The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History

Joyful at their discovery Hunahpu and Xbalanque went away to play in the ball-ground of their fathers, and the monarchs of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vukub Came, heard them and were angry, and sent messengers to summon them as their fathers had been summoned to play at Xibalba. The messengers came to the house of Xmucane, who, filled with alarm, dispatched a louse to carry the summons to her grandsons. On the way the louse consented, to insure greater speed, to be swallowed by a toad, the toad by a serpent, and the serpent by the great bird Voc. On arrival a series of vomitings ensued, until the toad was free; but in spite of his most desperate efforts he could not throw up the louse, who, it seems, had played him a trick, lodged in his gums, and not been swallowed at all. However, the message was delivered, and the players returned home to take leave of their grandmother and mother. Before their departure they planted each a cane in the middle of the house, the fate of which should depend upon their own, since it would wither at their death.

The ball-players set out for Xibalba by the route their fathers had followed, passing the bloody river and the river Papuhya; but they sent in advance an animal called Xan, with a hair of Hunahpu's leg to prick the kings and princes. Thus they detected the artificial men of wood, and also learned the names of all the princes by their exclamations and mutual inquiries when pricked. On their arrival at court they refused to salute the manikins or to sit upon the red-hot stone; they even passed through the first ordeal in the House of Gloom, thus thrice avoiding the tricks which had been played upon their fathers.

The kings were astonished and very angry, and the game of ball was played, and those of Xibalba were beaten. Then Hun Came and Vukub Came required the victors to bring them four bouquets of flowers, ordering the guards of the royal gardens to watch most carefully, and committed Hunahpu and his brother to the House of Lances – the second ordeal – where the lancers were directed to kill them. Yet a swarm of ants in the brothers' service entered easily the royal gardens, the lancers were bribed, and the sons of Xquiq were still victorious. Those of Xibalba turned pale, and the owls, guards of the royal gardens, were punished by having their lips split.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque were subjected to the third ordeal in the House of Cold, but warmed by burning pine-cones they were not frozen. So in the fourth and fifth ordeals, since they passed a night in the House of Tigers and in the House of Fire without suffering injury; but in the House of Bats, although the occupants did them no harm, Hunahpu's head was cut off by Camazotz, 'ruler of bats,' who came from on high.

The beheading of Hunahpu was by no means fatal, but after a combination of events utterly unintelligible, including an assemblage of all the animals, achievements particularly brilliant by the turtle and rabbit, and another contest at ball-playing, the heroes came out uninjured from all the ordeals to which they were subjected in Xibalba.

DEATH OF THE TWIN BROTHERS

At last, instructing two sorcerers, Xulu and Pacam, that those of Xibalba had failed because the brutes were not on their side, and directing them also what to do with their bones, Hunahpu and Xbalanque stretched themselves voluntarily face down on a funeral pile, still in Xibalba, and died together. Their bones were pulverized and thrown into the river, where they sank and were changed into fine young men.

On the fifth day they re-appeared, like man-fishes; and on the day following in the form of ragged old men, dancing, burning and restoring houses, killing and restoring each other to life, and performing other wonderful things. They were induced to exhibit their skill before the princes of Xibalba, killing and resuscitating the king's dog, burning and restoring the royal palace; then a man was made the subject of their art, Hunahpu was cut in pieces and brought to life by Xbalanque. Finally, the monarchs of Xibalba wished to experience personally the temporary death; Hun Came, the highest in rank, was first killed, then Vukub Came, but life was not restored to them; the two shooters of the blow-pipe had avenged the wrongs of their fathers; the monarchs of Xibalba had fallen.

Having announced their true names and motives, the two brothers pronounced sentence on the princes of Xibalba. Their ball was to appear no more in the favorite game, they were to perform menial service, with only the beasts of the woods as vassals, and this was to be their punishment for the wrongs they had done; yet strangely enough, they were to be invoked thereafter as gods, or rather demons, according to Ximenez. The character of the Xibalbans is here described. They were fond of war, of frightful aspect, ugly as owls, inspiring evil and discord; faithless, hypocritical, and tyrants, they were both black and white, painting their faces, moreover, with divers colors. But their power was ruined and their domination ceased. Meanwhile, the grandmother Xmucane at home watched the growth of the canes, and was filled alternately with grief and joy, as these withered and again became green according to the varying fortunes of the grandsons in Xibalba.[308 - The place whence the brothers started to contend against the princes of Xibalba, seems to have been Utatlan in Guatemala – see vol. iv., pp. 124-8 – for Gumarcaah the Quiché name of that place is said to signify 'house of old withered canes.' Moreover, Torquemada and Las Casas have preserved the tradition that Exbalanquen (Xbalanque) set out from Utatlan for the conquest of hell. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 53; Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 125. Xibalba doubtless had the signification of the infernal regions in the popular traditions.] Finally, to return to Xibalba, Hunahpu and Xbalanque rendered the fitting funeral honors to their fathers who had perished there, but who now mounted to heaven and took their places as the sun and moon; and the four hundred young men killed by Zipacna became stars in the skies. Thus ends the second division of the National Book of the Quichés.[309 - Popol Vuh, pp. 68-192; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 29-79.]

MIGRATION FROM TULAN

The first chapter of the third division relates another and final creation of man from maize, in Paxil, or Cayala, 'land of divided and stagnant waters,' and has already been translated in full in another volume.[310 - See vol. ii., pp. 716-7.] According to Brasseur's opinion it should follow the account of the preceding creations,[311 - See p. 172 (#Page_172).] and precede the narrative of the struggle with Xibalba; but was introduced here at the beginning of the Quiché migrations intentionally in order to attach the later Quiché nations more closely to the heroic epochs of their history. The remaining chapters of the division have also been translated in substance.[312 - Vol. iii., pp. 47-54.] In them are related the adventures of Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, the product of the final creation by Gucumatz and his companion deities, and the founders of the Quiché nations. The people multiplied greatly in a region called the East, and migrated in search of gods to Tulan-Zuiva, the 'seven caves,' where four gods were assigned to the four leaders; namely, Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, and Nicahtagah. Here their language was changed or divided, and the division into separate nations was established. Suffering from cold and endeavors to obtain fire while they were awaiting the sun, are the points most dwelt upon during their stay in Tulan, and in connection with these troubles the coming of an envoy from Xibalba is mentioned,[313 - Popol Vuh, pp. 221-2.] which circumstance may indicate that Tulan was in the Xibalban region. But they determined to abandon or were driven from Tulan, and after a tedious journey, including apparently a crossing of the sea, they reached Mt Hacavitz, where at last they beheld the sun. Mt Hacavitz was apparently in Guatemala, and the events mentioned in the record as having occurred subsequently to the arrival there, although many are of a mythical nature and few can be assigned to any definite epoch, may best be referred to the more modern history of the Quiché-Cakchiquel nations in Guatemala, to be treated in a future chapter.

The events preceding the rising of the sun on Mt Hacavitz, are not easily connected with the exploits of Hunahpu and Xbalanque; but to suppose that they follow in chronologic order, and that the traditions in question reflect vaguely the history of the heroes or tribes that prevailed against Xibalba is at least as consistent as any theory that can be formed. The chief objection is the implied crossing of the sea during the migration from Tulan, which may be an interpolation. A lamentation which they chanted on Mt Hacavitz has considerable historical importance. "Alas," they said, "we were ruined in Tulan, we were separated, and our brothers still remain behind. Truly we have beheld the sun, but they, where are they now that the dawn has appeared? Truly Tohil is the name of the god of the Yaqui nation, who was called Yolcuat Quitzalcuat (Quetzalcoatl) when we parted yonder in Tulan. Behold whence we set out together, behold the common cradle of our race, whence we have come. Then they remembered their brothers far behind them, the nation of the Yaqui whom their dawn enlightened in the countries now called Mexico. There was also a part of the nation which they left in the east, and Tepeu and Oliman were the places where they remained."[314 - Popol Vuh, pp. 245-7; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 98-9.]

A Cakchiquel record of what would seem to be the same primitive traditions contained in the Popol Vuh, exists but has never been published. It is only known through an occasional reference or quotation in the writings of Brasseur de Bourbourg. From one of these references[315 - Notes to Popol Vuh, pp. lxxxv, ccliv.] we learn that the barbarian Utïu, Jackal, or Coyote, that conducted Gucumatz to Paxil where maize was discovered, was killed by one of the heroes or deities; hence the name Hunahpu Utïu, 'shooter of the blowpipe at the coyote.' The following quotation from the same document refers to the name Tulan, which with its different spellings occurs so perplexingly often in all the primitive traditions of American civilization. "Four persons came from Tulan, from the direction of the rising sun, that is one Tulan. There is another Tulan in Xibalbay and another where the sun sets, and it is there that we came; and in the direction of the setting sun there is another where is the god: so that there are four Tulans; and it is where the sun sets that we came to Tulan, from the other side of the sea where this Tulan is, and it is there that we were conceived and begotten by our mothers and our fathers."[316 - Id., pp. xci-ii.]

MEANING OF THE QUICHÉ TRADITIONS

Such in a condensed form are the tales that make up the primitive annals of the Quiché nations of Guatemala. We may be very sure that, be they marvelous or common-place, each is founded on an actual occurrence, and has its meaning. That meaning, so far as details are concerned, has been doubtless in most instances lost. We may only hope to extract from the tenor of the record as a whole, a general idea respecting the nature of the historic events thus vaguely recorded; and even this would be perhaps a hopeless task, were it not for the aid derived from the Tzendal traditions, with monumental, institutional, and linguistic arguments already considered, and the Nahua records yet to be examined. It is not altogether visionary to behold in the successive creations by Gucumatz, the 'plumed serpent,' and his companions, as we have done in the coming of Votan, the introduction or growth of a new civilization, new forms of government or religion, new habits of life in America; even if we cannot admit literally the arrival at a definite time and place of a civilizer, Gucumatz, or hope to reasonably explain each of his actions. It is not necessary to decide whether the new culture was indigenous or of foreign origin; or even to suppose it radically different from any that preceded or were contemporaneous with it. We need not go back to ancient times to see partisans or devotees attach the greatest importance to the slightest differences in government or religion, looking with pity or hatred on all that are indifferent or opposed. Thus in the traditions before us opponents and rivals are pictured as the powers of darkness, while tribes that cling to the freedom of the forests and are slow to accept the blessings of civilized life, are almost invariably spoken of as brutes. The final creation of man, and the discovery of maize as an essential element in his composition, refer apparently to the introduction among or adoption by the new people or new sect of agriculture as a means of support, but possibly to the creation of a high rank of secular or religious rulers. Utïu, the Jackal, a barbarian, led Gucumatz and his companions to Paxil Cayala where maize was found, but was killed by the new-comers in the troubles that ensued. Early in the narrative, however, the existence of a rival power, the great empire of Xibalba, almost synonymous with the infernal regions, is explicitly indicated, and a large portion of the Popol Vuh is devoted to the struggle between the two. The princes and nations of Xibalba, symbolized in Vukub Cakix, Zipacna, Cabrakan, Hun Came, and Vukub Came, were numerous and powerful, but, since the history is written by enemies, they were of course bad. Their chief fault, their unpardonable sin, consisted in being puffed up with pride against the Heart of Heaven, in refusing to accept the views of the new sect. Consequently the nations and chiefs that had arrayed themselves on the side of Gucumatz, represented by Xbalanque and Hunahpu, of several generations, struggle long and desperately to humble their own enemies and those of the supreme god, Hurakan. The oft-repeated struggles are symbolized by games at ball between the rival chiefs. The ball grounds or halls are battle-fields. The animals of the forests often take a prominent part on one side or the other; that is, the savage tribes are employed as allies. Occasionally men are for some offense or stupidity changed to monkeys, or tribes allied with the self-styled reformers and civilizers prove false to their allegiance and return to the wild freedom of the mountains. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the meaning of that portion of the narrative which recounts the immaculate conception of the princess Xquiq; but Brasseur, not without reason, sees in the birth of Hunahpu and Xbalanque from a Xibalban mother, an indication that the rival nations became more or less mixed by intermarriage. The same author conjectures that the quarrels between the two twins and their elder half-brothers record dissensions that arose between the chiefs of pure and mixed blood. After a long series of wars with varying results, symbolized by the repeated games of ball, and the ordeals to which Xbalanque and his brother were successively subjected, the princes of Xibalba were defeated. From the terms in which the victory is described in the tradition, the general impression is conveyed that it was not a conquest involving the destruction of cities and the extermination or enslaving of the people; but rather the overthrow of a dynasty; the transfer of the supreme power to nations that formerly occupied subordinate positions. The chief feature in the celebration of the triumph was the apotheosis of the heroes who had fallen during the struggle.

After the triumph of Gucumatz' followers, the written tradition is practically silent. Of the greatness of the newly constituted empire we know nothing; the record only re-opens when misfortune has again come upon the nations and they are forced to abandon Tulan for new homes. Neither their defeats nor the names of their conquerors were thought worthy of a place in the annals of the Quiché nations, afterwards so powerful in Guatemala; yet we can hardly doubt that the princes of Xibalba contributed to their overthrow. Forced to leave Tulan, spoken of as the cradle of their race, they migrated in three divisions, one towards the mountains of Guatemala, one towards Mexico, and the third toward the east by way of Tepeu and Oliman, which the Cakchiquel manuscript is said to locate on the boundary of Peten and Yucatan.

CONQUEST OF XIBALBA

The Quiché traditions, then, point clearly to, 1st, the existence in ancient times of a great empire somewhere in Central America, called Xibalba by its enemies; 2d, the growth of a rival neighboring power; 3d, a long struggle extending through several generations at least, and resulting in the downfall of the Xibalban kings; 4th, a subsequent scattering, – the cause of which is not stated, but was evidently war, civil or foreign, – of the formerly victorious nations from Tulan, their chief city or province; 5th, the identification of a portion of the migrating chiefs with the founders of the Quiché-Cakchiquel nations in possession of Guatemala at the Conquest. The National Book, unaided, would hardly suffice to determine the location of Xibalba, which was very likely the name of a capital city as well as of the empire. Utatlan, in the Guatemalan highlands, is clearly pointed out as the place whence Xbalanque set out for its conquest, and several other names of localities in Guatemala are also mentioned, but it should be noted that the tradition comes through Guatemalan sources, and it is not necessary even to suppose that Utatlan was the centre of the forces that struggled against the powers of darkness. Yet since we know through Tzendal traditions and monumental relics, of the great Votanic empire of the Chanes, which formerly included the region of Palenque, there can hardly be room for hesitation in identifying the two powers. The description of Paxil Cayala, 'divided and stagnant waters,' "a most excellent land, full of good things, where the white and yellow maize did abound, also the cacao, where were sapotes and many fruits, and honey; where all was overflowing with the best of food," agrees at least as well with the Usumacinta region as with any other in Central America. The very steep descent by which Xbalanque reached Xibalba from Utatlan, corresponds perfectly with the topography of the country towards the Usumacinta. The statement that in the final migration from Tulan to Guatemala, two parties were left behind, one of which went to Mexico, and the other was left in the east, also seems to point in the same direction. The Cakchiquel Manuscript tells us that there was a Tulan in Xibalba, evidently the one whence the final migration took place, and from the Tzendal tradition through Ordoñez we have learned that Tulha, or Tulan, was one of the great cities of Votan's Empire. Finally there is absolutely nothing in the narrative which points to any other location.

XIBALBA THE VOTANIC EMPIRE

Xibalba was then the Empire of the Serpents, to which tradition assigns Votan as a founder; the same name was applied also to its capital city Nachan, probably identical with Palenque; and Tulan, or Tulha, the centre of nations which were successively subjects, allies, rivals, and conquerors of the imperial city, may be conjecturally identified with the ruined Ococingo or Copan. Vukub Cakix, the last but two of the Xibalban monarchs, was perhaps the same as Chinax who occupied the same position in the Tzendal tradition and calendar. But who were the followers of Gucumatz, the nations before whose leaders, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the pride of Xibalba was humbled, and to whom the traditions thus far studied have assigned no name? It is most natural to identify them with the Tzequiles, who, according to the tradition, arrived during Votan's absence, gave his followers new ideas of government and religion, were assigned lands, and became a powerful people with Tulan as their capital. This makes the Tzendal tradition much more intelligible and complete, and agrees much better with the Quiché record, than the opposite one adopted without any apparent reason by Brasseur de Bourbourg. According to the Quiché chant of lamentation, one division of the refugees from Tulan went north to Mexico, where they found their 'dawn,' their greatness. This seems to point toward the Nahua nations, which alone achieved greatness in Mexico during historic times. The tribes which migrated northward are called, in the Popol Vuh, Yaqui, a name which according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, has much the same signification etymologically as Nahuatl, and was commonly applied by the Maya-Quiché peoples of Central America to the Mexicans. Moreover, their god, Tohil, was called by these Yaqui tribes, even while they were yet in Tulan, Yolcuat Quitzalcuat, while the most prominent of the Nahua divinities is well known to the readers of the preceding volumes to have been Quetzalcoatl. Chanes, the only name given to the subjects of Votan and his successors, is the equivalent of Culhuas, a word which, especially in composition, is of frequent occurrence in all the native tongues. Culhuacan was one of the most celebrated cities of Anáhuac, as the Acolhuas were among the most noted peoples. Again Tulan Zuiva is defined as the Seven Caves, in the Nahua tongues Chicomoztoc, which the Aztecs are well known to have claimed as a former home. One of the divinities engaged in the creation, or in the propagation of the new doctrines in the region of Xibalba was the chief of Toltecat, another name prominent in all Nahua traditions as that of their most famous nation, the Toltecs; and finally Gucumatz, the great leader of Xibalba's conquerors, was identical with Quetzalcoatl, since both names signify equally the 'plumed serpent,' the former in Quiché, the latter in Aztec. These facts seem significant and naturally direct our attention to an examination of the early Nahua records.

THE NAHUAS IN TAMOANCHAN

The records of the Nahua nations, so far as they relate to the pre-Toltec period, if more extensive and numerous, are not less confused than those of the south. To bring into any semblance of order this mass of contradictory semi-mythical, semi-historic details, to point out and defend the historic meaning of each aboriginal tale, is an impossible task which I do not propose to undertake. The only practicable course is to present the leading points of these early traditions as they are given by the best authorities, and to draw from them, as I have done from the Tzendal and Quiché records, some general conclusions respecting the most probable course of primitive history; for conclusions of a very general nature, and bearing on probabilities only, are all that we can expect to reach respecting pre-Toltec America. Sahagun, justly esteemed as one of the best authorities, speaks in substance as follows:[317 - Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-45.]

Countless years ago the first settlers arrived in New Spain. Coming in ships by sea, they approached a northern port; and because they disembarked there it was called Panutla, or Panoaia, 'place where they arrived who came by sea,' now corruptly called Pantlan (Pánuco); and from this port they began to follow the coast, beholding the snowy sierras and the volcanoes, until they reached the province of Guatemala; being guided by a priest carrying their god, with whom he continually took counsel respecting what they ought to do. They came to settle in Tamoanchan, where they remained a long time, and never ceased to have their wise men, or prophets, called amoxoaque, which means 'men learned in the ancient paintings,' who, although they came at the same time, did not remain with the rest in Tamoanchan; since leaving them there, they re-embarked and carried away with them all the paintings which they had brought relating to religious rites and mechanical arts. Before their departure they spoke as follows: – "Know that our god commands you to remain here in these lands, of which he makes you masters and gives you possession. He returns to the place whence he and we came; but he will come back to visit you when it shall be time for the world to come to an end; meantime you will await him in these lands, possessing them and all contained in them, since for this purpose you came hither; remain therefore, for we go with our god." Thus they departed with their god wrapped in blankets, towards the east, taking all the paintings. Of the wise men only four remained, Oxomoco, Cipactonal, Tlaltetecui, and Xuchicaoaca, who, after the others had departed, consulted together, saying: – A time will come when there will be light for the direction of this republic; but during the absence of our god, how shall the people be ruled? What order will there be in all things, since the wise men carried away their paintings by which they governed? Therefore did they invent judicial astrology and the art of interpreting dreams; they composed the calendar, which was followed during the rule of the Toltecs, Mexicans, Tepanecs, and Chichimecs. By this calendar, however, it is not possible to ascertain how long they remained in Tamoanchan, – although this was known by the paintings burned in the time of the Mexican ruler, Itzcoatl, in whose reign the lords and princes agreed that all should be burned that they might not fall into the hands of the vulgar and be unappreciated. From Tamoanchan they went to sacrifice at Teotihuacan, where they built two mountains in honor of the sun and moon, and where they elected their rulers, and buried the lords and princes, ordering the tumuli, still to be seen, to be made over their graves. Some description of the mounds follows, with the statement that they were the work of giants. The town of Teotl, or god, was called Teotihuacan, because the princes who were buried there were made gods after death, and were thought not to have died but to have waked from a sleep. From Tamoanchan certain families went to settle the provinces called Olmeca Vixtoti. Here are given some details of these Olmecs and of the Huastecs, to be spoken of later.

After the centre of power had been a long time in Tamoanchan, it was afterwards transferred to the town called Xumiltepec. Here the lords and priests and the old men discovered it to be the will of their god that they should not remain always in Xumiltepec, but that they were to go farther; thus all gradually started on their migration, having first repaired to Teotihuacan to choose their leaders and wise men. In this migration they came to the valley of the Seven Caves. There is no account of the time they remained there, but finally the Toltecs were told by their god that they must return (that is towards Teotihuacan, or Anáhuac), which they did and came to Tollancingo (Tulancingo), and finally to Tulan (Tollan).

THE NAHUA TRADITIONS

In the introduction to the same work[318 - Tom. i., p. xviii.] we are told also that the first settlers came from towards Florida, followed the coast, and landed at the port of Pánuco. They came in search of the 'terrestrial paradise,' were called Tamoanchan, which means 'we seek our house,' and settled near the highest mountains they found. "In coming southward to seek the earthly paradise, they did not err, since it is the opinion of those that know that it is under the equinoxial line."

In Sahagun's version of the tradition we find Tamoanchan,[319 - According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 59, the name should be Temoanchan to agree exactly with Sahagun's definition, 'vamos á nuestra casa.' The same author heard an Indian of Guatemala define the name as an earthly paradise. Popol Vuh, pp. lxxviii-lxxix.] the first home of the Nahua nations in America, definitely located down the coast from Pánuco in the province of Guatemala. The coast region of Tabasco was probably included in this author's time in Guatemala; at least it is as near Guatemala as the new-comers could get by following the coast. The location therefore agrees with that of Xibalba and the Votanic empire as derived from other sources; and in fact the whole narrative may with great plausibility be applied to the events described in the Quiché tradition – the arrival of Gucumatz and his companions (although Sahagun does not name Quetzalcoatl as the leader of the immigrants), the growth of a great power in the central region, and the final forced migration from Tulan Zuiva, the Seven Caves. The absence of the name Tulan, as applied to a city or county in Central America, from the northern traditions as they have been preserved for our examination, may be very satisfactorily accounted for by the fact that another great city founded much later in Anáhuac, the capital of the Toltec monarchy, was also called Tollan; consequently such traditions as the Spaniards gathered from the natives respecting a Tulan, were naturally referred by them to the later city. It is to be noted, moreover, in this connection, that the descriptions given by the Spanish writers of Tollan, with its luxuriant vegetation, and birds of brilliant plumage, often apply much better to the southern than to the northern Anáhuac. In addition to the points mentioned in the Quiché record, we learn from Sahagun that the Toltec calendar was invented or introduced during the stay in that southern country of Tamoanchan;[320 - Brasseur believes that the Oxomoco and Cipactonal of the Nahua myth, are the same as the Xpiyacoc and Xmucane of the Popol Vuh, since the former are two of the inventors of the calendar, while the latter are called grandmothers of the sun and light. Popol Vuh, pp. 4, 20.] that the Nahua power in the south extended north to Anáhuac and embraced Teotihuacan, a holy city and religious centre, even in those remote times; that the Olmecs, Miztecs, and Huastecs belonged to the same group of nations and their rise or appearance to the same period; and that from the Seven Caves the Toltecs migrated – that is their centre or capital was transferred – to Tulancingo, and later to Tollan. All these points we shall find confirmed more or less directly by other authorities.

THE CODEX CHIMALPOPOCA

A very important Nahua record, written in Aztec with Spanish letters by an anonymous native author, and copied by Ixtlilxochitl, which belonged to the famous Boturini collection, is the Codex Chimalpopoca.[321 - 'Una Historia de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico, en lengua Nahuatl, y papel Europèo de Autor Anonymo, y tiene añadida una Breve Relacion de los Dioses, y Ritos de la Gentilidad en lengua Castellana, etc. Està todo copiado de letra de Don Fernando de Alba y le falta la primera foja.' Boturini, Catálogo, pp. 17-18. 'M. Aubin, qui possède les copies faites par Gama et Pichardo, ajoute au sujet de ce document: "Cette histoire, composée en 1563 et en 1579, par un écrivain de Quauhtitlan et non par Fernando de Alba (Ixtlilxochitl), comme l'a cru Pichardo, n'est guère moins précieuse que les précédentes (in Brasseur's list), et remonte, année par année, au moins jusqu'à l'an 751 de J. C. A la suite de ces annales se trouve l'histoire anonyme (l'Histoire des soleils), d'où Gama a extrait le texte mexicain de la tradition sur les soleils."' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxix.; Id., Popol Vuh, p. xi.] Unfortunately it has never been published, and its contents are only known by occasional references in the works of Brasseur de Bourbourg, who had a copy of the document. From the passages quoted by the abbé I take the following brief account, which seems of some importance in connection with the preceding:

"This is the beginning of the history of things which came to pass long ago, of the division of the earth, the property of all, its origin and its foundation, as well as the manner in which the sun divided it six times four hundred plus one hundred plus thirteen years ago to-day, the twenty-second of May, 1558." "Earth and the heavens were formed in the year Ce Tochtli; but man had already been created four times. God formed him of ashes, but Quetzalcoatl had perfected him." After the flood men were changed into dogs.[322 - Chichime or 'dogs,' a transformation which may not improbably have something to do with the origin of the name Chichimecs, a name applied to so many tribes in all parts of the country. The Codex Chimalpopoca, however, speaks also of a transformation into monkeys as a result of a great hurricane. Popol Vuh, p. lxxx.] After a new and successful attempt at creation, all began to serve the gods, called Apantecutli, 'master of the rivers,' Huictlollinqui, 'he who causes the earth to shake,' Tlallamanac, 'he who presides on the earth,' and Tzontemoc, 'he whose hair descends.' Quetzalcoatl remained alone. Then they said, "the vassals of the gods are born; they have already begun to serve us," but they added, "what will you eat, O gods?" and Quetzalcoatl went to search for means of subsistence. At that time Azcatl, the 'ant,' going to Tonacatepetl, 'mount of our subsistence,' for maize, was met by Quetzalcoatl, who said, "where hast thou been to obtain that thing? Tell me." At first the Ant would not tell, but the Plumed Serpent insisted, and repeated, "whither shall I go?" Then they went there together, Quetzalcoatl metamorphosing himself into a 'black ant.'[323 - Or, as Brasseur suggests, adopting the customs of the people in order to obtain the entrée of Tonacatepetl and the secret of their agriculture.] Tlaltlauhqui Azcatl, the 'yellow ant,'[324 - Molina, Vocabulario, translates the name, 'red ant.'] accompanied Quetzalcoatl respectfully, as they went to seek maize and brought it to Tamoanchan. Then the gods began to eat, and put some of the maize in our mouths that we might become strong.[325 - Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 53-9, 70-1.] The same record implies that Quetzalcoatl afterwards became obnoxious to his companions and abandoned them.[326 - Id., p. 117.]

In this document we have evidently an account of substantially the same events that are recorded in the Tzendal and Quiché records: – the division of the earth by the Sun in the year 955 B.C., or as Ordoñez interprets the Tzendal tradition, by Votan 'about 1000 B.C.'; the formation of the earth by the supreme being, and the successive creations of man, or attempts to introduce civilization among savages through the agency of Quetzalcoatl, – acts ascribed by the Quiché tradition to the same person under the name of Gucumatz; the flood and resulting transformation of men into dogs, instead of monkeys as in the Popol Vuh, symbolizing perhaps the relapse into savagism of partially civilized tribes; – the adoption of agriculture represented in both traditions as an expedition by Quetzalcoatl, or Gucumatz, in search of maize. According to the Popol Vuh he sought the maize in Paxil and Cayala, 'divided and stagnant waters,' by the aid of Utïu, 'the coyote;' while in the Nahua tradition, aided by Azcatl, 'the ant,' he finds the desired food in Tonacatepetl, 'mount of our subsistence.' Finally, the Codex Chimalpopoca identifies the home of the Nahua nations, whence the search for maize was made, with Tamoanchan, which Sahagun has clearly located in Tabasco.

PRIMITIVE NATIONS OF MEXICO

Before considering the traditions that relate the migration of the Toltecs proper to Tollan in Anáhuac, it will be most convenient to give the little that is known of those nations that are supposed to have preceded the Toltecs in Mexico. The chief of these are the Quinames, Olmecs, Xicalancas, Totonacs, Huastecs, Miztecs, Zapotecs, and Otomís.[327 - The Cuicatecs, Triquis, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, Chatinos, Papabucos, Soltecos, Chontales, and Cohuixcas, in the south-western regions, are regarded by Orozco y Berra as fragments of pre-Toltec nations. Geografía, pp. 121, 126. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 512, adds the Coras, Tepanecs, and Tarascos. The Codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus, give the names of the tribes that migrated from the seven caves, as Olmecs, Xicalancas, Chichimecs, Nonohualcas, Michinacas, Couixcas, Totonacs, and Cuextecas. The Nonohualcas and Xicalancas, however, were probably the same, and we shall see later that Chichimecs was probably never a tribal name at all. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 135.] The Olmecs and Xicalancas, who are sometimes represented as two nations, sometimes as divisions of the same nation, are regarded by all the authorities as Nahuas, speaking the same language as the Toltecs, but settled in Anáhuac long before the establishment of the Toltec Empire at Tollan. As nations they both became extinct before the Spanish Conquest, as did the Toltecs, but there is little doubt that their descendants under new names and in new national combinations still lived in Puebla, southern Vera Cruz, and Tabasco – the region traditionally settled by them – down to the coming of the Spaniards. They are regarded as the first of the Nahua nations in this region and are first noticed by tradition on the south-eastern coasts, whither they had come in ships from the east. Sahagun, as we have seen, identifies them with certain families of the Nahuas who set out from Tamoanchan to settle in the northern coast region. Ixtlilxochitl tells us they occupied the land in the third age of the world, landing on the east coast as far as the land of Papuha,[328 - Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 459. Papuhya, 'river of mud,' is a name also applied by the Quiché tradition to a river apparently in this region. See p. 178 (#Page_178); Popol Vuh, pp. 140-1. Brasseur in the same work, pp. lxxii., lxxvii-viii., refers to Las Casas, Hist. Apol., tom. iii., cap. cxxiii-iv., as relating the arrival of these nations under Quetzalcoatl and twenty chiefs at Point Xicalanco.] 'muddy water,' or in the region about the Laguna de Terminos. Veytia names Pánuco as their landing-place, and gives the date as a few years after the regulation of the calendar, already noticed in Sahagun's record.[329 - Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 150.] Their national names are derived from that of their first rulers Olmecatl and Xicalancatl. Two ancient cities called Xicalanco are reported on the gulf coast; one of them, which flourished nearly or quite down to the time of the Conquest, and whose ruins are still said to be visible,[330 - See vol. iv., p. 434.] was just below Vera Cruz; the other, probably the more ancient, stood at the point which still bears the name of Xicalanco at the entrance to the Laguna de Terminos. This whole region is also said to have borne the name of Anáhuac Xicalanco.[331 - See vol. ii., p. 112.] Mendieta and Torquemada[332 - Hist. Ecles., p. 146; Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32.] relate that the followers of Xicalancatl peopled the region towards the Goazacoalco, where stood the two cities referred to. The people of that part of the country were generally known at the time of the Conquest as Nonohualcas. The chief development of this people, or of its Olmec branch, was, so far as recorded in tradition, in the state of Puebla further north and inland.

OLMECS AND XICALANCAS

This tradition of the arrival of strangers on the eastern coast, and the growth of the Olmec and Xicalanca powers on and north of the isthmus, in view of the facts that these nations are universally regarded as Nahuas and as the first of the race to settle in Anáhuac, cannot be considered as distinct from that given by Sahagun respecting the Nahua race, especially as the latter author speaks of the departure of certain families from Tamoanchan to settle in the provinces of Olmeca Vixtoti. It is most natural to suppose that the new power extended gradually northward to Puebla as well as inland into Chiapas, where it came more directly in contact with its great rival. This view of the matter is likewise supported by the fact that Quetzalcoatl, the culture-hero, is said to have wrought his great works in the time of the Olmecs and Xicalancas – according to some traditions to have been their leader when they arrived on the coast. Sahagun also applies the name Tlalocan, 'land of riches,' or 'terrestrial paradise,' to this south-eastern region, implying its identity with Tamoanchan.[333 - Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 264, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136: Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 135-7, is the only author who differs materially in his account of the arrival and establishment of the Olmecs and Xicalancas. He states that in company with the Zacatecs they came from the Seven Caves, passed through Mexico, Tochimilco, Atlixco, Calpan, and Huexotzinco, founding their chief settlement in Tlascala where the village of Natividad now stands. See vol. iv., pp. 478-9, for notice of ruins. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299-300, also brings these nations from the Seven Caves.]

Our knowledge of Olmec history subsequent to their first appearance, is confined to a few events which occurred in Puebla. Here, chiefly on the Rio Atoyac near Puebla de los Angeles and Cholula, they found the Quinames, or giants, a powerful people who long kept them subordinate in rank and power, or, as the tradition expresses it, 'enslaved them.' These Quinames, as Ixtlilxochitl states, were survivors of the great destruction which closed the second age of the world. They were, according to Veytia, "more like brutes than rational beings; their food was raw meat of birds and beasts which they hunted indiscriminately, fruits and wild herbs, since they cultivated nothing; but they knew how to make pulque with which to make themselves drunk; going entirely naked with disheveled hair." They were cruel and proud, yet they received the strangers kindly, perhaps through fear of their great numbers, they being so few, and magnanimously permitted them to settle in their lands. The Olmecs were treated well enough at first, although they looked with terror upon the giants. The latter, aware of the fear they inspired, became more and more insolent, claiming that as lords and masters of the land they were showing the strangers a great favor in permitting them to live there. As a recompense for this kindness they obliged the Olmecs to serve as slaves, neither hunting nor fishing themselves, but depending on their new servants for a subsistence. Thus ill-treated, the Nahuas soon found their condition insupportable. Another great cause of offence was that the Quinames were addicted to sodomy, a vice which they refused to abandon even when they were offered the wives and daughters of the newcomers. At last it was resolved at a council of the Olmec chiefs to free themselves once for all from their oppressors. The means adopted were peculiar. The giants were invited to a magnificent banquet; the richest food and the most tempting native beverages were set before the guests; all gathered at the feast, and as a result of their unrestrained appetites were soon stretched senseless like so many blocks of wood on the ground. Thus they became an easy prey to the reformers, and perished to a man. The Olmecs were free and the day of their national prosperity dawned.

THE QUINAMES, OR GIANTS

The Quinames, traditionally assigned as the first inhabitants of nearly every part of the country, have been the subject of much discussion among the Spanish writers. Veytia indeed rejects the idea that a race of giants actually existed, and Clavigero considers their existence as a race very doubtful, although admitting that there were doubtless individuals of great size. Most other writers of this class accept more or less literally the tradition of the giants who were the first dwellers in the land, deeming the discovery of large bones in various localities and the scriptural tales of giants in other parts of the world, to be sufficient corroborative authority. Veytia thinks the Quinames were probably of the same race as the Toltecs, but were tribes cast out for their sloth; Ixtlilxochitl records the opinion entertained by some that they were descended from the Chichimecs. The former fixes the date of their destruction as 107, the latter as 299, A.D. Oviedo adopts the conclusion of Mendoza that the giants probably came from the Strait of Magellan, the only place where such beings were known to exist. Boturini saw no reason to doubt the existence of the giants. Being large in stature, they could out-travel the rest of mankind, and thus became naturally the first settlers of distant parts of the world. Torquemada, followed by Veytia, identifies them with a similar race that traditionally appeared at a very early time in Peru, where they were destroyed by fire from heaven.[334 - Concerning the giants, see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6, 392, 459; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 143-54; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. ii. This author represents the Quinames as having been killed while eating and drinking, by the Tlascaltecs who had taken possession of their arms. He says they yielded after a desperate resistance. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 34-6; Boturini, Idea, pp. 130-5; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 6; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 539-41; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 125; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 66, 153-4; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. lxviii., cxxvii.; Id., Esquisses, p. 12; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 15, 21; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 5; Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 346; Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 610.]

The Quinames were of course not giants, and it is not at all probable that they were savage tribes. Such tribes are described as animals rather than giants in the American traditionary annals. The spirit of the narrative, the great power ascribed to the Quinames, their kind reception of the strangers, their growing insolence, even their vices, point clearly, here as in Chiapas, to a powerful nation, at first feared as masters, then hated as rivals, but finally ruled as subjects by the newly risen power. While it is impossible to decide authoritatively in the matter, it may be regarded as more than likely that this foe was a branch of that overthrown in the south; that the Xibalban power, as well as that of the Nahuas, extended far towards Anáhuac in the early days; that the great struggle was carried on in the north as well as in the south.

About the time the Quinames were defeated, the pyramid of Cholula was erected under the direction of a chief named Xelhua. The occasion of its being built seems to have been connected in some way with a flood, probably that mentioned in the Quiché tradition, the reports of which may or may not be founded on an actual inundation more than usually disastrous in a country subject to periodical overflow. The authorities are not agreed whether the mighty mound was intended as a memorial monument in honor of the builder's salvation from a former flood, or as a place of refuge in case the floodgates of the skies should again be opened; neither is it settled whether Xelhua was an Olmec or a Quiname chieftain, although most authors incline to the former opinion. Pedro de los Rios tells us that the bricks for the construction of the pyramid were manufactured at Tlalmanalco and passed by a line of men from hand to hand for a distance of several leagues. Of course the Spanish writers have not failed to connect this pyramid in some way with the Hebrew traditions respecting the tower of Babel, especially as work on the Cholula tower was stopped by fire, sent from heaven by the irritated deities.[335 - On building of Cholula pyramid, see Codex Mexicano, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 172; Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 206, 459; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 45, 69; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 15, 18, 153; Boturini, Idea, pp. 113-14; Humboldt, Mélanges, p. 553; Id., Vues, tom. i., p. 114; Popol Vuh, p. cxxv.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 153, 301-3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 132; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 167.]

QUETZALCOATL, THE CULTURE-HERO

During the Olmec period, that is, the earliest period of Nahua power, the great Quetzalcoatl appeared. We have seen that in the Popol Vuh and Codex Chimalpopoca this being is represented as the half-divinity, half-hero, who came at the head of the first Nahuas to America from across the sea. Other authorities imply rather that he came later from the east or north, in the period of the greatest Olmec prosperity, after the rival Quinames had been defeated. To such differences in detail no great importance is to be attached; since all that can be definitely learned from these traditions is the facts that Quetzalcoatl, or Gucumatz, was the most prominent of the Nahua heroes, and that his existence is to be attributed to this earliest period, known in Mexico as Olmec, but without a distinctive name in the south. Quetzalcoatl was a white, bearded man, venerable, just, and holy, who taught by precept and example the paths of virtue in all the Nahua cities, particularly in Cholula. His teachings, according to the traditions, had much in common with those of Christ in the Old World, and most of the Spanish writers firmly believed him to be identical with one of the Christian apostles, probably St Thomas. During his stay in this region his doctrines do not seem to have met with a satisfactory reception, and he left disheartened. He predicted before his departure great calamities, and promised to return in a future year Ce Acatl, at which time his doctrines were to be fully accepted, and his descendants were to possess the land. Montezuma is known to have regarded the coming of Cortés and the Spaniards as a fulfillment of this prediction, and in his speech to the new-comers states further that after his first visit Quetzalcoatl had already once returned,[336 - Cortés, Cartas, p. 86. Quetzalcoatl however is not named.] and attempted unsuccessfully to induce his followers to go back with him across the sea. The first part of the prophet's prediction actually came to pass, as traditions tell us, for only a few days after his departure occurred the earthquake which destroyed the pyramid at Cholula, the American Babel, and ushered in the new or fourth age of fire, according to Ixtlilxochitl. On the ruins of the pyramid was built a temple to Quetzalcoatl, who was afterwards worshiped as a god.[337 - Respecting Quetzalcoatl in his mythological aspects as a divinity, see vol. iii., pp. 248-87. The story of his visit to the Olmecs is told in Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 206, 459; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 155-6, 161-204.]

We shall find very similar traditions of another Quetzalcoatl who appeared much later, during the Toltec period, and who also made Cholula a centre of his reform. As we shall see, the evidence is tolerably conclusive that the two are not the same, yet it is more than likely that the traditions respecting them have been considerably mixed both in native and European hands. After the time of Quetzalcoatl we know nothing of Olmec or Xicalanca history down to the establishment of the Toltec empire, when these nations were still in possession of the country of Puebla and Tlascala. Boturini conjectures that, being driven from Mexico, they migrated to the Antilles and to South America. There is not, however, the slightest necessity to suppose that the Olmecs ever left the country at all. Their institutions and language were the same as that of the Toltec peoples that nominally succeeded them, and although like the Toltecs they became extinct as a nation, yet there is no reason to doubt that their descendants lived long in the land, and took part in the new political combinations that make up Nahua history down to the Conquest.[338 - Boturini, Idea, p. 135; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 52, tom. i., p. 147. Between Chiapas and Zacatecas is a vast space, of which the only notion given us by history is the fact that the Olmecs, Xicalancas, and Zapotecs lived in the region of Puebla and Tlascala. They were the primitive peoples, that is, the first known. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 124-5. The Xicalancas founded Atlixco and Itzucan, but migrated to South America. The Olmecs who had been driven to the gulf coasts followed them. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 242. The Xicalancas possessed the country before the Chichimecs, by whom they were regarded as enemies. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 461. Mexicans, Culhuas, Tepanecs, Olmecs, Xicalancas, Tarascos, and Chichimecs were all of the same race and language. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 131, 135, 188. See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 67, 196, tom. iii., p. 9; Bradford's Amer. Antiq., pp. 200, 213; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 337; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 33-4.The Olmecs passed from Mexico to Guatemala, which they conquered. Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 374. Palenque, the oldest American city, was built by the Olmecs, a mixture of yellow aborigines and the first white immigrants. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 45. The Mazahuas and Olmecs belong to the aborigines of Guatemala. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 456.]

THE TOTONACS AND TEOTIHUACAN

APOTHEOSIS OF NANAHUATZIN

The Totonacs are included by the authorities among the primitive, or Pre-Toltec nations in Anáhuac. At the time of the Conquest they occupied central Vera Cruz, their chief city being Zempoala; but they claimed to have migrated from the valley of Mexico, and to have lived long near the banks of Lake Tezcuco, where they built the pyramids at Teotihuacan, a place already noticed as a religious centre in this early period. Torquemada seems to be the original authority for the Totonac traditions respecting their primitive history, having obtained his information from an aged native. His brief account, quoted in substance by all others who have mentioned the subject, is as follows: – "Of their origin they say that they set out from the place called Chicomoztoc, or Seven Caves, together with the Xalpanecs; and that they were twenty divisions, or families, as many of one as of the other; and although thus divided into families, they were all of one language and of the same customs. They say they started from that place, leaving the Chichimecs still shut up there; and they directed their journey towards this part of Mexico, and having arrived at the plains on the lake, they halted at the place where Teotihuacan now is; and they affirm that they built these two temples which were dedicated to the sun and moon. Here they remained for some time, but either not contented with the place, or with a desire to pass to other places, they went to Atenamitic, where Zacatlan now stands." Thence they gradually moved eastward until at last they settled on the coast in their present location. That the pyramids of Teotihuacan[339 - For description see vol. iv., pp. 529-44.] were built by the Nahuas – the Olmecs or one of their companion nations – and became their religious centre and the burial-place of their kings and priests long before the establishment of the empire of Tollan, there can be but little doubt; nor is it improbable that the Totonacs were, as they claim to be, a pre-Toltec tribe in Anáhuac; but that they were in this early time a Nahua tribe, a nation contemporaneous with the Olmecs and of the same institutions, that they were the builders of Teotihuacan, is only proved by their own claim as recorded by Torquemada. This evidence must probably be regarded as insufficient in view of the fact that the Totonac language is wholly distinct from the Nahua.[340 - Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 56, pronounces the Totonac very like the Maya. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 127, deems the relationship doubtful. See vol. iii., pp. 776-7.] It is true that, as will be seen later, all the ancient tribes, that adopted more or less the Nahua institutions, and joined in the struggle against the rival Maya powers, did not speak the same language; but it is also very probable that many nations in later times, when the Nahua power as represented by the Aztecs had become so predominant, claimed ancient Nahua affinities to which they had no right.[341 - On the Totonacs, see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 278; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 223-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 51-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 151-61, tom. iii., pp. 350-1. This author says that the Totonacs came from the north at about the same time as the Olmecs came from the south. There seems to be no authority for this save the popular opinion that locates Chicomoztoc in the north. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 140. The Aztecs attributed Teotihuacan, Cholula, Papantla, etc., to the Toltecs because they were the oldest people they knew; but they may have been built before the Toltec invasion. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 98.] In addition to what has already been said respecting Teotihuacan, only one event is mentioned in its pre-Toltec history, – the apotheosis of Nanahuatzin, an event which probably preceded rather than followed the erection of the pyramids. The strange fable respecting this event, already related in a preceding volume,[342 - Vol. iii., p. 60, et seq.] is, briefly, to the effect that the gods were assembled at Teotihuacan for the purpose of inducing the sun to appear and illumine their darkness. A great fire having been kindled, and the announcement made that the honors of apotheosis would be given to him who should give himself up as a living sacrifice, Nanahuatzin threw himself into the fire, was instantly devoured and transformed into the sun, which at once appeared in the east. Metztli followed the example of Nanahuatzin, and took his place in the heavens as the moon, less brilliant than his companion, since the heat of the fire had somewhat abated before his sacrifice. The true historic signification of this account we cannot hope to ascertain, yet it is of great interest, since it seems to point to the introduction in these regions of sun-worship and of human sacrifice; indeed, the Codex Chimalpopoca, according to Brasseur, expressly states that "then began divine immolation at Teotihuacan." The same authority gives this event also as the beginning of a new chronologic period called Nahui Ollin Tonatiuh, 'the sun in its four movements,' thus suggesting some connection between this assemblage and that mentioned by Sahagun as having taken place in the south, when the new calendar was invented. The remark in the same document that "on that day the kings did tremble," may point to this epoch as that of the great revolution – carried on chiefly in Chiapas, but which may have extended to Anáhuac – by which the kings of Xibalba were overthrown; especially since the narrative of the sacrifice at Teotihuacan bears a striking resemblance to the apotheosis of Hunhunahpu and his fellow-heroes at Xibalba.[343 - Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 180-8; Popol Vuh, pp. cxlii-iii.; Boturini, Idea, pp. 37-41; see also references in vol. iii., p. 60, et seq.]

So far as the other so-called primitive nations of New Spain are concerned, little can be said, except that they claim and have always been credited with a very ancient residence in this land, dating back far beyond the beginning of the historic period. The Otomís, one division of whom are known as Mazahuas, differ entirely from the Nahua nations in language, having possibly a slight linguistic affinity with the Totonacs, and although far from being savages, they have always been to a certain extent an outcast and oppressed race, the 'Jews of Anáhuac,' as one writer terms them, down-trodden in succession by Toltec, Chichimec, and Aztec. They probably occupied a very large portion of Anáhuac and the surrounding mountains, when the Toltecs proper established their power. Ixtlilxochitl, followed by Veytia, represents the Otomís, though differing in language, as having been one of the Acolhua tribes that made their appearance in Anáhuac many centuries later, but the event referred to as their coming to the country at that period, may probably be their coming down from the mountains and adopting more or less the civilized life of the Acolhuas at Tezcuco.[344 - On the Otomís, see Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 147-8, tom. iv., p. 51; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 39; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 210; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 243; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 156-9, 196, tom. ii., p. 235, tom. iii., p. 56; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 9; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 136-7; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 117-18; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 20; Prichard's Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 512.]

The Miztecs and Zapotecs are simply mentioned by the authorities in connection with the Olmecs and Xicalancas as having occupied the south-eastern region during the primitive period. Later they became powerful nations in the country now constituting the state of Oajaca, and were probably at least the equals of the Aztecs in civilization. Their own annals do not, so far as they may be interpreted, reach back to the pre-Toltec times, and although they may very likely have come in contact with the Olmecs in Puebla, or even have been their allies, receiving from them or with them the elements of Nahua culture, yet the fact that their languages are distinct from the Nahua, shows that they like the Totonacs were not, as some authors imply, simply a branch of the Nahua people in Tamoanchan. It is more natural to suppose that these three nations were either wild tribes, or, if partially civilized, connected with the Maya, Xibalban, or Quiname nations, and that they accepted more or less fully the Nahua ideas after the Olmec nations had risen to power in Anáhuac. The statement of Brasseur that the tribes of Oajaca received their civilization from the two brothers of Xibalba's conquerors, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, is probably unfounded, since nothing of the kind appears in the chapter of García's work to which the abbé refers.[345 - Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136, heads a paragraph 'Olmecas, Vixtoti and Mixtecas,' speaking of all together, and applying to them the name Tenimes, or those who speak a barbarous tongue. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 125, 133, speaks of the 'Ulmecas or Mixtecs,' and thinks they were driven from their former position by the first Nahua invasion, driving out in turn the Chuchones. He pronounces the Miztec and Zapotec kindred tongues, and states that these nations joined their fortunes from an early period. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 150, says the Zapotecs are reported to have come with the Olmecs and Xicalancas. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 150; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 154; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cclv.; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 327-8; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 98; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 337; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 37.]

THE HUASTECS IN VERA CRUZ

To the Huastecs of Northern Vera Cruz, the preceding remarks may also be applied, save that their language, while distinct from the Nahua, is also very evidently connected with the great Maya linguistic family of the south. Yet the ruins of Huastec and Totonac Vera Cruz,[346 - See vol. iv., p. 425, et seq.] are more like the Nahua monuments than like those of Yucatan or Chiapas, showing how powerful was the influence of the Nahua element in the north. The only historical tradition relating to the Huastecs is the following from Sahagun: – In the time of the Olmecs, after the art of making pulque had been invented in the mountain called thereafter Popoconaltepetl, 'mountain of foam,' the inventors prepared a banquet on the same mountain. All the principal old men and old women were invited, and before each guest were placed four cups of the new wine, – the quantity deemed sufficient to exhibit the excellence of the newly-discovered beverage, and to cheer without inebriating the dignitaries present. But one chief, Cuextecatl by name, was so rash as to indulge in a fifth cup, and was moved thereby to discard the maxtli which constituted his court dress, and to conduct himself in a very indecorous manner; so much so that after recovering his sound sense, he was forced by very shame to flee with all his followers, and all those of his language, to the region of Pánuco, where they settled, and were called from their leader Cuextecas, afterwards Guaxtecas or Huastecs.[347 - Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 142-3; Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 316-17. Huaxtlan means 'where the huaxi (a kind of fruit) abounds.' Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 141; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 173; Brinton, in Hist. Mag., n. s., vol. i., p. 16; Prichard's Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 513; Id., Researches, vol. v., p. 342, 345.]