Note 81 — Chapter III · THE GREAT GODS

Elsewhere Torquemada descants on the Quetzalcoatl myth as follows: A body of men came from the north by way of Panuco, dressed in long robes of black linen, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves. They came to Tollan, but finding the country there too thickly peopled, passed on to Cholula, where they were well received. Their chief was Quetzalcoatl, a man with ruddy complexion and long beard. These people multiplied and sent colonists to the Mixtec and Zapotec countries, raising the great buildings at Mitla. They were cunning handicraftsmen, not so good at masonry as at jewellers’ work, sculpture, and agriculture. Tezcatlipocâ and Huemac conceived an enmity to Quetzalcoatl, and as he did not wish to go to war with them, he and his folk removed to Onohualco (Yucatan, Tabasco, and Campeche).81