various sources, is as follows: The god of the "Milky Way," in other words, of Heaven, (Tonacatlecoatl) the principal deity of the Aztec Pantheon, and the Great Father of gods and men, sent a message to a virgin of Tulan, telling her that it was the will of the gods that she should conceive a son, which she did without knowing any man.* This son was Quetzalcoatl, who was figured as tall, of a fair complexion, open forehead, large eyes, and a thick beard. He became high priest of Tulan, introduced the worship of the gods, established laws displaying the profoundest wisdom, regulated the calendar, and maintained the most rigid and exemplary manners in his life. He was averse to cruelty, abhorred war, and taught men to cultivate the soil, to reduce metals from their ores, and many other things necessary to their welfare. Under his benign administration the widest happiness prevailed amongst men. The corn grew to such size that a single ear was a load for a man; gourds were as long as a man's body; it was unnecessary to dye cotton, for it grew of all colors; all fruits were in the greatest profusion, and of extraordinary size; there was also a vast number of beautiful and sweet-singing birds. His reign was the golden age of Anahuac. He, however, disappeared suddenly and mysteriously, in what manner is unknown. Some say he died on the sea-shore, and others that he wandered away in search of the imaginary kingdom of Tlallapa. He was deified; temples were erected to him, and he was adored throughout Anahuac.

Quetzalcoatl is, therefore, but an incarnation of the "Serpent Sun" Tonacatlecoatl,† and, as is indicated by his

* Codex Vat., plate 11. "Begotten," says this authority, "by the breath of God." The original celestial serpent of the ancients of the East, says Calmet, (vol. iii. p. 750,) seems to have been the "Milky Way," although others have since been framed by astronomers.

According to Sahagun, Tezcatlipoca was adored, in some of the States contiguous to Mexico, under the name of Camaxtle, and was always represented accompanied by his son, the god Quetzalcoatl. The passage of Sahagun is remarkable, and is as follows: "Here is the statue of their god Camaxtle, which is three staffs (about eighteen feet) high; and adjoining it is another smaller idol, which they say brought their forefathers hither. This idol always accompanies the great statue of Camaxtle; and they hold it in such reverence and fear, that they do

name, the feathered serpent was his recognised symbol. He was thus symbolized in accordance with a practice, which (says Gama) prevailed in Mexico, of associating or connecting with the representations of a god or goddess the symbols of the other deities from whom they are derived, or to whom they sustain some relation. His temples were distinguished as being circular, and the one dedicated to his worship in Mexico was, according to Gomera, entered by a door, "like unto the mouth of a serpent, which was a thing to fear by those who went in thereat, especially by the Christians, to whom it represented very hell."

The Mayas of Yucatan had a demi-god, corresponding entirely with Quetzalcoatl, if he was not the same, under a different name,—a conjecture very well sustained by the evident relationship between the Mexican and Mayan mythologies. He was named Itzamna or ZamnNA, and was the only son of the principal god KINCHAHAN. He arrived from the East, and instructed the people in all that was essential to their welfare. "He," says Cogolludo, "invented the characters which they use as letters, and which are called, after him, Itzamna; and they adore him as a god."*

not look upon it, nor raise their eyes in its presence. But they make many sacrifices behind it. This idol is decorated with the devices of Quetzalcoatl, because, say these Idolaters, he is the son of Camaxtle.”—(Monarquia Indiana, lib. x. cap. 31.)

Quetzalcoatl, it was universally believed among the Mexicans, would again return to earth; and when they first saw Cortez and the Spaniards, they imagined that he had made his second appearance; and Montezuma's messengers reported, "that it was Quetzalcoatl who was coming, bringing his temples (ships) with him." (Gomera, fol. xvii.) Torquemada, citing the authority of Mendieta, states that, “throughout New Spain, they expected the re-appearance of the son of the Great God who was the Sun, into the world, who would renew all things."

* Ayeta, Hist. Yucatan; also Cogolludo, Hist. Yuct. p. 196. Las Casas, upon the authority of a priest of Campeachy, who understood the language of the Indians of that region (intermediate between Mexico proper and Yucatan) states, that they recognised and believed "in a god who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost the Father named IzONA, the Creator; the Son BACAB, who was born of a virgin, Chiribirias, who is in heaven, etc." They say this son was killed, etc. etc. These doctrines they professed to have received from "twenty men who came upon earth, the principal of whom was Cozas, who taught them to fast."—(Cogc

There was another similar character in Yucatan, called Ku Kulcan, or Cuculcan. Torquemada says, that he was Quetzalcoatl under another name. He seems to have been peculiar to the Itzaes or Yzaes, the traditional founders of Chichen-itza and Mayapan. We shall have more to say of him elsewhere.

Oviedo assures us that the inhabitants of Nicaragua called their principal god Thomathoyo; and say that he had a son, who came down to earth, whose name was Theotbilahe, and that he was their general instructor.

The Muyscas of Colombia had a similar hero-god. According to their traditionary history, he bore the name of BOCHICA.* Like Quetzalcoatl, he was son of the sun, the incarnation of the Great Father, whose sovereignty and parental care he emblematized. He was high priest of Irica, and the lawgiver of the Muyscas. He founded a new worship, prescribed the nature and the order of the sacrifices, regulated the calendar, constituted the chiefs of the tribes, and directed the mode of choosing the high-priests,-in short, he was a perfect counterpart of Quetzalcoatl, and like him disappeared mysteriously at Irica, which place became sacred to him after his deification. And as Cholula, the sacred city of Quetzalcoatl, was common ground, where conflicting nations worshipped in peace at the several shrines dedicated to him, so the pilgrims to the sanctuary of Bochica at Irica, amidst the horrors of the most sanguinary warfare, were allowed to make their journeys in peace and security.

We find a corresponding character in the traditionary history of Peru. At first, it is said, the inhabitants lived, halfnaked, in holes and caves of the earth, subsisting on whatever came in their way, and even eating human flesh. They were without law, government, or religion; altogether, in the words

lludo, p. 191.) From hence the pious bishop concludes that St. Thomas must certainly have journeyed to Yucatan.

* According to the German orthography, this name is sometimes written Botschica. There was another character among the Muyscas who was an instructor, but to whom no divinity was ascribed. His name was Nemtenequeteba, or Nemqueteba. He was also called Chinzapogua, "Envoy of God."-(See Humboldt's "Aspects of Nature," Am. Ed., p. 443.)

of La Vega, "like so many brute beasts." The Sun, deploring their miserable condition, sent down his son, Manco Capac, and his daughter, Mama Cora, the sister and wife of Manco Capac, to instruct them in religion, government, and the arts of life. They were placed on an island in Lake Titicaca, which to this day is regarded of extreme sancity, with permission to go wherever they pleased, under the sole restriction that when they should stop at any place to eat or sleep, they should there strike a little wedge of gold into the ground, and that they should at last establish themselves, and commence their mission, wherever the wedge should sink into the earth. They went northward, and at last arrived at a spot where the wedge disappeared; and here, after gathering around them the savage inhabitants, they founded the imperial city of Cuzco. Manco Capac taught the natives the worship of the sun, the practice of the useful arts, and the nature of government. He died a natural death, and from him the Incas claimed descent, and their title to sovereignty. The great festival of the sun, at the time of the summer solstice, commemorated the advent of the beneficent Manco Capac.

We have also traces of a similar personage in the traditionary VOTAN of Guatemala; but our accounts concerning him. are much more vague than in the cases above mentioned.*

We find this traditional character in countries and among tribes where we would be least apt to suspect his existence. In Brazil, besides the common belief in an age of violence, during which the world was destroyed by water, there is a tradition of two personages, one of whom was called Zome (in Paraguay, Payzume). He is represented as an elderly man with a long beard, and wearing white garments. He came from the East, before the days of their grandfathers; and wherever he sojourned, he taught the natives to clothe them

*The serpent, it will be seen elsewhere, was an emblem, both of Quetzalcoatl, and of Ku Kulcan,—a fact which gives some importance to the statement of Cabrera, that Votan was represented to be a serpent, or of serpent origin. (Teatro Critico Americano, p. 34.) By quoting this authority, I beg not to be understood to attach the slightest value to the dissertation of Cabrera, in a scientific or critical point of view.

selves, to live in houses, the use of fire, and the cultivation of the Mandioc (Cassava). Their forefathers quarrelled with him, and shot their arrows at him; but the arrows turned back and slew their assailants. He fled to the North, promising to return, and left his miraculous footsteps impressed on their stones.*

The nations of the Tamanac race have also a traditionary parent and teacher, whom they called AMALIVACA. He arrived in the country during the age of water, and made the figures on the rocks of Encamarada. Some blocks of granite, forming a rude cavern, are still designated as his house. He had a brother, who assisted in giving the earth its present form. His daughters were fond of wandering, and he broke their legs to prevent them. After having regulated all things, he embarked for another shore. His name is spread over a region of more than five thousand square leagues, and he is called by various epithets, signifying the "father of mankind," "our great grandfather," etc. The tradition is current among the Tamancas, the Apures, the Indians of the Rio Erevato, and the tribes of the upper Orinoco generally.t These Indians also believe that one man and one woman saved themselves at the time of the destruction of the world by water, on a high mountain, near the banks of the Asivera, and who, casting behind them, over their heads, the fruits of the palm, saw the seeds contained in them produce men and women, who repeopled the earth.

The semi-civilized agricultural tribes of Florida had like traditions. The Cherokees, in particular, had a priest and law

* Southey's Brazil, vol. i. p. 229. There is a singular circumstance which marks the superstition of Buddha, and that is the belief that he has left in various quarters of the globe impressions of a gigantic foot. He is said to have travelled in all countries, and everywhere left with his votaries this sacred mark. (Faber, vol. ii. p. 359; Asiatic Res. vol. vi. pp. 295, 483; Symes' Embassy to Asia, vol. ii. p. 183.) So Quetzalcoatl is said to have left an impression of his hand on a rock near Tlalpantla, which the Mexicans pointed out to the Spaniards, and to have left the print of his foot in various other places. And as Fo-hi had his star called the "Star of the East," and Zoroaster was called the "Evening Star," so, also, Quetzalcoatl had his particular star, designated in like manner.

Humboldt, Pers. Nar. vol. v. pp. 596, 597; vol. vi. pp. 373, 374.