. The driving away of the latter by Tezcatlipoca does not, as may be supposed, signify a contest between the Aztec religion and the preceding Toltecan. In such a case, Huitzilopochtli, the chief of the Aztec gods, by whose adoration the contrast is painted in the deepest colors, would have been a much better representant. QUETZALCOATL AND THE SNAKE. 283 Quetzalcoatl no doubt preached against human sac- rifices, brought into such unprecedented swing by the Aztecs, yet the worshippers of this god adopted the sacrifice of human beings in an extensive way during the Aztec rule, to which period this part of the Quet- zalcoatl fable necessarily owes its origin. At this time the contrast was so slight that Quetzalcoatl partook of the highest adoration of Aztecs, not only in Cholula, but in Mexico and everywhere. His priest enjoyed the highest esteem, and his temple in Mexico stood by the side of that of Huitzilopochtli. Montezuma not only calls the Toltec hero a leader of his forefathers, but the Aztecs actually consider him as a son of Huit- zilopochtli. The opposition of the two gods, Quet- zalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, has another reason: the difference lies, not in their worship, but in their nature and being, in the natural phenomena which they represent. If the god of the beneficial atmos- phere, the manifested god-power of the atmosphere of the fructifying seasons, is adored in Quetzalcoatl, then Tezcatlipoca is his opposite, the god of the gloomy lower regions destitute of life and germ, the god of drought, of withering, of death. Wherever, therefore, Quetzalcoatl rules, there are riches and abundance, the air is filled with fragrance and song-birds an actual golden era; but when he goes southward with his song-birds, he is expelled by Tezcatlipoca, drought sets in, and the palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones, symbols of wealth, are destroyed. He promises, however, everywhere to re- turn. A representation mentioned and copied by Jiumboldt shows Tezcatlipoca in the act of cutting up the snake. This has not the meaning of the acts of Hercules, of Tonatiuh, of the great spirit of the Chippewas, of the German Siegfried, of the Celtic dragon-killers Tristan and Iwein, or of the other sun- gods, spring-gods, and culture-heroes, who fight and subdue the snake of the unfertile moisture; such an interpretation would be opposed to the nature of this god. On the contrary, the god of death and drought 284 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. here fights the snake as the symbol of moisture, of the fertilization of the plant-life. The question now arises: If Quetzalcoatl only re- ceived his snake attribute in the south, and this his name, what was his original northern and Toltecan name? We answer, coinciding with the views ex- pressed by Ixtlilxochitl and others, who affirm that Quetzalcoatl and his worldly companion, Huemac, were one and the same person. The opposed opinion of Ternaux-Compans, who states that Quetzalcoatl must have been an Olmec, while Huemac was a Toltec, actually gives the key to the solution of the question. Both are right, Ixtlilxochitl and Ternaux, Huemac is the original Toltec name of the Toltec national god, ruler, and author of the holy books, the ancient name used by the Toltecs. As this people succumbed more and more to southern influences, and their ancient air- god in his sparrow form received in addition the snake attribute, on account of his rejuvenating influence upon nature, then the new name of the more cultivated people soon appeared. The name may, therefore, be Olmec, but not the god; we may sooner suppose that the attributes of the Maya god, Votan, have been transferred to the Toltec god. Both names having thus a double origin, the legend which found two names made also two persons of them, and placed them side by side. It is, however, easy to see that they are naturally one : Huemac has just as much a religious signification as Quetzalcoatl; as Huematzin, he wrote the divine book, containing all the earthly and heavenly wisdom of the Toltecs. Quetzalcoatl has in the same degree, besides his religious position, the worldly one of ruler and founder of a civilization. As Quetzalcoatl possesses a divine nature, so does Hue- mac, to whom also are ascribed the three hundred years of life, and the impression of the hand in the rock. Besides the attributes of the sparrow, flint, and snake, there are others which ascribe to Quetzalcoatl the same properties, but less prominently. As god of the air, he holds the wonderfully painted shield in his QUETZALCOATL AND THE TRADE-WINDS. 285 hand, a symbol of his power over the winds. As god of the fertilizing influence of the air, he holds, like Sat- urn, the sickle, symbol of the harvest he it is that causes the grain to ripen. It used to be said that he prepared the way for the water-god, for in these re- gions the rains are always preceded by winds. Another question, which has already occurred to us, must here be considered. Why did this god come from the east, depart toward the east, and why should he be expected from the east? The Toltecs have, ac- cording to almost unanimous statements, come from the north, and even Quetzalcoatl commences his rule in the north, in Tulla, and proceeds gradually on his journey from the north to the south-east, just like the Toltecs, who travelled southward from Tulla. It is plain that he departs for the east, because this is his home, from which he came and will return. His east- ern origin is, no doubt, based upon the direction of the eastern trade-winds, which carry rain, and with it fertility, to the interior of Central America. The rains began three or four weeks earlier in Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Tabasco than in Puebla and Mexico. Another reason, which has, however, a certain con- nection with the above, may be the relationship of the god of air and the sun-god, who often assumed an equal position in nature and in worship. We know that the founders of the Peruvian and Muyscan cults come from the east, because they are sun-gods. Quet- zalcoatl is not such a deity, it is true, but the fertil- izing air-god is also in other places closely connected with the fructifying sun, as, for example, Huitzilo- pochtli, Odin, and Brama. The sun is his eye. This connection with the sun Montezuma referred to when he spoke in the presence of Cortes of the departure of Quetzalcoatl for the regions from which the sun comes. As the sun is the eye of heaven, to whom the heart of the victim sacrificed to the god of heaven is presented, so it is at night with the moon, to whom the same tribute was paid at the feast of Quetzalcoatl. Several other significations are attached to the idea 286 GOBS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. of an air-god. It is natural that the god of heavenly blessing should also be the god of wealth. All wealth depends originally upon the produce of the soil, upon the blessing of heaven, however worldly the opinion of the matter may be. Gold is merely the symbol of this wealth, like the golden shower of Zeus. The image of Quetzalcoatl was, therefore, according to Acosta, adorned with gold, silver, jewels, rich feathers, and gay dresses, to illustrate his wealth. For this reason he wore a golden helmet, and his sceptre was decorated with costly stones. The same view is also the basis of the myths of the ancients about snakes and dragons guarding treasures. The fact that the merchants of Cholula worshipped the god of wealth before all others, and as their chief deity, requires no explanation. His worship in Cholula was conducted as follows : Forty days before the festival, the merchants bought a spotless slave, who was first taken to bathe in a lake called the Lake of the Gods, then dressed up as the god Quetzalcoatl, whom he had to represent for forty days. During this time he enjoyed the same adora- tion as was given to the god : he was set upon a raised place, presented with flowers, and fed on the choicest viands. He was, however, well guarded during the night, so that he might not escape. During his ex- hibition through the town, he danced and sang, and the women and children ran out of their houses to salute him and make him presents. This continued until nine days before the end of the forty days. Then two old priests approached him in all humility, saying, in deep voice: Lord, know that in nine days thy singing and dancing will cease, because thou must die 1 If he continued of good spirit, and inclined to dance and sing, it was considered a good omen, if the contrary, a bad one. In the latter case they prepared him a drink of blood and cacao, which was to obliter- ate the remembrance of the past conversation. After drinking this, it was hoped that he would resume his former good humor. On the day of the festival still QUETZALCOATL AS A HEALING GOD. 287 greater honors were shown him, music sounded, and incense was burned. At last, at the midnight hour, he was sacrificed, the heart was torn out of his body, held up to the moon, and then thrown toward the image of the god. The body was cast down the steps of the temple, and served the merchants, especially the slave-dealers, for a sacrificial meal. This feast and sacrifice took place every year, but after a certain number of cycles, as in the divine year Teoxihuitl, they were celebrated with much more pomp. Quet- zalcoatl had, generally, his human sacrifices during the Aztec rule, as well as the other gods. The power which reestablishes the macrocosm heals and rejuvenates the microcosm also: it is the general healing power. With the good weather thousands of invalids are restored, and refreshing rains not only revive the thirsty plains of the tropics, but man him self. Thus the air-god, the atmosphere, becomes a healino- god. A Phoenician told Pausanius that the O O snake-god, ^Esculapius, signified the health-restoring air. If this god of heaven is also a snake-god, like Quetzalcoatl, the rejuvenating and reinvigorating power of nature is expressed in a clear parallelism. The snake-god is also a healing god, and even the Greek ^Esculapius cannot dispense with the snake. It is thus not to be wondered at that the sterile women of the Mexican peoples directed their prayers to Quet- zalcoatl. 37 This concludes the able summing-up presented by M tiller, and it is given as I give all theoretical mat- ter, neither accepting nor rejecting it, as simply an- other ray of light bent in upon the god Quetzalcoatl, whose nature it is not proposed here to either explain or illustrate, but only to reproduce, as regarded from many sides by the earliest and closest observers. ^Muller, AmeriJcanische Urreligionen, pp. 577-90. Some further notes* regarding this god from a different point may be found in Brasseur de Bour- bourg, Palenque, pp. 40 etc., 66 etc. CHAPTEE VIII. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE BIRTH, ORIGIN, AND DERIVATION OF THE NAME OF THE MEXICAN WAR-GOD, HUITZILOPOCHTLI, OF HIS TEMPLE, IMAGE, CEREMONIAL, FESTIVALS, AND HIS DEPUTY, OR PAGE, PAYNAL CLAVIGERO BOTURINI ACOSTA SOLIS SAHAGUN HERRERA TORQUEMADA J. G. MULLER'S SUMMARY OF THE HUITZILOPOCHTLI MYTHS, THEIR ORIGIN, RELATION, AND SIGNIFICATION TYLOR CODEX VATICANUS TLALOC, GOD OF WATER, ESPECIALLY OF RAIN, AND OF MOUNTAINS CLAVIGERO, GAMA, AND IXTLILXOCHITL PRAYER IN TIME OF DROUGHT CAMARGO, MOTOLINIA, MENDIETA, AND THE VATICAN CODEX ON THE SACRIFICES TO TLALOC THE DECORATIONS OF HIS VICTIMS AND THE PLACES OF THEIR EXECUTION GATHERING RUSHES FOR THE SERVICE OF THE WATER-GOD HIGHWAY ROBBERIES BY THE PRIESTS AT THIS TIME DECORATIONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE PRIESTS PUNISHMENTS FOR CEREMONIAL OF- FENCES THE WHIRLPOOL OF PANTITLAN IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS IN HONOR OF THE TLALOC FESTIVAL OF THE COMING RAIN AND MUTILA- TION OF THE IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS GENERAL PROMINENCE IN THE CULT OF TLALOC, OF THE NUMBER FOUR, THE CROSS, AND THE SNAKE. HUITZILOPOCHTLI, Huitziloputzli, or Yitziliputzli was the god of war, and the especially national god of the Mexicans. Some said that he was a purely spiritual being, others that a woman had borne him after mirac- ulous conception. This legend, following Clavigero, ran as follows : In the ancient city of Tulla lived a most devout woman, Coatlicue by name. Walking one day in the temple, as her custom was, she saw a little ball of feathers floating down from heaven, which, taking <288) BIRTH OF HUITZILOPOCHTLL 289 without thought, she put into her bosom. The walk being ended, however, she could not find the ball, and wondered much, all the more that soon after this she found herself pregnant. She had already many chil- dren, who now, to avert this dishonor of their house, conspired to kill her; at which she was sorely troubled. But from the midst of her womb the god spoke : Fear not, my mother, for this danger will I turn to our great honor and glory. And lo, Huitzilopochtli, per- fect as Pallas Athena, was instantly born, springing up with a mighty war-shout, grasping the shield and the glittering spear. His left leg and his head were adorned with plumes of green; his face, arms, and thighs barred terribly with lines of blue. He fell upon the unnatural children, slew them all, and en- dowed his mother with their spoils. And from that day forth his names were Tezahuitl, Terror, and Tet- zauhteotl, Terrible God. This was the god who became protector of the Mexicans, who conducted them so many years in their pilgrimage, and settled them at last on the site of Mexico. And in this city they raised him that proud temple so much celebrated even by the Spaniards, in which were annually held their solemn festivals, in the fifth, ninth, and fifteen months; besides those kept every four years, every thirteen years, and at the beginning of every century. His statue was of gigantic size, in the posture of a man seated on a blue- colored bench, from the four corners of which issued four huge snakes. His forehead was blue, but his face was covered with a golden mask, while another of the same kind covered the back of his head. Upon his head he carried a beautiful crest, shaped like the beak of a bird; upon his neck, a collar consist- , ing of ten figures of the human heart; in his right hand, a large, blue, twisted club ; in his left, a shield, on which appeared five balls of feathers disposed in the form of a cross, and from the upper part of the shield rose a golden flag with four arrows, which the VOL III. 19 290 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP Mexicans pretended to have, been sent to them from heaven to perform those glorious actions which we have seen in their history. His body was girt with a large golden snake, and adorned with various lesser figures of animals made of gold and precious stones, which ornaments and insignia had each their peculiar meaning. They never deliberated upon making war without imploring the protection of this god, with prayers and sacrifices; and offered up a greater num- ber of human sacrifices to him than to any other of the gods. 1 A different account of the origin of this deity is given by Boturini, showing the god to have been a brave Mexican chief, who was afterward apotheosized. While the Mexicans were pushing their conquests and their advance toward the country now occupied by them, they had a very renowned captain, or leader, called Ttuitziton. He it was that in these long and perilous journeys through unknown lands, sparing himself no fatigue, took care of the Mexicans. The fable says of him that, being full of years and wisdom, he was one night caught up in sight of his army, and of all his people, and presented to the god Tezauhteotl, that is to say, the Frightful God, who, being in the shape of a horrible dragon, commanded him to be seated at his right hand, saying: Welcome, valiant captain ; very grateful am I for thy fidelity in my ser- vice and in governing my people. It is time that thou shouldst rest, since thou art already old, and since thy great deeds raise thee up to the fellowship of the immortal gods. Return, then, to thy sons and tell them not to be afflicted if in future they cannot see thee as a mortal man ; for from the nine heavens thou shalt look down propitious upon them. And not only that, but also, when I strip the vestments of humanity from thee, I will leave to thine afflicted and orphan people thy bones and thy skull, so that they may be 1 Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words: Jmitzilin, the humming-bird, und opochtli, left so called from the left foot of his image being decorated with humming-bird feathers. Claviyero, Storia Ant. del Messko, torn, ii., pp. 17-19. IMAGE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI. 291 comforted in their sorrow, and may consult thy relics as to the road they have to follow : and in due time the land shall be shown them that I have destined for them, a land in which they shall hold wide empire, being respected of the other nations. Huitziton did according to these instructions, and after a sorrowful interview with his people, disappeared, carried away by the gods. The weeping Mexicans re- mained with the skull and bones of their beloved cap- tain, which they carried with them till they arrived in New Spain, and at the place where they built the great city of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico. All this time the devil spoke to them through this skull of Huitzi- ton, often asking for the immolation of men and women, from which thing originated those bloody sacrifices practised afterwards by this nation with so much cruelty on prisoners of war. This deity was called, in early as well as in later times, Huitzilopochtli for the principal men believed that he was seated at the left hand of Tezcatlipoca a name derived from the original name Huitziton, and from the word mapoche, ' left hand.' 2 Acosta gives a minute description of the image and temple of this god. "The chiefest idoll of Mexico was, as I have sayde, Vitziliputzli. It was an image of wood like to a man, set vpon a stoole of the colour of azure, in a brankard or litter, at every corner was a piece of wood in forme of a serpent's head. The stoole signified that he was set in heaven: this idoll hadde all the forehead azure, and had a band of azure vnder the nose from one eare to another: vpon his head he had a rich plume of feathers, like to the beake of a small bird, the which was covered on the toppe with golde burnished very browne : hee had in his left hand a white target, with the figures of five pine apples, made of white feath- ers, set in a crosse : and from above issued forth a crest of gold, and at his sides hee hadde foure dartes, which (the Mexicaines say) had beene sent from heaven to 2 Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 60-1. 292 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. do those actes and prowesses which shall be spoken of: in his right hand he had an azured staffe, cutte in fashion of a waving snake. All those ornaments with the rest hee had, carried his sence as the Mexicaines doe shew; the name of Vitziliputzli signifies the left hand of a shining feather. I will speak heereafter of the prowde Temple, the sacrifices, feasts, and ceremo- nies of this great idoll, being very notable things. But at this present we will only shew that this idoll thus richly apparelled and deckt, was set vpon an high Altare, in a small peece or boxe, well covered with linnen clothes, Jewells, feathers, and ornaments of golde, with many rundles of feathers, the fairest and most exquisite that could be found: hee had alwaiesa curtine before him for the greater veneration. loyning to the chamber or chappell of this idoll, there was a peece of lesse worke, and not so well beautified, where there was another idoll they called Tlaloc. These two idolls were alwayes together, for that they held them as companions, and of equal power. "There was in Mexico, this Cu, the famous Temple of Vitziliputzli, it had a very great circuite, and within a faire Court. It was built of great stones, in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuite was called Coatepantli, which is, a circuite of snakes: vppon the toppe of every chamber and oratorie where the Idolls were, was a small piller. wrought with small stones, blacke as ieate, set in goodly order, the ground raised vp with white and red, which below gave a great light. Vpon the top of the pillar were battlements very artificially made, wrought like snailes [caracoles], supported by two Indians of stone, sitting, holding candle sticks in their hands, the which were like Croisants garnished and enriched at the ends, with yellow and greene feathers and long fringes of the same. Within the circuite of this court, there were many chambers of religious men, and others that were appointed for the service of the Priests and Popes, for so they call the soveraigne Priests which serve the Idoll. TEMPLE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI. 293 "There were foure gates or entries, at the east, west, north, and south ; at every one of these gates beganne a faire cawsey of two or three leagues long. There was in the midst of the lake where the cittie of Mex- ico is built, foure large cawseies in crosse, which did much beautify it ; vpon every portall or entry was a God or Idoll, having the visage turned to the causey, right against the Temple gate of Vitziliputzli. There were thirtie steppes of thirtie fadome long, and they divided from the circuit of the court by a streete that went betwixt them; vpon the toppe of these steppes there was a walke thirtie foote broad, all plaistered with chalke, in the midst of which walke was a Pal- lisado artificially made of very high trees, planted in order a fadome one from another. , These trees were very bigge, and all pierced with small holes from the foote to the top, and there were roddes did runne from one tree to another, to the which were chained or tied many dead mens heades. Vpon every rod were twentie sculles, and these ranckes of sculles continue from the foote to the toppe of the tree. This Pallissado was full of dead mens sculls from one end to the other, the which was a wonderfull mournefull sight and full of O horror. These were the heads of such as had beene sacrificed; for after they were dead, and had eaten the flesh, the head was delivered to the Ministers of the Temple, which tied them in this sort vntil they fell oiT by morcells; and then had they a care to set others in their places. Vpon the toppe of the temple were two stones or ' chappells, and in them were the two Id oils which I have spoken of, Vitziliputzli, and his companion Tlaloc. These Chappells were carved and graven very artificially, and so high, that to as- cend vp to it, there was a staire of stone of sixscore steppes. Before these Chambers or Chappells, there was a Court of fortie foote square, in the midst there- of was a high stone of five hand breadth, poynted in fashion of a Pyramide, it was placed there for the sacrificing of men ; for being laid on their backes, it 294 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP made their bodies to bend, and so they did open them and pull out their hearts, as I shall shew heereafter." 3 Solis describes his temple also. The top of the truncated pyramid on which the idols of Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc were placed was forty feet square, and reached by a stair of a hundred and twenty steps. On this platform, on either hand, at the head of the stairs, stood two sentinel-statues sup- porting great candlesticks of an extraordinary fashion. And first, from the jasper flags, rose a hump-backed altar of green stone. Opposite and beyond was the chapel wherein behind curtains sat Huitzilopochtli, on a throne supported by a blue globe. From this, supposed to represent the heavens, projected four staves with serpents' heads, by which the priests car- ried the god when he was brought before the' public. The image bore on its head a bird of wrought plumes, whose beak and crest were of burnished gold. The feathers expressed horrid cruelty, and were made still more ghastly by two stripes of blue, one on the brow and the other on the nose. Its right hand leaned as on a staff upon a crooked serpent. Upon the left arm was a buckler bearing five white plumes, arranged in form of a cross; and the hand grasped four arrows venerated as heaven-descended. To the left of this was another chapel, that of Tlaloc. Now, these two chapels and idols were the same in every particular. These gods were esteemed brothers their attributes, qualities, powers, inclinations, service, prayers, and so on, were identical or interchangeable. 4 s Acosta, Hist. Nat. Tnd., pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a description of the wanderings of the Mexicans, and how their god Vitziliputzli directed and guided them therein, much as the god of Israel directed his people across the wilderness to the Promised Land. Tradition also tells how he him- self revealed that manner of sacrifice most acceptable to his will: some of the priests having over night offended him, lo, in the morning, they were all dead men; their stomachs being cut open, and their hearts pulled out; which rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted for the service of that deity, and retained until their rooting out by the stern Spanish husbandry, so well adapted to such foul and bloody tares. Purchas his Pilynmes, vol. iv., pp. 1002-3. 4 Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., torn, i., pp. 396-8. This writer says: ' The Span- ish soldiers called this idol Huchilobos, by a corrupt pronunciation; so, too, Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors differ much in describing this magnificent building. Antonio de Herrera follows Francisco Lopez de Gdmara HUITZILOPOCHTLI AND CAMAXTLI. 295 Sahagun says of Huitzilopoclitli, that, being origi- nally a man, he was a sort of Hercules, of great strength and warlike, a great destroyer of towns and slayer of men. In war he had been a living fire, very terrible to his adversaries; and the device he bore was a drag- on's head, frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its mouth. A great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, transforming himself into the shape of divers birds and beasts. While he lived, the Mexicans es- teemed this man very highly for his strength and dex- terity in war, and when he died they honored him as a god, offering slaves, and sacrificing them in his pres- ence. And they looked to it that those slaves were well fed and well decorated with such ornaments as were in use, with ear-rings and visors ; all for the greater honor of the god. In Tlaxcala also they had a deity called Camaxtli, who was similar to this Huitzilopoclitli. 5 Gage, in a pretty fair translation of Herrera, de- scribes this god with Tezcatlipoca. He says: "The gods of Mexico (as the Indians reported to the first Spaniards) were two thousand in number; the chiefest were Vitzilopuchtli and Tezcatlipoca, whose images stood highest in the temple upon the altars. They were made of stone in full proportion, as big as a giant. They were covered with a lawn called Nacar; they were beset with pearls, precious stones, and pieces of gold, wrought like birds, beasts, fishes, and flowers, adorned with emeralds, turquies, chalce- dons, and other little fine stones, so that when the lawn was taken away, the images seemed very beautiful and glorious to behold. These two Indian idols had for a girdle great snakes of gold, and for col- lars or chains about their necks ten hearts of men made of gold; and each of them had a counterfeit visor with eyes of glass, and in their necks Death painted. These two gods were brethren, for Tezcatli- too closely. We shall follow Father Josef de Acosta and the better informed authors. Id., p. 395. * Sahagun, Hist Gen., torn, i., lib. i., p. i. 296 'GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND V^ORSHIP. poca was the god of providence, and Vitzilopuchtli god of the wars, who was worshipped and feared more than all the rest." 6 Torquemada goes to some length into the legend and description of this god of war, Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitl. 7 Huitzilopochtli, the ancient god and guide of the Mexicans, is a name variously derived. Some say it is composed of two words: huitffttwi, 'a, humming- bird/ and tlahuipuchtli, 'a sorcerer that spits fire/ Others say that the second part of the name conies, not from tlahuipuchtli, but from opuchtli, that is, 'the left hand;' so that the whole name, Huitzilopochtli, would mean, ' the shining feathered left hand/ For this idol was decorated with rich and resplendent feathers on the left arm. And this god it was that led out the Mexicans from their own land and brought them into Andhuac. Some held him to be a purely spiritual being, others affirmed that he had been born of a woman, and re- lated his history after the following fashion : Near the city of Tulla there is a mountain called Coatepec, that is to say, the Mountain of the Snake, where a woman lived, named Coatlicue, or snake-petticoat. She was the mother of many sons called Centzunhuitznahua, and of a daughter whose name was Coyolxauhqui. Coatlicue was very devout and careful in the service of the gods, and she occupied herself ordinarily in sweeping and cleaning the sacred places of that moun- tain. It happened that one day, occupied w T ith these duties, she saw a .little ball of feathers floating down to her through the air, which she taking, as we have already related, found herself in a short time pregnant. 8 6 Gage's New Survey, pp. 116-17; Herrera, Hist. Gen., torn, i., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii. 1 ' Pero loa mismos Naturales afirman, que este Nombre tomaron de el Dies Principal, que ellos traxeron, el qual tenia dos Nombres, el uno Huit- zilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este segundo, quiere decir Ombligo de Maguey.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn i., p 293. 8 ' Acont3ci6, pues, vn dia, que estando barriendo, come acostumbraba, vio bajar por el Aire, una pelota pequena, hecha de plumas, k rnanera de ovillo, hecho de hilado, que se le vino a. los manos, la qual tom6, y metio entre los Nahuas, 6 Faldellin, y la carne, debajo de la faja que le cefiia el DOUGH STATUE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI. 297 Upon this all her children conspired against her to slay her, and came armed against her, the daughter Coyolxauhqui being the ringleader and most violent of all. Then immediately Huitzilopochtli was born, fully armed, having a shield called teuehueli in his left hand, in his right a dart, or long blue pole, and all his face barred over with lines of the same color. His forehead was decorated with a great tuft of green feathers, his left leg was lean and feathered, and both thighs and the arms barred with blue. He then caused to appear a serpent made of torches, teas, called xiuhcoatl; and he ordered a soldier named Tochau- calqui to light this serpent, and taking it with him, to embrace Coyolxauhqui. From this embrace the matri- cidal daughter died, and Huitzilopochtli himself slew all her brethren and took their spoil, enriching his mother therewith. After this he was surnamed Tetzahuitl, that is to say, Fright, or Amazement, and held as a god, born of a mother, without a father as the great god of battles, for in these his worshippers found him very favorable to them. Besides the ordi- nary image of this god, permanently set up in the great temple of Mexico, there was another, renewed every year, made of grains and seeds of various kinds. In one of the halls in the neighborhood of the temple the priests collected and ground up with great devotion a mass of seeds, of the amaranth and other plants, mois- tening the same with the blood of children, and mak- ing a dough thereof, which they shaped into a statue of the form and stature of a man. The priests carried this image to the temple and the altar, previously arranged for its reception, playing trumpets and other instruments, and making much noise and ado with dancing and singing at the head of the procession. All this during the night; in the morning the high- priest and the other priests blessed and consecrated cuerpo (porque siempre traen fajado este genero de vestido) no imaginando ningun misterio, ni fin de aquel caso. Acabo de barrer, y bused la pelota de pluma, para ver de qu2i More ludicrous than diabolical are the ceremonies of the next feast of Tlaloc. In the sixth Aztec month, the month Etzalqualixtli, there was held a festival in honor of the gods of water and rain. Before the commencement of this festival the idol priests fasted four days, and before beginning to fast they made a 25 Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 37-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn. i., lib. ii., pp. 84-7. SPOLIATION OF CAESAR FOR THE CHURCH. 335 procession to a certain piece of water, near Citlaltepec, to gather tules; for at that place these rushes grew very tall and thick, and what part of them was under water was very white. There they pulled them up, rolled them in bundles wrapped about with their blankets, and so carried them back on their shoulders. Both on going out for these rushes and on coming back with them, it was the custom to rob any one that was met on the road; and as every one knew of this custom, the roads were generally pretty clear of strag- glers about this time. No one, not even a king's officer returning to his master with tribute, could hope to escape on such an occasion, nor to obtain from any court or magistrate any indemnification for loss or injury so sustained in goods or person ; and if he made any resistance to his clerical spoilers, they beat and kicked and dragged him over the ground. When they reached the temple with their rushes they spread them, out on the ground and plaited them, white with green, into, as it were, painted mats, sewing them firm with threads of maguey root; of these mats they made stools, and chairs with backs. The first day of the fast arrived, all the idol ministers and priests retired to their apartments in the temple buildings. There retired all those called tlamacaztequioagueSj that is to say, 'priests that have done feats in war, that have captured three or four prisoners;' these, although they did not reside continually in the temple, resorted thither at set times to fulfil their offices. There retired also those called tlamacazcayiaque, that is, 'priests that have taken one prisoner in war;' these also, although not regular inmates of the cues, resorted thither, when called by their duties. There retired also those that are called tlamacazquecuicanime, i priest singers,' who resided permanently in the temple build- ing because they had as yet captured no one in war. Last of all, those also retired that were called tlama- caztezcahoan, which means 'inferior ministers,' and those boys, like little sacristans, who were called tlamar catoton, 'little ministers.' 336 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP Next, all the rush mats that had been made, which were called aztapilpetlatl, 'jaspered mats of rushes or mats of white and green,' were spread round about the hearths (hogares) of the temple, and the priests proceeded to invest themselves for their offices. They put on a kind of jacket that they had, called xicolli, of painted cloth ; on the left arm they put a kind of scarf, macataxtli; in the left hand they took a bag of copal, and in the right a censer, temaitl, which is a kind of sauce-pan or frying-pan of baked clay. Then they entered into the court-yard of the temple, took u'p their station in the middle of it, put live coals into their censers, added copal, and offered incense toward the four quarters of the world, east, north, west, and south. This done, they emptied the coals from their incense-pans into the great braziers that were always burning at night in the court, braziers some- what less in height than the height of a man, and so thick that two men could with difficulty clasp them. This over, the priests returned to the temple build- ings, calmecac, and put off their ornaments. Then they offered before the hearth little balls of dough, called veutelolotli; each priest offering four, arranging them on the aforementioned rush mats, and putting them down with great care, so that they should not roll nor move; and if the balls of any one stirred, it was the duty of his fellows to call attention to the matter and have him punished therefor. Some offered instead of dough four little pies or four pods of green pepper. A careful scrutiny was also v observed to see if any one had any dirt on his blanket, or any bit of thread or hair or feather, and that no one should trip or fall ; for in such a case he had to be punished ; and as a consequence, every man took good heed to all his steps and ways during these four days. At the end of each day's offerings, certain old men, called quaqua- cuiltin, came, their faces dyed black, and their heads shaved, save only the crown of the head, where the hair was allowed to grow long, the reverse of the cus- tom of the Christian priests. These old men daily BATHING IN THE FESTIVAL OF TLALOO. 337 collected the offerings that had been made, dividing them among themselves. It was further the custom with all the priests and in all the temples, while fast- ing these four days, to be wakened at midnight by the blast of horns and shells and other instruments; when all rose up, and, utterly naked, went to where were certain thorns of maguey, cut for the purpose the day before, and with little lancets of stone they hacked their ears, staining the prepared thorns of maguey and besmearing their faces with the blood that flowed ; each man staining maguey thorns with his blood in number proportioned to his devotion some five, others more, others less. This done all the priests went to bathe themselves-, how cold soever it might be, attended by the music of marine shells and shrill whistles of baked clay. Every one had a little bag strapped to his shoul- ders, ornamented with tassels or strips of painted paper ; in these bags was carried a sort of herb ground fine and made up with a kind of black dye into little longish pellets. 26 The general body of the priests marched along, each one carrying a leaf of maguey in which the thorns were stuck, as in a pin cushion, which he had to use. Before these went a priest with his censer full of live coals and a bag of copal; and in advance of all these walked one carrying a board on his shoulder of about a span broad and two yards long, hollowed ap- parently in some way, and filled with little rollers of wood that rattled and sounded as the bearer went along shaking them. 27 All the priests took part in this pro- cession, only four remaining behind to take care of the 26 ' En aquellas talegas llevaban una manera de harina hecha la manera de estiercol de ratone3, que ellos llamaban yyaqualli, que era conficionada con tiiita y con polvos de una yerva que ellos llaman yietll; es como veleuos de Castilla. Kmysborou'jlis Mex, Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51. 27 Sahagun gives two different accounts of this instrument: ' Una tabla tan larga como dos varas, y ancha como un palmo 6 poco mas. Yvan dentro da eatan tablaa uiias sonajas, y el que le llevaba iva sonando con ellas. Llama- ban a esta tabla Axochicaoaliztli, 6 Nacatlquoavitl. ' The second description is: ' Una tabla de anchura de un palmo y de largura de dos brazas; a trechos ivan unos sonajas en esta tabla unos pedazuelos de madero rollizos y atados a la misma tabla, y dentro de ella ivan sonando los unos con los otros. Esta tabla se llarnaba aiauhchicaoaztli. ' Kinysborouylia Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 51, 53. VOL. III. 22 338 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. temple building, or calmecac, which was their monas- tery. These four during the absence of the others remained seated in the calmecac, and occupied them- selves in devotion to the gods, in singing, and in rattling with a hollow board of the sort mentioned above. At the piece of water where the priests were to bathe, there were four houses, called axaucalli, 'fog houses/ set each toward one of the four quarters of the com- pass; in the ablutions of the first night one of these houses was occupied, on the second night another, and so on through all the four nights and four houses of the fog. Here also were four tall poles standing up out of the water. And the unfortunate bathers, naked from the outset as we remember, reached this place trembling and their teeth chattering with cold. One of their number mumbled a few words, which being translated mean: This is the place of snakes, the place of mosquitoes, the place of ducks, and the place of rushes. This said, all flung themselves into the water and began to splash with their hands and feet, making a great noise, and imitating the cries of various aquatic birds. 28 When the bathing was over, the naked priests took their way back, accompanied by the music of pipes and shells. Half dead with cold and weariness they reached the temple, where, drawing their mantles over them, they flung them- selves down in a confused heap on the rush mats so often mentioned, and slept as best they could. We are told that some talked in their sleep, and some walked about in it, and some snored, and some sighed in a painful manner. There they lay in a tangled weary heap, not rising till noon of the next day. The first thing to be done on waking was to array themselves in their canonicals, take their censers, and to follow an old priest called Quaquacuilti to all the 28 ' Comenzaban d vocear y a gritar y a contrahacer las aves del agua, unos a los anades, otros a unas aves zancudas del agua que llama pipititi, otros a los cuervos marines, otros a las garzotas blancas, otros a las garzas. Aque- llas palabras que decia el satrapa parece que eran invocacion del Demonio para hablar aquellos lenguages de aves en al agua.' Kinysborourjtis Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51. RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE. S39 chapels and altars of the idols, incensing them. After this they were at liberty to eat; they squatted down in groups, and to each one was given such food as had been sent to him from his own house ; and if any one took any of the portion of another, or even exchanged his for that of another, he was punished for it. Pun- ishment also attended the dropping of any morsel while eating, if the fault were not atoned for by a fine. After this meal, they all went to cut down branches of a certain kind called acxoiatl, or, where these were not to be found, green canes instead, and to bring them to the temple in sheaves. There they sat down, every man with his sheaf, and waited for an arranged signal. The signal given, every one sprang up to some appointed part of the temple to decorate it with his boughs; and if any one went to a place not his, or wandered from his companions, or lagged behind them, they punished him a punishment only to be remitted by paying to his accuser, within the four days of which we are now speaking, either a hen or a blanket or a breech-clout, or, if very poor, a ball of dough in a cup. These four days over, the festival was come, and every man began it by eating etzalli, a kind of maize porridge, in his own house. For those that wished it, there was general dancing and rejoicing. Many decked themselves out like merry-andrews and went about in parties carrying pots, going from house to house, demanding etzalli. They sang and danced be- fore the door, and said, " If you do not give me some porridge, I will knock a hole in your house;" where- upon the etzalli was given. These revels began at midnight and ceased at dawn. Then indeed did the priests array themselves in all their glory : underneath was a jacket, over that a thin transparent mantle called aiauhquemitl, decorated with parrot-feathers set crosswise. Between the shoulders they fastened a great round paper flower, like a shield. To the nape of the neck they attached other flowers of crumpled paper of a semi-circular shape; these hung down on both sides of the head like ears. The forehead was 340 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINCIS, AND WORSHIP. painted blue, and over the paint was dusted powder of marcasite. In the right hand was carried a bag made of tiger-skin, and embroidered with little white shells which clattered as one walked. The bag seems to have been three-cornered; from one angle hung down the tiger's tail, from another his two fore feet, from another his two hind feet. It contained incense made from a certain herb called yiauhtli. 29 There went one priest bearing a hollow board filled with wooden rat- tles, as before described. In advance of this person- age there marched a number of others, carrying in their arms images of the gods made of that gum that is black and leaps, called ulli (India-rubber); these images were called ulteteu, that is to say, 'gods of ulli/ Other ministers there were carrying in their arms lumps of copal, shaped like sugar loaves ; each pyramid having a rich feather, called quetzal, stuck in the peak of it like a plume. In this manner went the procession with the usual horns and shells, and the purpose of it was to lead to punishment those that had transgressed in any of the points we have already discussed. The culprits were marched along, some held by the hair at the nape of the neck, others by the breech-clout; the boy offenders were held by the hand, or, if very small, were carried. All these were brought to a place called Totecco, where water was. Here certain ceremonies were performed, paper was burned in sacrifice, as were also the pyramids of copal and images of ulli, incense being thrown into the fire and other incense scattered over the rush mats with which the place was adorned. While this was going on, those in charge of the cul- prits had not been idle, but were flinging them into the water. Great was the noise, it is said, made by the splash of one tossed in, and the water leaped high with the shock. As any one came to the surface or tried to scramble out he was pushed in or pushed down again well was it, then, for him who could swim, and by long far diving keep out of the reach of his tor- mentors. For the others they were so roughly 29 ' Yauhtlaulli or Yauitl, mayz moreno o negro. ' Molina, Vocabulario. THE FOUR BALLS. 341 handled that they were often left for dead on the water's edge, where their relatives would come and hang- them up by the feet to let the water they had swallowed run out of them; a method of cure surely as bad as the malady. The shrill music struck up again and the procession returned by the way it had come, the friends of the punished ones carrying them. The monastery or cal- mecac reached, there began another four days' fast, called netlacacaoaliztli; but in this the sharp religious etiquette of the first four days' fast was not observed, or at least, one was not liable to be informed upon or punished for a breach of such etiquette. The conclu- sion of this fast was celebrated by feasting. Again the priests decorated themselves in festal array. All the head was painted blue, the face was covered with honey (miel) mixed with a black dye. Over the shoulders were carried the incense-bags embroidered with little white shells bags made of tiger-skins, as before described, for the chief priests, and of paper painted to imitate tiger-skin in the case of the inferior priests. Some of these satchels were fashioned to resemble the bird called atzitzicuilotl, others to resemble ducks. The priests marched in procession to the tem- ple, and before all marched the priest of Tlaloc. He had on his head a crown of basket-work, fitting close to the temples below and spreading out above, with many plumes issuing from the middle of it. His face was anointed with melted India-rubber gum, black as ink, and concealed by an ugly mask with a great nose, and a wig attached, which fell as low as the waist. All went along mumbling to themselves as if they prayed, till they came to the cu of Tlaloc. There they stopped and spread tule mats on the ground, and dusted them over with powdered tule leaves mixed with yiauhtli incense. Upon this the acting priest placed four round chalchiuites, like little balls; then he took a small hook painted blue, and touched each ball with it; and as he touched each he made a movement as if drawing back his hand, and turned himself completely round. 342 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. He Scattered more incense on the mats, then he took the board with the rattles inside and sounded with it perhaps a kind of religious stage thunder, in imita- tion of the thunder of his god. Upon this every one retired to his house or to his monastery and put off his ornaments; and the unfortunates who had been ducked were carried at last to their own dwellings for the rest and recovery that they so sorely needed. That night the festivities burst out with a new glory, the musical instruments of the cu itself were sounded, the great drums and the shrill shells. Well watched that night were the prisoners who were doomed to death on the morrow. ^TVlien it came, they were adorned with the trappings of the Tlaloc gods for it was said they were the images of these gods and those that were killed first were said to be the foun- dation of the others, which seemed to be symbolized by those who had to die last being made to seat them- selves on those who had been first killed. 30 The slaughter over, the hearts of the victims were put into a pot that was painted blue and stained with ulli in four places. Together with this pot offerings were taken of paper and feathers and precious stones and chalchiuites, and a party set out with the whole for that part of the lake where the whirlpool is, called Pantitlan. All who assisted at this offering and sacri- fice were provided with a supply of the herb called iztauhiattj which is something like the incense used in Spain, and they puffed it with their mouths over each other's faces and over the faces of their children. This they did to hinder maggots getting into the eyes, and also to protect against a certain disease of the eyes called exocuillo-o-alixtli; some also put this herb into their ears, and others for a certain superstition they had held a handful of it clutched in the hand. The party entered a great canoe belonging to the king, 80 ' Comenzaban luego a matar a los captives; aquellos que primero mata- ban decian que eran el f undamento de los que eran imagen de los Tlaloques-, que ivan aderezados con los ornamentos de los mismos llaloques que (ivaii aderezados) decian eran sus imagenes, y asi los que morian & la postre ivanse a sentar sobre los que prirnero haljiao. jEUjej'to. Kinysboroufjh's MCX. Antiq., vol. vii., r>. 54. IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS. 343 furnished with green oars, or paddles, spotted with ulli, and rowed swiftly to the place Pantitlan, where the whirlpool was. This whirlpool was surrounded by logs driven into the bottom of the lake like piles probably to keep canoes from being drawn into the sink. These logs being reached, the priests, standing in the bows of the royal vessel, began to play on their horns and shells. Conspicuous among them stood their chief holding the pot containing the hearts; he flung them far into the whirling hollow of water, and it is said that when the hearts plunged in, the waters were strangely moved and stirred into waves and foam. The precious stones were also thrown in, and the papers of the offering were fastened to the stakes with a number of the chalchiuites and other stones. A priest took a censer and put four papers called telhuitl into it, and burned them, offering them toward the whirlpool; then he threw them, censer and all, still burning, into the sink. That done, the canoe was put about and rowed to the landing of Tetamacolco, and every one bathed there. All this took place between midnight and morning, and when the light began to break, the whole body of the priests went to bathe in the usual place. They washed the blue paint off their heads, save only on the forehead ; and if there were any offences of any priest to be punished, he was here ducked and half drowned, as described above. Lastly, all returned to their monasteries, and the green rush mats spread there were thrown out behind each house. 31 We have given the description of two great festi- vals of the Tlalocs two being all that are mentioned by many authorities there still remain, however, two other notable occasions on which they were propitiated and honored. In the thirteenth month, which was called Tepeil- huitl, and which began, according to Clavigero, on the 24th of October, it was the custom to cut certain sticks fj^s Mex. Anliq., vol. vii., pp. 49-55; Sahagun, Hist. Gen. t torn, i., LI>. ii., pp. 111-24. 344 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP into the shape of snakes. Certain images, as of chil- , dren, were also cut out of wood, and these dolls, called hecatotonti, together with the wooden snakes, were used as a foundation or centre round which to build up little effigies of the mountains; wherein the Tlalocs were honored as gods of the mountains, and wherein memorial was had of those that had been drowned, or killed by thunderbolts, or whose bodies had been buried without cremation the dolls perhaps repre- senting the bodies of these, and the snakes the thun- derbolts. Having then these wooden dolls and snakes as a basis, they were covered with dough mixed from the seeds of the wild amaranth ; over each doll certain papers were put; round one snake and one doll, set back to back, there appears next to have been bound a wisp of hay (which wisp was kept from year to year and washed on the vigil of every feast), till the proper shape of a mountain was arrived at ; over the whole was then daubed a layer of dough, of the kind already mentioned. We have now our image of the mountain, with two heads looking opposite ways, stick- ing out from its summit. Round this summit there seem to have been stuck rolls of dough representing the clouds usually formed about the crests of high mountains. The face of the human image that looked out over these dough clouds was daubed with melted ulli; and to both cheeks of it were stuck little tortillas, or cakes of the everywhere-present dough of wild amaranth seeds. On the head of this same image was put a crown with feathers issuing from it. 32 These 32 This passage relating to the making of images of the mountains is such a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use largely any con- structive imagination one may possess to reproduce even a comprehensible description. I give the original; if any one can make rhyme or reason out of it by a closer following of the words of Sahagun, he shall not want the opportunity. 'Al trece mes llamaban Tepeilhuitl. En la fiesta que se hacia en este mes cubriah de masa de bledos unos palos que tenian hechos coino culebras, y hacian imagenes de montes fumladas sobre unos palos hechos & manera de niflos que llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de masa de bledos. Ponianle delante junto unas masas rollizas y larguillas de masa de bledos a manera de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas imagenes honra de los montes altos donde se juntan las nubes, y en memo- ria de los que habian muerto en agua 6 heridos de rayo, y de los que no se quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes hacianloa sobre unos rodeos 6 roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate, y guardabanlaa SACRIFICES TO TLALOC. 345 images were made at night, and in the morning they were carried to their ' oratories/ and laid down on beds of rushes or reeds; then food was offered to them, small pies or tarts, a porridge of maize-flour and sugar, and the stewed flesh of fowls or of dogs. Incense was burned before them, being thrown into a censer shaped like a hand, as it were a great spoon full of burning coals. Those who could afford it sang and drank pulque in honor of their dead ones and of these gods. In this feast four w T omen and a man were killed in honor of the Tlalocs and of the mountains. The four women were named, respectively, Tepoxch, Matlalquac, Xochetecatl, and Mayavel this last was decorated to appear as the image of the magueyes. The man was called Milnaoatl ; he stood for an image of ' the snakes.' These victims, adorned with crowns of paper stained with ulli, were borne to their doom in litters. Being carried to the summit of the cu, they were thrown one by one on the sacrificial stone, their hearts taken out with the flint and offered to Tlaloc, and their bodies allowed to slide slowly down the tein pie-steps to the earth a too rapid descent being hindered by the priests. The corpses were carried to a place where the heads were cut off and preserved, spitted on poles thrust through the temples of each skull. The bodies were lastly carried to the wards from which they had set out alive, and there cut in pieces and eaten. At the same time the images of the mountains, which we de un ano para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta llevaban a lavar estas roscas al rio 6 a la fuente, y quaiulo las llevaban ivanlas taiiendo con unos pitos hechos de barro cocido 6 con unos caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en unas casas 11 oratorias que estaban hechos a la orilla del agua que se llama Ayauh calli. Lavabanlas con unas ojas de canas verdes; algunos con el agua que pasaba por su casa las lavabau. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas a su casa con la misina rnusica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los montes como esta dicho. Algunos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de amanecer cerca del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de persona y otra de culebra, y untaban la cara de persona con ulli derreticlo, y hacian unas tortillas prequcnuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y ponianlas en las mexillas de la cara de persona de uaa parte y de otra; cubrianlos con unos papeles que llamaban Tei;cuiUi; ponianlos unas coronas en las cabezas con sus penachos. Tambien a los imagenes de los muertos las ponian sobre aquellas roscas de zacate, y luego en amaneciendo ponian estas imagines en sus oratorios, sobre unoo lechos de espadanas 6 de juncias 6 juncos.' Kinys- borouytis Hex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-2. 348 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. have attempted to describe, were broken up, the dough with which they were covered was set out to dry in the sun, and was eaten, every day a piece. The pa- pers with which the said images had been adorned were then spread over the wisps of hay, above men- tioned, and the whole was fastened up in the rafters of the oratory that every one had in his house, there to remain till required for the next year's feast of the same kind; on which occasion, and as a preliminary to the other ceremonies which we have already de- scribed in the first part of this feast, the people took down the paper and the wisp from their private ora- tories, and carried them to the public oratory, called the acaucalli, left the paper there, and returned with the wisp to make of it anew the image of a mountain. 33 The fourth and last festival of Tlaloc which we have to describe fell in our December, and in the sixteenth Aztec month, called the month Atemuztli. About this time it began to thunder round the mountain-tops, and the first rains to fall there; the common people said, " Now come the Tlalocs," and for ]ove of the water they made vows to make images of the moun- tains not, however, as it would appear, such images as have been described as appertaining to the preced- ing festival. The priests were very devout at this season and very earnest in prayer, expecting the rain. They took each man his incense-pan, or censer, made like a great spoon with a long, round, hollow handle filled with rattles and terminating in a snake's head, and offered incense to all the idols. Five days before the beginning of the feast, the common people bought paper and ulli and flint knives and a kind of coarse cloth called nequen, and devoutly prepared themselves with fasting and penance to make their images of the mountains and to cover them with paper. In this holy season, although every one bathed, he washed no higher than the neck, the head was left unwashed; the men, moreover, abstained from their wives. The 33 Kingsborvuglis Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn. i., lib. ii., pp. 159-62. KILLING IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS. 347 night preceding the great feast-day was spent wholly, flint knife in hand, cutting out paper into various shapes. These papers, called tetevitl, were stained with ulli; and every householder got a long pole, covered it with pieces of this paper, and set it up in his court- yard, where it remained all the day of the festival. Those that had vowed to make images of the moun- tains invited priests to their houses to do it for them. The priests came, bearing their drums and rattles, and instruments of music of tortoise-shell. They made the images apparently like human figures out of the dough of wild amaranth seed, and covered them with paper. In some houses there were made five of such images, in others ten, in others fifteen ; they were figures that stood for such mountains as the clouds gather round, such as the volcano of the Sierra Nevada or that of the Sierra of Tlascala. These images be- ing constructed, they were set in order in the oratory of the house, and before each one was set food very small pies, on small platters, proportionate to the little image, small boxes holding a little sweet porridge of maize, little calabashes of cacao, and other small green calabashes containing pulque. In one night they pre- sented the figures with food in this manner four times. All the night too they sang before them, and played upon flutes; the regular flutists not being employed on this occasion, but certain small boys who were paid for their trouble with something to eat. When the morning came, the ministers of the idols asked the master of the house for his tzotzopaztli, a kind of broad wooden knife used in weaving, 34 and thrust it into the breasts of the images of the mountains, as if they were living men, and cut their throats and drew out the hearts, which they put in a green cup and gave to the owner of the house. This done, they took all the paper with which these images had been adorned, together with certain green mats that had been used for the same purpose, and the utensils in which the 34 * Tzotzopaztli, palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela que se texe. ' Molina, Vocabularw. 348 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. offering of food had been put, and burned all in the court-yard of the house. The ashes and the mutilated images seem then to have been carried to a public oratory called Aiauhcalco, on the shore of the lake. Then all who assisted at these ceremonies joined them- selves to eat and drink in honor of the mutilated images, which were called tepieme. Women were allowed to join in this banquet provided they brought fifteen or twenty heads of maize with them; they re- ceived every one his or her share of food and pulque. The pulque was kept in black jars and lifted out to be drunk with black cups. This banquet over, the paper streamers were taken down from the poles set up in the court-yards of the houses, and carried to certain places in the water that were marked out by piles driven in we may remember that our whirlpool of Pantitlan, in the lake of Mexico, was one place so marked and to the tops of the mountains, and left there, as it would appear. 35 In taking leave here of Tlaloc, I may draw attention to the prominence in his cult of the number four, the cross, and the snake; and add that as lord of one of the three Aztec divisions of the future world, lord of the terrestrial paradise, we shall meet with him again in our examination of the Mexican ideas of a future life. 35 Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 80-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Further notice of Tlaloc and his wor- ship will be found in the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxviii., Ivii., lx., Ixii., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179, 190-2; Boturini, Idea, pp. 12-13, 99, 101; Amer. Ethnol Soc., Transact., vol. i , p. 305; Motolinia, Hint. Ind., in Icazbalceta, Col de Doc., torn i , pp. 32, 39, 42, 44-5; Torquemada, Monarq. 2nd., torn, i , p. 290, and torn, ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121, 147, 151, 212, 251-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv , Gomara, Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 216; Tylors Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 235, 243; Mutter, Amerikanische Urreliyionen, pp. 500-4, et passim. CHAPTER IX. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. THE MOTHER OR ALL-NOURISHING GODDESS UNDER VARIOUS NAMES AND IN VARIOUS ASPECTS HER FEAST IN THE ELEVENTH AZTEC MONTH OCH- PANIZTLI FESTIVALS OF THE EIGHTH MONTH, HUEYTECUILHUITL, AND or THE FOURTH, HUEYTOZOZTLI THE DEIFICATION OF WOMEN THAT DIED IN CHILD-BIRTH THE GODDESS OF WATER UNDER VARIOUS NAMES AND IN VARIOUS ASPECTS CEREMONIES OF THE BAPTISM OR LUSTRATION OF CHILDREN THE GODDESS OF LOVE, HER VARIOUS NAMES AND ASPECTS RITES OF CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION THE GOD OF FIRE AND HIS VARI- OUS NAMES His FESTIVALS IN THE TENTH MONTH XOCOTLVETI AND IN THE EIGHTEENTH MONTH YZCALI; ALSO HIS QUADRIENNIAL FESTIVAL IN THE LATTER MONTH THE GREAT FESTIVAL OF E VERY FLFTY-TWO YEARS; LIGHTING THE NEW FIRE THE GOD OF HADES, AND TEOYAOMIQUE, COL- LECTOR OF THE SOULS OF THE FALLEN BRAVE DEIFICATION OF DEAD RUL- ERS AND HEROES MIXCOATL, GOD OF HUNTING, AND HIS FEAST IN THE FOURTEENTH MONTH QUECHOLLI VARIOUS OTHER MEXICAN DEITIES FESTIVAL IN THE SECOND MONTH, TLACAXIPEHUALIZTLI, WITH NOTICE OF THE GLADIATORIAL SACRIFICES COMPLETE SYNOPSIS OF THE FESTIVALS OF THE MEXICAN CALENDAR, FIXED AND MOVABLE TEMPLES AND PRIESTS. CENTEOTL is a goddess, or according to some good authorities a god, who held, under many names and in many characters, a most important place in the divine world of the Aztecs, and of other Mexican and Cen- tral American peoples. She was goddess of maize, and consequently, from the importance in America of this grain, of agriculture, and of the producing earth generally. Many of her various names seem depend- ent on the varying aspects of the maize at different stages of its growth; others seem to have originated in the mother-like nourishing qualities of the grain of ( 349 N 350 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. which she was the deity. Mtiller lays much stress on th is aspect of her character : ' ' The force wh ich sustains life must also have created it. Centeotl was therefore considered as bringing children to light, and is repre- sented with an infant in her arms. Nebel gives us such a representation, and in our Mexican museum at Basel there are many images in this form, made of burnt clay. Where agriculture rules, there more chil- dren are brought to mature age than among the hunt- ing nations, and the land revels in a large population. No part of the world is so welt adapted to exhibit this difference as America. Centeotl is consequently the great producer, not of children merely: she is the great goddess, the most ancient goddess." 1 Centeotl was known, according to Clavigero, by the titles Tonacajohua, 'she who sustains us;' Tzinteotl, 'original goddess;' and by the further names Xilonen, Iztacacenteotl, and Tlatlauhquicenteotl. She was fur- ther, according to the same author, identical with To- nantzin, 'our mother,' and according to Mliller and many Spanish authorities,* either identical or closely connected with the various deities known as Te- teionan, 'the mother of the gods,' 2 Cihuatcoatl, 'the snake-woman,' Tazi or Toci or Tocitzin, 'our grand- mother,' and Earth, the universal material mother. Squier says of Tiazolteotl that "she is Cinteotl, the goddess of maize, under another aspect."' She was particularly honored by the Totonacs, with whom she was the chief divinity. They greatly loved her, believing that she did not demand human vic- 1 Midler, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 493. 2 Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., pp. 16, 22, indeed, says that Teteionaii and Tocitzin are 'certainly different.' * Squier s Serpent Symbol, p. 47. A passage which makes the principal ele- ment of the character of Toci or Tocitzin that of Goddess of Discord may be condensed from Acosta, as follows: When the Mexicans, in their wanderings, had settled for a time in the territory of Culhuacan, they were instructed by their god Huitzilopochtli to go forth and make wars, and first to apotheosize, after his directions, a Goddess of Discord. Following these directions, they sent to the king of Culhuacan for his daughter to be their queen. Moved by the honor, the father sent his hapless daughter, gorgeously attired, to be enthroned. But the wiley, superstitious, and ferocious Mexicans slew the girl and flayed her, and clothed a young man in her skin, calling him 'their goddess and mother of their god,' under the name of Toccy, that is, 'grandmother.' See also Purcfias his Pilyrimes, vol. iv., p. 1004. THE MOTHER-NOURISHER 351 tims, but was content with flowers and fruits, the fat banana and the yellow maize, and small animals, such as doves, quails, arid rabbits. More, they hoped that she would in the end utterly deliver them from the cruel necessity of such sacrifices, even to the other gods. With very different feeling, as we shall soon see, did the Mexicans proper approach this deity, making her temples horrid with the tortured forms of human sacrifices. It shows how deep the stain of the blood was in the Mexican religious heart, how poisonous far the odor of it had crept through all the senses of the Aztec soul, when it could be believed that the great sustainer, the yellow waving maize, the very mother of all, must be fed upon the flesh of her own children. 4 To make comprehensible various allusions, it seems well here to sum up rapidly the characters given of certain goddesses identical with or resembling in various points this Centeotl. Chicomecoatl 5 was, ac- i Clavigero, StoriaAnt. del Messico, torn, i., pp. 16-22; Explicacwn del Cod&r, Teller iano-Remensis, lam. xii., in Kingsborouglis Hex, Aidiq., vol. v., p. 140; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxx., lb., p. 180; Hurriboldt, Exsai PolUique, torn, i., p. 217; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. vi., p. 631. The sacri- fices to Centeotl, if she be identical with the earth-mother, are illustrated by the statement of Mendieta, Hist. Ecks., p. 81, that the Mexicans painted the earth-goddess as a frog with a bloody mouth in every joint of her body (which frog we shall meet again by and by in a Centeotl festival), for they said that the earth devoured all things a proof also, by the bye, among others of a like kind which we shall encounter, that not to the Hindoos alone (as Mr J. G. Miiller somewhere affirms), but to the Mexicans also, belonged the idea of multiplying the organs of their deities to express great powers in any given direction. The following note from the Spie-jazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol.-v., pp. 179-80, illus- trates the last point noticed, gives another form or relation of the goddess of sustenance, and also the origin of the name applied to the Mexican priests: ' They feign that Mayaguil was a woman with four hundred breasts, and that the gods, on account of her fruitfulness, changed her into the Maguey, which is the vine of that country, from which they make wine. She presided over these thirteen signs; but whoever chanced to be born on the first sign of the Herb, it proved unlucky to him; for they say that it was applied to the Tlamatzatzguex, who were a race of demons dwelling amongst them, who according to their account wandered through the air, from whom the ministers of their temples took their denomination. When this sign arrived, parents enjoined their children not to leave the house, lest any misfortune or unlucky accident should befall them. They believed that those who were born in Two Canes, which is the second sign, would be long lived, for they say that that sign was applied to heaven. They manufacture so many things from this plant called the Maguey, and it is so very useful in that country, that the devil took occasion to induce them to believe that it was a god, and to worship and offer sacrifices to it.' ^Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. i., pp., 5-6; G-allatin, in Amer. EthnoL Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 341, 349-50, condensing from and commenting 352 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. cording to Sahagun, the Ceres of Mexico, and the goddess of provisions, as well of what is drunk as of what is eaten. She was represented with a crown on her head, a vase in her right hand, and on her left arm a shield with a great flower painted thereon; her garments and her sandals were red. The first of the Mexican goddesses was, following the same authority, Cioacoatl, or Civacoatl. the god- dess of adverse things, such as poverty, down-hearted- ness, and toil. She appeared often in the guise of a great lady, wearing such apparel as was used in the palace ; she was also heard at night in the air shouting and even roaring. Besides her name Cioacoatl, which means 'snake-woman/ she was known as Tonantzin, that is to say, 'our mother.' She was arrayed in white robes, and her hair was arranged in front, over her forehead, in little curls that crossed each other. It was a custom with her to carry a cradle on her shoulders, as one that carries a child in it, and after setting it down in the market-place beside the other women, to disappear. When this cradle was ex- amined, there was found a stone knife in it, and with this the priests slew their sacrificial victims. The goddess of Sahagun's description most resem- bling the Toci of other writers is the one that he calls upon the codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus, says: ' Tonacacigua, alias Tuchiquetzal (plucking rose), and Chicomecouatl (seven serpents); wife of Tonacatlecotle; the cause of sterility, famine, and miseries of life Amongst Sahagun's superior deities is found Civacoatl, the ' serpent- woman, ' also called Tonantzin, ' our mother; ' and he, sober as he is in Scriptural allusions, calls her Eve, and ascribes to her, as the interpreters [of the codices] to Tonatacinga, all the miseries and adverse things of the world. This analogy is, if I am not mistaken, the only foundation for all the allu- sions to Eve and her history, before, during, and after the sin, which the in- terpreters have tried to extract from paintings which indicate nothing of the kind. They were certainly mistaken in saying that their Tonacacinga was also called Chicomecouatl, seven serpents. They should have said Civacoatl, the serpent-woman. Chicomecoatl, instead of being the cause of sterility, famine, etc., is, according to Sahagun, the goddess of abundance, that which supplies both eating and drinking: probably the same as Tzinteotl, or Cin- teotl, the goddess of maize (from centli, maize), which he does not mention. There is no more foundation for ascribing to Tonacacigua the name of Suchi- quetzal. ' Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., p. 39, says in effect: Cihuacohuatl, or snake-woman, was supposed to have given birth to two children, male and female, whence sprung the human race. It is on this account that twins are called in Mexico cocohua, ' snakes, ' or in the singular, cohuatl or coatl, now vulgarly pronounced coate. MEDICINE-GODDESS. 353 'the mother of the gods, the heart of the earth, and our ancestor or grandmother (abuela).' She is described as the goddess of medicine and of medicinal herbs, as worshipped by doctors, surgeons, blood-letters, of those that gave herbs to produce abortions, and also of the diviners that pronounced upon the fortune of children according to their birth. They worshipped her also that cast lots with grains of maize, those that augured by looking into water in a bowl, those that cast lots with bits of cord tied together, those that drew little worms or maggots from the mouth or eyes, those that extracted little stones from other parts of the body, and those that had sweat-baths, temazcallis, in their houses. These last always set the image of this god- dess in the baths, calling her Temazcalteci, that is to say, 'the grandmother of the baths/ Her adorers made this goddess a feast every year, buying a woman for a sacrifice, decorating this victim with the orna- ments proper to the goddess. Every evening they danced with this unfortunate, and regaled her deli- cately, praying her to eat as they would a great lady, and amusing her in every way, that she might not weep nor be sad at the prospect of death. When the dreadful hour did come, having slain her, together with two others that accompanied her to death, they flayed her; then a man clothed himself in her skin and went about all the city playing many pranks by all of which her identity with Tozi seems suffi- ciently clear. This goddess was represented with the mouth and chin stained with ulli, and a round patch of the same on her face; on her head she had a kind of turban made of cloth rolled round and knotted be- hind. In this knot were stuck plumes which issued from it like flames, and the ends of the cloth fell be- hind over the shoulders. She wore sandals, a shirt with a kind of broad serrated lower border, and white petticoats. In her left hand she held a shield with a round plate of gold in the centre thereof; in her right hand she held a broom. 6 6 Kingsborougtis Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 3-4. VOL. III. 23 354 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. The festival in which divers of the various manifes- tations of the mother-goddess were honored was held in the beginning of the eleventh Aztec month, begin- ning on the 14th of September; Centeotl, or Cinteotl, or Centeutl, or Tzinteutl, is, however, represented therein as a male, and not a female. Fifteen days before the commencement of the fes- tival those that took part in it began to dance, if dancing it could be called, in which the feet and body were hardly moved, and in which the time was kept by raising and lowering the hands to the beat of the drum. This went on for eight days, beginning in the afternoon and finishing with the set of sun, the dancers being perfectly silent, arranged in four lines, and each having both hands full of flowers, cut branches and all. Some of the youths, indeed, too restless to bear the silence, imitated with their mouths the sound of the drum; but all were forced to keep, as well in mo- tion as in voice, the exactest time and good order. On the expiration of these eight days the medical women, both old and young, divided themselves into two parties, and fought a kind of mock battle before the woman that had to die in this festival, to amuse her and keep tears away ; for they held it of bad au- gury if this miserable creature gave way to her grief, and as a sign that many women had to die in child- birth. This woman, who was called for the time being 'the image of the mother of the gods,' led in person the first attack upon one of the two parties of fighters, being accompanied by three old women that were to her as mothers, and never left her side, called respectively Aoa, Tlavitezqui, and Xocuauhtli. 7 The fight consisted in pelting each other with handfuls of red leaves or leaves of the nopal, or of yellow flowers called cempoalsuchitl, the same sort as had been carried by the actors in the preceding dance. These women all wore girdles, to which were suspended little gourds filled with powder of the herb called yietl. When the 7 Or, according to Bustamante's ed., Aba, Tlavitecqui, and Xoquauchtli.' n, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., p. 149. SACRIFICE TO THE MOTHEB^GODDESS. 355 pelting-match was over, the woman that had to die was led back to the house where she was guarded; and all this was repeated during four successive days. Then the victim representing Toci, that is to say, ' our grandmother or ancestor/ for so was called the mother of the gods, was led for the last time through the market-place by the medical woman. This ceremony was called 'the farewell to the market-place;' for never more should she see it who this day passed through, decorated in such mournful frippery, sur- rounded by the pomp of such hollow mirth. She went sowing maize on every side as she walked, and having passed through the market, she was received by the priests, who took her to a house near the cu where she had to be killed. There the medical women and mid- wives consoled her: Daughter, be joyful, and not sad, this night thou shalt sleep with the king. Then they adorned her with the ornaments of the goddess Toci, striving all the while to keep the fact of her death in the background, that she might die suddenly and without knowing it. At midnight, in darkness, not so much as a cough breaking the silence, she was led to the holy temple-top, and caught up swiftly on the shoulders of a man. There was hardly a struggle ; her bearer felt himself deluged with blood, while she was beheaded with all despatch, and flayed, still warm. The skin of the thighs was iirst taken off, and carried, for a purpose to be presently revealed, to the cu of Centeotl, who was the son of Toci. With the remain- der of the skin, next taken off, a priest clothed him- self, drawing it on, it would appear from other records, like a glove ; this priest, who was a young man chosen for his bodily forces and size, thus clothed represented Toci, the goddess herself. The Toci priest, with this horrible jacket sticking to his sinewy bust, then came down from the temple amid the chanting of the sing- ers of the cu. On each side of him went two persons, who had made a vow to help him in this service, and behind came several other priests. In front there ran a number of principal men and soldiers, armed with 356 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. besoms of blood-stained grass, who looked back from time to time, and struck their shields as if provoking a fight; these he pretended to pursue with great fury, and all that saw this play (which was called cacacatti) feared and trembled exceedingly. On reaching the cu of Huitzilopochtli, the Toci priest spread out his arms and stood like a cross before the image of the war-god; this he did four times, and then went on to the cu of Centeotl, whither, as we remember, the skin of the thighs of the flayed woman had been sent. This skin of the thighs another young priest, repre- senting the god Centeotl, son of Toci, had put on over his face like a mask. In addition to this loathsome veil, he wore a jacket of feathers and a hood of feath- ers attached to the jacket. This hood ran out into a peak of a spiral form falling behind; and the back- bone or spine of this spiral resembled the comb of a cock; this hood was called ytztlacoliuhqui, that is to say, 'god of frost.' The Toci priest and the Centeotl priest next went together to the cu of Toci, where the first waited for the morning (for all this already described took place at night), to have certain trappings put on over his horrid under-vest. When the morning broke, amid the chanting of the singers, all the principal men, who had been waiting below, ran with great swiftness up the steps of the temple, carrying their offerings. Some of these principal men began to cover the feet and the head of the Toci priest with the white downy inner feathers of the eagle; others painted his face red; others put on him a rather short shirt with the figure of an eagle wrought or woven into the breast of it, and certain painted petticoats ; others beheaded quails and offered copal. All this done quickly, these men took their departure. Then were brought forth and put on the Toci priest all his rich vestures, and a kind of square crown very wide above and ornamented with five little banners, one in each corner, and in the centre one higher than the others. All the captives that had to die were THE SKIN-BEARERS. 357 brought out and set in line, and he took four of them, one after the other, threw them down on the sacrificial stone, and took out their hearts; the rest of the captives he handed over to the other priests to com- plete the work he had begun. After this he set out with the Centeotl priest for the cu of the latter. In advance of these a little way there walked a party of their devotees, called ycuexoan, decorated with papers, girt for breech-clout with twisted paper, carrying at their shoulders a crumpled paper, round like a shield, and tassels of untwisted cotton. On either side also there went those that sold lime 8 in the market, and the medical women, moving to the singing of the priests and the beat of drum. Having come to the place where heads were spitted at the cu of Centeotl, the Toci priest set one foot on the drum and waited there for the Centeotl priest. The two being come together, it would seem that he who represented Centeotl now set out alone, with much haste and accompanied by many soldiers for a place on the enemy's frontier where there was a kind of small hut built. There at last was deposited and left the skin of the thighs of the sacrificed woman which had served such ghastly use. And often, it is said, it happened, this ceremony taking place on the border of a hostile territory, that the enemy sallied out against the procession, and there was fighting, and many were slain. After this the young man who represented the goddess Toci was taken to the house that is called Atempan. The king took his seat on a throne with a mat of eagle- skin and feathers under his feet, and a tiger-skin over the back of his seat, and there was a grand review of the army, and a distribution from the royal treasury of raiment, ornaments, and arms; and it was understood that those who received such arms had to die with them in war. This done, dancing was begun in the court-yard of the temple of Toci; and all who had *Lime was much used in. the preparation, of maize for making various articles of food. 358 GODS. SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP. received presents, as above, repaired thither. This dancing, as in the first part of the festival, consisted for the most part in keeping time to the beat of the drum with hands filled with flowers ; so that the whole court looked like a living garden; and there was so much gold, for the king and all the princes were there, that the sun flashed through all as on water. This began at midday and went on for two days. On the evening of the second day, the priests of the goddess Chicomecoatl, clothed with the skins of the captives that had died in a former day, ascended a small cu called the table of Huitzilopochtli and sowed maize of all kinds, white and yellow and red, and calabash-seeds, upon the heads of the people that were below. The people tried to gather up these as they fell, and elbowed each other a good deal. The damsels, called cioatlamacazqiie, that served the goddess Chicomecoatl, carried each one on her shoulder, rolled in a rich man- tle, seven ears of maize, striped with melted ulli and wrapped in white paper; their legs and arms were decorated with feathers sprinkled over with marcasite. These sang with the priest of their goddess. This done, one of the priests descended from the above-mentioned cu of Huitzilopochtli, carrying in his hand a large basket filled with powdered chalk and feather-down, which he set in a, small chamber, or little cave called coaxalpan, between the temple stairs and the temple itself. This cavity was reached from below by four or five steps, and when the basket was put down there was a general rush of the soldiers to be first to secure some of the contents. Every one, as he got his hands filled, with much elbowing, returned running to the place whence he had set out. All this time the Toci priest had been looking on, and now he pretended to chase those that ran, while they pelted him back with the down and powdered chalk they had in their hands; the king himself running a little way and pelting him like the rest. After this fashion they all ran away from him and left him alone, except some priests, who followed him to a place called Tocititlan, when he took THE XILONEN FESTIVAL. 359 off the skin of the sacrificed woman and hung it up in a little hut that was there; taking care that its arms were stretched out, and that the head (or surely the neck for have we not read that the head was cut eff the woman on the fatal night which terminated her life?) was turned toward the road, or street. And this was the last of the ceremonies of the feast of Ochpaniztli. 9 The intimate connection of the goddess Xilonen (from ociloll, a young or tender ear of maize) with Cen- teotl is shown by the fact that in the cu of Centeotl was killed the unfortunate woman who was decorated to resemble the goddess Xilonen. The festival of Xilonen commenced on the eleventh day of the eighth Mexican month, which month begins on the 16th of July. The victim was made to resemble the image of the goddess by having her face painted yellow from the nose downward, and her brow red. On her head was put a crown of paper with four corners, from the centre and top of which issued many plumes. Round her neck and over her breasts hung strings of precious stones, and over these was put a round medal of gold. Her garments and sandals were curiously wrought, the latter painted with red stripes. On her left arm was a shield, and in the right hand she held a stick, or baton, painted yellow. The women led her to death dancing round her, and the priests and the principal men danced before them, sowing incense as they went. The priest who was to act as executioner had on his shoulders a bunch of feathers, held there in the grip of an eagle's talons, artificial; another of the priests carried the hollow board filled with rattles, so often mentioned. At the foot of the cu of Centeotl, this latter stopped in front of the Xilonen woman, scat- tered incense before her, and rattled with his board, waving it from side to side. They ascended the cu, and one of the priests caught the victim up, twisting her backwards, her shoulders against his shoulders; 9 Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 69-70; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., pp. 148-56. 360 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. on which living altar her heart was cut out through her breast, and put into a cup. After that there was more dancing, in which the women, old and young, took part in a body by themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red macaw feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted with marcasite. There was also a banquet of small pies, called xocotamalli, during which to the old men and women license was given to drink pulque ; the young, however, being re- strained from the bacchanalian part of this enjoyment by severe and sometimes capital punishment. 10 Lastly, the intimate connection or identity of Cen- teotl with the earth -mother, the all-nourish er, seems clearly symbolized in the feast of the fourth month of the Mexicans, which began on the 27th of April. In it they made a festival to the god of cereals, under the name of Centeotl, and to the goddess of provisions, called Chicomecoatl. First they fasted four days, put- ting certain rushes or water-flags beside the images of the gods, staining the white part of the bottom of each rush with blood drawn from their ears or legs; branches, too, of the kind called acxoiatl, and a kind of bed or mattress of hay, were put before the altars. A sort of porridge of maize, called mazamorra, was also made and given to the youths. Then all walked out into the country and through the maize -fields, carrying stalks of maize and other herbs called me- / O coatl. With these they strewed the image of the god of cereals that every one had in his house, and they put papers on it and food before it of various kinds; five chiquivites, 11 or baskets, of tortillas, and on the top of each chiquivitl a cooked frog, a basket of chian 12 flour, which they called pinolli; 13 and a basket of toasted maize mixed with beans. They cut also a joint from a green maize-stalk, stuffed the little tube with mor- 18 Kingsborouglis Hex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 60-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. ii., pp. 135-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., p. 75; Tor- quemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 269-71. 11 Chiquiuitl, cesto 6 canasta. Molina, Vocabulario. 12 Chian, 6 Chia, cierta semilla de que sacan azeite. Id. 13 Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian. Id. BLESSING THE SEED-MAIZE. 361 sels of every kind of the above- mentioned food, and set it carefully on the back of the frog. 1 * This each one did in his own house, and in the afternoon all this offering of food was carried to the cu of the goddess of provisions, of the goddess Chicomecoatl, and eaten there in a general scramble, take who take could; symbolizing one knows not what, if not the laisser- faire and laisser-aller system of national commisariat much advocated by many political enconomists, savage and civilized. In this festival the ears of maize that were preserved for seed were carried in procession by virgins to a cu, apparently the one just mentioned, but which is here called the cu of Chicomecoatl and of Centeotl. The maidens carried on their shoulders not more than seven ears of corn apiece, sprinkled with drops of oil of ulli, and wrapped first in papers and then in a cloth. The legs and arms of these girls were ornamented with red feathers, and their faces were smeared with the pitch called chapopolli and sprinkled with rnarcasite. As they went along in this bizarre attire, the people crowded to see them pass, but it was forbidden to speak to them. Sometimes, indeed, an irrepressible youth would break out into words of admiration or love toward some fair pitch-besmeared face, but his answer came sharp and swift from one of the old wo- men that watched the younger, in some such fashion as this- And so thou speakest, raw coward! thou must be speaking, eh? Think first of performing some man's feat, and get rid of that tail of hair at the nape of thy neck that marks the coward and the good- for-nothing. It is not for thee to speak here , thou art as much a woman as I am ; thou hast never come out from behind the fire ! But the young lovers of Tenochtitlan were not without insolent sprmgalls among them, much given to rude gibes, and retorts like the following : Well said, my lady, I receive this with thanks, I will do what you command me, will 11 Apparently the earth symbolized as a frog (see this vol., p. 351, note 4), and bearing the fruits thererr on \\QT hack. 362 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. take care to show myself a man; but as for you, I value two cacao-beans more than you and all your lineage ; put mud on your body and scratch yourself ; fold one leg over the other and roll in the dust ; see ! here is a rough stone, knock your face against it; and if you want anything more, take a red-hot coal and burn a hole in your throat to spit through ; for God's sake, hold your peace. This the young fellows said, writes Sahagun, to show their courage ; and so it went, give and take, till the maize was carried to the cu and blessed. Then the folk returned to their houses, and sanctified maize was put in the bottom of every granary, and it was said that it was the heart thereof, and it remained there till taken out for seed. These ceremonies were specially in honor of the goddess Chicomecoatl. She supplied provision^, she it was that had made all kinds of maize and frijoles, and whatsoever vegetables could be eaten, and all sorts of chia; and for this they made her that festival with offerings of food, and with songs and dances, and with the blood of quails. All the ornaments of her attire were bright red and curiously wrought, and in her hands they put stalks of maize. 15 The Mexicans deified, under the name Cioapipilti, all women that died in childbed. There were ora- tories raised to their honor in every ward that had two streets. In such oratories, called cioateucalli or ciateupan, there were kept images of these goddesses adorned with certain papers, called amatetevitl. The eighth movable feast of the Mexican calendar was dedicated to them, falling in the sign Cequiahuitl, in the first house; in this feast were slain in their honor all lying in the jails under pain of death. These god- desses were said to move through the air at pleasure, and to appear to whom they would of those that lived upon the earth, and sometimes to enter into and pos- sess them. They were accustomed to hurt children 15 Kingsboraugtis Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn. i., lib. ii,, pp. 97-100; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, ii., p. 67; Tor- quemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii , pp. 52-3, 60-1, 134, 152-3, 181, 255-6. THE MOTHER-GODDESS AND WOMAN IN CHILDBED. 363 with various infirmities, especially paralysis and other sudden diseases. Their favorite haunt on earth was the cross-roads, and on certain days of the year, peo pie would not go out of their houses for fear of meet- ing them. They were propitiated in their temples and at the cross-roads by offerings of bread kneaded into various shapes into figures of butterflies and thunderbolts, for example by offerings of small tamales, or pies, and of toasted maize. Their images, besides the papers above mentioned, were decorated by having the face, arms, and legs painted very white ; their ears were made of gold ; their hair was dressed like that of ladies, in little curls ; the shirt was painted over with black waves; the petticoats were worked in divers colors; the sandals were white. The mother-goddess, under the form of the serpent- woman, Cioacoatl, or Ciuacoatl, or Cihuacoatl, or lastly, Quilaztli, seems to have been held as the patroness of women in childbed generally, and especially of those that died there. When the delivery of a woman was likely to be tedious and dangerous, the midwife ad- dressed the patient saying: Be strong, my daughter; we can do nothing for thee. Here are present thy mother and thy relations, but thou alone must conduct this business to its termination. See to it, my daugh- ter, my well-beloved, that thou be a strong and valiant and manly woman ; be like her who first bore children, like Cioacoatl, like Quilaztli. And if still after a day and a night of labor the woman could not bring forth, the midwife took her away from all other persons and brought her into a closed room and made many prayers, calling upon the goddess Cioacoatl, and upon the goddess Yoalticitl, 18 and upon other goddesses. If, notwith- 16 Yoalticitl, another name of the mother-goddess, of the mother of the gods, of the mother of us all, of our grandmother or ancestress; more par- ticularly that form of the mother-goddess described, after Sahagun (this vol., p. 353), as being the patroness of medicine and of doctors and of the sweat- baths. Sahagun speaks in another passage of Yoalticitl (Kingsboroug/is Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 453): 'La madre de los Dioses, que es la Diosa de las medicinas y medicos, y es madre de todos nosotros, la cual se llama Yoalti- citl, la qual tiene poder y autoridad sobre los Temazcales [sweat-baths] que Hainan Xuchicalli, en el qual lugar esta Diosa ve las cosas secretas, y adereza 364 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. standing all, the woman died, they gave her the title mociaquezqm, that is, ' valiant woman/ and they washed all her body, and washed with soap her head and her hair. Her husband lifted her on his shoulders, and with her long hair flowing loose behind him, carried her to the place of burial. All the old mid wives accom- panied the body, marching with shields and swords, and shouting as when soldiers close in the attack. They had need of their weapons, for the body that they escorted was a holy relic which many were eager to win; and a party of youths fought with these Amazons to take their treasure from them ; this fight was no play, but a very bone-breaking earnest. The burial procession set out at the setting of the sun, and the corpse was interred in the court-yard of the cu of the goddesses, or celestial women, called Cioapipilti. Four nights the husband and his friends guarded the grave, and four nights the youths, or rawest and most inexperienced soldiers, prowled like wolves about the little band. If, either from the fighting midwives or from the night-watchers, they succeeded in securing the body, they instantly cut off the middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the head ; either of these things being put in one's shield made one fierce, brave, invincible in war, and blinded the eyes of one's ene- mies. There prowled also round the sacred tomb cer- tain wizards, called temamacpalilotique, seeking to hack off and steal the whole left arm of the dead wife; for they held it to be of mighty potency in their enchant- ments, and a thing that when they went to a house to work their malice thereon would wholly take away the courage of the inmates, and dismay them so that they could neither move hand or foot, though they saw all that passed. The death of this woman in childbed was mourned by the midwives, but her parents and relations were joyful thereat; for they said that she did not go to hades, or the under-ground world, but to the western las cosas desconcertadas en los cuerpos de los hombres, y fortifica las cosaa tiernas y blandas. ' THE HOUSE OF THE SUN. 365 part of the House of the Sun. To the eastern part of the House of the Sun, as the ancients said, were taken up all the soldiers that died in war. When the sun rose in the morning these brave men decorated themselves in their panoply of war, and accompanied him toward the mid-heaven, shouting and fighting, apparently in a sham or review battle, until they reached the point of noon-day, which was called nepan- tlatonatiuh. At this point the heroines whose home was in the west of heaven, the mocioaquezque, the valiant women, dead in childbed, who ranked as equal with the heroes fallen in war, met these heroes and re- lieved them of their duty as guards of honor of the sun. From noon till night, down the western slope of light, while the forenoon escort of warriors' were scattered through all the fields and gardens of heaven, sucking flowers till another day should call them anew to their duty, the women, in panoply of war, just as the men had been, and fighting like them with clash- ing shields and shouts of joy, bore the sun to his set- ting; carrying him on a litter of quetzales, or rich feathers, called the quetzal-apanecaiutl. At this set- ting-place of the sun the women were, in their turn, relieved by those of the under-world, who here came out to receive him. For it was reported of old by the ancients that when night began in the upper world the sun began to shine through hades, and that thereupon the dead rose up from their sleep and bore his shining litter through their domain. At this hour too the celes- tial women, released from their duty in heaven, scat- tered and poured down through the air upon the earth, w^here, with a touch of the dear nature that makes the world kin, they are described as looking for spindles to spin with, and shuttles to weave with, and all the old furniture and implements of their housewifely pride. This thing, says Sahagun, "the devil wrought to deceive withal, for very often, in the form of those women, he appeared to their bereaved husbands, giv- ing them petticoats and shirts." Yerv beautiful was the form of address before burial 366 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. used by the midwife to the dead woman who had taken rank among the mocioaquezque or mocioaquetza: O wo- man, strong and warlike, child well-beloved, valiant one, beautiful and tender dove, strong hast thou been and toil-enduring as a hero; thou hast conquered, thou hast done as did thy mother the lady Cioacoatl, or Quilaztli. Very valiantly hast thou fought, stoutly hast thou handled the shield and the spear that the great mother put in thine hand. Up with thee ! break from sleep ! behold, it is already day ; already the red of morning shoots through the clouds; already the swallows and all birds are abroad. Rise, my daughter, attire thyself, go to that good land where is the house of thy father and mother the Sun; thither let thy sisters, the celestial women, carry thee, they that are always joyful and merry and filled with delight, be- cause of the Sun with whom they take pleasure. My tender daughter and lady, not without sore travail hast thou gotten the glory of this victory; a great pain and a hard penance hast thou undergone. Weil and fortunately hast thou purchased this death. Is this, perad venture, a fruitless death, and without great merit and honor? Nay, verily, but one of much honor and profit. Who receives other such great mercy, other such happy victory, as thou ? for thou hast gained with thy death eternal life, a life full of joy 'and de- light, with the goddesses called Cioapipilti, the celes- tial goddesses. Go now, my lady, my well-beloved; little by little advance toward them; be one of them, that they may receive thee and be always with thee, that thou mayest rejoice and be glad in our father arid mother the Sun, and accompany him. whithersoever he wish to take pleasure. my lady, my well-beloved daughter, thou hast left us behind, us old people, un- worthy of such glory; thou hast torn thyself away from thy father and mother, and departed. Not, in- deed, of thine own will, but thou wast called; thou didst follow a voice that called. We must remain orphans and forlorn, old and luckless and poor; misery will glorify itself in us. O my lady, thou hast left us CHALCHIHUITLICUE, 367 here that we may go from door to door and through the streets in poverty and sorrow; we pray thee to remember us where thou art, and to provide for the poverty that we here endure. The sun wearies us with his great heat, the air with its coldness, and the frost with its torment. All these things afflict and grieve our miserable earthen bodies; hunger is lord over us, and we can do nothing against it. My well- beloved, I pray thee to visit us, since thou art a val- orous woman and a lady, since thou art settled forever in the place of delight and blessedness, there to live and be forever with our Lord. Thou seest him with thine eyes, thou speakest to him with thy tongue, pray to him for us, entreat him that he favor us, and therewith we shall be at rest. 17 Chalchihuitlicue, or Chalchiuhcyeje, is described by Clavigero as the goddess of water and the mate of Tlaloc. She had other names relating to water in its different states, as Apozonallotl and Acuecuejotl, which mean the swelling and fluctuation of water; Atlaca- mani, or the storms excited thereon ; Ahuic and Aiauh, or its motion, now to one side, now to the other; and Xixiquipilihui, the alternate rising and falling of the waves. The Tlascaltecs called her Matlalcueje, that is, 'clothed in a green robe;' and they gave the same name to the highest mountain of Tlascala, on whose summit are found those stormy clouds which generally burst over the city of Puebla. To that summit the Tlascaltecs ascended to perform their sacrifices and offer up their prayers. This is the very same goddess of water to whom Torquemada gives the name of Hochi- quetzal, and Boturini that of Macuilxochiquetzalli. 18 Of the accuracy of the assertions of this last sen- tence I am by no means certain ; Boturini and Torque- mada both describe their goddess of water without giving any support thereto. Boturini says that she 17 Kingsborougtis Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5, 35, vol. v., pp. 450-2; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. i., pp. 8-9, lib. ii., pp. 78-9; torn, ii., lib. vi., pp. 18 Clavigero, Storia Ant. delMessic<\ torn, ii., p. 16. 368 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. was metaphorically called by- the Mexicans the goddess of the Petticoat of Precious Stones chalchihuites, as it would appear from other authorities, being meant and that she was represented with large pools at her feet, and symbolized by certain reeds that grow in. moist places. She was particularly honored by fisher- men and others whose trade connected them with water, and great ladies were accustomed to dedicate to her their nuptials probably, as will be seen imme- diately, because this goddess had much to do with certain lustral ceremonies performed on new-born, children. 19 Many names, writes Torquemada, were given to this goddess, but that of Chalchihuitlicue was the most common and usual; it meant to say, 'petticoat of water, of a shade between green and blue,' that is, of the color the stones called chalchihuites. 20 She was the companion, not the wife, of Tlaloc, for indeed, as our author affirms, the Mexicans did not think so grossly of their gods and goddesses as to marry them. 21 According to Sahagun, Chalchihuitlicue was the sister of the Tlalocs. She was honored because she had power over the waters of the sea and of the rivers to drown those that went down to them, to raise tempests and whirlwinds, and to cause boats to founder, 19 Boturini, Idea, pp. 25-6. 20 ' The stones called chalchiuites by the Mexicans (and written variously clialchibetes, chalchihuis, and calcluhuis by the chroniclers) were esteemed of high value by all the Central American and Mexican nations. They were generally of green quartz, jade, or the stone known as madre de Esmerakla. .... The goddess of water, amongst the Mexicans, bore the name of Ckalchiuil- cuye, the woman of the Chalchiuites, and the name of Chalchmihapan was often applied to the city of Tlaxcalla, from a beautiful fountain of water found near it, " the color of which, "according to Torquemada, "was between blue and green." ' Squier, in Palacio, Carta, p. 110, note 15. In the same work, p. " al- ["this lake is distant two leagues ward of the present considerable town of Guatepeque, from which it takes its name, LayuiM de Guatepue " Guatemala], situated on the flank of the vol- cano. Its water is bad; it is deep, and full of caymans. In its middle there are two small islands. The Indians regard the lake as an oracle of much authority , , . . I learned that certain negroes and mulattoes of an adjacent estate had been there [on the islands], and had found a great idol of stone in the form of a woman, and some objects which had been, offered in sacrifice. Near by were found some stones called chalchibites. ' 21 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., p. 47. IDOL OF CHALCHIHUITLICUE. 369 They worshipped her, all those that dealt in water^ that went about selling it from canoes, or pedled jars of it in the market. They represented this goddess as a woman, painted her face yellow, save the forehead, which was often blue, and hung round her neck a collar of precious stones from which depended a medal of gold On her head was a crown of light blue paper, with plumes of green feathers, and tassels that fell to the nape of her neck. Her ear-rings were of turquoise wrought in mosaic. Her clothing was a shirt, or upper body-garment, clear blue petticoats with fringes, from which hung marine shells, and white sandals. In her left hand she held a shield and a leaf of the broad round white water-lily, called atlacuezona. 22 In her right hand she held as a sceptre a vessel in the shape of a cross, or of a monstrance of the Catholic Church. This goddess, together with Chicomecoatl, goddess of provisions, and Vixtocioatl, goddess of salt, was held in high veneration by kings and lords, for they said that these three supported the common people so that they could live and multiply. 23 Chalchihuitlicue was especially connected with cer- tain ceremonies of lustration of children, resembling in many points baptism among Christians. It would seem that two of these lustrations were practised upon 22 Atlacueqonan, ninfa vel onenufar, flor de yerna de agua. Molina, Vocab- ulario. The Abbe Brasseur adds, on what authority I have not been able to find, that this leaf was ornamented with golden flags. Hist, des Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 324. He adds in a note to this passage, what is very true, that ' suivant Ixtlilxochitl, et apr6s lui Veytia, la d