Front matter (continued 3)

[Footnote 18: Señor Alfredo Chavero believes Tezcatlipoca to have been originally the moon, and there is little doubt at times this was one of his symbols, as the ruler of the darkness. M. Girard de Rialle, on the other hand, claims him as a solar deity. "Il est la personnification du soleil sous son aspect corrupteur et destructeur, ennemi des hommes et de la nature." La Mythologie Comparée, p. 334 (Paris, 1878). A closer study of the original authorities would, I am sure, have led M. de Rialle to change this opinion. He is singularly far from the conclusion reached by M. Ternaux-Compans, who says: "Tezcatlipoca fût la personnification du bon principe." Essai sur la Théogonie Mexicaine, p. 23 (Paris, 1840). Both opinions are equally incomplete. Dr. Schultz-Sellack considers him the "Wassergott," and assigns him to the North, in his essay, Die Amerikanischen Götter der Vier Weltgegenden, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Bd. xi, 1879. This approaches more closely to his true character.]

[Footnote 19: Torquemada, Monarquía Indiana, Lib. XIV, cap. XXII.]

[Footnote 20: The chief authorities on the birth of the god Quetzalcoatl, are Ramirez de Fuen-leal Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, Cap. i, printed in the Anales del Museo Nacional; the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, and the Codex Vaticanus, both of which are in Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities.

[Footnote 21: The names Cipactli and Cipactonal have not been satisfactorily analyzed. The derivation offered by Señor Chavero (Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p.116), is merely fanciful; tonal is no doubt from tona, to shine, to warn; and I think cipactli is a softened form with the personal ending from chipauac, something beautiful or clear. Hence the meaning of the compound is The Beautiful Shining One. Oxomuco, which Chavero derives from xomitl, foot, is perhaps the same as Xmukane, the mother of the human race, according to the Popol Vuh, a name which, I have elsewhere shown, appears to be from a Maya root, meaning to conceal or bury in the ground. The hint is of the fertilizing action of the warm light on the seed hidden in the soil. See The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, Trans. of the Amer. Phil. Soc. 1881.]

[Footnote 22: The name Chichimeca has been a puzzle. The derivation appears to be from chichi, a dog, mecatl, a rope. According to general tradition the Chichimecs were a barbarous people who inhabited Mexico before the Aztecs came. Yet Sahagun says the Toltecs were the real Chichimecs (Lib. x, cap. xxix). In the myth we are now considering, they were plainly the stars.]

[Footnote 23: Popol Vuh, Le Livre Sacré des Quichés, p. 193.]

[Footnote 24: See H. de Charencey, Des Couleurs Considérées comme Symboles des Points de l'Horizon chez les Peuples du Nouveau Monde, in the Actes de la Société Philologiques, Tome vi. No. 3.]

[Footnote 25: These frightful beings were called the Tzitzimime, a word which Molina in his Vocabulary renders "cosa espantosa ó cosa de aguero." For a thorough discussion of their place in Mexican mythology, see Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, pp. 358-372.]

[Footnote 26: The whole of this version of the myth is from the work of Ramirez de Fuen-leal, which I consider in some respects the most valuable authority we possess. It was taken directly from the sacred books of the Aztecs, as explained by the most competent survivors of the Conquest.]

[Footnote 27: Alfredo Chavero, La Piedra del Sol, in the Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. i, p. 353, et seq.]

[Footnote 28: A.S. Gatschet, The Four Creations of Mankind, a Tualati myth, in Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington, Vol. i, p. 60 (1881).]

[Footnote 29: Paul Haupt, Der Keilinschriftliche Sintfluthbericht, p. 17 (Leipzig, 1881).]

[Footnote 30: Gabriel de Chaves, Relacion de la Provincia de Meztitlan, 1556, in the Colecion de Documentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias, Tom. iv, pp. 535 and 536. The translations of the names are not given by Chaves, but I think they are correct, except, possibly, the third, which may be a compound of tentetl, lipstone, temictli, dream, instead of with temicti, slayer.]

[Footnote 31: Ixcuina was also the name of the goddess of pleasure. The derivation is from ixtli, face, cui, to take, and na, four. See the note of MM. Jourdanet and Simeon to their translation of Sahagun, Historia p. 22.]

[Footnote 32: Dr. Schultz Sellack, Die Amerikanischen Götter der Vier Weltgegenden und ihre Tempel in Palenque, in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Bd. xi, (1879).]

[Footnote 33: "Tonalan, ô lugar del sol," says Tezozomoc (Cronica Mexicana, chap. i). The full form is Tonatlan, from tona, "hacer sol," and the place ending tlan. The derivation from tollin, a rush, is of no value, and it is nothing to the point that in the picture writing Tollan was represented by a bundle of rushes (Kingsborough, vol. vi, p. 177, note), as that was merely in accordance with the rules of the picture writing, which represented names by rebuses. Still more worthless is the derivation given by Herrera (Historia de las Indias Occidentals, Dec. iii, Lib. i, cap. xi), that it means "Lugar de Tuna" or the place where the tuna (the fruit of the Opuntia) is found; inasmuch as the word tuna is not from the Aztec at all, but belongs to that dialect of the Arawack spoken by the natives of Cuba and Haiti.]

[Footnote 34: The Books of Chilan Balam, of the Mayas, the Record from Tecpan Atitlan, of the Cakchiquels, and the Popol vuh, National Book, of the Kiches, have much to say about Tulan. These works were all written at a very early date, by natives, and they have all been preserved in the original tongues, though unfortunately only the last mentioned has been published.]

[Footnote 35: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii, cap. iii.]

[Footnote 36: Duran, Historia de los Indios, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267.]

[Footnote 37: Francisco Ernantez Arana Xahila, Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan. MS. in Cakchiquel, in my possession.]

[Footnote 38: Le Popol Vuh, p. 247. The name Yaqui means in Kiche civilized or polished, and was applied to the Aztecs, but it is, in its origin, from an Aztec root yauh, whence yaque, travelers, and especially merchants. The Kiches recognizing in the Aztec merchants a superior and cultivated class of men, adopted into their tongue the name which the merchants gave themselves, and used the word in the above sense. Compare Sahagun, Historia de Nueva España, Lib. ix, cap. xii.]

[Footnote 39: Toltecatl, according to Molina, is "oficial de arte mecanica ò maestro," (Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana, s.v.). This is a secondary meaning. Veitia justly says, "Toltecatl quiere decir artifice, porque en Thollan comenzaron a enseñar, aunque a Thollan llamaron Tula, y por decir Toltecatl dicen Tuloteca" (Historia, cap. xv).]

[Footnote 40: Their title was Tlanqua cemilhuique, compounded of tlanqua, to set the teeth, as with strong determination, and cemilhuitia, to run during a whole day. Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii, cap. iii, and Lib. x, cap. xxix; compare also the myth of Tezcatlipoca disguised as an old woman parching corn, the odor of which instantly attracted the Toltecs, no matter how far off they were. When they came she killed them. Id. Lib. iii, cap. xi.]

[Footnote 41: "Discipulos," Duran, Historia, in Kingsborough, vol. vii, p. 260.]

[Footnote 42: Ibid.]

[Footnote 43: For the character of the Toltecs as here portrayed, see Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones Historicas, and Veitia, Historia, passion.]

[Footnote 44: "Se metió (Quetzalcoatl) la tierra adentro hasta Tlapallan ó segun otros Huey Xalac, antigua patria de sus antepasados, en donde vivió muchos años." Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones Historicas, p. 394, in Kingsborough, vol. ix. Xalac, is from xalli, sand, with the locative termination. In Nahuatl xalli aquia, to enter the sand, means to die.]

[Footnote 45: "Dicen que caminó acia el Oriente, y que se fué á la ciudad del Sol, llamada Tlapallan, y fué llamado del sol." Libro. viii, Prologo.]

[Footnote 46: Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Hist. de los Mexicanos, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 47: Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. Camaxtli is also found in the form Yoamaxtli; this shows that it is a compound of maxtli, covering, clothing, and ca, the substantive verb, or in the latter instance, yoalli, night; hence it is, "the Mantle," or, "the garb of night" ("la faja nocturna," Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 363).]

[Footnote 48: Codex Vaticanus, Tab. x; Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Pt. ii, Lam. ii. The name is from chalchihuitl, jade, and vitztli, the thorn used to pierce the tongue, ears and penis, in sacrifice. Chimalman, more correctly, Chimalmatl, is from chimalli, shield, and probably, matlalin, green.]

[Footnote 49: Mendieta, Historia Eclesiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. vi.]

[Footnote 50: Ibid.]

[Footnote 51: Motolinia, Historia de los Indios de Nueva España, Epistola Proemial, p. 10. The first wife was Ilancueitl, from ilantli, old woman, and cueitl, skirt. Gomara, Conquista de Méjico, p. 432.]

[Footnote 52: The derivation of Aztlan from aztatl, a heron, has been rejected by Buschmann and the best Aztec scholars. It is from the same root as izlac, white, with the local ending tlan, and means the White or Bright Land. See the subject discussed in Buschmann, Ueber die Atzekischen Ortsnamen. p. 612, and recently by Señor Orozco y Berra, in Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 56.]

[Footnote 53: Colhuacan, is a locative form. It is usually derived from coloa, to curve, to round. Father Duran says it is another name for Aztlan: "Estas cuevas son en Teoculacan, que por otro nombre se llama Aztlan." Historia de los Indios de Nueva España, Lib. i, cap. i.]

[Footnote 54: Mendieta, Historia Eclesiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xxxiii.]

[Footnote 55: See my work, The Myths of the New World, p. 242.]

[Footnote 56: "En esta tierra nunca envejecen los hombres. * * * Este cerro tiene esta virtud, que el que ya viejo se quiere remozar, sube hasta donde le parece, y vuelve de la edad que quiere." Duran, in Kingsborough, Vol. viii, p. 201.]

[Footnote 57: Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones Historicas, p. 330, in Kingsborough, Vol. ix.]

[Footnote 58: In the work of Ramirez de Fuen-leal (cap. viii), Tezcatlipoca is said to have been the discoverer of pulque, the intoxicating wine of the Maguey. In Meztitlan he was associated with the gods of this beverage and of drunkenness. Hence it is probable that the name Meconetzin applied to Quetzalcoatl in this myth meant to convey that he was the son of Tezcatlipoca.]

[Footnote 59: Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. This was apparently the canonical doctrine in Cholula. Mendieta says: "El dios ó idolo de Cholula, llamado Quetzalcoatl, fué el mas celebrado y tenido por mejor y mas digno sobre los otro dioses, segun la reputacion de todos. Este, segun sus historias (aunque algunos digan que de Tula) vino de las partes de Yucatan á la ciudad de Cholula." Historia Eclesiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. x.]

[Footnote 60: Historia Chichimeca, cap. i.]

[Footnote 61: Historia, cap. xv.]

[Footnote 62: Sahagun, Lib. ix, cap. xxix.]

[Footnote 63: The name of the bath of Quetzalcoatl is variously given as Xicàpoyan, from xicalli, vases made from gourds, and poyan, to paint (Sahagun, Lib. iii, cap. iii); Chalchiuhapan, from atl, water pan, in, and chalchiuitl, precious, brilliant, the jade stone (id., Lib. x, cap. xxix); and Atecpanamochco, from atl, water, tecpan, royal, amochtli, any shining white metal, as tin, and the locative co, hence, In the Shining Royal Water (Anales de Cuauhtitlan, p. 21). These names are interesting as illustrating the halo of symbolism which surrounded the history of the Light-God.]

[Footnote 64: Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 65: The original is--

Quetzal, quetzal, no calli, Zacuan, no callin tapach No callin nic yacahuaz An ya, an ya, an quilmach.

Literally--

Beautiful, beautiful (is) my house Zacuan, my house of coral; My house, I must leave it. Alas, alas, they say.

Zacuan, instead of being a proper name, may mean a rich yellow leather from the bird called zacuantototl.]

[Footnote 66: It is not clear, at least in the translations, whether the myth intimates an incestuous relation between Quetzalcoatl and his sister. In the song he calls her "Nohueltiuh," which means, strictly, "My elder sister;" but Mendoza translates it "Querida esposa mia." Quetzalpetlatl means "the Beautiful Carpet," petlatl being the rug or mat used on floors, etc. This would be a most appropriate figure of speech to describe a rich tropical landscape, "carpeted with flowers," as we say; and as the earth is, in primitive cosmogony, older than the sun, I suspect that this story of Quetzalcoatl and his sister refers to the sun sinking from heaven, seemingly, into the earth. "Los Nahoas," remarks Chavero, "figuraban la tierra en forma de un cuadrilátero dividido en pequeños quatros, lo que semijaba una estera, petlatl" (Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 248).]

[Footnote 67: Designated in the Aztec original by the name Teoapan Ilhuicaatenco, from teotl, divine, atl, water, pan, in or near, ilhuicac, heaven, atenco, the waterside: "Near the divine water, where the sky meets the strand."]

[Footnote 68: The whole of this account is from the Anales de Cuauhtitlan, pp. 16-22.]

[Footnote 69: Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia, cap. xx, p. 102.]

[Footnote 70: Sir George A. Cox, The Science of Mythology and Folk Lore, p. 96.]

[Footnote 71: Gabriel de Chaves, Relacion de la Provincia de Meztitlan, 1556, in the Colecion de Documentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias, Tom. iv, p. 536.]

[Footnote 72: Titlacauan was the common name of Tezcatlipoca. The three sorcerers were really Quetzalcoatl's three brothers, representing the three other cardinal points.]

[Footnote 73: From teotl, deity, divine, and metl, the maguey. Of the twenty-nine varieties of the maguey, now described in Mexico, none bears this name; but Hernandez speaks of it, and says it was so called because there was a superstition that a person soon to die could not hold a branch of it; but if he was to recover, or escape an impending danger, he could hold it with ease and feel the better for it. See Nieremberg, Historia Naturae, Lib. xiv, cap. xxxii. "Teomatl, vitae et mortis Index."]

[Footnote 74: Toveyome is the plural of toveyo, which Molina, in his dictionary, translates "foreigner, stranger." Sahagun says that it was applied particularly to the Huastecs, a Maya tribe living in the province of Panuco. Historia, etc., Lib. x, cap. xxix, §8.]

[Footnote 75: Huemac is a compound of uey, great, and maitl, hand. Tezozomoc, Duran, and various other writers assign this name to Quetzalcoatl.]

[Footnote 76: Texcalapan, from texcalli, rock, and apan, upon or over the water.]

[Footnote 77: Texcaltlauhco, from texcalli, rock, tlaulli, light, and the locative ending co, by, in or at.]

[Footnote 78: Clarence Mangan, Poems, "The Mariner's Bride."]

[Footnote 79: These myths are from the third book of Sahagun's Historia de las Cosas de Nueva España. They were taken down in the original Nahuatl, by him, from the mouth of the natives, and he gives them word for word, as they were recounted.]

[Footnote 80: For this version of the myth, see Mendieta, Historia Eclesiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, caps, v and x.]

[Footnote 81: Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones Historicas, p. 388, in Kingsborough, vol. ix.]

[Footnote 82: Torquemada gives a long but obscure description of it. Monarquia Indiana, Lib. xiv, cap. xii.]

[Footnote 83: Nieremberg, "De septuaginta et octo partibus maximi templi Mexicani," in his Historia Naturae, Lib. viii, cap. xxii (Antwerpt, 1635). One of these was called "The Ball Court of the Mirror," perhaps with special reference to this legend. "Trigesima secunda Tezcatlacho, locus erat ubi ludebatur pilâ ex gumi olli, inter templa." The name is from tezcatl, mirror, tlachtli, the game of ball, and locative ending co.]

[Footnote 84: "Citlaltlachtli," from citlalin, star, and tlachtli, the game of ball. Alvarado Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, cap. lxxxii. The obscure passage in which Tezozomoc refers to this is ingeniously analyzed in the Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 388.]

[Footnote 85: Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 367.]

[Footnote 86: "Segun los Anales de Cuauhtitlan el ocelotl es el cielo manchado de estrellas, como piel de tigre." Anales del Mus. Nac., ii, p. 254.]

[Footnote 87: Codex Telleriano-Remensis, plate xiv.]

[Footnote 88: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. i, cap. v. Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv.]

[Footnote 89: "Queçalcoatl y por otro nombre yagualiecatl." Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia, cap. i. Yahualli is from the root yaual or youal, circular, rounding, and was applied to various objects of a circular form. The sign of Quetzalcoatl is called by Sahagun, using the native word, "el Yoel de los Vientos" (Historia, ubi supra).]

[Footnote 90: "Se llaman (á Quetzalcoatl) Señor de el Viento * * * A este le hacian las yglesias redondas, sin esquina ninguna." Codex Telleriano-Remensis. Parte ii, Lam. ii. Describing the sacred edifices of Mexico, Motolinia says: "Habio en todos los mas de estos grandes patios un otro templo que despues de levantada aquella capa quadrada, hecho su altar, cubrianlo con una pared redonda, alta y cubierta con su chapital. Este era del dios del aire, cual dijimos tener su principal sella en Cholollan, y en toda esta provincia habia mucho de estos. A este dios del aire llamaban en su lengua Quetzalcoatl," Historia de los Indios, Epistola Proemial. Compare also Herrera, Historia de las Indias Occidentals, Dec. ii, Lib. vii, cap. xvii, who describes the temple of Quetzalcoatl, in the city of Mexico, and adds that it was circular, "porque asi como el Aire anda al rededor del Cielo, asi le hacian el Templo redondo."]

[Footnote 91: The Aztec words are Quiahuitl teotl, quiahuitl, rain, teotl, god; Tonacaquahuitl, from to, our, naca, flesh or life, quahuitl, tree; Chicahualizteotl, from chicahualiztli, strength or courage, and teotl, god. These names are given by Ixtlilxochitl, Historia chichimeca, cap. i.]

[Footnote 92: Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia de los Mexicanos, cap. ii.]

[Footnote 93: Tlalli, earth, oc from octli, the native wine made from the maguey, enormous quantities of which are consumed by the lower classes in Mexico at this day, and which was well known to the ancients. Another derivation of the name is from tlalli, and onoc, being, to be, hence, "resident on the earth." This does not seem appropriate.]

[Footnote 94: From chalchihuitl, jade, and cueitl, skirt or petticoat, with the possessive prefix, i, her.]

[Footnote 95: See E.G. Squier, Observations on a Collection of Chalchihuitls from Central America, New York, 1869, and Heinrich Fischer, Nephrit und Jadeit nach ihrer Urgeschichtlichen und Ethnographischen Bedeutung, Stuttgart, 1880, for a full discussion of the subject.]

[Footnote 96: Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Pt. ii, Lam. ii.]

[Footnote 97: See above, chapter iii, §3]

[Footnote 98: Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv.]

[Footnote 99: Sahagun, Hisioria, Lib. ii, cap. i. A worthy but visionary Mexican antiquary, Don J.M. Melgar, has recognized in Aztec mythology the frequency of the symbolism which expresses the fertilizing action of the sky (the sun and rains) upon the earth. He thinks that in some of the manuscripts, as the Codex Borgia, it is represented by the rabbit fecundating the frog. See his Examen Comparativo entre los Signos Simbolicos de las Teogonias y Cosmogonias antiguas y los que existen en los Manuscritos Mexicanos, p. 21 (Vera Cruz, 1872).]

[Footnote 100: Codex Vaticanus, Pl. xv.]

[Footnote 101: Codex Telleriano Remensis, Pl. xxxiii.]

[Footnote 102: Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiastia Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xiv. "Una tonta ficcion," comments the worthy chronicler upon the narrative, "como son las demas que creian cerca de sus dioses." This has been the universal opinion. My ambition in writing this book is, that it will be universal no longer.]

[Footnote 103: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii, cap. iii.]

[Footnote 104: Veitia, cap. xvii, in Kingsborough.]

[Footnote 105: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxv. The bisexual nature of the Mexican gods, referred to in this passage, is well marked in many features of their mythology. Quetzalcoatl is often addressed in the prayers as "father and mother," just as, in the Egyptian ritual, Chnum was appealed to as "father of fathers and mother of mothers" (Tiele, Hist. of the Egyptian Religion, p. 134). I have endeavored to explain this widespread belief in hermaphroditic deities in my work entitled, The Religious Sentiment, Its Source and Aim, pp. 65-68, (New York, 1876).]

[Footnote 106: Duran, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267. The word is from quaitl, head or top, and tecziztli, a snail shell.]

[Footnote 107: "Mettevanli in testa una lumaca marina per dimostrare que siccome il piscato esce dalle pieghe di quell'osso, o conca. cosi vá ed esce l'uomo ab utero matris suae." Codice Vaticana, Tavola XXVI.]

[Footnote 108: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxxiv.]

[Footnote 109: Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. xi, cap. xxiv.]

[Footnote 110: Duran, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267. I believe Alva Ixtlilxochitl is the only author who specifically assigns a family to Quetzalcoatl. This author does not mention a wife, but names two sons, one, Xilotzin, who was killed in war, the other, Pochotl, who was educated by his nurse, Toxcueye, and who, after the destruction of Tollan, collected the scattered Toltecs and settled with them around the Lake of Tezcuco (Relaciones Historicas, p. 394, in Kingsborough, vol. ix). All this is in contradiction to the reports of earlier and better authorities. For instance, Motolinia says pointedly, "no fué casado, ni se le conoció mujer" (Historia de los Indios, Epistola Proemial).]

[Footnote 111: Codex Vaticanus, Tab. xxii.]

[Footnote 112: Veitia, Historia, cap. XVII.]

[Footnote 113: Compare the Codex Vaticanus, No. 3738, plates 44 and 75, Kingsborough, Mexican Antiquities, vol. ii.]

[Footnote 114: Compare Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxviii and Sahagun, Historia de Nueva España, Lib. ix, passim.

Yacatecutli, is from tecutli, lord, and either yaqui, traveler, or else yacana, to conduct.

Yacacoliuhqui, is translated by Torquemada, "el que tiene la nariz aquileña." It is from yaque, a point or end, and hence, also, the nose, and coliuhqui, bent or curved. The translation in the text is quite as allowable as that of Torquemada, and more appropriate. I have already mentioned that this divinity was suspected, by Dr. Schultz-Sellack, to be merely another form of Quetzalcoatl. See above, chapter iii, §2]

[Footnote 115: Sahagun. Historia, Lib. iv, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 116: Ibid. Lib. IV, cap. XXXI.]

[Footnote 117: "La cara que tenia era muy fea y la cabeza larga y barbuda." Historia, Lib. III, cap. III. On the other hand Ixtlilxochitl speaks of him as "de bella figura." Historia Chichimeca, cap. viii. He was occasionally represented with his face painted black, probably expressing the sun in its absence.]

[Footnote 118: He is so portrayed in the Codex Vaticanus. and Ixtlilxochitl says, "tubiese el cabello levantado desde la frente hasta la nuca como á manera de penacho." Historia Chichimeca, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 119: Diego Duran, Historia, in Kingsborough, viii, p. 267.]

[Footnote 120: Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. So in Egyptian mythology Tum was called "the concealed or imprisoned god, in a physical sense the Sun-god in the darkness of night, not revealing himself, but alive, nevertheless." Tiele, History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 77.]

[Footnote 121: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii. cap. ult.]

[Footnote 122: Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiast. Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. v. The name is from tlilli, something dark, obscure.]

[Footnote 123: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ix; Duran, Historia, cap. lxviii; Tezozomoc, Cron. Mexicana, cap. ciii. Sahagun and Tezozomoc give the name Cincalco, To the House of Maize, i.e., Fertility, Abundance, the Paradise. Duran gives Cicalco, and translates it "casa de la liebre," citli, hare, calli, house, co locative. But this is, no doubt, an error, mistaking citli for cintli, maize.]

[Footnote 124: Tizapan from tizatl, white earth or other substance, and pan, in. Mendicta, Lib. ii, cap. iv.]

[Footnote 125: "Huitlapalan, que es la que al presente llaman de Cortes, que por parecer vermeja le pusieron el nombre referido." Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, Cap. ii.]

[Footnote 126: Sahagun, Lib. iii, Append, cap. vii. and cf. Lib. i, cap v. The surname is from tlilli, black, and potonia, "emplumar á otro."]

[Footnote 127: The names of these mysterious beings are given by Tezozomoc as Tezocuilyoxique, Zenteicxique and Coayxaques. Cronica Mexicana, caps, cviii and civ.]

[Footnote 128: Huemac, as I have already said, is stated by Sahagun to have been the war chief of Tula, as Quetzalcoatl was the sacerdotal head (Lib. iii, cap. v). But Duran and most writers state that it was simply another name of Quetzalcoatl.]

[Footnote 129: Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, caps. cviii, cix; Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ix. The four roads which met one on the journey to the Under World are also described in the Popol Vuh, p. 83. Each is of a different color, and only one is safe to follow.]

[Footnote 130: Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, cap. cviii.]

[Footnote 131: Cortes, Carta Segunda, October 30th, 1520. According to Bernal Diaz Montezuma referred to the prediction several times. Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España, cap. lxxxix, xc. The words of Montezuma are also given by Father Sahagun, Historia de Nueva España, Lib. xii, cap. xvi. The statement of Montezuma that Quetzalcoatl had already returned, but had not been well received by the people, and had, therefore, left them again, is very interesting. It is a part of the Quetzalcoatl myth which I have not found in any other Aztec source. But it distinctly appears in the Kiche which I shall quote on a later page, and is also in close parallelism with the hero-myths of Yucatan, Peru and elsewhere. It is, to my mind, a strong evidence of the accuracy of Marina's translation of Montezuma's words, and the fidelity of Cortes' memory.]

[Footnote 132: Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ii.]

[Footnote 133: "Los Indios siempre esperaron que se habia de cumplir aquella profecia y cuando vieron venir á los cristianos luego los llamaron dioses, hijos, y hermanos de Quetzalcoatl, aunque despues que conocieron y experimentaron sus obras, no los tuvieron por celestiales." Historia Eclesiastica Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. x.]

CHAPTER IV.

THE HERO-GODS OF THE MAYAS.

CIVILIZATION OF THE MAYAS--WHENCE IT ORIGINATED--DUPLICATE TRADITIONS.

§1. The Culture Hero Itzamna.

ITZAMNA AS RULER, PRIEST AND TEACHER--AS CHIEF GOD AND CREATOR OF THE WORLD--LAS CASAS' SUPPOSED CHRIST MYTH--THE FOUR BACABS--ITZAMNA AS LORD OF THE WINDS AND RAINS--THE SYMBOL OF THE CROSS--AS LORD OF THE LIGHT AND DAY--DERIVATION OF HIS VARIOUS NAMES.

§2. The Culture Hero Kukulcan.

KUKULCAN AS CONNECTED WITH THE CALENDAR--MEANING OF THE NAME--THE MYTH OF THE FOUR BROTHERS--KUKULCAN'S HAPPY RULE AND MIRACULOUS DISAPPEARANCE--RELATION TO QUETZALCOATL--AZTEC AND MAYA MYTHOLOGY--KUKULCAN A MAYA DIVINITY--THE EXPECTED RETURN OF THE HERO-GODS--THE MAYA PROPHECIES--THEIR EXPLANATION.

The high-water mark of ancient American civilization was touched by the Mayas, the race who inhabited the peninsula of Yucatan and vicinity. Its members extended to the Pacific coast and included the tribes of Vera Paz, Guatemala, and parts of Chiapas and Honduras, and had an outlying branch in the hot lowlands watered by the River Panuco, north of Vera Cruz. In all, it has been estimated that they numbered at the time of the Conquest perhaps two million souls. To them are due the vast structures of Copan, Palenque and Uxmal, and they alone possessed a mode of writing which rested distinctly on a phonetic basis.

The zenith of their prosperity had, however, been passed a century before the Spanish conquerors invaded their soil. A large part of the peninsula of Yucatan had been for generations ruled in peace by a confederation of several tribes, whose capital city was Mayapan, ten leagues south of where Mérida now stands, and whose ruins still cover many hundred acres of the plain. Somewhere about the year 1440 there was a general revolt of the eastern provinces; Mayapan itself was assaulted and destroyed, and the Peninsula was divided among a number of petty chieftains.

Such was its political condition at the time of the discovery. There were numerous populous cities, well built of stone and mortar, but their inhabitants were at war with each other and devoid of unity of purpose.[1] Hence they fell a comparatively easy prey to the conquistadors.

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

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

One of these is the notion that the Toltecs were the originators of Yucatan culture. I hope I have said enough in the previous chapter to exorcise permanently from ancient American history these purely imaginary beings. They have served long enough as the last refuge of ignorance.

Let us rather ask what accounts the Mayas themselves gave of the origin of their arts and their ancestors.

Most unfortunately very meagre sources of information are open to us. We have no Sahagun to report to us the traditions and prayers of this strange people. Only fragments of their legends and hints of their history have been saved, almost by accident, from the general wreck of their civilization. From these, however, it is possible to piece together enough to give us a glimpse of their original form, and we shall find it not unlike those we have already reviewed.

There appear to have been two distinct cycles of myths in Yucatan, the most ancient and general that relating to Itzamná, the second, of later date and different origin, referring to Kukulcan. It is barely possible that these may be different versions of the same; but certainly they were regarded as distinct by the natives at and long before the time of the Conquest.

This is seen in the account they gave of their origin. They did not pretend to be autochthonous, but claimed that their ancestors came from distant regions, in two bands. The largest and most ancient immigration was from the East, across, or rather through, the ocean--for the gods had opened twelve paths through it--and this was conducted by the mythical civilizer Itzamná. The second band, less in number and later in time, came in from the West, and with them was Kukulcan. The former was called the Great Arrival; the latter, the Less Arrival[2].

§1. The Culture Hero, Itzamná.

To this ancient leader, Itzamná, the nation alluded as their guide, instructor and civilizer. It was he who gave names to all the rivers and divisions of land; he was their first priest, and taught them the proper rites wherewith to please the gods and appease their ill-will; he was the patron of the healers and diviners, and had disclosed to them the mysterious virtues of plants; in the month Uo they assembled and made new fire and burned to him incense, and having cleansed their books with water drawn from a fountain from which no woman had ever drunk, the most learned of the sages opened the volumes to forecast the character of the coming year.

It was Itzamná who first invented the characters or letters in which the Mayas wrote their numerous books, and which they carved in such profusion on the stone and wood of their edifices. He also devised their calendar, one more perfect even than that of the Mexicans, though in a general way similar to it[3].

As city-builder and king, his history is intimately associated with the noble edifices of Itzamal, which he laid out and constructed, and over which he ruled, enacting wise laws and extending the power and happiness of his people for an indefinite period.

Thus Itzamna, regarded as ruler, priest and teacher, was, no doubt, spoken of as an historical personage, and is so put down by various historians, even to the most recent[4]. But another form in which he appears proves him to have been an incarnation of deity, and carries his history from earth to heaven. This is shown in the very earliest account we have of the Maya mythology.

For this account we are indebted to the celebrated Las Casas, the "Apostle of the Indians." In 1545 he sent a certain priest, Francisco Hernandez by name, into the peninsula as a missionary. Hernandez had already traversed it as chaplain to Montejo's expedition, in 1528, and was to some degree familiar with the Maya tongue. After nearly a year spent among the natives he forwarded a report to Las Casas, in which, among other matters, he noted a resemblance which seemed to exist between the myths recounted by the Maya priests and the Christian dogmas. They told him that the highest deity they worshiped was Izona, who had made men and all things. To him was born a son, named Bacab or Bacabab, by a virgin, Chibilias, whose mother was Ixchel. Bacab was slain by a certain Eopuco, on the day called hemix, but after three days rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Holy Ghost was represented by Echuac, who furnished the world with all things necessary to man's life and comfort. Asked what Bacab meant, they replied, "the Son of the Great Father," and Echuac they translated by "the merchant."[5]

This is the story that a modern writer says, "ought to be repudiated without question."[6] But I think not. It is not difficult to restore these names to their correct forms, and then the fancied resemblance to Christian theology disappears, while the character of the original myth becomes apparent.

Cogolludo long since justly construed Izona as a misreading for Izamna. Bacabab is the plural form of Bacab, and shows that the sons were several. We are well acquainted with the Bacabab. Bishop Landa tells us all about them. They were four in number, four gigantic brothers, who supported the four corners of the heavens, who blew the four winds from the four cardinal points, and who presided over the four Dominical signs of the Calendar. As each year in the Calendar was supposed to be under the influence of one or the other of these brothers, one Bacab was said to die at the close of the year; and after the "nameless" or intercalary days had passed the next Bacab would live; and as each computation of the year began on the day Imix, which was the third before the close of the Maya week, this was said figuratively to be the day of death of the Bacab of that year. And whereas three (or four) days later a new year began, with another Bacab, the one was said to have died and risen again.

The myth further relates that the Bacabs were sons of Ix-chel. She was the Goddess of the Rainbow, which her name signifies. She was likewise believed to be the guardian of women in childbirth, and one of the patrons of the art of medicine. The early historians, Roman and Landa, also associate her with Itzamna[7], thus verifying the legend recorded by Hernandez.

That the Rainbow should be personified as wife of the Light-God and mother of the rain-gods, is an idea strictly in accordance with the course of mythological thought in the red race, and is founded on natural relations too evident to be misconstrued. The rainbow is never seen but during a shower, and while the sun is shining; hence it is always associated with these two meteorological phenomena.

I may quote in comparison the rainbow myth of the Moxos of South America. They held it to be the wife of Arama, their god of light, and her duty was to pour the refreshing rains on the soil parched by the glaring eye of her mighty spouse. Hence they looked upon her as goddess of waters, of trees and plants, and of fertility in general.[8]

Or we may take the Muyscas, a cultivated and interesting nation who dwelt on the lofty plateau where Bogota is situated. They worshiped the Rainbow under the name Cuchaviva and personified it as a goddess, who took particular care of those sick with fevers and of women in childbirth. She was also closely associated in their myth with their culture-hero Bochica, the story being that on one occasion, when an ill-natured divinity had inundated the plain of Bogota, Bochica appeared to the distressed inhabitants in company with Cuchaviva, and cleaving the mountains with a blow of his golden sceptre, opened a passage for the waters into the valley below.[9]

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

The statement is also significant, that the Bacabs were supposed to be the victims of Ah-puchah, the Despoiler or Destroyer,[10] though the precise import of that character in the mythical drama is left uncertain.[11]

The supposed Holy Ghost, Echuac, properly Ah-Kiuic, Master of the Market, was the god of the merchants and the cacao plantations. He formed a triad with two other gods, Chac, one of the rain gods, and Hobnel, also a god of the food supply. To this triad travelers, on stopping for the night, set on end three stones and placed in front of them three flat stones, on which incense was burned. At their festival in the month Muan precisely three cups of native wine (mead) were drained by each person present.[12]

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

The four Bacabs are called by Cogolludo "the gods of the winds." Each was identified with a particular color and a certain cardinal point. The first was that of the South. He was called Hobnil, the Belly; his color was yellow, which, as that of the ripe ears, was regarded as a favorable and promising hue; the augury of his year was propitious, and it was said of him, referring to some myth now lost, that he had never sinned as had his brothers. He answered to the day Kan. which was the first of the Maya week of thirteen days.[13] The remaining Bacabs were the Red, assigned to the East, the White, to the North, and the Black, to the West, and the winds and rains from those directions were believed to be under the charge of these giant caryatides.

Their close relation with Itzamná is evidenced, not only in the fragmentary myth preserved by Hernandez, but quite amply in the descriptions of the rites at the close of each year and in the various festivals during the year, as narrated by Bishop Landa. Thus at the termination of the year, along with the sacrifices to the Bacab of the year were others to Itzamná, either under his surname Canil, which has various meanings,[14] or as Kinich-ahau, Lord of the Eye of the Day,[15] or Yax-coc-ahmut, the first to know and hear of events,[16] or finally as Uac-mètun-ahau, Lord of the Wheel of the Months.[17]

The word bacab means "erected," "set up."[18] It was applied to the Bacabs because they were imagined to be enormous giants, standing like pillars at the four corners of the earth, supporting the heavens. In this sense they were also called chac, the giants, as the rain senders. They were also the gods of fertility and abundance, who watered the crops, and on whose favor depended the return of the harvests. They presided over the streams and wells, and were the divinities whose might is manifested in the thunder and lightning, gods of the storms, as well as of the gentle showers.[19] The festival to these gods of the harvest was in the month Mac, which occurred in the early spring. In this ceremony, Itzamná was also worshiped as the leader of the Bacabs, and an important rite called "the extinction of the fire" was performed. "The object of these sacrifices and this festival," writes Bishop Landa, "was to secure an abundance of water for their crops."[20]

These four Chac or Bacabab were worshiped under the symbol of the cross, the four arms of which represented the four cardinal points. Both in language and religious art, this was regarded as a tree. In the Maya tongue it was called "the tree of bread," or "the tree of life."[21] The celebrated cross of Palenque is one of its representations, as I believe I was the first to point out, and has now been generally acknowledged to be correct.[22] There was another such cross, about eight feet high, in a temple on the island of Cozumel. This was worshiped as "the god of rain," or more correctly, as the symbol of the four rain gods, the Bacabs. In periods of drought offerings were made to it of birds (symbols of the winds) and it was sprinkled with water. "When this had been done," adds the historian, "they felt certain that the rains would promptly fall."[23]

Each of the four Bacabs was also called Acantun, which means "a stone set up," such a stone being erected and painted of the color sacred to the cardinal point that the Bacab represented[24]. Some of these stones are still found among the ruins of Yucatecan cities, and are to this day connected by the natives with reproductive signs[25]. It is probable, however, that actual phallic worship was not customary in Yucatan. The Bacabs and Itzamná were closely related to ideas of fertility and reproduction, indeed, but it appears to have been especially as gods of the rains, the harvests, and the food supply generally. The Spanish writers were eager to discover all the depravity possible in the religion of the natives, and they certainly would not have missed such an opportunity for their tirades, had it existed. As it is, the references to it are not many, and not clear.

From what I have now presented we see that Itzamná came from the distant east, beyond the ocean marge; that he was the teacher of arts and agriculture; that he, moreover, as a divinity, ruled the winds and rains, and sent at his will harvests and prosperity. Can we identify him further with that personification of Light which, as we have already seen, was the dominant figure in other American mythologies?

This seems indicated by his names and titles. They were many, some of which I have already analyzed. That by which he was best known was Itzamná, a word of contested meaning but which contains the same radicals as the words for the morning and the dawn[26], and points to his identification with the grand central fact at the basis of all these mythologies, the welcome advent of the light in the eastern horizon after the gloom of the night.

His next most frequent title was Kin-ich-ahau, which may be translated either, "Lord of the Sun's Face," or, "The Lord, the Eye of the Day."[27] As such he was the deity who presided in the Sun's disk and shot forth his scorching rays. There was a temple at Itzamal consecrated to him as Kin-ich-kak-mo, "the Eye of the Day, the Bird of Fire."[28] In a time of pestilence the people resorted to this temple, and at high noon a sacrifice was spread upon the altar. The moment the sun reached the zenith, a bird of brilliant plumage, but which, in fact, was nothing else than a fiery flame shot from the sun, descended and consumed the offering in the sight of all. At Campeche he had a temple, as Kin-ich-ahau-haban, "the Lord of the Sun's face, the Hunter," where the rites were sanguinary.[29]

Another temple at Itzamal was consecrated to him, under one of his names, Kabil, He of the Lucky Hand,[30] and the sick were brought there, as it was said that he had cured many by merely touching them. This fane was extremely popular, and to it pilgrimages were made from even such remote regions as Tabasco, Guatemala and Chiapas. To accommodate the pilgrims four paved roads had been constructed, to the North, South, East and West, straight toward the quarters of the four winds.

§2. The Culture Hero, Kukulcan.

The second important hero-myth of the Mayas was that about Kukulcan. This is in no way connected with that of Itzamna, and is probably later in date, and less national in character. The first reference to it we also owe to Father Francisco Hernandez, whom I have already quoted, and who reported it to Bishop Las Casas in 1545. His words clearly indicate that we have here to do with a myth relating to the formation of the calendar, an opinion which can likewise be supported from other sources.

The natives affirmed, says Las Casas, that in ancient times there came to that land twenty men, the chief of whom was called "Cocolcan," and him they spoke of as the god of fevers or agues, two of the others as gods of fishing, another two as the gods of farms and fields, another was the thunder god, etc. They wore flowing robes and sandals on their feet, they had long beards, and their heads were bare. They ordered that the people should confess and fast, and some of the natives fasted on Fridays, because on that day the god Bacab died; and the name of that day in their language is himix, which they especially honor and hold in reverence as the day of the death of Bacab.[31]

In the manuscript of Hernandez, which Las Casas had before him when he was writing his Apologetical History, the names of all the twenty were given; but unfortunately for antiquarian research, the good bishop excuses himself from quoting them, on account of their barbarous appearance. I have little doubt, however, that had he done so, we should find them to be the names of the twenty days of the native calendar month. These are the visitors who come, one every morning, with flowing robes, full beard and hair, and bring with them our good or bad luck--whatever the day brings forth. Hernandez made the same mistake as did Father Francisco de Bobadilla, when he inquired of the Nicaraguans the names of their gods, and they gave him those of the twenty days of the month.[32] Each day was, indeed, personified by these nations, and supposed to be at once a deity and a date, favorable or unfavorable to fishing or hunting, planting or fighting, as the case might be.

Kukulcan seems, therefore, to have stood in the same relation in Yucatan to the other divinities of the days as did Votan in Chiapa and Quetzalcoatl Ce Acatl in Cholula.

His name has usually been supposed to be a compound, meaning "a serpent adorned with feathers," but there are no words in the Maya language to justify such a rendering. There is some variation in its orthography, and its original pronunciation may possibly be lost; but if we adopt as correct the spelling which I have given above, of which, however, I have some doubts, then it means, "The God of the Mighty Speech."[33]

The reference probably was to the fame of this divinity as an oracle, as connected with the calendar. But it is true that the name could with equal correctness be translated "The God, the Mighty Serpent," for can is a homonym with these and other meanings, and we are without positive proof which was intended.

To bring Kukulcan into closer relations with other American hero-gods we must turn to the locality where he was especially worshiped, to the traditions of the ancient and opulent city of Chichen Itza, whose ruins still rank among the most imposing on the peninsula. The fragments of its chronicles, as preserved to us in the Books of Chilan Balam and by Bishop Landa, tell us that its site was first settled by four bands who came from the four cardinal points and were ruled over by four brothers. These brothers chose no wives, but lived chastely and ruled righteously, until at a certain time one died or departed, and two began to act unjustly and were put to death. The one remaining was Kukulcan. He appeased the strife which his brothers' acts had aroused, directed the minds of the people to the arts of peace, and caused to be built various important structures. After he had completed his work in Chichen Itza, he founded and named the great city of Mayapan, destined to be the capital of the confederacy of the Mayas. In it was built a temple in his honor, and named for him, as there was one in Chichen Itza. These were unlike others in Yucatan, having circular walls and four doors, directed, presumably, toward the four cardinal points[34].

In gratifying confirmation of the legend, travelers do actually find in Mayapan and Chichen Itza, and nowhere else in Yucatan, the ruins of two circular temples with doors opening toward the cardinal points[35].

Under the beneficent rule of Kukulcan, the nation enjoyed its halcyon days of peace and prosperity. The harvests were abundant and the people turned cheerfully to their daily duties, to their families and their lords. They forgot the use of arms, even for the chase, and contented themselves with snares and traps.

At length the time drew near for Kukulcan to depart. He gathered the chiefs together and expounded to them his laws. From among them he chose as his successor a member of the ancient and wealthy family of the Cocoms. His arrangements completed, he is said, by some, to have journeyed westward, to Mexico, or to some other spot toward the sun-setting. But by the people at large he was confidently believed to have ascended into the heavens, and there, from his lofty house, he was supposed to watch over the interests of his faithful adherents.

Such was the tradition of their mythical hero told by the Itzas. No wonder that the early missionaries, many of whom, like Landa, had lived in Mexico and had become familiar with the story of Quetzalcoatl and his alleged departure toward the east, identified him with Kukulcan, and that, following the notion of this assumed identity, numerous later writers have framed theories to account for the civilization of ancient Yucatan through colonies of "Toltec" immigrants.

It can, indeed, be shown beyond doubt that there were various points of contact between the Aztec and Maya civilizations. The complex and artificial method of reckoning time was one of these; certain architectural devices were others; a small number of words, probably a hundred all told, have been borrowed by the one tongue from the other. Mexican merchants traded with Yucatan, and bands of Aztec warriors with their families, from Tabasco, dwelt in Mayapan by invitation of its rulers, and after its destruction, settled in the province of Canul, on the western coast, where they lived strictly separate from the Maya-speaking population at the time the Spaniards conquered the country.[36]

But all this is very far from showing that at any time a race speaking the Aztec tongue ruled the Peninsula. There are very strong grounds to deny this. The traditions which point to a migration from the west or southwest may well have referred to the depopulation of Palenque, a city which undoubtedly was a product of Maya architects. The language of Yucatan is too absolutely dissimilar from the Nahuatl for it ever to have been moulded by leaders of that race. The details of Maya civilization are markedly its own, and show an evolution peculiar to the people and their surroundings.

How far they borrowed from the fertile mythology of their Nahuatl visitors is not easily answered. That the circular temple in Mayapan, with four doors, specified by Landa as different from any other in Yucatan, was erected to Quetzalcoatl, by or because of the Aztec colony there, may plausibly be supposed when we recall how peculiarly this form was devoted to his worship. Again, one of the Maya chronicles--that translated by Pio Perez and published by Stephens in his Travels in Yucatan--opens with a distinct reference to Tula and Nonoal, names inseparable from the Quetzalcoatl myth. A statue of a sleeping god holding a vase was disinterred by Dr. Le Plongeon at Chichen Itza, and it is too entirely similar to others found at Tlaxcala and near the city of Mexico, for us to doubt but that they represented the same divinity, and that the god of rains, fertility and the harvests.[37]

The version of the tradition which made Kukulcan arrive from the West, and at his disappearance return to the West--a version quoted by Landa, and which evidently originally referred to the westward course of the sun, easily led to an identification of him with the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, by those acquainted with both myths.

The probability seems to be that Kukulcan was an original Maya divinity, one of their hero-gods, whose myth had in it so many similarities to that of Quetzalcoatl that the priests of the two nations came to regard the one as the same as the other. After the destruction of Mayapan, about the middle of the fifteenth century, when the Aztec mercenaries were banished to Canul, and the reigning family (the Xiu) who supported them became reduced in power, the worship of Kukulcan fell, to some extent, into disfavor. Of this we are informed by Landa, in an interesting passage.

He tells us that many of the natives believed that Kukulcan, after his earthly labors, had ascended into Heaven and become one of their gods. Previous to the destruction of Mayapan temples were built to him, and he was worshiped throughout the land, but after that event he was paid such honor only in the province of Mani (governed by the Xiu). Nevertheless, in gratitude for what all recognized they owed to him, the kings of the neighboring provinces sent yearly to Mani, on the occasion of his annual festival, which took place on the 16th of the month Xul (November 8th), either four or five magnificent feather banners. These were placed in his temple, with appropriate ceremonies, such as fasting, the burning of incense, dancing, and with simple offerings of food cooked without salt or pepper, and drink from beans and gourd seeds. This lasted five nights and five days; and, adds Bishop Landa, they said, and held it for certain, that on the last day of the festival Kukulcan himself descended from Heaven and personally received the sacrifices and offerings which were made in his honor. The celebration itself was called the Festival of the Founder[38], with reference, I suppose, to the alleged founding of the cities of Mayapan and Chichen Itza by this hero-god. The five days and five sacred banners again bring to mind the close relation of this with the Quetzalcoatl symbolism.

As Itzamná had disappeared without undergoing the pains of death, as Kukulcan had risen into the heavens and thence returned annually, though but for a moment, on the last day of the festival in his honor, so it was devoutly believed by the Mayas that the time would come when the worship of other gods should be done away with, and these mighty deities alone demand the adoration of their race. None of the American nations seems to have been more given than they to prognostics and prophecies, and of none other have we so large an amount of this kind of literature remaining. Some of it has been preserved by the Spanish missionaries, who used it with good effect for their own purposes of proselyting; but that it was not manufactured by them for this purpose, as some late writers have thought, is proved by the existence of copies of these prophecies, made by native writers themselves, at the time of the Conquest and at dates shortly subsequent.

These prophecies were as obscure and ambiguous as all successful prophets are accustomed to make their predictions; but the one point that is clear in them is, that they distinctly referred to the arrival of white and bearded strangers from the East, who should control the land and alter the prevailing religion.[39]

Even that portion of the Itzas who had separated from the rest of their nation at the time of the destruction of Mayapan (about 1440-50) and wandered off to the far south, to establish a powerful nation around Lake Peten, carried with them a forewarning that at the "eighth age" they should be subjected to a white race and have to embrace their religion; and, sure enough, when that time came, and not till then, that is, at the close of the seventeenth century of our reckoning, they were driven from their island homes by Governor Ursua, and their numerous temples, filled with idols, leveled to the soil.[40]

The ground of all such prophecies was, I have no doubt, the expected return of the hero-gods, whose myths I have been recording. Both of them represented in their original forms the light of day, which disappears at nightfall but returns at dawn with unfailing certainty. When the natural phenomenon had become lost in its personification, this expectation of a return remained and led the priests, who more than others retained the recollection of the ancient forms of the myth, to embrace this expectation in the prognostics which it was their custom and duty to pronounce with reference to the future.

[Footnote 1: Francisco de Montejo, who was the first to explore Yucatan (1528), has left strong testimony to the majesty of its cities and the agricultural industry of its inhabitants. He writes to the King, in the report of his expedition: "La tierra es muy poblada y de muy grandes ciudades y villas muy frescas. Todos los pueblos son una huerta de frutales." Carta á su Magestad, 13 Abril, 1529, in the Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias, Tom. xiii.]

[Footnote 2: Cogolludo contradicts himself in describing these events; saying first that the greater band came from the West, but later in the same chapter corrects himself, and criticizes Father Lizana for having committed the same error. Cogolludo's authority was the original MSS. of Gaspar Antonio, an educated native, of royal lineage, who wrote in 1582. Historia de Yucatan, Lib. iv, caps, iii, iv. Lizana gives the names of these arrivals as Nohnial and Cenial. These words are badly mutilated. They should read noh emel (noh, great, emel, descent, arrival) and cec, emel (cec, small). Landa supports the position of Cogolludo. Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 28. It is he who speaks of the "doce caminos por el mar."]

[Footnote 3: The authorities on this phase of Itzamná's character are Cogolludo, Historia de Yucatan, Lib. iv, cap. iii; Landa, Cosas de Yucatan, pp. 285, 289, and Beltran de Santa Rosa Maria, Arte del Idioma Maya, p. 16. The latter has a particularly valuable extract from the now lost Maya Dictionary of F. Gabriel de San Buenaventura. "El primero que halló las letras de la lengua Maya é hizo el computo de los años, meses y edades, y lo enseño todo á los Indios de esta Provincia, fué un Indio llamado Kinchahau, y por otro nombre Tzamná. Noticia que debemos á dicho R.F. Gabriel, y trae en su Calepino, lit. K. verb. Kinchahau, fol. 390, vuelt."]

[Footnote 4: Crescencio Carrillo, Historia Antigua de Yucatan, p. 144, Mérida, 1881. Though obliged to differ on many points with this indefatigable archaeologist, I must not omit to state my appreciation and respect for his earnest interest in the language and antiquities of his country. I know of no other Yucatecan who has equal enthusiasm or so just an estimate of the antiquarian riches of his native land.]

[Footnote 5: Las Casas, Historia Apologetica de las Indias Occidentales, cap. cxxiii.]

[Footnote 6: John T. Short, The North Americans of Antiquity, p. 231.]

[Footnote 7: Fray Hieronimo Roman, De la Republica de las Indias Occidentales, Lib. ii, cap. xv; Diego de Landa, Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 288. Cogolludo also mentions Ix chel, Historia de Yucatan, Lib. iv, cap. vi. The word in Maya for rainbow is chel or cheel; ix is the feminine prefix, which also changes the noun from the inanimate to the animate sense.]

[Footnote 8: "Fabula, ridicula adspersam superstitione, habebant de iride. Ajebant illam esse Aramam feminam, solis conjugem, cujus officium sit terras a viro exustas imbrium beneficio recreare. Cum enim viderent arcum illum non nisi pluvio tempore in conspectu venire, et tunc arborum cacuminibus velut insidere, persuadebant sibi aquarum illum esse Praesidem, arboresque proceras omnes sua in tutela habere." Franc. Xav., Eder, Descriptio Provinciae Moxitarum in Regno Peruano p. 249 (Budae, 1791).]

[Footnote 9: E. Uricoechea, Gramatica de la Lengua Chibcha, Introd., p. xx. The similarity of these to the Biblical account is not to be attributed to borrowing from the latter, but simply that it, as they, are both the mythological expressions of the same natural phenomenon. In Norse mythology, Freya is the rainbow goddess. She wears the bow as a necklace or girdle. It was hammered out for her by four dwarfs, the four winds from the cardinal points, and Odin seeks to get it from her. Schwartz, Ursprung der Mythologie, S. 117.]

[Footnote 10: Eopuco I take to be from the verb puch or puk, to melt, to dissolve, to shell corn from the cob, to spoil; hence puk, spoiled, rotten, podrida, and possibly ppuch, to flog, to beat. The prefix ah, signifies one who practices or is skilled in the action which the verb denotes.]

[Footnote 11: The mother of the Bacabs is given in the myth as Chibilias (or Chibirias, but there is no r in the Maya alphabet). Cogolludo mentions a goddess Ix chebel yax, one of whose functions was to preside over drawing and painting. The name is from chebel, the brush used in these arts. But the connection is obscure.]

[Footnote 12: Landa, Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, pp. 156, 260.]

[Footnote 13: Landa, Relacion, pp. 208,-211, etc. Hobnil is the ordinary word for belly, stomach, from hobol, hollow. Figuratively, in these dialects it meant subsistence, life, as we use in both these senses the word "vitals." Among the Kiches of Guatemala, a tribe of Maya stock, we find, as terms applied to their highest divinity, u pam uleu, u pam cah, literally Belly of the Earth, Belly of the Sky, meaning that by which earth and sky exist. Popol Vuh, p. 332.]

[Footnote 14: Can, of which the "determinative" form is canil, may mean a serpent, or the yellow one, or the strong one, or he who gives gifts, or the converser.]

[Footnote 15: Kin, the day; ich, eye; ahau, lord.]

[Footnote 16: Yax, first; coc, which means literally deaf, and hence to listen attentively (whence the name Cocomes, for the ancient royal family of Chichen Itza, an appellation correctly translated "escuchadores") and ah-mut, master of the news, mut meaning news, good or bad.]

[Footnote 17: Uac, the months, is a rare and now obsolete form of the plural of u, month, "Uac, i.e. u, por meses y habla de tiempo pasado." Diccionario Maya-Español del Convento de Motul, MS. Metun (Landa, mitun) is from met, a wheel. The calendars, both in Yucatan and Mexico, were represented as a wheel.]

[Footnote 18: The Diccionario Maya del Convento de Motul, MS., the only dictionary in which I find the exact word, translates bacab by "representante, juglar, bufon." This is no doubt a late meaning taken from the scenic representations of the supposed doings of the gods in the ritual ceremonies. The proper form of the word is uacab or vacab, which the dictionary mentioned renders "cosa que esta en pié ó enhiesta delante de otra." The change from the initial v to b is quite common, as may be seen by comparing the two letters in Pio Perez's Diccionario de la Lengua Maya, e.g. balak, the revolution of a wheel, from ualak, to turn, to revolve.]

[Footnote 19: The entries in the Diccionario Maya-Español del Convento de Motul, MS., are as follows:--

"Chaac: gigante, hombre de grande estatura.

"Chaac: fué un hombre asi grande que enseño la agricultura, al cual tuvieron despues por Dios de los panes, del agua, de los truenos y relámpagos. Y asi se dice, hac chaac, el rayo: u lemba chaac el relámpago; u pec chaac, el trueno," etc.]

[Footnote 20: Relacion, etc., p. 255.]

[Footnote 21: The Maya word is uahomche, from uah, originally the tortilla or maize cake, now used for bread generally. It is also current in the sense of life ("la vida en cierta manera," Diccionario Maya Español del Convento de Motul, MS.). Che is the generic word for tree. I cannot find any particular tree called Homche. Hom was the name applied to a wind instrument, a sort of trumpet. In the Codex Troano, Plates xxv, xxvii, xxxiv, it is represented in use. The four Bacabs were probably imagined to blow the winds from the four corners of the earth through such instruments. A similar representation is given in the Codex Borgianus, Plate xiii, in Kingsborough. As the Chac was the god of bread, Dios de los panes, so the cross was the tree of bread.]

[Footnote 22: See the Myths of the New World, p. 95 (1st ed., New York, 1868). This explanation has since been adopted by Dr. Carl Schultz-Sellack, although he omits to state whence he derived it. His article is entitled Die Amerikanischen Götter der Vier Weltgegenden und ihre Tempel in Palenque in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1879. Compare also Charles Rau, The Palenque Tablet, p. 44 (Washington, 1879).]

[Footnote 23: "Al pié de aquella misma torre estaba un cercado de piedra y cal, muy bien lucido y almenado, en medio del cual habia una cruz de cal tan alta como diez palmos, á la cual tenian y adoraban por dios de la lluvia, porque quando no llovia y habia falta de agua, iban á ella en procesion y muy devotos; ofrescianle codornices sacrificadas por aplacarle la ira y enojo con que ellos tenia ô mostraba tener, con la sangre de aquella simple avezica." Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Conquista de Mejico, p. 305 (Ed. Paris, 1852).]

[Footnote 24: The feasts of the Bacabs Acantun are described in Landa's work. The name he does not explain. I take it to be acaan, past participle of actal, to erect, and tun, stone. But it may have another meaning. The word acan meant wine, or rather, mead, the intoxicating hydromel the natives manufactured. The god of this drink also bore the name Acan ("ACAN; el Dios del vino que es Baco," Diccionario del Convento de Motul, MS.). It would be quite appropriate for the Bacabs to be gods of wine.]

[Footnote 25: Stephens, Travels in Yucatan, Vol. i, p. 434.]

[Footnote 26: Some have derived Itzamua from i, grandson by a son, used only by a female; zamal, morning, morrow, from zam, before, early, related to yam, first, whence also zamalzam, the dawn, the aurora; and ná, mother. Without the accent na, means house. Crescencio Carrillo prefers the derivation from itz, anything that trickles in drops, as gum from a tree, rain or dew from the sky, milk from teats, and semen ("leche de amor," Dicc. de Motul, MS.). He says: "Itzamna, esto es, rocio diario, ó sustancia cuotidiana del cielo, es el mismo nombre del fundador (de Itzamal)." Historia Antigua de Yucatan, p. 145. (Mérida, 1881.) This does not explain the last syllable, ná, which is always strongly accented. It is said that Itzamná spoke of himself only in the words Itz en caan, "I am that which trickles from the sky;" Itz en muyal, "I am that which trickles from the clouds." This plainly refers to his character as a rain god. Lizana, Historia de Yucatan, Lib. i, cap. 4. If a compound of itz, amal, ná, the name, could be translated, "the milk of the mother of the morning," or of the dawn, i. e., the dew; while i, zamal, ná would be "son of the mother of the morning."]

[Footnote 27: Cogolludo, who makes a distinction between Kinich-ahau and Itzamná (Hist. de Yucatan, Lib. iv, cap. viii), may be corrected by Landa and Buenaventura, whom I have already quoted.]

[Footnote 28: Kin, the sun, the day; ich, the face, but generally the eye or eyes; kak, fire; mo, the brilliant plumaged, sacred bird, the ara or guacamaya, the red macaw. This was adopted as the title of the ruler of Itzamal, as we learn from the Chronicle of Chichen Itza--"Ho ahau paxci u cah yahau ah Itzmal Kinich Kakmo"--"In the fifth Age the town (of Chichen Itza) was destroyed by King Kinich Kakmo, of Itzamal." El Libro de Chilan Balam de Chumayel, MS.]

[Footnote 29: Cogolludo, Historia de Yucatan, Lib. iv, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 30: Lizana says: "Se llama y nombra Kab-ul que quiere decir mano obradora," and all writers have followed him, although no such meaning can be made out of the name thus written. The proper word is kabil, which is defined in the Diccionario del Convento de Motul, MS., "el que tiene buena mano para sembrar, ó para poner colmenas, etc." Landa also gives this orthography, Relacion, p. 216.]

[Footnote 31: Las Casas, Historia Apologetica de las Indias Occidentales, cap. cxxii.]

[Footnote 32: Oviedo, Historia General de las Indias, Lib. xlii, cap. iii.]

[Footnote 33: Eligio Ancona, after giving the rendering, "serpiente adornada de plumas," adds, "ha sido repetido por tal número de etimologistas que tendremos necesidad de aceptarla, aunque nos parece un poco violento," Historia de Yucatan, Vol. i, p. 44. The Abbé Brasseur, in his Vocabulaire Maya, boldly states that kukul means "emplumado ó adornado con plumas." This rendering is absolutely without authority, either modern or ancient. The word for feathers in Maya is kukum; kul, in composition, means "very" or "much," as "kulvinic, muy hombre, hombre de respeto ó hecho," Diccionario de Motul, MS. Ku is god, divinity. For can see chapter iv, §1. Can was and still is a common surname in Yucatan. (Berendt, Nombres Proprios en Lengua Maya, MS.)

I should prefer to spell the name Kukulkan, and have it refer to the first day of the Maya week, Kan.]

[Footnote 34: El Libro de Chilan Balam de Chumayel, MS.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 34-38. and 299; Herrera, Historia de las Indias, Dec. iv, Lib. x, cap ii.]

[Footnote 35: Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. ii, p. 298.]

[Footnote 36: El Libro de Chilan Balam de Chumayel, MS.; Landa, Relacion, p. 54.]

[Footnote 37: I refer to the statue which Dr. LePlongeon was pleased to name "Chac Mool." See the Estudio acerca de la Estatua llamada Chac-Mool ó rey tigre, by Sr. Jesus Sanchez, in the Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, Tom. i. p. 270. There was a divinity worshiped in Yucatan, called Cum-ahau, lord of the vase, whom the Diccionario de Motul, MS. terms, "Lucifer, principal de los demónios." The name is also given by Pio Perez in his manuscript dictionary in my possession, but is omitted in the printed copy. As Lucifer, the morning star, was identified with Quetzalcoatl in Mexican mythology, and as the word cum, vase, Aztec comitl, is the same in both tongues, there is good ground to suppose that this lord of the vase, the "prince of devils," was the god of fertility, common to both cults.]

[Footnote 38: "Llamaban a esta fiesta Chic Kaban;" Landa, Relacion, p. 302. I take it this should read Chiic u Kaba (Chiic; fundar ó poblar alguna cosa, casa, pueblo, etc. Diccionario de Motul, MS.)]

[Footnote 39: Nakuk Pech, Concixta yetel mapa, 1562. MS.; El Libro de Chilan Balam de Mani, 1595, MS. The former is a history of the Conquest written in Maya, by a native noble, who was an adult at the time that Mérida was founded (1542).]

[Footnote 40: Juan de Villagutierre Sotomayor, Historia de la Provincia de el Itza, passim (Madrid, 1701).]

CHAPTER V.

THE QQUICHUA HERO-GOD VIRACOCHA.

VIRACOCHA AS THE FIRST CAUSE--HIS NAME, ILLA TICCI--QQUICHUA PRAYERS--OTHER NAMES AND TITLES OF VIRACOCHA--HIS WORSHIP A TRUE MONOTHEISM--THE MYTH OF THE FOUR BROTHERS--MYTH OF THE TWIN BROTHERS.

VIRACOCHA AS TUNAPA, HE WHO PERFECTS--VARIOUS INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE--RELATION TO MANCO CAPAC--HE DISAPPEARS IN THE WEST.

VIRACOCHA RISES FROM LAKE TITICACA AND JOURNEYS TO THE WEST--DERIVATION OF HIS NAME--HE WAS REPRESENTED AS WHITE AND BEARDED--THE MYTH OF CON AND PACHACAMAC--CONTICE VIRACOCHA--PROPHECIES OF THE PERUVIAN SEERS--THE WHITE MEN CALLED VIRACOCHAS--SIMILARITIES TO AZTEC MYTHS.

The most majestic empire on this continent at the time of its discovery was that of the Incas. It extended along the Pacific, from the parallel of 2° north latitude to 20° south, and may be roughly said to have been 1500 miles in length, with an average width of 400 miles. The official and principal tongue was the Qquichua, the two other languages of importance being the Yunca, spoken by the coast tribes, and the Aymara, around Lake Titicaca and south of it. The latter, in phonetics and in many root-words, betrays a relationship to the Qquichua, but a remote one.

The Qquichuas were a race of considerable cultivation. They had a developed metrical system, and were especially fond of the drama. Several specimens of their poetical and dramatic compositions have been preserved, and indicate a correct taste. Although they did not possess a method of writing, they had various mnemonic aids, by which they were enabled to recall their verses and their historical traditions.

In the mythology of the Qquichuas, and apparently also of the Aymaras, the leading figure is Viracocha. His august presence is in one cycle of legends that of Infinite Creator, the Primal Cause; in another he is the beneficent teacher and wise ruler; in other words, he too, like Quetzalcoatl and the others whom I have told about, is at one time God, at others the incarnation of God.

As the first cause and ground of all things, Viracocha's distinctive epithet was Ticci, the Cause, the Beginning, or Illa ticci, the Ancient Cause[1], the First Beginning, an endeavor in words to express the absolute priority of his essence and existence. He it was who had made and moulded the Sun and endowed it with a portion of his own divinity, to wit, the glory of its far-shining rays; he had formed the Moon and given her light, and set her in the heavens to rule over the waters and the winds, over the queens of the earth and the parturition of women; and it was still he, the great Viracocha, who had created the beautiful Chasca, the Aurora, the Dawn, goddess of all unspotted maidens like herself, her who in turn decked the fields and woods with flowers, whose time was the gloaming and the twilight, whose messengers were the fleecy clouds which sail through the sky, and who, when she shakes her clustering hair, drops noiselessly pearls of dew on the green grass fields.[2]

Invisible and incorporeal himself, so, also, were his messengers (the light-rays), called huaminca, the faithful soldiers, and hayhuaypanti, the shining ones, who conveyed his decrees to every part.[3] He himself was omnipresent, imparting motion and life, form and existence, to all that is. Therefore it was, says an old writer, with more than usual insight into man's moral nature, with more than usual charity for a persecuted race, that when these natives worshiped some swift river or pellucid spring, some mountain or grove, "it was not that they believed that some particular divinity was there, or that it was a living thing, but because they believed that the great God, Illa Ticci, had created and placed it there and impressed upon it some mark of distinction, beyond other objects of its class, that it might thus be designated as an appropriate spot whereat to worship the maker of all things; and this is manifest from the prayers they uttered when engaged in adoration, because they are not addressed to that mountain, or river, or cave, but to the great Illa Ticci Viracocha, who, they believed, lived in the heavens, and yet was invisibly present in that sacred object."[4]

In the prayers for the dead, Illa Ticci was appealed to, to protect the body, that it should not see corruption nor become lost in the earth, and that he should not allow the soul to wander aimlessly in the infinite spaces, but that it should be conducted to some secure haven of contentment, where it might receive the sacrifices and offerings which loving hands laid upon the tomb.[5] Were other gods also called upon, it was that they might intercede with the Supreme Divinity in favor of these petitions of mortals.

To him, likewise, the chief priest at certain times offered a child of six years, with a prayer for the prosperity of the Inca, in such terms as these:--

"Oh, Lord, we offer thee this child, in order that thou wilt maintain us in comfort, and give us victory in war, and keep to our Lord, the Inca, his greatness and his state, and grant him wisdom that he may govern us righteously."[6]

Or such a prayer as this was offered up by the assembled multitude:--

"Oh, Viracocha ever present, Viracocha Cause of All, Viracocha the Helper, the Ceaseless Worker, Viracocha who gives the beginnings, Viracocha who encourages, Viracocha the always fortunate, Viracocha ever near, listen to this our prayer, send health, send prosperity to us thy people."[7]

Thus Viracocha was placed above and beyond all other gods, the essential First Cause, infinite, incorporeal, invisible, above the sun, older than the beginning, but omnipresent, accessible, beneficent.

Does this seem too abstract, too elevated a notion of God for a race whom we are accustomed to deem gross and barbaric? I cannot help it. The testimony of the earliest observers, and the living proof of language, are too strong to allow of doubt. The adjectives which were applied to this divinity by the native priests are still on record, and that they were not a loan from Christian theology is conclusively shown by the fact that the very writers who preserved them often did not know their meaning, and translated them incorrectly.

Thus even Garcilasso de la Vega, himself of the blood of the Incas, tells us that neither he nor the natives of that day could translate Ticci.[8] Thus, also, Garcia and Acosta inform us that Viracocha was surnamed Usapu, which they translate "admirable,"[9] but really it means "he who accomplishes all that he undertakes, he who is successful in all things;" Molina has preserved the term Ymamana, which means "he who controls or owns all things;"[10] the title Pachayachachi, which the Spanish writers render "Creator," really means the "Teacher of the World;" that of Caylla signifies "the Ever-present one;" Taripaca, which has been guessed to be the same as tarapaca, an eagle, is really a derivative of taripani, to sit in judgment, and was applied to Viracocha as the final arbiter of the actions and destinies of man. Another of his frequent appellations for which no explanation has been offered, was Tokay or Tocapo, properly Tukupay.[11] It means "he who finishes," who completes and perfects, and is antithetical to Ticci, he who begins. These two terms express the eternity of divinity; they convey the same idea of mastery over time and the things of time, as do those words heard by the Evangelist in his vision in the isle called Patmos, "I am Alpha and Omega; I am the Beginning and the End."

Yet another epithet of Viracocha was Zapala.[12] It conveys strongly and positively the monotheistic idea. It means "The One," or, more strongly, "The Only One."

Nor must it be supposed that this monotheism was unconscious; that it was, for example, a form of "henotheism," where the devotion of the adorer filled his soul, merely to the forgetfulness of other deities; or that it was simply the logical law of unity asserting itself, as was the case with many of the apparently monotheistic utterances of the Greek and Roman writers.

No; the evidence is such that we are obliged to acknowledge that the religion of Peru was a consciously monotheistic cult, every whit as much so as the Greek or Roman Catholic Churches of Christendom.

Those writers who have called the Inca religion a "sun worship" have been led astray by superficial resemblances. One of the best early authorities, Christoval de Molina, repeats with emphasis the statement, "They did not recognize the Sun as their Creator, but as created by the Creator," and this creator was "not born of woman, but was unchangeable and eternal."[13] For conclusive testimony on this point, however, we may turn to an Informacion or Inquiry as to the ancient belief, instituted in 1571, by order of the viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo. The oldest Indians, especially those of noble birth, including many descendants of the Incas, were assembled at different times and in different parts of the country, and carefully questioned, through the official interpreter, as to just what the old religion was. The questions were not leading ones, and the replies have great uniformity. They all agreed that Viracocha was worshiped as creator, and as the ever-present active divinity; he alone answered prayers, and aided in time of need; he was the sole efficient god. All prayers to the Sun or to the deceased Incas, or to idols, were directed to them as intercessors only. On this point the statements were most positive[14]. The Sun was but one of Viracocha's creations, not itself the Creator.

It is singular that historians have continued to repeat that the Qquichuas adored the Sun as their principal divinity, in the face of such evidence to the contrary. If this Inquiry and its important statements had not been accessible to them, at any rate they could readily have learned the same lesson from the well known History of Father Joseph de Acosta. That author says, and repeats with great positiveness, that the Sun was in Peru a secondary divinity, and that the supreme deity, the Creator and ruler of the world, was Viracocha.[15]

Another misapprehension is that these natives worshiped directly their ancestors. Thus, Mr. Markham writes: "The Incas worshiped their ancestors, the Pacarina, or forefather of the Ayllu, or lineage, being idolized as the soul or essence of his descendants."[16] But in the Inquiry above quoted it is explained that the belief, in fact, was that the soul of the Inca went at death to the presence of the deity Viracocha, and its emblem, the actual body, carefully preserved, was paid divine honors in order that the soul might intercede with Viracocha for the fulfillment of the prayers.[17]

We are compelled, therefore, by the best evidence now attainable, to adopt the conclusion that the Inca religion, in its purity, deserved the name of monotheism. The statements of the natives and the terms of their religious language unite in confirming this opinion.

It is not right to depreciate the force of these facts simply because we have made up our minds that a people in the intellectual stage of the Peruvians could not have mounted to such a pure air of religion. A prejudgment of this kind is unworthy of a scientific mind. The evidence is complete that the terms I have quoted did belong to the religious language of ancient Peru. They express the conception of divinity which the thinkers of that people had formed. And whether it is thought to be in keeping or not with the rest of their development, it is our bounden duty to accept it, and explain it as best we can. Other instances might be quoted, from the religious history of the old world, where a nation's insight into the attributes of deity was singularly in advance of their general state of cultivation. The best thinkers of the Semitic race, for example, from Moses to Spinoza, have been in this respect far ahead of their often more generally enlightened Aryan contemporaries.

The more interesting, in view of this lofty ideal of divinity they had attained, become the Peruvian myths of the incarnation of Viracocha, his life and doings as a man among men.

These myths present themselves in different, but to the reader who has accompanied me thus far, now familiar forms. Once more we meet the story of the four brothers, the first of men. They appeared on the earth after it had been rescued from the primeval waters, and the face of the land was divided between them. Manco Capac took the North, Colla the South, Pinahua the West, and the East, the region whence come the sun and the light, was given to Tokay or Tocapa, to Viracocha, under his name of the Finisher, he who completes and perfects.[18]

The outlines of this legend are identical with another, where Viracocha appears under the name of Ayar Cachi. This was, in its broad outlines, the most general myth, that which has been handed down by the most numerous authorities, and which they tell us was taken directly from the ancient songs of the Indians, as repeated by those who could recall the days of the Incas Huascar and Atahualpa.[19]

It ran in this wise: In the beginning of things there appeared on the earth four brothers, whose names were, of the oldest, Ayar Cachi, which means he who gives Being, or who Causes;[20] of the youngest, Ayar Manco, and of the others, Ayar Aucca (the enemy), and Ayar Uchu. Their father was the Sun, and the place of their birth, or rather of their appearance on earth, was Paccari-tampu, which means The House of the Morning or the Mansion of the Dawn.[21] In after days a certain cave near Cuzco was so called, and pointed out as the scene of this momentous event, but we may well believe that a nobler site than any the earth affords could be correctly designated.

These brothers were clothed in long and flowing robes, with short upper garments without sleeves or collar, and this raiment was worked with marvelous skill, and glittered and shone like light. They were powerful and proud, and determined to rule the whole earth, and for this purpose divided it into four parts, the North, the South, the East, and the West. Hence they were called by the people, Tahuantin Suyu Kapac, Lords of all four Quarters of the Earth.[22]

The most powerful of these was Ayar Cachi. He possessed a sling of gold, and in it a stone with which he could demolish lofty mountains and hurl aloft to the clouds themselves. He gathered together the natives of the country at Pacari tampu, and accumulated at the House of the Dawn a great treasure of yellow gold. Like the glittering hoard which we read of in the lay of the Nibelung, the treasure brought with it the destruction of its owner, for his brothers, envious of the wondrous pile, persuaded Ayar Cachi to enter the cave where he kept his hoard, in order to bring out a certain vase, and also to pray to their father, the Sun, to aid them to rule their domains. As soon as he had entered, they stopped the mouth of the cave with huge stones; and thus rid of him, they set about collecting the people and making a settlement at a certain place called Tampu quiru (the Teeth of the House).

But they did not know the magical power of their brother. While they were busy with their plans, what was their dismay to see Ayar Cachi, freed from the cave, and with great wings of brilliantly colored feathers, hovering like a bird in the air over their heads. They expected swift retribution for their intended fratricide, but instead of this they heard reassuring words from his lips.

"Have no fear," he said, "I left you in order that the great empire of the Incas might be known to men. Leave, therefore, this settlement of Tampu quiru, and descend into the Valley of Cuzco, where you shall found a famous city, and in it build a sumptuous temple to the Sun. As for me, I shall remain in the form in which you see me, and shall dwell in the mountain peak Guanacaure, ready to help you, and on that mountain you must build me an altar and make to me sacrifices. And the sign that you shall wear, whereby you shall be feared and respected of your subjects, is that you shall have your ears pierced, as are mine," saying which he showed them his ears pierced and carrying large, round plates of gold.

They promised him obedience in all things, and forthwith built an altar on the mountain Guanacaure, which ever after was esteemed a most holy place. Here again Ayar Cachi appeared to them, and bestowed on Ayar Manco the scarlet fillet which became the perpetual insignia of the reigning Inca. The remaining brothers were turned into stone, and Manco, assuming the title of Kapac, King, and the metaphorical surname of Pirhua, the Granary or Treasure house, founded the City of Cuzco, married his four sisters, and became the first of the dynasty of the Incas. He lived to a great age, and during the whole of his life never omitted to pay divine honors to his brothers, and especially to Ayar Cachi.

In another myth of the incarnation the infinite Creator Ticci Viracocha duplicates himself in the twin incarnation of Ymamana Viracocha and Tocapu Viracocha, names which we have already seen mean "he who has all things," and "he who perfects all things." The legend was that these brothers started in the distant East and journeyed toward the West. The one went by way of the mountains, the other by the paths of the lowlands, and each on his journey, like Itzamna in Yucatecan story, gave names to the places he passed, and also to all trees and herbs of the field, and to all fruits, and taught the people which were good for food, which of virtue as medicines, and which were poisonous and to be shunned. Thus they journeyed westward, imparting knowledge and doing good works, until they reached the western ocean, the great Pacific, whose waves seem to stretch westward into infinity. There, "having accomplished all they had to do in this world, they ascended into Heaven," once more to form part of the Infinite Being; for the venerable authority whom I am following is careful to add, most explicitly, that "these Indians believed for a certainty that neither the Creator nor his sons were born of woman, but that they all were unchangeable and eternal."[23]

Still more human does Viracocha become in the myth where he appears under the surnames Tunapa and Taripaca. The latter I have already explained to mean He who Judges, and the former is a synonym of Tocapu, as it is from the verb ttaniy or ttanini, and means He who Finishes completes or perfects, although, like several other of his names, the significance of this one has up to the present remained unexplained and lost. The myth has been preserved to us by a native Indian writer, Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti, who wrote it out somewhere about the year 1600.[24]

He tells us that at a very remote period, shortly after the country of Peru had been populated, there came from Lake Titicaca to the tribes an elderly man with flowing beard and abundant white hair, supporting himself on a staff and dressed in wide-spreading robes. He went among the people, calling them his sons and daughters, relieving their infirmities and teaching them the precepts of wisdom.

Often, however, he met the fate of so many other wise teachers, and was rejected and scornfully entreated by those whom he was striving to instruct. Swift retribution sometimes fell upon such stiff-necked listeners. Thus he once entered the town of Yamquesupa, the principal place in the province of the South, and began teaching the inhabitants; but they heeded him not, and seized him, and with insult and blows drove him from the town, so that he had to sleep in the open fields. Thereupon he cursed their town, and straightway it sank into the earth with all its inhabitants, and the depression was filled with water, and all were drowned. To this day it is known as the lake of Yamquesupa, and all the people about there well know that what is now a sheet of water was once the site of a flourishing city.

At another time he visited Tiahuanaco, where may yet be seen the colossal ruins of some ancient city, and massive figures in stone of men and women. In his time this was a populous mart, its people rich and proud, given to revelry, to drunkenness and dances. Little they cared for the words of the preacher, and they treated him with disdain. Then he turned upon them his anger, and in an instant the dancers were changed into stone, just as they stood, and there they remain to this day, as any one can see, perpetual warnings not to scorn the words of the wise.

On another occasion he was seized by the people who dwelt by the great lake of Carapaco, and tied hands and feet with stout cords, it being their intention to put him to a cruel death the next day. But very early in the morning, just at the time of the dawn, a beautiful youth entered and said, "Fear not, I have come to call you in the name of the lady who is awaiting you, that you may go with her to the place of joys." With that he touched the fetters on Tunapa's limbs, and the ropes snapped asunder, and they went forth untouched by the guards, who stood around. They descended to the lake shore, and just as the dawn appeared, Tunapa spread his mantle on the waves, and he and his companion stepping upon it, as upon a raft, were wafted rapidly away into the rays of the morning light.

The cautious Pachacuti does not let us into the secret of this mysterious assignation, either because he did not know or because he would not disclose the mysteries of his ancestral faith. But I am not so discreet, and I vehemently suspect that the lady who was awaiting the virtuous Tunapa, was Chasca, the Dawn Maiden, she of the beautiful hair which distills the dew, and that the place of joys whither she invited him was the Mansion of the Sky, into which, daily, the Light-God, at the hour of the morning twilight, is ushered by the chaste maiden Aurora.

As the anger of Tunapa was dreadful, so his favors were more than regal. At the close of a day he once reached the town of the chief Apotampo, otherwise Pacari tampu, which means the House or Lodgings of the Dawn, where the festivities of a wedding were in progress. The guests, intent upon the pleasures of the hour, listened with small patience to the words of the old man, but the chief himself heard them with profound attention and delight. Therefore, as Tunapa was leaving he presented to the chief, as a reward for his hospitality and respect, the staff which had assisted his feeble limbs in many a journey. It was of no great seemliness, but upon it were inscribed characters of magic power, and the chief wisely cherished it among his treasures. It was well he did, for on the day of the birth of his next child the staff turned into fine gold, and that child was none other than the far-famed Manco Capac, destined to become the ancestor of the illustrious line of the Incas, Sons of the Sun, and famous in all countries that it shines upon; and as for the golden staff, it became, through all after time until the Spanish conquest, the sceptre of the Incas and the sign of their sovereignty, the famous and sacred tupa yauri, the royal wand.[25]